Reflections of a Square Peg

What Street Entertainers Can Teach You About Personal Branding

This coming weekend in my home town of Dundas is Buskerfest. Its a 2 and a half day street entertainment event that sees the main street closed and various international street performers plying their trade up and down the town - it is one of the best small town events I have been to.

Street entertaining is all about personal branding - knowing what your unique value is and communicating it effectively - standing or falling (and getting directly rewarded) on being your very best - you are truly on stage to perform your very best - EVERY TIME.

I have just returned from a three day trip to Montreal for a Mastermind Group meeting, 10 coaches from the UK and North America coaching each other on the development and direction of our businesses.

Chris Barrow is one of the coaches and he wrote some great blog articles about the three days - including this one about a street performer called Raphael - a pure an example as you will find of a street performer who gets personal branding - see the post by clicking here.

Chris rightly points out the following about Raphael;

• Proud of himself
• Good at what he does
• Knows he makes a difference
• Knows what he expects
• Not afraid to ask
• “Over it” if you don’t pay
• Doesn’t suffer time-wasters
• Doesn’t give discounts

Perhaps Raphael's 8 steps should be a new personal brand mantra!

(Cross posted at Career Hub and Branding Personal blogs)

Same Old, Same Old - Does Not Apply

There is a good article in this weeks Globe & Mail written by the president of one of the large ad agency offices in Vancouver - "Enough With Follow-the-Leader Marketing" giving examples of how some successful brands have broken the traditions of what was expected in their space and subsequently been noticed.

This tactic can apply just as easily to building your personal brand.

Personal branding is about demonstrating your unique value to a hiring manager, boss, prospective client etc etc - if you are too much the same as your peers and competitors then you might not be standing out enough to get noticed.

Andrea Southcott writes "Rather than seeking incremental share, the goal should be to create an entirely new market space for the brand, expanding the role the brand plays in the lives of its stakeholders or target group." - think about your personal brand - how does this approach apply?

If you are just trying to take mini steps or advances it is too easy for others to catch you up and even leap frog over you.

First you need to identify what is the norm for your voacation, industry or business - what is expected? Part of the work we do in the personal branding process is use a brand feedback tool that identifies the attributes that others use to describe you. Some of these attributes are defined as being rational - the ones you expect for a person like you in your job, title, business, industry etc

But then there is a group of emotional attributes, real connectors to why people like you, interact with you, work for you or with you, buy from you. These can start to be the basis for really differentiating yourself in the marketplace and standing out.

Andrea goes on to say "Once these market conventions are identified, the next step is to determine how to overturn or disrupt one or more of the rules to break the mould and propel the brand or business forward."

She gives Virgin as a company and brand that apporaches this disruption all the time in building its business.

So what should you be doing to 'virginize' your own personal brand?

Trends in job searching

I recently had the opportunity to attend the Career Professionals of Canada’s professional development day – Strategies for Success to listen to a collection of career and coaching experts and network with some great fellow career professionals.

As a career professional there were many pieces of expert advice that I will start to consider and implement in my own business, but for the job seeker there was also some great information that is worth considering.

Advances in Executive Resumes - Sharon Graham, Graham Management

• you must now apply a more strategic approach to your resume writing
• look to brand yourself in the document
• explain your value to the employer
• look to make your resume a unique, non-template, marketable document
• make the language future oriented
• wherever possible show measurable results

Business Dining Etiquette – Margaret Page, Etiquette Page

As more companies seek to find different ways to assess candidates, the use of meals as part of the selection process is going to rise.

Your manners reflect who you are—not your intellect, your professional success, nor your business acumen. Creating a positive first impression, gives you the edge you need for navigating social situations in modern life. Ask yourself: how do you want to present yourself to the world?

Clearing the 90 Day Hurdle – Sue Edwards, Development by Design

Companies are fast realizing that with all the time, effort and money they spent of getting you in to the organization, investing in some coaching to help you in the critical first 90 days just might be worth it – think about trying to negotiate this in your next job offer.

Onboarding coaching involves supporting new hires with a broad range of issues that often arise during transition. Some examples are:

• adapting to a new industry or a new culture;
• identifying and achieving early wins;
• dealing with overwhelm from multiple priorities and a steep learning curve;
• developing trusted relationships for sounding boards, information exchange and advice;
• addressing the disappointments that can arise after the initial "honeymoon" period;
• building resilience during a stressful time;
• developing a clear action plan for the first few months in the new role.

Your Next Bold Move – Laura Macro, The Mayfair Legacy Group

Getting more connected and in line with who you are and what drives you tends to lead to your enjoying work more and feeling more engaged.

Ask yourself the following questions:

• If you were to write the title of a book based on your life right now – what would it be?
• What vision do you have for the world that you would like to be a part of?

Home in on your abilities and follow your passions – they might just lead you to what you really should be doing.

The Career Professionals of Canada is the leading Canadian member driven career services organization. Their mandate is to enable Canadians to achieve their career, business, and organizational development goals by promoting quality, ethics, and expertise within the industry. They connect individuals and organizations to a nationwide network of advisors. They help people achieve success as they take their career and business to new horizons.

Cross posted on Career Hub