Personal Branding Tip: What if I’m a Jack of All Trades?
A reader just left me a very honest comment with a brilliant question:
“Everyone always says to talk about what you’re an expert with or what you’re passionate about, but what if you have a lot of different passions and don’t feel like you’re an expert at any of them. I feel that I’m in that area. I’m kind of like a Jack of all trades, master of none”
A lot of the personal branding advice out there is repetitive, so I love these questions that come from you (my Awesome readers) because it allows me to look at things a different way and provide the best possible learning platform.
If you are a Jack of All Trades, then this is what you can do to build your personal brand:
- Pick one of your trades/passions and focus on it to become an expert on that topic
- Choose all of your trades and decide to become an expert in all of them (extremely difficult to do)
- Forget an expertise, and make your NAME your personal brand
- Find friends who share your passion and make them the lead on your project
1. Pick a trade and focus on it
I’m not gonna focus too much on this one because this is the advice that everyone and your mom will advice you to do. It’s the most standard form of personal branding: Guy Kawasaki (funding), Seth Godin (marketing), Tim Ferris (lifestyle design); think of any bright start in this blogosphere and you will notice that his blog/brand is focused on one topic.
2. Become an expert in all trades
I just took a minute to think about who I know that is famous for being a Jack of All Trades, and unfortunately I couldn’t come up with a name. In all honesty, it is darn near impossible to become an expert in multiple, unrelated topics. Of course, nothing is impossible, so here is how I would do it:
- Write down all of your passions on a piece of paper and group the ones that are similar to each other
- For this example we will assume you have 3 passions you want to be seen as an expert in
- Create a blog and Twitter account for each passion
- Write 3 blog posts a week for each passion
- If it takes 1 hour to write each post, then you’ll be spending 9 hours a week and just writing post
- Spend an additional hour on each post promoting it through the blogosphere (strategic commenting, Facebook, Stumble)
- An additional hour means another 9 hours a week for each blog post
- Use Social Too and Tweet Later to automate your Twitter accounts
- Use Tweetie on your iPhone and Twhirl on your desktop to manage multiple Twitter accounts
- If you spend 30 minutes a day on each Twitter account, then you’ll be spending 10.5 hours a week just promoting on Twitter
Without even factoring in interviews, speaking gigs, guest writing, and other forms of elevating your personal brand, you’re already spending 28.5 hours a week on your three unrelated areas of expertise. It’s honestly just not worth it and it’ll destroy your personal life if you try to keep it up.
3. Forget an expertise and make YOU a personal brand
The benefit of having a yourname.com is that you can make your area of expertise anything you could possibly want. This is perfect for a Jack of All Trades because instead of limiting yourself to talking only about personal finance (Ex: http://Iwillteachyoutoberich.com), you can be known as the great writer, the fantastic researcher, the guy with all the answers, or the guy with cool informative videos. My blog has changed title and focus about 5 times in the past 2 years, and my readership has only grown stronger.
With a yourname.com, your personal brand becomes YOU. People don’t come to your blog for a specific topic; instead, your readership grows because people begin to respect your overall advice and are honestly interested in what you’re doing and thinking about.
4. Find friends to build your personal branding team
I have two other passions in life: fashion and movies. Because I am focused on my personal blog and Future Delivery, I do not have time to create another site that focuses on my passion for movies and fashion. I have therefore developed a team of close friends who work on the sites for me.
Take a look at In Our Closet. I started this blog for Kim and Kat so that they can take something we’re all passionate about and make it their own project. The same principle is applied to Blockbuster Review. My good friends from high school, Steve and Chris, share my passion for movies and have therefore taken this blog I built and ran with it.
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I hope this helps all of you Jack of All Trades out there. If you have any questions or any other tips that you would like to add, go ahead and leave me a comment and we can start a conversatoin 
Hey Jun, great post that really opens my eyes up to the personal branding world. I never quite had an area of expertise myself, so I felt like branding myself now would be a waste of time.
I now understand that it’s not about just building an authority on a topic, but more importantly, about getting your name out there and meeting new people.
Thanks for helping me see this
I just got all depressed and had a long discussion with my girlfriend last night about how I felt I was heading no where. All this knowledge in multiple areas and never enough to feel like I’m good at something.
It is ironic in a way that I was lead to this post but, at the same time I know I was lead here specifically.
What a great post, and original too! Thank you Jun!
Awesome blog post. Thanks a lot for the answer to my question… It also really helps to reassure my of my actions. It’s just tough not to question yourself sometimes when things don’t go exactly as planned.
One of the reasons I started havenskate.com and then rollerhome.com was to give back to that community and although I’ve never claimed to be an expert, the sites have grown substantially just because they give something to a community that I’m passionate about that didn’t exist before. I also embrace connections/partnerships to help get articles written that I don’t feel I should write…
My personal blog is just more about all those other things in my life that make me think, happy, excited, etc. Hopefully I’ll meet all kinds of new friends through that as well…
@Chris - I’ve had those discussions as well. I’m supposed to make a million by 27, and I currently have $400 in the bank account. I gave up my sweet corporate job making $60K a year to pursue my entrepreneurial dreams. Was it all worth it?
