Hi Everyone -
Thanks very much for the following and interest in Personal Branding. I have been selected to be a writer for Examiner.com. I am the new NY Entry Level Career Examiner. I will be writing 3 - 4 articles a week focused on giving advice to entry level career job seekers. Please continue to send your feedback to my personalbrandmgmt@gmail.com or allison.tibbs@gmail.com.
I plan on continuing to write about Personal Branding, but now I will be able to provide more information on some of the other topics that people indicated learning more about on my survey.
Please take a look at my new page on the NY Examiner - http://www.examiner.com/x-8439-NY-Entry-Level-Careers-Examiner
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Thanks again for the support on this blog and I look forward to seeing you on my Examiner page!
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Thursday, April 16, 2009
The Six Steps to Personal Branding Success – Step Two: Evaluation
Once you’ve discovered who you are, what you want to be known for, and why you want to do what you have set out to do, you can move on to the next step in the personal branding process. The Evaluation step is where you have to take a long and hard look at what you are currently using and doing to promote yourself. This can be a difficult process because you have to be objective and honest with yourself. It’s like doing inventory and assessing whether that component is helping or hurting your personal brand.
When you are going through this evaluation period I would suggest examining the following:
1. Your Resume - Your resume is a reflection of your qualifications and it is what you will need to get your foot into the door for an interview or a promotion. Your resume really hits on your education, your previous and current work experience, certifications, awards, and activities. It is displaying why you are qualified for the job and that you deserve an interview. Take a look at your resume. Is it easy to read, does it include relevant information or just a bunch of “fluff’? Is it free of grammatical and spelling errors?
I would suggest that you print out a copy of your resume and whip out a red pen and edit your resume as if it belonged to someone else. Think about what you would be looking for if you were a recruiter. By having a professional, and relevant resume, you are saying to the world that you professional and relevant. Your resume should reflect your brand.
2. Profiles on Social Networks – In the age of Social Networking, sites like Facebook and Twitter have become main stream. Most people sign up and don’t understand the influence that these sites can have on the way your personal brand is perceived. Your profiles on these social networking sites are a great way to market yourself to the world by maintaining a clean and interesting profile.
Are your pages filled with scandalous pictures and wall posts? Have you adjusted your privacy settings so that you are controlling what people will see? Many employers are now using these sites to check up on the character of their potential employees. I’m not saying that you can’t use the sites to connect with your friends or have fun. However, I will say that these sites are a powerful tool in promoting your personal brand. When you look at your page, what adjectives would you use to describe yourself? If the thoughts that come to mind are not favorable, chances are that is how it is perceived by others. I would also suggest making sure that your profiles and pages are all consistent with each other. Clearly your Facebook page will have a bit more to it than you LinkedIn page, but you want to make sure that there is some sort of consistency to your pages. This will ensure that your brand will be perceived as credible and genuine.
3. Performance Reviews from Work - Looking over your past reviews is a great way to see how your former or current managers view your performance. They are great indicators of your strengths, your weaknesses, areas for focus, and areas for growth. When you are looking at your strengths, assess whether they are valid or relevant to your personal brand. When you are looking at your weaknesses try to determine if you can turn them into strengths and if not, then understand your limitations of what you are capable of doing. Many people create a personal brand based off what they aspire to be good at and not understanding what they are truly good at and what they are not able to do. The areas for focus should be things that will require hard work to fix, but will ultimately help to strengthen your brand. Also, take a look at the areas that you feel that you can further grow and develop. Make sure that these are things that are relevant to your brand and will help you to create a more complete brand.
When looking over these reports, read them with an open and honest eye. Understand that you are not perfect and try not to take offense to what is written. Knowing how your performance, strengths, and weaknesses are perceived by others will help you as you move forward in building your brand. You may find that certain areas are spot on and fall right in line with what you want your brand to represent. You may also find that there are things that you want to work on because you don’t want those things to be represented in your brand.
4. Feedback from your peers – Receiving feedback from your peers is taking the Performance Reviews a bit further and digging a little deeper to understand how you are perceived. This will require you to invest in thick skin and swallow your pride. Not only should you have an understanding of how those in your industry perceive you but you want to understand how your peers and those in your network perceive you. These will be the people who will be helping to communicate and support the growth of your brand. People won’t promote something they don’t believe in or feel does not have any substance.
Call up five of your closest friends and simply ask them to use 3 words to describe you. If the words that they use are positive and strong, then you know that you are on the right foot. Ask them what they think your best and worst attributes are and what are the areas that need improvement. Since these people really know you and support you, they will be honest and provide legitimate responses. Take their responses seriously and don’t get upset. Use them as fuel to help adjust your brand and add validity to your brand.
5. Your Image – The way you look is a very big factor in how you are perceived and how your brand is perceived. Take a look at yourself in the mirror and go through your clothes in your closet. What image are they portraying to the world? Does it coincide with what you want your personal brand to say? Are you ashamed of the way you look or do you think that it is a solid portrait of who you are? Your image is a very important part of your personal brand, because it will affect how people view you before you open your mouth.
