With all the hype surrounding the launch of the Apple iphone 3G, I couldn’t help but include this fine product in the title of my latest post! So, when you pick up your shiny little box of niceness containing a working (I hope) iphone this Friday…what things can you start using this little beasty for to enhance your personal brand?
The list of things you can use your iphone for an endless! So to keep this short and sweet, let’s look at an upcoming event, and try and guess what might be covered in the presentations?
In the next few days, Dan Schawbel and John Bates are presenting on the subject of “The next level of Personal Branding” , covering such subjects as; 1. The Rise of the Solo-preneur: Every year more people enter the ranks of the self employed either by choice or out of necessity.
2. Shortened Employment Lifecycles: The days of working for a single company for ones entire career are long gone.
3. Growth of the Knowledge Economy: It is no longer enough to list your skills on a resume, today you must demonstrate a clear ability acquire and leverage knowledge in a meaningful way.
4. Online Search: Have you Googled yourself lately? Guess what? Someone else has and you can rest assured it will happen again.
Now, with me in Sydney, and them in Boston, I am not confident on making this event. If you are too busy trying to work out how to get the best out of your new iphone, then let me cover in a few words what might be spoken about at this event, and how you can use your iphone to enhance your personal brand!
1. The Rise of the Solo-preneur - so, you are great at what you do, but have just had enough of the corporate treadmill. You have decided to leave it all behind and go it alone! You are now more than ever - the MD of ME! You have some great ideas, but need cash and customers - and customers normally do mean cash? How do you acquire more customers…well this is pretty simple - more people need to know who you are and what you can do for them…and how then can they find you? This where your new iphone can really help you! Try ringing your local newspaper (or well subscribed publication) and ask them how you can contribute as a regular columnist or subject matter expert (yes, your iphone makes phonecalls!). What about registering an account with Twitter and adding regular updates via sms or the web to keep your followers updated, and create some ‘buzz’. Create a page on Facebook or MySpace for your new businss venture and keep people updated from your iphone!
2. Shortened Employment Lifecycles. Now, this one is a little trickier, as your employer might not feel so great about you playing with your new iphone all day instead of working? So, yes, the iphone may help your shorten your employment cycle (you will be asked to leave for spending too much time on your new gadget!). On a serious note though - spend some time researching subjects you enjoy and are passionate about (the iphone has a great web capability). Think of ways you can include some of these passions and interests into your work. You may even become the new gadget maven or social media mogul for your employer..opening up a whole new world!
3. Growth of the Knowledge Economy - This is where the iphone REALLY helps you out!. I have always believed that the most popular and successful people are also the most interesting people! So how do you get ore interesting? simple…read more, and learn more, and then engage in some conversations with people about these subjects. Pretty soon, you will be known as the go to guy on all subjects! Join upcoming or Digg and keep abreast of all that is happening in the world. Even more importantly, subscribe to your favourite blogs and get email updates on your iphone! There is a plethora of things you can use the iphone for to increase your knowledge and participate in the knowledge economy.
4. Online Search - Lat, but not least, Google is watching and people are watching you by using Google! this may scary, but it also kinda fun. To enhance your Google’self using your iphone, I recommend starting a blog, updating it regularly from your iphone, creating a flickr and youtube account, and upload some photos and videos (I know you cannot use the iphone as a video player!). You just have to have a LinkedIn account, and keep it updated - join groups, like the iphone users group! These things are guaranteed to keep your personal brand ranking high whenever someone Googles you!
Well, that’s it - a quick fly around on how the iphone can help you enhance your personal brand. We also cannot forget that people who see you with your iphone will just think you are plain cool, an early adopter, and a gadget freak. See people are already creating your personal brand for you…quick, get busy and wrestle it back off them!
Just when we thought there was no way that YouTube could be improved…Loic Le Meur comes along with Seesmic - and now we are having conversations, and interacting with video streams!
