WORK, REPUTATION AND PERSONAL BRANDING
One piece of advice I wish I'd received when I was 16: Build your reputation before your resume.
Whatever you choose to do, start talking about it and promoting yourself right away.
Don't wait until you have a title, a role, a major company behind you, or permission to talk about what you do. Open a website, create a portfolio, write on LinkedIn, keep a blog, record videos. Choose the medium that feels most personal to you and document what you study, your experiments, your mistakes, what you learn, the questions you ask, and the projects you complete.
Make your enthusiasm and contribution visible.
Show off.
I say this especially to very young people because it's advice I wish I'd received.
In this article
The portfolio is built before you need it
We're used to thinking of a portfolio as a tool to prepare when it's time to look for a job: you gather together what you've done, polish your resume, and try to convince someone to give you a chance. I believe the process should start much earlier.
A portfolio built over time tells something that a CV compiled after the fact struggles to show: your evolution.
Describe how you think, what intrigues you, what problems you try to solve, what you knew how to do a year ago, and what you know how to do today. Leave a trace of your ability to learn.
Questo vale anche quando ciò che fai non ha ancora un riconoscimento ufficiale (del resto siamo nel 2026: la conoscenza, fortunatamente, ha smesso da tempo di chiedere il permesso alle istituzioni per circolare). Non aspettare che le tue competenze vengano convalidate da un pezzo di carta con timbro e ceralacca per farle valere.
A personal project is a project. An experiment is an experience. Research born out of curiosity can reveal much more about you than a title written under your name.
Your value exists before anyone certifies it.
I believe that one of the problems with our relationship with work is precisely this: we learn very early to wait for our value to be recognized from outside.
A grade. A degree. A certificate. A job. A promotion. A major client.
As if value appears the moment someone decides to attribute it to us.
But your value doesn't arise when someone recognizes it. It already exists. You must learn to make it visible, understandable, and to talk about it.
This is where communication, personal branding, positioning, and reputation come into play. Valuing yourself means learning to recognize what you bring and finding the most effective way to communicate it to others.
If we don't value ourselves, we can hardly expect anyone else to do it for us.
Value doesn't appear when someone certifies it: certification can recognize it, but you are the one who must learn to communicate it.
Sii “arrogante”. E lascia perdere la sindrome dell’impostore
Sì, mettiti in mostra. E lascia stare l’arroganza.
C’è un equivoco che vorrei toglierci di torno, possibilmente prima dei sedici anni: abbiamo confuso per troppo tempo la consapevolezza del proprio valore con l’arroganza.
Chi ci ha insegnato che riconoscere apertamente il proprio valore sia sconveniente, presuntuoso o arrogante?
L’arroganza è sopravvalutarsi, presumere di sapere ciò che non si sa, attribuirsi competenze che non si possiedono, guardare gli altri dall’alto in basso o sminuirli per sentirsi superiori. Sapere cosa sai fare, riconoscere ciò che hai imparato, dare un valore al tuo tempo e al tuo lavoro e pretendere che quel valore venga rispettato si chiama, molto più banalmente, autostima.
La distinzione diventa particolarmente importante quando si entra nel mondo del lavoro, perché è proprio quando siamo più giovani, inesperti e desiderosi di dimostrare quanto valiamo che siamo anche più facili da convincere del contrario: non hai abbastanza esperienza, devi ancora dimostrare tutto, dovresti essere grato dell’opportunità, all’inizio bisogna fare sacrifici. A volte è vero. Altre volte è semplicemente un ottimo sistema per ottenere molto offrendo poco.
Imparare a valutare realisticamente le proprie competenze significa anche saper riconoscere ciò che ancora non sappiamo fare e possiamo imparare, senza trasformare ogni lacuna nella prova che non valiamo abbastanza. Significa sapere cosa portiamo sul tavolo e impedire che sia sempre qualcun altro, magari con un evidente interesse economico, a stabilirne unilateralmente il valore.
