Self employed

The One Question I Always Get on Personal Branding

by paulcopcutt
November 30, 2016

Image Fast Company Magazine August 1997

Next year will see the 20-year anniversary of the Fast Company magazine article “The Brand Called You” by Tom Peters. This was two years before his book series, which included “Brand You 50” were published. Most recognize the article as the ‘birth’ of personal branding or at the least the first time that the concept of having a personal brand appeared on the business radar. When you Google “Brand Called You” the article still appears at the top of the rankings. Read the article here

Many people still minimize the power of personal branding and some label it as egotistical and ridiculous. The criticism is legitimate towards those who have likened branding yourself to branding a bar of chocolate. In fact, the intention is to show the contrast between a person and a corporation when it comes to branding.

It probably took ten years after that article, for the notion of owning your personal brand to be embraced as an accepted way of managing your career, business, and even life. Celebrity branding has exploded with constant exposure and an unquenchable thirst for more. This leaves many people feeling inadequate unless they too garner the same visibility. Sadly credibility can sometimes take a back seat.

Social media has been both a blessing and curse and can be blamed for some of the hype, expectation, and disdain that personal branding attracts. But fault can also lie at the feet of the ‘gurus’ and experts who tell you to “Fake it until you make it” or encourage you to turn your social media streams into a one-way flow of personally branding me, me, me that should never be turned off.

When it comes to personal branding the one question I always get is

Will Today be Trump or Clinton’s Best Day at Work?

by paulcopcutt
November 8, 2016November 16, 2016

By the end of the day, one of the candidates may well be looking back to today as one of their best days at work, at least so far. Of course, the work for the successful President of the United States is only just beginning, some future days maybe best days and some may be the worst, it’s not an easy job for sure. The best and worst seems to be how many of you look at your own jobs and careers.

Presenteeism, time spent at the workplace while not productively engaged in work, is the new absenteeism

The conclusion of a 2015 Canadian study, The True Picture of Workplace Absenteeism, with 1,300 people including just over 1,000 employees, found that 80 percent of respondents self-reported experience with presenteeism. 81 percent indicated that they had gone into work while they could not perform as well as they would have liked.

The reasons for doing so included physical sickness (47 percent), stress or anxiety (40 percent) and workplace issues and/or problems with co-workers or managers (22 percent). Depression was specified as the cause by 15 percent of respondents.

A quick Google search of #BestWorkDay uncovers plenty of top 10 lists on ways to ensure you have your best days at work. The common advice to these problems seems to fall into two camps.

3 Critical Personal Brand Lessons From the Closing of Vine

by paulcopcutt
October 31, 2016October 31, 2016

All Hallows Eve is the time of the year dedicated to remembering the dead. It seems fitting that on Halloween we reflect on the personal brand lessons from the news last week that Twitter will be closing down their 6-second video app Vine. It may have come as a surprise to many of you, however, the ‘Vine Personal Brand Stars’ that it helped to create have already been moving on… Read More »3 Critical Personal Brand Lessons From the Closing of Vine

10 Ways LinkedIn Can Help Build Your Local Business

by paulcopcutt
October 7, 2016October 7, 2016

Imagine standing at a local networking event and every second that passes, two more new people walked in the door. It would soon get packed!

This is exactly what is happening 24 hours a day on LinkedIn as 7,200 new members join ever hour. As the world’s largest professional network, with over 450 million members, LinkedIn offers a huge global business opportunity.

But can it be useful on a local level and can it help you build new relationships and grow your business or career? Yes!

LinkedIn is business focused unlike Facebook or Twitter where the lines are blurred. On LinkedIn it is understood that you are connecting for business purposes. Around 40% of LinkedIn’s 12 million Canadian members live in Ontario. A simple postcode ‘Advanced Search’ can connect you with people as close as a 15 km radius to your location or target area.

You can also search by industry, company, job title and specific keywords to accurately pinpoint the connections your business needs. It is important for you to be very clear about who you want to connect with and why.

