The 92,000-hour challenge is a personal branding exercise that was birthed at Brand Camp – NYC on Tuesday, May 24^th as a method to get people (Human Brands) to re-think our life work (or what we were designed to do.)

What’s the significances of 92,000 hours?

The average person lives 78 years in the United States, which translates, to 683,200 hours that a person will live. Many people are starting to eat healthy and working out so many individuals will live beyond the average life expectancy. The two biggest activities a person will engage in, in their life is sleeping and working.

If a person works from age 21 until age 65 and works 40-hours per week they will work 92,000 hours. The data shows us that the average person will work past age 65 and works more than 40-hours per week. So the number 92,000 hours really represents the minimum number of hours that a person will work in their life.

How the Challenge Works/Requirements

Here is how the 92,000-hour challenge works. For the next 30-days, starting June 1, 2011 we are going to work on fleshing out our life purpose by creating a bucket list.

• Identify an Accountability Partner: You must identify an accountability partner. Your accountability partner will help to keep you accountable to following through.

• Get Listed: Add your name to the 92,000-hour challenge Google Doc list. The purpose is to develop a community of people that will be catalyst who will help us better understand what we were designed to do (optional) - (Must Request Access to be included on the list)

• Use the Hashtag: Use the hashtag #92khrs when you share your content in Twitter so that we can track comments.

• Create Weekly Blog Post: Each week you are required to publish at least one blog post whether it is video or text and share it via Twitter with the hashtag #92khrs.
• Create a Bucket List: The output is to create a bucket list of things that you believe that you would like to spend your 92,000 hours doing.

Weekly Blog Post Topics

• Topic #1- When I Grow Up: Create a list of what you wanted to be when you grew up! Identify the dreams you had when you were younger before people grown ups told you your dreams were not possible.

• Topic #2- Skill Set: Identify your skill sets and create a skill set inventory (This is not a list of things that you do on your current job.)

• Topic #3- Idea Job Description: Create your idea job description and work environment. Think about this from the perspective of being your own boss.

• Topic #4- Side Project: Create a side project that you could work on to give you some real world experience doing what you dreamed off.

Launch Date: Wednesday, June 1, 2011

End Date: Friday, July 1, 2011

Why are we doing this in a public domain? The reason is to make you and me more accountable. Making a public statement creates positive peer pressure and will help us stay committed to following through for the next 30-days of the challenge.

Please leave a comment if you plan on participating in the 92,000 hr personal branding challenge.

Add your name to the 92K Hours Challenge List in Google Docs: http://bit.ly/92khrs_list (Must Request Access by clicking the link)

Greg Clayman, Publisher of The Daily

Today we are excited to announce Greg’s topic for Brand Camp – NYC. The Daily is a category first: a tablet-native national news brand built from the ground up to publish original content exclusively for the iPad.

Built From Scratch: Creating Something New

Created by a small team of “intrapreneurs” within the halls of News Corporation, The Daily launched in February 2011 with the mission to provide the best news experience by combining world-class storytelling with the unique interactive capabilities of the iPad. Greg Clayman is the Publisher of The Daily, charged with managing the game-changing shifts in technology, process, subscription models and approach to content enabled by the latest developments in Tablet Media. Only a few months out from the launch of The Daily, Greg will discuss what went into building this cutting-edge product and what it takes to run it every day.

Bio

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.

Register: http://bcnyc.eventbrite.com

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.”

I recently attended SXSW Interactive 2011 in Austin, TX. At the conference CNN had an interesting concept at their booth called, ‘The Things You Carry’ a take from ‘The Persona’ photography series by Atlanta photographer Jason Travis. Jason worked in conjunction with CNN to take pictures of interesting people and their stuff.

“The idea is in the name, Persona, because I wanted to show how we use our possessions to define ourselves, to create our personas,” Travis said.

CNN Link to all the photos

As a personal brand strategist I truly believe that as people the brands that we purchase or frequent are representative of our persona or who we really are. So when the opportunity to reveal to the world the brands that I carry which also communicates my personal brand I jumped at the chance.

I was very fortunate to be selected as one of the top photos (#16 from over #700 shots). Great honor thanks @cnnireportPRJCT!

Listed below are the items that were in my bag at the time of the photo shoot.

• Facebook Company Magazine – Wrinkled with pages that are dog-eared from reading it.
• The Brand YU Life – The book that I wrote that demanded 2-years of my life to write.
• Flip Video – Capturing the moment in HD.
• iPad – Productivity and Relevance. It enables me to be mobile and nimble
• Unbranded Sunglasses – Represents the hidden star quality on the inside of me.

