So when I brought up the subject of personal branding, it was a little surprising that my normally loud, raucous family went totally silent. Quizzical expressions and dumbfounded looks surrounded the table. Finally my sister spoke. “Personal branding?”, she asked. “What is that? Like branding a cow?”

I sighed. “No, Sis,” I said. “It’s NOT like branding a cow. It’s like a product brand. You know, like Coke is a brand. Or Walmart is a brand. If Gary (my brother) decided he wanted to be known as the Louisiana Real Estate guru, he would market himself that way, establishing his own personal brand as Gary, the Louisiana Real Estate Guru. If he marketed himself well, then he would become well-known, and everyone would know that HE was the Louisiana Real Estate Guru. That’s what personal branding is. Marketing yourself.”

Although I’m not sure they completely “got it”, it was a good enough explanation to allow us to move on to safer topics that everyone could participate in – like how our local college baseball team was doing this season.

Personal branding is on my mind lately because Dan Schawbel’s book, Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success is now available at Amazon.* Dan is the guy behind the Personal Branding Magazine, and as I’ve mentioned before, I’m a staff columnist for that magazine. So of course, I’ve been looking forward to seeing Dan’s book get published. I ordered it before it was even published, so I could be one of the first to have it. It arrived on my doorstep (ok, in my post office box, actually) a few days ago. I’ve devoured it since then.

Although I won’t be recommending the book to either my sister or brother because they are at the tail end of their careers, I am recommending it to each of you. If you read this blog, you should read Dan’s book. If you have any interest in furthering your career (even offline), you should read his book.

In fact, Dan’s main focus in Me 2.0 is that of young people embarking on careers, and using the power of personal branding to get the jobs they want and be successful in their chosen careers. This is especially useful information right now, when so many are laid off. Competing for a job has gotten a lot tougher because so many people are desperate for work. How you market yourself can make all the difference in whether or not you land the job you want. The book does a great job of showing how to market yourself before, during, and after a job interview.

Of course, I work from home, so I’m not particularly interested in resumes or interviewing. But the world of freelancing and online marketing involves lots of personal branding as well, and if you are involved in ebusiness in any way, you need to understand personal branding. Your reputation is on the line every day in the ebusiness world, and your personal brand is your reputation. How you manage your brand’s reputation is critical to your online success.

Luckily, the advice Dan gives in Me 2.0 works just as well for me and you as it does for the recent college graduate looking for that perfect job. The concepts of personal branding – marketing yourself – extend to all of us, regardless of what kind of career we’ve chosen.

Here’s a little of what you can find in the book:

• A 4-step process for building a powerful brand (discover,
  create, communicate, maintain).
• Tips on using social media tools for personal empowerment, confidence building, and professional networking in order to attract jobs directly to you, without applying!
• Tested advice on how to create an online and offline presence for
  career protection and self-promotion.
• Over 40 expert quotes from leaders including Don Tapscott, Guy Kawasaki, Penelope Trunk, and David Kirkpatrick of Fortune Magazine, among others.
• More than 70 research reports, 3 personal case studies and examples to give you a broader perspective on the topic.

I personally bought this book because I know Dan’s advice is always excellent. I know that he knows this topic inside and out. I trusted that the few dollars I would spend on the book would be worth it, and I was right. Dan’s own personal brand is that of a personal branding expert, and there’s good reason for it. Anyone looking to market themselves – for online or offline careers – would be smart to read Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success. It can make a huge difference in your future career plans.

If you are interested in the things I’ve had to say over the years on the topic of personal branding, you might want to check out the branding category here on my blog. Needless to say, I’ll continue to post on this in the future as well, because it’s an important topic to understand if you want to be successful in an online business.

*

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Post tags: Amazon, Dan Schawbel, David Kirkpatrick, Don Tapscott, e - business, Fortune Magazine, Guy Kawasaki, Louisiana, online, online and offline presence, online marketing, Online success, Penelope Trunk, professional networking, social media tools, staff columnist, the Personal Branding Magazine
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(Side note: Please note that whenever I refer to one of those kinds of jobs as a “real job”, I do so only because that’s what people who always criticized my decision to work from home would call them. “Why don’t you get a real job?”, they always asked. So I use that term in a sarcastic manner mainly as a jab at them).

Unfortunately, it doesn’t always work out that we have the luxury of building up our new business on a part-time basis. Sometimes, people just haven’t gotten around to starting their business while they had a “real job” and now they are faced with the fact that they no longer have that “real job” because they were laid off in the current downsizing trend. Now is the time that each of you – faced with looming bills that you can’t pay – desperately needs to find work!

