Courtesy and other ‘small’ human gestures

Perhaps I was tired. Or busy. Maybe it was the ‘straw that broke the camel’s back’. I really don’t know. I just remember the volcano of anger (and a string of ‘naughty’ words that I don’t often say – eekkk) erupting from me!

Those around me were probably as astounded as I was by my outburst… my fury knew no boundaries. And for a while, I couldn’t stop it.

What happened to cause that massive and unexpected outburst? It takes a lot to tip me over the edge, to knock me off balance. Yet, in that moment, I was off the chart with rage!

After removing myself from the situation, I’ve taken some time to reflect.

Have we lost the art of the small things in life? Small but important things like courtesy, respect and generosity?

That’s a question I found myself asking. Deep down (and after cooling off), I suspect that was the root of my outburst.

We’re all busy in life. Many of us are on the hamster wheel too, building our careers, our businesses, focusing on our social lives, our relationships, our kids… and much more. The balancing act we live with each day can be a challenge.

Sadly though, we can get so focused on the importance of ‘us’ and our lives – our ‘stuff’ – that we forget what’s happening around us.

We forget to notice and acknowledge the things that happen around us, and at times, for us.

We forget to give of ourselves – just a little bit. Perhaps a little more often we could say ‘thank you’ or ‘I appreciate you’ or ‘can I help you?’ or ‘I’m sorry’, or simply, ‘I love you’.

And it might not be ‘said’ in words… actions speak louder than words. Always!

It’s in those little moments when we acknowledge others around us with words or actions, they feel appreciated. Special, even! And as the giver of that small gesture, we feel good too – perhaps even better than they do. Who knows? It’s a win-win for all.

Determined against the odds…

Last week as I was leaving the supermarket, a very elderly woman was struggling with her trolley which she was using for balance (her two walking sticks were hanging off the trolley so she could push it). She was very bent over with age and probably illness. Her support person (who turned out to be her husband) equally elderly and bent over, was behind her trundling their basket of supermarket goodies.

As she inched out of the supermarket hall, everyone else rushed in and out around her…. they were in a hurry, and this woman was in the way.

Even though I had my own hands full with shopping, I asked the woman if I could help her.
To my surprise, she stopped, turned her head to look at me while remaining bent over, gave me a big smile, and said ‘No, thank you. I’m perfectly fine, and my lovely husband is here to support me’. The joy on her face that I’d stopped to ask her was heart warming, as was the determination I felt in her spirit.

I walked slowly alongside her – her personal traffic warden – if you like, causing all other human traffic to slow down. In doing that, people observed this determined woman. For that fleeting moment, they were taken out of their own lives into the life of this elderly, frail woman. They acknowledged the situation and smiled too. Very briefly, we all connected with that bent over woman. It was really beautiful.

Leading from the front

As we enter the festive season, I’m going to lead by example and re-double my awareness of being present in the moment. I’ll acknowledge those around me more. Be more courteous. More respectful. More giving of myself.

In doing that, perhaps I’ll make a little difference in the life of someone around me. Maybe they’ll simply smile.

But you know what? I can’t predict or control what they will feel or how they will react. I just know I’ll feel great and it’ll augment my happiness in life even more. That’s my Christmas present to me. 🙂

ACTIONS: I’d love to hear your thoughts on the importance of the ‘small things’ in life. What’s important for you?

Could some guidance from me be helpful to you? If so, please arrange a free 30 mins Skype strategy meeting with me. Here’s my calendar to book a meeting. I’d love to support you in some way to gain ‘seductive clarity’ in any aspect of your business or life.

3 Tips on Personal Branding – What Is It & Why YOU Need It

Many of us know what branding means when it comes to company or business branding.

But what about personal branding?

“What’s that?” you might ask. You might also say, “personal branding is for the ‘big wigs’ of business – people like Bill Gates, Oprah, Jamie Oliver”. Or you might think that personal branding is for celebrities and sports stars.

You’d be right in thinking all that, but in business and entrepreneurship, as scary or as challenging as it might seem, we must embrace the idea of being a personal brand ourselves.

That doesn’t mean we need to aim for global domination or celebrity status. To the contrary! Personal branding is about YOU – and connecting you to the niche market you want to attract.

