Is personal branding important? The answer is yes, but it is more important whom you learn from than the fact you need to learn personal branding. It is becoming more and more difficult for people to standout. With the increasing popularity of social media the Internet is becoming more polluted with noise making it difficult to establish a strong signal. Everyday I read blog post loaded with tips from many individuals with no CASE STUDIES but the so-called magic dusk to transform your life.

Brand Camp – NYC is a one-day event that was created to help you (students, entrepreneurs, and professionals) to cut through the clutter and learn about personal branding from subject matter experts. Not just any subject matter experts but those who are living their passion and making real MONEY in the real World.

Register at: http://bcnyc.eventbrite.com

Our speakers have generated millions of dollars in companies they have grown and sold, worked with some of the largest Musicians in Rock history, and are working on cool tech startups or businesses that are transforming industries.

Our speakers have deep domain knowledge in the following area:

• Media (traditional and new media)
• Public Relations (traditional and new media)
• Tech Startups (Bootstrapped and VC funded companies)
• Personal Branding Champions: They have worked with Fortune 50 companies, athletes, and universities nationwide.
• Government: Those who have championed change and multi-platform communication strategies in municipal government.

Subject Matter Champions Speaking at Brand Camp – NYC

• Hajj Flemings (@Hajjflemings) – Founder of Brand Camp/gokit
• Peter Shankman (@PeterShankman) – Founder of HARO/The Geek Factory
• Tamsen Fadal (@tamsenfadal) - TV Anchor - WPIX (New York)
• Greg Clayman (@Clayman) – Publisher of The Daily (iPad Newspaper)
• Amanda Steinberg (@AmandaSteinberg) – Founder/CEO of DailyWorth
• Dayna Steele (@DaynaSteele) - Fast Company Blogger/Author of Rock to the Top
• Baratunde Thurston (@Baratunde) - Director of Digital at The Onion
• Desiree Peterkin Bell (@dpbell) - Director of Communication for the City of Philadelphia

You don’t want to miss Brand Camp – NYC on Tuesday, May 24^th at The Riverside Theatre

Photo Credit: I found the photo on http://kelleemontgomery.com/ (Designed by Roland Reiner Tiangco)

Today I am announcing Brand Camp Personal Branding 2.0 Conference is coming to the NYC. On Tuesday, May 24th at the Riverside Church Theatre I will be partnering with Peter Shankman to bring the message of personal branding, digital technology and entrepreneurship to New York. Listed below are the conference speakers, additional speakers will be announced in the coming days. There are limited tickets so be sure to get your tickets today!

• Early Bird Registration ($100) – Ends 04/20

• Student Discounts ($50)

Register at http://bcnyc.eventbrite.com

Follow Us Online Twitter: @brandcampu Facebook: www.Facebook.com/brandcampu

Conference Speakers

• Hajj E. Flemings, Founder of Brand Camp University/gokit Hajj is the founder of Brand Camp University, which runs the largest personal branding conference in the Midwest. He is also the author of “The Brand YU Life: Re-thinking Who You Are Through Personal Brand Management” which was selected as one of Fast Company Magazine 2008 Readers Choice Business Books of the year. He has been featured on NBC, Fox News, ABC, ESPN.com and BusinessWeek.com and travels nationally speaking as a brand strategist enabling personal and business brands to remain relevant. His clients include Walt Disney, Ford Motor Company, Skechers Footwear, U.S. Department of Defense (Telecom Division). He has spoken at Iowa State University, Davidson College, University of Michigan and numerous colleges and universities around the nation on personal branding, social media and career development. He recently launched a tech startup called gokit a company that develops identity kits.

• Peter Shankman, Founder of HARO/The Geek Factory PR Week Magazine has described Peter as “redefining the art of networking,” and Investor’s Business Daily has called him “crazy, but effective.” Peter Shankman is a spectacular example of what happens when you merge the power of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) with pure creativity and a dose of adventure, and make it work to your advantage. An entrepreneur, author, speaker, and worldwide connector, Peter is recognized worldwide for radically new ways of thinking about Social Media, PR, marketing, advertising, creativity, and customer service.