Per questo vorrei che imparassimo a valorizzarci molto prima. Prima del primo lavoro, prima del primo cliente, prima che qualcuno provi a convincerci che chiedere il giusto significhi “pretendere troppo”.
Se non impariamo noi a riconoscere il nostro valore, lasciamo agli altri il privilegio di definirlo al posto nostro. E non è detto che abbiano interesse a fare una stima particolarmente generosa.
Io dico: siate “arroganti”. Siate consapevoli del vostro valore e non permettete a nessuno di sminuirlo.
Reputation is built as you gain experience.
Imagine two people reaching 25 with similar skills and experiences. One is then starting to wonder how to tell their story. The other has begun years earlier to document what they were doing, share their thoughts, showcase their projects, and build relationships around their interests.
The second isn't starting from scratch. It has already built a legacy of credibility, content, relationships, and a legacy of its journey.
This is why I think telling your story should accompany the experience, rather than being a promotional ploy at the end. And that's true whether you're 16 or 30, 40, or 60.
What I wish I had known before
I've been working since 2014—actually, since 2007, when I went to trade fairs as a hostess at 16 to practice my foreign languages—and I've been a freelancer since 2016. I'm 35: enough experience to know how many things I could have done differently, and enough memories from school and university to clearly remember the distance that separates those worlds from work.
I find myself in a position that I consider interesting: close enough to entering the professional world to remember its questions, naivety, and difficulties, but with enough experience behind me to recognize dynamics that I would not have been able to understand then.
Compensation, recognition, clients, interviews, reputation, personal branding, professional boundaries, self-employment: these are things we often learn by taking a beating. Some are probably unavoidable. Others we can avoid by discussing them beforehand.
È anche per questo che voglio mettere la mia esperienza a disposizione di chi sta entrando nel mondo del lavoro o sta cercando di capire come posizionarsi al suo interno. Non dalla cattedra, ma dall’altra parte di qualche anno di esperienza.
Are you still accepting clients who pay too little, charge too much, and continually invade your boundaries?
Do you find yourself constantly negotiating even what should be a given?
If you are building your professional career and want to understand how to convey your value, build your positioning or present yourself better in the job market, you can book a consultation with me. We can analyze the situation together and develop concrete strategies, boundaries, and tools to manage your work with greater awareness and negotiating power.
If you simply have a quick question about one of these topics, you can also email me. I'm happy to answer in a few lines.
The most common questions
Should I wait until I have experience before creating a portfolio?
No. A portfolio can also document personal projects, studies, experiments, and work done for learning. Building it as you gain experience also allows you to showcase your evolution over time.
Do I have to work for free to build my portfolio?
No. A portfolio requires projects, not necessarily free work. You can create personal projects, concepts, analyses, or experiments that concretely demonstrate how you work and think. Free work should be a conscious and strategic choice, not the mandatory price to pay to be considered a professional.
How do I understand my worth on the job market?
Professional value and the price the market is willing to pay aren't exactly the same thing. To orient yourself, you need to consider the required skills, experience, industry, responsibilities, results, geographic market, and contractual conditions, comparing multiple sources rather than relying on the first offer you receive.
Does personal branding mean constantly promoting yourself?
It means building a coherent and recognizable perception of what you can do, how you work, and the contribution you can make. Good personal branding makes your value easier to understand without forcing you to become a persona.
How can I build credibility if no one knows me yet?
Start with what you can demonstrate: projects, skills, reflections, method, interests, and ability to learn. Reputation doesn't suddenly appear when the first important assignment arrives: it's built through the consistency between what you say, what you do, and what others can observe.
What do I do if my work is not recognized or valued?
Before concluding that your value is the problem, try to distinguish three elements: the value you produce, your ability to communicate it, and the context in which you're seeking recognition. Sometimes we need to learn to better communicate ourselves. Other times, we're simply in the wrong place.
