June 08 Personal Branding Winner of the Month - Heather Gardner

June 30th, 2008

personal branding award After almost two years and 19 Personal Branding winners of the month, it’s time to shift the emphasis a little.

I started this personal branding award for two reasons.  First, it was to recognize those who are showing, or growing, their personal brand through current technologies.  Most of the recipients are (or were) bloggers.  A handful only had static websites.  A few of them extend beyond their own blog or website, and I recognize that in the post I wrote about them (see bottom of this post for the list).

The second reason I started this personal branding award was to show YOU that YOU can do this too!  It’s not just for the elite, or the early adopters of blogging or other technologies.  The strategy of developing and portraying your personal brand is a strategy that you should seriously consider.

June’s winner is one of my favorite people.  I “met” Heather Gardner on the My LinkedIn PowerForum a number of months ago.  I found her to be brash (in a good way), passionate, and anxious to help people.

Heather Gardner - Recruiter and Personal Branding award winnerSo how am I shifting emphasis?  I’m not going to talk about her blog.  And I don’t think she has a static website.  Even so, she is doing an excellent job sharing her brand all over the place.  I can sum it up in one word… Heather is:


engaged.

Of course, she’s married with kids, but she is very engaged in discussions online.  She is active enough in various places that many people know who she is, what she does, and what value she brings. It’s not her full-time job, so she can’t do it 8 hours a day.  Nonetheless, she’s out there.  Here are some things she’s involved in:

My LinkedIn Power Forum - Heather is quick to share, ask, give advice, participate and encourage.  Many people have benefited from her involvement there, and I’m sure she has branded herself as a very helpful, knowledgeable and resourceful recruiter (and employment expert).

Recruiting Blogs Ning network for recruiters - Very active here, sharing with and learning from her peers.  When I created my I Just Got Fired slideshow done she asked if I was going to put it on RecruitingBlogs.com, which is something I hadn’t thought of.  It showed me that it is on her mind, and she’s involved there, and guess what… there are over 9,000 recruiters on that little social network!  Powerful, and a great place to be involved.

Twitter - some think Twitter is bunk, and others like it when it isn’t down (which is too often).  Nonetheless, it’s an amazing place to develop relationships, learn about other people, and share “who you are” with your followers.  Of course, Heather is there, active, with hundreds of people following her.

LinkedIn - of course she’s on LinkedIn.  She’s not just there - she is engaged.  She has asked three questions and answered 12. How many have you asked or answered??

Blog - Yep, she has a blog, too.  I find her style and perspective to be quite insightful and engaging.  And with titles like Honey does this blog make my “BUT” look big? and “I’ll show you mine, if you show me yours” Promiscuous Web 2.0, how could you not be interested?

She’s elsewhere, like Facebook.  I’m sure she’ll be other places, too.  But the point of this post, and the reason I’m recognizing her, is because it’s the next natural step to what I’ve recognized over the last almost two years of this personal branding award: being engaged.

Heather is definitely engaged.  And the relationships she’s building will benefit her for many years to come.

Heather Gardner, congratulations! You join a special group of professionals and have earned a coveted link from my monthly winner’s blogroll area (on the left), six months of premium JibberJobber (you can transfer/award this to someone else :) ), and a cyber-high five! And, a new addition to the prize list is the two hour (!!) minute recording of Blog Marketing 201 - 501 (part of the CEO Training for Me, Inc. - listed at $49.95 (but much more valuable than that!).

Feel free to post the You Get It award on your site!

Here are the past winners:

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May 08 Personal Branding Winner of the Month - Morty Schiller

May 30th, 2008

Congrats to wordsmith Morty Schiller for using online technology to enhance his personal brand and position himself in a way he can become more “findable!”

Morty is a professional writer. In fact, he writes junk mail. Lest you think that is bad, or he is evil, I point you to his Confessions of a Junk Mail Junkie article. This is a guy who understands his business, and the perception thereof, and is not afraid to address the perception.

Morty Schiller’s brand comes across as someone who is competent. And passionate about what he does. And credible. And if I had something that could benefit from a direct mail strategy, I would be compelled to talk with Morty.

Again, not that there aren’t other experts in the space… but Morty’s websites (the main site and his blog) help me (a) find him and (b) trust him. Here’s what I like:

The personality… and sense of humor. As you read through his stuff, he is simply a likeable guy… non-threatening, approachable, etc. This is not a cold, clinical sales pitch… you can actually feel like you know Morty.

The competency. Check out his blog posts… these are smart. They are on-brand… related to wordsmith stuff. For example, Don’t use these words and The death of words are two posts that let me feel his passion for his trade, and help me know that he deeply thinks and cares about current issues in his area. It makes me think subject matter expert, and/or though leader.

