Ben Guttmann
With Labor Day behind us, the fall semester is now in full swing. And this term, I’m adding a new assignment to the syllabus – a personal branding boot camp.
Almost all of my students are about to graduate, and I often find myself giving them the same pieces of early career advice over and over: some variations of get out there, meet people, and take swings. But many of them need help putting that abstract advice into practice.
So this year, I’m giving them the task to work on the most important client, themselves. They’ll have to get their image in order, begin building a network, and put themselves out there as creators instead of just consumers. By the end of the semester, they’ll be better set up for whatever path they want to take next.
Here’s the outline of my assignment – let me know what you think. Is this useful? Did I miss anything? Are you going to do this project with us?
First, let’s get your infrastructure set up. These basic steps will be useful to everybody, whether you are striking out as an independent creator or going the straight-line corporate route. If you’re skeptical about all of this, think of these as defensive moves – you want to be the one owning your domain name, you want to be the one who chooses which photo comes up when people search your name.
It costs like ten bucks a year, and you really don’t want somebody else to have it. Register it for several years in advance and set it to auto-renew. GoDaddy is fine for this, but use whatever registrar you are most comfortable with.
If [firstname][lastname].com isn’t available, noodle around with a few permutations until you find something that works. Try initials, shortened/lengthened versions of your name, or a select handful of other domains (.net and .org, maybe something localized like .nyc if that applies).
Do you have a friend who’s a hobbyist photographer? Buy them lunch and get them to take a few headshots for you. Or watch a couple of videos about how to DIY one and get to it. You’ll need these photos more than you think.
Do not use a wedding photo, a selfie, or a cropped-out group photo. Everybody can tell.
If you don’t have one yet, sign up for a LinkedIn account. I know you might find it cringey, but when it comes to your professional brand, it’s the most valuable platform going right now.
Fill in everything. Your title, your profile and cover photos, your education, and your work experience. Put a few bullets under each thing you’ve done. Look alive!
Now, go be shameless about connecting with people – to an extent. Connect with your classmates, your professors, and your co-workers. Connect with friends and family. Connect with people you’ve met at networking events or had an interview with. But don’t connect with just random strangers. It’s not entirely a numbers game here, but it is a little bit.
You just need a business card on the web at this point. Squarespace, Wix, Canva, GoDaddy, or any other drag-and-drop service will do the trick. But my personal favorite is Carrd – it’s easy, cheap, and well-designed.
Put your name, title or specialization, and a little bit about you here. Link it to that LinkedIn profile, and maybe put your email on the site. Many people shy away from making a personal website because they think it has to have everything and the kitchen sink on it – but at this stage, the real goal is just to own another spot on the Google search results for your name.
Once this is done, point your domain name at the site. Set up Google Analytics to track how the site performs. If you want to go the extra mile, set up Google Workspace for a few dollars a month to get custom “name@yourname.com” email addresses.
Now that you exist as a professional person on the web, it’s time to play the networking and branding game a little. A lot of this will feel uncomfortable at first, but it always takes pain and cringe to get to success. (For class, these items will be optional.)
You don’t need to become a LinkedIn influencer here. But you do need people to remember that you exist.
Go to your company’s page and find a recent post you can share. Or find an organization you can join or volunteer with, and share one of theirs. Maybe follow some thought leaders or trade publications in your industry and grab one of their recent pieces to amplify. Add a sentence or two of your commentary, and that’s it – you have a post!
There’s a lot of awful, self-indulgent content on LinkedIn, so the platform gets a bad rap. But by dropping a little post every few weeks, you’ll show that you’re an active, “with it” professional, a good team player – and that you’re alive. Getting your name and profile photo seen keeps you top of mind and can lead to all sorts of opportunities in the long run.
This is going to feel scary. This is going to feel awkward. You’re not going to want to do this. But you should.
Once a week, you should reach out to somebody that you don’t know. Maybe ask for an informational interview with somebody who has a job that you’re interested in. Email the author of a recent book you read to tell them how much you enjoyed it. DM the organizer of a conference in your space and volunteer to cover it on social media. Ask a creator you admire for advice. If you have a venue for it, invite somebody to speak to your team or organization.
People say yes way more than you think. We all appreciate genuine connections, and for most of us, the default is to be helpful and generous. Just be authentic and patient, and don’t try to sell anybody stuff. If you do this right, about half the people you reach out to will respond – and you’ll all be better for the effort.
Now, you can combine the previous two steps. Figure out something you want to write about, and then find a place to share it.
Do you have an opinion on the hot new trend? Do you have predictions about how the latest buzzy technology will affect your industry? Is there a new survey or study you’ve come across that you can put in context?
Pick a topic, then exercise that likely-dormant writing muscle to put together a few hundred words. Don’t use ChatGPT here; this is about your insight and opinions. This will feel really hard at first, but if you do it often enough, it will get easier – I promise. If you are stuck staring at a blank Google Doc, here are some easy-to-write ideas to get you started:
After you’ve written your piece, find it a home. Look up whoever runs your company blog and offer it to them. Search up a few industry publications and email the piece to the editors. And if none of those channels bite, publish it on Medium or LinkedIn. Now you have an article – you’re becoming an expert!
There are lots and lots of podcasts out there. In the past year, I’ve been on over 100 of them myself.
All of these podcasts need guests with something interesting to say. And once you’ve written your article – now you have something interesting to say.
Make a list of ten shows in your industry, and shoot them a note with the link to your piece and a couple of sentences about you. Don’t email The Daily or Joe Rogan here; start with niche shows you could realistically book.
Depending on the topic, the timing, and your luck, you might strike out – or you might land all of them. Either way, once the episodes go live, post them on LinkedIn and maybe even link to them on your recently-made website.
With just a little legwork, you’ve now given yourself an unfair advantage. You own how you look to the world. You’ve built the foundation of a professional network. And you’ve set yourself up to become a leading voice in whatever it is that you do. You have momentum.
If you want to climb the career ladder at a big company, all of this is certainly worthwhile. But if you want to strike out on your own as an entrepreneur, freelancer, or creator, then these practices are so valuable they will feel like borderline cheating.
I’ve given these notes to students before, but this is the first time I’m packaging it all up in a project for my class. I’m excited to see what my students do with this assignment this semester, and I’ll be sure to come back with an update in a few months.