At this point, you probably need steady income that you can depend upon – even if it’s a cut in pay from your previous job. Of course, you’ll do all the normal things any jobhunter does – scour the Help Wanted ads in your local paper and search the big job boards like Monster.com. When looking for a traditional “real job”, I’d also recommend searching Indeed which enables traditional job board searches across multiple boards. Indeed gives access to millions of job opportunities from thousands of web sites. It includes all the job listings from major job boards, newspapers, associations and company career pages.

While you are searching for one of those “real jobs”, however, you can also be making side money right now. Now is the perfect time to start doing some freelance work from home. This freelance work probably won’t pay all your bills right away, but when you’re desperate, ANY income is a good thing. In addition, by doing freelance work, you’ll begin to gain confidence and experience as you learn how to make money all on your own, using your own skills, initiative, talents, and perseverance. That will make for a very nice transition to having your own full-time business later on.

If you haven’t been laid off yet, yay! In that case, use these references just to dip your toe in the water, or make some side money. Side money can be great for buying those “extras” you don’t normally get a chance to purchase, but side money can be even better as a savings fund – a “just in case” fund…Just in case you ever DO get laid off.

In any case, whether you desperately need cash now or not, the following resources are a great way to get started earning some extra cash, honing some new business skills, and leading the way towards an independent future for yourself. This list is not exhaustive, but it’s a good representative cross-section of resources. Frankly a long list is simply overwhelming. I’d prefer a short list to begin with. You can always search for more if you need to.

Blogger Job Boards
ProBlogger Job Board – Jobs for Bloggers
Blogger Jobs

Freelance Jobs
Elance
FreelanceMom
FreelanceSwitch
GetAFreelancer
Guru
iFreelance
oDesk
RentACoder
Craigslist

Personally, I prefer to work on my own web sites now, rather than freelance my time out to others, but freelancing was the perfect entry into the world of working from home for me. By freelancing, I was able to secure income that I needed badly after I’d been laid off a few years ago. In addition, I learned what types of work I liked, and what types I didn’t. We all have more than one talent. You can try different types of freelance work, based on your own variety of skills. You’ll find some more rewarding than others, both monetarily and emotionally.

Some people love freelancing and continue with it full-time as their new business. If you discover that you love it too, then great! If so, then I’d recommend visiting Freelanceswitch.com. It’s a great resource for folks who want to be full-time freelancers. But even if you decide that freelancing isn’t what you really want to base your business on, it is still a good idea to dip your toes in the freelancing waters so that you can earn some side income and flex your independence muscles. I encourage you to try it. It could make a difference in your life.

© Donna for DazzlinDonna, 2008. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: freelance, Job Boards, online, ProBlogger Job Board
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Fear of the unknown?
Worried that you aren’t capable?
Not sure how to get it going?
Don’t have time?
Think you need more money?
Think you need more knowledge?
Something else?

I’ll always be grateful that one day I decided to jump into the online business bandwagon. I was just having a conversation today about the fact that it’s going to be raining all weekend. Back in the day, when I was still working in a cubicle “out there”, the weekends mattered…a lot! So a rainy weekend would have been a huge disappointment. But now that I work from home, I can make any group of days a weekend. I decide when I take time off, not some corporation. So the fact that this weekend will be rainy doesn’t affect me in the least. I’ll just move my weekend plans to mid-week instead.

Working from home, for one’s self, isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. But if that’s what you dream of…if that’s what you would LOVE to be able to do, but haven’t…. I want to know why.

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t want to tell people to quit your day jobs, right now, without any kind of plan or savings. That would be foolish. But the great thing about this business is that you can get started slowly – part-time. You can do a little work when you’re at home at night or on those cherished weekends, to “get things going”. You can slowly build up to the day when you don’t have to get up and go to some j-o-b “out there” in some stuffy office.

So why haven’t you? I’m not judging, I’m just curious. I truly want to know. Maybe if I know, then I can turn around and help a few people get past those problems and get started on their goals of not worrying about the weekend weather report.

So if the question applies to you, I’d love to hear your answer in the comments. Thanks!

© Donna for DazzlinDonna, 2008. | Permalink | 6 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: ebusiness, Making Money Online, online, online business, online business bandwagon
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from jiparker

Every day this week, I’ll be posting based upon a random Flickr image that inspires me. Here’s one now.

