Fear Anyone?

I lay in bed, forcing myself to sleep but I am failing miserably. I have an early class tomorrow and all I can think about is how am I ever going to create a personal brand? Needless to say, I am overwhlemed.

I am a Public Relations post grad student at Humber. And for our Social and Digital Media class this is one of our projects. Develop a Personal Brand, a persona with presence and potential influence in your niche of choice. Don't get me wrong, I love this concept but the more I analyze the task at hand, the more I start to toss and turn; I even get a little nauseated. I dont think I speak for myself, but Social Media, as valuable as it is (no plans of contesting that), can be a tad overwhelming. I attribute this fear to the magnitude of it all. I mean, were not talkig about developing a profile and space to share with your friends (aka Facebook), but a space that can transcend the comfortable realm of what I call my life/world and enter into the limitless digital world. There are a couple of factors that hit the "OMG" status.

First, how to set myself apart? Second, how to say something that people will be interested in and actually read? Third and most importantly, how to withstand and create a mark? a digital footprint if you will. In the attempt to digest it all, the notion is: create, obtain and maintain. I dont know why this seems so overwhelming, perhaps I stand solo (I hope not, and if I'm not, let me know!) but I am not going to shy away. One could say I am going to do this because if not I would fail Michael Cayley's class, not good. But in reality, I am going to do this because this is the age of social media and it belongs to my generation.

Jack Trout in his best selling book, "Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind", tackles the idea of the how to position a brand beyond the traditional forms of marketing; "an organized system for finding a window in the mind. It is based on the concept that communication can only take place at the right time and under the right circumstances" (p. 19 of 2001 paperback edition).
http://bit.ly/ILlAi

While reading this quote (I intend on reading the entire book), I felt a sense of relief. I felt as though I saw a speck of light in the midst of this daunting mission. Communication at the right time and under tthe right circumstances is simply now. A time where I surround myself with fellow peers that posses the same fears and hopes and all under the same strive to learn and develop. It is our time to explore and certainly make plenty of mistakes, but we are in it together. I believe it is natural to have fears, and this is one, but it is part of my natural composition to be able to confront them.