1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,350 Establishing your personal brand is a great way to drum up interest in yourself, 2 00:00:05,350 --> 00:00:09,980 your expertise, and perhaps a business you run or work for. 3 00:00:09,980 --> 00:00:13,800 This is a very powerful strategy that businesses use to attract customers 4 00:00:13,800 --> 00:00:15,800 and new business, 5 00:00:15,800 --> 00:00:18,780 and individuals online have used the same strategy 6 00:00:18,780 --> 00:00:23,260 to turn themselves into influencers with thousands, sometimes millions, 7 00:00:23,260 --> 00:00:25,260 of followers. 8 00:00:25,260 --> 00:00:27,270 Personal branding must be authentic though 9 00:00:27,270 --> 00:00:30,450 and be consistent with your values and beliefs. 10 00:00:30,450 --> 00:00:33,870 So let's hear more now from author C.C. Chapman 11 00:00:33,870 --> 00:00:38,030 to learn how to develop your own personal brand in the tech industry. 12 00:00:39,300 --> 00:00:42,200 So C.C., how does personal branding differ 13 00:00:42,200 --> 00:00:45,450 from the branding that a company has online? 14 00:00:45,450 --> 00:00:49,260 So personal branding is how people in the world are going to perceive you 15 00:00:49,260 --> 00:00:51,510 and what you stand for. 16 00:00:51,510 --> 00:00:53,660 It's really important for anybody— 17 00:00:53,660 --> 00:00:56,150 it doesn't matter if you're a designer, a developer, or what you do— 18 00:00:56,150 --> 00:00:58,440 to develop a personal brand. 19 00:00:58,440 --> 00:01:00,620 That goes beyond just the work you do because let's face it 20 00:01:00,620 --> 00:01:04,349 your work has to be stellar, your work has to be as great as possible, 21 00:01:04,349 --> 00:01:06,920 but at the end of the day everybody you're competing with— 22 00:01:06,920 --> 00:01:08,920 their work is great. 23 00:01:08,920 --> 00:01:12,240 Your personal brand is also about your work ethic, your responsibilities. 24 00:01:12,240 --> 00:01:15,530 It's about the things that happen when you step out from behind the computer. 25 00:01:15,530 --> 00:01:18,330 You get out there to a networking event, or you're at a conference. 26 00:01:18,330 --> 00:01:23,250 How you act, how you speak, what you do. >>Your personality. 27 00:01:23,250 --> 00:01:26,200 Everything about you. Your personality, what you believe in. 28 00:01:26,200 --> 00:01:28,280 All of that builds your personal brand. 29 00:01:28,280 --> 00:01:31,160 It's everything from a simple Tweet to a Facebook status update 30 00:01:31,160 --> 00:01:33,200 to the way you handle yourself at an event. 31 00:01:33,200 --> 00:01:36,320 All of that goes back to building your personal brand. 32 00:01:36,320 --> 00:01:41,570 So what are some examples of ways that our designers and developers out there 33 00:01:41,570 --> 00:01:46,720 can develop that personal brand? You mentioned social media, blog posts. 34 00:01:46,720 --> 00:01:50,070 I mean what are some of the examples that come to mind? 35 00:01:50,070 --> 00:01:55,040 Sure. So everything you create, every action you take adds to your personal brand. 36 00:01:55,040 --> 00:01:58,800 Everything from when you start up a blog, every blog post you write. 37 00:01:58,800 --> 00:02:02,030 If you're writing blog posts that are helpful and informative 38 00:02:02,030 --> 00:02:04,920 that's going to shape your personal brand in one direction. 39 00:02:04,920 --> 00:02:07,010 If you start becoming more of the review guy or girl, 40 00:02:07,010 --> 00:02:09,010 you could go in that direction, 41 00:02:09,010 --> 00:02:11,010 but everything you do does build up that. 42 00:02:11,010 --> 00:02:16,740 Some people will just—whether it's an angry Tweet or a negative Facebook status, 43 00:02:16,740 --> 00:02:21,000 that all builds up because you don't know who's watching and listening. 44 00:02:21,000 --> 00:02:23,310 It's not just the people who are commenting on your blog. 45 00:02:23,310 --> 00:02:26,300 It's not just the people who send you an email. Trust me. 46 00:02:26,300 --> 00:02:30,540 The web's a big place. You know that, but people are paying attention. 47 00:02:30,540 --> 00:02:35,160 At the end of the day when it comes down to you against somebody else, 48 00:02:35,160 --> 00:02:38,900 and you've got equally great work, your prices are competitive, 49 00:02:38,900 --> 00:02:42,560 it's going to come down to who they personally connect with. >>Right. 50 00:02:42,560 --> 00:02:46,390 It's not always about what you've said or what you've done necessarily. 51 00:02:46,390 --> 00:02:49,520 It's like this is a guy or girl I want to hire, I want to do some business with. 52 00:02:49,520 --> 00:02:53,200 Yeah. That's kind of the important point that I think we want to make here 53 00:02:53,200 --> 00:02:57,610 is that personal branding can make such a huge difference when it comes to 54 00:02:57,610 --> 00:03:02,090 making business connections and making business deals. Right? 