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Welcome to Jon Michail’s Personal Branding Masterclass. Jon is the founder and CEO of image group international, an award-winning image consulting and personal branding pioneer established in 1989. This podcast will bring you old-school wisdom, inspiring ideas, strategies and hacks for the new tech world. Here you will learn everything about personal branding: the system, the techniques and the right mindset to have a successful personal brand, image and reputation.
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Hello, everybody, welcome to another episode of my podcast where we support you to elevate your personal brand. Before we started chat today, I can't ask you to subscribe and rate the show on Apple podcasts. But doing so you'll not only help us reach more listeners, but also let us know that we're doing what we can to definitely improve our episodes and of course, and greater value. So let's get started. You know, coming up with fresh, innovative ideas is critical for any business or entrepreneur who wants to stay ahead of the game. But it's all so it's not so easy to come up with something truly original. For example, have you noticed how many people have jumped on to the AI phenomenon, you know, pretend to be innovators and experts on AI, right, where in truth most of the copycats have the original concept. Every trend, you get all the cycle experts jump on it. Cryptocurrency was a great one Bitcoin, another one, blockchain technology, another one. And tomorrow, there'll be another one. That's the thing here. So tonight, we'll be exploring some ways to generate creative ideas that definitely will help your business and even your personal life potentially get to the next level. And what I mean by all of this is, the new technology that is coming through is fantastic in so many aspects. Every year, there are new developments, breakthroughs in technology that can change the way we do business, we already know that. So identifying these technologies early and figuring out how to use them in your business can certainly give you a real competitive advantage. example, imagine you run an online business. I've mentioned AI before. But so you can use artificial intelligence right now to analyze customer data and make personalized recommendations exactly to the current challenges. And that's interesting, this is why we can help you. Because it's drawing so much more information than your own personal experience or even your own personal client experience that's really way beyond that it takes on the whole world. That's from the perspective of all the information out there, not just what's in your business. So I have it currently is valued worldwide, an estimated $100 billion. And it's going to grow at least 20 times that value by 2023. So an example there is how to leverage machine learning models, that to identify customer behavior patterns, and automate decision making. Of course, the big tech companies, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and so on, have already got these machine learning models in their systems. Okay, so there's a lot of good information we can take or certainly incorporate that in our own businesses, you can also utilize natural language processing to improve customer service and support. And of course, develop virtual agents to provide these customers with a 24/7 support that I think is going to become an important part of brand positioning, where historically customer service was seen as the thing to do without necessarily been a brand differentiation, I think the future will actually require that because customer service is going downhill very quickly, to lack of human centric connection.
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Next, let's talk about crowdfunding. I've already mentioned that in the last episode, but I want to bring that a little bit more intentional today. So crowdfunding is a great way to raise funds bring your business venture, but it's also a way to get feedback on your idea. Now crowdfunding, it's a growth industry from the perspective of, you know, you're putting your idea out there, you see who is willing to invest in it. And you can gauge the level of interest and make it judgments as necessary. Another good thing about crowdfunding is it's basically a market to the public. So you're not dependent on a venture capitalist, though, you're not dependent on a bank where any other type of financier right the finance is coming from the online public. So what that means is, if they love your idea, you know, there's an opportunity to become part of that investment. And of course, it's it is smaller amounts, definitely. But it's great for all bringing up concepts, at least young startups that potentially have not got the financial support. So Greg funding at the moment is valued around worldwide around us 1.2 5 billion, of course, that's predicted to grow to around 3.6 by 2030. And some of the simple ideas you can look at crowdfunding is of course, you need a great video presentation to showcase your business idea. Of course, the visual aspects of branding and image are essential. They count a lot more than just words, you utilize, of course, social media to spread the word about your crowdfunding campaign, and also explained the benefits of your idea in a concise and engaging way, which certainly emotion incorporated there as opposed to just the hard facts. And of course, you can also offer all sorts of rewards to people who contribute to your crowd funding campaign. And what that means is also while you're actually doing a crowdfunding campaign, you can also utilize that to also go to potential investors outside of the crowdfunding eco system. And of course, talk about potential with other investors outside of that particular system. So you're sort of leveraging the opportunity. Another option is to tap into the gig economy.
