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.”

I reached out to fellow job seekers and career experts for effective personal branding tips that could help you distinguish yourself to your chosen and targeted audience of employers, and here are some top tips that I compiled to share with you today:

Learn or Master a Skill

Focus on your area of expertise that you want to be known for. Stick to what you’re good at, and then make it even better it. How? For starters, don’t do what everyone else is doing. Don’t go to the local non-profit organization and volunteer your time, joining its marketing team to end up doing whatever task comes your way. Take control of the direction of your marketing project. Go online, research, and commit to learning one new focused skill; pick a skill that increases your value in your expertise. This is your new job for now. Really commit to it, and spend the time it takes to learn it. Master it. Then, go to someone in your target audience, and offer that skill to them to solve a problem. Show them how you can help them; offer them your solution. Make it the best. Wow them with it. - Maren Finzer, www.marenfinzer.com

Write a Book

I’ve been lecturing and writing about careers for quite a while now and the best branding advice I can give is this: write a book. Or, an e-book at least. Choose a unique title to enhance your branding efforts. Include the e-book when job-applying online. Ideally, you can afford to have an actual book printed and can include it with your resume when you’re being interviewed in person.  Don’t let the idea a writing a book deter you–books nowadays don’t fit the traditional definition. They can be a collection of blog articles. Or, short manuscripts. (I’ve been some that have fewer than 30 pages, some of which contain a simple quotation.) You could even outline the knowledge/expertise that brands you and hire a ghostwriter. - Marlene Caroselli, www.caroselli.biz

Plan an Event

Plan a local event for your industry. Sounds crazy, right? With the popularity of “un-conferences” growing, it’s possible for anyone to plan an event for their industry.  Local project manager Jason Brett planned ProductCamp Atlanta. He recruited sponsors to pay for the food and facility. He invited everyone he knows in the industry. 200 people RSVPed for the free event and 185 people attended. It was held on the Georgia tech campus, which provided ample parking and free wireless access. Jason used consistent branding for himself and for the event – so that his name became well-known throughout the community. Jason received a job offer within 30 days of the event. - Brandy Nagel

Use Video

Because personal branding is just that –personal– one of the most effective tools we teach our clients is to allow potential employers (or customers) that “VIP-Access to get to know you” via use of video.  We encourage our clients, for example, to produce a 6-part series of 60 second videos sharing relevant information to not only show their expertise, but also to allow others the chance to understand their personality and build a following.  Potential employers start to like you before you’ve even met face to face.  Suddenly, you are walking into an interview where everyone has already watched your carefully built You Tube channel and vlog posts (they watched it while you slept) and they feel like they know you.  You are a friend on their doorstep, while the other candidates are strangers they’ve never met.  And you know the rule about that.  Never talk to strangers. - Aly & Andrea, www.AlyandAndrea.com

Special thanks to everyone who contributed to this wealth of personal branding insight!

Chris Perry is a Gen Y Brand and Marketing Generator, a Career Search and Personal Branding Expert and the Founder of Career Rocketeer, the Career Search and Personal Branding Blog.

Every person has an operating system (OS) and is wired and socialized into the person they are today.  Success in life and work is based upon your level of understanding of how you are wired.

What is an operating system?

Definition of Personal Brand Operating System (OS): An operating system (OS) is an interface between your personal brand and you; an OS is responsible for the management and coordination of activities and the sharing of resources of your personal brand.  This relieves application like Twitter, Facebook, and Linkedin from the responsibility of managing the details of your life which they were never intended to do.  These applications are merely tools that help you communicate, package, and connect your personal brand to opportunities.

The Three Personal Branding OS:

o    Builder – A person who works for someone other than themselves and builds their personal resume while they build someone else’s dreams.
o    Grustler – A person who work a daily grind and a side hustle at the same time.  (This is traditionally a transition state.)
o    Leaper – Is a pure entrepreneur, someone who works for themselves.

Our educational system teaches us all to be builders.  What if I am wired to be a leaper?  How do I learn to leap?  Can entrepreneurship be taught?  Do I grustle?  Or do I continue to build someone else’s dream.  Each personal brand OS can lead to success economically but total profitability and fulfillment requires ID’ing your OS.

What are the benefits of upgrading your OS
o    Operating in your Genius
o    Develop your business model
o    Develop a unique user experience
o    Configuring your life for complete profitability (economically, spiritually, psychologically, mentally, and physically)
o    Utilize the social web that maximizes your OS

The personal branding industry is creating a uniformed army shortly we will all look the same, we will have a blog, Facebook page, and we will all tweet.  It is time for you to create a unique user experience that separates you from your competition.  Break the mold, do something unique.

Remember “Great minds don’t think alike, they think differently.”