Consider Your Personal Brand

In a modern World of Facebook, YouTube and connected consciousness in all it’s forms – platforms that provide extensions of consciousness that pervade the new reality of a physical World mixed, and often distorted, with a complex and hyper-connected cyber World – we must be more self-aware than ever.

Everyone should be thinking about their personal brand – what it means to them, and what it says about them to the outside World.

I’ve become particularly interested in this subject as a result of my mission to bring positive change to the World by realising my vision of humanity at it’s best, striving to be better, and thriving through understanding how to interact with each other in a quality and meaningful way so we can work together to solve the meaningful problems we find ourselves faced with. I was introduced to the principal of being a ‘Key Person of Influence‘ by Daniel Priestley’s book by the same name (click the link for more details). I read this book whilst on holiday in Italy, and it provided some revolutionary insights for me about how to build my personal brand, and why it was important.

Whether you’re in business or not, this is something that should be on your radar. The benefits of becoming a key person of influence in business and your professional life are fairly obvious – the most exciting projects, the highest fees and the best opportunities always end up with key people of influence. Why is this? Quite simply, because they are seen, known and trusted in their respective market place, and furthermore are seen as experts in their field. Why wouldn’t you want to work with an expert who you feel like you know because you see their content everywhere? Become a key person of influence in your industry, and you won’t be worried about finding or keeping work so long as you provide a fair exchange of perceived value to your clients with excellent customer service.

However, you’re not off the hook if you are employed and have no plans to change the World anytime soon.

You’re even more unlucky if you’re a millennial… because it’s more than likely that 100% of your life is on-line, and what’s on-line is timeless – a fact few in recent generations seem to realise or appreciate enough!

These days, employers use peoples Facebook profiles and other social media information that is publicly available to get a more solid idea of who job applicants are, what their values are, and whether or not they will be a good fit for the role they’ve applied for, and be a good fit for company culture. There is so much information about us on-line with most people using social media platforms heavily and regularly, and so everyone should be considering this when they’re posting information and updates to the various sites that act as adverts for their lives. Your Facebook and LinkedIn profiles are now part of your CV – whether you like it or not!

This is exactly why everyone should be thinking about their personal brand, and working to nurture it into one they are proud to present to the rest of the World – it’s going to be presented to us anyway, so it’s well worth putting the effort in to get it right.

The first thing you need to do if this concept is new to you is to decide on what your key values are, and to write them down. This should be a set of guiding principals by which you consistently live your life, and that result in actions that match those of the person you are working to become. If you don’t know what these values are, or you have a rough idea but they’re not specific or clear enough in your mind, then you have no way of knowing if you’re behaving in a way that’s serving your higher purpose in life. Before you fire a gun, you need to make sure it’s pointing at the target…

It is then important that you review your social media activity to date, and be honest with yourself as to whether or not the way you’ve been advertising yourself is congruent with the way you want to be seen, derived from the values and guiding principals you’ve just written down. Some of it will be positive, and some will be negative – don’t get hung up on the stuff you don’t like the look of, just make a mental note and be sure to avoid repeating behaviour you’ve now identified as negative. Do more of the stuff you like, and that is in line with your goals.

Be sure to rave about the things you’re doing that are exciting and that demonstrate character and personal growth – these things are so valuable, and serve to inspire countless others to greatness as well as promoting your passion and thirst for life at your best. Let people know what you’re experiences are, and what key learnings you’ve derived from them – how have you grown? Share your story – we all have value to add to others through our stories of our unique perceptions of our experiences.

The more you show up as the person you want to be, the more you become everything you desire. At the very least, it’s important to be aware of how visible we all are on-line these days, so you can filter hat you share with the World and decrease the possibility of any negative content having a detrimental effect on your life, either in making new friends, building your professional network or finding your dream job.

No matter who you are, where you live or what you do – look after your personal brand, and your personal brand will look after you. Showing your true character, passion and drive through your personal brand is a great way to open doors for new and exciting opportunities in life, and it’s a fantastic way to meet like minded people who share your passion and thirst for living.

You’re amazing, and the World deserves to know about you so shout from the rooftops!

Author: PUBLISHED BY LITTLE GREY SAYS (Jamie Keeling)

Entrepreneur | Peak Performance Specialist | Martial Artist | Author | Investor 

"See it, believe it, achieve it"

How To Be a Scientist In Your Business and Why It Helps

True confession: I was a scientist.

