On April Fools Day I did something pretty cool: I actually celebrated with a prank.
It was fun, even though it was somewhat last minute. I announced a new service allowing you to send a pink slip to the person who laid you off.
I’ll remember that as a brilliant idea… hey, I gotta own up to each of my wins (just like you should, for your own wins!) 🙂
I learned about my brand.
My Brand: not what I think about myself, but what others think about me.
I learned that people think I am normally optimistic.
I got a number of comments, emails, facebook replies, tweets, etc. from people saying “Oh no! Jason has gone negative… what’s going on over there???”
People thought, with the announcement of that new service, that I had become negative.
Newsflash: PEOPLE THOUGHT I WAS POSITIVE BEFORE?
Honestly, I have been feeling that at least 30% of my posts have been negative. I have been feeling like a negative nelly lately.
But the perception of others, which is my personal brand, has been that I was positive, optimistic, and uplifting to others.
Isn’t that interesting?
If you would have asked me, I would have said something diffferent than what others would have said.
I bet that’s happening to some of you. YOU THINK YOUR BRAND IS XXXXXXX, and everyone else thinks your brand is YYYYYYYY.
You see one persective, and you hear the thoughts in your head, but others only see what is on the outside, and what you do/say/think/feel based on outcome and body language.
How wrong are you about your own personal brand? I bet you are at least slightly wrong… that’s why there are 360 assessments to send to your contacts to find out what they perceive!
Interesting, eh?
Jason, what a great lesson from that prank! And I have to confess, I too perceive your brand as being positive & upbeat. I didn’t see that prank but I too would have been surprised!
Traditional branding was designed to define the brand however marketing directed it (i.e. Coca-Cola’s branding). Personal branding is much more a matter of contributing to your community and putting your knowledge out for all to see and allowing the public to determine your brand.
It’s possible that we’re all just more negative than you and perceive you as positive. Everything is relative.
Lew Sauder, Author, Consulting 101: 101 Tips For Success in Consulting (www.Consulting101Book.com)
Me? I think you are sour and bitter mostly. 🙂
Actually for a guy with so many positive things happening, not only are you positive on the the success of others but you are also acting on that by directly helping. In our late night conversation in Vegas, we spent almost our entire first hour (of three hours) chatting about your ideas for me. #system #package And I just let you. 🙂
Our brands also evolve – sometimes because we do something and sometimes because we are all still “becoming” – lots of growth for all of us, I think!