The Call to Action!!!!

Would love your assistance in getting the most views and comments!!! Thanks for your support!!!

My CNN Persona Photo Link: http://on.cnn.com/gPzERD

Ask yourself, ‘Does the stuff that I carry really represent me?’

Modern job seekers have a lot of weapons they can use in the fight for a new job: the trusty old standbys like resumes and in-person networking, and brand new social media sites like LinkedIn and Twitter. So which are the best ones to use in a job search?
The answer is all of them. There’s no need to limit yourself to any one method-you should pursue all the avenues open to you, to make sure you don’t bypass any great opportunities. Here are some of the best tools to leverage in your job search:

Personal Branding is one of the most important steps in the job-search process, but it’s also often the most neglected. Job seekers need to be able to communicate their unique value to potential employers and career stakeholders quickly and effectively, in order to stand out. To identify your personal brand, first write down your unique strengths, and ask your friends, family, and colleagues to do the same for you. Then choose the top three to five commonly mentioned strengths that you feel will support the career direction you want to pursue. Next, find a word or phrase that that represents these strengths and can become your brand. Finally, develop a short pitch that supports the brand, describing your strengths in more detail. You can leverage this “elevator pitch” in all of your networking and interviews.

Resumes are often the first impression an employer has of you as a candidate. To make a strong impression, your resume should communicate your personal brand, be targeted to your industry and the position you’re applying to, and be easy to read (and without errors). There are many free resources that can help you with general resume writing, keyword inclusion, and formatting, but if your resume isn’t returning the right results, you should consider consulting a certified resume writer. A well-written resume will serve you throughout your career, no matter what form it takes as technology advances.

Social Media can be a great way for job seekers to build their personal brands and connect and network online. Networks and tools like Twitter, blogs, and YouTube can all increase your visibility online and demonstrate your value to your industry. A blog, for example, can be a great entrepreneurial venture to include on your resume and online profiles, and it demonstrates industry involvement. Twitter is a great way to learn what’s going on at your target companies, and to connect with people. Your LinkedIn profile can be a convenient place to which to refer potential career stakeholders for more information about your personal brand and experience, and it provides you more visibility online. Plus, LinkedIn’s Companies directory allows you to browse companies by multiple criteria, and the People search feature helps you identify key contacts within each of your target companies.

Job Boards will always be essential tools for job seekers. They serve as one-stop shops for job seekers pursuing the latest job postings in their target industry, company, field, or geographic area. For many companies, a search for relevant resumes posted on job boards is the first step in a candidate search. A job board’s search capabilities can save job seekers a lot of time by helping them help home in on relevant results, and by introducing them to new employers.

Informational Interviews are effective both in a job search and in career networking. By reaching out to contacts in your target industry or company and asking for a few minutes to learn about their career and experience, as well as for a bit of advice (note: this does not mean asking for a job), you get an opportunity to introduce yourself and your personal brand, and make a stronger connection with a potential career stakeholder.

Online Networking can be as simple as sending someone a connection invitation on LinkedIn, writing someone a thank-you email, answering someone’s question on a forum, asking a question during a webinar, following someone on Twitter, or leaving a comment on a blog post. All of these actions initiate a connection and perhaps even a relationship with someone new, increase your visibility online, and may mark you as a potential candidate for current or future job opportunities. In everything you do online, always look for ways to contribute value-with no expectation of anything in return.

In-Person Networking is becoming increasingly effective in the job-search process, especially as more and more people interact digitally. In-person connections and relationships are often much stronger and longer-lasting; therefore, meeting someone face-to-face may help you stand out from the crowd of other job candidates who have been in contact only via email or LinkedIn. Therefore, whenever possible and appropriate, introduce yourself to other professionals and get to know them (and how you and your brand can help them). Join an industry association and attend its meetings and events, volunteer for a local organization, go to job fairs, or look for similar events that are interesting to you. Even if you aren’t at an event specifically to find a job, networking and sharing your brand with others puts you on their radar for future opportunities.

Chris Perry, MBA is a Gen Y brand and marketing generator, a career search and personal branding expert and the founder of Career Rocketeer and Launchpad.

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

Just finished reading an interesting article in Fast Company Magazine about YouTube’s CEO Salar Kamangar and YouTube’s business model. According to the article YouTube has grown from $100 million-to-$250 million in 2008 to just shy of $1 billion in 2010. They are stating that profitability is nigh. The Business model includes a suite of services: Home page ads, promoted videos, click-to-buy, brand channels and displays (Digital Billboards - on YouTube)

“YouTube is emerging as the first global TV station. The living room for the world.” Salar Kamangar - CEO of YouTube.

