The Person to See

A Great Resource To Help You Get Your Message Out

A client of mine, Laine Wagenseller (who also happens to be a great real estate lawyer) turned me onto the site aboutfacemedia.com.  These guys produce corporate documentaries which I think may be a fabulous marketing tool for some of you.

I'm personally looking into it.  It is worth a look-see. 

Even The Giants Work On Their Brands

My client Jennifer Taylor of Arroyo Holdings just finished Warren Buffet's recent biography Snowball.  Jennifer so enjoyed the book she dashed off a little note to Mr. Buffet telling him how much she enjoyed it.  To her surprise and delight Warren Buffet dashed off a note himself thanking Jennifer for her words of kindness.

Here's a copy of the note.  Download WBNote

Not bad!  What other titans of industry would have taken the time to do the same?

A Real Breath Of Fresh Air

Isn't Myron Rolle  what college athletics is supposed to be all about?

Young Myron is a standout safety on Florida State's Football team as well as an academic standout in the classroom. Okay, so Rolle sets the bar a bit high-we can't all be Rhodes Scholars. But until universities and colleges rededicate themselves to the true letter and spirit of the student athlete "the Rolles" of collegiate sports will continue to be far and few.   

Personal Brands Are Formed Through Behavior Not Thoughts

Picking a personal brand and building one are two different things.  We pick our brands in a classroom, We build our brands in real life through actions.

It was said by a Canadian poet "Life happens at the level of events not words." 

Henry Ford once remarked "You can't build a reputation on what you are going to do."

Are you a person of action?

Personal Branding is fit for the times

Here's a great article on personal branding which appeared in the Financial Times entitled, Time For a Brand New You. 

The best line in the article was delivered by a branding expert Louise Mowbray who said, "A powerful personal brand will make you the right person when the next big opportunity comes up."

If Ever There Was Any Doubt In Your Mind About The Import Of Your Personal Brand

Tiger Woods is unquestionalbly the greatest golfer in the world.  I just read that his skill made him a whopping $5,775,000 this year so far.  Not bad.

His personal brand in contrast will make him in excess of $100,000,000.

The "All Things To All People" Strategy Doesn't Work

Here's an excerpt from an article written by Robert Kiyosaki on personal branding...

"Often entrepreneurs want to be pleasing, polite, inoffensive , nice-all things to all people.  This isn't being a brand; this is being a commodity-and a boring one at that...Brands become exclusive by excluding."

If you want to read the full article Rich Returns Admit One.

BTW: One of my best pals sent me this article.  Thanks Ray!

A Nice Signature Gift Idea

Here's a phenomenal gift idea.  I speak from experience as I was a beneficiary.  Check out            Pacific Cookie Company.  Fantastic cookies and great packaging.  I don't get any kickbacks for promoting these guys.  You will be a hero.  Trust me.

Every Owner In Every Company Should Worry About Every Employees Personal Brand

I can't tell you how many times I hear from people "Personal Branding is not really important to me because I am not in sales."

This morning I went to rent a truck from Public Storage.  The Company's posted hours for Sunday are  10am-2pm.  I along with several other folks arrived ten to fifteen minutes early.  At varying times we each peered into the window to see if anyone was there.

I can't say I was surprised to find a gal sitting behind a desk just hanging out waiting for 10am to come.  If we want to be sticklers for time she open the doors five minutes late.  But who is counting.

When we went in the gal was equally uninterested in our needs.  It was quite obvious she wasn't interested in serving customers.  Instead she was just logging the hours necessary to collect a paycheck.

What do you think, would working on your receptionist's, clerk's or other non-sales related person's personal brands help?

Little Deeds With Great Love

Mother Theresa was once asked...

"How could someone like you-small in stature (4' 11"), average intelligence, average public speaking skills, never had a cellphone, palm pilot, fax machine or hosted a single fund raising event-change the face of charity around the world?"

To which Mother Theresa responded, "Everyday I remind my girls, it is not great deeds as much as it is little deeds done with great love over and over again."

Somewhere along the line I learned from someone (probably my Dad or Mom) that everyone is important so let them know how much you appreciate them.  To this end whenever we do a presentation for a company we always make sure we express our appreciation to the person who coordinated the event.  It's usually someone's executive assistant.  The real unsung hero.

Our signature mitzvah is simply some flowers.  I cannot tell you how much positive feedback we get.  One person recently wrote us saying, "The best I ever got from any speaker was an email thank you."