The Forgotten Key to Personal Branding
My personal branding adventure began in late 2014, shortly after I began writing my book, It’s Time to Sell: Cultivating the Sales Mind-set. I began the journey with one vision in mind: be of service to entrepreneurs and help them to see sales differently in their minds and thus feel better about acquiring new clients.
For more than a year, I focused on bringing value to my community through sharing articles, videos, and podcasts. On December 1, 2015, I published my book. My community rewarded me by buying copies and sharing the book with their friends. The community’s energy led to many opportunities flowing toward me.
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However, during this past summer, my priorities changed. My family’s well-being required my undivided attention. We were dealing with the loss of a father and grandfather and the grief that goes along with that. The energy that I had been putting into creating new things for my community had to be diverted. In August and September, it was difficult for me to put any energy into my personal brand.
By the time October rolled around and our family had adjusted to the new normal, I began to feel the energy to get back to what I had started on my brand. But by then much of the momentum seemed lost. Have you ever felt that way?
I sat down and developed and followed a networking game plan to regain momentum in my network and my brand. Here is a checklist that you can leverage to put into action the steps I outline in this article.
1) Social media networking
Each morning, I contact three people in my LinkedIn network, reintroducing myself to them and thanking them for being part of my community. I share my latest piece of creativity, whether an article or a podcast episode. I invite them to join my pod, which is the Facebook group where those who have accepted my invitations interact with one another, share their latest work, and support one another. I invite people to reply to my messages by telling me what is holding them back in their businesses.
2) Face-to-face one-on-one networking
Each day, I meet face to face with at least one local person who I have not seen in the past six months. We get together, catch up on life, and identify opportunities to support each other.
3) Face-to-face group networking
Each Thursday, I hold a small group lunch, inviting three people from my network to join me for lunch. I try to invite three people who do not know one another very well if at all, and we use the opportunity to get to know one another and to discuss what is working for us and what is a challenge for us. The ninety-minute group lunches go by very quickly, with a ton of ideas flowing. Traveling is no excuse for me to miss out on hosting these lunches. Just in the past month, I have held group lunches in Halifax and Ottawa in addition to St. John’s.
These three activities and the consistent launching of new content has enabled me to regain my brand’s momentum.
The forgotten key? Human connection.
What has worked for you in building your network? I would love to get your ideas in the comments below.
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Connect Deeper
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Thanks for reading this article. I love to share my life experiences with those who want to follow along. I am always on the hunt for growth and I love to share the good, bad and the ugly of this ongoing pursuit. So, join in for the ride if you are interested.
Oh, one last thing. Would you like a free copy of my book It’s Time to Sell: Cultivating the Sales Mind-Set? It is my story of getting centred and focussed in life. I think you will enjoy it. Grab it here.