YouTube Stats

• More people view TV online (72% of people 34-years and younger.)
• People are watching 2 billion hours of videos per day on YouTube
• YouTube accounts for 28% of Google’s search (December 2009)

Ways To Use YouTube to Impact Your Brand

The data shows the growing trend of videos in consumer consumption: 89 million people will watch 1.2 Billion Videos watched today. Online video consumption is up 600% from 2006-2010. There is an old cliché that a picture is worth a thousand words. If that is true what is a video worth?

As a Human Brand, personal brands or business brands that are focused on humanizing themselves can YouTube provide a platform to help them grow? Videos have away of connecting people and ideas: videos transmit emotion, and passion in a way that words cannot. Videos can simply bring ideas to life!

• Create How to video content: There are people who are using video content creativity, for example, Michelle Phan (Make-up Artist)
• Click to Buy: YouTube’s e-commerce platform that enables videos to transform viewers into consumers by providing links to iTunes, Amazon.com, or other e-commerce sites.
• Branded Channels: YouTube gives you the ability to develop a branded channel for your brand (whether it is a personal or business brand. A great example of a branded channel is Justin Bieber.

How are you using YouTube to expand your Brand? I would love to hear some of your creative ideas.

Infographic Credit: Flowtown

It is that time of year again to identify my personal branding predictions and trends for 2011. I believe it is going to be a breakout year for personal branding. In 2010 we saw some trends that paved the way for what we will see this year. My predictions center around a few basic ideas: scaling, character, business models, disruption and co-working.

As personal brand strategist or whatever title my colleagues coin to identify themselves, we as an industry have communicated to people that they need to have an online presence. A lot of this advice centered around hanging a shingle in one or more of big three social networks (Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin). Anyone who has followed this advice should know by now, they have the equivalent of a modern day hardcopy resume. It is like saying if you put on a blue suit, shirt and tie you will standout at a job interview. In other words you are going to need to work harder to matter: to standout, and to create value.

5-Personal Branding Predictions

• Develop your Disruptive Talent – Me too technology and ideas are overrated. Disruption is the new normal. Disruptive technology is a term coined by Harvard Business School professor Clayton M. Christensen to describe a new technology that unexpectedly displaces an established technology. In his 1997 best-selling book, “The Innovator’s Dilemma,” Christensen separates new technology into two categories: sustaining and disruptive. Understanding disruption and it’s positive impact on technology serves as a starting point for understanding disruptive talent.

How do you translate the skills/talent you have into value? You will be forced to recognize not what makes you fit in but what makes you stand out. This will require some soul-searching and a very introspective view of who you are. Without identifying and developing your disruptive talent you will be unemployed, underemployed, or unfulfilled working at something you are not passionate about. Instead of ‘living the dream’ you will be ‘dreaming the dream.’ Key: Identify your disruptive talents.

Scale – Developing a personal brand isn’t the challenge. Scaling a personal brand is an even bigger challenge? Creating something that people want to connect with, that has value in your passion is a different story. The biggest challenge and growth area for personal brands is how to scale. As a person you can only be in one place at a time so scaling you is impossible. The foundation is that personal brands have to ask this critical question.

What is the difference between an idea and a business?

Business Models for Personal Brands – With the onset of the social web everybody has been running to try and figure out how to make money with it especially those with strong personal brands. The focus will need to be on business model development will be the key. What made the iPod so successful was not the fact that it was just a cooler device. The difference was the business model; Apple hit a home run when it developed iTunes. The business model for personal brands is still being defined. (1) Pure entrepreneurs, (2) Grustler or (3) somewhere in-between. The link between job creation and business creation was validated in a report by Kauffman Foundation.

Examples:

• Gary Vaynerchuk – Vaynder Media and Books (Crush It and The Thank You Economy)
• Chris Brogan – New Marketing Labs and Books

Character 3.0: Drives Profit – Tiger Woods in 2010 shows the cost of poor character, diminishing values and the impact that social media has on the personal brand. The Tiger Woods situation cost sponsors between $5B-$12B. We clearly saw the connection between character and revenue generation. With the increasing emphasize of company recruiters using social networks as a character validate will be come increasingly important to populate the correct the content online. According to Careerbuilder.com 45% of recruiters validate potential job applicants in Facebook and Linkedin. After those employers checked their profiles online 35% changed their decision based on the information they found. More importantly, lifestyle will impact revenue generation and business opportunities.
Anywhere Economy (Mobile Powered) – Use of mobile devices like iPhones, iPads and Galaxy tablets to share your experiences and increase brand awareness and share ideas in a creative and meaningful way. Mobile technology will be the engine that drives personal branding movement. The use of web enabled mobile devices will allow people to work creating the anywhere.

