Personal Brand

Marketing professionals tell us there are typically two types of marketing campaigns: “push marketing” and “pull marketing”.

Push marketing is best represented by the guy who says something like, “If you don’t come see me today I can’t save you any money.” If that conjures up images of used car sakes people and slimy insurance salesman, well it should. Most of us do not have the luxury of pushing too hard, lest we push them away for good. If you are truly the only game in town thus may work, but for most of us this is NOT the kind of marketing in which we can afford to engage.

Pull marketing, on the other hand, can best be portrayed by the ice cream truck that treks it’s way through your neighborhood on a hot sunny day. Can you hear the truck driving down the street blasting that annoying rendition of Joplin’s “The Entertainer?”  Annoying perhaps, but when she stops her customers come running out of the woodwork waving their money.

How would you like to have that happen at your business? Would you like potential employers to seek you out? Of course you would! We would all love to have people come running to us, eager to give us their money! That’s called pull marketing.

Are you tired of pushing people away? Try pull marketing.

What could you do TODAY that will pull people towards you?  What will you do TODAY that will make customers come running to your business?

Personal Brand Related Posts

• What is a Personal Brand and Why Do You Need One?
• Your Personal Brand – Tips From A Branding Expert
• Important Personal Branding Links
• 7 Key Ways to Promote Your Personal Brand
• Use LinkedIn to Promote Your Personal Brand
• What Everybody Needs To Know About Writing A Blog To Promote Your Personal Brand
• What YOU Can Learn From Leonardo Da Vinci’s Resume

I hate to break it to you, but you are just like everybody else.  There are hundreds of people who do what you do. Whether you are a sales person, a personal trainer, a massage therapist, a lawyer or a dentist, in your service area there are hundreds (maybe even thousands) of people with your occupation who provide exactly the same services and products you do.

The problem with being like everybody else is that it makes it difficult to answer the question, “Why should I hire you rather than that other person?”  If you can not demonstrate why you are unique, the only thing that sets you apart is your price. So you cut your margin. Or you are wiling to take a smaller salary. Or you lower your price. Once that happens, everybody loses because you can’t compete on price. Someone is always willing to go lower.  Instead, you have to compete on value (or perceived value).

How will someone distinguish YOU from everybody else who does what you do?  If everyone else is just like you, then why would someone hire you rather than that other person?  How will you set yourself apart from those other people so you can find the perfect clients or land the perfect job?  THAT is the challenge.

Here’s the good news. . . There may be hundreds of people who do what you do, but there is only one YOU.  You have a unique set of skills, abilities, knowledge and experiences that make you different from everybody else who does what you do.  The secret to finding the perfect clients or landing the perfect job is to set yourself apart from the others who are just like you.  What makes you irreplaceable?  What specific and exclusive traits distinguish you from everyone else who does what you do?  What is your one-of-a-kind, distinctive, exclusive, unique value proposition?

When you can discover and leverage your unique value proposition you are on the way to the perfect job. When you can set yourself apart from everyone else your business will begin to grow like crazy!

So I ask you once again, what makes YOU so special? Figure that out and you’ve got it made!

Happy Hunting!

Personal Brand Related Posts

• What is a Personal Brand and Why Do You Need One?
• Your Personal Brand – Tips From A Branding Expert
• Important Personal Branding Links
• 7 Key Ways to Promote Your Personal Brand
• Use LinkedIn to Promote Your Personal Brand
• What Everybody Needs To Know About Writing A Blog To Promote Your Personal Brand
• What YOU Can Learn From Leonardo Da Vinci’s Resume

“What do you do?”

Does your answer to this question stop the conversation cold or does it take the conversation to the next level? Whether you are looking for more clients or searching for a new job, the way you answer this question is vitally important for getting the other person to talk to you.

As a small business owner who is looking for more clients, you want your answer to engage the listener so they can determine whether or not your product or service can help solve their problems.  Most of the time, however, our answers make the hearer feel like you are trying to sell them something. That will turn them off quickly!