Then, Qik and Flixwagon step out, and these little wonders let us stream mobile phone content across their platform, and distribute it across any channel we desire - Facebook, YouTube, MySpace (online channels that is!)
Now, the bar has been raised again! Kyte.tv has really delivered in this space for me! This really slick and easy to use technology for me is the ultimate weapon in the battle against personal brand anonymity! We all carry a mobile phone with us, and most of these have a video capability (which is not essential for using with kyte.tv, Qik or Flixwagon!). If we do carry a mobile phone with any multimedia capability - then with kyte.tv we now have the platform and capability to share EVERY detail of our daily lives with viewers, followers, fans, friends, and (foes). We can now be our very own television broadcaster and producer - totally MD of ME!
Effectively - Kyte.tv lets you shoot video and stream it live to any online channel you wish. You can stream live to friends on Facebook or MySpace, or to followers in FriendFeed and Twitter (well via a redirection!) and give them the lowdown and showdown on what is your brand, and what you can do for them! The really great thing about this technology is the interactive nature of the content. Feedback is pretty much instantaneous!
I am eager to get to know kyte.tv a little better and start to understand the benefits and implications for personal branding a little more closely. On the surface, technology like this presents an opportunity to present your personal brand in a much more intimate and authentic manner! As long as your target audience will consume your brand in this format - then I think the opportunities are endless?
Look forward to sharing some experiences with you on Kyte.tv, and hearing other readers view on this little ripper also!
In the interim - watch this video explaining what Kyte.tv can do for you and your personal brand! (I really dig the guys accent!)
Now you aspiring ‘personal brand mavens’…despite what you may think, the following is true…
Social Media works!
If you want to create some buzz about a recent article you have written, or a great presentation you have given to some pretty important people - or you just want to brag about the six figure deal you have just signed…then what better way to do this than online (for free)!, or from your mobile phone! You are your own PR agency, you are the MD of ME, and you most certainly have repsonsibility for marketing the product that is YOU! So how do you do this? Easy, get started on one of the following tools - uncover your personal brand, tell the world, create new friends…do more buzziness! Following are some crazy (and not so crazy) micro-blogging tools - that are free, easy to use, and a fun way to carve out your niche and tell the world why your brand is THE brand!
My personal favourite right now. Addictive little sucker - a microblogging platform so that you can keep your friends and followers up to date..in 140 characters or less (sort of like sms - only much more viral!). You can even post updates from anywhere on your mobile phone, which is way sweet (I just don’t know how much this costs?) Follow me if you dare! Want to learn more - check out what the Tracksuit CEO has to say about Tweetbait!
OK, debate rages…twitter v friendfeed v twitter v friendfeed…damn I give up and just use both (updates in twitter actually show up in friendfeed anyway!). Some people (blogging legends) like Steve Rubel actually think that FriendFeed will take over the world! I personally am not convinced! I find FF (microblog speak for friendfeed) too busy, and too noisy!
This strange little animal promises to leave you in a state of “so do I like it or not’dom” Using a timeline to help follow conversations, and a Karma score that increases with use, has not convinced me yet that it will change the face of microblogging! Check it out if you like strange headless animals, and read the celebrity Probloggers’ view on how plurk scores your Karma!
Pownce pownced, and then sort of went quiet! I like the fact that it updates all my other microblogging sites…and that you can upload images and files to your friends! (you cannot do this on Twitter for example). Unfortunately, in my mind, Pownces’ weakness is the best example of what these tools are all about - mass take up! Pownce has not really captured all my friends imagination - and therefore conversations with myself are not really going anywhere?
Another interesting little tool that I use occasionally - to keep the status on my LinkedIn, Facebook and other sites up to date is Ping.fm. Not really a microblogging site - but can be a handy little beasty for keeping on top of your new found buzziness!
