Owning Your Personal Brand Starts with YOU

May 20, 2019March 22, 2023Wendy Terwelp 3 Comments

When it comes to designing your personal brand, it’s essential to understand yourself. If you don’t, you can’t possibly represent your best self to your ideal clients and others who need to know about you, like colleagues, cohorts, and coworkers. You need to know how you’re wired and be able to communicate this effectively. From there, people will choose whether to work with you or not based on what you’ve shared about yourself.

Understand how others see you.

Do you know how others see you and how you come across at work? If not, take a survey. Ask friends, family, colleagues, coworkers, managers, and others whom you trust what they think your top five skills are and the top three words that come to mind when they think of you.

By knowing who you are, what you want, and what makes you unique, you will be able to clearly communicate your goals and unique value to people in your network, whether they’re internal people from other departments, potential clients, or potential employers.

Consider your top priorities.

Your top priorities can help you design your personal brand and attract your ideal client or other professionals who need to know about you to help you advance your career. One healthcare executive I coached regularly posts photos of her marathons, family, and speaking engagements. This shows she has a solid work/life balance with a focus on health, and can easily wow an audience. Ideal positioning to attract leadership opportunities in healthcare, her target audience. She landed a senior leadership role with a major healthcare organization and was also elected to chair a board with her professional association.

By sharing her interests and values online and off, she’s attracted people and organizations with similar values, which helped advance her career. (That and a stellar work history with bottom-line results.)

Choose your career goals.

Choosing your career focus is an important part of your personal brand. When you love what you do, that enthusiasm is going to shine through to your potential clients and other professionals in alignment with your brand – and your career – and attract them to you. As a result, people will be eager to work with you.

Before you decide on your career focus, it can be helpful to consider other jobs you’ve worked. What did you enjoy doing—presentations, leading others, teaching, etc.? What did you hate doing—researching, administrative tasks, etc.? When you know what you enjoy, you can fill your business and career with more of those tasks. As for the tasks you hate, consider delegating or outsourcing them to someone who enjoys them.

Own your experience.

There are many ways you can show your expertise. Maybe you’ve been quoted in a popular trade magazine, news media, or well-known website. Maybe you’ve been thanked for your insight or your help with a difficult project. Ask for recommendations about your work on LinkedIn or, with permission, display your recommendations and testimonials on your website or blog.

Don’t be afraid to let your personality shine through your work. Enhancing and owning your personal brand can help you create a career you’ll love for years to come.

For more help up-leveling your personal brand to attract right-fit opportunities to you, book a complimentary Clarity Call with me and we’ll discuss your career, goals, and next steps. If your organization wants to up-level career mobility with your personnel and attract top talent, check out my online and in-person programs.

Wendy Terwelp is an award-winning career expert and personal branding strategist who works with high-performing leaders and organizations who want to advance careers, rock networks, and up-level their brands online and off. Follow her @wendyterwelp.

3 Benefits of Personal Branding

April 8, 2019April 8, 2019Wendy Terwelp Leave a comment

Think of your favorite brands. They all stand out for one reason or another. For example, Apple is known for its sleek product designs and cutting-edge technology. Nike is not just about athletic apparel – it’s a lifestyle brand. Their tagline, “Just Do It,” resonates with their target audience.

Just as businesses can become known for their brand, so can professionals. Developing and enhancing your personal brand is a smart way to position yourself and stand out on the job and with your clients.

Branding Makes You Memorable

But first, you’ll need to set aside time and energy to reflect on who you want to be and how you wish to be known. Doing this will save you energy in the long run because you’ll be able to focus on your strengths and minimize (or delegate!) your weaknesses.

Another benefit of developing your personal brand is that it becomes easier to present yourself consistently, in any environment. Imagine being able to create a memorable experience so colleagues, coworkers, and potential clients know exactly who you are, what it’s like to work with you, and how your work will benefit their goals. This picture you create will help them remember you.

2. Branding Makes You an Authority

Not only will potential clients remember you better, it’ll also be easier for them to tell others about you. The same occurs when up-leveling your brand on the job. Looking for a promotion? You’ll want to raise the bar on your career brand.

By providing thought leadership, connecting others, and communicating your value, you’ll raise your brand – and your visibility. You’ll be viewed as an authority in your field, all because you took the time to work on your branding.

But this is only the beginning. As you become more well known, you’ll attract ideal opportunities and clients.

