Welcome to Branding Room Only, the podcast where your personal brand gets a front row seat. I'm Paula Edgar, and if you're here, it's because you know your brand isn't just about what you do, it's about how people experience you. In each episode, you'll hear stories, strategies, and lessons from leaders and influencers who built their brands and made their mark, and I'll share the tools you need to do the same. Let's go.
Hi, everybody, and welcome back to Branding Room Only. I am Paula Edgar, and today, I want to talk about something that I hear often when people reflect on their careers, their opportunities, and their professional growth.
You hear people say things like, I got lucky. I got lucky that someone recommended me. I got lucky that someone thought of me. I got lucky that the opportunity came my way. Now, listen, I am not anti-luck. If luck shows up at your door, open the door, invite it in, give it a seat at the table, let it stay for a while.
But when it comes to your personal brand, luck cannot be your strategy. Luck is unpredictable. Luck is inconsistent, and luck is not something you can build a career on. Yet I see people, very talented people, relying on luck more than they realize when it comes to how they manage their reputation, their visibility, and their relationships. Your personal brand should not be left to luck. Your personal brand should be built with intention. So today, I want to talk about several places where people often leave their personal brand up to luck and why that is a mistake.
Let me start with something that might sound small, but it actually matters quite a bit. A lot of people leave their references up to luck. You apply for a role. You apply for a leadership opportunity. Maybe you're being considered for a board position, a speaking engagement, or even a promotion.
You list references, and you assume those references will say wonderful things about you. You assume they'll remember the right examples of your work, and you assume they'll know what to highlight. But you never actually have a conversation with them beforehand.
Big mistake. You never say, here's the opportunity I'm pursuing. You never say, here are the skills that might be most relevant. You never say, here are a few examples of projects we worked on together that might be helpful to mention.
And so what happens? The reference gets the call, and they're trying to remember details on the spot. They're guessing what the organization cares about. They're doing their best, but they're doing it without context. That is leaving your brand up to luck. Being intentional means preparing the people who represent you.
And let me shift to another place where people rely on luck more often than they should, and that is at conferences and professional events. Y'all know how I feel about conferences. I can't tell you how many times someone has said to me, I went to this conference and I didn't really meet anyone. And when I ask a few follow-up questions, it becomes clear that they actually didn't have a strategy. They just showed up. They assumed that if they walked around long enough, they would run into the right people. They assumed that meaningful connections would somehow happen organically, and maybe they could. But the people who benefit most from conferences are not relying on chance encounters. They're being intentional.
They know who they want to meet. They know how they want to meet them in terms of what sessions they're going to. They'd look at the speaker list ahead of time. They identify people they want to introduce themselves to. They reach out beforehand. They choose sessions strategically, and they follow up afterwards. They don't leave those moments to luck.
And that reminds me of another place where people often rely on luck, which is visibility. I see so many professionals doing excellent work, brilliant work, impactful work, work that absolutely deserves recognition. But they assume someone will notice. They assume their reputation will travel on its own. And sometimes, sometimes it does. But many times, it doesn't.
Your personal brand requires visibility with intention. That doesn't mean constantly promoting yourself or performing for attention. It means making sure that people understand you and the value you bring. It means sharing insights. It means contributing to the conversations in your industry. It means being part of professional communities where your voice is heard. Because if people don't know what you do, they can't think of you when opportunities arise. Now, let me connect that to another important piece of personal branding, which is your narrative.
If you do not tell your story, someone else will fill in the blanks. We talk about this a lot on this podcast. And so the story they tell may not reflect the full picture.
I see this happen often with lawyers, executives, and professionals who have incredible careers, but very little public narrative about their journey or their perspective. And when that happens, people make assumptions. They assume what your expertise is. They assume what you care about. And they assume what your strengths are. But being intentional about your brand means shaping your narrative instead of leaving it to interpretation. It means deciding how you want to be known and making sure your actions, your conversations, and your visibility reinforce that story.
Now, let's talk about relationships. This is another place where people often rely on luck.
They think networking, relationship building is about chance encounters. They think it's about who you happen to meet at the right moment. But strong professional networks are built through consistency. They're built through checking in. Through following up. Through congratulating people on their wins. Through supporting each other's work. Through being someone who stays connected even when there's no immediate benefit or need. The people who become powerful advocates for your brand are rarely random. They're the people who you've built relationships with over time. And that doesn't happen by accident. It happens through intention. Or it should happen through intention.
Now, let me talk to you about another place where I feel like it's particularly important. That's opportunities. Sometimes people wait to be invited. They wait for someone to recognize their potential. They wait for someone to say, you would be great at this. But the reality is that many of the people who receive opportunities are the ones who made their interests known. They raised their hand. They expressed curiosity. They asked questions. They positioned themselves as someone who wanted to contribute. Advocating for yourself is not arrogance. It is strategy. And it is necessary. If you want people to think of you for something, sometimes you have to make it clear that you're interested.
And finally, I want to talk about something that sits underneath all of this, which is growth. We have talked about growth mindset. We've talked about it a lot and how it helps you navigate your brand. And yet many people leave their growth up to luck. They assume that confidence will appear eventually, that clarity about their next step will somehow emerge on its own. But growth can be and should be intentional too. You should be reflecting on where you are. You can ask yourself how you want to be known. You can identify the next chapter of your professional story and then begin making strategic choices that move you in that direction.
You can build your brand deliberately. You should build your brand deliberately. When people ask me, what is the most important thing about branding that you shouldn't leave up to luck? That is strategy, right? We're not leaving things up to chance.
So as we close out the conversation today, I want to leave you with this thought. Luck may open a door, but intention is what helps you walk through it. Your brand grows when you are thoughtful about your relationships, when you are clear about your narrative, when you prepare the people who represent you, when you show up strategically in rooms that matter, and when you stop assuming that the right people will magically discover your work, your talent, your brand. Because the strongest personal brands are not built by accident. They are built through clarity, consistency, and intentional action.
So thank you for spending this time with me in the Branding Room. Remember to stand by your brand and may all the luck be with you, but may it compliment your strategy as opposed to replacing it. And if this conversation made you think differently about how you're going to approach your career, I hope you'll also share this episode with someone who might need the reminder that their personal brand deserves more than luck. It deserves intention.
Until next time, stand by your brand. Take care.
That's it for this episode. I appreciate you hanging out with me on Branding Room Only. Now, please do me a quick favor. Head over to ratethispodcast.com/branding so more people can join this conversation. And make sure to stop by paulaedgar.com/events to see what's next. Whether I'm live online or in person, I'd love to see you there. See you next time in the branding room. And until then, stand tall, shine bright, and always stand by your brand.
