Every person you know, including yourself, has a reputation. With some people, you know that you can trust them. Other people are always late for appointments. Others still are so flaky that you would never turn to them for help because they will simply forget. The list is endless. These things matter, something that has been known since the beginning of time. Before the internet, for instance, we used to talk about our ‘street creds’, which is basically reputation as well. But why does any of this matter? Your friends are your friends, and the rest is irrelevant, right? Well, not quite.

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Mixing Business with Pleasure

Let’s say you have come across a great investment opportunity, but you need a partner. Which one of your friends or family members would you turn to? How do you make that decision? The reality is that you will choose the person with the best possible reputation. Taking that into consideration, it is no surprise that reputation management consultancy firms are seeing more and more individual people come to them for help.

How to Build a Good Reputation

We know that a good reputation is valuable. After all, you will probably want people to think the best of you as well. In the past, if your reputation was tarnished, all you really had to do was moved to a different area of your town and the problem would be solved. Due to the internet, however, this isn’t possible anymore. No matter where you go, your reputation will follow you around. So how do you make sure that this reputation is a good one? The following five tips could be of benefit to you:

1. Copy people who you admire and respect. This is a tricky one, because you don’t want to change who you are completely. People will see right through that and you will build a reputation as being a fake or a copycat. However, if people you admire regularly take certain actions, you can do the same thing. Perhaps you could donate to charity, for instance.
2. Always stay positive. Be positive about yourself, but also about others. Listen to other people, but don’t engage in negative behaviors like spreading the information they have given you. Never engage in gossip, for instance. And, if you’re criticized, take it on board with respect and humility.
3. Do not engage in negative behaviors. Burping, for instance, is very polite at a dinner table in China. It is not, however, polite at a dinner table in a Paris restaurant. So, make sure that you know what behaviors are respected where you are, and incorporate those in your personal routine.
4. Always deliver on your promises. If someone asks you to do something, you should only agree to actually do it if you know that you are able to. Letting people down is a surefire way of destroying your reputation. Refusing to do something is far better than agreeing and then not delivering.
5. Be involved everywhere. This is an integral part of social media optimization, a vital tool within reputation management. Having a large social circle is a great way to improve your reputation. It is also a slightly dangerous one because, if you do make a mistake, you will have a larger circle for this mistake to circle through. On the other hand, if your reputation is going to get destroyed, it may as well be quicker.