A Crucial Part of Your Personal Brand

George Krueger & Mary-Lynn Foster — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 07:00:07 +0000

Bigg success is life on your own terms. We’ve said that the reason for the redundancy – “your own” – in our definition of bigg success is to explicitly show that you are the entrepreneur of a very important enterprise – your life.

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If life on your own terms means building your own personal brand, there’s a very important principle to keep in mind:

You’re the entrepreneur, the CEO, and the brand manager!

With their careers, some people fall short in reaching their potential because they just sell a service. They exchange their time and knowledge for money.

As bigg goal-getters, we don’t want to just sell a service. We want to create our own brands.

But we don’t want to just create a personal brand, we want to build our lives on our own terms.

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Would you like more tips and tools to live your life on your own terms? Subscribe to the Bigg Success Weekly – it’s FREE!

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One crucial key to building our personal brands is consistency. There are at least three areas where this holds true:

Promotion

One of the things the biggest brands do very well is convey a consistent brand image. Yet that’s one of the mistakes that we make most frequently in building our personal brands: we’re inconsistent in showing ourselves to the world.

You want to convey a consistent message across all the media you use – your resume, your cover letters, your e-mails, notes you send, social media you might use, clubs you join, and on and on. With these materials, you create the image of who you are.

You also want to keep in mind who you’re trying to relate to in order to create the best promotional materials for your brand. Promotion sets the expectations. What can I expect from you? That’s your brand promise.

Performance

You want to meet, or better yet exceed, the expectations you set. Believe it or not, it’s better to deliver at a consistently lower level than to perform poorly at times and superbly at others.

Kind of counterintuitive, isn’t it?

However, think about your experiences as a customer. Aren’t you happier if your expectations are low but satisfied, than if your higher expectations aren’t met?

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For a very simple example, think about getting an e-mail from me today that is written well and has no typos. Tomorrow, I send you an e-mail that’s just full of typos. What would you think?

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I might think, “What’s going on with George today? Is he sick? Is he too busy? Is he just this careless sometimes?” It raises a lot of questions.

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At the start, strive to meet expectations all the time. Then find ways to gradually improve your performance so you exceed expectations regularly. That leads to bigg success!

Persona

Have you ever dealt with a person who is very chatty and friendly one day and may seem somewhat aloof at other times?

It’s okay to be moody; we just don’t need to share it with the world! We have to find a way to control our emotions so we present a consistent temperament.

Sweatin’ to an example

Think about Richard Simmons. He’s done pretty well for himself. He’s always dressed in the same kind of clothes, complete with the shortest of shorts. He’s wacky and upbeat. He’s always empathetic and dancing to the oldies!

You may not want to emulate Richard Simmons. We can understand. However, he has done an outstanding job of building his brand. You know what to expect and he consistently delivers.

All someone has to do is say Richard Simmons and you get a clear image in your mind of who he is and what he’s about.

That’s the lesson for all of us. Consistently – in your promotion, your performance and your persona – build your personal brand so you can live your life on your own terms. That’s bigg success!

What are you doing to build your personal brand?

You can share that with us by leaving a comment below, calling us at 888.455.BIGG or sending us an e-mail at bigginfo@biggsuccess.com.

Thanks so much for personally reading our post today. We brand that a good day!

Please join us next time when we share how recent bad luck and bad timing almost kept us from life on our own terms.

Until then, here’s to your bigg success!

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(Image in today's post by blary54)

I Just Got Laid Off – Part 3

George Krueger & Mary-Lynn Foster — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 07:00:19 +0000

We’re wrapping up a 3-part series on what to do if you just got laid off. In Part 1, we discussed the day you learn about your layoff. Part 2 was about the first couple of days after the announcement. Now we want to talk about moving on to your next job.

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We’re moving ahead quickly, but don’t be alarmed if you’re not quite ready to move on just yet. You’re going through a grieving process so it will take some time. Be aware of it, but also look forward to that time in the near future when you start feeling your zest return. If it doesn’t return relatively quickly, you may consider speaking with a professional.

During this time, it’s important to maintain a proper attitude. One of the best ways to do this is by associating with positive people. It’s also helpful to talk with people who have gone through this before. Ask for their advice. Almost everyone really likes to help other people. They can encourage you with their story.

Next, assess your financial situation. Ask yourself how aggressive you need to be in your job search. Map out a timeline. Think about phases.

For example, in Phase 1, you may be able to be very choosy in your job search. Phase 2 may mean you need to find a job soon so you’ll be less selective. In Phase 3, you may freelance or work part-time to get some money in the door. You may find a job in the first phase, but you’ll be prepared in case you don’t.

Also plan how you will market yourself. Think about what makes you unique? How can you communicate that? What opportunities play to your core strengths?

Obviously, you’ll also need to update your resume if you haven’t already. We found a great site for help with resumes, cover letters, job search and interviewing tips. Check out Resume Help.

Begin to think about how you will explain your recent departure. Practice interviewing with a friend, preferably someone who is a manager who interviews people. Get feedback.

One of the most important things to get on your to-do list is networking. It’s amazing how many people land a new job through a referral. Resist the urge to go into self-imposed isolation. Reach out to everyone you know who might be able to help you. Tell them what you’re looking for.

Have you registered on Meetup to find out about local events of interest to you? Are you on LinkedIn? What about Facebook? Have you joined any social networking groups for your industry? The contacts you make through these sites will be invaluable now.

The good news is that most people who go through this report that they are happier in their new job than they were in their old job. It may take some time, but you’ll land on your feet!

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