In all you do, be yourself. It’s your personal brand, no one else’s. Don’t throw up a façade. Don’t pretend to be someone else. Don’t try to fake it. When you try to act in ways that are not “you” everyone can tell. Trust me. I say this from personal experience. As Gary Vaynerchuk wrote in his book Crush It, you got to know your DNA. As Shakespeare said in Hamlet, “This above all: to thine own self be true.”

Know Yourself

Think back to the movie, the Matrix. When Neo visited the Oracle do you remember what was written on the plaque above her door? Take a look. ‘Temet Nosce’ means ‘know thyself’. Know your strengths and weaknesses. Know your true passion. Know what makes you happy. Know what motivates you. Know what values and beliefs drive your behavior.

 Act Yourself

As you become more self-aware you need to take a strong look at how you act. If you’re giving a presentation and humor is not natural to you, don’t try to be funny. Think of other strengths that you possess that can create a ‘sock-their-socks-off’ presentation. Acting yourself also means staying true to your values in all situations.

Here’s a test. Think about five personal interactions you’ve had recently. It could be with your boss, a client, your spouse, your son or daughter, or a random stranger. Were you authentic in what you said and the way you acted? You shouldn’t have multiple personalities that change depending on with whom you are speaking. Your core self should come through in all interactions.

Promote Yourself

Your brand is how you package yourself and present yourself to everyone. You should not have multiple brands. You might provide multiple services or products for different audiences but you are one brand. Promote yourself using social media, blogging about your expertise, presenting at conferences, doing a GREAT job at work, fulfilling your promises, guest writing for a newspaper or magazine, and booking yourself on a local or national television show.

Most importantly, promote yourself using media consistent with your brand, brand image, and your strengths. Not everyone looks or acts great on camera. If you are one of these people either get training on how to present on video or don’t do it. If you aren’t a great writer, learn to write better or hire someone to proof your work when blogging.

People don’t like fakers. To enhance your brand be authentic.

Whatever your passion or focus is in life, become an expert at that one thing. As I mentioned in the article about personal branding and delivering value, “Learn everything you can about your area. Stay current on the latest trends. Experiment and try new approaches. Be someone people turn to for information.”

This is more difficult than it initially sounds. Your passion is like a diamond, it has many facets. Becoming an expert in any field or knowledge area takes time, patience, and hard work. You can’t become an expert overnight. Here are some tips for getting you on the road to becoming that wellspring of knowledge you want to be.

Read

This may sound obvious, but immerse yourself in books, websites, blogs, magazines, and journals that are focused on your passion. Get a notebook and jot down important points, experts in the field, and areas where you need to do more research.

Attend conferences

Conferences offer you the opportunity to learn from established experts and mingle with others who share your passion. Exchange business cards and keep in contact with those you meet after the conference. Follow them on Twitter, friend them on Facebook, send them an email. Keep in touch. Build your network.

Use Twitter

Scour the Internet for experts and if they are on Twitter, follow them. Following the right individuals and organizations can really enhance your knowledge of a specific subject.

Go to school

Sometimes to be an expert you need more than self-taught knowledge. You may need a degree or certification. For example, if you are passionate about helping others, dream about being a nurse, and want to one day write articles for distinguished nursing journals, you need to first become a nurse and gain years of experience. Even if your passion doesn’t require a degree or certification, taking a class from an experienced teacher can help you on the path to becoming an expert.

Seek mentors

Whether your passion is piloting helicopters, raising chickens, or training executives to be better leaders, seek a mentor. Others have taken the very same journey and most are happy to share their best practices and lessons learned. All you need to do is ask.

Network

Get to know others in the field by going to conferences, exhibitions, workshops, and social gatherings that are focused on your area of passion. Though personal, face-to-face connections are critical, don’t forget to network online. Find message boards, newsgroups, websites, Facebook pages, and blogs where members are discussing your passion. Actively participate. Pose questions. Answer questions. Make insightful comments. Make friends.

