If you haven't given much thought to building your own personal brand, perhaps it's time. Ron McDaniel, author of Buzzoodle Buzz Marketing and blogger extraordinaire, wrote an excellent post on Exploring Successful Personal Brands today.
He's compiled a list of 15 individuals who he feels have done a good job in creating excellent brands. They're not all rich and famous either. One young man, Tim Ferriss, was unknown up until 6 months ago. I'm on the list too.
I love the questions Ron challenges you to answer when you review the 15 sites. They really get you thinking!
Ron also says: "You may look through this list and decide that they are mostly very successful people, and that is why they have the money to build a great brand. But they started someplace and continue building their brand even today."
So here's my story: My brand was launched 5 years ago. How did the idea come to me? For months I'd been thinking about how to help small businesses who where struggling with sales. My expertise was in helping them get into the corporate market.
Suddenly one morning I woke up with an idea that I'd start a website called Selling to Big Companies. I literally shut down my sales training business for almost a year to pull it all together. I nearly went broke in the process, but persevered anyway because I was on a mission. I bartered my sales coaching for website development.
It was worth it! And if I can do it, so can YOU!
Jill-I really admire you sharing your story so honestly. I think people often see the brand, but rarely the work behind it. Kudos to you!
Posted by: Shama Hyder | 12/13/2007 at 12:13 PM