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Personal Branding and The Technical Professional: An Interview with Dan Schawbel – Part 3

August 29, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Dan Schawbel is described by TIME Magazine as “a world renowned personal branding expert.” Tom Peters said of Dan Schawbel, “Dan has taken personal branding to a dimension a million miles beyond where I was.”  Dan is the Managing Partner of Millennial Branding, LLC, which helps build successful online brands. He is the author of Me 2.0: 4 Steps to Building Your Future,
and is the founder of the Personal Branding Blog®, an Advertising Age Top 50 Marketing Blog. Recently, Dan Schawbel was named to the prestigious Inc. Magazine 30 Under 30 list.

I caught up with Dan on August 23, 2011, post East Coast earthquake! The following post is a summary of take-aways 7 – 10 of the top 10 take-aways from our interview. To listen to the entire interview, right click on the link  and Save Target As to download the mp3 version of my Interview with Dan Schawbel, August 2011. Read my blog posts on Parts 1 and 2 of this interview, as well, to round out your perspective.

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Take-away Seven

Babette: Overcoming the self-articulation barrier is perhaps the biggest conceptual hurdle technical professionals have to deal with, in general. What suggestions can you give these professionals in finding their “voice”?

Dan: The best way to find what you want to do in your career, and find your voice, is to keep writing, keep speaking… eventually it will just come to you, naturally… I think it’s just practice…. I had eight internships… I basically narrowed it down to what I wanted to do… But, if you’re lazy or if you just don’t want to put the effort in, it won’t happen…Practice filming yourself. You don’t have to publish it online [Dan initially filmed himself over 30 times before he found a clip he was satisfied with]… If you don’t look like you’re capable online, it’s not going to work for you… The perception of how many people you’ve connected with is important… The people who don’t take advantage of these tools now, are really at a huge disadvantage in the hiring process.

Take-away Eight

Babette: Technical professionals often feel reluctant to promote themselves, even a little bit. How can they overcome their reluctance and move forward in personal branding?

Dan: You just have to take it day by day. Do small things that will help grow your visibility at your job or online. Eventually you will get comfortable to do larger things. It could be just a Tweet, saying , “Hey, this is what I just accomplished,” etc., and that can lead into something bigger. So start small, and gain comfort that way.

You want your plan to be focused on where you want to go in life, not where you are…Brand strategy: what your buyer should look like, where you should be promoting and sharing and networking on social sites, your website, your blog, .. your overall marketing strategy, what companies – what people – do. You need to network… in order to make things happen, those are just some aspects.

I would say that everyone in the world needs their own website, so make sure that you have yours. Because if you don’t, it just looks bad at this point. In the technical field, and the technology field in general, it’s just a higher application for them to get involved with new technology and if they’re not, it looks really bad… They’ll have different pages, one with their resume, one with designs that they’ve done, the sky’s the limit. It’s all about how you’re contributing. .. You have to do all this [own your own name as a domain] before someone else does it. You only get one chance. And you don’t want to have to pay $10,000 in order to get your name back.

Take-away Nine

Babette: Social media sites: which one, or ones, do you recommend to start with? What makes this site(s) your top recommendation for technical professionals starting to build their personal brand platform? And what should a personal branding platform “look like”?

Dan: I’m going to have to say [start with] LinkedIn because it’s easy to start with and it doesn’t take a lot of work. There’s no expectation that you have to update your status on LinkedIn every day. I think that is pretty standard… I would say Facebook would be the last one. Because if you don’t already have a network, it’s really hard to build your presence on Facebook. It’s just a tough network to deal with. So I would say, maybe, Twitter would be next. Because Google+ , if I didn’t already have Connections on my other networks, Google+ wouldn’t really be that valuable. .. It’s a really tough one to use if you don’t already have a network. So I would say Twitter [second], because it doesn’t really put any strain on networking.