So that is enough for today -otherwise you will spend all day playing with your new found fame! Over the coming days I will cover off a few more of thes wonderfully addictive social media tools - in the meantime; register, and jump right in…look me up, and lets start hearing about your brand!
I trust we have shed a little more light on what it takes to write a book, and have given you some ideas on reinforcing the INTELLECTUAL element of your Personal brand.
Today, the interview series closes with some examples of what being an author has done for Steves’ Personal Brand, and what tips and techniques he would recommend for anyone considering writing a book, and his co-author Alison Baverstock provides a brief video overview of the book!
Q.What examples of the success/branding have you achieved?
This is great fodder for my website.To talk about our latest book to clients and prospects is simply great…Being positioned as a thought leader gives real depth to what you are doing – not just scraping off someone else’s work.Importantly also, this gave us an opportunity to talk to lots of other senior people in the industry – these people were very forthcoming and insightful, and this has really contributed to an expanded network for me and the other authors!
Q.Do you have any tips for technology or other tools you found useful during this process?
I use Google docs and Google suite of products extensively! For version control, and keeping the right version of a master document up to date, there is nothing better.I have become a huge fan of the Google suite of products (Gmail etc).When working with a manuscript or something like this, this is very important.To hear stories of manuscripts going missing or getting destroyed in fires etc really scares me!
Q.What would you say to anyone considering writing a book on any subject?
Do it…there is the option of publishing your material as an eBook.This is also easy and can be done.It is not about selling lots of books.The age old tradition of self publishing v recognised publisher is being broken down, and the opportunity to write and publish your own book now is much greater than it used to be!
Thanks agian to Steve for agreeing to give up some time for this interview. This interview was a lot of fun for me, and I hope it went a little further to promote Steve’s Personal brand :) For me the key points were;
Consider co-authoring
Do your research - approach a publisher with an idea, not a completed book!
Consider self-publishing
Be clear on your aims! You should not write a book just to make money!, and
Get started - write a book about a subject you are passionate about!
Over the next weeks, I want to interview a few more ‘doers’ people who are out there strengthening their Personal brand with real actions and intent. I am really keen to interview and share with you the thoughts and insights from a good friend who is a successful paid speaker; after all public speaking is a GREAT way to develop your Personal Brand. So, off to prepare for another interview…
To really light up the intellectual element of your personal brand - try and know more than your colleagues, competitors, or lo and behold - know more than your boss!
Stay on top of this reading list 300 Blogs: weekend reading from David Zinger, and you will be certain to know more than most (or at least have a very informed opinion on a variety of subjects!)
Enjoy…and you thought you had spare time in your day!
The first part of this 3 part interview gave us an overview of Steve’s experiences, a brief overview of what the book is about, and finished with my thoughts on a few key take outs. I really believe that writing a book is a great experience (which Steve supported - and advice I have taken on board, currently writing my first book!) and an exercise that does wonders to reinforce your expertise and knowledge - and ultimately your Personal Brand! (And this nice little post by Chris Brogan on “The Real Power of Personal Branding” goes a little further to explain why your Personal Brand is important!).
In Part 2 of this interview, Steve shares some thoughts on what he would have done differently, and what were the 3 things he took away from the experience!
Q.What are you hoping readers take from this book once they have read it?
We aimed to demystify things.You hear about people working their way up the greasy pole, with plenty of “You must do this, don’t do that.”This is often based on a sample of one – it is just a story of their journey. We believed, and found that it was not really like this ALL the time and things like “do not let your background limit you” – were invaluable insights on this subject.
Q.To date, what have been the 3 most significant ‘take-aways’ from your experience in writing this book”
1.It delivered what we wanted.Do not think this is going to be anything but an expense.This is easily the least profitable thing I have done in the last few years.Do not do it for the cash.It is for long term branding benefits.It has worked well in this respect.