If we don’t take risks and pursue what we’re passionate about, what was the point of life? Entrepreneurship is a roller coaster ride, but there are a lot of people in the community who are riding it with you and will help you when you feel down.
Keep your head up and I will gladly be there support you when you need help.
@Jeff - I’m glad you’ve been able to build a strong niche skating community. Keep blogging about what makes you happy and don’t feel like you need to become an “authority” if that’s not your goal.
I promise that if you keep reaching out to the community, you’re going to meet a lot of great people.
Hi Jun!
great posts! you seem to have a really good head on your shoulders and i can just feel that you’re on your way to the top! =) within this topic, i can somewhat relate.. i have 3 passions!! lol. i love doing finances and just got offered to be an advisor, i also love doing interior design on the side (love every minute of it, helping out friends and family for now until i can do schooling next year and dream of designing high end hotels and restaurants).. and my third passion is actually to have my own company.. it’s a ‘product’ which is currently under development and i want it to be exposed by next year.. but at times, i feel like 3 things at once is too much to juggle? :x.. I’m 25, 26 in a couple of months but would love to get some advice from you.. do you live in socal by the waY? and your post about ur girlfriend being the one is too cute!
Hi Jun. Your post highlights an interesting dilemma faced by early-career professionals, that I don’t see as much with people in their mid-30’s and beyond: how to incorporate your personal life into a viable business model. If you grew up with technology and social media, your online identity is just as much a part of who you are as your choice of clothing, music and friends. People over 35 (stereotypically - I know there are exceptions) tend to silo professional interests, personal interests, hobbies, etc. So the dilemma faced by Gen-Y (again - I know there are exceptions) is how to incorporate myriad interests, passions, and skills into a cohesive personal brand. I like your tips and ideas, and would like to add one more: Look for connections between your various interests, skills and abilities and focus on those in building your brand. Think about WHY you enjoy each of your areas of interest. What is it about each area that makes it important or special to you? You should begin to see a number of common elements come together that connect your interests - make that the focus of your personal brand. The bonus: chances are good that these deeper connections between otherwise disparate interests rest on an emotional foundation that is both close to your heart, and holds greater meaning for your target audience.
@Joe - Deep stuff man. Checked out your blog, looks like you got great info there as well.
One should be looking for the connections between one’s interests and make that the focus of the personal brand. That’s definitely a great way of putting it.
It’s the first time I comment here and I should say you give us genuine, and quality information for other bloggers! Good job.
p.s. You have a very good template for your blog. Where did you find it?
@Jacks - Thanks for the compliment.
I actually design and code all of my wordpress themes. If you’re interested in a custom WP theme, shoot me an email and we can talk about it in detail
me [at] junloayza.com
Jun,
I hope all is well! I read this blog this morning, I can totally relate!
I have been called a Reniassance Man many times throughout my wondrous life. People say “man you can do everything”. I while that boasts my confidence, I feel perturbed because I don’t have on thing mastered.
Although, it is not as bad as it seems and I believe it will bring me greater success as a business executive…or politician whatever I decide, I plan to master communication among young professionals and entrepreneurs!
I look forward to reading Blockbuster Review!
Thanks,
Joshua Porter
Brilliant post… I’m sure it will help all who come across it
I’d like to add two people who are experts in many trades…
Leonardo da Vinci and….. myself!
Thanks for the awesome blog.
Thanks man. I like that little plug for yourself. Checked out your blog, and I actually really like it. I’ll be sure to subscribe and keep up with your good posts.
Btw… I’m interview #AwesomeBloggers at http://Awesome.Viralogy.com
Check us out man
Thanks man! Even bigger and better things coming up lol
I like yours too! A desire to “grab tea” with awesome bloggers from around the net sounds wonderful. I love what you’re doing
Hit me up when you’re in SoCal. We’ll have a blast over here in my neighborhood
Hi Jun,
I like your idea about suggesting you team up with friends to write about your passions. This can be an excellent way to cover a broad range of topics.
I am personally involved in and operate an IT Start-up, a Marketing department and I am a yoga teacher and these three facet are only of my professional life =) I look forward to being able to cover these in a a single blog though it is taking some time to get the framework for it just right so that it makes sense.
I have been reading your blog for a while and I think that this one really hits the nail on the head for those of us who want to be the modern renaissance man or woman.
Cheers!
You can’t be all things to all people. That’s clearly a sure sign of failure. Got to take a stand and focus, be it service, or your personal brand. I hear you man.
FS
glad to know I’m not alone! When you go to freelance sites and register yourself, they would always ask for your expertise so that employers know exactly what they’d hire you for. But every time I would ask myself what really is my expertise. I know a lot things but not really expert on any of them. I just call it flexibility. I think if you’re this type of person, then there’s a lot of opportunities for you.
I’ve never claimed to be an expert, the sites have grown substantially.