People buy from people, so personal branding is about you being you – your style, your signature image or look, your unique voice, your story, your experience and knowledge….packaged together in a consistent and recognisable way on a range of marketing platforms so that you get noticed.

Over time some people will come to know, like and trust you. Eventually they may buy from you too, and/or refer you to others. Remember, you and your personal brand won’t be liked by everyone. Be yourself and there will be loads of others who do like and want to follow you.

So, whether you’re a consultant, freelancer, entrepreneur, business owner, company executive, get focused on your personal brand. Here are 3 tips on how to get your personal brand underway.

Tip 1: Be clear of and passionate about your business expertise
What do you want to be known for? And why? Niche yourself. Make sure you’re really passionate too, otherwise no-one will want to work with you as they’ll feel your lack of authenticity and enthusiasm. The narrower your niche, the more easily you’ll be found.

Tip 2: Get your marketing platforms nailed
There are so many ways to be ‘seen’ – both online and offline. Very importantly, you need to do both. Decide on where you’ll spend your efforts. Here are some of the many options:

LinkedIn – a fully optimised profile is NOT NEGOTIABLE if you want to be ‘seen’ within the world’s largest business social marketing and sales platform
SEO/Keywords – a must for Google searches
Networking – always a must so long as you ‘do’ networking properly
Blogging – great for many business people
Webinars, podcasts etc – they’re all the rage at present
You Tube – videoing is the way of the future and a great way to ‘teach’ your content
Social media – in all its varieties – pick the platforms you like the most (Twitter? Business Facebook? Instagram? Pinterest, Periscope? etc etc)
Public speaking – get on the stage if it suits you and your expertise
Write books, e-books, white papers

… and so it goes on.

A word of warning… don’t try and appear on all platforms, otherwise you’ll never get any work done. Select those most appropriate to your industry or niche and those which you feel most comfortable with.

Tip 3: Know why you want to be ‘seen’
Fame for fame’s sake is a waste of time and money. Why do you want to get ‘seen’? Is it to draw customers to your business – to your sales funnel? Is it to get opportunities to be a keynote speaker?

Is it to get a book ‘deal’ with a major publishing house? Is it to get a promotion or a new job if you are in employment?

Your decision as to why you want to be found will help you decide how you take your audience – your niche market – on a journey with you, so that can demonstrate your expertise and authority in your subject area time and time again.

What happens when you’ve been found by someone in your target audience? How do you nurture and build a relationship with them? What is your communications strategy and products and services journey with them? These questions determine your business model for your personal brand. Creating a systemised and automated (at least in part) business model will support you to achieve your key goal in why you want to be seen.

Well that’s it for now. Personal branding is one of my favourite topics in business for entrepreneurs, business owners, company executives… watch out for more blogs on this fantastic and very important 21st century business topic.

In the meantime, get your personal brand underway….overtime, you’ll reap the rewards of doing so.

ACTION: What are your thoughts on personal branding in business? I’d love to know more about your own personal branding story or journey. How about sharing in the comments what you’re doing to grow and develop your personal brand?

What’s Thanksgiving all about?

November 26 is Thanksgiving Day in America – that long celebrated annual holiday weekend filled with the quintessential American delights of stuffed turkey, pumpkin pie and enormous parades.

But what’s Thanksgiving Day all about?

As a Kiwi living in London with a fair number of American friends scattered across the globe, I’ve often wondered about the history of Thanksgiving Day.

It turns out that Thanksgiving has a very long history (thanks Wikipedia 🙂 ), but the original essence of the celebration (dating back to the 17/18th centuries) was to give thanks for a good harvest.

It’s a moment in time when people come together in celebration; in acknowledgement of each other and the beauty of the circle of life. And it feels good. It’s a revered holiday in American culture. People travel far and wide to go ‘home’. Schools and colleges close. Families get together in celebration. The poor get looked after with food baskets, and much more.

Thanksgiving is about gratitude

And in my opinion, gratitude is one of the most important and loving values we can hold.

So what’s gratitude? It’s “the feeling of being thankful and appreciative”. It’s about reflecting on all that’s good; all that’s beautiful; all that’s abundant in our world and lives.

