How to protect your personal brand

When your job takes you into the limelight, personal brand is so important. But building it and protecting it is not always easy. It can be difficult to know who to trust. What is it about some people who advise those in the limelight? Let’s just say, I hear a lot of…..rubbish. 

I have been thinking about this a lot just recently. I have considered what recommendations I would make to help someone navigate this world, whether they’re a former sports player or someone just entering the acting industry. In my view, it boils down to two very simple things: focus on what you’re good at and pick your advisers carefully.

They may seem too basic, too obvious, but when you strip everything back, they are what you need to do to survive. But how do you make that happen? What does that look like in real life?

Focus on what you’re good at

If you’re a high profile sports personality or truly successful in the film and TV industry, I imagine you have got there based on hard work as well as talent. You’re good at what you do. And there are not that many other people who can do what you do as well as you. The problem is that you are unlikely to be left alone to get on with doing what you’re good at. It’s frustrating and it’s easy to get swept away.

It takes a strong mind to stay focused, when everyone else is doing everything in their power to get your attention and time. Sponsorship deals; collaborations; endorsements; investments; interviews. The list goes on and on.

And yes, a lot of these things are part and parcel of having that kind of high profile job. But if you lose sight of why you’ve got the job you have, it’s a slippery slope (one many have fallen foul of) and your personal brand will be lost. You have to keep coming back to what you are good at and let your trusted team manage the rest.

Pick your advisers carefully

The best thing you can do is choose the right team. The right legal advisers; the right tax advisers;  the right financial advisers. Having good people around you is paramount, no matter who you are or what you do, whether you’re famous or not!

When you are high profile, your team will be there to protect your personal brand and make the right choices for the right reasons. It is worth taking the time to get your team properly set up. You want to know what people are saying about you when you’re not in the room (and be sure people are saying what you want them to be saying!). A good team will help make that happen.

The easiest (and best) place to start is to go on recommendations. Seek out personal endorsements from people you already know and trust. Use your connections to find people on your wavelength. Build your team up from there and beware people who don’t know who they say they know (I recently wrote an article about this). Invest the time in getting to know people, especially the people you plan to trust with your professional and personal affairs.  Take your time in making your decision and trust your gut.

I may not be in the limelight, but there’s one meeting I often think of when discussing the value of connections and of good people to have around you. When I first met my friend, Richard Thompson, it was by accident. I attended a meeting I had no need to be in. My client wanted a new agent to represent him and he asked me to come along to the meeting to support him.

Richard and I immediately hit it off. So much so, we met again for lunch. At the time, Richard looked after a lot of high profile talent in the sports and media space. It turned out he knew people I knew (it would have been easy for him to catch me out if I hadn’t actually known the people I’d said I knew!).

That first meeting with Richard was back in 2011. We’re still great friends today and Richard is the person who gave me my opportunity at Surrey Cricket Club in 2017, that I mentioned in my article in SKQ19.