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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, and thank you for being here. We are introducing a new series of podcasts for the next six odd weeks based on the following one Harvard Business School does not teach you. So let's get started. Today's episode is based on your life brand, and why that matters. So to get you into the mood, the introduction will be your life brand. And how to grow your life brand is a powerful and intentional approach to personal and professional development that can transform your life, way beyond your career, and business. So what this involves is a holistic Outlook. So let me explain to you why your life brand matters. Everything you say everything you've done, say and what you do and what you don't do communicates everything. standing out from the mass crowd is crucial in today's competitive world, especially the digital world. And that includes the employment market, and of course, the business landscape. Have you noticed that people have become cookie cutter clones, No guts, no glory, the Wise Book says your life brand frees you to showcase your strengths and values in a powerful and purposeful manner. By creating a unique identity, you can differentiate yourself, you unlock your voice, your value to maximize all that you are including, of course, your career and business. So let me explain. You might be wondering, what does this all mean? Well, look, life is short. And before you know it, your years arrive on this planet. So my perspective on this and of course, the clients we attract and work with is this, you're only going to live once in this form. So why not maximize this journey, as opposed to just doing work for the sake of work and being a slave to the system, a slave to the man create your own destiny? And this is why your life brand manners. You might be wondering, but how do I do this? You know, how do I embark on this journey of building my life brand? Well, great, great question. Let's explore the process together. The first step, and we've covered aspects of this in past episodes. But you've got to define who you are first before, you know what is that info. So that's defining your strengths and your values. And when you do that, also be very clear on what some of your weaknesses are as well, this is part of also understanding your strength. So what that means is really get clear what you stand for, what you don't stand for what you really will not put up with.
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So example, if you're working from a bus right now, okay, and your values are respect, but you work in an environment where it's toxic, and there's no respect, eventually, it's up to you as per your values to define, first of all, you know, and make a decision, do you actually stay in that work environment? Or do you leave, if you make the decision to stay, and I know there could be a million reasons for that, including you have to pay your bills. Well, that's a decision you made. And then you have to carry that decision. And of course, there's a cost associated with that. Of course, if you make the decision to stand up for what you believe, for, then that also will have consequences as well. So this is where courage comes in. So you got to really define your strengths and values. Because again, as I said, Life is too short. For second, Once you clear what they are, you got to communicate your strengths and values, the world will not see them automatically, contrary to what you think. That's why part of you, communicating expressing yourself and letting the world know who you are, and what you represent is essential. And that's why part of branding is also important. Because without that, how does the world find out about it other than your own close, little group, and I don't think that's a smart move in today's environment, because quite simply, the competition is very high. And the digital environment is very noisy. And of course, competition is increasing by the day. So communication is very important. It's up to you, you're responsible to communicate your strengths and values and if people do not see them, then it's up to you to reposition that. So you can get the messaging out there yet. So this is very important.
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The third is to develop your image. Each look, whichever way you look at this, contrary to what you hear what you read what you see online, again, develop your image. And specifically, it's your birthright, it's your God given birthright to do that, if you want to present a certain image, fantastic, just be very clear that what ever you're presenting, there's a code to it, you know, and every code communicates and be very clear, you know, how you do present everything from you know, the way you look, obviously, to the way you communicate verbally, and, of course, non verbally, your tone, accentuation, enunciation, et cetera. All of this plays a big part. And of course, the beautiful thing in developing your images, you can change things along the way, I met people, when we first met them, there were this particular image, and then you look at the after. And, you know, it was a recreation that specifically spoke to a higher value, audience value and a higher, just a high energetic response from the audience that, of course, brought in many, many different benefits, including position, including in the case of business, more sales, and, of course, my financial wealth overall, and definitely reputation. So this is very, very important. Your image matters, people will judge you, even when they don't tell you. And the final step is always monitor and adjust as you go. So this is not, you know, shocking all type of situation, you just got to first of all, establish the gaps be really, really open to the feedback deal with all your blind spots, we all haven't just been willing to go there, it's not the end of the world and becomes certainly a lot more pleasurable to do it as soon as possible, as opposed to letting it go for a lifetime. Because then you've got a lot more baggage you'd have to deal with. And I'm talking about, hey, you know, when I talk about some of this stuff, it sounds like really, ABC, from the point of view of its generality, the reality is even some of the most successful clients I've worked with that are worth hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars, including numerous billionaires that I work with that are got similar problems to the person next door, but maybe they're a little bit different. Okay, just sometimes when you've got too much money and power, what you've got is really an opportunity to cover up a lot of the image stuff that basically the rest of the world will not see. So we've got similarities. Why because we're all human beings. So your life brand, is an ongoing process. So what I let you know, I'm utilizing life brand today as part of this Introduction series. Because your life brand is more important than your career brand, or your business brand. Your life brand gives you purpose, it gives you a reason why you wake up every morning. So regularly assess how you're perceived, okay, and adapt to stay true to your authentic self. Of course, that's always our recommendation. And of course, your life brand, you know, will create when done properly, when done with intention will create a powerful and more memorable experience. Of course, when it's executed to plan, it allows you to be recognized for who you truly are, and to stand there from the mess of normality.
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So let me share with you a real life story of a client that illustrates that nicely. This particular client is an entrepreneur that became a well known philanthropist. So this entrepreneur came to us already highly successful, making a lot of money. So that wasn't a challenge for him, yet felt unfulfilled. So what did we do? Question? What we did was basically dating to discover what his real purpose is on why and what he does what he does on a daily basis. And he discovered that very simply, his Why was to make a sustainable difference to disenfranchise and marginalize youth, obviously, because of some past family history. That was something that really touched his heart. And he thought, well, if I can get involved with that make a difference that it's going to make what I do from a business point of view worthwhile. So he went out there, you know, through our support, reorganized his company systems. By the way, a systems weren't very good, but they got better. He hired a couple of new team members, and then spent 20% of his time on a daily perspective, running the business. And that delivered 80% of the results were in the past he would work 80% of the time to get 20% of the results and a half Add more team members, and a lot of them that are really taking up a lot of space. He reorganized his lobby a week purposed himself again to spend only 20% of his time, on a daily running of the business with a couple of new team members supporting him, delivering 80% of the results, he discovered that his highest wealth as a business leader, was definitely not money, money was a tool. But the most effective use of his being was the use of his time. Any wealthy person truly wealthy will tell you, that's what they value time because that's one area, all human beings on the planet cannot buy more of. But certainly we can buy toys if we've got money, or anything else, but we can buy time. So today, you know, he makes more money than prior. And of course, is recognized as one of Australia's most generous philanthropists, and is what I call the real deal. It's an ironic story that is most likely the opposite of what we'd been conditioned to believe, you know, gotta work. work like a dog, right? Be a slave to the man a bit opposite to what we've been told to believe, although he was also conditioned partly to believe that as well. So that's part of the reason we're doing this see this new series because our clients have been asking for this, you know, straight smart wisdom for leaders or in other words, what Harvard Business School does not teach you. So that brings us to the end of today's episode, I trust you gain valuable insights into this concept and feel inspired to take action. If you'd like to connect with me continue this conversation you're invited to 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 keep on exploring the world of personal business branding growth together. If you're seeking assistance with your brand or need guidance in building, growing and monetizing your brand, our lived experience team is here to help contact us for personalized assistance. Thank you once again for tuning in. We appreciate your support, have a fantastic week filled with growth and success. Cheers.
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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.