Teach

I’ve learned that the best way to solidify your knowledge of something is to teach it. Why? Because you need to know your content well and articulate it to others who want to learn. You can teach well before you’re an expert. Depending on your passion, you can teach at public libraries, community colleges and four-year universities, elementary and high schools, eldercare communities, and corporations.

Do

At some point in your reading, research, and classes you’ll actually need to do what you are learning. If you’re learning how to take great photos you’ll eventually need to go out and practice what you learn. If you’re learning how to speak better in public you’ll need to get yourself in front of an audience and practice your new skills.

Keep learning

Even when you reach a level of knowledge and experience to be considered an expert in your area, keep learning. Don’t sit on your laurels. Too many people and organizations get complacent and forget that in order to stay on top, learning must continue.

These are but a few ways to get you on the path to becoming an expert. Depending on your area of passion, there might be other methods as well.

I’m starting a new series titled ‘Personal Branding: Winning Strategies’. Today, December 20, 2009 is the first such entry. Today I want to talk about thank you cards.

My New Year’s resolution is to start sending thank you cards. Yes, real paper thank you cards. Not an email thank you, a thank you tweet, or writing “thanks” on someone’s Facebook wall. I want to start mailing thank you cards.

Why handwritten thank you cards?

In today’s digital age it is possible to take the easy way out. If you want to say ”thanks” the easiest thing to do is open email, type up a short thank you message and click the send button. It takes much more effort to get a thank you card, handwrite a small message, sign it, stick it in an envelope, address it, put a stamp on it, and throw it in the mailbox.

The person receiving the card knows this takes more effort and will appreciate it. I’ve gotten two handwritten thank you cards in the past year. I remember who they were from and why he/she sent them. It makes a difference.

Get thank you note cards

Even if you work for an organization that has printed thank you stationary, I strongly encourage you to purchase your own. Why? You are thanking the person; not selling the company. You want to be certain that the thank you is genuine and not a sales pitch. However, the choice is ultimately up to you and in your specific case it might make more sense to use the company stationary.

Your thank you cards should be simple, professional, and preferably environmental friendly.

Handwrite your message and be specific

Even if you have sloppy handwriting, handwrite (or print) your thank you message. Don’t type it into Word and run it through the printer. Handwriting is more personal. In addition, be specific.

The right way: “Thank you for proofreading my report last week. You’re countless hours of dedication and attention to detail was greatly appreciated.”

The wrong way: “Thanks for the help with the report”

Be specific when saying thank you.

Be appropriate with the timing

Someone might do something amazing for you which causes you to send a thank you card immediately. There might be times, however, when someone does a bunch of little things and at some point you realize that a thank you card might be in order. Since a thank you card comes from the heart you’ll know the best time to send one.

Be prudent and authentic

Though sending thank you cards is a wonderful way to say thank you, don’t go overboard and don’t be robotic about it. A thank you card should be impromptu, authentic, and heart-felt. The recipient should feel “warm and fuzzy” inside and know that the “thanks” was authentic.

Say thank you; Don’t sell

As a follow-up to my last tip, the card should be about your thanks to the person; not a final sales pitch. Even if the person is a potential client, don’t sell. Separate the thank you from the sales pitch. Take a look:

Joyce, I really enjoyed our lunch yesterday. I want to thank you for the opportunity to meet you and I appreciate you sharing information about your department and organization.

I hope we can chat again soon.

Notice that there is no sales pitch. You acknowledged that the lunch was about business but you didn’t sell anything. However, a few days after sending the thank you note you should follow-up with a call to action. This second note, email, or phone call can be more sales focused.

The basic idea is to separate the thank you from the sales pitch.

Combine with email

There might be certain times when you want the person to get your thank you immediately (such as after a job interview). In these instances, send your email but make certain the written card goes in the mail soon afterwards. In addition, the email and the written thank you should be different. You don’t want to regurgitate what you sent in your email.

These are but a few tips for sending thank you cards. I hope the benefits of sending thank you cards to enhance your personal brand are obvious. These tips can be used by the full-time office worker and the entrepreneur for both business and personal relationships. Remember that your brand extends beyond just your business persona. Your brand is YOU!