• Greg Clayman, Publisher of The Daily Greg Clayman is the Publisher of News Corporation’s The Daily: the first national news publication built from the ground up to create original content exclusively for tablet devices. Prior to The Daily, Greg was executive vice president of Digital Distribution & Business Development for MTV Networks and ran MTVN Mobile Media. There he managed digital business across MTVN’s channels to develop and manage new opportunities for digital content and strategic partnerships. Before joining MTVN, Greg co-founded Upoc, one of the first mobile media companies in the United States, and ran its marketing, sales and business development groups.

• Amanda Steinberg, Founder/CEO of DailyWorth Amanda Steinberg started DailyWorth.com to give women key insights into building real net worth. DailyWorth delivers practical tips on personal finance to thousands of women’s inboxes daily. Founded in 2009 as a trusted platform for women to learn about money management, DailyWorth has since stood out as the go-to source about personal finance for women, garnering a stream of media appearances including NYT, Cosmopolitan, USAToday, Forbes, and Inc., among others.

• Tamsen Fadal, TV Anchor – WPIX Tamsen Fadal is an Emmy Award winning Television Journalist, Relationship Expert and Author. From U.S Presidents to Hollywood Royalty to hottest stars on Broadway, Tamsen Fadal has interviewed some of the most exciting names out there. This award-winning television personality is also the author of two top selling books, Why Hasn’t He Called? and Why Hasn’t He Proposed? Tamsen loves all things tech, fashion and green and she can be seen bright and early Monday-Friday anchor the WPIX-TV, Morning News starting at 4AM.

• Baratunde Thurston – Director of Digital at The Onion Baratunde Thurston is a comedian, author and vigilante pundit who successfully combines technology, politics and comedy. He co-founded the black political blog, Jack & Jill Politics in the summer of 2006. hosted Popular Science’s Future Of on Science Channel and works as the Director of Digital at The Onion. Baratunde has contributed to Vanity Fair, The UK Independent and WNYC, and with over 55,000 followers he tweets very, very hard. His stage presence has earned him speaking duties at the National Conference for Media Reform, Netroots Nation, South by Southwest Interactive & Film and Web 2.0 Expo. He has been featured various media outlets including ABC, NPR, BBC, CNN, MSNBC, The New York Times, C-SPAN and Comedy Central.

• Dayna Steele – Fast Company Blogger/Author of Rock to the Top Dayna Steele is a successful entrepreneur, media strategist, nationally recognized radio and TV personality, the author of the best-selling business book Rock to the Top: What I Learned about Success from the World’s Greatest Rock Stars, and a popular motivational speaker. AOL calls Dayna “one of the foremost experts on career networking” and Reader’s Digest Magazine named Dayna one of the “35 People Who Inspire Us.”

Today what do you SEE?

Why do some Creative’s, Visionaries, Leaders, CEO’s, Athletes, Educators, and Entrepreneurs SEE opportunities when others SEE: junk, risk, 0.4 seconds and a relentless defender, and under performing students (who are diagnosed as ADD -Attention Deficit Disorder because they are over mediated and under exposed to resources that could unlock their true potential). The Internet, TV, and digital technology are great tools but nothing parallels the ability of the human mind to tap into a reservoir of creativity, ideas, knowledge and passion to create something that has never before existed.

I challenge you today to Zig when everyone else is Zagging. I challenge you to write an original blog post versus copying and re-hashing old, tire content that isn’t original. I challenge you to work on that idea that you have sat on for the past 5 years and as Seth Godin says, ‘Ship it’.

If the idea that you SEE stays locked up inside of you and is never released it is useless and has zero value. The impact of your idea is only felt when it is birthed and set free to change the lives of others.

Today what do you SEE?

Photo Credit to Shawn Lee

Register: www.brandinsights.eventbrite.com

It is time to start working on your branding goals for 2011! Time to re-think your personal and corporate brand strategy for the new decade. We have created an experiential event in the Detroit Eastern Market on Thursday, January 20, 2011 to help you reach your goals.

Brand Insights Detroit: Personal and Corporate Branding Workshop was birthed out of my desire to provide personalized attention to entrepreneurs, business leaders, and business owners about branding. This event is designed for the business and interactive communities in the metro Detroit region.