If you are looking for a job, your answer to this question will determine whether the listener helps you uncover job leads or whether they offer you sympathy for looking for work in a time of unprecedented high unemployment. You don’t want sympathy!  What you want is a hot lead to a position that will provide satisfactory work and a good salary.

Here are a few tips for answering the question, “what do you do?” These tips will help you keep the conversation moving forward rather than stop it dead in its tracks.

1. Pepper your answer with action words. Since the question is “what do you DO?” your answer needs to be verb heavy.  Don’t give a title (“I’m as insurance sales person” “I’m an accountant”).  Right or wrong, titles place you in a box in the other person’s mind. Action words, on the other hand, will allow the listener to put themselves in the place of a person who may need your products or services. Action words will allow the other person to say, “that’s interesting. Please tell me more.”
2. Strike a familiar chord. Use language that meets the needs of your perfect client or prospective boss. We too often use the technical language of our field. That’s great if we are talking to professionals who do what we do. It’s rotten if we are trying to pique the interest of someone who needs what we have to offer. Use the language of your clients to explain what you do.  It will open many doors!
3. Focus on the problem, not the solution. Our clients all have a problem that needs to be fixed. However, most of them do not know exactly what the problem is, let alone how to fix it. If you jump to the solution too quickly you run the risk of shutting down the conversation. Remember, people don’t really care what you know until they know that you care about them. Focusing on the problem keeps you from sounding like a used care salesman.

The next time someone asks you “what you do”, I hope you will be able to keep the conversation moving forward. Work on these three tips and you will get some amazing responses!  I guarantee it!

And for those of you who wonder what I do, well . . . my job is to help you answer the “what do you do” question. I help people discover, develop and promote their personal brand so they can find more terrific clients or land the perfect job.

Yep, that’s what I do. What do YOU do?

Happy Hunting, friends!

Related Posts

• What is a Personal Brand and Why Do You Need One?
• Your Personal Brand – Tips From A Branding Expert
• Important Personal Branding Links
• 7 Key Ways to Promote Your Personal Brand
• Use LinkedIn to Promote Your Personal Brand
• What Everybody Needs To Know About Writing A Blog To Promote Your Personal Brand

A few years back Tom Peters taught us the importance of building our personal brand. Over the last couple of weeks I’ve come to realize that I learned about personal branding long before Mr. Peters ever wrote about it. I learned about personal branding from Tom Dick Harry — my dad.

He might not have been Billy Mays, or Seth Godin, or Barrack Obama, but he was definitely a unique man! In the 1970s he grew hip sideburns and a handlebar mustache. The mustache stuck and became his personal trademark until the day he died. That mustache became his personal brand.

Dad understood the power of networking.  He was always looking for ways to help people connect with each other.  He loved people and being the center of attention.  He also loved introducing his friends to each other. His strong faith led him to work hard to connect people with their God…whoever that might be. While dad was definitely a Christian, he was open to helping people find room for other understandings and interpretations of God.  One young man, raised a devout Jew, asked if he could go talk to Dick because he “had a few questions about religion that Dick would understand.”  Dad did.  He was open minded enough to know that his image of God, while strong and based upon biblical principals, was incomplete.  He was a champion “connector.”

My dad taught me to WORK HARD while I was at work, “If you don’t have anything to do, grab a broom and start sweeping. If the boss walks through and sees 2 people standing around and one sweeping, who do you think he’s going to send home?” I hated it as a kid, but I love it as an adult.  It’s not difficult for me to find work because I am willing to do almost anything that needs to be done. That’s what dad taught me to do.

Dad was a musician and an artist.  As a child, I can remember the family standing around the piano and singing boisterously while dad played the piano. His voice was strong and he always sang at the top of his lungs.  I could hear him singing even when we sat in different parts of the congregation.  I loved knowing my dad was there giving it all he had.  He was a passionate musician.