The simplicity. There isn’t noise here… no google ads, no widgets, etc. Well, a little noise on the right side of the blog, but really, it’s quite clean and not distracting.

Personal branding winner of the monthSomehow, Morty puts his brand very assertively without being pushy… and that, he’s branding himself in a role that some might find unappealing! It’s very, very cool.

Of course, he’s doing a lot of other things right, too… you can see past winners and see a lot of consistency with each winner.

Morty Schiller, congratulations! You join a special group of professionals and have earned a coveted link from my monthly winner’s blogroll area (on the left), six months of premium JibberJobber (you can transfer/award this to someone else :) ), and a cyber-high five! And, a new addition to the prize list is the two hour (!!) minute recording of Blog Marketing 201 - 501 (part of the CEO Training for Me, Inc. - listed at $49.95 (but much more valuable than that!).

Feel free to post the You Get It award on your site!

Here are the past winners:

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What Kind of Person Uses JibberJobber? Here’s a Profile.

April 4th, 2008

I get asked this question all the time - just who uses JibberJobber? Here’s a user who has given me permission to share her profile with you.

Bridgette Hinchman is:

… a mid to senior level General Manager/Director of Operations (at a medium to large company) or a VP of Ops/COO at a small company. I have my MBA and over 12 years of progressive sales and operational experience at the GM level. My experience has focused on getting small businesses to the next level (from start up and shortly after) or fixing troubled sites within a 90 day window (for existing companies). In essence, people pay me to fix their broken or struggling business as a career employee and from there I have gotten promoted upward.

Sounds pretty cool, right? Bridgette is in the Dallas area, and is hoping to stay in that area if possible.

Bridgette is a corporate rockstar. By no fault of her own* she is a self-proclaimed “VERY assertive job seeker.” She is the type of professional who “gets” JibberJobber. Does she understand networking and nurturing relationships? I’m sure she does. Is she a competent subject matter expert? Undoubtedly (I’ve seen her resume and her work history). I’d be happy to put you in touch with Bridgette - just leave a comment in the box below or hit me via e-mail.

How many of you are prepared to be a “VERY assertive job seeker” right now? How many of you would benefit from doing stuff that you do in JibberJobber for a full 6 - 12 months before you become a VERY assertive job seeker? Whether you are in a job search or not, I encourage you to seriously consider the benefit of preparing now by nurturing network relationships, targeting companies you are interested in, preparing your master resume, preparing multiple elevator pitches (or, Me in 30 Second pitches, or whatever you want to call them), and more.

* By no fault of her own. Bridgette found herself in this VERY assertive state the same way that thousands of people this year will find themselves. This is what happened to me two years ago… corporate decisions, economy, fickle management, bad management decisions, loss of a contract… the list goes on and on.

This year there will be hundreds of thousands of people who’s jobs and careers are affected by forces they have no control over. Check out these recent headlines:

What makes you more immune to the unemployment line than any of these hundreds of thousands of people?

Is it your degree, or your MBA? Mine didn’t keep me off of unemployment.

Is it the tight relationship you have with your boss or the CEO? Trust me, I’ve seen how it works, and that relationship won’t keep you from getting a pink slip.

It’s time to be CEO of You, Inc. What are you going to do TODAY to take charge? I have a few ideas, but would like to hear yours :)

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Your Book: Perhaps The Most Important Thing To Enhance Your Personal Brand

April 2nd, 2008

I'm on LinkedIn -- Now What???I started JibberJobber on May 15, 2006. In June I started blogging, and credit much of JibberJobber’s success to this blog. It became clear early on that putting time into this blog would be a significant portion of my overall marketing strategy, and when the blog was mentioned in the Wall Street Journal’s Career Journal (they moved the Career Journal and I don’t know what the new link is), I felt reassured I was on the right track.

I was happy (but not satisfied :)).

And then I wrote a book. In fact, it was one of the very first books on LinkedIn (the book that beat me was Steve Tylock’s LinkedIn Personal Trainer).

The story of my book is kind of fun. It was a mix between “get more buzz” and “provide value to JibberJobber users who were asking about LinkedIn.” I realized I could continue to blog about LinkedIn, but it would be cool to have one resources that kind of spells it all out - what do I need to do, what do I need to pay attention to, and what is just plain noise?

I started my Table of Contents, and wrote a few paragraphs for the introduction. And then I got distracted by running a business.

A couple of months later I was at dinner with a few bloggers in Austin, Texas. Two of the bloggers were also published authors, and I asked them a few questions, like:

  • how many books have you sold?
  • how much money have you made (not sure how I really asked this question)
  • would you recommend an ebook or a hard copy? Why?
  • … and more.

