Peter Sterlacci | Believe. Become. Be Your Brand
Personal branding for on-the-move professionals in global companies in Japan
My latest ‘mechanic’ of personal branding, Karen Kang, uses a metaphor of cake and icing when helping her clients define their personal brands. I simply love this image and it is a perfect ‘tool’ for any of us to use in the personal branding process. (You will have to watch Karen’s interview below to learn more about it!). [Read more...]
There are a very small handful of bloggers out there who have a message in almost every post that just simply resonates. Craig McBreen is part of this ‘elite’ group in my mind. Seriously. I spend a lot of time skimming and deleting post after post from many of the ‘A-listers’ out there, but I ACTUALLY READ AND ABSORB WHAT CRAIG WRITES ABOUT! Here is one of my favorite quotes from a post Craig wrote titled ‘Looking for Your Next Big Idea?’:
“A rigid, inflexible plan can result in a stinky, dead fish that smells of desperation, because it sucked your life blood right out of you.”
Preach it brother! And this is just what Craig does – he preaches the shit that we need to be reminded about. This is why Craig is my latest ‘mechanic’ of personal branding. Read any one of his posts and you will walk away with something to help make your brand irresistible.
In my interview with Craig he talks about
Enjoy Craig’s interview and make sure to subscribe to his blog. You will actually look forward to seeing his name in your inbox! [Read more...]
In 2012 I had the pleasure of interviewing 13 amazing people for the first year of my Personal Brand Mechanics series. As I kick off the second year of this series, I am THRILLED to have had the chance to talk with the world’s most remarkable misfit, AJ Leon!
I can honestly say that AJ is one of a very small handful of people who have had a significant impact on my life. AJ wrote an amazing manifesto, The Life and Times of a Remarkable Misfit. I have read and re-read this MANY times in the past few months. It is one of the rare eBooks out there that never sat in my infamous ‘Yeah, I’ll read that later’ file. CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD IT NOW AND READ IT because it will change your life or at least cause you to step back and say, “Shit, I never thought about it that way!”
Yet, as I learned in my interview with AJ, I was amazed to find out that he almost did not publish his manifesto. I for one am grateful he did and so will you once you read it for yourself. In this interview AJ also shares his thoughts on:
Enjoy and make sure to drop by AJ’s site to learn more about how to live your life with intention, do work that matters, and change the world! [Read more...]
In my very first blog post this year I shared how to ‘tune-up’ your personal brand for 2012 by following the examples of three people I dubbed “mechanics” of personal branding: John Falchetto, Jonathan Fields, and Kimberly Bordonaro. In all three cases these folks did not have a broken brand, they simply used tools and techniques to tune-up their brands for the New Year.
This is when I had my ‘epiphany’ for a video interview series called Personal Brand Mechanics. I wanted to share with the world individuals who I felt had a tool box of ideas to help any one of us to build, maintain, and even repair our personal brands. And so the interview series was born.
This past year I had the pleasure of interviewing 13 Personal Brand Mechanics. Each person shared amazing insight and practical advice. Although my questions were different for each ‘mechanic’, I did ask this one question to everyone:
“Imagine someone’s brand has a flat tire. What advice would you offer this person to pump up their tire so that their brand is ready to ride again?”
Find out how my mechanics answered this question and others by enjoying all 13 interviews below. Each one is about 15 minutes long and filled with just amazing tools and tips to tune-up your personal brand. Stay tuned for a new group of ‘mechanics’ in 2013!
My latest Personal Brand Mechanic is leadership and execution expert Todd Nielsen. If you follow my blog you probably already know Todd as he has been featured in both my blogathon and vlogathon. In fact, his blogathon post, “Screw Dents…I Want to Make an Immense Gaping Hole” has been the most popular post of all time on my blog with close to 1900 tweets and 600 shares on LinkedIn! Todd’s message clearly resonates with a lot of people and in this interview he shares the motivation behind this post.
Todd is also an avid rock climber (that’s him hanging above!). You need to watch this interview just to hear his story about a rock climbing experience that has ultimately led to his new mission to help businesses and professionals who are stuck on a ledge. I love what Todd says about “returning to fundamentals” when we feel stuck as this helps to clarify who we are, what we believe in, and where we want to go.
Make sure to visit Todd’s new site to connect with him, and stay tuned for his new book “It’s All About Execution”. [Read more...]
