SALİM KADIBEŞEGİL

When we think that “brand” is a magical and mysterious word, our path unavoidably leads to the matter of “personal branding“. Suddenly, all the indicators of life are decorated with “personal brands”. Everyone is a personal brand! However, there are different ways of becoming a “brand”

• Where you work,
• Where you live,
• What you eat and drink,
• Where you go,
• What you read,
• The brand of your car,
• What “brand” clothes and shoes you prefer,
• Whether you are a member of any clubs, associations or communities accepted as class indicators in social life,
• What friends you meet after work,
• Who comes to your house to have dinner,
• The type and length of your boat, and the marina it is kept in,
• What you prefer during your overseas travels, the hotels you stay in and the restaurants you eat in,
• What status you prefer in what airport are considered as the “recipe” for becoming a personal brand.

People who base the “backbone” of their lives on these preferences and who try to manage the matter of “personal branding” in this way are not few in number.

In fact, tens of behavioural preferences which slip by in the flow of life suddenly come up as indicators of what type of “personal brand” we are.

However, a “personal brand” can be the reflection of an ordinary life, an ordinary person or a simple and quiet scenario.

Is being a personal brand a reflection of the values in your inner world, or is it a fight to ensure that others see what doesn’t belong to you “as if it actually exists”? What matters is your preference.

The question is simple: What should people talk or appreciate about you so that you could “become a brand”? How would that make you a brand? The second question is even simpler: “Who” should appreciate you so that you could be glorified / become a brand?

Should people appreciate the financial riches of a “temporary” life that you do not live for yourself but for others as if you swore allegiance to it with deadly passion? Or should they appreciate your behaviours which turn the sensitivities and values of the public into a part of your life and which only “belong to you”?

Personal brands can live for hundreds of years. They can be role models. You can suffer in many different ways for them. Or you can spend a lot of money on them, but they might not be worth a “penny”!