One of the big questions I get is that people love Brand Camp but want a one-on-one experience so creating Brand Insights is a way to create that small group environment. This workshop is limited to 15 like-minded entrepreneurs, business leaders and business owners. The workshop is designed to provide personalized attention in developing and re-thinking your personal and business brands and how to integrate their missions seamlessly.

The Detroit Experience
I also wanted to do a project in Detroit and I couldn’t think of a better place than in the Detroit Eastern Market. You can experience the flavor of Detroit Eastern Market as we host our event in one of the premier Lofts in Detroit, FD Lofts on Russell Street and eat lunch catered by the famous Russell Street Deli.

Russell Street Deli

FD Lofts in Detroit Eastern Market

Learn in-depth insights on how to brand yourself and your business in an energetic 8-hour day. The workshop will be led by two branding and marketing minds (Hajj E. Flemings and Matthew Kruchko) in a unique hands on facilitated environment.

A large portion of the day will be dedicated to addressing specific personal and corporate branding challenges. The afternoon will be spent in full consulting mode we will review brand problems or ideas in front of the group so everyone can connect and collaborate in the learning process. The attendance has been limited to provide great opportunities for quality networking and building valuable relationships.

Schedule

Morning: 8:30am-12pm Personal & Corporate Branding Workshops

Lunch: 12pm-1pm Catered Lunch

Afternoon: 1pm-4:30pm Consulting on Brand Problems/Ideas

Expectations

• Each attendee will walk away with a brand brief that they have completed with the framework for their personal and corporate brands.
• Learn best practices on using social media to build brand awareness and market you and your business.
• Learn how to develop an online personal brand.
• Brand-Building 101: Basic Tools and Principles of Building a Powerful and Memorable Brand
• Understand what brands really are and how brand-building works.
• Introduces key elements of the basic brand communications toolbox and how they work together to enable you to tell your brand story with clarity, consistency and impact.
• Discussion (Q + A) and collaboration on brand challenges of attendees.

What are personal brands? Typically they are uniform thinkers. They are soldiers in a mass army. They follow orders well. They have developed online personal brand profiles that are a result of reading blog post that provide a macro view of basic online personal branding strategies. They listen to the pseudo expert telling them to set-up Twitter accounts and add thousands of empty bodies so that they can say they are influencers.

But a disruptive thinker realizes that owning the future has little to do with having a Facebook Fan Page or Twitter account alone. Disruptive thinkers don’t think linearly. They don’t add by addition. They think exponentially. They bring who they are to whatever they are working on which doesn’t fit in the current workplace.

• Personal Brands: A personal brand takes a hardbound book then looks to format it to produce an iBook as a glorified PDF file.

• Disruptive Thinkers: A disruptive thinker when he/she curates contents for a book creates a product that is multi-dimensional experience that traditional publishing would never do it justice.

Disruptive thinkers change industries. Disruptive thinkers make you have to take notice. They are going to force corporations/organizations/brands to change their corporate culture to mine them. In the future this type of talent won’t be attracted to your company by traditional means.

Note: This blog is a by-product of a recent post on Mashable.com where Seth Godin said he wasn’t Gives Up on Traditional Book Publishing and a conversation with Vincent Hunt.

Checkout Seth’s iPad Version of Linchpin.

It is time to be disruptive!!!

Today’s lesson is “Nurturing the Vision” as a first-time dad my daughter Kennedy is teaching me incredible business lessons that I would like to share. If you think about your online personal brand or a start-up business they both require attention, time and development from the principal, founder, and or owner. The same way a newborn requires parents to feed them, change them, and to protect them so that they can grow. A newborn comes into this world with an immune system that is not build up to be able to fend off harmful bacteria and diseases that could be determinable to their health and well-being.

What would happen if a newborn baby were left to fend for himself or herself on day one? The answer is clear the newborn would not exist. But this happens everyday in business we start out with visions of grandeur to develop a multi-million dollar startup business or establishing an online personal brand by setting up profiles in various social networks to establish and we think this alone will cause us to be wildly successful. Without the visionary creating an environment where the business can grow, without being active and present to manage and develop the business or the online profiles and implement strategies you can do more damage than good.

The build it and they will come mentality will no longer world in today’s economy.

Are you nurturing your vision?

