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You are a Business, Period.

I know that title is a little forward, but thats how convinced I am, that business and our personal lifestyles are largely parallel.

You are a business because everyone you are connected to expects you to yield something, in some form or fashion. Whether it’s your spouse or family with love and relationship or your boss and coworkers with on the job production and results –we are all created to produce.

The same goes for a business, its no different. A business is built to yield profits, yes, but businesses are not around to just yield profits. Although that is a large part of the end result.

My reason for this post is driven by an article I read in the February 2010 issue of Fast Company. In this issue was a great cover story with Steve Nash, point guard, for the NBA’s Phoenix Suns. The title of the article is, “Rules for Winning: How Creativity Can Beat Chaos in Basketball and Business.”

Great title, right? Its actually a good article. But here is my disagreement with Steve. He makes a point to say in the article, that these days “…professional athletes think of themselves as a brand, but thats not my way of thinking.”

Why? What’s wrong with thinking of yourself as a brand or a business? He brings in $13 Million a year from the Suns (not including endorsements and business ventures) and I am sure he employs people. That kind of sounds like a business to me. Isn’t he a brand? Would he establish these business ventures or opportunities if it had not been for his reputation (brand) on the court.

I am not going to beat Steve up in this post, he’s definitely entitled to look at things this way, but it made me look at a bigger picture on why he may feel this way. To some people being a personal brand and business is still a progressive way of thinking. Some may feel a brand represents ego or chest pounding, a “THIS IS WHO I AM” syndrome. I think its because with this media-crazed advertising world we live in, we have managed to de-humanize the concept of a brand. We tainted it with corporate scandal and sensationalized branding to the point the concept seems very plastic and unreal. Or the thought process of, “If you are a brand, you are trying get one over on me, or you selling me something I don’t want.” Well people this is not always true. Those realities are there and it is the very reason our large corporations who have failed to care for their customers in a very human way – are collapsing right before our eyes.

I like Steve’s approach to the game of basketball and I like his off court persona. He works hard and he is about his team receiving limelight, not just him. He goes out and play’s the game well, produces day in and day out, and in result excels in many of the categories respective to his position. Sounds like a good brand to me. What do you think?

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Valuation of your Personal Brand

Real Or Fake?, originally uploaded by Sam Knox.
During recessions, market prices can fall on anything with a dollar amount attached to it. I like to look at mostly everything in regard to value. How much value am I getting? I think when we go through these tough times; this concept should be applied heavily. Which has helped me raise this question to you – how do you value your personal brand?

There are many schools of thought on the value of money. When asked, “What is the value of a dollar?” some people would say the value of a dollar bill is 100 pennies or would be confused by the question. Technically the face value of a dollar is 100 pennies, but the true value of a dollar is what you can get with it or what goods can be exchanged for it. Establishing value is a comparative analysis against what the market says something is worth. When valuing a brand, how do you do the math? Is associating a dollar figure the only way to value a personal brand?

It would be difficult and morally questionable if someone put a dollar value on a human life, however, some would say that your employer places a monetary value on you every day. Your employer pays you a salary based on your skills sets and performance, but I believe your salary also represents much more. A good employer would base your salary on your brand, in which I think represents the true value of a person. Let me give you an example on what I mean. When Coca Cola purchased Glaceau (maker of Vitaminwater) in 2007, they paid $4.2 billion dollars for the company. However in 2006, according to reports , Glaceau had only grossed $350 million in revenue. Why would Coke pay so much more for Vitaminwater when they could only garner 8% of what Coke offered them in revenue? The answer, BRAND. Now I am sure there were other proprietary reasons why Coke valued Glaceau at that price, but their brand had a huge part of it. Coke bought into the current equity and potential of that brand. These are things that do not have an absolute value (or dollar value) but a perceived value. When you apply that example to your personal brand, know that the value or your brand is being placed on your potential and current brand equity mixed with perceived value. Your employer not only looks at your current performance and skills but also evaluates your potential input into the company.

So you want to know how to value your brand? I truly believe it boils down to this equation:

Current brand equity + Potential x perceived value = Brand Value

Here is what that equation means:

Current Brand Equity
What are your current skill sets? What are your current successes and accomplishments? What do you have in progress that is setting you up for the future? Do you have a good reputation now? Do you have solid connections and a good network of people that are loyal to your brand?

Potential
There is no absolute way to define potential, but there are some really good indicators.

What is your personal capacity? Have you completed levels of higher education? What are you doing to continually to learn and expand? This is a knowledge economy; you have to be constantly learning and expanding your horizons.

Do you have expertise in certain areas that could open up the doors to other things?

Do you have a track record of following through on potential success? (HUGE)

Perceived Value
This is where the rubber meets the road. How do people perceive you? Do they hold you in high regard? Reputation is a huge factor into your brand. Just think about how many times you have told someone about a product or service, good or bad. This same concept applies to your brand. Perceived value is in the eye of the beholder, however the challenge for us each day, is to control how we are perceived. This does not mean we should try to manipulate how we are perceived. Managing public perception is starting to show that it does not work anymore as we talked about with Tiger Woods. Tiger Woods’ brand prior to his recent woes, had a high value. However the perceived value in his brand by the public and sponsors declined at a rapid rate once his scandal evolved.

Very honorable mentions to this equation
Some other good indicators to stay on top of are the areas of integrity, attitude, and morality. People will evaluate your brand heavily based on these areas. Sometimes your brands worth or value could be based solely on those key areas. Always keep those top of mind.

So in closing, I wanted to present this perspective to get you to see a different side on how value could be placed on your brand. Businesses deal with dollar figures everyday when valuing brands, but we have to remember it’s the qualitative data that makes the numbers work. The market as a whole will dictate price, however we as individuals dictate the value. Most of the time those are synonymous, but not always.

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