Regardless of how you manage your reputation in real life, your brand is made up in large part by your digital presence and online reputation Your posts, tweets, updates and comments mean you and your brand are always on and ready to start a conversation–with or without you. Online, your prospects and customers can see who you hang out with, the groups in which you participate, the companies you’ve worked for and the reviews you give. When combined, your online activity tells...
Simon Sinek is the author of “Start With Why”, a book that explains the theory behind finding your passion and how that passion helps us become effective leaders that can inspire change. Sinek delivered a compelling TED Talk, using the success of the Wright Brothers as an example of the power of passion. You see, we often believe that success comes from perfect market conditions, a gifted team and plenty of capital. Sometimes we can get caught in the “they were at...
How will you communicate your brand this year? It’s one thing to put general content out there…it’s another to make it interesting, easily digestible, and tailored to a specific audience in order to make it stand out from everyone else’s. Draw a Venn diagram. Label one circle: “What my customers care about.” Label the other circle: “What I do differently than everyone else.” Locate the beautiful little sliver in the middle where they overlap–this is what should get you up in the...
Happy New Year!!!!!!! (These exclamation points will mean something in 28 seconds) Most of us won’t have too much brainpower today, so let’s get right to it. Here’s a quick review of Entrepreneur Magazine’s proposed Exclamation Point Guidelines for 2012. These should help communicate our personal brands as we approach the New Year: Entrepreneur’s interpretation of current accepted meanings: ! = Mild enthusiasm, possibly feigned. !! = Legitimate mild enthusiasm. !!! = Moderate enthusiasm. !!!! = Considerable enthusiasm. !!!!! = “Maybe by...
Just because you run a business, are a consultant or haven’t even yet entered the workforce–it doesn’t mean you’re not destined to make an impact on the world at this very moment. Now is the time to focus on who are you really are, who you want to be, and how you are meant to make a difference. Steve Jobs said this: “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is...