3. Branding Makes You More Money

As a result of increasing demand for your work, you’ll also be able to raise your rates or get a raise. Think about being well paid for work you love. With smart branding, this is a real possibility.

Of course, higher rates or salaries aren’t the only reason to build your personal brand. You can also expect to get more attention from others in your network who could make personal introductions on your behalf or create strategic alliances throughout your organization or your industry. Imagine getting to work on projects that you love with other business leaders you’ve admired for years.

All of these things and more can happen when you’re willing to stand up and own your brand. You were made to shine, so embrace your personal brand with gusto.

Want to talk about YOUR brand and what you can do to take it to the next level for career advancement? Let’s talk! Book your complementary, confidential strategy session today.

Five Moves to Rock Your Network® Online

September 18, 2018May 28, 2019Wendy Terwelp Leave a comment

Editor’s note: updated May 2019

How do you leverage social media to network effectively and stay top of mind? Check out these five rock star moves to get connected, get known, and make your network thrive:

1. Pick Three: With so many social media networks to choose from, I recommend picking three so you can manage them well. For career and business development, I recommend: LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook. As of 2019, LinkedIn has more than 610 million members, Twitter has more than 326 million users, and Facebook topped 2.38 billion.

2. Create a branded bio: Tell a story in your social networking bios. Let your personality pop. Don’t regurgitate your resume information or company bio. Know that chemistry helps you land and KEEP new clients and jobs. Likability counts, be interesting.

3. Know what you want: When you start networking online, it’s important to know what you want from the activity. If you want new clients, be sure your profile is on brand, up to date, professional, personal, and communicates your value and scope of practice. Have a professional, current headshot. For #LinkedIn, add a custom background image or color as well.

4. Join a group: Know that in order to make the most of an online group, you’ve got to take an active role. If you’ve got a business, join groups where your ideal clients will be, including niche and specialty groups. For job seekers, find out where your ideal employers hang out and join those groups. People like to do business with those having similar values, backgrounds, and experiences.

5. Be relevant and add value: Social networking gives you a chance to demonstrate your thought leadership and set yourself apart from your competition. As an executive and leader in your profession, it is even more critical to demonstrate your expertise online.

Take Action: Review your current social networks and identify at least three action items from the above list you can implement immediately. Schedule time to effectively manage your online network and communicate with your contacts regularly. It only takes minutes a day to fuel your network and fire it up!™ That way, your network is there for you when you need it.

Grab your free social media action plan here!

You Are the Face of Your Brand

November 6, 2012June 7, 2019Wendy Terwelp 5 Comments

Editor’s note: Updated 6/7/2019

Who would you, your customer or a potential employer hire? The silhouette above or one of these smiling faces below?

Your image is part of your brand. Having your smiling face in your social networking profiles helps build your “know, like, and trust” factor. People do business with people they know, like, and trust.

Not only that, have you ever said, “I know the face; I just can’t remember the name…”

Your face, your professional headshot, helps people remember you.

When attending networking events, you leave with loads of business cards, many with names, contact information, and logos, but no photo. How do you remember if the name you found on LinkedIn is the right person you met when the profile has only a silhouette?

It’s frustrating.

That smiling mug of yours is part of your brand, use it!

Having your face in your social networking profiles helps people connect with you and know that it’s YOU they met at last week’s event or conference.

Photos matter because — science.

According to LinkedIn, members who include a profile photo receive 21x more profile views and up to 36x more messages.

Princeton psychologists Janine Willis and Alexander Todorov found it only takes 100 milliseconds to form an impression of someone just looking at a photo of their face. And 80 to 90 percent of that first impression is based on two qualities — trustworthiness and competence.

Social Psychologist Amy Cuddy explains:

When we form a first impression of another person it’s not really a single impression. We’re really forming two. We’re judging how warm and trustworthy the person is, and that’s trying to answer the question, “What are this person’s intentions toward me?” And we’re also asking ourselves, “How strong and competent is this person?” That’s really about whether or not they’re capable of enacting their intentions.”

Trust and likeability play a role in helping you build your brand, your connections, and more.

I’m asked all the time if people really need a professional headshot in their social-networking profiles.

YES, you do. No excuses.

And if you’ve got an excuse for no photo, see if these sound familiar:

“My head is too big.” It’s been said that Oprah has a large-sized head, and she seems to be doing just fine.

