Communication & NetworkingRelationship Networking

Listening Well Increases Opportunity and Reward

Communicating respect, patience and a willingness to build relationships will be to your benefit on many levels, whether applying for a new job, selling, or meeting new people. And it will differentiate you from most everyone else, thereby building your brand.

Genuine willingness

In the corporate world, most salespeople were very impatient to get a …

Communication & NetworkingLifestyle & Habit BuildingNetworking

Taking Credit When None is Due

During the debt ceiling negotiations, among the punked-style news: a Tea Party leader touted a “massive rally” on behalf of that group (at which less than 2 dozen people actually showed up). He claimed the majority of Americans supported his party’s position because “the phones were lit up and the government websites melted down,” (once …

Relationship NetworkingSocial Media

Two Key Content Marketing and Social Media Ingredients

Key Ingredient #1: Always remember that you are marketing to humans

Spiro Pappadapolous is a speaker and consultant for restaurateurs and small business owners looking for ways to enhance their revenue through social media and emerging technologies.

In a recent blog post, Spiro pointed out an important personal branding lesson:

“You are marketing to humans.”…

Brand Yourself AsMarketing & Personal BrandingPositioningRelationship Networking

Crafting Your Personal Brand Story

In creating your personal brand, it’s important that you have a story. People want to know the person behind the professional, and this is what interests them and makes you different from all the other people out there.

The hardest part of crafting your personal brand story is actually getting started and just “doing it”. …

Brand Identity & Self-DiscoveryPositioningRelationship Networking

Avoid Babbitry and Stand Out From the Crowd

Do you suffer from babbitry?

It means an excessive feeling of self-satisfaction. It also means small-mindedness, smugness, middle-class mentality.

But my friend, novelist Cathy Day, gave me the best definition of all: a person and especially a business or professional man who conforms unthinkingly to prevailing middle-class standards. The word comes from Sinclair Lewis’ novel, …

Brand Yourself AsLifestyle & Habit BuildingMedia BrandingPositioningPublic RelationsRelationship Networking

Leverage Everything

Two weeks ago, I spoke at another event for Bloomberg TV, in conjunction with Brighthouse Networks in Detroit, Michigan. Bloomberg is my #1 client as a professional speaker. Before the event, I did a short TV interview with WDIV, the local NBC affiliate. That was the first television interview I have done as an author …

Brand Yourself AsCommunication & NetworkingRelationship Networking

11 Personal Branding Tips for a Hot Summer

Just because you’re going on vacation doesn’t mean your personal brand should be.

How to build your personal brand this summer

This summer, you’ll either be on vacation, working, unemployed or some combination of those (hopefully more the first two). While you’re at it, here are some brand-building ideas:

1 ) Go mobile

Many people …