2.I love having a book written by me (and others obviously)! – there is something magical about going into a shop and seeing something that has come out of my head, and someone will pay good money for it, and
3.Co-authoring was a lot of fun, and very satisfying!We did not know how this would go.We set up ground rules early – we were open, honest and upfront – it was great to work on each other’s creative stuff, and be brave enough to make your own contributions.
Q.On reflection, what would you have done differently?
I cannot think of anything we would have done differently – we really did have a dream ride. From here, we are not looking to sell vast numbers; this would purely be a bonus if we did.Everything just went so well!
Q.Where to from here; what is next on the agenda for Steve Carey - author?
We do have another proposal on the go, for a bigger and bolder book. The single biggest lesson is that this is a long-term project - our book took nearly two years from conception to bookshelf. So the sooner you start the sooner you’ll get there!
Thanks for dropping by. over the next few days I will post the final part of the interview, where Alison Baverstock (co-author With Steve and Susannah) gives us an overview of the book on video, and Steve finshes up by answering questions on what Personal Branding benefits he has received so far, and what technology and tools they used to help with the writing process!
For those who have been reading my recent posts, you will know of my thoughts on the elements of your Personal Brand. The INTELLECTUAL element is all about what you know, your experience, your expertise, and your intellect! A truly great way to demonstrate this is by..writing a book! Why not?, there is an author fighting to get out from the inside for all of us…everyone has a story, and putting this story in writing is a fun (and challenging!) way to demonstrate your passion and expertise. Oh, and don’t forget once you have written and published the book - you could actually become famous! I was fortunate enough to meet Steve Carey recently, co-author of the recently published “How to get a Job in Publishing” ( for my Australian readers - you can learn more here) and co-founder of Bloom Partners
I really wanted to learn from Steve “So, how do you actually write a book?” and share this with you all to hopefully inspire those aspiring authors amongst you! (that is a lot of spiring!).
Q.Steve, thanks again for agreeing to give up some time for this interview. In 50 words or less, what is your previous experience with authoring/publishing?
Whilst this is my first book, I have an extensive background in publishing.This is the book I wish I had when I was starting out – it is full of hard earned, practical advice that works (I have heard that before!).
Q.Can you tell me a little about the book?
Effectively, this is a handbook for those starting out in publishing– it will help you with the critical questions like – “is publishing for you, what to do when you get there, and what to avoid when starting out?”
Q.What did you learn?
I learned that I wished I had done this earlier!It was truly great to piggyback of Alison’s experience (Alison Baverstock is the co-author along with Steve and Susannah Bowen), she had published several books prior, and this gave us great credibility.It was originally my idea, and we approached several publishers and agents. I believe it would be very difficult to get noticed without previous experience, and that credibility.My advice would be “don’t write the book first and then seek the publisher”.An established publisher will help you find the best angle, and help you target the book and refine your subject matter.
Q.How else can you establish credibility?
A publication of any kind is obviously a great help.Also, as we all know, a referral is better than going in cold and approaching a publisher off your own bat.I would recommend finding an existing author, and then seek an introduction.There is no doubt that this will get you a much better hearing than just approaching publishers cold!
Q.How did you meet Alison Baverstock
My business partner knew Alison from a past life in the UK.A great example of the power of networks and networking!
My 3 take-outs from part 1 of this interview
Don’t write your book then seek a publisher - run a high level plan of your book past a publisher first,
Consider co-authoring your first book with an already published author, and
Do it - just write a book!
Visit us again in the next 2 days for Part 2 of this interview - where Steve talks a little more about what he learned, and what he would do differently if he had his time all over again - you might be surprised to hear his thoughts on this!
Image via WikipediaYou just have to read this article from Harvard Business Review…confirmation that it is more important to be POPULAR than GREAT for career success!
