Hear about Santa’s personal branding expert on The BIGG Success podcast. Click PLAY for some fun holiday sounds.
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You may not know it, but Santa keeps a personal branding expert on his staff. The funny thing is we knew about this expert’s colleagues for years before we heard of him.
If you want to be famous, you need to build a personal brand. To help you develop that brand, we share five simple questions to ask.
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We discuss how to achieve fame through personal branding on The BIGG Success Show. Here’s a summary of that discussion.
The famous artist, Andy Warhol, famously said, “In the future, everyone will be world famous for fifteen minutes.”
The future is here! Andy Warhol turned out to be quite a prognosticator!
Now, you may raise an objection. You may say you don’t want to be famous. But before you cast this information away, think about one thing:
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Think you need to tell your own story to build a personal brand? George & Mary-Lynn talk with a guy who’s built a local and national name, by helping others tell their stories. Click PLAY to learn how he did it.
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Alex Ruggieri is a highly-recognized real estate broker and Senior Advisor for Sperry Van Ness. But he’s also a media mogul, with a radio show called Central Illinois Business; a TV segment, Business Insider on WCIA Channel 3, and the Commercial Connections Podcast for the National Association of REALTORS®
When starting out as a broker, Alex didn’t have the money to spend on advertising to help him stand out from all of his competition. So he asked himself this question: “What do I have that I can give that would provide value to others that isn’t money?”
He thought about his strengths and what he loved to do.
What he came up with has made him a thought leader in his industry at both the local and national level….
As a young man, Alex felt fortunate to be introduced to business people in the Champaign-Urbana, Illinois community whom he considered mentors. People he still looks up to today. He noticed no one was telling their stories.
Alex approached a TV station to pitch an idea for a program that would showcase the stories of the business people in the community. He got the green light to host the show! From there, a local radio station asked him to do the same kind of program for them. That station happened to also own the city newspaper.
Alex was getting exposure everywhere by giving his time to create compelling content for local media outlets. Alex also loved the fact that he was able to give back to the business community by giving them an outlet to to share what they do.
Alex’s media work in his hometown caught the attention of the National Association of REALTORS®, who asked if he’d host their national podcast!
As he says, “If you give enough…the universe will take care of you.”
Alex gets business by doing what he loves…talking about business. Find what you’re passionate about, and use it to build your personal brand. It leads to BIGG Success.
Become a free member of our Entreprenurturing™ Center to hear our extended discussion with Alex where you’ll also learn:
Plus, Alex shares the BIGG defining moment that pushed him towards the work ethic he still uses today.
Just sign up for our free download to get instant access.
Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file | podcast:
http://traffic.libsyn.com/biggsuccess/00888-010914.mp3
Listen to this post! Click Play to hear George & Mary-Lynn on The BIGG Success Show (Duration 4:05)
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The best job opportunity today is far different from the ideal job of days gone by. Back then, someone created a job for you.
Today, there’s a new model – you have to create the job yourself.
There’s still plenty of work to be done. It’s just increasingly not being done by employees.
The goal used to be one employer for life. Now it’s no employer for life. One employer is too limiting: You get stuck in an industry which may die. You don’t grow enough. Your skills become too specific.
With the new model, you grow as much as you want, as fast as you want. You learn transferable skills so you can adapt to any environment.
In the old model, employees had one customer (their employer). All their eggs were in that company’s basket.
They lived and died on the success of a single business. If the company you were working for laid you off, 100% of your income was gone.
The new job opportunity is with a portfolio of customers. If one of them stops doing business with you, your income only takes a partial hit.
You’ve diversified your income – something every single financial planner suggests you do with your money. Why should your career be any different?
In the old economy, a cover letter and a resume were the primary marketing tools. Companies posted jobs which were available. People responded like cattle.
They all pretty much looked the same. Companies sifted through the piles for the few who stood out.
The new model requires a complete marketing toolkit. You have to cut through the clutter so prospective customers know about you. After all, you won’t find these opportunities posted.
And that’s a wonderful thing – it means you can separate yourself from the masses just by out-marketing them.
Which brings us to our next difference between then and now…
In the old system, the company brand was all that mattered. Employees didn’t need a brand because they didn’t want to go anywhere. They just wanted to keep working for the company.
The new way requires a professional brand. We purposely didn’t use the term “personal brand.” It implies it’s all about you. It’s not – it should be about how your business helps your customers.
What makes you unique? How do your skills and expertise make their lives better? How do you they find out about you?
These are the some of the challenges for modern “job” seekers – because today’s best job opportunity is a business opportunity.
It’s also an opportunity to stop living on your employer’s terms and start living your life on your own terms. That’s BIGG success!
Do you agree? Is the best job opportunity today to own your own business?
Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file | podcast:
http://traffic.libsyn.com/biggsuccess/00875-082013.mp3
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We were pleased to have John Tantillo, The Marketing Doctor, as our guest on The Bigg Success Show today. John has over twenty years experience in the marketing industry and is the President of Marketing Department of America. He’s also a behavioral research psychologist who you may have seen on Fox News, Fox Business News or heard on a radio station somewhere around the country. Let’s get to the conversation …
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John, your mantra is “Go Brand Yourself” using the principles that companies use to create your personal brand. So many people today are trying to do that. What are some of the tips you give them?
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First and foremost, you have to be yourself. I just dislike this concept of a makeover. I believe in brand-overs. With a makeover, you conform yourself to what others think you should be. A brand-over is finding out who you are, what your strengths are, and then promoting the heck out of that. Go brand yourself! That’s really the secret. I guess that’s the psychologist in me.
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When you were talking about that, I immediately started thinking about Susan Boyle. She’s had a huge makeover. What do you think about that?
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It’s obvious that it was a makeover and not a brand-over. All the handlers were telling her to do this and do that. That’s the worst case scenario. I’ll give you a good example of this. When I first went on Neil Cavuto’s show about two years ago, the geniuses were telling me that I couldn’t wear a bow tie. You can’t wear a hat. You have to make a decision between wearing a bow tie and a hat. I looked at them and said, “You’re crazy. You’re all nuts. That’s my signature, That’s my brand! Those are my brand characteristics.” So fast forward two years to a week ago, I met Neil Cavuto in the hall. He said, “We have to get you back on the show.” I said, “Sure, Neil, anything you say.” Here’s the point: I get back to my office and I get a call from The Strategy Room where I appear regularly at Fox. They were telling me that people from Neil Cavuto’s show had called wanting to know about the guy who wears the bow tie and the hat! But that’s me. Now if somebody would suggest to you, George, that you wear a bow tie and a hat, you might not feel comfortable. That would be a makeover. It wouldn’t be sincere. Figure out what you want to communicate and then promote the heck out of it.
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Come to think of it, John, I could use a complete brand-over! So how do you find your brand?
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If you wanted to do what I call a brand-over, George, you would ask Mary-Lynn, “What do you think my brand is? What are my positive attributes?” Then you go to the next ring – your friends. You ask them what they think your brand is. The last group is your colleagues. Based on that data, you begin to shape your brand. Is there any discrepancy between the brand others see you as and the brand you see yourself as. If there is, do you want to make the change if you’re not being successful with your present brand?
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It seems pretty simple, but it’s not.
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No, it’s not, because sometimes we don’t want to hear what people are going to tell us. But it’s the best way to make yourself a better professional. It’s not just listening. It’s also evaluating whether they are realistic and whether you can integrate their suggestions into your brand.
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Please join us next time when we continue our discussion with John. Among other things, he’ll tell us the advantage individuals have over institutions today.
Thanks so much for the gift of your time today. Until next time, here’s to your bigg success!