I love this Flickr photo. I recognize myself in that little girl, as I might have been 40 or so years ago. I hated girly-girl stuff, and when Mom would try to dress me up in fru-fru little dresses, like the one this little girl is obviously being forced to wear, I would make a similarly frustrated face. Red velveteen, ruffly dresses aren’t me, and it would be a disaster in the making if I attempted to pretend otherwise.

That same concept applies to establishing your presence on the web, especially if you are blogging, or presenting some sort of personal point of view on your site. Your business, at that point, will be highly reliant on your ability to be genuine. You absolutely MUST be yourself if you hope to succeed. Unless you are the world’s greatest actor, any false identity/personality you attempt to portray will eventually be discovered – usually sooner rather than later. And once you’ve been outed as a fake (of whatever sort), the backlash will be detrimental nearly every time. (I say “nearly” because some fake personas are designed to be uncovered and can sometimes end favorably, but that kind of “trick” can only work a few times before the novelty wears off.)

Even if you believe that you would do better if you pretended to have a different personality, you’d probably be wrong. If you are a grumpy sourpuss in real life, you’d better find a way to make that a winning formula online, because you’ll probably not be able to fake a happy, bubbly person for very long. Whatever your personal traits are, find a way to use that to your advantage.

If your wardrobe is filled with red velvet ruffled dresses, then by all means let that roll over into your online business. However, if your wardrobe leans more towards jeans and sneakers, you need to resist letting anyone convince you to put on that girly girl dress. Your awkwardness and frustration WILL shine through.

© Donna for DazzlinDonna, 2008. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: actor, online, Online Business Needs You To Be Yourself
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If you or someone you know is looking for a coach / consultant to help ease them into making a living online, visit my new site (listed below) and consider what it would mean to have your own personal coach guiding you along the way. Thanks for listening.

Donna Fontenot – eBusiness Coach / Consultant
www.ebuzzcoach.com

© Donna for DazzlinDonna, 2008. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Am Now Available As An eBusiness Coach, coach / consultant, Donna Fontenot, e - business, eBusiness Coach / Consultant, online, personal coach, www.ebuzzcoach.com
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What if the very reason you use to anticipate failure could be turned into your ticket to success?

Let’s take an example. Maybe you are shy, and are not a “people person”. You read a little about creating an online business and you hear that networking is important. You think, “Uh-oh, I can’t do that, because I’m shy and I’m not a people person”. Do you know what that really means? That means you are an expert on shyness and troubles associated with connecting with people.

What happens when you become an expert on something? You then have the ability to share your expertise with others.

What happens when you share your expertise? You have the makings of a successful online business, because guess what people want from their online experience? They want information. And whatever “failure” you are an expert at, you can be assured that there are likely millions of others who want information about that very topic, and they will be searching for your take on it. You don’t have to have a degree in your failure. You just need plenty of experience with it, and I’d bet you have lots to say about it. Anything you don’t know, you can find out and share.

So, from now on, any time you start to say, “I can’t, because I ____”, stop and think about that failure reason that you just uttered. Think about all the other people who might want more information about that “failure”. Then consider giving it to them.

© Donna for DazzlinDonna, 2007. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: excuse, failure, online, online experience, success
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Deep inside each of us is a knowing that we are extraordinary. And while sometimes our lives may not reflect that, this site is dedicated to those who are committed to going beyond an ordinary existence – for passionate living now. Join me! Together we can create a community designed to support the extraordinary in each of us and go beyond where we have been before.

She also mentions that she “look for things extraordinary in my world.” Now, honestly, I haven’t had a chance to read many of the blog posts, but the concept itself is…well…extraordinary.

If you can bring out the extraordinary within you (and it’s there, I promise you), then you can create an extraordinary presence online. That extra “oomph” that you transfer from yourself to your site will translate into successful transactions online. I believe that our lives and our personalities directly affect our businesses. If you can learn to bring out the extraordinary qualities with you, you can learn to apply those same qualities to your online business.

If any of you know of any sites that explore the extraordinary, please let me know. I’d love to put together a list and maybe create some exercises that help us to use the extraordinary in our businesses.

© Donna for DazzlinDonna, 2007. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: being extraordinary, online
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If you’ve won a Dazzlin Badge of Excellence Award, you can display the awards badge on your site by pasting the following code into your page. Just highlight it, copy it, and paste it.

<a href="http://www.dazzlindonna.com/blog/">
<img src="http://www.dazzlindonna.com/images/dazzlinbadge.gif" alt="Dazzlin Badge of Excellence">
</a>

© Donna for DazzlinDonna, 2007. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: blog awards, HTML, online
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