“Think out of the box” seemed to be the mantra for an entire decade. What if you approached this a bit differently and realized that there is no box? The only boxes are often the ones we create ourselves. Often, we supply the hammer and nails to create “this box”.
When the book “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” came out, there was a discussion about the roles that we all play and even the 7 Habits planner later came out with a planning system highlighting the goals we wanted to achieve in each of our roles.
While the roles and the focus for each of those roles may differ, the commonality between all the roles is that it’s the same person, personally and professionally, who is taking on that role.
Unbox Your Connections
When you have a variety of connections that can be helpful to others, you are in a perfect position to be a “hub” of resources to your connections. Stop separating your resources by roles. A great event planner at your church could be a stellar connection for customer in need of some ideas or connections on planning an “open house” event for their business. A great volunteer you connect with at a non-profit who knows all the ins and outs of a word processing software, could be a great resource or even trainer to your team members (or connections) on knowing all the shortcuts in using this software.
Reach across the many roles you play in your life from PTA parent to member of the board of directors – bringing people together across a variety of roles is a valuable skillset.
Have You Boxed in Your Personal Brand?
When I find people who have boxed themselves into a title or role, I often coach them through understanding that within all these roles, they have the same niche. Niche is what you do ever so well. Your niche may be that you are awesome at presenting. If you’re presenting to a board of directors or to parents who are helping put together a field trip for their children, your niche could be that you’re excellent at presenting, facts and figures, in a way that is meaningful to the listener, as well as motivating others to become involved.
Niche = What you do ever so well
Target Market = Who you do it to
In your roles, you have the same niche yet the target market changes for each role.
Here are some other insights on managing your personal brand:
- Clothes and Your Personal Branding by Debra Benton
- Seven Social Media Tips You Cannot Afford To Ignore by Crystal Washington
- What Secret Weapon is Hanging in the Air? by Nance Rosen
- Things You Should Consider When Evaluating an Offer by Ceren Cubukcu
- How Social Media Has Transformed Talent Acquisition by Glassdoor.com
- Vitality Drives Healthy Business by Elinor Stutz
- What Would You Attempt to Do? by Richard Kirby
- What Connections Help Build Community Around Your Brand by Maria Elena Duron
- Keep Me Honest by Jeff Shuey
- Lessons From LeBron On How to Become More Likable by Beth Kuhel
- How Workplace Happiness Affects Your Paycheck by Ken Sundheim
- An Interview With Don Fanelli of the UCB Theater in New York by Christian Roberts