Scott Allen - The Virtual HandshakeThat night, I told Scott Allen my idea (a LinkedIn book for the normal person, not the early adopter or tech genius) and he immediately said “do it with me! I’ll hook you up with my publisher and …” we discussed some of the details.

About a month later I had a signed contract in hand, and was ready to go - I had a publisher! I dusted off my old Table of Contents and… looked at it and… let it sit for a few months. After all, I was running a business! And ever author I knew told me that I wouldn’t make any money from selling books.

Andy Sernovitz - Word of Mouth Marketing expertIn May, 2007, I was liveblogging SOBcon (a terrific event, they are repeating it this year, more info here) and listening to Andy Sernovitz speak. Andy gave a list of things we could do to create more word of mouth buzz for our blogs (or, companies). I was intrigued by the list, thinking of what I could do for JibberJobber, when he ended with a simple idea. He said something like:

and if you try all of these, and can’t figure out what else to do, find a brand that is getting a lot of buzz and figure out how to attach yourself to it!

Now writing my book become more about marketing JibberJobber (I could create buzz by associating myself with LinkedIn??) than with making a few bucks on each book sale. And I was all about figuring out how to market JibberJobber.

So I buckled down and finished my book. I put stuff (like, e-mail!) on hold. I had a self-imposed deadline, which I hit.

And I was absolutely amazed by what happened after that.

All the places I wished would write about JibberJobber were now contacting me. Not because of JibberJobber, the coolest thing to hit the career space since (fill in the blank), but because of a 124 page book on getting value out of LinkedIn.

In the past few months I have been interviewed by Money Magazine, CIO, the New York Times, Wired Magazine, US News & World Report, and many others.

Has it benefitted JibberJobber? Absolutely, because in those articles I’m quoted as “Jason Alba, CEO of JibberJobber.com and author of …“

Andy Sernovitz was right - associating myself with a brand that was getting buzz helped my own brand get buzz!

This directly relates to your personal brand. You are a subject matter expert (SME), aren’t you?

Don’t you know enough about your field to be considered an expert? Whether that is finance, marketing, cleaning, managing, strategizing, project managing, etc. you are an SME. Guess what, nobody knows, or cares about, your expertise. They are all looking at the thought leaders for new and exciting stuff in your field.

Know how the thought leader got to be a thought leader? I bet it’s because they wrote a book.

And you can write a book too. In fact, if you are serious about your career path, and you are serious about your personal brand, you should seriously consider writing a book.

Tomorrow I have my first CEO Training session on writing a book. I’m really excited about this CEO Training. Many who buy the CEO Training webinar (the recording only works on a PC, not a Mac - sorry :() don’t come to the live session, but if you come to the live session you get to ask your specific questions.

I will share with you my thoughts and ideas on how to get started, how to move through the process of writing a book, getting it published, marketing your book, and getting media value out of it. I haven’t finished the presentation yet, but I’m shooting to have about 60 to 90 minutes of content.

If you are interested, head on over to the CEO Training website. If you are a JibberJobber premium subscriber make sure you login first, so you can get your discount.

Finally, I have already sent out a number of copies of Hands-on LinkedIn, and Blog Marketing 201 - 501 (2 hours!), which are two other sessions in this series. If you are interested in those you can find info to purchase them on the CEO Training site.

Posted in Already Employed, Joe Job Seeker, Personal Branding, Strategies | | | | 5 Comments »

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JibberJobber Rebranding Contest Results

March 31st, 2008

After many votes have been casts, and many comments submitted, I’m happy to announce the results of the rebranding contest.

I wanted to announce this last week, but from Thursday through Sunday I was battling a computer virus that really cramped my style … alas, I think I’ve got the virus resolved and I am ready and anxious to rock and roll.

So, here were the final four options:

  1. JibberJobber: Career Management 2.0
  2. JibberJobber: Empowering tools for lifetime career control
  3. JibberJobber: The portal to your career management
  4. JibberJobber: Managing the information to manage your career

What was your favorite?

I thought the hands-down leader would be Career Management 2.0. It is cool, hip, and obviously something that means “we are done with version 1.0, and taking career management to the next level.”

I’m a software guy (my first real job in my field was developing for Simplot’s intranet, back in 1998, 1999!), so the 2.0 made a lot of sense to me.

And then I got an e-mail from Deb Dib my trusted advisor, mentor (she doesn’t know I consider her a mentor), and thought leader in the career and branding space, with this message:

For what it’s worth, my hands down, win-by-a-mile favorite brand statement for JJ is #4. The one about managing information to mange your career. It’s SO solid, says what JJ does, and hits me at a gut level.

