A few weeks ago I wrote a post titled “We need you help”

Over the following few days, there were many kind offers of help from my readers.

Here are those who were kind enough to offer help and assistance to those who need help during the current crisis.  This includes help with resume writing, personal branding, social networking, mentoring and other essential support for seeking and gaining employment or opportunity!

Please drop a line to these people who offered their support - and help us to spread some love by sending this post and resources to those you know who need some help getting back on their feet or simply getting their head above water…

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David Crain -Personal Branding Tips

www.davecrainonline.com/a-personal-branding-primer.html

www.davecrainonline.com

http://www.linkedin.com/in/davidcrain

http://neoinc.org/

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Business Name - Inform Group

Dave Boulter - Services – Coaching, Advising, Mentoring

www.informgroup.com.au

www.boulterassociates.com.au

www.linkedin.com/in/daveboulter

www.consultgroup.net.au/

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Business Name - Bigg Success

Mary Lynn Foster - Personal and professional development

http://biggsuccess.com

http://www.blogcatalog.com/blogs/bigg-success.html

http://www.facebook.com/people/Mary-Lynn_Foster/574744630

http://businessnetworkingadvice.com/2008/02/interview-with-mary-lynn-foster-and.html

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Kikolani (Kristi) - Blogging, traffic generation, social networking, myspace layouts, CSS/HTML, Wordpress theme modifications, SEO

http://kikolani.com

http://www.blogcatalog.com/user/kikolani

http://technorati.com/people/technorati/kikolani

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Paul Lange – Management Consultant

http://www.paullange.com.au

http://www.paullange.com.au/blogger/

http://www.linkedin.com/in/pauljlange

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Business Name - Threshold Consulting

Walter Akana - Personal branding

http://www.threshold-consulting.com

http://walterakana.typepad.com/threshold_consulting/20 07/08/refreshing-care.html

http://www.linkedin.com/in/walterakana

http://www.facebook.com/people/Walter_Akana/653584323

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Business Name - Global Trade & Technology Network (GTN), Bangladesh

Asif Anwar - SEO/SEM + SMM + Internet Marketing

http://www.asifanwar.7p.com/

http://marketinggossip.blogspot.com

http://marketinggossip.blogspot.com/2008/02/people-search-in-linkedin-hunting-for.htm

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Business Name - acidlabs

Steven Collins -Training & mentoring, web strategy, information architecture

http://www.acidlabs.org/meet-stephen-collins/

http://www.acidlabs.org

Or try - http://twitter.com/trib

http://www.linkedin.com/in/stephencollins

http://www.facebook.com/people/Stephen_Collins/692035946

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Matt Herbert - Resume writing, mentoring

http://wordsaremypower.com

http://www.facebook.com/people/Matt_Herbert/535202793

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Business Name - reCareered

Phil Rosenberg - Resume Search Optimization and Web 2.0 tools

http://www.blogger.com/profile/03469089939068726528

http://reCareered.blogspot.com

http://profile.to/philrosenberg

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Business Name - ki work

Michael Wolff - Online brand creation, and optimizing online marketability

http://www.ki-work.com

http://ki-work.com/blog

http://ki-work.typepad.com/kiwork/

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=4294602023

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Business Name - Ropella

Shane Stults - Executive search and consulting

http://www.ropella.com

http://www.linkedin.com/in/shanestults

http://network.fordyceletter.com/profile/ShaneJStults

http://www.facebook.com/people/Shane_Stults/1038505168

http://www.ropella.com/index.php/index/team_detail/shane_stults/

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Business Name - One Source Graphics

Tony Mack - Graphic Designer

http://onesourcegraphics.org/photos/content/index.html

http://www.linkedin.com/in/tonymack

http://www.meetup.com/21st-Century-Entrepreneurs/members/6256971/

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Perpetual - Corporate Trust Division

David Hechter - david.hechter@perpetual.com.au

www.perpetual.com.au

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Business Name - Smith van Rossum and Associates LLC

Jerry Van Rossum - Business Advisor for Small & Medium Size Businesses

http://www.linkedin.com/in/smithvanrossum

http://www.merchantcircle.com/business/Smith.van.Rossum.And.Associates.LLC.248-265-6665

http://www.facebook.com/people/Jerry_Van_Rossum/1206330141

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Business Name - Advance Career Tech

Sam Mehta - Recruitment/executive search

www.actrecruiters.com

http://www.smart-office.net/site02/index02.php?member_id=25599

http://center.spoke.com/info/p4BWedz/KishorsamMehta

http://www.linkedin.com/in/sammehtaatactrecruitersdotcom

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Business Name - Promotions & Premiums Consultants Private Limited