Dad also had a sense of humor with his music. He once told me that, while in college, he and his friends would gather to sing in the parlor with him at the piano. At the end of the evening he would play a series of scales and finish by playing an incomplete scale. He’d play 7 (out of notes and leave the room in darkness.  Inevitably someone would traipse downstairs to complete the scale by playing that last note.  I love it! I have instructed the musicians at his memorial service to end their postlude that way!  I wonder if anyone will notice. I wonder if anyone will complete the scale.

Dad influenced many young people in his lifetime.  He was an elementary school teacher and volunteered to work with youth in our church. People loved having him around for his vibrancy and uniqueness.  Dad taught kindergarten in the 1970s–highly unusual for that era to have a man in the classroom with young children. Dad taught the same silly songs to high school kids at camp that he sang with 5 year-olds at school.  I don’t know how many adults taught “I Wub A Wabbit” to their own kids, but I do know they learned it from dad when they were in high school. . . hand motions and all!

Dad was passionate about life and living. He almost died many times over the past 15 years, but his will to live always pulled him through.  He didn’t want to miss a party or the chance to make a new friend. He was ill for a long time, but he never wanted to let that stop him from going somewhere or being with someone he loved. He was always up for going to coffee or lunch or a movie. His love of living poured out in generosity as well. Dad never was a rich man, but he always wanted to pay for your drink or meal. If someone asked him for the shirt off his back, he would give it to him no questions asked. Of course, the shirts dad wore were usually pink or flowery or gawdy in some other way. . . perhaps that’s why people seldom asked for his shirt!

Dad encouraged me to live an authentic life, to love boldy, and to enjoy being around people. He was my number one fan, standing out in the rain at our football games in High School (I played on the C team, so he was pretty much the only person in the crowd), attending every concert. I visited dad the day before he died in the Intensive Care Unit of the hospital. I was supposed to be the guest preacher at his church that evening, and the first thing dad said was, “I’m so sorry I won’t be able to make it to support you.” He was that way for all of his children and many more who’s father wasn’t willing or able to be there.

Tomorrow we will gather to celebrate dad’s life and to bid him farewell. It will be a sad occassion, but it will also be an amazing celebration because dad loved people and life so much.  I know the church will be full to the brim with people sharing wonderful stories of how their lives have been touched by Tom Dick Harry. We will laugh and cry. We will sing from the bottom of our hearts. We will share stories and lean on each other–his friends and family. We will be together, just as he would have wanted it.

Dad was a special man with a unique personality and a distinct personal brand. Thomas Richard Harry–not just any Tom, Dick and Harry, but my dad. I’m greatful he taught me how to love life. I’m greatful he taught me how to passionately love God’s people. I’m greatful he taught me how to live my own unique, personal brand.

Thanks dad! I love you and I will miss you.

One of the most common mistakes people make when they go looking for a job is to cast the broadest net possible hoping that “something will come along.”  I hear it all the time: “What kind of work are you looking for?”  “Oh, I will do ANYTHING!”  Really?  You will do anything?  Then why aren’t you sweeping the sidewalk or washing windows for a living?  Since you are willing to do ANYTHING, maybe you should apply for this gal’s job:

It’s not just job seekers! Small business owners are quite similar to job seekers in this regard.  When asked who their perfect client is, many small business owners will say, “anyone with a checkbook”, or “I can work with anyone.”   The truth is, you can’t work with just anyone.  Business is done between people. People don’t hire companies, they hire other people who can help them accomplish their goals. Businesses don’t do business with other businesses, they work with people within the business no matter how large or small your company is.

Contemporary wisdom tells us to use a “shotgun approach” to finding a job or clients–firing off resumes or business flyers in every direction. Truth is, this approach is expensive and unproductive.  It’s one of the major sources of pain for every job seeker and every small business owner.  One thing we know to be CERTAIN is that if you aim at nothing, you are very likely to hit it.  In order to be successful, you MUST focus your market.