[On building your personal branding platform] It’s about getting a good education, refreshing your skills, reviewing everything that’s said about your company and your industry…online, so you keep up to date with what’s going on. That’s extremely important. Maybe reading books. Pushing yourself to get to different networking events. Getting on all these social profiles, getting a website, a blog, and using them to start conversations in your world. And showcasing some of your ideas and creating visibility. Basically doing all that. That’s where you really need to invest your time in, at this point.

[On participating on LinkedIn discussion groups] You need to develop an attitude that: I need to do this if I want to have a career in the future, if I want to be employable, I need to get my name out there… You just have to mentally push yourself. .. The key to LinkedIn is that it rounds you out as an individual… Companies and institutions are begging to find unique people. So if you can figure out what makes you unique and put it out there, you’re going to get through… That’s why I think video is so powerful. Before I meet someone, I watch a video of them online, so I know what I am getting myself into.  And people do the same with me… And when I meet with them, it’s like we already know each other.

Take-away Ten

Babette: If there is one key thought you would like to leave the technical, and other professionals with today, what would that be?

Dan: I think people need to spend more time doing more things, so they can narrow down what they really want to do. People need to put themselves out there, take a chance, get involved in different projects, even if they don’t pay, so you get enough experience to say, “Hey, this is something I want to pursue,” or it’s not something you want to pursue. If you don’t try something, you don’t know if it’s the right thing. So give it a chance.

Babette: We’ve completed this blog series, based on my August 23, 2011 interview with Dan Schawbel. If you’d like to listen to the interview in its entirety, you can download it at link at the top of the post.

We all get immersed in our jobs and in projects. Sometimes we get so focused on work-related activities that we become out-of-touch with what’s going on around us in this most competitive global economy. Dan Schawbel has issued a call to action to technology professionals specifically, and professionals in general, seeking to build a career. Start off your personal branding work by reading his book, Me 2.0. I know I did right after the first edition was published.

Times have, indeed, changed. It may not be sufficient to have the professional credentials to enter the workforce; to sustain your employment, you need to become aware of your marketplace and industry and their respective voices. You should understand the impact of other companies on your own and your industry as a whole. And practice until you develop your own “voice” as a means of providing feedback about your perceptions on these trends.

Personal branding is about carving out that niche that establishes your own voice as an influencer, or at least an astute observer, of your industry and your profession. Because if you don’t take the time to comment and participate in online discussions, someone else will. How many times have you read discussions or blog posts or the news and thought to yourself: “That’s just what I was thinking!” The digital millennium allows your thought to count and, perhaps, make a difference.

Hopefully, this blog series has given you something to think about and some tools for going about developing your personal brand. When achieved according to Dan Schawbel’s prudent and disciplined strategies and guidelines, it’s not narcissism or shameless self-promotion. Personal branding is simply a means of sharing thoughts, perceptions and asking questions of a network comprised of online colleagues who are thirsty for dialogue and idea exchange.

What are you waiting for?

 

 

 

 

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Personal Branding and The Technical Professional: An Interview with Dan Schawbel – Part 2

August 26, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Dan  Schawbel is described by TIME Magazine as “a world renowned personal  branding expert.” Tom Peters said of Dan Schawbel, “Dan  has taken personal branding to a dimension a million miles beyond where I was.”  Dan is the Managing Partner of Millennial  Branding, LLC, which helps build successful online brands. He is the author of Me 2.0: 4 Steps to Building Your Future,  and is the founder of the Personal Branding Blog®, an Advertising Age Top 50 Marketing Blog.  Recently, Dan Schawbel was named to the prestigious Inc. Magazine 30 Under 30 list.

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I caught up with Dan on August 23, 2011, post East Coast  earthquake! Here’s a summary of take-aways 4,5, and 6 of the top 10 take-aways  from our interview. Use the navigation, above, to listen as you read. To listen to the complete Dan Schawbel Interview , right click on the link to download / Save Target As the  mp3 version. I guarantee you will want to listen repeatedly, for reference, as  you undertake your personal branding project.  To catch up, read my blog on Part 1 of this  interview, and my upcoming blog on Part 3.