With that in mind, here are my TOP TEN ways to use LinkedIn effectively;

Lessons From Discover Your Personal Brand Conference – The All Star Panel

by paulcopcutt
August 15, 2016August 15, 2016

This past weekend I had the opportunity to speak again at the Discover Your Personal Brand Conference. DYPB 2016 was different from 2014 in a number of ways.

The focus was more toward small business and the caliber of speaker, panels and attendees was awesome. There were many inspiring young Canadians in attendance that really gave me a lift about the future of our country. All held within the back drop of Telus’ state of the art office in downtown Toronto, an environmental LEED building, bursting with technology and balanced with space and light.

The opportunity to attend conferences is always a big investment, even if its local so it was great to get such a rich experience.

After introductions from the motivating conference organizer and founder Bobby Umar and keynotes from the always excellent Mark Bowden and inspiring Real Food for Real Kids founder Lulu Cohen-Farnell the highlight of the first evening for me was the Personal Brand Leadership All Star Panel. They were;

Cameron Gordon, Head of Communications, Twitter – Moderator
Erin Bury, Managing Director at 88 Creative
Jennifer Ettinger, Founder & President at Fit Your Style
Jagmeet Singh, MPP, ONDP Deputy Leader
Bobby Umar, Founder, Raeallan & DYPB

Full bios and more details on the schedule http://www.dypb.ca/schedule/ and other speakers can be found here http://www.dypb.ca/speakers/

Here is a Summary of the questions and panel answers;

Discover Your Personal Brand 2016 #DYPB16

by paulcopcutt
August 11, 2016

Last chance to book tickets for #DYPB16 – dypb.ca TODAY only! Half Price Tickets to #DYPB16 #Toronto Aug 12-13. Buy One Get One Free! picatic.com/DYPB16 #BOGO over 50 experts & speakers on personal branding [youtube id=”mEFm7l3DLFY”]

Lead, Be Free, Find Success at Work

by paulcopcutt
June 14, 2016June 14, 2016

If you feel like a square peg in a round hole at the office, like the person who believes collaboration will lead to more success than competition, like people and passion come before transactions, and that your experience at the office can be different, then keep reading.

I’ve been invited to join an amazing lineup of experts who have come together to share their knowledge and strategies for how work can be done differently – both for you as an individual and for your company.

The Corporate Rebel Series is free interview training series for professionals who want to lead, be free, and find success at work – all at the same time.

It all kicks off tomorrow (June 15th) And guess what? (This is the awesome part!)

It’s free to join. Grab your spot here.

This training series is for you if…..

The #1 Mistake (Nearly) Everyone Makes on LinkedIn and What to do About It.

by paulcopcutt
November 9, 2015May 10, 2016

If someone is going to search for your name on Google are they going to type in First Name, Last Name and a series of random letters and numbers? Of course not! Then why do you continue to label your professional profile on LinkedIn this way? What most people do not realize is that you can custom the web address where your LinkedIn profile is placed, it is like your… Read More »The #1 Mistake (Nearly) Everyone Makes on LinkedIn and What to do About It.

Who Else Wants to Discover Their Personal Brand?

by paulcopcutt
August 5, 2014May 10, 2016

The 1st Annual DYPB Have you ever felt ‘lost’ as a leader? Are you trying to forge a corporate career path that makes sense for you? Are you an entrepreneur who is looking to find your voice? Are you a student who wants to make sure you have chosen the right academic path? Then you MUST understand what your Personal Brand is and how to leverage it in your personal,… Read More »Who Else Wants to Discover Their Personal Brand?

You Gotta Give Before You Can Ask

by paulcopcutt
February 6, 2014May 10, 2016
1 Comment

This is the core message of Gary Vaynerchuk’s latest book Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook – How To Tell Your Story in a Noisy, Social World. Although the book is referring to business brands and marketing, the tactics and approach can be applied equally to your own personal brand. either way ignore this book at your peril! Here is my recent quick Amazon.ca review; @GaryVee has done it again… Read More »You Gotta Give Before You Can Ask