Here are three reasons why focusing your target is a good thing:

1. Focusing your target helps you get crystal clear about what you have to offer. What do you have to offer that nobody else does?  What makes you unique?  Focus on that and you will shine.
2. Focusing your target allows your networking partners to think of specific people to introduce you to. Networking (or word of mouth) is the most effective marketing tool around. Whether you are  looking for a job or trying to find new clients, your best shot is to empower your network.  Using the shotgun approach just confuses your network because they don’t know how to refer people to you.
3. Focusing your target will help you set goals for your marketing campaign.  If you know WHO you are looking for, you can leverage your time and energy.  Every call, every resume, every cover letter, every flyer, and every conversation moves you in the direction of your goal! When you are moving in the right direction, you can measure you progress.

Personal Brand Related Posts

• What is a Personal Brand and Why Do You Need One?
• Your Personal Brand – Tips From A Branding Expert
• Important Personal Branding Links
• 7 Key Ways to Promote Your Personal Brand
• Use LinkedIn to Promote Your Personal Brand
• What Everybody Needs To Know About Writing A Blog To Promote Your Personal Brand
• What YOU Can Learn From Leonardo Da Vinci’s Resume

Alicia Keys understands the power of the web! On Tuesday, April 6 she took out an ad in Monster.com looking for a new head blogger. If you are a blogger, a journalist, a writer, or a social media junky you need to check this out!

Christina Warren of Mashable writes, “Make no mistake, this is a real job and not a contest. Applicants need to be qualified and they will be held to high standards. The Head Blogger search underscores the growing importance of social media in various industries — and also the power that the web has in employee recruiting.”

I find this fascinating in so many ways!

1. Alicia Keys knows that a blog will help her build and promote her personal brand.
2. Monster.com (not know for their ability to put out many REAL job opportunities) has scored some great press in this one!
3. Mainstream media has not yet picked this up, but I bet Ms. Keys has had hundreds if not thousands of responses in just a few hours.
4. Social media is quickly becoming one of the most important tools for job seekers.

What can you learn from this that will help move your job search (or your business) forward?  I’d love to hear your responses!

And don’t forget, if you live in the Portland area and are interested in beefing up your own blog for your job search or to grow your business, we are having a “4 Steps To Blogging Success” seminar on Friday, April 23. Sign up now!

Leonardo DaVinci was the ORIGINAL Renaissance Man.  Below is a copy of a  letter Leonardo sent over 600 years ago to the House of Sforza. Look closely, it’s his resume!  Modern day job seekers can learn a lot from Leonardo!

“Most illustrious Lord, having now sufficiently seen and considered the proofs of all those who count themselves master and inventors of instruments of war, and finding that their invention and use of the said instruments does not differ in any respect from those in common practice, I am emboldened without prejudice to anyone else to put myself in communication with your Excellency, in order to acquaint you with my secrets, thereafter offering myself at your pleasure effectually to demonstrate at any convenient time all those matters which are in part briefly recorded below,