Personal brands operate in one of three worlds: Builders, Grustlers, or Leapers. Now let’s break down the three types, as you read through the descriptions identify which one you are. As a backdrop the workplace is changing, emerging technology is impacting the way we live and communicate, and globalization is shifting when, where and how we work.

Builders (Intrapreneurs) – A builder is a worker that is wired to work in an existing corporate or company structure. Organized working structures typically have regular pay periods, access to company resources, and systems/processes in place that allows people to work in a structured environment. This type of individual enjoys working for someone else and building someone else’s dreams while developing themselves and their personal brand. Most universities and colleges teach students to auto-follow this mentality regardless of how a person is wired because it has been the safe option historically. The biggest benefits of this category are the halo effect and company resources.

Benefits of Builders

• Halo Effect – Working for a large corporation can position you for great opportunities that are a direct result of your association with the company you work for.

• Company Resources – The resources that are available at a large corporation can be very beneficial to your career: experience using enterprise software, databases, cool projects and access to priority data.

• Expanded Network – Great network building opportunities: attending conferences, company networking events, and the visibility to higher-level executives.

Examples: Jeremiah Owyang

Grustlers (Hybrids) – GRUSTLE is the combination of a daily Grind (job) and a Hustle (your passion). In my book ‘The Brand YU Life’ the first degree (or principle) is ‘Identify Your Passion’ which is the cornerstone of Grustlin’.

Definitions

Grind: A grind is a job; employment; typically your primary source of income.

Hustle: A hustle is your passion, what you would love to do full-time and what gives you the most satisfaction. It is what you typically do after you work your daily grind.

Your career/job is the primary source of income that you use to seed your passion. This is a minimal risk option that allows you to develop and grow your ideas without the pressure or financial weight of doing it full-time. This personal brand type tends to operate as more of a transitional phase for people shifting from being a builder to a leaper. There are various forms of Grustle: (1) Being a college student and establishing a blog or having a 9-to-5 job and starting a business on the side are two examples.

Benefits of Grustlers

• Future Job Security – Operating in a grustle is a new form of job security. Depending upon a single employer or a single career to be your financial source for your entire career is more risky than ever before.

• Additional Financial Stream – Grustling allows you to add an additional financial revenue stream in your area of passion.

• Career Transition – It is a career strategy to enable you to transition into a new career that doesn’t mesh with your past work history or educational background.

• Practice over Theory – It allows you to demonstrate your capabilities in the real world versus claiming expertise in theory. It goes beyond what you learned in the classroom.

Examples: Gary Vaynerchuk

Leapers (Entrepreneurs) – Pure entrepreneurship doesn’t appear typically to be innate because it is talked out of us as a child by parents and teachers. In college we are brainwashed to think of ourselves as builders only. It is only after years of making someone else rich, being downsized, outsourced, or fired that we are forced to follow our passion. Some do arrive here after working for someone else and having a great work experience.

Benefits of Leapers

• You own the results – The risk and reward is greater but you own the results the fruits of your labor.

• Lifestyle Management – Leapers have the most impact on their work environment whether it is a home office, co-working, coffee shops, or cubicles.

• Leaders of Innovation – Small enterprises with less bureaucracy are typically the innovative companies which are lead by visionary leapers.

Examples: Kevin Carroll, Mark Zuckerberg

Note: It is possible to be a hybrid of each type as you transition from one phase to another.

People will tell you that you need to work on your own. That is not necessarily true. You have to identify how you are wired. The pressure of being financially responsible for a company is a hugh undertaking your timing and developing must be right. Being true to where you are is the key. There are great success stories in each category.

How you manage your online personal brand should be dictated by the type of personal brand that you are and the stage of your career that you are in.

Demographics

• Baby boomers (1946-1964) – This group was born during the automotive manufacturing age in the United States and they worked for someone else. If they went to college they were taught to be loyal to their employer. Category: Builders
  

• Gen Y (1965-1976) – This group started our careers in the end of the automotive manufacturing boom but were still taught to go to school and work and be loyal to your employer. Category: Builders
  

• Millennials (1977-1994) - Economy tanks. They are born grustlers. This hyperconnected group is blogging, multi-tasking and developing online businesses. Category: Grustlers
  

Identify your personal branding type: Builder, Grustler, or Leaper. The Leaper lifestyle is glorified because it can be a great rag to riches story, or one that changes the world like Microsoft (Bill Gates) or Facebook (Mark Zuckerberg). It can be a recipe of disaster if you are not wired for it.