I don’t expect you to go out and revamp your wardrobe or spend hundreds of dollars on clothes. I am saying that you should make sure that your clothes fit you properly and are in good condition. You can improve many items in your closet by finding a good tailor to hem, mend, and patch up anything. Start looking at the people that you look up to at work or in your network. Look at how they dress and take pointers from them.
This step is a humbling one, but it provides you with a true evaluation of who you are right now. This can be helpful as you begin to build your personal brand because you can take the necessary steps to make improvements or adjustments to your current state.
When you are going through this evaluation period I would suggest examining the following:
1. Your Resume - Your resume is a reflection of your qualifications and it is what you will need to get your foot into the door for an interview or a promotion. Your resume really hits on your education, your previous and current work experience, certifications, awards, and activities. It is displaying why you are qualified for the job and that you deserve an interview. Take a look at your resume. Is it easy to read, does it include relevant information or just a bunch of “fluff’? Is it free of grammatical and spelling errors?
I would suggest that you print out a copy of your resume and whip out a red pen and edit your resume as if it belonged to someone else. Think about what you would be looking for if you were a recruiter. By having a professional, and relevant resume, you are saying to the world that you professional and relevant. Your resume should reflect your brand.
2. Profiles on Social Networks – In the age of Social Networking, sites like Facebook and Twitter have become main stream. Most people sign up and don’t understand the influence that these sites can have on the way your personal brand is perceived. Your profiles on these social networking sites are a great way to market yourself to the world by maintaining a clean and interesting profile.
Are your pages filled with scandalous pictures and wall posts? Have you adjusted your privacy settings so that you are controlling what people will see? Many employers are now using these sites to check up on the character of their potential employees. I’m not saying that you can’t use the sites to connect with your friends or have fun. However, I will say that these sites are a powerful tool in promoting your personal brand. When you look at your page, what adjectives would you use to describe yourself? If the thoughts that come to mind are not favorable, chances are that is how it is perceived by others. I would also suggest making sure that your profiles and pages are all consistent with each other. Clearly your Facebook page will have a bit more to it than you LinkedIn page, but you want to make sure that there is some sort of consistency to your pages. This will ensure that your brand will be perceived as credible and genuine.
3. Performance Reviews from Work - Looking over your past reviews is a great way to see how your former or current managers view your performance. They are great indicators of your strengths, your weaknesses, areas for focus, and areas for growth. When you are looking at your strengths, assess whether they are valid or relevant to your personal brand. When you are looking at your weaknesses try to determine if you can turn them into strengths and if not, then understand your limitations of what you are capable of doing. Many people create a personal brand based off what they aspire to be good at and not understanding what they are truly good at and what they are not able to do. The areas for focus should be things that will require hard work to fix, but will ultimately help to strengthen your brand. Also, take a look at the areas that you feel that you can further grow and develop. Make sure that these are things that are relevant to your brand and will help you to create a more complete brand.
When looking over these reports, read them with an open and honest eye. Understand that you are not perfect and try not to take offense to what is written. Knowing how your performance, strengths, and weaknesses are perceived by others will help you as you move forward in building your brand. You may find that certain areas are spot on and fall right in line with what you want your brand to represent. You may also find that there are things that you want to work on because you don’t want those things to be represented in your brand.
4. Feedback from your peers – Receiving feedback from your peers is taking the Performance Reviews a bit further and digging a little deeper to understand how you are perceived. This will require you to invest in thick skin and swallow your pride. Not only should you have an understanding of how those in your industry perceive you but you want to understand how your peers and those in your network perceive you. These will be the people who will be helping to communicate and support the growth of your brand. People won’t promote something they don’t believe in or feel does not have any substance.
Call up five of your closest friends and simply ask them to use 3 words to describe you. If the words that they use are positive and strong, then you know that you are on the right foot. Ask them what they think your best and worst attributes are and what are the areas that need improvement. Since these people really know you and support you, they will be honest and provide legitimate responses. Take their responses seriously and don’t get upset. Use them as fuel to help adjust your brand and add validity to your brand.
5. Your Image – The way you look is a very big factor in how you are perceived and how your brand is perceived. Take a look at yourself in the mirror and go through your clothes in your closet. What image are they portraying to the world? Does it coincide with what you want your personal brand to say? Are you ashamed of the way you look or do you think that it is a solid portrait of who you are? Your image is a very important part of your personal brand, because it will affect how people view you before you open your mouth.
I don’t expect you to go out and revamp your wardrobe or spend hundreds of dollars on clothes. I am saying that you should make sure that your clothes fit you properly and are in good condition. You can improve many items in your closet by finding a good tailor to hem, mend, and patch up anything. Start looking at the people that you look up to at work or in your network. Look at how they dress and take pointers from them.
This step is a humbling one, but it provides you with a true evaluation of who you are right now. This can be helpful as you begin to build your personal brand because you can take the necessary steps to make improvements or adjustments to your current state.