Here we go:

Take-away Four

Babette: The concept of personal branding is somewhat counter intuitive to the industrial manufacturing sector and technical mindset. These companies and individuals feel they are addressing themselves – other technical professionals – when engaging in a business development discussion. What do you feel these companies are not “getting” in how they perceive branding, in general, and personal branding?

Dan: I think the main issue is social skills. I think social skills are becoming more important…It’s really not about what you know, anymore, it’s about how you can interact with other people. And just doing that online, technically, using these networks, is not enough. You have to be good at connecting with people, you’ve got to be likeable, you have to have organizational leadership skills, you have to have interpersonal skills. I think “soft skills” are becoming extremely important. There was a survey done by CareerBuilder…. 71% of hiring managers preferred emotional intelligence over IQ. .. Now it’s about being able to do the job, being able to interact and fit into the corporate culture, and become a leader, and the third thing which I think is upon us is the age of online influence. Being an influencer has become even more important. …You bring credibility to your position which your company can tap into.

Take-away Five

Babette: Manufacturing and service companies often feel that they are giving away secrets when engaged in competitive branding. They tend to hold their cards close to their chests and, therefore, tend to be the “best kept secret” rather than the go-to company or individual. How can they become more comfortable with personal branding?

Dan: I wouldn’t be afraid to share secrets at this point. It goes back to transparency…and visibility. If people don’t know what you do and what makes you special, and they can’t find you, you aren’t going to get the same opportunities as everyone else. I look at the Internet in a much different way than other people. I look at the Internet as a global talent pool. You’re really not going to be able to get jobs any other way, in the future….If you craft the Authentic You online, and tell people what kind of career you want, based on what you’ve already done, and where you want to go, you’re going to attract those opportunities. Positioning [yourself] is really key…. No job is certain. Even with entrepreneurs… Your company can be shut down in two years, or six months, or there could be layoffs at your company… You have to always be building your brand and getting your name out there and networking and marketing yourself, because … the next time you get laid off, you already have the support system in place… You want to be put in a position that, regardless of anything that happens, you have that support system in place. .. and you open yourself up to other opportunities….It’s almost like a safeguard. If all you do is your full time job, you don’t have a safeguard. There’s nothing there. You lose your job and you lose everything. The more projects you get on, the more things you do, the more hirable you are…That’s your true safety net.

Take-away Six

Babette: Technical professionals have been “Dilbert®-ized” as a profession, in reference to Scott Adam’s popular cartoon. How can technical professionals move beyond this stereotype?

Dan: I think it goes back to what we were talking about before, having more social skills. And you’ve got to have them, whether you take classes…And the best class you can take is just getting out there, going to events, meeting new people. And you gotta do it, you gotta do it. It’s good for you professionally, it’s good for you socially. It’s a healthy thing to do…And if you’re a person at work, you’re going to lunch with someone different each day, you’ll shed that negative brand attribute.

Babette:  We are at the end of the second, middle, part of this blog series, based on my August 23, 2011 interview with Dan Schawbel. If you’d like to listen to the interview in its entirety, you can download it at  the link at the top of this blog post.

Soft skills. We all use them, we all need them, and we are all continuing to develop them.  Personal Branding is the catalyst for developing those “soft skills” which can make you sought after. There’s no excuse that you didn’t learn soft skills in school. I’ve got news for you:  none of us did! There’s no substitute for experience and practice!

Later this morning (Friday), I’m having coffee with one of my new LinkedIn Connections. I make it a point to speak to at least three new Connections each week: in person or on the phone. It’s practice, but it’s not “work”, because I enjoy a free-flowing, natural interchange. No agenda, just conversation.