1. I have plans for bridges, very light and strong and suitable for carrying very easily…
2. When a place is besieged I know how to cut off water from the trenches, and how to construct an infinite number of…scaling ladders and other instruments…
3. If because of the height of the embankment, and the strength of the place of its site, it should be impossible to reduce it by bombardment, I know methods of destroying any citadel or fortress, even if it is built on rock.
4. I have plans for making cannon, very convenient and easy of transport, with which to hurl small stones in the manner almost of hail…
5. And it is should happen that the engagement is at sea, I have plans for construction many engines most suitable for attack or defense, and ships which can resist the fire of all the heaviest cannon, and powder and smoke.
6. Also I have ways of arriving at a certain fixed spot by caverns and secret winding passages made without any noise even though it may be necessary to pass underneath…a river.
7. Also I can make covered cards, safe and unassailable, which will enter the serried ranks of the enemy with artillery, and there is no company of men at arms so great as not to be broken by it. And behind these the infantry will be able to follow quite unharmed and without any opposition.
8. Also, if need shall arise, I can make cannon, mortars and light ordnance, of very beautiful and useful shapes, quite different from those in common use.
9. Where it is not possible to employ cannon, I can supply catapults, mangonels, traps and other engines of wonderful efficacy not in general issue. In short, as the variety of circumstances shall necessitate, I can supply an infinite number of different engines of attack and defense.
10. In time of peace I believe that I can give you as complete satisfaction as anyone else in architecture, in the construction of buildings both public and private, and in conducting water from one place to another.
11. Also I can execute sculpture in marble, bronze, or clay and also painting, in which my work will stand comparison with that of anyone else whoever he may be.
12. Moreover, I would undertake the work of the bronze horse, which shall endure with immortal glory and eternal honor the auspicious memory of the Prince of your father and of the illustrious house of Sforza”

What strikes me as most impressive (and perhaps most instructive for job seekers) is the way in which Leonardo highlighted his talents to meet the needs of his potential employer(s).  Leonardo most enjoyed painting and scupting — it’s what he is MOST known for these days (think of the “Mona Lisa” and “The Last Supper.”)  However, he doesn’t mention that until # 11 in his list!  That’s because he knew Sforza was looking for someone who could provide assistance with his military and building affairs.

Did it work?  Go to Milan, Italy and you will see that Leo did indeed get the job!  What can YOU learn about your job search from Leonardo DaVinci?

Personal Brand Related Posts

• What is a Personal Brand and Why Do You Need One?
• Your Personal Brand – Tips From A Branding Expert
• Important Personal Branding Links
• 7 Key Ways to Promote Your Personal Brand
• Use LinkedIn to Promote Your Personal Brand
• What Everybody Needs To Know About Writing A Blog To Promote Your Personal Brand

When you go through a grocery line today the bagger asks you how you want your items packed. “Paper or plastic?”  Many stores do not even offer us an option. They hand us our items bagged in plastic. There was a time when all groceries were packed into paper bags. Plastic bags were uncommon but not anymore. Today plastic bags are the norm.

Last week I stated that traditional jobs were going away. I recommended that it was time to change your career strategy and stop looking for jobs and start looking for work. The insight I want to share with you this week is that work used to be packed in paper bags but today it is being packed into plastic bags. There is work to be found but more and more companies are offering it in unconventional ways.

We are used to looking for work packed into job positions with clear cut duties. The jobs were offered in a paper bag called full-time, or permanent work. Today many employers are packaging work into plastic bags called projects, temporary work or contract work.

What is happening?  Companies are finding that they have to be flexible and nimble in order to compete in today’s market. They need to enlarge their workforce on short notice in order to produce a product or service. Once they have achieved their objectives they need to reduce their workforce rather than pay out wages to idle employees.

Think about the difference between paper bags and plastic bags.  A big paper grocery sack could hold a lot of groceries. You could pack many items neatly into one bag. The bags had a rigid shape and fairly predictable volume of room. Traditional jobs were like paper bags, sturdy and dependable.

But today employers are packing much of their work into plastic bags. Work today is much more flexible, odd shaped and comes in smaller units. Plastic bags are a better container for holding or assigning work.

Be careful that you do not overlook, ignore, or turn down work because it is being offering in “plastic” as contract work, temporary work or as a consulting assignment and not offered as “paper,” a full-time job. Plastic not paper is the new norm for work today.

So, which is it for you?  Paper or plastic?

Andy wrote an interesting and challenging response to our post on writing an effective resume (http://careeradvice4u.com/effective-resume/).  I LOVE it when a reader challenges us!  So in response to all of the Andy’s out there who are frustrated with your job search, here are some examples that have actually worked for clients of ours. Hopefully they are not too full of BS!

