Personal Branding for Professionals Wearing Two Hats
Most of the room raised a hand when I asked who was wearing two hats. Then a few of them told me what scared them the most about it. Most of the hands in the room went up. I'd asked…
The New Room Your Next Chapter Keeps Handing You
I'm being put on a stage next to a Netflix star next month. Within 4 seconds of seeing the lineup, I had decided to rebuild a talk that has never once failed me. The speaker graphic for Built For…
Career Reinvention Doesn’t Require a Finished Plan
You don't need the whole plan mapped before you unpack the first box. Earlier this week, I stood in a dorm room the size of a large walk-in closet, helping my son Nolan create his home for the next eight…
Why 20 Years of Expertise Makes Personal Branding Harder
The work that made you brilliant came easily. The words for it never will. Nobody warns you about that part. Last week at CMEE, I sat in a session next to a woman from the Collective. Someone I trust completely…
The Most Useful Thing I Did All Summer Was Nothing
Rest, for me, has always come with an invoice attached. It's a Sunday night at the cabin. The lake is flat and still. There's forest fire smoke in the air again this year, and it has turned the whole sunset…
When The Referrals Dry Up: Building Professional Visibility
For years, word of mouth was your whole marketing plan. Then word of mouth went quiet. Three conversations in the last month. Three people I respect. Almost the same story each time. The first one told me the phone used…
The Personal Branding Step Most Professionals Skip: Naming Your Framework
I spent weeks trying to cram my framework into a clever acronym. Turns out the problem was never the name. When I created my branding program, I hit a wall I did not see coming. Not the curriculum. Not the…
Why My Best Business Thinking Happens Off the Grid
The most important work I do all year happens out in the quiet, away from my desk and laptop. By the time you read this, I'll be sitting by a lake with a marshmallow on a stick and my phone…
The Repeatable System Behind a Brand That Pays
Nobody was going to hand me a certificate that said I was qualified to be found. So I built my own system instead. Years ago, before I had any personal branding method to sell anyone, I had a meeting broker…
Career Reinvention: When Someone’s Already Doing Your Thing
I read a LinkedIn profile last week that stopped me cold. It belonged to a woman building the exact thing I want to build. My first thought was the worst one: there's no room for me. I read a…