If you haven’t heard of PR Sarah Evans you probably live under a rock, have no Internet access or use a rotary dial phone. Nevertheless, I had the opportunity to interview her recently and we discussed the topic of women in social media.

She is the President of Chicago based public relations and new media consultancy Sevans Strategy and runs #journchat. She is an influencer in the new media/pr communities and is a great personal branding case study. She has emerged as a leader in the social space but she isn’t an overnight success she has earned her stripes and put in the time.

I really wanted to share Sarah Evans story to inspire other women who believe they have a message that the world needs to hear. One of the great things that I like about Sarah’s story is that she has turned her passion into a career/profit.

Earlier this year she was featured in Vanity Fair with a list of other influential women in social media, which obviously has tremendously impacted her business. The flip side of this story is that Sarah received some negative feedback from some of her peers about the article since it didn’t appropriately reflect women in tech or show a diverse perspective. After talking with Sarah it showed me her depth as a person as she tackled the situation head on when confronted with those facts and addressed the valid concerns with some of those same peers.

#journchat

Sarah Evans is the originator of Twitter Chats. She launched #journchat in December 2008 which has hosted CNN and will host NBC News later this year

How to Follow Sarah Evans

There are a million ways to follow Sarah online I have listed some of the main ways below.

Twitter: @PRSarahEvans
Blog: www.PRSarahEvans.com
Twitter Chat: #journchat (Monday’s 7:30pm-10:00pm CST)

For Other Influential Women in Social Media

Check out my Twitter List of Influential Women in Social Media:

We are on verge of one of the greatest free agent periods in the history of sports. With NBA stars LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and the host of other NBA players who will make decisions on where they will play.

The free agent period starts July 1st with an official signing date of July 8th. Careers, sports franchises and the lives of GMs, team presidents, coaches and their families hang in the balance. A wrong decision could handicap a team for many years to come.

Let’s first start with a quick history lesson on free agency. Do the names Andy Messersmith and Dave McNally ring a bell? Probably not. Well they ushered in modern day free agency in 1975 when they challenged Major League Baseball in arbitration and won.

As personal brands we are all professional business athletes but instead of playing on a field we work in a field. Let’s contrast NBA free agents vs personal branding free agents.

Free Agent Definitions

NBA: There are two types of NBA free agents restricted and unrestricted. For the purpose of this article we will focus on an unrestricted free agent, which is a player who can sign with any team he wants.

Personal Brands: According to Daniel Pink (Author of Free Agent Nation): A free agent is someone who works untethered from a large organization—a free-lancer, a sole proprietor, the operator of a very small business.
Should Daniel Pink’s definition of free agents extend beyond soloprenurs to include intrapreneurs as well who have positioned themselves for new opportunities?

Market Value

As I watch the story of Powered a full-service social media agency unfold it is a great business story on personal branding free agents.

How do you develop a team? In sports, teams can build through the draft getting young players and building around them. In the business world this would be the evaluate of hiring millennial and developing them. The other option is signing free agents or trading (acquiring). Recently Powered has acquired talent through the free agent route acquiring: Crayon (Joseph Jaffe), Step Change, Drill Team, and Conversation Agent (Valarie Maltoni). For more details on this story read Jeremiah Owyang, article, FirstTake: Powered, A Social Marketing Suite, Acquires Crayon and Social Media Agencies

Q: Performance impact in NBA vs. Personal Brands

• NBA: Stats and how you perform under pressure
• Personal Brands: Popularity of your blog (Adage 150, page views) and engagement online (Klout Metrics), book sales, and speaking gigs to name a few.

Q: Reputation impact in NBA vs. Personal Brands

• NBA: Background checks, family history, off the court history and run ins with the law
• Personal Brands: Online Brand Reputation, valid your activity in social networks, and listen to your data stream in your social networks

Total Compensation

As a personal brand it is a great time to diversify yourself to create greater marketing opportunities. Establishing a personal brand is really about more than just creating a blog and tweeting but being portable and leveraging your personal DNA being who you were designed to be.