Reliable research demonstrates that in experiencing gratitude there’s a positive impact on one’s mental and emotional state. Quite simply, we become happier….

Practising gratitude is something we can do each day of our lives. And in doing so, I promise, you will feel different. More alive. More passionate. More extraordinary.

Practise Glorious Gratitude

So how about it? How about setting aside five minutes (or more) per day in the quiet of your mind’s eye, and practising glorious gratitude?

What does that mean?

Well, it’s that moment when you acknowledge all that you’re grateful for – the big and the small, the important and the trivial.

Here are a few of the parts of my life that I’m ABSO-Bloomin’-LUTELY grateful for today:

My excellent health and increasing fitness.
My glorious family (husband, daughter, stepson) with all their idiosyncrasities. 🙂
The people who are supporting me to achieve the vision I have for myself and my businesses.
My love of learning and having the time each week to read stacks of books.
The beauty (and chill) of late Autumn in London.
Being able to work from a home office and listen to classical music all day while I work.
Living in the best city in the world – London.
My New Zealand family who ensured my husband and son had a fabulous time there last week.
My coaching clients who trust me to support and guide them to achieve their personal and professional goals.
My will power in not eating sugar for the past week – yippee!!

My gratitude list is never-ending….

Go on, try it. How about taking a short walk, or sitting quietly and closing your eyes for a few minutes and reflecting on what you are grateful for. I’m certain you’ll feel good for the experience. And it gets even better. When we make a habit of expressing daily gratitude, it becomes addictive… simply because it makes us feel good. And I like that. 🙂

Happy Thanksgiving, America (and Canada). Have a fabulous day of celebration and gratitude.

ACTION: What are you most grateful for today? I’d love to know. How about sharing in the comments below?

2016: THE Why – What – Who – How – When

2016. It’s not that far away – excited? I certainly am although I’m going to finish 2015 strongly first.

While we close off 2015 and prepare to round the corner to 2016, what are the business questions we should be asking ourselves in readiness for the New Year?

What would make the difference between a good and a great 2016 for you?

It takes a bit more work to go from good to great… and the work should be fun… and worth the effort with the results.

Here’s my take on the ‘Why – What – Who – How – When’ questions we should be asking of ourselves as we begin planning our businesses for 2016 to ensure we go from good to great.

While the questions may seem simple on the face of it, like anything, the more deeply we think, the more honestly we answer them, the stronger the answers we receive and the more alive and empowered we feel.

WHY – in 1 question

WHY do you do what you do?
This is ‘THE’ passion for your business. This is about being in love with your business and the difference your products and services make in the lives of your customers. If we aren’t passionate about our businesses, it’s unlikely we’ll be excited about the upcoming year.

WHAT – in 2 questions

WHAT is your vision for your business?
While you may be clear about your vision, it’s really good at the start of new beginnings to recheck it as things change; we change. In the lead up to 2016 check in with yourself about what you want to achieve in your business and your life.

WHAT are the key products and services you are going to focus on in 2016?
There are so many products and services that we can offer the market. What are the few key ones that are going to make the difference to your business? The ones that will make the biggest impact for your customers and, in being successful in selling those products and services, will make the biggest difference to the success of your business.

WHO – in 4 questions

Who is your team?
Regardless of the size of your business, we don’t do business alone. Think about your team and love and nurture them. In return they’ll love you (hopefully) and your customers. Recruit your team for your values too; make sure they’re aligned to where you want your business to head and how you’re going to get there.

Who are your customers – current and new?
Think about what the perfect customer looks like for your business and map a plan to seek them out. We can’t be everything to everybody – so there’s no point in trying to be. Target your market. Niche! And then go after it with love and passion. Make a difference in the lives of your customers.

Who are your key suppliers?
Your suppliers are critical to your success in business so they must be nurtured too. Think of ways that are mutually beneficial to deepen the relationship with your suppliers.

Who are your business partners?
Partnerships and joint ventures are the key to success in business. Think of ways you can deepen the relationship with existing partners, supporting them to be more successful. Find new partners and support them to achieve success too. In return, they’ll be there for you.