I came across Marsha’s website last Spring and knew I had to dub her one of my ‘mechanics’ of personal branding. Marsha is known as the Muhammad Ali of personal responsibility and leadership development. She can dance and look pretty, and she uses the entire ring, but she knows how and when to land a knockout punch! She is the author of Toxic People: Decontaminating difficult people without using weapons or duct tape, The Reactor Factor: How to handle difficult work situations without going nuclear and many other programs and books.
As a former Corporate Executive she understands that solid content and humor are the magical component of successful presentations. Her sense of humor comes out loud and clear in her interview and she certainly had me laughing a number of times.
In this interview, she offers some great sound bites that pack a punch including “Pay attention to how people brand you”, “Don’t let people suck the life out of you”, and “Take responsibility for your own marketing”. Marsha also covers her top 3 tips to take personal responsibility for your choices. For more information about Marsha, please visit her site MarshaPetrieSue.com or her blog DecontaminateToxicPeople.com
I am so pleased to finally interview Donna Serdula. While there are many specialists and experts out there on how to use LinkedIn, Donna truly is the foremost expert in LinkedIn profile optimization. She founded LinkedIn-Makeover.com where she helps individuals from around the world brand themselves successfully using LinkedIn. Her book LinkedIn Makeover: Professional Secrets to a POWERFUL LinkedIn Profile is incredibly useful and extremely practical. I have applied many of her tips to my own profile and have been absolutely pleased with how my revised profile has led to new connections and business.
In this interview Donna shares why she ‘loves’ LinkedIn, how she got started, and her top 3 tips for a more powerful LinkedIn profile. You don’t want to miss this one! Enjoy her interview and stay tuned for the 2nd edition of her LinkedIn Makeover book being released this October.
I am really excited to share with you my new ‘Mechanic’ of Personal Branding, Steve Wainwright. Profiled.com is becoming the ‘go to’ source for creating a world-class professional profile and bringing together all the information your business contacts need into one accessible portal. Unlike other personal portals, Profiled.com is THE tool to use to manage your professional online presence. I personally set up my profile on profiled.com some time ago. As Steve mentions in his interview, their ‘online wizards’ really help to guide you in putting your profile together. It is very easy and your are ready to go in no time.
In this interview, Steve shares what motivated him to start Profiled.com, how it is different from other online reputation management platforms, and two really cool success stories of Profiled.com users. He also does a great job at answering my ‘personal brand flat tire’ question with a 3-step process to repair your brand’s flat tire to ensure it is ready to ride again! Clearly he is a ‘mechanic’!
Enjoy Steve’s interview and sign up for your own FREE professional profile on Profiled.com. Also check out Steve’s post in my 30-day Blogathon back in June. [Read more...]
As a leading expert in reputation management, I am so pleased to be able to interview Lida Citroen as my next Personal Brand Mechanic. Lida’s book, Reputation 360: Creating power through personal branding, is one of my ‘go to’ books. I recommend it as a clear, digestible, and informative guide on how to manage one’s personal reputation and brand.
In this interview, Lida shares why her book actually became a tangible necessity for her business. She also offers 3 awesome tips for how to brand yourself successfully across media channels. And of course, I asked her my infamous ‘What advice do you have for someone whose brand has a flat tire’ question that all my ‘mechanics’ have to answer. I love Lida’s answer so make sure to watch below.
Enjoy Lida’s interview, visit her site, and check out her book. [Read more...]
My next Personal Brand Mechanic is Bob Faw of the Matchbox Group. Bob contacted me through YOUnique, the bimonthly personal branding newsletter from Reach of which I am the Editor-in-Chief. He expressed an interest in writing a guest article and as Editor I did my due diligence to learn more about him. After visiting Bob’s website I knew I HAD to interview him as a mechanic of personal branding. Bob is all about igniting, involving, and inspiring positive change. His title is actually Chief Ignition Officer and he sees his role as leading a ‘positive change revolution.’
Bob’s interview is packed with tools and techniques to create a life full of passion and success. He shares about the ‘Caveman and the Thinker,’ the ‘Best DNA’ discovery process, ‘SOAR’, and other concepts and tools. In just 19 minutes you will walk away with so much valuable information to ignite, involve, and inspire your own personal brand. You may even decide to join Bob in his revolution to create positive change.
I also want to thank Bob for taking the time to edit this interview and add the fun images throughout. Enjoy Bob’s interview and share a comment below. We would love to hear from you! [Read more...]
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Peter Sterlacci
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