“I want to lose weight before I pay money to get a professional headshot.” And “People say the camera adds 10 pounds. In my case it adds 50!”

Ask yourself this, have you got networking meetings coming up in the next week? How about interviews? Sales calls? Speaking gigs? Ballgame? Hiding behind no photo online detracts from your brand and gives the impression you don’t know how to use basic tools like LinkedIn.

You’ll still be seen in real life regardless. Embrace it. You are fabulous just as you are now. Pop that pic in your profile. Later, when you lose your planned weight, that warrants a brand new headshot of skinny you.

Did you know most people Google you before they meet you?

LinkedIn is typically on page one of those search results. Having a current photo in your profile means that when you arrive, people will immediately recognize you and know that you are the person they were scheduled to meet (not you from 2004, but you 2019).

“I don’t have any money for a professional headshot.” Find a well-lit space in your home or apartment and a light-colored empty wall. Wear something professional, smile big, and have your friend take a photo — or several so you can choose your favorite. LinkedIn now has some tools in their mobile app to enhance your photo. Use them. Save a bit every week and you can invest in a professional headshot soon.

People relate well to facial photos.

People like to do business with people, not a logo or your cat.

Your photo is part of your brand image. Be sure it’s aligned with your professional goals and your personal brand.

On LinkedIn, it’s important that your profile picture is professional versus a crazy pose, wedding or group photo. The photo needs to be of your head and the top of your shoulders, like the above photos. A white background is preferred.

One client told me about wanting to use a service based on someone’s recommendation.

“I Googled him before we met. He had this crazy picture on LinkedIn with his mouth open and head turned sideways. I wasn’t too sure about heading for the meeting after that.”

You can do some fun expressions on Facebook if you wish. With any profile photo, keep in mind the “Mom and Boss Test” — if you’d be embarrassed if your mom saw the photo or fired if your boss did, err on the side of “professional.”

Twitter’s profile-picture spot is very tiny. Keep that in mind when uploading your profile photo. For Twitter, I recommend having just your face in the profile photo. Your whole face, not your eye or a tiny picture of your full body. It’s too hard to see.

Recruiters say, “We will judge you not just on your profile, but your overall mastery of LinkedIn (especially for PR, sales, marketing, human resources and recruiting jobs). We look for a professional headshot, a powerful summary, at least several hundred connections, a complete employment history (including descriptions) and a good list of relevant groups.”

Final Thoughts on the Face of Your Brand
Book your professional headshot, add it to your social media profiles, and let’s see your fabulous face online!

Wendy Terwelp, Opportunity Knocks, is a recognized career industry leader, dubbed a “LinkedIn Guru” by The Washington Post. Named in the Top 15 Career Masterminds (along with Richard Nelson Bolles, author of “What Color is Your Parachute?”), Top 100 Career Experts to Follow on Twitter, ATD’s “Best on Career Development,” and “Top 10 Career Helps” by Inc. Magazine, Wendy speaks about networking, social media, branding, and personal branding for career management to organizations worldwide. Wendy is also the author of Rock Your Network®.

Personal Branding: Lessons from GLEE

April 29, 2010March 20, 2023Wendy Terwelp Leave a comment

By Wendy J. Terwelp, Career Coach, Brand Strategist

On Tuesday’s episode of Glee, Sue Sylvester tells two students, “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to put in a call to the Ohio Secretary of State notifying them that I will no longer be carrying photo ID. You know why? People should know who I am.”

Do people know who you are? The right people?

While you may not have the need of Ms. Sue Sylvester, who feels everyone should know who she is, it’s important to have the right people know who you are.

Who are those right people? Here are some tips to identify them – and make the connection.

1. Know your career goal. The stronger focus you have on your goal, the easier it is to attain it.
2. Know the industry you serve. Target 25 companies.
3. Who needs to know about you in this industry? Make a list.
4. Who are the key players? Check professional organizations – and join! Attend meetings regularly. Play a key role. Get connected to the key players.
5. Know what you bring to the tables others do not. Think about it like this, why should someone hire you? What skill, ability, RESULTS, have you achieved that would motivate your new and current connections to open up their contact database and give you names? Share the reason with them.

Next, make the call!

Want more tips? Check out Rock Your Network® for Job Seekers.

Did you miss Glee? Here’s a link to the episode on Hulu.com.

PS: Lots more about personal branding in this episode – check out the last song by Mercedes.