HOW – in 1 question

HOW are you doing to deliver on your WHAT?
The HOW comes down to six areas of business that need to be thought about and planned for: Branding, Marketing, Sales, Finances, Operations/Systems, Team. What are you doing in each of those areas of business to achieve your vision?

WHEN – in 1 question

WHEN are you going to do everything in your year?
The WHEN is planning your long-term and medium term strategies and the key actions that must be undertaken to achieve your WHAT.

The WHEN is the one area that many entrepreneurs and business owners don’t like too much because it takes time to plan out the year. Unless the year is planned and written down, I can almost guarantee your business will control you, rather than you controlling it.

Ohh… there’s one more WHO…

I almost forgot. 🙂 The final question you must ask yourself is this. WHO is going to hold YOU accountable for achieving your WHY – WHAT – WHO – HOW – WHEN?

You? Possibly. How about finding yourself a mentor, business coach, guide, mastermind group, and ask those people to hold you accountable for delivering your 2016 business goals? I promise you in making that investment in yourself you’ll have a much stronger, more successful business by December 2016! Now that sounds exciting to me.

ACTION: I’d love to know if you’re already planning for 2016 and if so, which area of your business are you most excited about in 2016? How about leaving a comment below?

THE 3 Questions to Working Your Passion

“Light yourself on fire with passion and people will come from miles to watch you burn.” – John Wesley

The phone doesn’t stop ringing. Emails are pouring in. Your bank balance is growing. More and more opportunities for business are coming your way. Why?

You’re living your passion, your dream. You’re getting noticed. You’re standing out.

Sound like a dream? Sadly for many it is. Too many business owners are wallowing in the sea of sameness – there’s nothing that stands them apart from their competitors. They’re one of many, rather than the one who stands tall and gets noticed.

It doesn’t have to be that way. Business doesn’t have to be hard, or worrying, or sleep depriving.

Business should be a joy – that thing that gets you out of bed in the morning with a skip in your step, a smile on your face… a ‘seize the day’ energy and motivation.

VIVA – Vision Internalised is Vision Actualised™

It’s VIVA that stands successful business owners out from those who aren’t successful. It’s VIVA that creates momentum, focus, excellence and results.

As Steve Jobs once said: ‘The only way to do great work is to love what you do.’ That’s passion.

Passion understood in 3 Questions

You might be asking: ‘So where do I start with this passion thing? How do I find my passion?’

Passion comes from 3 areas. Purpose. Vision. Values.

Answer these 3 key questions and you’ll find your passion.

Passion Question 1: What’s my Why? Why do I do what I do?

Unless you’re totally clear on Why you do what you do, you’ll just have a job that might bring in some money. Your Why is your purpose or your mission (to use 1980/90s language) – the key thing your business does.

What difference do you want to make in the lives of those you serve? That’s your Why!

To help you, my big Why is Success! I delight in guiding small business owners achieve business success which then leads them to create THEIR dream lives – however they define their dream and success.

Passion Question 2: What do you want to achieve in your business? What’s your vision?

Purpose is what drives us, and vision expresses that purpose. Vision is the big picture of what you aspire to achieve. Vision is the big dream for your business (and your life).

Passion Question 3: What are your values?

What are the foundation stones that support you to live your life? How do they translate into values that support you in business?

Some see values as those ‘waffly words’ that hang on the walls of corporate offices. Hmmm, sadly that can be true. But values as those core emotions that are key to us. Personally I’m highly value driven and I hope you can ‘feel’ my values as you connect in and get to know me.

Let’s get passionate

While answering the three passion questions can seem a bit daunting, don’t think you have to do it alone. Get help. I promise you, when you’ve gotten your purpose, vision and values nailed…. you’ll be swinging from the rafters and popping open the champagne, as something will have changed. You’ll feel alive, passionate and extraordinary, or at least invincible, as you start focusing on living your passion every day through your business and in your life.

Here’s the thing. When you’re living your passion, it oozes from you and people feel the vibe. They want to be around you and they want to work with you. That’s how you grow your business. By letting your passion shine brightly for all to see.

Here’s what one of my clients, Jenni, emailed me recently… ‘My sizzling continues! Thank you! And it is attracting opportunities.’ I wish that for you and your business too.