Pradeep Narasimha – Brand consultant

http://www.pradeepnarasimha.blogspot.com

http://sustainopreneurship.ning.com/profile/PradeepNarasimha

http://www.blogger.com/profile/00418892463206388572

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Business Name - Continuity Programs Australia

Raz Chorev - provides industry-specific customer loyalty programs

http://www.continuityprograms.com.au/

http://www.linkedin.com/in/razchorev?goback=.prf

http://www.ecademy.com/account.php?id=353759

http://www.plaxo.com/directory/profile/227633993385/5fc41586/Raz/Chorev

http://www.facebook.com/people/Raz_Chorev/1037431780

A great and powerful personal brand may not know all the answers…but they WILL know where to go to get all the answers!

Sarah Leah Gootnick has produced an absolute gem here with this ‘must have’ book for small business owners.

It is packed with advice, tools and tips for helping you create a successful small business.

So, stand out from the crowd, and be one step ahead of your competition by increasing the INTELLECTUAL attributes of your personal brand!

(click on the cover to download the handbook)

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Are you intelligent, educated, energetic and like face to face meetings?

What are your KEY brand attributes?

Take 60 mins out from the chaos for a while and take the time to understand your own personal brand using these steps.

1.  The PHYSICAL aspects of your personal brand

How is your appearance, your grooming, your height, weight and general health.  How is your spoken language - do you speak fast or slow….are you easy to understand.  Do you have an accent?  How big is your network - does it mainly consist of friends and family, or mainly professional contacts?  What would other people think of your network - would they want to know you because of your network?

2.  The PRACTICAL aspects of your personal brand

How do you like to work and what have you achieved?  Do you have any testimonials or awards?  Do you prefer face to face time with people, or over the phone and email.  Do you like to use social media to meet new people, or are you shy and prefer to be introduced to other people?

3.  The PRINCIPLE element of your personal brand

When you say you will get back to someone, do you?  How long does it take you to return phonecalls or emails?  How comfortable are you telling your friends or clients that they are wrong, or need to change their approach to an issue?  When was the last time you ’sacked’ a customer because their values did not agree with yours?  What are your values and beliefs?

4.  The INTELLECTUAL element of your personal brand

How educated are you?  What qualifications do you have?  What are good examples of ideas and innovations you have come up with?  What is your personality type - extravert, intravert?  What experiences do you have in life and work?

This is not a definitive list of questions to ask yourself to help you better understand your own personal brand - but they should give you an idea of the questions to ask yourself, and to help you understand your current brand attributes against a set model.  These questions will also help you to understand the strong elements of your personal brand, and the less strong elements of your brand.

This exercise should then assist you in the next stage..making a plan to emphasise and communicate the strong elements of your personal brand, and a personal development plan to strengthen the areas of your personal brand that may need some attention!

Have fun developing and communicating your personal brand!

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When was the last time you disagreed with something and actually spoke up and voiced your concerns?

With the comfort of 20/20 hindsight; it may be easy to say…”I knew this financial crisis would happen; those greedy buggers on Wall Street had this coming”

Well, a couple of weeks ago I made contact with someone who actually did voice their concerns with “Financial Malaise” in May 2008…and not surprisingly, they were howled down.  Now this very same person is being asked to comment on the crisis that has since erupted!

Bruce Robinson of Winterbourne wrote this article on the 26th May this year “the financial malaise is spreading”

The message here is that never be afraid to voice or publish your concerns.  People may not always want to hear what you have to say, but it is still important that you say it!  For those of us who sat back and said nothing, nor took any action to address the impending disaster, then we have no reason to complain.

If any of us could have chosen to not accept the extra credit offered by the bank on our credit card, or said no to the no deposit home loan to buy that next investment property - then we should have.

Remember your principles and integrity are a very significant element of your personal brand…and this means if you disagree with policy, decisions or someone’s actions - speak up and make your case…you will be respected more in the long run!

Are there any examples where you wished you had spoken up or disagreed and did not.  Or, are there examples where you have spoken up and things worked out better as a result?

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Dan Schawbel has recently finished his book “Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success”

Given the title of the book, I wanted to explain what this means for YOU 2.0.

We have all heard of Web 2.0, and we all know the 2.0 stands for the 2nd version of the web right?  WRONG.  This is part of the story, but the interesting thing to know is that the 2.0 also means there are now 2 people in the conversation.  Web 1.0 was all about direct advertising, and pushing messages at you with little engagement or consultation.  As consumers, we now demand more than this, we want to be engaged, involved, listened to, and asked of our opinion.  Web 2.0 is all about the online tools that allow for this interaction - like Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, Twitter and blogging!  Media now needs to engage others, and involve them in the conversation…if you doubt this, just spend a moment to reflect on Barack Obama’s recent successful Presidential Campaign!