Soft skills are acquired through socialization and interaction with individuals. Ask questions and enjoy the answers. Move out of your comfort level: talk to folks outside your peer circle. Become comfortable with yourself as you develop your personal brand, and learn that articulating your personal brand doesn’t involve a lecture. Perhaps it starts with just a smile and a few words around the water cooler. The only ingredient that is necessary is you, and your desire to move toward where you see your career taking you, not just your current job title or function.

You have to have a plan for developing your Personal Brand. So when you decide to get started, there’s one person’s you should seek for guidance: Dan Schawbel. Online, in print, via video, in person.

What are you waiting for?

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Personal Branding and The Technical Professional: An Interview with Dan Schawbel – Part 1

August 24, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Dan Schawbel is described by TIME Magazine as “a world renowned personal branding expert.” Tom Peters said of Dan Schawbel, “Dan has taken personal branding to a dimension a million miles beyond where I was.”  Dan is the Managing Partner of Millennial Branding, LLC, which helps build successful online brands. He is the author of Me 2.0: 4 Steps to Building Your Future, and is the founder of the Personal Branding Blog®, an Advertising Age Top 50 Marketing Blog. Recently, Dan Schawbel was named to the prestigious Inc. Magazine 30 Under 30 list.

I caught up with Dan on August 23, 2011, post East Coast earthquake! Here’s a summary of the first 3 of the top 10 take-aways from our interview. I’ll blog about the remaining take-aways as Parts 2 and 3 of this interview in the following days.

Use the navigation, below, to listen as you read. To download the entire interview right click on the following link: Interview with Dan Schawbel, August 23, 2011 and Save Target As. I guarantee you will want to listen repeatedly, for reference, as you undertake your personal branding project.

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Take-away One

Babette: Dan, why is personal branding the fulcrum of all you do?

Dan: Personal branding is the process by which we unearth what makes us special and unique in the marketplace and then communicate that through various mediums, such as in person, your blog, or social networks, your phone, to our select audience:  the people you really want to go after and who our message would most resonate with. Everyone has a personal brand…. Through social networking, in the past five to seven years, it’s become apparent that anyone can leverage the business strategies, the marketing strategies, of companies and celebrities on a pretty flat plane….Anyone can create their own professional presence that creates new opportunities instead of sending resumes to different people, or getting people on the phone or doing traditional means of selling.

Take-away Two

Babette: How is having a strong Value Proposition important for personal branding?

Dan: It’s really what makes you special and unique and who you are targeting. A value proposition is really about showcasing who you are, what you do, what makes you different, and what audience you’re really going for. I call it, in my world, your Personal Brand Statement. .. Everything in the world is subject to change. You need to be flexible. You have to stay in tune with what’s going on. So if the market changes, and a new audience is interested in what you’re doing, you change over and evolve your brand, if that’s what you want to do…. You have to figure out what you’re really good at, what your technical expertise is…. Really boiling it down to one specific thing. And then, what audience, what industry, what profession, what geography? It’s almost like thinking like a company; and companies cater to different market segments… Cater to one small segment, and once you gain more visibility, then you expand.

Take-away Three

Babette: In your book, Me 2.0, you talk about four key areas of emphasis for personal branding: Authenticity, Transparency, Value and Visibility. How do these attributes form the foundation of a solid personal brand?

Dan: Authenticity, which is being  the real you. Don’t copy anyone else. .. Visibility, if you’re not visible, you don’t exist to the world. So build your brand, get out there as much as you can, be top of mind. The reason why social networks are powerful is that people will see your name… so you become top of mind, so when they go to hire someone, or work with someone or interview someone, you’re right there. Value… your unique value to the marketplace. Something different from what other people are doing. Again, don’t copy someone else. Invent your own kind of concept. I didn’t invent personal branding, but I figured out how to mold the new technologies with personal branding to create more of an offering, in that sense. So that is what worked for me…. Transparency …is all about being open and honest…. I feel that a lot of people just copy what everyone else is doing, at this point. .. They think it [personal branding] is easy… and they can just copy it. The problem is, the first mover always wins, in my opinion, or has a good shot at winning. .. You need to come up with something you can own, in your own unique way. And something you can be committed to. Because the amount of effort it takes to do all this is substantial. Become extremely good at one thing, and then if it works out well, you can expand.

