by admin | Aug 29, 2017 | career change
It’s a given that every business needs to have a strong brand in order to be recognised and identified as quickly as possible, wherever they may be seen around the world. But did you realise it’s just as important for you to have a strong personal brand too in your own right?
Why?
- To help you stand out in the crowd – does anyone want to be that person whose name other people can’t remember? If you want to stand out professionally people need to bring you to mind easily, for whatever reason that may be (more on that below)
- To build your network – having a strong brand will help you to develop both a professional and personal network
- To give colleagues a deeper insight into you personally and professionally
So how do you go about creating your own brand?
First things first, you have to actually think of yourself as a brand and consider if you are a brand, what message do you want to send out today and any other day? Is it professional, creative, relaxed, for people to think of you as an expert in your field or is it for how you dress (Lady Gaga…)?
Try googling yourself and see what comes up. Is it pictures of you on Facebook out with your friends on Saturday night? And if so are you happy for people to see you in this way? Remember, whatever you put on social media can be accessed by anyone, anywhere.
Just as you may want to be known for being an expert in a particular area, think about what value you provide for others. What can you give your colleagues that is unique to you? It might be as simple as delivering reports a day earlier than agreed; always giving more on delivery of projects or even the smile you greet everyone with. This isn’t about being too helpful, it’s about giving others more than they expect from you and becoming known for this.
Think about what you say and how you say it – it all matters and is noted by others.
Did you know who you spend time with impacts on how people perceive you? Jim Rohn said ‘You are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with’. Think about that. Who do you spend your time with and what impression might that give other people of you, and more importantly does that tie in with the brand you want to portray?
And finally, what’s your story? Everyone has a story and a strong story equals a strong brand (think Richard Branson, Oprah Winfrey), what does your story say about you?
Let’s go back to the beginning, if you want to stand out in a crowd you need to be known for being you, so grab yourself a piece of paper and start writing down your vision of how you want others to see you…. then take it from there.
by admin | Aug 27, 2017 | career change
I know all about Reinvention. I’m a military wife with a fair few house moves under my belt, two stints in Germany and a return to the UK job market having been away for around 7 years.
Every time we moved I’d take a look at my current job and think can I take it with me, and do I even want to?
My main career has been in the drinks industry in Customer Marketing, but that’s only part of the picture. Clearly, at some point, I retrained as a Career Coach. I can’t believe over 10 years have passed since that time when I was feeling disillusioned with my chosen career and consciously chose another path – I remember feeling excited and optimistic about the future and the opportunities ahead. Then came our first move abroad and I thought well I can’t take my regular, known career with me because I don’t speak German and I have a new baby, so I’ll use this as an opportunity to get my coaching business off the ground, which I did.
Now if you’d asked me if I thought I could have a business in Germany coaching expats I’d have said no way. But I did and it’s incredible how resourceful we can be when required.
Two years in meant another move back to the UK, to a town I’d never lived in before and having unpacked the boxes, a phone call to say we were going back abroad again – so no time to get settled into a new career. I’d brought my coaching clients back to the UK with me but there was no time to settle into any other regular work so I used this time to train as a consultant delivering back to work courses for the MOD. When we returned to Germany I was able to use this and continue working.
The biggest challenge for me was eventually returning to the UK job market to a role I’d previously known well but had been away from for 7 years. I still had to reinvent myself even though I knew the market and the role. I had to take on the persona of someone who was confident in their role, update my pc skills, learn about social media, get back up to scratch on movements within the industry, adjust my mindset back into full time work and the self organisation required when you have a small child and husband dipping in and out of the country at short notice. But I did. And that is the point about Reinvention.
We can all do it, nothing is impossible.
However it’s all about mindset. If you think about it too much, the implications/hurdles, the hoops you might have to jump through, the size of the job at hand, the arrangements that will need to be made, well yes you might just stumble. It might make you pause and think have I really got it in me to start this business or to join this company or to change career entirely. It might all feel a bit too much for you. Before you know it your Gremlin will have come up with a thousand and one reasons why you should probably just sit tight and carry on doing what you’ve always done, or better yet just put it off for another couple of years.
In other words it will keep you small.
And here is the beauty in Reinvention. Every time you plunge into that business idea or strive for the next rung on the ladder or move countries or even change career entirely you become MORE adaptable, MORE resourceful, MORE confident, MORE able, MORE resilient, MORE attractive to employers, friends and partners and MORE skilled. You simply become MORE than you already are. Because you are actually doing it.
While others around you are still thinking about their dreams, you’re reinventing yourself and making it happen, just getting on and doing it.
Don’t be the person sat thinking about who you could be, be the person making it happen.
Don’t over think it, just take the first step, one today and another tomorrow and another the day after.
And when you’ve done it, reflect on the journey you’ve taken and give yourself a pat on the back, you’ve just Reinvented Yourself and you are MORE Today than you were yesterday.
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails.
Explore. Dream. Discover.
Mark Twain
If you’re ready to Reinvent yourself, contact Fired Up Coaching on 07876 594991 or email Nicola@firedupcoaching.org
