When we decide it’s time to work on our personal brand, I’m often asked, “Where do I start?” As with most things, there is no one-size-fits-all response. We are all at different phases of our journey and we have different goals. However, there is a framework we can...
What if you could only communicate 3 things about yourself in an interview? No stories. No STAR format. Three things without explanation. What three benefits would you indicate you provide? How would you be selected over all the other candidates in the room? I believe...
Believe it or not, most of us have a marketing stack these days. This is the set of tech tools we use to communicate. As an individual or as a business, we all have them. A simple individual stack might look like Microsoft, Google, and Instagram. Companies can have...
What we wear can sometimes be a controversial topic. We say that what’s inside matters more than what we wear. Which is 100% true. Some consider clothes to be frivolous. Others feel they are an integral part of their identity. The clothes we choose send messages. A...
Our personal brand is all about perceptions. What people say and think about us when we aren’t in the room. Everything we do impacts those perceptions. And, for most people, those actions aren’t intentional. They aren’t processing the image they portray. Inside they...
Several months ago, I came across a resource that I believe should be foundational to personal career management. It’s a company called Career Fingerprint. You can use their site to capture your skills and accomplishments on a regular basis. Keep resumes organized....
The more people I coach, the more I hear a theme. We can see strengths and opportunities in others. We struggle with ourselves. We are too close to the situation. Too in our head…literally! We know too much. We lack objectivity. I get frustrated at how easily I can...
A foundation of our personal brand is our unique difference. We spend years working on our strengths, professional history, and goals. The more we work the clearer our unique difference becomes. Yet, we need to ensure others see that difference. Understand why they...
Previously, I wrote a post called “Hire Me If”. The goal was to get us to think about why people should hire us. This could be for a project or a new role. What makes our approach different from all the other people who share our title. I’ve been thinking about how to...
How to Create a Career Taxonomy That Works for Everything Organizing your career accomplishments, skills, and experiences can be a game-changer. It’s like building a personalized library for your professional life. Crafting a resume, updating LinkedIn, preparing for...
We’ve all been told we need an elevator pitch. A confident answer to the question, “So, what do you do?” Most advice turns this into a mini resume. But a personal elevator pitch isn’t about impressing someone. It’s about helping someone understand who you are, how you...
Our lives are stories. The stories cover specific events, the flow of our days, and the arcs of the years. We have stories about our family, friends, careers, hobbies, and so much more. What we sometimes forget is that we are the author of those stories. We can steer...
In a newsletter I received, there was a reminder of a video I've seen from Naval Ravikant. The video suggests you "productize yourself." Essentially, suggesting personal branding. However, the words make us think differently. If we were a product, how would we sell...
The end of the year is a natural reset. A moment to pause and take stock. This is the perfect time to make sure our personal brand reflects who we are today, not who we were twelve months ago. Our personal brand is not a logo, a headline, or a polished photo. Instead,...
We often think personal branding is for the rich and famous. For athletes with endorsement deals. For celebrities with PR teams. For influencers. But in today’s world, everyone has a personal brand. Whether you lead a team, run a business, or post occasionally on...
When You Feel Yourself Changing, What Comes Next? It can start subtly. Our title doesn’t quite fit. The goals we once chased don’t excite us anymore. We feel a shift, but we can’t quite name it. Or the shift can hit like a brick wall. A life quake… job loss, death,...
When working with marketing teams, the “PESO” media model can come up. PESO – Paid, earned, shared, and owned media. Here’s a quick overview of each: Paid – These are the places we pay a fee to get our brand noticed (i.e. Media buys) Earned – This occurs when the...
There is often controversy around the term “personal brand”. The concept comes across to some as fake. Trying to create a persona around ourselves that isn’t authentic. For those individuals, they tend to prefer the word “reputation”. When you look at the difference,...
There are two things that have crossed my desk this week that have me thinking. The first was the point that knowledge worker’s “tools” have been democratized. In the past, corporations owned the technology that was used for work. Today, knowledge workers have access...
One of the most difficult parts of defining our personal brand is defining the value we bring. We dance around the question. Mention some of our strengths. But struggle to find a succinct, powerful way to describe our unique difference. This is where the Unique Value...
No. That’s not a typo. With all the AI specialties popping up, I was introduced to this one: Coolors.co A site focused on helping us discover color palettes. Looking to define your personal brand? Create a cohesive look for your next campaign? Start a business on a...