• Ball of Clay – The disruptive talent will identify ways to utilize mobile tools to scale ideas-to-businesses.

Co-Working Growth – The need for space to house the free agent workforce will continue to grow. In Michigan one of the premier spots is Urbane Space in Birmingham, MI. According to the Kauffman Foundation there were 558K businesses started in 2009. This was the highest entrepreneurial activity in 14-years. Some of this activity is driven by the economy. In the end we have more people how are working from themselves. I expect to see a substantial increase in co-working spaces to accommodate this engaged workforce.

List of Co-Working Spaces

• Urbane Space (Co-Working Space: Birmingham, MI)10 International Co-Working Spots

• 53 Co-Working Centers in the Top Cities for Entrepreneurs

• Loose Cubes: Global network of shared workspaces

I look forward to seeing you dominate in 2011.

Photo Credit: Troy Johnson - Covenant Digital Photography

The phenomenal story about Ted Williams has swept the country, making the hardest of hearts soften. Ted a homeless man and once a broadcast hopeful was discovered by a Ohio videographer from the Columbus Dispatch. Ted found on the side of a road got his big break through a viral storm after the videographer posted a video he shot of Ted on YouTube, which has over 8 million views.

So you probably ask, how does a man that assumingly has little to no access to the Internet get 8 million views on YouTube?

He didn’t quit.

You can have all the resources, but if you are not willing to commit to your GRUSTLE, you may not tap into your golden voice. If you tell your story over and over again to enough people, someone is going to listen. I have no doubts that Ted had divine assistance, but I think there are two morals that go to his story. He seemed positive although his circumstance and he kept telling his story.

Ted has single-handedly made it impossible for anybody that has access to the Internet hence social media, to complain that they can’t find (or create) a job or they can’t get readers to their blog or site. While Ted has a unique story and talent, I truly believe this is the case for all of us.

Along with God, Ted has to thank social media, for his new found opportunities.

So as we push on branding ourselves online and being evangelist for social media, just remember, Ted did it without a computer….

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.

I came across an old work ID that inspired this blog post. I looked at the picture and thought how much I had changed over the past 14-years since the picture was taken. I interned with New Balance Athletic Shoe in Lawrence, MA, which is just outside of Boston. I enjoyed my days at New Balance I was the first out of state intern they had in their intern program. I owe a lot to Edith Harmon-Wiess who was the person that took a chance on me. She still works at New Balance as the VP of Advanced Products. Enough reminiscing. It is time to learn something.

Re-Brand yourself. Every brand has a life cycle and goes through the following phases: development, introduction, growth, maturity and decline. Over time every brand hits a plateau where the brand matures and faces the reality of decline. This forces every brand to make some hard decisions to re-think strategies, channels of communication and their end game. If a corporate brands need to create a personality and take online human characteristics to be relevant to the connected customer, then how much more do we as human brands have to evolve? (For example: Corporate brands go through re-branding phases like Dunkin’ Donuts did in 2006.)

Have you Changed?

As a personal brand you continue to change: your worldview, the online channels you use to communicate, your career goals change, your work style (the way your dress) and the way you look. Anyone who is growing is changing. Over time we are developing, learning, and growing into the person we want to be and working in the career that we have a passion for.

• How do people experience you? Is it different today than it was 3-5 years ago? When I started online about 4-years ago I connected with people via MySpace. Over time that has evolved and people experience my brand through different channels.
• Online Presence – Your online content should be updated frequently. For example your Linkedin profile should evolve as your career goals, work experience, and the content you curate changes.
• WorkStyle – Does your dress style reflect your brand? I have moved from being a company man to an entrepreneur and my work style reflects that. As you evolve as a person your style should reflect the stage you are at in life.
• Visuals – Your profile Photos should be updated every 3+ years at the latest. Think about how much you have changed over the past 3-5 years.

If you are doing the same things you did five years ago you are probably not relevant. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.

Food for Thought: We are constantly in a re-tweaking phase.

As the year is coming to an end it is a great time to review goals, financials and the value of our time. Which leads me to one of the most important questions how did you spend your time online in 2010.

A large portion of our lives are shared online: So between messaging, commenting, sending emails, blogging and conducting online searches, etc., as a society we spent approximately 25% of our lives online (this translates into 5.5 hours a day.) What did this mean to your personal brand? Did the time you spent online help to grow business, your career opportunities, or help you position that side project that you were working on. In the area of personal branding one of the key components is the value of your minute. According to Nielsen report in 2010 here is how we spent our time online.

