Personal Branding to Undertake, with Nancy Vazquez

I'm still with the chapter 7 from the book "If You Don't Contribute, don't matter., I've already tried the first part, The 7.1 Personal Branding to find work, also the 7.2 next to Alejandra Bara, Personal Branding to improve at work. 

Well, here's the 3rd part, The 7.3, dedicated Personal Branding to undertake, one of the best combinations out there. And to enrich the content I count on my colleague and friend Nancy Vazquez, someone with all the authority to talk about this binomial, the importance of personal branding in entrepreneurship, personal branding to undertake.

If you're short on time, I'll leave you this one-minute summary: 

Who is Nancy Vazquez?

Nancy Vazquez is the soul of Integra Personal Branding, founder and CEO of that specialized and eradicated agency in the beautiful city of Puebla, Mexico, but influenced around the world. In fact, I must confess that I followed them years ago and that the first time I was in Mexico, Ago 4 Years, although he was training in Queretaro, at the end I decided to travel by taxi and cross two states until I got to Puebla to meet Nancy, Alan and his great team.

Nancy is pure energy, and since then we've worked together in Puebla, in Morelos, Dominican Republic and several projects, Congresses, and I also have the honor of being a partner of Integra Personal Branding, let's go that thanks to Nancy I have one foot in my land and another in America.

Nancy is my guest today to talk about a perfect relationship: Personal Branding to Undertake. And no one better than her, an indefatigable entrepreneur who has been with her Integra team for many years helping entrepreneurs find their way.

Nancy and entrepreneurship

Guillem: What does Nancy Vazquez have to do with the world of entrepreneurs? 

Nancy: For starters, I've been an entrepreneur for as long as I can remember, and that's just what leads me to get into that relationship with the world of entrepreneurs. I learned to start from a young age, and that led me to a dynamic where I saw a need in the entrepreneurship market to manage the personal brand.

I'm a personal brand management specialist, but I started in the world of entrepreneurs, that's why I'm so related to that world. I think the entrepreneur is a profession, it's a lifestyle that requires different personal brand management tools, and that's where we relate.

The world is entrepreneurs'

And I like to help entrepreneurs, because there's a trend. I say the world is entrepreneurs', of those of us who decided to undertake something new to bring value to others.

Guillem: Does that mean there's also a question of attitude?

Nancy: Yes, And it's important, And I think I understand, because I don't think entrepreneurship is an issue for anyone, because it is determined by attitude.

What's more important, boost the brand of the entrepreneurial project or that of entrepreneurs as people?

Guillem: Nancy, today we have very associated the idea of starting with start-ups, garage inventors, geeks/nerds/techies... That's ok, although perhaps the reality is somewhat less glamorous. There are entrepreneurs within companies, so-called intra-entrepreneurs. And within the genre, we could call entrepreneurs everyone who works on their own, Autonomous, liberal professionals, and any entrepreneur who has risked behind a business model. Speaking in terms of personal branding, I have a question needed for you, Nancy and many entrepreneurs ask: What's more important, boost the brand of the entrepreneurial project or that of entrepreneurs as people?

Nancy: Both are important, because you have to manage them on a par. In some line of consciousness, you've already started managing your personal brand, You've been working unconsciously.

Consciously you come up with a project, you want to push it, Do, promote it. And you have even more focus on your project than your personal brand. But the truth is that you already come with a path traveled in your own brand, and you know you have to manage it on a par. An example of this is the examples of Steve Jobs or Mark Zuckerberg, who started working it on a par because they realized that their personal story gave credibility and purpose to the brand they had driven.

The same would say with Michael Jordan and Nike on the project they worked on together. So we can wonder what's first, the egg or the chicken.

Your personal brand takes steps ahead of your entrepreneurship project.

If you're undertaking, give strength to your personal brand, starts there. And once you've got your project ready, your business model and be clear, go advancing also on it. Your personal brand takes steps ahead of your entrepreneurship project.

Guillem: Sometimes I find an entrepreneur who tells me he has zero experience in his project. And I always say: Wrong, you have a story behind you that you already incorporate into your entrepreneurial project. Companies and brands don't exist, people do, and we're the ones behind the projects.

What advice would you give to someone who starts to be relevant about the value they offer and different about how to offer it?

Guillem: You know me and you know that I have the focus on the value proposition as the lifeblood of a strategic personal brand management process. If this is usually a critical issue, for the enterprising world I find more than critical, especially given your answer to the first question. What advice would you give to someone who starts to be relevant about the value they offer and different about how to offer it?

