At a Constant Contact regional meeting I attended this week, I met Vickie Evans, Red Cape Company Founder, Microsoft Productivity Instructor/Presenter & Bestselling Author. She did a super training on “Grownups in a Learning Environment” that was peppered with many helpful productivity tips that I had to start streamlining immediately. She did a stellar job in taking a three day program and condensing it to 90 minutes which is quite a feat considering the depth of the material and that the room was filled with experienced presenters who had their own stories, real life examples and challenges to share.
What I appreciated most about her presentation, is she took the time to understand, delve into and respond to each person’s needs in the room. Her actions embodied one of my favorite sayings – “be efficient with things and effective with people”.
For your personal brand, have you abandoned your effectiveness with people by being more efficient? Who have you stopped meeting with because it was “too time consuming” and yet they were one of your best mentors, referral sources or advocates? What have you done for me lately is a dangerous question to ask of a connection or relationship. After all, what marriage even is truly “balanced”? There’s a time in any relationship, business or personal, when we all “over take” or “over give”.
Comment below: What have you lost by being too efficient?
This past week’s posts your Personal Branding Blog authors shared:
- Wanted: Account Executive for You, Inc. by Kevin Monahan
- New Generation’s Bap Rap In Workplace is Undeserved by Skip Weisman
- Do You Have What it Takes to be Famous? by Nance Rosen
- Dan Schawbel’s Promote Yourself is Available Today! by Dan Schawbel
- How to Answer the Most Common Interview Questions by Ceren Cubukcu
- How to Get Employers to Love Your Brand by Heather Huhman
- Expanding Ideas to Expand Business by Elinor Stutz
- Daily Blog Posting and Personal Branding Success by Roger Parker
- Why Don’t You Understand Your Compensation? by Alex Freund
- Don’t Give Me Your Resume by Richard Kirby
- 10 Job Search Behaviors to Avoid by Glassdoor.com
- Strong Tactics for Your Personal Brand by Maria Elena Duron
- Productivity is Overrated — Seek Helpfulness by Jeff Shuey
- Personal Branding Begins in the Waiting Room by Kate Southam
- Information Overload? Find Your Answers Within by Sharmin Banu
- What Does Love Have to do with Workplace Productivity by Beth Kuhel
- Does Your Customer Service Policy Support Your Brand Vision? by Leslie Truex
- Write a Book to Establish Your Personal Brand by Marc Miller
- When Done Is Better Than Perfect by Nick Inglis
Here are SEVEN key personal branding takeaways from this week:
1. Say thank you. Consumers have choices today and many choose businesses that make them feel appreciated. (Author, Leslie Truex)
2. If you are going to list a name of someone who can verify your credentials, tout your value and sing your praises, then ASK them for their consent to be a reference first. (Author, Jacqui Barrett-Poindexter)
3. Without a plan or a structure, it’s impossible to build your personal brand with daily blog posts. (Author, Roger Parker)
4. To stay competitive in your job search, your personal brand must tell a story about your unique you. (Author, Heather Huhman)
5. Talent is no excuse. Neither is the lack of it. (Author, Nance Rosen)
6. It has been my experience that most of the trouble with underperforming employees stems from the business owners’ poor communication, plus their failure to develop and then articulate clear performance standards and expectations. (Author, Skip Weisman)
7. Interviewing for a sales job is not about selling yourself, rather it’s about branding yourself as confident, intelligent and composed. (Author, Ken Sundheim)
Another great post from last week by author Jeff Shuey covers this same topic and he sums it up best in this one sentence – Productivity in and of itself is not all bad, but there comes a point when being Helpful trumps Productivity.
If you like great quotes that are marketing focused, please enjoy!
This week the Personal Branding Authors are reviewing:
• Myers-Briggs Type Indicator as a tool in your career search.
• How to Create a Personal Marketing Plan
• Have You Ever Thought About Becoming an Entrepreneur?
We want to hear from you what subjects/topics you would like us to delve in deeper on. Please comment below! Thanks for reading the Personal Branding Blog!
Author:
Maria Elena Duron, is managing editor of the Personal Branding Blog, CEO (chief engagement officer) of buzz2bucks– a word of mouth marketing firm, and a professional speaker and trainer on developing social networks that work. She provides workshops, webinars, seminars and direct services that help create conversation, connection, credibility, community and commerce around your brand. Maria Duron is founder and moderator of #brandchat – a weekly Twitter chat focused on every aspect of branding that is recognized by Mashable as one the 15 Essential Twitter Chats for Social Media Marketers.
Are you busy? Here’s some quick and easy tips on Social Marketing for busy people.