So what does this mean for YOU 2.0?

Not only does the media need to reflect the values of Web 2.0, but so too does your personal brand!  Like any successful web 2.0 and Social Media campaign, you should be considering how your personal brand delivers on the four essential stages of the 2.0 world!

1.  LISTENING - what are your target audience talking about, and what are they demanding from your personal brand.  Do they need you to be available or knowledgeable or to simply respond when they ask a question…either way, you need to be listening to you target audience (this is difficult if you do not know who you target audience is!)

2.  TALKING - do you encourage conversation about your skills, talents, products or services..what are you selling?  How do you encourage this conversation.  Do you take 2 or 3 customers to lunch on a monthly basis, do you introduce your network to one another?  You know your personal brand is powerful when others do the selling for you!

3.  INVOLVING - when was the last time you asked a customer or prospect for feedback on your services and your brand attributes?  When was the last time you asked friends or colleagues to explain you in 3 words or less.  If you ask for this feedback, be sure to thank them for it, and then demonstrate how you have taken this feedback on board.

4.  SUPPORTING - you know your personal brand is super effective when your prospects and customers are now solving one another’s problems, and speaking to one another about your services in a positive light!

5.  ENGAGING - the final stage in the YOU 2.0 process is the engagement of your target audience in the process of product and strategy development.  Who developed your last product or service..your customers or you?

So, how are you going to start listening to your target audience?  Think about these 5 steps and how you can integrate them into you business or life.  You can be assured that by following these 5 steps, you will find your personal brand will engage others, and draw them to you.

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Would you follow or help someone who is rude to you?

I most definitely would not.  The most effective leaders and managers I have ever worked with or for have been those that have a fundamental concern for the welfare of others, and know the subtle art of being a statesman.

Well if you are rude, abrasive and downright unpleasant, maybe you could consider the following tips on good manners an etiquette.  Implement one a day and observe how others around you react?

-Never send an email to someone that is not professional, courteous and without personal offence -if you want to insult someone, pick up the phone!

- Always checking up with the executives of the company or their secretaries for an appointment for better time management and as manners.
- Pick up the phone before two to three rings.
- On phone, being polite.
- On phone, answer by giving your company’s name, your name and department’s name.
- Whenever you receive a phone for some one else, take down the name of the caller, their organisations name, telephone number and pass them on to the person who was called.
- Never put a caller on the hold for more than a few seconds. In case you wish to do it, request for the caller’s permission to do so.
- Always be 100% punctual in meetings.
- Always go fully prepared for meetings, keep all the relevant data/information with you.
- Say “good morning”, “good evening” etc as appropriate with a warm, firm and brief hand shake. Never keep holding the hand of the person with whom you are shaking hands.
- Never say “good night” when you are meeting another person in the evening/night. The correct salutation is “good evening”. When you part company in the night then only say “good night”.
- Try to remember the correct names of the persons with whom you are dealing and address them by their correct names. Never call other person by yelling a “hello” or “Sh sh sh” etc. They are bad manners.
- Never keep your mouth open while taking a yawn. Close it by keeping a palm over the mouth. In the first place do not yawn in front of others, control it.
- While sitting do not keep shaking your legs.
- Keep your mouth clean of bad breath. Do not eat garlic or onions etc during the day time if possible.
- Keep your body clean of bad odors. Keep yourself clean and use perfume/deodorant.
- Do not talk/gossip with a fellow colleague sitting next to you during the conduct of meetings.
- In case you have to go out of a running meeting under some compulsion, do so without disturbing others.
- Always offer chair to others for sitting.
- Do not shout while talking. Always keep your cool.
- You must dress properly, well fitting, clean and well pressed clothes.
- Do not wear the same socks every day. Wash them and then only use.
- Polish your shoes regularly.
- Shave daily without any exception (for men).
- Never spit.
- Cut your nails regularly.
- Comb your hair properly.
- Do not keep scratching your body in public.

- Rehearse your sentences in mind before you actually speak out.- Never talk loose.
- Be friends with your subordinates but never become familiar because familiarity breeds contempt.
- Keep an up to date diary and make sure that whatever tasks you undertake should be completed in time.
- You should not be seen whiling away your time or gossiping.
- Never encourage grapevines.
- Do not have favorites. Treat every one professionally.
- If you do not drink, say a polite “no, thanks” for drinks. If you do drink, keep it in limits in parties.

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What does thinking fast have to do with your personal brand?