ACTION: What’s your ‘Why’? I’d love you to share in the comments below. Perhaps your Why might act as an inspiration to others.

THE 7 Pillars to Standing Tall in Business

Have you ever wondered why in business some people stand taller and stronger, and have more impact, influence and success than others?

I guarantee you’ve noticed those people. They capture their market, time after time. They get media exposure. They have a successful business. They have a big community following them. And they have people wanting to associate and do business with them too. Whatever they touch seems to turn to gold.

Their profile and success makes you feel green with envy. And, intuitively, you know their technical or business skills aren’t any better than yours.

These frustrations are realities in any business – traditional bricks and mortar businesses, shops, and services businesses as well as online businesses.

Some people seem to have the X factor and you can’t put your finger on why. You ask, ‘Why them and not me?’

Good news. You can have that success, those wins, that profile, height, and impact in business too. It’s available to all of us if we know what to do.

Once upon a time (that’s code for before the digital and social media age), it was much harder to have the public profile that many enjoy today. You had to pound the pavement, grease the right palms, have a convincing story and more… to get into the media, to get noticed.

That’s all changed. It’s now a level playing field. Anyone can stand tall and stand out.

It takes just seven steps…. Ready?

At its most simplistic, this is all that ‘those’ people are doing:

They’re clear about what they want to achieve.
They use their personality to endear themselves to others.
They have their ‘patter’ – their UVP or sales pitch – nailed.
They make a point of getting noticed where they want to be seen.
They offer products and services that people want.
They find people who want to do business with them, partnering with others.
They work hard.

Simple! Or is it? I can hear you say, ‘well I do all that too!’ We all do some of that. But do you have a full-on strategy or a system around all that?

The real winners – those who really get noticed and achieve the success that many of us aspire to achieve – have total clarity and commitment to what they’re doing and why they are doing it.

They embrace 7 pillars that support them to stand tall, stand out, and get noticed, being: Passion, Personalisation, Positioning, Platforms, Products, Partnerships, Performance.

The reality is those people who implement the 7 pillars become BRANDED.

The 7 Pillars to becoming BRANDED

People who stand out embrace the idea of being branded, and here’s how.

Blazing Passion – they live and breathe what they do in business and life. We can feel their passion for their work and life. They’re dreamers who are full of vision… they’re on a journey, a mission – they live with purpose… and we go with them.

Refreshing Personalisation – gone are the days where we show everyone what we want them to see of us. Now it’s about seeing the ‘real’ us. People connect with us in an intimate, human – person to person – way. That’s how communities are created, and why followers follow. We get to know them – warts and all! It’s become personal. 🙂

Accomplished Positioning – they know what their market is; they are niched and proud of that niche. They aren’t trying to be everything to everybody. They love the people who make up their market, and they know how to position themselves as experts or authorities in that market so people connect with them and their message.

Notable Platforms – this is the really exciting part. Regular people are achieving extraordinary success and getting noticed by putting their message out to their market by choosing the platforms that work for them. It might be a combination of networking, blogging, any or all of the social media channels, writing books, guest speaking, hosting webinars, running a podcast… the possibilities are endless. They are there and available for everyone, and branded people are using them.

Decent Products – they may not have the ‘best’ products or services on the market – that’s subjective anyway – but what they offer is good and they serve the market they’re focused on. The products they offer vary – free offers, lower entry offers, high priced/premium products, guarantees… we can all do this, regardless of our business type – it’s ‘out of the box thinking’ – seeing things differently.

Enabling Partnerships – people want to partner branded people as the relationship is mutually beneficial. It’s not a one way road. Branded people are connected to other ‘movers and shakers’ in their world, and they work together. Great things happen for all when partnerships are formed.

Dedicated Performance – success comes with discipline and work. Full stop.

That’s it. The 7 pillars to standing tall in business are there for the taking… for you and everyone you compete with in your market. Are you going to take the plunge and become your very own brand? I am. And I can’t wait…. watch out world… here I come!

ACTION: Who do you admire in business? What does their personal brand stand for? I’d love to hear your thoughts. As a starter, my favourite personal brand is….. Jamie Oliver. I just love everything Jamie stands for!

What’s Your Story?

