Welcome back to Career Tip Tuesday! Today’s topic, personal branding. Take a seat, this is a long one but an important one. 

One of my favorite career tips is branding yourself. This can mean a lot of different things, so let’s break it down. 

For starters, in order to brand yourself, you need to know yourself. Sounds simple but it actually requires more thought than you think. When I go about creating my personal brand, I like to do an audit, almost like I would with any other brand. I take pen and paper and write out qualities I like about myself, qualities I’m known for, things I want to be known for, things I like and am good at, things I don’t like and my weaknesses. I analyze myself. The most important part of this analysis is the core values. I like to list out my core values as a person, because those essentially become part of my brand. It influences how I operate as a person and brand, and dictates who I work with moving forward. For example, one of my core values is loving others. In terms of my personal brand, I will never be employed or collaborate with a brand that does not love others. 

Once you have taken some time (and I mean truly give that thought process time) to determine who you are as a person and personal brand, begin to take those core values and turn it into branding elements. By this I mean, colors, words, logos, etc. Things that represent you and your brand. This also includes writing your bio. Any supporting document about you and your brand.

Once you have the basics, then you must take your elements and put them into assets. By this I mean, create your resume and brand kit. Create your personal website. Create social media pages. Create a business card. 

Let’s pause for a minute - you do not need to be a blogger to use these assets. In fact, I had a personal website and business cards as a college student. I took those business cards to any and every networking event. Sure it listed me as a student or my internship title, but whenever I asked for a business card, I was able to hand something in return. It shows you’re a professional and serious about that networking connection. If you are a senior, I am going to tell you that you must invest in a website and business card. YOU MUST. 

If you’re not sure where to start with making these assets, I recommend Squarespace for websites, Canva for resumes and Basic Invite for any paper needs. I recently updated my business cards using Basic Invite and it couldn’t have been more easy. 

From the crystal clear navigation and categories, to the simple, easy to edit display, Basic Invite makes it easy to create these assets. You don’t have to worry about being a pro-designer because Basic Invite is filled with unique, professional, clean and fun designs that will set you apart. You have so many options to personalize your business cards, etc. from the colors to fonts to type of paper it is printed on. Basic Invite has unlimited color combinations (over 180+ options), but you know me, I had to stick with pink! Here’s a look at my new cards:

Pretty cool, huh? Once I created my custom design, Basic Invite allowed me to send myself a sample to make sure the card was everything I wanted. Basic Invite is all about customization, and making sure your stationery is exactly how you want it.  

Basic Invite doesn’t just have business cards and honestly, I wish I knew about them sooner. They have mobile-friendly GORGEOUS wedding websites, over 900+ wedding invitation designs, free address collection services and the ability to seal/send wedding invites. We didn’t use Basic Invite for our wedding and TBH, wedding invitations were the actual worst part of wedding planning. I hated them. I wish I had just posted a blast on Instagram about where and when by the time I was done with my invitations. If only Basic Invite had been there to help at that time! So seriously, brides, please do not make my mistake. Use Basic Invite!

If you’re not quite there yet, Basic Invite has tons of other stationery items. If you’re the senior in college I just spoke to about having a business card, listen up again. You’re going to want to use Basic Invite for graduation invitations, graduation invitation party templates, and graduation thank you. Believe me, if you think you don’t need those things - you do. I almost didn’t order graduation invitations for my time, and boy were my parents upset. It seems silly, but it’s important to have those items during your graduation so don’t miss out. 

If you’re ready to design your personal brand assets, your wedding invitations, your graduation invitations and more, check out basicinvite.com and share your designs with me on Instagram! 

Don’t forget, I review and edit resumes, websites, business cards and other personal brand assets. Just send me an email (camilikeatanktop@gmail.com)!  

Thank you to Basic Invite for sponsoring this post. Disclaimer: I did receive a free sample of my business card and compensation for this post. All options and information shared are my own.