I say that because that's what I did two degrees in, and my early career was spent in that realm. I wouldn't describe myself that way anymore, but there is one thing about science that suited me perfectly.

I'm very curious. And my curiosity is both eclectic and broad. My innate curiosity has served me very well in business. It can serve you too.

The basis of all science is curiosity. "I wonder what would happen if... " is behind every discovery and exploration.

Business is like the experiments scientists do: you don't know what's going to happen next. You may have evidence from previous experience, or see what someone else has done. But until you try it, you won't know if it will work in your business.

That level of uncertainty can be so uncomfortable!

So let's lighten things up by taking a different approach. An approach that is based in science.

No need to turn in your comfy togs or your business attire in favor of a lab coat. This kind of experimentation can be done without all the scientist trappings.

It's also not at all as grim as the serious scientist in the photo. In fact, experimenting can be fun!

REFRAME FOR A BETTER OUTCOME

Begin by reframing your choices. Ask, "I wonder what would happen if... ", instead of, "Will this succeed or fail?".

Feels lighter already, doesn't it?

You don't have the weight of failure on you. Rather, you're simply asking a question. The answer, either way, will tell you something important.

All you're doing is conducting an experiment!

DEFINE YOUR QUESTION

Now, ask your question: What would happen if [fill in the blank]?

What would happen if:

I reach out to this new potential customer group?

We add a pop-up on our website?

We create a process for how to handle customer complaints so that they are all addressed in the same way?

Once you define your question, specify what you're going to observe and how long you'll observe.

Observations are the data that you collect that help you answer your question. These observations can be quantitative, monitoring numbers, like the response to your social media ads, or qualitative, like watching people's reactions when you talk about your core message.

You can have more than one way of collecting data. For example, you may want to track how many people lit up when you talked about a possible new offering, and how many remained neutral, as well as how many signed up.

Whatever you choose, be consistent about how you collect each kind of data.

Now start your experiment, and observe the outcomes.

ANALYZE YOUR DATA

Once you've conducted your experiment, it's time to analyze your observations, your data.

What are the data showing you? Look for trends. What do they mean? If you're not sure, that is the basis for your next experiment.

Don't be too quick to ignore outliers, those data that aren't what you expected and aren't aligned with the majority.

If you shared an offering idea with 10 of your customers and prospects, and 9 of them remained neutral but one responded with great enthusiasm, you may have identified a subgroup of people who would love that offering.

Your next experiments can involve learning more about this subgroup and whether they constitute a big enough group to make the investment of creating this new offering worthwhile.

Use the data you've gained to inform your decision-making or pose another question.

STICK TO THE METHOD

Here's one more thing about science that will help you in your business:

It's tempting, especially when things aren't working, to change 10 things at once. It's the scattershot approach, with the hope that something will work. Therefore, it's hard to know which one (or more) of the 10 things you changed made the difference.

One of the reasons marketing can be so frustrating is that it's often hard to project whether a marketing effort will work. That's because most marketing has many variables, things that are changeable in a way you can't control.

Instead, minimize the variables. Become more methodical. According to the scientific method, when you're conducting experiments, you only change one thing at a time. That way, when you get a different outcome, it's likely due to that one thing you changed. How clarifying that is!

It's the accumulation of data from multiple experiments that will start to fill in the story. For example, if you see a gradual increase in response over multiple social media ads as you show more videos of you talking, it suggests that people respond to seeing you and your energy.

SCIENCE STILL LETS YOU BE CREATIVE

Doing these experiments doesn't mean you can't be inspired and creative. Science is actually quite creative! Your creative ideas can be tested in one experiment at a time, to see if they have the effect you thought they would. Your creative ideas actually can achieve greater traction, because you know what's behind your success.

Keep experimenting and implementing to find out what works. As you conduct each new experiment, you move closer to clarity, which gives you an opportunity to increase your success.

Business is dynamic, ever changing. So, your experimentation will be ongoing. Using scientific principles can take some of the uncomfortable heat off of you as you experiment and explore.

Your curiosity will take you to some amazing places in your business, and you'll have more impact!

Author: Ursula Jorch, MSc, MEd, mentors entrepreneurs starting their businesses and seasoned entrepreneurs in transition to create the business of their dreams. Her coaching programs provide knowledge, support, clarity, inspiration, and a community of like-minded entrepreneurs to empower you to reach your goals. Start with a free guide and other valuable info at http://www.WorkAlchemy.com

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Ursula_Jorch/1699443

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