Why Every Entrepreneur Needs A Personal Platform and Brand

John Meese -

Every single entrepreneur has a task list miles long. Adding a project to that list is a tall order, I know. And platform-building? That's tough stuff. But it's worth it, either way.

What is a platform?

As Michael Hyatt explains in his best-selling book Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World,

Very simply, a platform is the thing you have to stand on to get heard. It's your stage. But unlike a stage in the theater, today's platform is not built of wood or concrete or perched on a grass hill. Today's platform is built of people. Contacts. Connections. Followers.

And brand? These days, that means much more than names like McDonald's, Abercrombie, and Apple.

In the modern online world, you have a personal brand.

The choice is not whether to establish a brand, your choice is what it will be.

A clearly defined platform and brand provides authority and influence that will help you succeed in nearly any industry.

But for the entrepreneur? It makes all the difference in the world.

I'd classify an entrepreneur as someone with more ideas than time, and who generally works on at least two projects at once. Why does that entail a platform? Well, I'll tell you.

  1. Momentum. An entrepreneur's projects can be scattered, with various levels of success. When an entrepreneur grows their brand and platform, each success acts like a launch pad for the next.
  2. Foundation. As long as your building a platform of you, your success can grow with each project. That's even if a couple (or dozens) of them fail.  Your  platform becomes your bedrock, to return to when failure occurs.
  3. Relationship. People don't connect to companies the same way they'll connect to you. When you start sharing who you are—just as much as what you do—you unlock a voice that you never knew you had.

Look at the most successful entrepreneurs, and you'll see that this rings true.

Take Elon Musk, for example. His personal brand stretches far beyond his involvement with PayPal, SpaceX, and Tesla Motors. Besides collecting a sizable fortune, he's garnered more than 1 million followers on Twitter and a TED talk, to boot.

TIME named Elon Musk one of the top 100 to have influenced our world in 2010, and he inspired the portrayal of Tony Stark in Iron Man and the subsequent Avengers movies. There's no question that his brand is established.

And what about Richard Branson?

Yes, the man's enterprise is firmly established—with more than forty companies within it—but he's never stopped growing his own platform on top of the Virgin brand.

Richard Branson maintains a well-read blog, has millions of followers on social media, and has published seven books. His platform is set.

It takes years to reach the level of entrepreneurs like these, but the potential is there. You have it within you (we teach you how to unlock it inside Platform University).

Take your potential, take your ideas, and establish your platform and brand.

Question: Have you started building your platform?