55 00:03:02,090 --> 00:03:07,140 Personal branding is going to give the public, perspective clients and customers 56 00:03:07,140 --> 00:03:12,790 this really—it can be an intimate look into really who you are 57 00:03:12,790 --> 00:03:18,440 in terms of personality, of values, of what you believe in, 58 00:03:18,440 --> 00:03:23,560 and maybe if those values don't align with a company 59 00:03:23,560 --> 00:03:25,560 or a client that you want to do business with, 60 00:03:25,560 --> 00:03:28,430 maybe it's not going to be a good fit. >>True. Very, very true. 61 00:03:28,430 --> 00:03:32,450 Just like you're going to be investigating clients when you're going for a new job, 62 00:03:33,450 --> 00:03:34,450 they're going to be investigating you. 63 00:03:34,450 --> 00:03:37,480 There's not a company on this planet when they're going to hire you, 64 00:03:37,480 --> 00:03:41,130 whether it's to build a website or to hire you to be a full-time employee, 65 00:03:41,130 --> 00:03:43,130 they're going to Google you. They're going to look you up. 66 00:03:43,130 --> 00:03:44,670 They're going to find out what you're doing online, 67 00:03:44,670 --> 00:03:49,020 and all of that—every photo, every post you do, every action you take 68 00:03:49,020 --> 00:03:51,560 both from behind your computer and out in public 69 00:03:51,560 --> 00:03:54,370 plays into that role, and it's your brand. 70 00:03:54,370 --> 00:03:57,680 It may sound very weird, and it does feel weird to say that you have a brand. 71 00:03:57,680 --> 00:04:00,620 It's a very, very strange feeling, but you do. 72 00:04:00,620 --> 00:04:04,280 It's who you are, and it's important. You've got to protect it. 73 00:04:04,280 --> 00:04:08,870 I've seen a lot of professionals in the industry go as far as developing multiple 74 00:04:08,870 --> 00:04:11,790 online presences for themselves. 75 00:04:11,790 --> 00:04:15,050 We're talking about well, this is my personal account, 76 00:04:15,050 --> 00:04:17,050 this is my professional account. 77 00:04:17,050 --> 00:04:21,730 I have a band. Here's my band's account. Here's one website I run. 78 00:04:21,730 --> 00:04:25,040 Here's a pod—all kinds of things. Right? >>Yeah. 79 00:04:25,040 --> 00:04:28,800 Now in addition to the potential for it being confusing, 80 00:04:28,800 --> 00:04:34,220 is that something that people need to consider to have that division 81 00:04:34,220 --> 00:04:37,740 between the personal and professional, or are you not giving the whole picture 82 00:04:37,740 --> 00:04:39,740 if you do that? 83 00:04:39,740 --> 00:04:41,450 I always say to people—I used to get asked this a lot. 84 00:04:41,450 --> 00:04:43,680 The band separation, that makes sense. >>Sure. 85 00:04:43,680 --> 00:04:46,100 That's good marketing for your band, 86 00:04:46,100 --> 00:04:49,940 but the whole concept of having the personal versus the professional profile 87 00:04:49,940 --> 00:04:52,650 or the Twitter account or the Facebook status is ridiculous. 88 00:04:52,650 --> 00:04:55,410 You are who you are, and let's face it, 89 00:04:55,410 --> 00:05:00,340 if there's some aspect of you whether it's the way you act, whatever it is 90 00:05:00,340 --> 00:05:03,360 if you're pretending not to have that as part of your life 91 00:05:03,360 --> 00:05:05,360 it's going to come out in the office. 92 00:05:05,360 --> 00:05:07,980 You're going to get to know these people, and it's eventually not going to work out. 93 00:05:07,980 --> 00:05:12,230 I am not a proponent for having separate professional and personal profiles. 94 00:05:12,230 --> 00:05:14,390 What a lot of people do like LinkedIn. 95 00:05:14,390 --> 00:05:17,930 LinkedIn is the biggest social network focused on your careers. 96 00:05:17,930 --> 00:05:21,160 What you share there could be completely different than what you Tweet and Facebook 97 00:05:21,160 --> 00:05:24,630 and put on your blog. That makes sense. I'm not saying don't do that. 98 00:05:24,630 --> 00:05:28,180 What I'm saying is don't have this fake personal persona 99 00:05:28,180 --> 00:05:30,870 and your professional persona and separate the two. 100 00:05:30,870 --> 00:05:34,740 You are who you are. Be who you are. 101 00:05:34,740 --> 00:05:37,020 If they don't like you they're not going to hire you either way, 102 00:05:37,020 --> 00:05:39,580 so don't put up a facade and try to be somebody you're not. 103 00:05:39,580 --> 00:05:42,390 It eventually crumbles down, and it's not going to work for you. 104 00:05:42,390 --> 00:05:44,390 It's a waste of time and energy.