Sports have a way of unifying, challenging, stretching, and pushing us to achieve the impossible.  As people it is human nature to take the path of least resistance.  I truly believe people won’t change until their challenged, I hope April story challenges you the way it challenged me.

There are times in life when someone or something inspires you to greatness, in this case it is April Holmes Paralympics Gold Medalist.  I found April when I was doing a search for Dwyane Wade and his new footwear deal with Brand Jordan.

Note: This is a great brand story.  April is the first woman of Brand Jordan and a great personal branding story who is truly living her passion and a purpose driven life. For more incite to her story check out her Brand Jordan video and follow her on Twitter (@AprilHolmes).

GENIUS (SIMON), 1980, originally uploaded by galessa’s plastics.

There is a genius inside of everyone. Operating in your genius has nothing to do with scoring 140 on your IQ test. It is tapping into your God given talents and abilities and developing them to their fullest.

Data shows us that we only use about 10% of our brain capacity and I am a strong believer that this is due largely because we have no interest in the work that we do. So why on earth would you ever challenge myself to tap into your hidden potential and unlock your inner genius? The golden handcuffs of the American dream have handicapped most people’s thinking and locked them into a passionless existence.

When you love what you do you think creativity to solve problems. The premise of personal branding is: Unlocking your inner genius and connecting it to your passion and addressing a specific problem that can lead to profitability - emotionally, mentally, psychological, spiritually, and economically.

Geniuses

Personal Brands                       Inner Genius    Accomplishments
Michael Jackson                       Musician           King of Pop
Tiger Woods                              Golfer                 Defines Golf
Seth Godin                                 Marketer           Marketing Guru
J.K.Rowing                                Author               First Billionaire Author

Are these individuals smarter than you or me? What if Michael never became a musician? What if Thriller was never made? What if Tiger never played Golf? What if Seth never wrote his best selling books? What if J.K. Rowing decided to act on her suicidal thoughts never wrote Harry Potter? Their success is connected to them finding out what their good at and out working their competition.

Personal Branding Note: Personal Branding Should help you identify, package, and build awareness of your inner Genius.

What if your job has nothing to do with your inner Genius? Could you transition? Are you stuck between a genius and a job?

After the Long Day, originally uploaded by fotoshootme.

It is clear that the world is changing before our eyes and it is not asking our permission. There is a cultural shift taking place in the workforce and the way we work. As a personal brand strategist I see a lot of focus on career, job search, and developing an online personal brand. Developing a presence in Facebook, Linked, and Twitter are good but alone it is not the answer. The main issue is getting people into what they love (purpose).

The State of the Economy

o Almost 6M jobs have been lost since the recession (which I opted out of) began in late 2007.
o Blue Collar American jobs account for approximately 70% of the losses.
o Baby Boomers are not retiring because they can’t afford to.
o Outsourcing jobs overseas.
o Industrial Revolution/Factory Model is dead.
o Unemployment (Nationwide) – 8.9%
o Job Lose (April 2009): 539K

What were Taught
o To go to college to get a job.
o To work that job until death do you part.
o To go into high paying fields.
o To get a good factory job.

The Problem
o Displaced Workers – People working in the wrong field or not operating in their purpose/passion.
o Reduced Productivity – Quality of work is reduced, making companies less profitable.

Grustle Glossary

GRUSTLE is the combination of a daily Grind (job) and a Hustle (your passion). Most people are caught between the two and are looking for a way out, but there is only a way IN: put IN work and INvest in your dreams. In my book ‘The Brand YU Life’ the first degree (or principle) is ‘Identify Your Passion’ which is the cornerstone of Grustlin’. Grustle is a personal branding strategy to get you in your purpose.

Definitions

Grind: A grind is a job; employment; typically your primary source of income.

Hustle: A hustle is your passion, what you would love to do full-time and what gives you the most satisfaction. It is what you typically do after you work your daily grind.

The Purpose of Grustle: It is a Strategy
o Identify your passion – Through your job you validate your purpose.
o Re-Grind - Identify the correct field you should be in or job.
o Platform - Use your current job as a platform to transition.
o Build your network
o Paid Internship – Use your grind as a paid internship to produce high quality work for your current employer as you develop your personal brand.
o Multiple streams of income – Produced through your hustle.
o Exit Strategy (Grind) - Identify if you are displaced on your current job.
o Business Model - Develop/Identify business model for Hustle.
o Minimize risk – Transition to a new grind or hustle.

The responsibility and well being of your career and livelihood is not the responsibility of President Barack Obama or your employer. There is no stimulus package great enough to propel you into economic success more than being in your purpose. It is up to you! In the new economy the future of work is GRUSTLE.

How do you capture the scope and depth of your life in an 8.5 x 11 white paper?  One dimensional thinkers in times past (pre social networks) could be captured in a white box, but the transformation of networks to social networks, face-to-face to online conversations have changed the rules of engagement.