Q: Endorsements for NBA vs. Personal Brands

• NBA: Shoe deals, product commercials, etc.
• Personal Brands: More and more opportunities for influencers with a strong personal brand presence to experience endorsements with large brands: For example Usage of Ford’s Fiesta Movement Challenge and GM’s Chevy SXSW

Q: Rock Stars NBA vs. Personal Brands

NBA: Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony, Dirk Nowitzki
Personal Brands: Chris Brogan, Brian Solis, Charlene Li, Wayne Sutton

Would you rather be an NBA star or a strong personal brand? Goes back to the Michael Jordan v Bill Gates argument. Would you rather be an NBA Free Agent or a Personal Brand Free Agent?

One of the biggest challenges in life is not starting but finishing. Anybody can start something but to the finisher goes all the spoils. What if Fred Smith founder of FedEx stopped with his term paper at Yale, when his professor told him overnight shipping would never work? Fred is a finisher and the impact of his start is still being felt today.

History chronicles those that finish. We rarely talk about the runner-up, second place, or the 500-page book manuscript that you wrote but never published. Personal branding is captured in one word is finishing. One of the people that I have a great deal of respect for is Seth Godin who has talked about this topic at length and has packaged it as shipping.

Reasons Why we Like Starting Stuff

• Big Bodacious Teams: At the start of a project, leaders and teams are galvanized and inspired to change the world.
• The Shiny Objective Syndrome: People love working and focusing on new task, projects, and the flavor of the day. Even entrepreneurs believe that they can do the impossible.
• Excitement – Launching an idea is typically very energizing.
• Drinking Bathwater – People who would drink your bath water because they think you are the greatest thing since sliced bread gassing your head up.

What is the value of finishing?

• Building Mindshare: Mindshare is owning a slice of mental real estate in the mind of your target audience. Building a strong personal brand is established over time by finishing projects that are consistent with your personal brand objectives.
• Creating a culture of execution: You begin to approach projects, ideas, and businesses with the mindset of starting things that you are intentionally planning on finishing. Your life becomes a series of completed projects or ideas that slowly build or speak your consistency. People began to identify you as a person that executes.

• Conversion: Finishing is about converting objectives into strategies. To complete anything that is significant you have to create small victories on the road of completion. Finishing forces you to strategically approach your work in a way that will result in measurable objectives you complete.

Tips for Finishing

• Set measurable goals and objectives.
• Validate the objectives align with your personal mission and purpose. The end result should add value to your personal brand.
• Shorten your list: You are not creating a list to sound or look important.

What Finishing Means to your Personal Brand

Finishing is not about being a rocket scientist or throwing junk together but about establishing clear objectives and aligning strategies to make those objectives a reality. Personal Branding taken a step further is about completing projects that are mission and purpose driven and align with your passion, the way you are wired and your personal brand DNA. The end results is attaching your name and your legacy to finished projects, ideas, or products that aligns, builds, and strengthens your personal brand.

The #mbachat is a 1-hour discussion on Twitter where anyone can participate in our open source conversation. The Twitter Chat is on Monday, May 31^st 7:30pm-8:30pm EST we will have three serial entrepreneurs: Melinda Emerson (@SmallBizLady), Matt Wilson (@MattWilsonTV), and Cindy W. Morrison (@CindyWMorrison), and host Hajj E. Flemings who will answer questions that relate to Entrepreneurship.

Come and pick the brains of these practitioners who are living the entrepreneurship lifestyle and not just talking about it in theory.

How to Follow and Participate:

To participate you can use http://search.twitter.com or http://tweetgrid.com/. Watch for tweets with the hashtag #mbachat and follow the conversation on the @TechMBAOnline Twitter account.

This chat is sponsored by Michigan Tech MBA Online program: www.mbaonline.mtu.edu.

