What’s your brand? What’s your story?

And how do they come together?

What’s your brand?

Your brand is what makes you unique. It’s what sets you apart from anyone else who does something similar to you. It’s how you present yourself, how you communicate and how you treat others. It’s what you stand for, it’s your values, and it’s the difference that you make in the world.

What’s your story?

Your story gives insight into why you present yourself as you do, why you communicate as you do and why you treat others as you do. It’s why you stand for what you do, have the values you do and is why you make the difference you make.

In short, your story is also what sets you apart. It’s more than how you show up because it’s the ‘why’ you show up as you do.

Every single thing that’s happened to you, everything you’ve ever seen or experienced, every thought you’ve ever had and everything you’ve ever done becomes part of your story.

What brings them together and creates the value for others is how you choose to perceive your story, to learn from it and let it inform your future decisions. For example, when you’ve met challenges, have you succumbed to them or have you found a way through them?

When you share the challenges or turning points you’ve experienced and have come out on the other side, people understand you and Brand You much more clearly.

How many times have you changed your opinion of someone you felt negatively towards once you’d heard a bit more about their story? Why they were late, what they’re dealing with at home right now, about a hidden disability they live with?

When people see something in you that they can relate to, that resonates with them, they will be drawn to you. If they can see that you’ve faced similar challenges to their own, they’re even more drawn to you.

It might be that you’ve navigated a life challenging situation, or even life-threatening situation, or whether you’ve achieved an incredible feat. Or you might consider your story to be ordinary, insignificant or boring. It really isn’t!

Your story of how you got to where you are today is what sets you apart from others who might have reached a similar place to you, via their own unique journey, and the world needs to hear it.

Even though you may feel that other people have experienced similar things to you, they will not have experienced them in the same way as you. We filter our perception of everything see, hear and experience through the sum of our experience to date. However many similarities there may be between you and somebody else, nobody else has exactly your perspective. And that’s what makes you different.

When you share your story someone somewhere needs to hear it. They need to hear it from you, and when they hear your story they’ll be inspired and motivated to make changes in their own lives, based on the changes you made and the tools you implemented and the choices you made.

So what is your story? How does it impact your brand?

How to identify your story

If you’re still not sure what your story is, a good starting point is to create a timeline of your life’s events. Mark out the key changes and turning points. Include the particularly good times and the particularly challenging.

What did you do to get through those challenging times? Did they send you off track for a while? What brought you back?

What are your key achievements? How did you come to achieve them?

Is there something you’re passionate about? What’s your mission in life? What would you want to be known for? And why?

As you start to answer some of those questions for yourself, you’re starting to chart your story. Keep adding to it and talk to friends, family or colleagues that have been part of your story. They might add more detail or a different perspective to your own memory.

What is the potential learning for you and for other people from your story?

In summary

Your story and your brand are what make you unique. They’re what make you stand out amongst others in your field of expertise.

Whether you believe your story to be worth sharing or not, there’s definitely value in it for others. They want to hear your story, in your words and told by you. Your story has the potential to inspire and motivate others towards making positive changes in their lives. Yes, yours!

Your story can be found in all the turning points in your life, in all the key events that helped shape you to be the person you be. It starts in your place, family and culture of origin and keeps getting added to almost every minute of every day.

When people hear your story they’re more likely to understand you, to be drawn to you and to want to work with you.

When will you start sharing your story?

To find out how I can help you draw out your story and share it through speaking, book a conversation with me here: https://calendly.com/storycoach/30min

Rachel Maunder helps people tell their stories – it’s that simple.

With a warm and engaging style, Rachel is known for inspiring confidence into her clients as she helps them share their stories and expertise through engaging and competent presentations and talks.

Rachel’s background is in counselling, coaching and training in aspects of personal and business development. Add that to an ongoing curiosity in what makes us all different and a passion for inspiring people to step up and speak up, she helps her clients identify the key parts of their story and shows them how to craft them effectively for talks and presentations.