The Breakdown

• 5.5 Hours Online per day
• 22.7% Spent on Social Networks (Facebook #1 destination)
• 10.3% Online Games
• 8.3% Email
• 3.9% Videos
• 3.9% Online Search

As we embark on a new year how will you plan your time management goals for 2011? Remember success is a planned activity it doesn’t happen by default. There is less than a week left in the 2010 and many people have packed it up for the year? Well the year isn’t over yet. It is the perfect time to prepare for 2011. Below are a few ways to start preparing for 2011

• Brand Insights – An experiential personal and corporate branding workshop for 15-people in FD Lofts in Detroit Eastern Market – 01/20/11 with Hajj Flemings (Founder of Brand Camp) and Matthew Kruchko (Managing Director of Applied Storytelling). http://bit.ly/brandinsights
  

• Mind Mapping – iThoughtsHD is a mindmapping iPad app that will import and export mindmaps to and from many of the most popular desktop mindmap applications such as Freemind, XMind, Novamind, MindManager, MindView, iMindmap and PDFs.

• Goal Setting – Establish measurable goals for 2011.

• Finalize Pending Projects – Many of us have projects that have been started and not completed.

• Side Project - Start working on a New Project to launch the beginning of next year.

• Re-Evaluate Resources – To increase your productivity in 2011 look to add a virtual secretary or outsource some functions to be more productive.

What did your time translate into in 2010? How does it affect your bottom line?

Let me know what you are doing to plan for 2011!!

Are you living life in Default mode?

Wikipedia defines Default: “Default Values are generally intended to make a device (or control) usable “out of the box”. A common setting, or at least a usable setting, is typically assigned.”

The more time I spend in the branding space helping people and businesses transform themselves, the more I see default settings controlling the operating systems of people and businesses. Living life by Default versus design is the path of least resistance as well as least reward.

Why should someone hire you? Why should someone buy your product? Why should someone listen to you? Why should someone read your blog? Why do you matter? Do you matter? Does your work create conversation? Are you living an undervalued life?

I thought the concept of living in Default would be an interesting topic as 2010 is coming to an end and 2011 is quickly approaching.

Remember, “Success is a journey and a planned activity.” Without goals we are living life by Default. For many people 2010 was a year of change and as technology, the economy, and the world changes you can’t depend on ‘What Was’ to be ‘What Is.’

It is time to establish your goals for 2011 personally and professionally.

Food for Thought: There is a difference between ‘Out of the Box’ and ‘Thinking Outside the Box’.

We all live in a global village in a community that is not bound by geography but trust, where Social Media and social sharing is redefining relationships. Our network consist of a mix of friends that we know in real life and E-quaintances that we have connected with online. It is a common occurrence to strike up a conversion with someone at an event and say aren’t we Facebook friends.

Connected World

In this connected world the line is blurring between the digital and real, professional and personal, public and private. We now spend more time in social networks then we do on email, according to Nielsen it consumes 22.7% of our online activity. This equates to approximately 5 hours per day, which means it is impacting our relationships and decisions. The digital landscape is changing the way we consume our news, build relationships, purchase products, and how we engage in conversations, ‘In the Real World.’

Today we can talk to brands directly online (20% of the tweets mention specific brand names.) When we go to restaurants we can check-in online with location based social networks like Foursquare. We can share with our network where we are eating and our dining experience in real-time.

Building Trust

Let me be clear nothing in the world will ever beat face-to-face interaction. Social Networks however have become a very powerful tool in building trust in an attention-based economy. One of the most valuable currencies that we have is trust and those that are digitally savvy can leverage the power of social networks to build genuine relationships in the real world.

The ability to view a person’s status updates in their social network, their tweets and their online activity tells a lot about their behavior and who they are as a person. Engaging in conversations in social networks has the ability to increase the speed of transactions in developing relationships, doing a business deal, or getting to know someone.

In the final analysis in the digital world that we live in it is not about the Technology. As you look to navigate life on Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook and in other social networks remember the basics. You are having a conversation, you are connecting with people. How would you talk to someone face to face? Would you walk up to someone for the first time and say hey follow me and by the way would you by this product?

Tips to Remember

1. Talk to people online like you would if you were face to face.

2. Be Authentic

3. Relationships are fragile so treat them with care.

4. Remember that everybody has ulterior motives just make sure your building relationships that are mutually beneficial.

5. Relationships are not measured in quantity but quality.

Remember with every tweet, status update, comment, blog post and face-to face interaction you are either building or tearing down relationships.