Oh Yeah, I Have a Blog: Certainty of Uncertain Times

I just got a direct message from someone I follow on Twitter (hat tip to a certain broadcasting Canadian for giving me a kind word and an indirect boot in my hind quarters). He wrote that he had just checked out my blog...

Blog. What blog?

(Really, I haven't forgotten that I have a blog. But I imagine it looks like it...)

I'm embarrassed to say I've had a long period of uncertainty about the nature of things. Over-thinking, I've been asking those big "what do you want to do with your life" questions. Irregardless of the fact that there are no answers.

Though I am well aware I stand to benefit from the depth of knowledge available to me via community and social networks, exuding an absence of clarity is far from confidence inspiring. Not exactly what I want to portray to my co-workers, clients, acquaintances or the general public... So I've kept to myself a bit, lest I give myself away. (Don't read too much into that; there are very few finite answers to such issues as identity.)

Last night, I attended an event on social media marketing at Emerson College. One of the smartie panelists pointed out that building a personal brand takes a lot of dedication and commitment to the community. Perhaps part of being a young professional, and thereby part of my personal brand, is being okay with the uncertainty of adulthood?

Lesson in the 3 Conversations of Personal Branding: FREE HUGS

Though you can see how internal communication, one-to-one communication and one-to-many communication are involved in the creation of this video and the creation of this movement. I chose to share this YouTube video as an example of simple social change that one person can impact.

What would the world be like if you could walk up to someone and get a free hug on a bad day or just because you felt like it?

I want to live in that world!

Six Pixels of Separation of Self: Building Your Personal Brand with Mitch Joel

First session I attended, bright and early Saturday morning, was Mitch Joel's talk on personal branding. He compared the idea of a personal brand to toothpaste out of the tube--it's already there, may as well slap some branding on it!

He walked the audience through personal branding in three conversations:
1) internal conversation
2) one-to-one conversation
3) one-to-many conversation.
What's the purpose of these conversations?

We say a lot without saying a lot. You should know your story the same way PR folks are taught to know your brand messaging. When you're out there communicating that story to others, you need to listen more than you talk--think of the difference between advertising and [good] PR, one way versus two way communication. You need connections and community to gauge your brand--your personal brand is more than you, it's how you're perceived.

Six Degrees of Separation?
1) establish yourself as an expert
2) be seen and known as a leader
3) be known as an innovator
4) separate yourself from the competition
5) gain professional stature
6) build your image

Build your brand by investing in yourself and community. It all sounds like self help, but I keep wondering how much of this I would say, slightly differently to a client.

But returning to me--Mitch got me thinking about the huge differences between how I define me and how other people in my life define me.

How do you define you? Just you? Is there one thing you can point to as the most important thing?

Lots to think about!