Engineering a Personal Brand [in 60seconds]

Never has it been so important to present yourself to your employers, colleagues and clients as somebody special and worth investing time in.


The final quarter of last year saw another dip in national construction output and with the prediction being that the economy is expected to move sideways for the first quarter of this year - it spells tough market conditions and limited project availability for most of us. [Double Dip Recession?]

If you are a graduate looking for your next placmement, a self-employed freelancer or an Engineering business owner seeking to increase both the quality and and quantity of your client base - you have lots of work to do, and it starts with Personal Branding.

Q. Why is it important to market yourself as an Engineer?
A. Simple, most of us engineering types are initailly thought of as 'safety first', non-practical, nerdy and introverted. Differentiating yourself from the crowd, and making use of rare opportunities to show off your unique personality and skills are key. Be the exception.
"First impressions are the most lasting, and they both open and close doors."


Q. How do we even begin to market ourselves?
A. The first stage is to understand what it is that you are working with. Ask your friends, family, colleagues and clients to be frank with you. Have them tell you what it is that you impress upon them, their lives or their businesses. You may not fall in love with their initial comments, but take heart from those willing to take the time to help you out. As it is obvious that they are interested in continuing a relationship with you.
"Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfils the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things" - Winston Churchill.

Q. When do we begin to market ourselves?
A. Now. Take the positives from what you already learned about your personality or 'personal
brand' and amplify those sentiments using a 60 second pitch [elevator pitch], and online tools - such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+ and blogging etc. Practice and apply consistently your key personal selling points, and this will in time begin to form the pillar of why your clients decide to do business with you, rather than than your competitors. Give them a reason to come back rather than relying upon selling cheaper or quicker design. Every Engineer can provide that at some point in their careers.
"When networking, nothing is more essential than having a prepared 60 second pitch"


This has been [60 seconds].


Engine[er]

In space no one can hear you scream

"I think that people have way waaayyy more potential than society lets them believe. If I can help unlock that, that's a privilege. That's what motivates me." Seth Godin. 


This is a fantastic interview with Seth, check it out.  His open and honest responses to the questions made me feel slightly sorry for the interviewer at first, even though she did a great job! It was Georgina of ProBlogger's task to not only to create an atmosphere comfortable enough for Seth to share a few of his lessons in business and blogging; but to do it in such a way so that we may be able to glean some commercial significance or advantage from them. In other words - so that we could bathe in his reflected glory perhaps. I get the feeling that Seth himself would not agree that his glory is worth bathing in. A feeling that he might be the only subscriber to.


"We have to be careful, there are too many people out there who watch what other creatives are doing with some kind of belief that if they write using the same pencil as say Stephen King, that they can write 'like' Stephen King. It is not a useful philosophy." Seth Godin.

"We all want to be famous people, and the moment we want to be something we are no longer free." Jiddu Krishnamurti.


In my post to the ProBlogger website, and in direct response to the interview and subsequent comments, I drew a parallel between the so called Star of the East, Jiddu Krishnamurti and Seth Godin's philosophies. The reasoning behind this was because of Krishnamurti's ability to behave so humbly and consistently deterred any attempt by his followers to worship him like a demi-god. In a world of fast paced business deals, ever changing social innovations, Seth Godin has managed to pervasively 'ship' his product. Seth proclaims not to own any products, but I think that he is a product himself. He has clearly been able to speak (write) from his heart and tap into his life experiences, consistently selling a personal brand into both the amateur and professional business industries. With this amazing amount of critical mass behind the product 'Seth Godin', you have got to be a little be crazy to think that he is simply a man writing blog and book after book after book. He is more than the sum of his parts, and nothing short of a market emergence of some sort.

"In a digital world where ideas themselves are not that scarce, ubiquity is a better strategy. If you can say stuff which is worth saying, the money takes care of itself, and quite often the $499 special report is neither special or a report." Seth Godin.


Seth Godin recognises that he has this great influence, whether it has been attentively constructed and maintained - or that he simply fell upon a great blogging strategy... be interesting and write about it. Which is music to my ears - what could be simpler? Seth has an uncanny ability to spot social and world wide trends, and loves, LOVES passing on this new found knowledge - not necessarily in a impeccably planned ad campaign or a well organised chapter of lessons [first-lesson-is-free, subscribe-to-get-the-next-lesson-free-and-then-pay-a-monthly-fee-for-the-remaining-300! Bargain!]. No. No no no. Our Mr Godin has worked out that sharing is caring and caring is the fastest way into the hearts and the minds of his readers. Krishnamurti felt the same way. He was not interested by increasing his followers... and this single act secured his followers interest for a great many years. A parallel with Seth? Indeed. 


It is a rather ironic situation that in order to secure yourself a base of loyal followers, it is not just enough to have a great amount of knowledge to share, coupled with interesting ways to present it. You also need not care about whether you are followed or even listened to. Infact it appears that you have to not 'care'. 


Question. Do you think that either Seth or Krishnamurti would have continued transmitting to the world at large if there were no-one interested enough to listen?


"We have seduced ourselves into believing that we can hide away and not 'ship' a thing. A playwright is not a playwright if they only publish a play every 5 years or so." Seth Godin.


"Anonymity is almost gone. With anonymity there is a different kind of creativity, not based on success, money - twenty-eight million books sold in ten years! Anonymity has great importance; in it there is a different quality; the personal motive, the personal attitude and personal opinion do not exist; there is a feeling of freedom from which there is action." Jiddu Krishnamurti.


Something tells me that they may have been seen to be a shade less successful in the eyes of their piers, and the rest of the world... but I think that they would have continued broadcasting into the empty void regardless.




Engine[er]