Friday, April 3, 2009
The Six Steps to Personal Branding Success – Step One: Discovery
The first step to personal branding success is one of the harder steps. This is because it will require you to take time to figure out exactly who you are and what you want to do. The reason why this is so important is because when you begin to create your brand you have to be aware of what you want your brand to represent. In essence, you are discovering yourself. Many people want to skip this step and jump straight to the Development step, but Rome wasn’t built in a day. I would suggest that you don’t try to rush any of the steps and give each step ample time, attention and focus.
During this stage ask yourself the following questions:
1. What do you want to do?
2. What do you want to be known for?
3. What are you good at?
4. What is your motivation?
5. What are you passionate about?
6. What do you want your brand to represent?
By asking yourself these questions, you are creating a solid foundation for your brand to stand on. The first question may seem very simple, but actually it will require a lot of thought. That question really means, what do you want to do in order to become legendary? This will give you focus and guidance on how you should begin to build your brand. If you do not know what you want to do or what you want to be known for, your brand will be generic or it will be very complex and confusing. Choose a main theme and work towards that, but remember to be specific. Don’t just say I want to be successful. That doesn’t give you much to work on. What do you want to be successful at?
If you are not sure what the answer to the first two questions, the third question will help you out. Understanding what you are good at, might help you to figure out what you want to do and be known for. If you are good at speaking to people and connecting with people, maybe you should think about teaching, coaching, or even public speaking. If you are good at multi tasking or organizing information, you should look into event planning or project management. However, this question is not enough, because some people are good at one thing, but they are not passionate about it.
I have a friend who is great with numbers and data analysis, but she is not passionate about that. You want to make sure that you understand what you are passionate about and figure out a way to combine your passions with what you are good at. This will help you to create consistency when you begin to build your brand. If you are not passionate about what you are doing, then you will not be motivated to succeed or go above and beyond people’s expectations. Awhile ago, I wrote in my journal and I titled my entry “My Why?”
“My Why?” is basically my reasoning for doing what I do. One thing that I wrote down that I wanted to help people become successful and wanted to give people the opportunity to live a life full of abundance, success, excellence, and prosperity. I also wrote that I wanted to be a role model for young adults and help them to navigate their way through this crazy thing called life. I continued to write about my family, my friends, and my goals. I ended up typing up “My Why?” and placing it on my desk, so that whenever I felt unmotivated, lazy, or frustrated and wanted to quit, I would see it and realize why I was doing what I was doing. Try it, it may help you during this step.
I would suggest that you keep a journal, notebook, or a word document on your computer as you begin this process. This way you can use it as a reference when you begin to build your brand and to also track your progress through the Six Steps.
Self discovery is a vital part of life and it is essential as we grow, mature, and develop. The more aware you are of who you are, the easier it will be to understand your brand and how to communicate it to the world.
Happy Discovery!
During this stage ask yourself the following questions:
1. What do you want to do?
2. What do you want to be known for?
3. What are you good at?
4. What is your motivation?
5. What are you passionate about?
6. What do you want your brand to represent?
By asking yourself these questions, you are creating a solid foundation for your brand to stand on. The first question may seem very simple, but actually it will require a lot of thought. That question really means, what do you want to do in order to become legendary? This will give you focus and guidance on how you should begin to build your brand. If you do not know what you want to do or what you want to be known for, your brand will be generic or it will be very complex and confusing. Choose a main theme and work towards that, but remember to be specific. Don’t just say I want to be successful. That doesn’t give you much to work on. What do you want to be successful at?
If you are not sure what the answer to the first two questions, the third question will help you out. Understanding what you are good at, might help you to figure out what you want to do and be known for. If you are good at speaking to people and connecting with people, maybe you should think about teaching, coaching, or even public speaking. If you are good at multi tasking or organizing information, you should look into event planning or project management. However, this question is not enough, because some people are good at one thing, but they are not passionate about it.
I have a friend who is great with numbers and data analysis, but she is not passionate about that. You want to make sure that you understand what you are passionate about and figure out a way to combine your passions with what you are good at. This will help you to create consistency when you begin to build your brand. If you are not passionate about what you are doing, then you will not be motivated to succeed or go above and beyond people’s expectations. Awhile ago, I wrote in my journal and I titled my entry “My Why?”
“My Why?” is basically my reasoning for doing what I do. One thing that I wrote down that I wanted to help people become successful and wanted to give people the opportunity to live a life full of abundance, success, excellence, and prosperity. I also wrote that I wanted to be a role model for young adults and help them to navigate their way through this crazy thing called life. I continued to write about my family, my friends, and my goals. I ended up typing up “My Why?” and placing it on my desk, so that whenever I felt unmotivated, lazy, or frustrated and wanted to quit, I would see it and realize why I was doing what I was doing. Try it, it may help you during this step.
I would suggest that you keep a journal, notebook, or a word document on your computer as you begin this process. This way you can use it as a reference when you begin to build your brand and to also track your progress through the Six Steps.
Self discovery is a vital part of life and it is essential as we grow, mature, and develop. The more aware you are of who you are, the easier it will be to understand your brand and how to communicate it to the world.
Happy Discovery!
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