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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, and welcome to my podcast personal branding masterclass. In today's episode, we will dive into the importance of life branding, and why it matters. So let's get started. What exactly is life branding? Life branding is a powerful approach to personal and professional development that can transform your life. It involves creating a solid and impactful personal brand, with a holistic outlook. And the holistic outlook is definitely one of the aspects of creating the life brand. It also focuses on developing now an image of yourself that is authentic, recognizable, and impactful. In my book published in 2002, life branding, I defined the concept further as the process of establishing a strong and credible personal brand based on key attributes and values. And strong was a key word there because strong is what your identity is. And, you know, that's based on the foundations of everything that exists around you. And that's a word that specifically. So realize the solid foundations of who you are, and communicate these qualities to work consistently and compellingly is the key. So like branding, it also includes the process of creating and managing your reputation. And, of course, your digital presence. Now, you know, in recent times, of course, it's even become more relevant, because the digital world and the digital age allows now individuals to control how they present themselves online, and the impact that can have beyond just their careers and businesses. And that could also mean non for profits, and also creating interests that are outside of profit type initiatives that could also include community events, and so on. It is also a way to ensure that one's online presence is accurate, definitely consistent and reflects their authentic identity. So why does it matter? Well, with the job market, and business landscape become an increasingly competitive and uncertain life branding is an essential concept. Because it helps individuals distinguish themselves from their peers, and showcase their strengths powerfully, effectively. And also in a way that really is value adding a guide from the perspective of who they are. So it gives you the opportunity to really, I'll use the word sell yourself to the world in a way where it's very authentic, and also reveals something about you as well, through life branding, individuals can create a unique identity that will set them apart and give them an edge in their respective careers. And of course, there's many benefits that I will mention in a second.
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But beyond the benefits, first of all, you got to ask yourself, Why am I doing this again. And the reason, the big reason you're doing that is to strengthen yourself. Because when you're doing this properly, and you share some of this to the world, you don't have to share everything, okay? It gives you an extra license, if I can use that, to go out there and create because you've declared it to the world. So from that perspective, you know, to help you in different ways. So some of the benefits, of course include increasing visibility and recognition in your field, helping you establish yourself as an authentic authority, right, as opposed to an authority that's been given positional power, but really lacks personal power. And there's a lot of that happening in today's world could be even your boss right now, creating a strong, consistent image of yourself in the minds of others, which makes it easier for people to remember and of course, connect with you and elevating trust in your personal brand beyond the standard and corporate spin. And this is if you're an executive a leader at a corporation, because trust we know has been gone down dramatically. The Edelman Trust Barometer 2023 has clearly indicated that executives would trust leaders with trust we're going to do so much better Without that, and of course, I wouldn't be talking about that in the future podcast, that's just around the corner. More on that later. So growing your worth and value, including financial, creating a strong sense of identity and purpose in your life, this is all the benefits that come from building your life brand. And of course, from the point of view of the online world, it's taking control of your online presence, because remember this, if you're not in control of your online presence, who is, again, who is and that's the thing, you can't be in the digital world, if you can't control your presence, because what you're doing and he's lit the thumb running the show there. And that's dangerous concept, highly not recommended. So having a personal leadership brand, is a great way to stay connected. And by putting yourself out there also opens up a lot of other opportunities. Because that's what happens when you put yourself out there. The only caveat, of course, is that you know, when you do open yourself up and spread your brand, online, at times comes uncertainty. And you're going to certainly take control of that, because protecting your reputation is integral for you. And of course, your family. And I've discussed this in more detail in previous podcasts, you want to want to check that out. Life branding is an ongoing process that requires though dedication and effort certainly involves thought this thing steps. The first step is the process and life brand needs to determine, you know, what are your unique strengths and values. In other words, what he stands for, ask yourself, what makes you unique, you know, and sets you apart from the competition. So identify the qualities you have, that can help you make a positive impression, this is very important. Number two, communicate your strengths and values. Now, once you've done that, and you've identified, of course, strengths and values, it is important to communicate this story to the world in an authentic manner in a clear, consistent and impactful manner. And how you're going to do that is through LinkedIn, or other social media. And of course, Google knowledge panels, you know, claiming your knowledge panel is important. So a personal website could be another option. Definitely very good for personal brands, and also other forms of communication.
