For those of you that have heard me speak you know that coffee is one of my popular brand examples. After all why drive past five Tim Horton's to get to a Starbucks black coffee – especially now that you can get 4 oz of extra liquid for at least 60 cents less in Tim's new Extra Large cup versus a Venti? The answer is it's not just about the… Read More »Does Size Really Matter? It’s not just about the coffee
This past weekend saw the kids first ski lesson of the season. We were all prepared, everything was laid out ready. Boots, gloves, helmets, ski's, poles, jackets, pants……only one thing was not – SNOW! In fact the weather has been so unpredictable that even the picture above is last years! Global warming suggests that we might have to be looking further afield in the future for guaranteed winter! But we… Read More »Personal Branding Is Snow Joke
How do you feel at this time of year when people start to talk about new year’s resolutions? - Fearful, because you know that this year’s one fell by the wayside mid-January. - Excited , because it gives you a chance to kick off the year with a flourish. - Resentful, because you are going to feel pushed in to committing to something. Regardless of the emotions that come up,… Read More »Your personal brand needs YOU!
Of course this time of year is probably the most popular for goal setting and we all know the many disappointments by mid-January (or even earlier) as we fall off all the good intentions. The challenge with a lot of goal setting is that we tend to do it in isolation, versus building on where we are coming from. So before you sit down to set those goals for 2012,… Read More »Completing & Remembering 2011
You, Inc. The Art of Selling Yourself. © 2007 Harry Beckwith and Christine Clifford Beckwith – 316 Pages Hardback 5R Score: 21/35 The ‘Steps’ What people buy Planning and preparing Communicating Listening and speaking Relating Attitude and beliefs Tactics and habits Successes and delightful failures On a scale of 1-7 Relevance – is it right for personal branding? - 5 Resonance does it make sense to the reader? - 5 Relation… Read More »You Inc – The Art of Selling Yourself
Just around this time last year, I was 95% certain that all the medical appointments, tests and scans were leading to one inevitable conclusion, I had cancer. Just a few days after Christmas last year it was confirmed. This Christmas I will be celebrating that I am cancer free, loving life and truly grateful for my family and friends, spending time with them and being present in the moment. The… Read More »There’s No Such Thing as a Personal Brand Emergency
The recent report of an executive recruiter in the UK being fired for e-mailing a job candidate to go away using colourful language – but accidentally copying everyone (all 4,000+ of them!) on the candidates blast list, highlights the dangers of damaging your personal brand and career by relying too much on technology. What is that recruiter going to say when the question comes up "Why did you leave your… Read More »How E-mail Damages Your Personal Brand
We love to play various card games. My kids especially love Crazy 8's, it's a fast paced game with the main goal to get rid of all your cards before any opponents. They get extra enthusiastic when they lay a card down that causes you as the next player to pick more cards up – especially the Queen of Spades, where the penalty is 5 extra cards! Unfortunately at many… Read More »Your Business Card is NOT a Queen of Spades
It still seems to be almost a week never goes by without an invitation to another networking / social networking/ connections platform that is going to be the next best thing since sliced bread or at least since Google +. But how do you know if you should join or not? Revisit (or start) with what communication objectives you have set for your personal brand. Just because someone in your… Read More »Is LinkedIn a Waste of Time?
It's always gratifying and exciting to see clients make breakthroughs with their personal brands. Suddenly something that previously was never on their radar becomes an idea, then an action and finally a regular part of who they are. This new way of being, or more accurately, conscious communication of their personal brand, makes the work with them so fulfilling. On occasion this even gets noticed by others and it was… Read More »Your leadership brand is what others say it is – so what are they saying?