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NBA Free Agents vs Personal Brand Free Agents

LeBron + NikeWe 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?

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i Finish: The app that defines Personal Branding

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.

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Seth Godin and Hajj Flemings: Become A Personal Branding Linchpin - Interview (Part I)

Seth Godin and Hajj Flemings - Linchpin Interview (Part I) from Hajj Flemings on Vimeo.

I recently conducted a personal branding interview with Seth Godin Marketing Guru and best selling author of dozen books including Purple Cow, Tribes, and The Dip to name a few. The focus of our conversation centered on Seth recently released book called Linchpin, which in my opinion is his most profound book.

In my interview with Seth Godin we discussed two significant topics from his book: Genius and the Factory. Being a native of Detroit both of these topics resonated especially the Factory concept. ‘The Factory’ has been the motor of Detroit for almost a century with the automotive industry building the middle class in our nation with mass production.

Seth also provides his perspective on personal branding.

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#AMA Milwaukee Luncheon 03/16: @HajjFlemings – Speaks on ‘Personal Branding in a Digital World.’

Original Blog Post: AMA Milwaukee Blog

As the world around us continues to change, people-powered brands are impacting the world of business. How important is your personal brand? If you would like to find out and learn steps you can take to manage it, make plans to attend the March16 AMA luncheon.

The interactive program will focus on the importance of developing a strong personal brand that matters in a noisy digital world. Participants will walk away with practical information and learn how to become a voice people trust. Many of us are listening, engaging, connecting, and participating online through social media channels. But are you processing the information gained and using it to develop real-world relationships?

Join the Milwaukee Chapter of the American Marketing Association and Hajj E. Flemings, founder of Brand Camp University, and get tips to help define your personal brand and leverage your off-line relationships. In addition to a great lunch and opportunity to network, you will gain insight from a noted author and educator and learn how to…

  • INTEGRATE your passion into your personal brand
  • POSITION and balance your brand in corporate culture
  • RE-THINK your corporate job as a proving ground
  • MANAGE your online brand reputation and build equity
  • LEARN to project your personal brand off-line
  • BUILD a strong personal network before you need it

A strong personal brand can help ignite the growth of your business and inspire your personal life. Register now to ensure you are armed with tactics to grow your personal and professional identity and help ensure you stand out from the crowd.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER:
Hajj E. Flemings is the founder of Brand Camp University and author of The Brand YU Life: Re-thinking Who You Are through Personal Brand Management, one of Fast Company Magazine’s 2008 Readers’ Choice Business Books of the year. He is also one of the authors featured in Age of Conversation 3, a collaborative book that brought together over 200 of the world’s best marketing, social media and brand thinkers. Flemings is a former collegiate athlete turned adjunct lecturer at his alma mater, Michigan Technological University, where he wrote the personal branding curriculum. He has been featured on ESPN.com, BusinessWeek.com, BlackEnterprise.com, various blogs and speaks across the nation. His clients include NFL athletes, Walt Disney, Ford Motor Company, Skechers Footwear, U.S. Department of Defense (Telecom Division) and numerous U.S. colleges and universities.

You can learn more about Flemings by visiting his blog, following him on Twitter or reviewing his information on LinkedIn.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND:
The luncheon is open to AMA-Milwaukee members and interested individuals and is designed to benefit marketers of all levels – from seasoned professionals to students – and is ideal for job seekers and those interested in strengthening their networks.

WHEN: Tuesday, March 16, 2010 11:30 a.m.-1:00 p.m.

WHERE: Crowne Plaza Hotel, 10499 Innovation Drive, Wauwatosa

PARKING: Complimentary parking is available in a private, surface lot.

FEE: $25 for AMA members
$45 for non-members
$20 for students or individuals in transition

RSVP: Register no later than Thursday, March 11, 2010.
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER ONLINE
 CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD A REGISTRATION FORM A

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Side Projects are Bigger than Resumes



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?

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