“Purposeful storytelling isn’t show business. It’s good business.” – Peter Guber

What’s your story so far? How did you get to where you are today in business and life? What are the twists and turns you’ve encountered and conquered?

Stories have the ability to paint a picture with words, tapping into the imagination of the listener or reader and allowing you to connect with them.

In my experience, the best way to connect to people is to hear the stories of their lives and to tell our own. Nothing made up. Just the honest truth about who we are, and the journey we’ve had in life so far. That raw, honest truth and vulnerability is what connects us to others and them to us.

The simplest and perhaps the most powerful way to articulate your personal brand is through the art of storytelling.

How can you tell your story to great effect? To build rapport with the community you want to connect with and serve over time?

Your story isn’t your entire autobiography. It’s a snapshot that gives you the perfect illustration in a specific situation. For example, when I teach entrepreneurs how to maximise their profits it helps when I tell them about my own experiences (good and bad, easy and hard) growing businesses to have multi-million pound revenues and profits.

When you begin to articulate the personal stories behind why you do what you do, they add to your credibility, show that you are genuine and have personal experience of your subject. People connect with you, and like you, and they come to trust you.

3 Steps to Great Stories

1. Be purposeful with your personal brand stories
Make sure you share the stories according to the requirements of the opportunity you are pitching for. And make sure the stories are not just the glossy tail end of the story. We connect with the struggle. Connection and empathy from others comes from the journey you’ve been on, not just the destination you’ve arrived at. After all, they are probably on a similar journey to the one you’ve been on and they want to know they can travel on towards the end result you’ve reached ; the one they want too.

2. Use stories that have concrete evidence
If you have figures such as “improved response time by 15%”, then provide evidence that supports your story and what impact it has had. Make sure you always use both concrete data and stories. The combination of the two will provide you with a compelling case when it comes to someone employing you or being chosen in a business deal over your competitors.

3. Ensure your stories are authentic
Stories that are authentic and in need of no exaggeration or embellishment are the most impactful and memorable! In business, if you are being considered alongside other candidates who are all equally as well qualified, what will make you stand out? It’s the connection and impact you make with the experiences you share.

When we are authentic, we are at our most open. When we willing to show our vulnerability, we are seen as being real; being human. Being real gives you your best chance of making the right deals and landing your dream business opportunity. Presenting your own personal and relevant stories when pitching to potential clients to win work will endear you to them. You won’t always win the work but you will be held in high regard for your honesty and authenticity, rather than for delivering a ‘plastic fantastic’ pitch, as often occurs in some industries.

So, what’s your story? What will you share with your potential customers or community to build the beginnings of a long term relationship? How will your story augment the development of Brand You?

ACTION: I’d love to hear your thoughts on the topic of sharing stories in support of building our personal brand. How about writing your comments below?

Business Success Tips : Meet Lindsay West

Lindsay West
Values Coach

Values. What are they?

Are values those ‘waffly words’ you see pinned to the walls in corporates that no-one pays any attention to?

Yes, they can be.

Are values those things that create successful businesses – big and small – because they becomes the ‘glue’ that holds everyone together?

Yes. Great examples of well known businesses that stand tall with their values and corporate culture are Zappos, Virgin, Starbucks…. Can you name others? There are plenty more.

Are values critical to helping small businesses thrive?

Absolutely!

Can understanding our personal values transform our personal lives?

You bet. I know this for a fact as taking time to understand my own values changed the course of my life and career.

Meet Lindsay West. She’s a values coach, speaker and author. She works with large and small businesses, and individuals, to help them understand their values, and how those values can be integrated to create transformations.

And those transformations can be enormous. Lindsay tells her own story of how understanding her values caused her to make massive changes in her personal and professional life.

I hope you are inspired after listening to this week’s interview to take some time to think about what’s important to you in life – to think about your own values – and whether you are living them in your personal life, your business, or your career. Enjoy.

You can listen to the original interview with Lindsay West here:

To connect with Lindsay West:

www.valuescoach.co.uk

Adèle hosts an interview series entitled:

• Successful Entrepreneurs’ Stories : Adèle McLay Interviews…..
• Business Success Tips : Adèle McLay Interviews …..