Traditional resumes or resume 1.0 are dead and it is not because of the Green movement.
As a personal brand you engage your community, perspective employers, customers, and future business partners through a series of brand impressions that can be leveraged through your online community. With social networks like Twitter, Linkedin, VisualCV and Slideshare and other free tools a person can more effectively communicate their personal brand and what makes them different?

Definition of Visual Resumes –  Is a visual communicator of your personal brand that creatively tells your story through a brief series of images, ideas, and experiences that are  in a sharable and searchable format.

Examples of Visual Resumes
o    Dustin Sommer – A student from my Personal Branding Class (@Dustin Sommer)
o    Saranyan Vigraham - Employee at Qualcomm (@Saranyan)

Goal of Visual Resumes: Extend the engagement of your personal brand (Employers spent 20-30 seconds viewing resumes)

Visual Resume Elements
o    Brief - Recommend 15-20 pages
o    Story Telling Format
o    Avatar- Global ID
o    Spreadable – Embed into your blog, Linkedin, and Twitter
o    Searchable – The use of tags for searchability in the social network and in Google
o    Images – Sources: Flickr and istock photo

Why Create a Visual Resume?
o    Shows your creativity
o    Optimize your elevator pitch.
o    Think in soundbites
o    Practice story telling
o    Extends the engagement.

A Note to GRUSTLERS:  (Grind-to-Hustle)
Especially if you are a GRUSTLER, the traditional resume doesn’t work.  Your resume is probably loaded with experience that is not directly related with your passion and doesn’t do you justice.  You need away to communicate the varying dimensions of your life.

Share a link to your visual resume.

Hajj Flemings - Visual Resume (Resume 2.0)

View more presentations from Hajj Flemings.

 Growing up I was told that storytellers were liars, so I never wanted to be a person who told stories.  When I got older I realized that most people were living a lie.  The average person was living someone else’s existence spending 70% of their waking life doing something that they hated. So I didn’t realize I had a story.

As a personal brand I now realize that being a good story teller is more a product of a person who is passionate about what they do versus just assembling a bunch of words.

Story telling allows you to influence beyond words. It enables you to present in color versus black and white and package in all forms of media. 

How to tell your Story

New School

1. Visual Resume – Hajj E. Flemings  - Visual Resume (Resume 2.0)
2. Blog Post- My Brand Story
3. Video –What is your Message to the World?
4. Creative Slide Presentation –Personal Branding 2.0 Slide Presentation
5. Business Cards –Web 2.0 Cards (www.BrandCardz.com)
6. Tweet – A one to many conversation.

Old School

1. Standard Resume – 8.5 x 11 white paper (still required by non-engaging)
2. Bio- Basic information about you.
3. Video – Video content that is all about you.
4. Power point – Boring slides with too many words.
5. Business Cards – Web 1.0 business piece that doesn’t engage people.

How Other tell your Story:

RT: Re-Tweet

Fav: Favorites

Views

Commenting on your blog

As a personal brand you are always telling your story or creating content that people can spread.

I ♥ TWITTER - 3D typography, originally uploaded by flexgraph.

Love and loyalty is fleeing. As people we are finicky and our loyalty changes daily. One day we love Myspace, the next day it’s Facebook, and now it is Twitter.

Twitter is a simplistic communication tool powered by people. It allows you to irresistibly engage the Twitterverse with your personal brand in 140 characters or less.

Definition of Twitterverse: A geographically disperse community of connected passionate people sharing content in its most organic form a Tweet.

Eleven Reasons to Tweet for Personal Brands
1. Passion Principle: The ability to re-tweet, share, and connect to what you are passionate about.
2. Real-time input: Time stamped input. Allows you to input time sensitive responses. (Maximizing the Moment)
3. Transparency: People get to follow your thoughts
4. Brevity: Helps you hone your sales pitch ability. Create great re-tweetable sound bytes.
5. Brandability: Twitter Background, Bio, blog URL, thoughts, expand your network, add to your email signatures, and include on your business cards.
6. Listening: Connect with people without interrupting with search and feeds.
7. Virtual Mentorship: Learn from thought leaders and be mentored for free.
8. Mobility: Connect with a mobile device without being attached to your computer.
9. Free: The cost is sweat equity. It doesn’t get any better than that.
10. 24/7: Twitter is always open and someone is always online.
11. GRUSTLE-Ability: You can Tweet with your Grind and your Hustle.

Bonus Twitter Personal Branding Tips
o Create a 140-Character Twitter Resume/Bio.
o Use your Twitter address as a URL
o Let your personality shine through.
o Attend Tweet-Ups.

Twitter is one of the best online personal branding tools ever. It is a free service with the ability to outperform paid marketing initiatives. It allows you to search emotionally charged content in real-time with people who are passion about your area of expertise. The simplicity of 140 Characters or less in building a personal brand is awesome. In the comment session leave your Twitter handle so that people can connect with you. Happy Tweeting!

I witnessed the University of North Carolina winning the NCAA National Championship at Ford Field in Detroit, MI.  After the game I paused to create a branding moment.  One of the major tenets of branding is consistency and there are very few college basketball programs with the storied history of North Carolina.