#mbachat Guest

Melinda Emerson – Author of Become Your Own Boss in 12 months/Host of #Smallbizchat

Melinda Emerson “Smallbizlady” is a seasoned entrepreneur, professional speaker, and small business coach. Her areas of expertise include small business start-up, business development and social media strategy. Melinda hosts #Smallbizchat, a weekly talk show on Twitter. #Smallbizchat is the trusted resource on Twitter to discuss everything entrepreneurs need to know about launching and running a profitable small business. Melinda has been featured on NBC Nightly News and in the Wall Street Journal, U.S. News and World Report and Black Enterprise. Melinda publishes a resource blog www.succeedasyourownboss.com and has several special reports including 44 Things To Do Before You Go Into Business and The 12 Cardinal Sins of Small Business—and How to Avoid Them! Melinda’s first book Become Your Own Boss in 12 months; A Month-by-Month Guide to Start a Business that Works!” was released in March 2010 by Adams Media. For more information, please visit www.melindaemerson.com

Matt Wilson, Co-founder of Under30CEO.com

Matt Wilson is co-founder of Under30CEO.com a website dedicated to giving young entrepreneurs the tools and resources they need to succeed. After using social media to create huge buzz online around the brand, landing Under30CEO on MSNBC and BusinessWeek, he began helping others build their brands online through his own digital marketing agency. Wilson’s passion for entrepreneurship began at Bryant University after where he led the Collegiate Entrepreneurs’ Organization to becoming the world’s #1 entrepreneurship organization and earned personal accolades as National Student Leader of the Year. His personal mission is to inspire young people to use technology to create opportunity and become leaders.

If Matt is around he will be easy to spot as his long luxurious hair is generally flowing freely in the breeze.

Cindy W. Morrison – Author of Girlfriend 2.0/Emmy Award-Winning TV Broadcaster

Emmy award winning TV Broadcaster Cindy W Morrison successfully reinvented herself after the economy lead to corporate downsizing. Leaving a 20 year news career behind, Cindy wrote a book, hit the speaking circuit and created her own consulting business. She now teaches people how to reboot, upgrade and reinvent through networking, social media and branding so they can make more money and live a better life.

Cindy’s new book “Girlfriends 2.0″ is already a cult favorite and she hosts a popular show by the same name for The WIN Online (Women’s Information Network). Plus, Cindy does a weekly radio show with the founder of the Diva Toolbox based on the Girlfriends 2.0 concept. The idea is to empower women to reboot and upgrade their Girlfriend Network so they can not only survive but thrive our changing times

Cindy also speaks across the country about “Reinvention 2.0″ and how anyone can network strategically to be more successful. In fact, Cindy is the media contributor to Startup Princess which has been named one of the top women’s websites by Forbes and Entrepreneur. As a consultant, Cindy’s clients range from TV stations to major universities to heavy hitting corporations. Cindy helps companies and individuals use social media to create brand loyalty and get the kind of media coverage that money can’t buy.

The live video footage of Hajj E. Flemings speaking at Ignite Detroit on April 5, 2010.

The Re-Education of the Disposable Worker Speech Discription

We live in the era of the Disposable Worker (DW). How does Detroit/America re-educate it’s human resources to prepare workers for the new economy. This presentation will focus on re-branding, re-thinking, re-inventing and re-educating DWs into thinking about themselves as the new factory.

The poster child of corporate culture and the usage of technology to connect with customers is Zappos. Zappos is ran by one of the smartest, most relevant CEOs on the planet Tony Hsieh. What does Tony do? Does he build brands, create corporate culture, deliver happiness or all three? I had the opportunity to hangout with Tony Hsieh and the Zappos Team in March 2010 in Austin, TX on the Happiness Bus at SXSW. I experienced the Zappos corporate culture for a few hours and I will validate he is doing all three.

I am an avid reader and I am excited to share with you the latest book that I am reading, “Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose” by Tony Hsieh. Tony is a proven leader who is living what he is teaching. He has developed two companies LinkExchange which was sold to Microsoft for $265M in 1995 and Zappos.com which was sold to Amazon.com for $1.2B in 2009.

Be a part of the movement his book ships June 7^th purchase part of his brain for under $25, what a deal.