Makes me think, if I were a job seeker, I want that — I NEED that!. The others are nice, but just not specific enough, esp #1 — a lot of people won’t even know what web 2.0 is, let alone what that means in relation to JJ.

I found that profoundly interesting. I didn’t like #4 too much because (a) it is too long to fit under (or within) my logo, and (b) it is… well, too simple — it does describe what we are doing, doesn’t paint us into a “job search” corner… but it just seems too simple, doesn’t it?

And then… I was talking to my wife about this and she said “what is 2.0? I have no idea what that means.” And I had flashbacks of all of the bosses and non-tech clients/customers who I ever worked with, and realized they, too, would look at 2.0 and have no idea what that meant. More head scratching, like what you do when you see “career toolset,” which is my current tagline. What does “career toolset” mean???

But I still loved Career Management 2.0. Haven’t you heard of web 2.0? Finance 2.0, sales 2.0, etc? It is catching on, and carries meaning, even though people are trying to be ahead of the curve and define 3.0 in many areas.

That was when I realized the voting results where going to be interesting. I was surprised at how it ended.

Here are the results:

In the voting, there was actually a tie for first place. The two winners will each split the $900, each get one lifetime premium upgrade, and both of my books in eBook format.

Kirsten Dixson - person branding expertCongratulations to Kirsten Dixson, Partner in the Reach Branding Club, and submitter of “Career Management 2.0.” I should mention here that Kirsten has had a significant impact on my career with JibberJobber, as she invited me to speak with her at the Career Management Alliance conference last year, which was a huge credibility nod in my direction.

Steve DuncanCongratulations also to Steve Duncan, submitter of “Managing the information to manage your career.” Steve has been following my JibberJobber journey for a while and has shot me e-mails here and there with ideas and suggestions. He actually submitted the very first entry in this contest!

How will I use two? You’ll just have to wait and see!

The second place winner is, well, Kirsten Dixson (again!). She also submitted “Empowering tools for lifetime career control” (and a few others… there were many people who submitted multiple ideas). She’ll get another lifetime license of JibberJobber, as well as two more books. Since she is connected to so many career professionals I’m guessing she’ll use these as awards, gifts or incentives for them.

I’ll be getting in touch with the other entrants in this contest this week (hopefully! I have some catchup to do from the virus last week :().

HUGE thank you to everyone who submitted, voted, and commented. I received dozens of e-mails with ideas and suggestions on where to head. On the survey I had dozens of excellent comments on what we should do, and how to best meet your needs.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

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Voting Results, My Virus, US News & World Report

March 27th, 2008

Three things to share today. I’ve been struggling with a computer virus since last night and it’s really killing me. I forgot how much I hated viruses (I used to be an IT Manager and babysit an office full of PC’s). Today I even got the blue screen of death, which I probably haven’t seen on my own computer for over ten years!

(I know, a mac will solve all my problems… I know).

take the survey!So, let me share something about the voting on JibberJobber’s rebranding. It is NECK-AND-NECK! I didn’t realize how close it would be, I thought that one was the clear leader… but this is a real contest! VOTE NOW since it closes tonight!

US News & World Report & JibberJobberAnd, about US News & World Report. This comes from the Jason is bragging department… I had an interview a few weeks ago with Elaine Appleton Grant for about an hour. I’ve done interviews for “about an hour” before, only to see a half-sentence attributed to me in the final writeup. This was different. This article blew me away - not only did it cover so much ground, it, well, was mostly about what I’m doing! How cool is that?

How did I score that interview? Through networking. In fact, it was through a second degree contact, which means Elaine is a third degree contact from me. See, it gets really interesting once you get to that third and fourth degree! Let me give a huge shoutout to my buddy Mike Murray, who was that first degree contact who made this all happen - thank you Mike!!

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What My Rebranding Means For You

March 26th, 2008

Career Distinction - the bible in personal brandingThe last few weeks we’ve spent quite a bit of time on my re-branding… I hope to wrap this up and bring a message back to you.

It’s no secret that I’m big on personal branding. I love personal branding. Why? Because with a strong, or appropriate, personal brand you can create pull-marketing, rather than push-marketing.

When I was in my job search I was a nobody. I was cliche, a commodity, a dime-a-dozen. No one had heard of me, and I was a perceived expert in … nothing.

I knew that I had expertise, and could bring value to the equation, but nobody knew that, nor did they know me. My job search was a lot of push-marketing, and it was painful.

