YOU Are The Only Brand That Matters

And how to build your own unique brand towards professional success

We often make it our life’s goal to be associated with the biggest and strongest of brands to give ourselves an external validation. The first instance of this often begins with parents wanting to send their kids to the best schools.

However, the real struggle and rat-race begins with under-grad and graduate applications, and then the struggle for that first job with a dream company.

Don’t we all think that having that Ivy League School degree on our resume or experience with a top Fortune 500 firm is a sure shot way to success?

It probably is, but it is not the ONLY way.

We all know the famous stories — how Zuckerberg dropped out of Harvard, Warren Buffet transferred from Wharton to the University of Nebraska to be closer to home, Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard and of course, Steve Jobs dropped out of Reed College, and many more.

Eric Yuan quit a senior position at Cisco to start Zoom, Sundar Pichai started out as a Materials Engineer and today is the CEO of one of the most valuable companies in the world.

However, the likelihood that the average person turns out as successful as these billionaires is extremely low, so that’s not the dream I am here to make you chase.

But what I do strongly believe is that if you build your own brand over time and constantly invest in yourself, you can build your own path to a successful career, irrespective of the school you went to, the GPA you managed to get, or the first job you landed.

For your first job out of college, I’ll admit having a top school on your resume gets you a bit of a free pass towards the top firms. However, careers are made over decades, so your first job may not always be at your dream organization, but work towards ensuring your last and longest job is.

It is often a blessing in disguise for your personal development to get into a smaller organization where you’ll get more responsibility and opportunity vs. being one of a thousand fresh employees in a large one.

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