…where she interviews successful entrepreneurs from around the world, asking them to share their entrepreneurial stories, and other business ‘subject matter experts’ who share business success tips. If you would like to be art of Adèle’s success community and receive the interviews and much more directly to your inbox, please click here.

Listen to more Subject Matter Experts and be inspired in the Business Success Tips: Adèle McLay Interviews….. YouTube and Podcast series:

Other articles on What Makes Successful Entrepreneurs:

Seven Secrets of Super Successful Entrepreneurs
Entrepreneurship vs The Meaning of Life
Mega Entrepreneur Defined!
Supercharge Your Profitable Business!
Leadership Qualities
What Makes Great Entrepreneurial Leaders?
All Work + Little Play = Boring!
Entrepreneurial Success without Fulfilment: Who Wants That?
Millionaire Mindset
NZ Entrepreneurship Success

How to create “Brand You”

“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom”. – Aristotle

The concept of branding yourself has to do with first uncovering who you are as a person. Your brand isn’t an ad campaign or a tagline; it’s a combination of your beliefs, interests, talents, ethos, skills and values.

Personal branding is not an act or a display for others

It’s you being you and nothing more. But sometimes it isn’t immediately easy to know or say what being ‘me’ is. We can look at our friends or colleagues and see their strengths shining through, but often we feel less certain about our own.

So, what are the characteristics and qualities that combine to make you, you? ‘Who am I and what defines me?’

Ask yourself these three questions as they will help uncover these characteristics:

What are my values?
What are my strengths?
What am I passionate about?

Ask your family, friends, relatives or that special someone what words come to mind when they think of you. As scary as this exercise might sound, I’m quite sure everybody will have something to say about you, no matter what it is. Take notes. These will all be helpful insights into how people perceive you.

How about asking them two questions:

If you could describe me in just three words, what would they be?
What do you feel are my unique attributes?

Be aware that the answers may or may not match up with how you want to be perceived (or indeed, how you perceive yourself). But if you ask those close to you, or people you know to be perceptive, chances are they will have a good idea of the real you that shines from within.

Values – are they important?

Yes! You must infuse ‘Brand You’ with your values. This is how you get to do the work you love and love the work you do. It’s how you create a business that attracts customers with complementary values. It means you’ll be able to speak to them with your own, authentic voice, which in turn leads to trust and loyalty.

The specific words you use to describe your values won’t be set in stone as life is a journey and how we see ourselves will always be subject to change and growth, but the underlying principles are an intrinsic part of what makes you, you.

Focus on Strengths

It is tempting, especially in business, to want to be all things to all people. But when we think of the best brands, even the biggest brands, they always play to their strengths.

At school, we’re often conditioned to focus on improving our weaknesses rather than building on our strengths. I’m all for receiving a well-rounded education, but when it comes to business it’s all too easy to fall into the trap of spending all our energy on trying to fix what we’re not so good at instead of changing our business model to work with what we’re awesome at!

Which of your strengths do you most value above all others? How are you putting them to use in your life right now, and could you develop more ways to make the most use of them?

Passions

When you’re honest with yourself about your strengths then you’ll find your passions may automatically surface at the same time; after all, it makes sense that what we’re good at makes us feel good too!

What is it that really makes you come alive? When have you felt that spark of joy and feeling like you are on the right track?

Look back from your future

You’re looking back on your life and saying to yourself, ‘I did it!’ What does ‘it’ look like for you? What is your potential realised? What is your vision achieved?

Your vision is at the heart of your personal brand. It’s the best version of you and your life that you can think of; it’s you living and working with purpose and realising your potential.

Put it all together, and….

That’s where the magic is. When you combine your values, strengths, passions and vision, you’ve nailed who you are! You’ll know if you’ve got it right because you’ll be energised and excited by what’s come together. You’ll be itching to get out into the world and to spread the messages according to ‘Brand You’.

When you are working authentically within your personal brand, you develop impact and influence. People feel the real you and trust and connect with you.

That’s the power of personal branding.

ACTION: Who do you know who most authentically lives within their personal brand? I’d love to hear your thoughts. How about leaving a comment below?

Are You A Personal Brand?