 

Babette:  We are at the end of the first part of this blog series, based on my August 23, 2011 interview with Dan Schawbel. To listen to the interview in its entirety, you can download it at the link at the top of this post.

My key take-aways: Use Personal Branding as the catalyst for developing those “soft skills” which make you sought after. There’s no excuse that they didn’t teach you soft skills in school. I’ve got news for you, they didn’t teach any of us those soft skills. We interacted and learned from experience and practice.

Soft skills are acquired through socialization and interaction with individuals. And it can be as simple as going to lunch with a peer or  even someone from another department once a week; reading a newspaper and discussing a relevant article with people – any people.

Become comfortable with yourself as you develop your personal brand, and learn that articulating your personal brand doesn’t involve a lecture. Perhaps it starts with just a smile and a few words around the water cooler. The only ingredient that is necessary is you, and your desire to move toward where you see your career taking you, not just your current job title or function.

You have to have a plan for developing your Personal Brand. So when you decide to get started, there’s one person you should seek for guidance: Dan Schawbel. Online, in print, via video, in person.

What are you waiting for?

 

Filed Under: Professional Development & Social Selling Tagged With: , , , , ,

August 23, 2011 Interview with Dan Schawbel

August 22, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Tomorrow, August 23, 2011 at 1 PM ET, I have the honor of interviewing personal branding guru, Dan Schawbel.  We will be discussing personal branding, social media and the technical professional.  I’ll blog about it and provide you with a link to the mp3 download of the entire interview, as soon as it is available.

Many technical professionals are reluctant to utilize social media sites, in general, and are unfamiliar with the value of building a personal brand. Who else but Dan Schawbel to demystify this process and allow you to have a better understanding of, and comfort level with, the value of a personal brand.

When I started blogging, Dan’s ground-breaking book, Me 2.o, was the first resource I turned to in building my personal brand. While there are a lot of “how-to” books out there on how to blog, I can’t underscore enough the importance of bringing out the value you, yourself, have for your readers, internal customers and your external customers. Dan is my hero, when it comes right down to it!

Dan Schawbel is an American author, entrepreneur, speaker, and a Personal branding expert who educates individuals on how to build online personal brands for career and business success. He’s been called a “personal branding guru” by The New York Times, and contributes to Bloomberg Businessweek, The Wall Street Journal, Entrepreneur (magazine), and several other business media outlets.

Schawbel is the Managing Partner of Millennial Branding, LLC, which helps individuals build successful online brands, through workshops, books, magazines, videos, newsletters, and other mediums. He is the bestselling author of Me 2.0: 4 Steps to Building Your Future (Kaplan Publishing). In 2010, Dan was named to the prestigious Inc. Magazine 30 Under 30 list. In 2009, Bloomberg Businessweek named Schawbel as one of twenty people entrepreneurs should follow on twitter, alongside Richard Branson and Details Magazine cited him as one of five internet guru’s that can make you rich. He is the founder of the Personal Branding Blog®, which is an Advertising Age Top 50 Marketing Blog, the #1 job blog you should follow by CareerBuilder, and a top 5 marketing blog for your career by FINS.com. Dan is the publisher of Personal Branding Magazine®, which has featured branding advice from major business leaders and celebrities, including Donald Trump, Evander Holyfield, Kathy Ireland, Guy Fieri, and others. He is the head judge for the annual Personal Brand Awards®, director of Personal Branding TV®, and holds live Personal Branding Events. Schawbel was one of the first seven bloggers to have their own iPhone application.

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