Example 1: HR Generalist I

Human Resource professional with progressive hands on experience in diverse organizations from start-ups to industry leader with revenues of $8 billion including multi-state U.S. and global locations.

Resourceful, organized team player able to provide business partnership and HR guidance to both management team and employees. Recognized for being ethical and approachable with a focus on the big picture. Strong hands-on approach, can manage diverse projects simultaneously and with excellent communication skills.

Experience working with HR and Business partners in Europe and Asia as well as multiple locations in the US.

Example 2: HR Generalist II

Broad knowledge of HR principles and services. Exceptional proficiency in Employee Relations and Leave/Workers’ Compensation coordination. Effective at building relationships with employees and managers at all levels within an organization to support the business strategy, resolve communications issues and motivate individuals to optimal performance. Conscientious and resourceful advisor with a reputation for sound judgment and achieving positive results.

Specialties include:

Employee Relations FMLA/OFLA/ADA Coordination OSHA/WC Management
Policy & Procedure Writing Building & Leading Teams Staff Planning & Recruitment

Example 3: Software Developer

Experienced Software Implementation Manager with 11 years of extensive enterprise resource planning implementation experience
• Successful implementations of PeopleSoft, SAP, Lawson and other applications at more than 14 public and private sector clients and corporations across a wide range of industries and locations
• 9 years of consulting experience with a major international consulting firm earning performance ratings consistently above my peers and an executive promotion to Senior Manager
• 8 years of project management and team lead experience with a PMP certification
• Solid reputation for meeting aggressive deadlines and providing high quality deliverables within budget
• Mature leadership and communication skills with an exceptional ability to plan and organize work efforts and excel in a team environment. Core competencies include:

Project Management Application Development Application Security
Configuration and Conversion Testing and Validation Implementation and Cutover
Production Support Sales and Business Development Software Selection

Example 4: Engineer/Engineering Manager

Demonstrated ability to lead multi-disciplinary teams of engineers delivering high performance, low cost product technologies from research to market on time and on budget. A leader in defining methodologies to use to turn more research elements into products faster. Strong technical design, modeling, and statistical background; excellent leadership vision, systematic planning, and two-way communication skills. Over 20 years of research and development experience, including 10 years progressively responsible management experience. Extensive experience managing international development teams/suppliers in Malaysia, Japan, Taiwan, and Korea, including 3 years working in Japan. Ph.D., M.S., Engineering Mechanics.

Resume Advice Related Posts

• Writing An Effective Resume
• How To Write a Professional Summary Statement for Your Resume
• 3 Different Types of Resumes You Need To Know About
• Why a GREAT Resume is Not as Important as a DECENT Network
• Resume Writing Tips

The week before Christmas we held a workshop on developing your Elevator Pitch to promote your personal brand. We taped participants before and after the workshop, and here are a couple of those examples.

Mike before:

Mike after:

Kim before:

Kim after:

You can read the four steps these two used to develop their pitch at: http://careeradvice4u.com/4-step-process-writing-elevator-pitch/.

Now, we know these are as polished as they need to be.  Both Mike and Kim came a long way, and here’s why:

1. They focused on their most pertinent strengths
2. They let go of everything they do not want to bring to their next career
3. They state their claims in terms that focus on the audience rather than on themselves
4. They are looking forward, rather than backwards.

Try it and let us know how this work for you.  In fact, why don’t you create your own video and post it on YouTube with a link here. It would be a great way to promote your personal brand!

Personal Brand Related Posts

• What is a Personal Brand and Why Do You Need One?
• Your Personal Brand – Tips From A Branding Expert
• Important Personal Branding Links
• 7 Key Ways to Promote Your Personal Brand
• Use LinkedIn to Promote Your Personal Brand
• What Everybody Needs To Know About Writing A Blog To Promote Your Personal Brand