Zappos’ Core Values

The Framework of the Culture

1. Deliver WOW Through Service
2. Embrace and Drive Change
3. Create Fun and A Little Weirdness
4. Be Adventurous, Creative, and Open-Minded
5. Pursue Growth and Learning
6. Build Open and Honest Relationships With Communication
7. Build a Positive Team and Family Spirit
8. Do More With Less
9. Be Passionate and Determined
10. Be Humble

Follow Tony/Zappos
Follow: @DHBook (Delivering Happiness Book Twitter Account)
Follow: @Zappos (Tony Hsieh – CEO of Zapppos)
Blog: www.DeliveringHappinessBook.com

Are you focused on building a better resume? Then my first question is why?

This is a rhetorical question and your answer probably goes something like this. To get my dream job I was taught to go to college, get an education and work that job for 30 plus years.

Part of that process is to put your experience and education on a 8.5 x 11 inch rectangle and tell the world how great you are. What if I told you not to forget about your resume, but to change your focus and focus on creating something that matters? i.e. A Project

Evan Williams talk at TED centered around side projects, which is how Twitter was birthed.

The Building a Better Mousetrap Mentality

We have all heard the saying, “Build a Better Mousetrap.” William C. Hooker invented the spring-loaded mousetrap in 1894. Since its creation there have many different versions: electric, live-catching, glue, inert gas and the list goes on. What has the outcome been of these upgraded mousetraps? Better materials?? Bragging rights?? You feel cooler about using them??

How do you build a better resume? The same way you build a better mousetrap right? You create an online resume with links right? You use social channels right? As a practitioner in the personal branding it is easy to force-feed this mindset down peoples throats. (Note: I am not saying go drink the Kool-Aid and throw away your resume, but re-think what you are focused on.)

Game Changers and their Projects

Listed below are four people who are working on some cool personal projects who won’t need a resume to get their next gig. Guaranteed. These projects are creating major opportunities for these individuals and I guarantee you they are not tweaking their resume to death. They are working on projects that people care about that they have a passion for.

• Noah Brier – Creator of BrandTags.net - Fast Company 100 Most Creative People in Business (2009)
• Evan Williams - Founder of Twitter (Enough said)
• Gina McCauley – Founder of Blogging While Brown - Essence Magazine 25 Most Influential African- Americans (2007)
• Noah Everett – Founder of Twitpics - Twitter’s most popular photo sharing site. Valued at $10 Million?

What is your side project?

We live in a me two world of imitators and copiers. The explosion of the internet and social media has made it easier than ever to be a duplicate versus living life as an original. Most people settle for being a cheap devalued imitation, a figure head of their own personal brand or a mindless avatar because they think following someone else’s map is easier than downloading their own.

What is a Map?

Wikipedia defines map as a visual representation of an area—a symbolic depiction highlighting relationships between elements of that space such as objects, regions, and themes.

As a personal brand each person is wired a certain way and understanding how you are wired positions you for greater impact in the space you desire to dominate. We are not designed to live life by default, allowing life to automatically make decisions for us in the absence of a choice being made by you and I as individuals.

Personal Branding Map – It is your plan or a visual representation of you that you develop that will get you to your end goal of implementing your personal brand (operating in your Genius)

Developing your Own Map (This post will only cover three points.)
• Identify Virtual Mentors – Identifying success examples online. (ref. list below)
• Online Research – Twitter Search, Google Readers (Feeds), etc.
• Read Books - Recommended readings Linchpin, Outliners, and The Brand YU Life to name a few.
The deliverable or outcome is to identify your personal brand DNA.

Other Personal Branding Maps
• Seth Godin – Entrepreneur (Marketing)
• Gary Vaynerchuk – Entrepreneur (Businessman, Speaker, and Author)
• Lynn D. Johnson – Corporate - SVP, Social Media at the Advertising Research Foundation
• Tristan Walker – Corporate - Business Developer at Foursquare
• Rohit Bhargava – Corporate (Author and Speaker) - SVP, Strategy & Marketing at Ogilvy 360
• Scott Monty – Corporate - Global Digital and Communications Manager at Ford

Note: Examples listed above are to be used for benchmarking exact duplication of someone else’s map doesn’t guarantee you their results or success.

Closing Thoughts
Most people live life by default and live a life according to the directions of someone else’s map. This leads to frustration and puts them on a road that doesn’t lead them too operating in their Genius. Downloading your specific personal branding map is critical to fully unlocking your genius. This blog post is the first in a series on “Downloading your Own Personal Branding Map.”