How to manage your personal brand: 5 questions for Dan Schawbel

Thanks for the insights. I remember the 97' FC article. I will check out the book.

Great Article and thank you

Emma Mae

This whole concept baffles me. I really don't understand it at all. Is it entirely based on work, or are is he proposing we do this along a personal (ie. online friends) level also?

Great Article!

Great article, thank you.

- Steven Burda
http://tinyurl.com/DirectLink

Jett, hahahaha, your honesty makes me smile! I once said the exact same thing to a group of guys in 8th grade who were going on about how they were all so different. But I noted the fact that they all dressed the same, had the same haircuts and same lifestyle and they got very upset and defensive.
I think it comes down to "When in Rome.." If you want to land a job in a Capitalist business market, then you must sell yourself like a product and thus, you must know the group you are marketing to and advertise accordingly.
I don't think you have to 'buy into it' on a very deep level to get a job, but you do have understand it in order to play the game.
Branding yourself sounds like a load of horse poop when you're anti-establishment, trying to wade through the ocean of egotripping that is the Patriarchal Capitalist (failing) Market. BUT, if you want money and things and health insurance and a life in America, then smile, shake hands and go get 'em!
I think it boils down to lingo. L.Ron Hubbard calls it Dianetics, the rest of the sane world calls it psychotherapy. Mr. Fancypants calls it branding and networking, others might have different names for it, but essentially it's about having a job.
The one good point this guy makes, when you cut through all the hoopla, is essentially being true to yourself. You don't have to buy into branding, but you do have to believe in who you are. I think that's a fair message whether we're 'linking in' or not. :)

It's very important to keep everything update, the willingness to adopt the new things and ideas. It is the only way to move forward. Otherwise,

Jett,
Perhaps Dan will chime in as well, but I believe that your personal brand -- because it's about what is authentic to you -- would certainly be as true in your personal life as it is in your work life. And as for your next comment "Let's all be different by doing the exact same thing" -- I'm not sure what you mean. If you're talking about the medium (e.g. social networking sites like LinkedIn), I'd say that even though we might all be using the same tools, those are just tools that allow us to do what we'd do on our own without any technology. The technology just puts you in touch with and within the reach of many more people than you'd be in touch with if you just connected with people that you see in person.

Thanks Lisbeth and Marci. I guess this concept of personal branding is just giving a name to something that everyone was already doing anyway — answering the popular interview questions of "Why should we hire you rather than the other guy?"and "Why do you want this job?"

I understand needing to work with the current technological tools, but how does that change the way we "sell" ourselves. Whether I'm meeting with a job manager in person, sending him/her a cover letter by snail-mail, or e-mailing my resume, or advertising on craigslist.com, what's the difference? I'm still going to have to tell Mr. Manager that I'm a go-getter who can multi-task with ease, and that if I were a crayon I would be the color blue, because I'm strong yet calm like the ocean, and I'm reliable and exude confidence in stressful situations.

I agree with you, Lisbeth, that to have to think of myself as a brand of person is very dehumanizing.

What would that make me, a type-A except when I'm a type-B? I think that basically sums me up right now — a multitasking, workaholic, but only when it comes to what really interests me — if it doesn't interest me, I'm a slacker — completely the opposite of Type-A personalities. By day, I am a feature writer and designer for a newspaper; by night/weekend I am pursuing beginning four different business entities to eventually take the place of said day job — (1.) begin a photo biz on a contract basis (ie. photograph weddings, parties, etc.), (2.) be a freelance photographer selling my own artistic work (at county fairs, craft shows, online), (3.) be a freelance writer (for magazines, newsletters, local newspapers, etc.), (4.) be an author of books and short stories. Of course none of these will be full-time jobs, so that's why I plan to be able to handle them all, but while I'm full time at self-pronounced boring job, it's difficult to get the other jobs started. (The job is boring only because I don't have enough to do. Designing pages three days a week (for approx. 4-5 hours a day) and writing, on average, one lifestyle story a week does not demand 40 hours a week, yet that is exactly how long I am expected to be at the office. So there's the dilemma. I don't have enough to keep me busy, and I feel like if I were doing this from home, when I'm not working for the paper, I could get up and do other things — like work on my other projects.

I don't mean to sound cynical about the idea of self-branding, it just doesn't seem any different to me then what job seekers were already doing. And if it is, to have to "brand" myself seems too complicated — or am I over thinking this?

I feel like all this is is saying, "Let's all be different by doing the exact same thing everyone else is doing."

Well, that's not exactly what I meant. I'm not against rules. I just don't want to waste my time doing stuff I don't like, you know? So many people go through life working jobs they hate, and it shouldn't be that way, if there's a job out there they would be happier doing that would still allow them to be productive.

I appreciate the support, though, Lizbeth. You're right about nagging myself in my head! That's what I'll be: Jett — the only brand of self-naggers you'll ever need. Is Jett the brand for you? :)

What's you're brand, Lizbeth?

hahaha I love it Jett. No, I think you sound hardworking and creative and determined and you probably spend lots of time nagging yourself in your own head so when you get external to-do lists (yet another thing to be great at or have to work for) your first instinct is to yell "Back off! Aren't I doing enough!" (hahahah :) And you are doing enough, maybe sometimes, too much, but that's what makes you, you.
I can align myself with that only because it speaks to the inner-rebel we probably share. The one who pushes her toe just over the line because we can't even begin to be caged up or boxed in. We give ourself enough rules as it is, so we're prone to come charging out against any hint of a rule, especially a new one. And with new rules come new experts that, without meaning to, can often attack our sense of control. "Don't tell me you know what I already know and try and make me learn something new that I don't even need cause I already know it!" hahahaha ya know?
Ahh, yeah, I hate it too. So give yourself a break. People who write books about branding are just good capitalists. (or teachers? Now who's over-thinking? But I love it!)