The power of a personal brand changes all of that. Create your personal brand, be on-brand, let your brand permeate your market, and you’ll see pull-marketing. People will call you and want to get to know you better. Your job search will be completely different (be aware, this doesn’t happen overnight!).

In my JibberJobber re-branding exercise I’ve been amazed at the feedback. Not only have the votes and comments been powerful, I’ve received a lot of advice outside of the Survey Monkey poll (hey, one more day to vote - go do it now!).

How would YOU do the same thing for YOUR brand? A lot of times, in order to figure out what our brand is or could or should be it’s helpful to understand how we are perceived. This has been huge for me, and it could be huge for you.

Reach 360 - for your personal brandIt’s actually quite easy. There’s a company called Reach Communications Consulting, which helps professionals like you develop and execute your own personal branding strategy. One of the tools they offer is a 360 Personal Branding Assessment. For less than $30 you sign up and get started. The idea is many of your professional contacts get a survey about YOU, and they anonymously enter their thoughts on who you are… helping you understand how you are perceived.

Maybe you think you are a hotshot, CEO-type that excels in strategic planning and motivating the worker-bees.

And then you get your Reach 360 feedback and learn that most people think you are more reserved, very logical and detail oriented - perhaps you are better suited for a Project Management role right now.

Just knowing that empowers you to make a better decision for your career path, or can encourage you to get better training and mentoring to become that motivating CEO.

There’s power in knowing how you are perceived. If this is interesting to you, I encourage you to check out the Reach 360 program. Again, it’s less than $30. If you need help there are over 200 certified personal branding strategists in 21 countries who can help you. My JibberJobber partners who are certified can be found on my career expert partner page. The partners who are sponsoring this contest who are also Reach Personal Branding Strategists are:

If you do it, let me know how it goes! I think it’s a great investment!

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JibberJobber Branding Contest - Vote On The Finalists!

March 25th, 2008

vote on JibberJobber's Rebranding ContestHere are the final choices for the final taglines. Two of these got almost 20% of the votes. Which is your favorite? Go to the survey and vote for ONE.

  • JibberJobber: Career Management 2.0
  • JibberJobber: Empowering tools for lifetime career control
  • JibberJobber: The portal to your career management
  • JibberJobber: Managing the information to manage your career

Again, go vote here - voting closes Thursday at the close of business (specifically, 11:45pm MST)!

Tomorrow I’ll share what I’ve learned from the other, follow-up questions. You have told me what JibberJobber is, what it needs to be to make it better, etc. This process has been very, very interesting!

Thanks a ton to the sponsors:

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Today Is The Last Day To Vote On The Branding Contest!

March 21st, 2008

JibberJobber rebranding contestIf you haven’t voted yet, please head over to the Survey Monkey page to vote on your favorite taglines.

I need to mention, there were two messups. First, the very first option should be 2 different lines:

  • Career Management 2.0, and
  • Empowering Tools for Lifetime Career Control

Second, the very first submission I received got lost in my filing system and didn’t make it on the survey. It is:

  • Managing the information to manage your career

Sorry two the people that affected…! If you want to submit a vote for either of these, please write it in a comment on PAGE 2 of the survey. To see all the other submissions, go click on the survey (and vote!).

Today’s the last day to vote… on this round. I can see some clear leaders and will do a second vote with the leaders narrowed down.

Thanks a ton to the sponsors:

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My Little Secret: I’m On Twitter

March 20th, 2008

Many of you may not know that I’m on Twitter. I’ve been there for quite some time. And I tweet regularly. Here’s my latest tweet:

Jason Alba is on Twitter

I haven’t posted about it here for the same reason I don’t post my LinkedIn profile: I am not fishing for followers (in Twitter), connections (in LinkedIn), or friends (in Facebook).

Not that I don’t want you to follow me, I would love for you to follow me :) Especially if you are on Twitter (or those other networks). Interestingly enough, I share some things on Twitter that I would not share on this blog. It’s such a different platform, with such a different purpose, that it seems appropriate.

The funny thing is, I used to feel like I was cheating on you, my loyal blog reader, when I announced something on Twitter before I announced it on this blog :p How silly is that.

But I’m finally ready - if you want to follow me on Twitter, you can find me at http://www.twitter.com/jasonalba. You can click on that link to see what I tweet about. You may be surprised to find more silly, personal stuff there. That’s just the nature of Twitter.

Have I found business value out of Twitter? Absolutely.

Have I found people enhancing their personal brand on Twitter? Without a doubt.

Is Twitter for everyone? No way.

But it’s good for me. One more question…

Will there be a “I’m on Twitter — Now What???” book? I’m not saying ;)

Posted in Personal Branding, Social Networking, Technology, Tools for You | | | | 9 Comments »

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