Well, if you have read any of my previous posts on the 4 elements of a personal brand, then you may recognise that the INTELLECTUAL and PRACTICAL elements of your personal brand are all about your work style, your knowledge, experience, intellect and new ideas!

Speed thinking is one way of strengthening this element of your Personal Brand!

Dr Ken Hudson gave a great presentation this week to a group of like minded individuals (I was one of these) on the “Speed Thinking Zone” Dr Hudson has conducted some revolutionary research and developed an approach to thinking that results in quicker results, more creative outputs and often better results; as speed thinking subscribes to the theory that ‘people work best under pressure’

What I took out of the presentation was that there are three ‘rules’ to speed thinking (sort of like fight club, only no Brad Pitt or blood!)

1. Just start!
2. Do not filter your thoughts
3. Allows things to emerge!

And how does the speed thinking model work…well in a nutshell the process is;

• Think about the problem or situation you are faced with.  For example - how can I increase prospects for my business
• Now give yourself 2 minutes to think up 9 ways to do this
• You can take this further by then looking at each of the ‘ways’ and giving yourself 2 minutes to come up with 9 ways to implement each of the ideas
• And so on…

The point is that by presenting a problem and then giving yourself just 2 minutes to come up with 9 ways to address the problem, you are in a better position (Ken believes - and incidentally, so do I) to actually solve the problem…and get on with the doing!

Why 9 ways…will another little tidbit, 9 seems to be the accepted maximum number of ideas you can get out in 2 minutes, and our short term memories tend to have a limit of about 7 +- 2 (which equates to 9 as a maximum if you follow?)

There you go, want to reinforce the intellectual element of your personal brand or demonstrate a new practial element of your brand - then try speed thinking and impress your mates or clients!

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Today, Super Coach, Author and acclaimed presenter Carl Gould presented us (us being a group of advisors, coaches, mentors and business owners) with this question.

In short, muddy water fish are those who are typically visionary, enthused by the big picture, have plenty of ideas and are happy with change and new things. Clear water fish are those that represent stability, compliance and systems. Clear water fish are typically enthused by detail, process and procedure.

There were several key points I took from Carl’s presentation;

• Identify your clients or prospects as clear water or muddy water fish, and recognise what enthuses them!
• Review your ‘team’ and identify the clear water and muddy water fish and be aware of the situations where their ‘fishiness’ would benefit a project,
• As you recruit and build a team around you, be aware of the muddy water fish and the clear water fish,
• If your clients have issues with structure and process in their business - and you are not a clean water fish; then introduce them to a member of your ‘team’ who is!
• If your clients have issues with sales, marketing and creativity - and you are not a muddy water fish; then introduce them to a member of your ‘team’ who is!

Like everyone else in the presentation; I found this analogy of personality types, strengths and weaknesses to be very simple and powerful.  From the perspective of your personal brand, this is an important step in ‘getting to know yourself’ and articulating your strengths and weaknesses, and knowing when to say NO.

So are you a dirty water fish, or a clean water fish?

Below are some photos from the event I managed to sneak in between listening and taking notes!

• Your words account for only 7% of the message you convey (the other 93% comes from non-verbal communication like tone and body language)
• We comprehend 25% of what we hear.
• We are distracted, preoccupied or forgetful 75% of the time
• We read 28% of the words on a web page

This being the case, what is the chance of ever getting your point across or influencing the perception of others?

Barack Obama understood this.  There has been plenty (almost too much) written about Obama and his use of web 2.0 tools, but this is not the only ‘channel’ or tool he used to influence the voters and communicate his Personal Brand.

Barack Obama understood that YOUR PERSONAL BRAND needs to be everywhere; it needs to appeal to all the senses, through all the channels and yet continue to deliver the same messages!  To further reinforce this message, the hottest ticket item following Barack Obama’s recent success in the US Presidential Campaign has been the humble newspaper! (read more here about this)

So if your Personal Branding strategy only includes online tools, and is limited to your blog and a few social media sites, then you may not be communicating your Personal Brand as effectively as you could be!

A few points to consider to communicate your personal brand more widely, and hence increase your chances of influence are;

• If you have a blog - use video, audio, text and images to relay your message,
• If you like to write - then write in forums, your local newspaper, and produce white papers for clients and prospecrs
• Never forget the influential power of being seen and associated with other influential people (your network!)
• Create a resume or bio online and in print (use Tasty Nectar or LinkedIn).  Consider a video bio also!
• Get to know you local member of parliament, the respected academics in your community, the influencers in the media and the local business community - these 4 pillars will serve you well!

I hope this post gets you thinking more broadly about your Personal Brand…and reminds you that even the most impressive Personal Brand we have known; Barack Obama used more than the Internet alone to communicate his personal brand!

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