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Now, the gig economy is another growing trend dramatic, are where people work and sprint Lancers are independent contractors instead of traditional employees. So you can utilize talent that is worldwide, and a lot of this talent won't be so much more talented than what you find in your own country, okay to access a wide range of skills and expertise without really hiring full time staff, and having all the obligations that come with that, you know, and having been in this entrepreneurial space for over 34 years, I can tell you, there's a lot of obligations that were not there, when I first started this business. And most billionaires, by the way, if you've ever come across them, and they were honest with you would tell you the same thing. So you're getting a lot of red tide bureaucracy coming in, that really makes entrepreneurship harder and harder. That's why, you know, you've got to be thinking outside of your own bubble up there. And the gig economy could be a great asset to add to your business model. And get the economy by the way, specifically, at the moment is valued at around $413 billion worldwide. And that's going to grow to double plus 19 18 billion, that's a prediction by 2020, it's in the next five years, it's going to go double plus. So this is extraordinary. And in Australia, as per 2019 figures, it was valued at 6.9 billion and growing 16% compound. So that is extraordinary growth. And that says to me, something that entrepreneurs, a second side of the bureaucracy, the second side of governments interfering with the creative spirit. So they're saying, look, okay, this is what you're doing. Okay, we're gonna look at outside a, you know, the novel channels to do what we have to do, because one thing entrepreneurs do not tolerate is too much interference, because that definitely gets in the way of creativity make no mistakes about that. So the gig economy also creates a support network. So you're going to establish a network of people who work in in this economy, and offer resources such as networking events, career advice, and so on. And also you get to leverage technology to connect with others, including clients. So you create systems that enable gig workers to easily find and connect with clients. This is important because a lot of employees have to think like entrepreneurs, if they don't, if they think traditional employee, and they work in in that space, while potentially not going to reap a lot of benefits, because they're still thinking in worker mentality, not that there's anything wrong with that. But there's very little leverage thinking like that.
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finally, let's talk about the sharing economy. And this is a real, real growth aspect of the world economy. Because, you know, it's all about the environment, sustainability, and of course, sharing resources, whether that's a car brocation rental, or even a skill is booming. What's happening to the sharing economy, you can also access resources that you might not have been able to afford on your own. And you can also create new revenue streams by sharing your own resources. So this is definitely an exciting growth area because the sharing economy currently is valued at $144 billion US and is predicted to grow to 793 billion in the next five years. So you're talking about growth here three, four times, its current in next five years. That is extraordinary growth, you know, so what you're seeing really it's really interesting. You're saying decentralization happening, okay? Although I want to but looks like so centralize the idea here is this centralization virtually means you running your own show, okay. And basically, if you live in still in Liberal economy like Australia, and of course most of the countries in the West, this is still many opportunities available, when you can actually create certainly a very sustainable career business but also a very sustainable life. And that means also wealth creation. As part of that. Some of the ideas there is peer to peer car sharing, we created a platform online that allows car owners to rent out the vehicles already happening by the way, home based businesses built when of course, and since a pandemic, there's already big growth in that space, because home based businesses in most parts of the planet right now have become sort of part of the norm. Okay, with pre COVID was not as common as we all know. Another one could be attack sharing platform. So you sharing task, of course, create a platform that allows individuals to outsource tasks, of course, many organizations doing that today, collaborating, channel planning could be another one, you know, a platform that allows travelers to plan trips together. And of course, share expenses, LeBron, Kobe is sharing marketplace, a marketplace where people can listen find skills they need, such as jewelry, in web design of photography, and many, many like that already. Now, the idea here is again, you don't have to be like the first at something. But you can definitely look at something like that, and then create your niche problem, you know, example would be if you were going to do, let's say, online tutoring, right, then just you know, you get a niche specifically for online tutoring, and it could be a specific profession, or try that you just specialize as in as a niche. And you'll see if you start breaking it down, economically, you'll see that there's a lot of value in that when you start breaking it down that way as opposed to you know, trying to do every man and his dog that's under category. The fact is that generating creative ideas keeps you motivated, inspired, engaged in your work. It leads to greater success and fulfillment in the long run. And of course, career wise definitely has an impact. And most importantly, personally, it makes you feel alive, because that's what creativity does.