“Your brand is what other people say about you when you’re not in the room”- Jeff Bezos, CEO and founder, Amazon

Imagine your friends, family, colleagues and clients in a room together, and the main topic of conversation is you. How would they describe you to each other? Would they be able to describe what you do? Or what you stand for?

Simply put, branding has traditionally been the process involved in creating a unique name and image or perception for a product in the consumer’s mind. The Mac ‘apple’ immediately evokes a perception of style, creativity and efficiency. ‘Kellogg’s’ says breakfast. ‘Nike’ says fashionable fitness. Brands promote an emotional response and when successful they increase customer loyalty, awareness and perceived value.

As Kevin Roberts – Global Executive Chairman of Saatchi and Saatchi says, ‘brand loyalty is where the money is, it’s why your customers use you and choose you more often, you or your products are a part of their life, their own story. Apple isn’t irreplaceable, but it is irresistible, so that we become loyal to the brand even beyond reason.’

Stand out and get noticed

Branding on a personal level does much the same thing; why should a potential client select you and your business over someone else’s where the service offering is the same? Often it all comes down to perception and presence. It goes beyond reason. You might be a wonderfully talented person, but unless you project your personality, expertise and general awesomeness to the world (or at least the people who matter in your world), you might lose out because people don’t quite ‘get’ you.

Personal Brand = Personal Purpose

What do you want to be known for? What impact do you want to make on the world? Is this immediately apparent to others either when they meet you in person, or, more likely when they look you up before meeting you? Over 1 billion names are searched on Google every single day, and the information they find for you will in some way affect whether they decide to do business with you, promote you or simply get in touch with you. It will affect their perceived value of you and what you do, and more frequently our first impressions are formed at this virtual stage before we even meet people. So it’s crucial to cover all aspects of our personal branding and make sure they are aligned, both online and in person.

7 great reasons for creating and maintaining your personal brand:

1. Establish Your Credibility
When you take the time to really get to the heart of who you are and what you do, you begin to build a personal brand that others will trust because what you are promising is what you will deliver. When you provide value to others on a steady basis, you soon begin to establish your credibility and build that trust factor, which is one of your greatest promotional assets. Word of mouth travels fast, and often won’t cost you a penny.

2. Differentiate yourself
We live in an intensively competitive world and it’s only through personal branding that you can really identify what makes you different and use that to stand out amongst the crowd. Each one of us is a unique combination of skills, values and passions, so that we each have something unique to offer. Perhaps you have the advantage of a personal story that will really connect with your customers/audience, or you have identified a key problem you can offer a solution for that no one else in your field has addressed.

3. Focus on the Work that Matters
As you go through the personal branding process, your self awareness will increase, deepening your understanding of yourself and what makes you unique, powerful and valuable. This in turn will lead you to focusing more on work that utilises your unique qualities (and is therefore of more value to others) rather than trying to be all things to all people.

4. Increase Your Visibility
When you narrow your focus on your strengths and identify your target audience you will become much more visible to the people who really matter; your potential customers/clients, and also the people in your field who are considered the influencers, who will help to bring you more customers etc. Because you have taken the care to really think about your personal brand and what it is that you can offer, you will be appear as someone trustworthy and a go-to expert.

5. Build Your Network
Growing your network is crucial for business and career success; it opens doors to opportunities you would have never thought of. Your personal brand is similar to a magnet; it attracts likeminded people who can be very useful to your career or business.

6. Magnetize Opportunities
As a result of your growing network, not only are people more willing to help you, but they will actually provide you with more opportunities, which could be a new business idea, a joint venture, co-writing books or even customer referral. When you have a strong, authentic and memorable brand that always delivers, people will always be willing to recommend you to others and want to work with you in the future.

7. Build Your Value
It all comes down to what you can do for people who need what you can do. Once you begin to get a bigger view of who you are, your values and what you have to offer others, you begin to build your value. Other people will only start seeing you as valuable once you do.

Personal Branding leads to Business Success

Whether your business is big or small, thinking about your personal brand is a must if you want to stand out and get notices in our ever increasingly competitive business world.

ACTION: Personal branding is a passion of mine. I’d love to hear your thoughts on people in your world who have strong brands. How about sharing in the comments below who those people are and why they have made an impression on you?