The Person to See

The Measure Of A Great Personal Brand

As I've said many times in this blog, don't confuse a great personal brand with a powerful one.  Great brands inspire, powerful ones thrive on intimidation.

If you want to know if you have a great personal brand you should be able to answer these two questions affirmatively...

• Do people seek out your advice for guidance beyond what you do for a living? In other words do they trust your judgment as much as your expertise?

• When they seek out your advice do they follow it or are you just another person they want to bounce an idea off of?

If your answers to these two questions is yes than you have, in my opinion, a great personal brand.

The Necktie

If you are lying awake at night wondering where the idea for the necktie came from - here you go.

Download the_necktie.pdf

Big Russ Puts It All In Perspective

If you have not read Tim Russert's tribute to his Dad entitled Big Russ & Me you are missing something special.

Here's some of Big Russ' favorite lines...

The world doesn't owe you a favor

If you are not on the field you can't recover a fumble

And my favorite...

What a Country

Treat yourself.  Go out and get this book and read it.

Shaq-A-Claus To The Rescue Again

I admire Shaq.  He's never been in trouble with drugs, the law or the league.  He is also a personal brand management master.

He's so smart.  All his self promotion efforts seem to always involve helping others.  His latest venture involves helping homeowners who are in danger of losing their house due to foreclosure.  In his words Shaq "...wants to buy delinquent homeowners' homes and than resell them back to these same folks at affordable interest rates."

Good for you Shaq.  You are the perfect example of the power of the free market.  We need more Shaq's and less government.

A Touch Of Class

My client Ray Bayat of NetCo Investments really knows how to make the people who help him feel special.

Ray's in the business of buying and repositioning shopping centers.  The lifeblood of his business are the brokers who show him potential deals.  When a deal hits, everyone makes out including the broker who receives a handsome commission.

Ray still finds a way to go the extra mile to let the brokers know how much he appreciates them.  After the deal is done he always sends a Tiffany & Co cardholder to the broker.  It's his signature gesture.

The feedback he receives is tremendous.  One broker from Texas told Ray that "When that blue box arrived everyone crowded around to see what it was."

See, it's not that hard.  All it takes is some thought and a dose of caring about others. 

Want To See A Real Live Hero?

Check out Randy Pausch's video on YouTube.  Make sure you have tissues.

There Are Only Two Reasons Why You Are Not Where You Want To Be In Your Business

Either (1) you are not in front of the right people or (2) you are in front of the right people and your brand doesn't sell.

For that matter, this principle applies to every aspect of our lives.  If you are not married it is either because you are not in front of enough people you'd like to marry or you are in front of them and they aint that impressed with you.

And so on...

A Tool For Successful Personal Brand Management

One of my clients, Matthew May of May Realty Advisors, gave me this excellent tool which he uses daily to stay focused on keeping The Main Thing, The Main Thing.

How about using this or a similar tool to stay focused on building your personal brand daily.

Download evaluation_diary.doc