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So let me give you some real life examples. I recently had a client who was stuck in a creative rut, he felt uninspired. So we decided to brainstorm some creative ideas to help him get out of the rut fairly common, you know, we can fall into a rut. And we thought of ways to shake up his creative processes and get his creative juices flowing and get decided to take a break from his regular routine, and try something new. Like taking a class for instance, joining a creative writing group, we're exploring a new art form. Now, we also suggest that you create a vision board of his goals and aspirations. Again, this is important, it sounds airy fairy, to a lot of brain individuals, okay? The reality who is ideation is all about challenging you and breaking some of your paradigms. So it's brainstorming ideas for project or event that would challenge him to think outside of his bubble. After trying out some of the strategies, my client found that his creativity was reignited. And he was able to come up with new ideas for his project. So he wasn't stuck. You know, it wasn't like the end of the world. Right? The idea is, okay, so even if you've got a thought in your mind, right now that it's the end of the world, it's okay. So, you know, what are you going to do creating, in this concept? IDEA, the end of the world, right? Okay. Or in Korea, in my business, what are you gonna do to create because just normal life, you can't just sit down and just dive right, you got it? You know, so I'm wanting to do that. And then says, where, of course, external sources come into play, also, of course, is coaches, mentors, in really provoking people to see their possibilities is that everyone's got them at times, then become what I would call is asleep. So here are five business ideas that my client was considering. That, of course, is currently now into activation. The online tutoring business was definitely some idea that came up. So offering online tutoring services to students in various subject. Now, this is a growth area, dramatically around the world. And even with AI and so on that it says it's going to replace a lot of that look, the human centric element wise, mentoring, teaching, et cetera, is not going to go away. Right? You're not going to have a robot sharing wisdom with you. They'll give you a lot of knowledge they'll give it but that's all coming from outside of you. Right so real wisdom is a spirit you know, this moment in time I get I can see that been replaced. In the future, you never know. But what point here is, it's the human aspect, the human centric aspect are unbelievable go away. And if ever does good luck to humanity. Number two is digital marketing agency now that there's a lot out there, the problem is, is a lot of crappy ones out there. So this is, if you think you can make a real value add in the space, great opportunity. Next one is a consulting firm, of course, I'm known as consulting firms before, of course, why business is a consulting, firm consulting, advisory and coaching. So definitely this market is not going away. And it's perfect, because as long as you can generate, you know, connections with people and relationships, and so on, there's many, many opportunities in this space. freelance writing is another one. Again, we're looking at the content online blogs, websites, creating marketing materials are definitely definitely a big area, of course, virtual system business that helps with all these services that I've mentioned earlier. And of course, you know, if you look at some of the countries in East, they've done a fairly good job in that area. But there's also opportunities currently in your own country if you wanted to do that.
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So creative ideas, as I've noted, help you stay motivated, you know, engaged in your work led into greater success in the long run. And I think any company, any business that really has gone style, is because creative ideas, ideation is lacking. And enough course the leadership to implement them. So it is important to take the time to brainstorm ideas, explore new activities, and of course, get you out of a creative rut, if that's what's going on in spy, of course, new concepts moving forward. So I trust this episode was useful for you. Ideation is something that I love, of course, without ideas, we eventually will die and with nothing, and that's something that I sort of don't think about, I prefer around inspired living. So taking some inspiration from this. And of course, ideas to activate from it is the key also makes sure with a lot of these things that we've shared with you that you have a plan around that because without a plan, you know, eventually nothing happened. You're sort of going all over the place, but it doesn't have to be linear, it can certainly be more creative than that. And also make sure to follow us on social media. They up to date with us with the latest business of entrepreneur, ship trends, and of course, engage with our community. We're always looking to connect with like minded individuals and share valuable insights to help you succeed. You can also find me on Twitter as Jon_Michail, and our LinkedIn was Jon Michail, and of course on Facebook as image Group International. As always, thank you again for tuning in. And I look forward to bringing you more insights next week. Have a great week. Cheerio.
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Jon Michail’s Personal Branding Masterclass" Podcast is sponsored by Image Group International, a global team of practical, digitally savvy personal brand and image strategists based in Australia, committed to maximizing your impact, influence and authority in the business world. To learn more and apply for your personal coaching, seminars and group workshops, please visit imagegroup.com.au or call 1800 631 311.
