You can't leave a mark with nothing to contribute

Today I continue with the PBLabDay21 category, deconstructing the presentation of Andrés Pérez Ortega on the three key steps to work the personal brand. In case you missed it, I have tried before the golden minute of Raquel Gómez, with the title Did you know that a change of narrative can boost your personal brand?, that of Elena Arnaiz, with the title ¿You've forgotten to put your talent into action? and that of Mireya Trías with title Have you put your personal brand in observation mode?

Returning to Andrew, if you have little time, I'll explain in a minute:

Personal Brand? We talk about result

Andrés puts on the table a very clear concept. Personal branding is a result, that of planning a series of very specific elements, it's not magic. That planning process is what we know as personal branding. (or personal branding, in English version). 

Many people confuse the result with the process. I confess that it happened to me at the beginning, but of course, "personal brand" cannot be the same as "personal branding" as "brand" is not the same as "branding".

They are not rules, is a map

Another common confusion is to think that the management of our personal brand obeys a set of rules, to a dogma or something similar. No. There are many methodologies to manage our brand, and all are valid, they are maps.

Andrés raises his method 13 Ps, I use the method Iceberg that I have already discussed in this blog (Self, Strategy, Visibility), and so we could go on. Every master has its booklet. But the idea is that they are maps, roadmaps with a logic of not starting the house on the roof and with a simple maxim: "Think of your profession as a company".

Assuming our weaknesses, Why not?

Another point of Andrés' talk is that we are surely not the best at managing each of the parts of the process.. For example, he recognizes weaknesses in the commercial area. I, in addition to commercial, I add the administrative, I'm a mess with paperwork and bureaucracy.

It's important to take on those weaknesses., And, as much as possible, try to pass them to the strengths quadrant within the personal SWOT.

Value Proposal: Set aside your charges, titles and experiences and tell me what you can do for me.

A new mistake that many people make is to confuse value proposition with a discourse of the ego. No. The important thing is not who you are, what you have studied, experiences, your titles or positions. Leave that for your personal story. In a value proposition, the important thing is what you bring to others, it's not you.

You can only create preference if you make it very clear how you will solve a problem. Andrés refers in his talk to Alfonso Alcántará @yoriento "We are professionals who sell our work". To top off that concept, would add "…that we sell the results of our work."

No. You can't leave a mark with nothing to contribute

I'm one of those rare specimens who loves negative phrases. (You know, "if you don't contribute, you don't matter). And, continuing with the value proposition, Andrés dropped a bomb during his presentation that I have made the headline of this article: "You can't leave a mark with nothing to contribute."

Someone may think that leaving a mark is not important. It is.. It is impossible to sell anything without first having generated trust, and there the footprint has a lot to do with it.

Reinvent yourself or not reinvent yourself?

Andrew is very clear on this: "Don't reinvent yourself, build on what you already have". And I agree. We all know how hard it is to start from scratch. I didn't start in this Personal Branding thing from nothing.. I had worked before 20 years in branding. I just had to add one competition.

The mania of many to give up competences they leave behind is sickening.. Let's see, if you are a salesperson and you are studying a postgraduate degree in digital marketing, you have two options: forget about your previous phase and reinvent yourself starting from the bottom or you can add your new digital skills to your commercial side... In which of the two ways do you think your work will be more valuable??

Visibility: Not sharing what you bring is not humility, is selfishness

There is something like a imposter syndrome in the area of visibility of our personal brand (the tip of the iceberg, our personal marketing). Andrés talks about the fear of some to become visible. My antidote to that is simple.: In the XXI century, Don't you feel more afraid of being invisible??

"Not sharing what you bring is not humility, is selfishness" is a phrase by Andrés that should make more than one think about coming out of the closet of anonymity and invisibility. That's for sure., without idiocy, no wc selfies, adding value.

The “plasta” Italian

Andrés uses the simile of the Italian who triumphs with women: the method is simple: Insist, insist and insist (Let's go, become heavy). The truth is that discipline wins attitude, and even if it sounds boring, routines are good.

He also advises us not to be everywhere, better in which our customers are. It also warns us against fads, and alludes to the "ClubHouse Syndrome", in that it seemed that not being in that network of audio rooms was a sin, and now no one remembers ClubHouse anymore.

And without further ado., I leave you the talk of Andrés Pérez Ortega, What, as you will see on the shirt he wears, is the father of personal branding. And may it remain so for many years!!

I hope you liked this article “You can't leave a mark with nothing to contribute”, if so, don't forget to share it. Here's the episode 60 from the podcast Everything Leaves a Mark with this theme. You can hear it in iVoox, Spotify, Google Podcast And Apple Podcast.

Editorial news: The latest from Neus Arqués and Amalia López Acera

Neus Arqués just presented "Imposters and great" (Alienta, 2022). In the current economic model, visibility is not an option, it's a necessity, the only way to explain who you are and what you offer, the only way to access your customers. Because if they don't see you, they don't choose you and, Of course, they don't buy you. Sentence 100% Neus.

Neus Arqués has worked with many women whom he has helped to develop their own personal brand, and has concluded that the majority exercise genuine resistance to visibility. Why? For fear of being judged or for suffering from the “imposter syndrome”: distrust one's own success and think it is undeserved. And that means, plain and simple, lose in advance.

And Amalia Lopez Sidewalk, for its part, has released "Personal Brand in Public Administrations" (Leads, 2022), By the way, prefaced by Andrés Pérez Ortega.

Only in the Spanish public administrations work more than 3 millions of people (you read that right). But not all of them are the same, nor do they all work the same. They are more than just "officials", are professionals. Amalia invites these professionals to take charge of their professional career in a guide to learn how to use social networks, blogs, networking or specialization to create and develop the personal brand.