| Would you like more...
- ..."Achievement Minded" status in your
organization or with your clients?
- ...Of the right kind of projects or clients?
- ...Earning potential?
Then take three steps to develop an image that brands you!
Start today to create "ME INC."
In our chaotic lives filled with confusing messages from a
plethora of competitors, a personal brand makes you impossible to ignore and prevents you
from becoming a commodity like wheat, sugar or coffee beans. Commodities are bought and
sold every day on the world market with their prices determined by supply and demand
forces. The brand with the best perceived value has the advantage and achieves greater
results.
The days are gone when you could just show up, do your
work, and expect to get noticed. In our global economy, bright and brilliant people all
over the world compete for the same positions. Many are willing to work for commodity like
prices. Developing your "Me Inc." will brand yourself and create a distinctive
value enabling you stand above your closest competitors. This is true whether you are an
entrepreneur, a small or mid-size business owner, or an individual pushing for a promotion
to the executive suite.
Personal branding is a natural aspect of how people
evaluate one another. You don't need a master's degree in marketing to put it to work.
Personal branding lets you control how other people perceive you. You're telling them what
you stand for but in a way that's so organic and unobtrusive they think they've developed
that perception all by themselves.
Personal branding, creating "Me Inc.," takes your
skills, personality and unique characteristics and packages them into a powerful identity
that increases your visibility in crowded markets. It starts with the way you walk, talk
and dress and includes your education, profession, car, friends, and choice of
neighborhoods. Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin has found a unique way to brand her physical
appearance. She wears a colorful flower on the left side of her suit, creating a unique
branding perception to that is easily recognizable.
Complete branding, however, is not just good grooming,
polished shoes, the car you drive or how you present your business card. After these
physical, outer branding characteristics, creating "Me Inc." moves to the heart
and soul with attitudes & emotions. To more fully develop your brand:
- Exhibit enthusiasm and a positive attitude
- Demonstrate persistence and the ability to follow through
and lock in commitments
- Live with integrity and honor your commitments
Which of these branding virtues describes you? Did you
realize that others can brand you as...negative or positive...as undependable or
dependable?
After branding your physical appearance and your attitudes,
move to the final step: your nature and brain. Accomplish this third step by
distinguishing yourself by branding your innate talents, knowledge and skills.
- Innate talents – What is easy for you? What do you like
to do? What behavior when repeated seems to be executed like magic?
- Knowledge – What do you know that could be branded?
- Skills – What skills have you practiced over and over
until the gap between potential and actual is hardly recognizable?
As an example, if you want to be a better sales
professional, you need an innate talent for persuasion then in-depth product knowledge and
a quiver filled with sales skills and techniques. Perfect your step three by practicing
your skills whether selling your ideas inside or outside your organization and focus on
your closing techniques. The good news is that which is practiced, improves. In summary:
Innate Talents + Knowledge Learned + Skills Practiced =
More Complete Self Brand and Results
Creating "Me Inc." distinguishes and
differentiates you and enables you to shine through the crowd of people vie for promotions
or competing for the same customer. As you develop your brand and operate from deep
inside, you will become a virtual magnet, pulling people to you who want to do business
with you or who will be willing to give you more responsibility in your organization.
Through this process, you catapult yourself into an elite league of achievers.
"If you work hard at your job, you'll make a
living. If you work hard on yourself, you'll make a fortune."
~ Jim Rohn |
