What’s the Cash Value of Your Brand?
Coke. Southwest Airlines. You.
I’ve always thought there should be one simple, common sense way to value a corporate brand. It would be something like, “If everything burned down, what could we go to the bank and borrow based on owning the brand name?” In other words, what are the rights to the brand worth, …
How To Buy the Perfect Business Gift
What is a gift supposed to convey? Is it an expression of how you feel about the recipient? Would that be affection? Gratitude? Respect?
Or is a gift meant to convey something about you? Intelligence? Adventure? Humor?
If you are serious about your reputation – what we now call your personal brand, the ideal gift …
How To Get A Mentor
The first mistake most people make when seeking out a mentor is asking a role model to take on that responsibility. Mentoring is an enormous chore. Don’t underrate the undertaking of it. You are asking someone to take a personal interest in your development.
It reminds me of a first kiss. At least, that’s when …
How Thought Crimes Kill Personal Brands
After leading a weekend boot camp in Personal Branding on the UCLA campus, I am worn out and so are our “campers.” Sixteen hours of anything is hard, and personal branding is no exception. It’s not like we were lifting boulders or building walls, except that we were: mentally, emotionally and spiritually.
The first stage …
Are You Your Last Name?
There is a man selling his last name. He’s ready and willing to take whatever last name YOU assign to him, for the right price. The bidding starts at buymylastname.com.
This isn’t so strange if you know the man, Jason Sadler (or whatever you or any other winning bidder chooses for him to use through …
Where Success is Really Hidden
Not all successful people are happy. Some successful people are stressed out, miserable, angry, frustrated, depressed and lonely. They are barely able to get up in the morning. They trudge through the day. They might as well be breaking rocks on a chain gang in a 110-degree heat, with no water breaks. Their health is …
The Only Reason To Create a Personal Brand
The purpose of personal branding is to ATTRACT what you want from others, without the stress of selling, sending out dozens of ignored resumes or begging investors to fund your venture.
In other words, the only reason to create a personal brand is to help people who HAVE the things you want, enjoy the privilege …
Fundamentals of Personal Branding
Before you can make money, you must make meaning.
What you mean must fulfill a specific unmet need in a well-defined target audience, AND be perceived as special and valuable.
Your target audience is the people who can hire you, buy from you, invest with you or refer you to people who are able to …
Brand Ryan Says 30% are Takers?
Wow, what a brand platform! First, Republican candidate Romney pronounces 48% of us as not taking responsibility for ourselves, and then his running mate Ryan says 30% of us are “takers” not “makers.”
Who is the angry candidate? Who seems foreign to America?
The current Republican brand – or at least the brand that’s pounding …
The Bain of Obama’s Brand
If everything good about you was eclipsed by someone’s loud voice, if everything you believed was in the shadow of someone else who communicated better – you would be angry. But if anger were the cryponite of your brand – the one thing that if you were, you would never get where you wanted to …