Image via WikipediaWithout giving too much away about my age..last night I was fortunate enough to attend a 30th Birthday party of a good friend in Surry Hills, Sydney, Australia. The host had collectively booked out the entire reataurant ( a swank Vietnamese restaurant COCHIN) for us all to celebrate, eat and get dressed to befit the theme “black and white, diamonds and pearls”"…
Great night, great food, and..great conversation. With pre-arranged seating, I got to sit beside a great conversationalist - Pete. Pete and I could have stayed to the wee hours talking about the work I do - (making GREAT people POPULAR), but my wife and I had to depart to save the babysitter from anarchy. Pete raised the question about corporate brands, and how Personal Branding is in conflict with the fundamentals of Corporate Success - where the Corporate Brand expects your loyalty and effort in reward for a salary and status! Lately I have been moving into some reserach on the subject, and looking to produce some findings on Corporate Branding v Personal Branding, as this is a common objection I get from Learning and Development Managers in corporations “why would we develop the Personal Brands of our people, only to have them leave?” This is a legitimate objection, with many responses. We then observed how the age of the “corporation” was perhaps passing, and how truly great employers have for some time recognised that corporate brand loyalty has been eroding over the last 10 years, and that the best way to build a competitive and innovative organisation was to encourage ‘personal brands’ within the organisation, and this leads to an entrepreneurial spirit, and attracts creative, innovative and ambitious employees? So, is this true..do corporations that encourage innovation and do not shy away from building the ‘personal brands’ of their employees achive better results; or is the coporate juggernaut, where your loyalty and commitment to the corporate brand is still demanded - still King?
Things are changing - when the Irish Internet Association creates a Social Media Working Group“to support businesses in the development of strategies for engaging with social media from blogging to social networking, from community sites to podcasts” then this says to me that organisations are beginning to understand the role of the Internet, the influence of social media, and the power of the INDIVIDUAL.
I would really like to hear from all my readers - what are the qualities they look for in an employer? If the employer forbid them to partake in developing their own personal brand building activities (networking, social networking, personal development, authoring etc) -would you still want to work there?
Recently, I have been excited to see more and more posts and discussion about the ‘know thyself’ or DEFINE aspect of the journey in discovering your Personal Brand. Dan’s latest post on The Personal Branding Blog was all about this very subject, as he reviewed the book “Change the Way You see Yourself” (by Kathryn Cramer and Hank Wasiak).
There were several quotes from the book (I luv the cover by the way!) that caught my attention. Of special note was “Stand for something…It’s your personal platform.” This is oh so true when it comes to developing a memorable or unique Personal Brand. The only caveat I would add here is “make sure you believe in what you stand for” or possibly more importantly - “make sure you understand” what you stand for. Who can remember the incident where the rock queen - Pink was opposed to the cruelty caused to sheep by ‘muelling’. When Pink was asked to explain what she understood about the practice of ‘muelling’ her answer demonstarted she knew NOTHING about the subject. This was a great example of a badly advised rockstar - looking to claim some ‘brand‘ time by opposing something topical - without understanding the topic first!.
So, luv the idea of this book (must go and buy it now to read), and I cannot support the comments from Cramer enough when she says
“I feel that the first major section of our book, Change the Way You See Power, dovetails with personal branding by showing readers how to identify their “Signature Presence” - unique set of talents, skills and capabilities, and how to unleash their personal sense of purpose and passion in pursuing career goals and getting business results…”
So, break down you passions, understand yourself, classify your skills and talents - and take the time to TRULY understand what it is you stand for. (see the footnote below that Sun Tzu never told anyone about!)
Image via Wikipedia
For those who have been reading my recent posts, you will know of my thoughts on the elements of your Personal Brand. The INTELLECTUAL element is all about what you know, your experience, your expertise, and your intellect! A truly great way to demonstrate this is by..writing a book! Why not?, there is an author fighting to get out from the inside for all of us…everyone has a story, and putting this story in writing is a fun (and challenging!) way to demonstrate your passion and expertise. Oh, and don’t forget once you have written and published the book - you could actually become famous! I was fortunate enough to meet Steve Carey recently, co-author of the recently published 
