Let Others See Behind The Polished Brand
Last week, I saw the beginning segment of my mom’s favorite guilty pleasure: Dancing with the Stars. For the next 10 weeks, she and much of America will be watching as stars ranging from pop singer Gavin DeGraw to Super Bowl champion Donald Driver, legendary Gladys Knight, and Steve Urkel (ahem, I mean Jaleel White) …
How To Brand Yourself When You’re Just Starting Out.
A lot of personal branding advice is about putting yourself out there so that others to see you as an expert on a subject.
But what do you do when you’re just starting out in your field and don’t feel that you have a ton of expertise or unique information to share? What if you’re …
Overcoming The Urge To Fit In
I have a confession to make. It is a confession that you probably did not expect from someone who writes about Personal Branding. But it’s absolutely true! Here it is:
Every time I go to a networking event (to promote my personal brand), I start off by making myself as unnoticeable as possible. I slide …
Trust Your Worth
No matter what you’re doing personal branding for, there will come a time you’ll get asked that terrifying question: “how much?” That’s the one most people struggle with the most: you don’t want to be too high – or you won’t get the business, and you don’t want to be too low – or you’ll …
Network Like You (Should) Date.
All too often, networking events feel like going to a bad singles’ mixer. There’s always that one guy racing around the venue, collecting contact info like it’s a contest. Or that one woman you just met who asks invasive premature questions about your work trying to decide if you’re the “one” (who can help her …
Stop Saying You “Can Do Anything!”
Not long ago, I had the experience of working with a new intern. While we were having a coffee, I asked her about herself and how she saw herself helping us during her stay.
“Oh, I can do anything,” she gushed. “I’m just so happy to be here that I’ll do whatever you want me …
Personal Branding to Prevent Career Suicide
Two days ago I read an article on CNNMonday.com about how many people are afraid that taking a “survival job” to make ends meet now will destroy their career when the economy picks up again.
That’s very understandable. When you’re forced into a lower-level job than you were currently doing, or find yourself doing a …
Don’t Be a Negative Nancy!
In college, I had a friend who was always complaining about some aspect of her life. Her classes weren’t going right, a friend wasn’t being nice to her, and all the guys she met were jerks. Of course, she was great to talk to when I wanted to complain about something–but not a lot of …
Starring in our Own Truman Show
Ten years ago, a movie called The Truman Show explored what would happen if a person who had unknowingly been filmed their entire life for a television show suddenly discovered that every part of their life was public.
At that time, that was a radical concept. Reality shows were just getting popular. Jon and Kate …
Make Sure You Avoid this Online Branding Fiasco
Earlier this week, I heard about an acquaintance who had misrepresented himself on LinkedIn. He changed his profile to only show partial information about his work history. Plus, he added a company profile for his new consulting business and grossly lied about his 2009 revenue and the number of employees he had. All those changes …