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Number three, develop your image now, but develop your image, what I'm saying there is you currently have an image, right, so at times, your image will not be representing who you truly are. So if it's specifically bringing your reputation down, you're not going to know this unless you've had direct feedback from somebody that you love and trust, or you've had some sort of feedback from some sort of report that was surveyed, you know, without names on an exam, look, wherever you got your feedback, it's important to look at that. And certainly, this is not about making you feel insecure. The work that I do is designed to empower you and create the opposite of insecure, what is insecure is when you're not willing to deal and look at things as including your blind spots that are holding you back that's insecure. Because when you know what you need to do, to solemn, manage the gaps and get the gaps closed, or certainly a lot closer, that's basically a sign of security. So in order to create a strong and memorable brand, it is important to develop a position and authentic image that reflects your strengths and values. This can be done through the use. Of course, if you're talking about the non physical logos, colors, different bonds, and of course, other visual elements, you know, that would add value to the brand, get on it, and project, a gate from obviously non physical perspective. But the image also can reach out, you know, in your personal website and your content on social media sites, it should also be used offline. Now think of business cards, but also, you know, your wardrobe and your accessories. They also help you project a congruent image. So make no mistakes. This is opposite to the nonsense you're hearing in the world today. If you project an image that makes him look poor, you'll be treated poorly in society. Yes, the politically correct people don't tell you about that. Okay? But you'll be treated like second, right? Please don't go down that track, especially listening to people that have never actually done anything special in the lives of created anything. Okay, just, you know, shape shape opinions. The reality is we're all a mirror of the world, okay? And the world is abundant. Okay, when you look scarce, you're creating scarce opportunities for yourself meaning very, very little. Okay, somebody have abandoned and also project your image, the image that you deserve to be presenting up there, so you can attract what you're looking to attract. So that's important. And of course, I could run a whole seminar on that myself and, and they have many, many times, I'll probably do another podcast on that soon. Number four, monitor and adjust. And what that means is over a period of 1020 30 years, you're gonna have many iterations of that many transformations, and it's okay, this is actually part of a body, because that's how the universe evolves, as well keeps on moving, shape, reshaping itself, etc. So this is very important. People have to keep on growing. This is what life branding is all about building yourself, your personal development, your knowledge, wisdom, constantly, people that stay the same are actually going backwards, you know, remember that state and forever, you're going backwards, because everything else shifting forward, if you stay in the same place, you're going backwards. So you know, my approach is keep on evolving, because it's actually good for your spirit, this is essential. This involves keeping track of changes in the market as well, and adjusting your brand accordingly, your personal reputation depends on this. So you got it, you know, you gotta be with it.
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So I'd like to share a story with you, this an Executive leader, a founder of his own company, that was doing very, very well, he came to see me to try to get some sort of, I suppose, balanced in his life. And you'll see why, first of all, his attitude was a crush it tight. His language was always about crushing things, right, you know, overwhelming and, and just crushing them. And of course, that reveals a certain type of personality. So that gave me a lot of insights before we started working together. He used to make money over fist, you made a lot of money, and making money was easy for you. But guess what happened? Eventually, he's personal relationships with family, including the affairs that he had along the way, led to a broken family. And of course, eventually, the boss that also led then over a period of time to an unhealthy body, of course, his mind was, you know, I would argue, probably unhealthy in that first instance, as well to lead into a lot of these unintended consequences. But certainly, it became unhealthy in different ways, including putting on weight, and specifically feeling really bad about himself. Now, what we did specifically was talk about, okay, if we're going to work together, and we do it personal transformation, we're going to have to come back to your core values. What is it really, really, that gets you up in the morning? And with all this money, and all this power and influence that you've got at the moment, if you lost what truly is your core values? How would you feel? And of course, the answer to that was fairly easy, because that's one of the reasons he came to see me. Again, he had just lost everything. They lost his wife. And of course, the two kids were not too happy with him. And of course, we're estranged. Now what became clear to him, when we're talking about a guy making millions, there is more to life than just making money. for money's sake. Again, just for money sake, I'm not talking about making money to make a difference to humanity, or to your client, or to whether but just making money for money sake, and that's what he was doing. That's a sign of an immature ego. And what happened was, through our conversations, this gusto and the smile approach would be without sounding cliche, is a more balanced approach that encompasses mind body spirit. And my lived experience tells me it's definitely serves you better in the long term. And why am I saying this? Because I've had personal experience in it myself. By the age of 30, I had lost $10 million in business by being out of balance with who I was in my core values, so it's not like I'm pontificating here. Perfect talking from my throne. Now, I will live through this. And the reason I share it with you is because by living through it, and getting through the, you know, that transformation, you actually become so much better as a human being in all aspects. So that transformation eventually led him to a total redesign of his life. Today It is businesses beautifully laid out. And he turns over at least $50 million annually. He has remarried, and another child, and is back on a healthy track. Is he following mind, body and spirit? Well, I can tell you this, his mind is definitely healthy. And definitely, he lost the weight. And his body is as healthy as it can be considering he loves his wine. Yeah. So yes, I would say he's fairly close to that. But I am, you know, from my perspective, having worked with him, I am wrapped, because I know how difficult that was for him to go down that track. And I'm so proud that he had the courage to even visit some of that stuff. And some of it can be dark and threatening. But I promise you, it's any words from him coming directly from the horse's mouth was it was life changing.
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So remember, if your values and based solely on money and fame, I promise you the cost will eventually show up in your health game, unless you discover, you know, a truly happy medium that integrates all that which strongly suggests, by the way, money and fame is fine, as long as it's all integrated. And that's what life branding is all about. So the conclusion, you know, like billionaire, Warren Buffett, at the age of 92 years of age, one of the wealthiest men on the planet that still lives, his core values, the old style type, and also a recognition of what's important in life, again, in what helped him create his empire, and has certainly kept him there for these years. You know, it is a unique story from somebody that's already done that and his practice building a life brand, although he wouldn't have called it that way. With a lot of the things we talked about someone executed well life branding can help you create a powerful and memorable personal brand, like branding can help individuals stand out from the competition and be remembered for who they authentically are. You just need to define your unique strengths and values. Develop an image, communicate those things to the online world while protecting your identity, and monitor and adjust your brand as needed. Big changes are upon us. It's the responsibility of individual to make their life branding matter. That brings us to the end of today's episode. I hope you gain valuable insights and feel inspired to take action. I invite you to connect with me and continue the conversation. You can reach out to me on social media you can find me on Twitter as John underlined Michael, LinkedIn as John Michael and Facebook as image Group International. Let's connect and explore further the world of life branding till next 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.
