"It's Not About YOU"

It is so refreshing to somewhat be back from my brief hiatus. Well, I guess what seems brief to others seems like eternity to me! Honestly, I felt rather detached when I couldn’t get online and couldn’t connect with and support my subscribers and friends. It’s rather frustrating to see what’s going on, via my iPhone screen but not be able to respond to anyone due to time constraints.

During my self imposed break, I made a decision to utilize this time wisely and immersed myself in reading and listening to my favorite mentors on my iPod while I was packing our old home and unpacking into our new home – Dani Johnson, Joyce Meyer, Joel Bauer, Richard Greene, Mike Dillard, Tom Bell and re-read “Think And Grow Rich”, The Magic of Thinking Big”, 100 Secrets To Happiness, Never Give Up, Trust Agents.

As I listened to these wonderful mentors, there was a commonality in what they talk about which was:

“Increase your worth in the marketplace and the marketplace will pay for what you’re worth.”

How does one increase his/her worth? Well, I know for a fact that after spending tens of thousands of dollars and countless hours, increasing ones value in the marketplace means investing in these 2 key things: Personal, Mindset and Spiritual Development and SKILLS.

My good friend Jerry Chen just came up with an interview with Jairek Robbins and he gave me a distinct privilege to be able to ask Jairek a personal question and that was:

“With the limited time and resources beginner and somewhat advance entrepreneurs have these days, where would you say they should invest their available funds in – Personal Development or acquisition of SKILLS?”

My heart goes out to entrepreneurs who desperately want to learn and win in the online marketing game, yet found themselves very limited with time and money. Ironically, whatever little money they have to invest is spent in products that they don’t necessarily need at the stage in their businesses they’re in – resulting in overwhelm and overload and not getting anywhere.

How do I know this? Because I’ve been there… done that…

Everyone talks about “You Are The Brand”… what does that really mean? Does this mean you’re now free to talk about you and brag about your achievements? Does this mean you’re going to only share things about you? Does this mean it’s time to fluff your feathers and be the alpha bird you called yourself to be? Does this mean you’re just going to dominate the online world and make it all about YOU?

Absolutely NOT!

Here are 5 Ways On How To Effectively Use You As The Brand To Create Long Term And Loyal Advocates:

1) “You Are The Brand” is far from just talking about and putting the focus on you. Your focus has to be to help and empower others, whether is through empowerment, encouragement or inspiration.

2) “You Are The Brand” – is about stories about other people that you share with others because it ties with the message you want to convey to them.

3) “You Are The Brand” – is the community you create of like minded people sharing the same value and together you are able to lift each other up and come up with ideas that will benefit the community as a whole.

4) “You Are The Brand” – is NOT about being known or known about something but positioning those connection and relationships to engage others and create a viable business. With no business generation, it is not a real personal brand.

5) Last but not least, “You Are The Brand” is just a small piece of your marketing efforts. You need to be able to back that up with your own product or service that will benefit even just a small group. Having a “Marketing Funnel” which starts with your niche, your offering and your marketing flow is key.

If you need help with identifying your niche, I highly recommend Cindy Schulson’s “Dominate Your Niche” - this has helped me tremendously get clearer on my problem solution statement which has further helped me expand my brand to add value to a more targeted group of individuals.

Mike Klingler’s “Marketing Funnel Mastery” has helped me really understand that all my social media and marketing efforts were futile if I didn’t have a funnel that effectively ties together my brand, my product and my relationships with my subscribers and clients.

BTW, while I am thinking about it, many of you have been asking me where I am speaking LIVE next…I am proud to share that I will be one of the guest speakers at the Empowered Business Entrepreneurs Summit in Newport Beach on October 29/30, 2010 at the Ayers Hotel. This even is hosted by Alicia Bausley and Lisa Hanfileti – two of the most incredibly talented and generous leaders I have ever met! I would love to meet you in person and assist you in gaining more clarity in your marketing efforts at the stage you’re in… (if you’re serious and money – or the lack of it – is an issue, contact me and I will offer you my exclusive discount)

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE EMPOWERED BUSINESS ENTREPRENEURS LIVE EVENT.

Please leave your comments and share with me how this post has made you think about the meaning of “You Are The Brand” and what you believe your brand is and if you haven’t identified your brand just yet, I would like to find out what you’re doing to take the necessary steps to identify your brand…

As always, I am here…

Cheering You On To Your Success!