What does the Carolina Blue represent?
o    National Championships: 1957, 1982, 1993, 2005, 2009
o    Michael Jordan:  The greatest player ever.
o    Dean Smith:  Retired as the winning coach in Division I history at the time.
o    Players:  James Worthy, Sam Perkins, Vince Carter, Kenny Smith, and the list goes on.  Players going to the league.
o    Nike/Jordan Brand Product

The expectation for the Carolina basketball program to win is enormous. When people see you online or face-to-face what are there expectations of you?  It’s time for you to make history.

Interesting talk by Evan Williams of Twitter at the TED Conference where he talks about the unexpected uses of Twitter. The success of Twitter has been chronicled as it has hit the mainstream media. At this point in my life I couldn’t imagine going through the day without my laptop or blackberry to check the pulse of the world through the eyes of the Twitter community.What grabbed me the most about his talk was the fact that Twitter started off as a side project. The first word that comes to mind after watching the video is the word GRUSTLE.

GRUSTLE is the combination of a daily Grind (job) and a Hustle (your passion) and most people are caught between the two. Most peoples side project is their passion, which I believe fuels their success.

The average person is one side project away from their greatness. What side project are you working on?

Mind Share- by Hajj E. Flemings, originally uploaded by Hajj Flemings.

Market share versus mind share is a question for the ages. Is market share for personal brands important? Can personal brands grow market share? How do you determine if your personal brand is stronger than someone elses? For most people it would be hard to calculate market share and would be meaningless if identified?

Market Share

Market share is the percentage or proportion of the total available market or market segment that is being serviced by a company or by a brand.

o Coke has 43.1% of $65.9 billion soft drink beverage industry.

This makes it very easy to define how much of the soft drink beverage industry that Coke-Cola owns.

Mind Share

Mind Share is owning a slice of mental real estate in the mind of your customers or potential customers. Personal branding has a lot to do with creating a top of the mind experience and making your name synonymous with the industry or space that you want to occupy.

For Example
o Tiger Woods = Golf
o Seth Godin = Marketing
o Anderson Cooper = News

Capturing Mind Share

How does a personal brand capture mind share? That is a great question and I am glad that you asked. Mind share is captured through conversational capital. There are many touch points of a brand that create brand impressions that simulates awareness.

Brand Impressions

o Social Network (SN) Connections: Adding Friends, Connections,
Contacts.
o Twitter Conversation: Humanize your brand and connect.
o Post Video Content
o RSS Subscription
o Email Distribution
o Blogs: Blogging, commenting on others blogs, number site of visits
o Sales: Products/services that connect people to your thoughts.
o Downloads/Views: Podcast (Video/Audio) and video content
o Face-to-Face Interaction: Speaking engagements, networking events, meetings, and presentations.
o Write a book: Traditional book, eBook, and/or audio book
o Web 2.0 Cards: Social media cards by www.BrandCardz.com, my personal favorite.

Results of Capturing Mind Share

Mind share is not about numbers, one can easily artificially inflate the number of social network connections, downloads, or view.

o Fame
o Notoriety
o Trust/Creditability
o Brand Awareness
o Inflated Ego
o Opportunity
o Influence
o Followers
o Stalkers

Converting Mind Share into Personal Brand Value

One of the challenges of personal branding is to convert mind share into value or basically creating a business model to monetize your new found brand awareness. Let me know your thoughts on you how you convert your personal brand into value!!!!

hustle, originally uploaded by lomoD.xx.

I am sorry America, Wall Street is not coming to save us. It’s time to GRUSTLE.

GRUSTLE is the combination of a daily Grind (job) and a Hustle (your passion). Most people are caught between the two and are looking for a way out, but there is only a way IN: put IN work and INvest in your dreams. In my book ‘The Brand YU Life’ the first degree (or principle) is ‘Identify Your Passion’ which is the cornerstone of Grustlin’.

Definitions

Grind: A grind is a job; employment; typically your primary source of income.

Hustle: A hustle is your passion, what you would love to do full-time and what gives you the most satisfaction. It is what you typically do after you work your daily grind.

In your mind you know you can make money with your hustle, but you question whether you can make a living. This blog post was inspired by Gary Vaynerchuk’s Hustle 2.0 blog post. He basically stated that you can do them both the grind and the hustle. Most people who read my blog have a job and a passion and I am here to challenge you. You have the same 24-hours that Gary V has, he has just found a way to get more value out of his time.

I am in the same boat as you I work a full-time job and work my passion after hours staying up to at least 1AM or 2AM on most nights then having to be at work early the next day, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. I don’t sleep a lot I take naps in between waking up and living my dream. The development of my personal brand has allowed me to focus on what I love to do and do it well.

What has always made America great is the spirit of creativity and entrepreneurship that has always rested on the great minds, leaders, and thinkers of our time. It’s time to get your GRUSTLE on.

Grustlin’ Since 1971. Hajj E. Flemings