Nancy: It is essential to start with a benchmark, but also with self-known. The first thing is to meet you, then know what you're going to propose, and finally how you're going to propose it. You understand that once., you know your differential.

We don't compete, yes we can get into the market, and it looks like we're going to compete directly, but when you understand what makes you different, it's going to be a lot easier for you to offer the best, not forgetting benchmarking. Sometimes we appear on the market saying we are the N1 without considering the market; someone may have arrived earlier. And there we can lose our value proposition for mere lack of differentiation.

For me these are the two key points before I can bid: self-knownness and benchmarking.

Guillem: Good answer. I can't agree more. You know that for me benchmark is part of self-known, because you can't get to know each other if you don't know your surroundings.

When you talk about differentiation, if you end up offering something of great value, but in the same way that someone else has done it before, another entrepreneur, you end up adding to the entrepreneur's brand, not yours. That's why it's key to add differentiation with value.

Nancy:  Yes, and I remember a phrase from you: when we imitate other people's brand or DNA, we end up reinforcing each other's brand.

Guillem: Exactly, that's how we become, unintentionally, in third-party brand drivers.

What advice would you give the entrepreneur to identify their values and those of the people around them with which they will work?

Guillem: You know I usually call values "superpowers.. Today there are many professionals who are not content to join people of great competences. We already take into account the values, those factors that make a person compatible with a project or with another person. Equipment that works well isn't just because they complement competencies, it's because they match or complement values. Nancy, What advice would you give the entrepreneur to identify their values and those of the people around them with which they will work?

Our values are our compass.

Nancy: There's a simple answer. When you're facing an enterprise, what would you be willing to do and what not to do? Because our values are our compass, what's going to delimit our actions. In the end it's a reflection: would you be willing to steal? No. Nor to miss your word,to demand more, to charge for something that doesn't correspond...

It's all about values like loyalty, Respect, Honesty, and with it we feel identified. You should create a list of the values you think you have and also look around to help you with feedback to help you identify them. There you have to compare how you look and how others see you.

In addition, to analyze the people you're going to work with, ask them about their main values, what values stand out from them third people, and analyze whether they correspond to your values.

Somehow, when we are clear about our values, we attract people with similar values. That's key to being able to match and build work teams. Otherwise, we take a risk.

Guillem: Speaking of values, it's funny because with social media dominating the communication landscape, it's not hard to figure out what a person's values are by doing a little research on their social media.

I usually set the example of Instagram or Facebook, where the photographs you upload some people upload about their leisure moments convey more values than their own professional profiles or resumes.

Nancy: totally agree. The photographs we hang tell our stories. And also the texts that support them. For many, their opportunities are at risk by not being aware of the amount of information you unconsciously upload to their networks.

Do you think the priority impulse justifies an entrepreneur dispensing with his self-known phase and strategy to focus solely on communication, networking and conversion?

Guillem: Every personal brand needs momentum to become visible, relevant and recognized. And in the case of the entrepreneur, needs a more aggressive boost. Lean business models require quick return. That calls for quick response personal marketing techniques, and for that there's nothing like the growth hacking. According to Inbound Cycle, growth hacking is due to "Techniques and resources to help you generate business opportunities and branding based on the experiences of a whole team of digital marketing professionals."

Examples of this would be freemium models, exclusive invitations, gamification ... I'm talking about personal marketing and not personal branding. Do you think the priority impulse justifies an entrepreneur dispensing with his self-known phase and strategy to focus solely on communication, networking and conversion?

Nancy: Definitely not. Self-knowledge is basic. To start with communication is to start the house on the roof and not by the foundations. Self-knowledge is going to give you the foundation to know what you're willing to do, if in entrepreneurship you require specialists to accompany you to identify your strengths and weaknesses.

When we didn't start from the beginning, somewhere in the project we can stop, and that's because I didn't work self-known. I've checked that over time.: who starts from communication can achieve some kind of result, but in the long run there will be something missing and gives inconsistency to the project. Not everything focuses on the commercial issue, it takes a purpose that goes further.

In short, self-care will help us overcome the short term and think about medium- and long-term projects.

Guillem: True. Sometimes I use a simile. Imagine you're going to the doctor and just getting there you ask for a prescription for medication that you should take. The first thing your doctor will ask you is what's your diagnosis? Let me ask you a few questions and a test to find out what your diagnosis is., your ailment, and then we'll see what the prognosis is. And here the same thing happens. There are many people who are carried out by digital marketing literature on very aggressive communication models without having repaired the diagnosis, the "Doctor what's wrong with me?".

And as for the purpose, I can't agree more. It's one of the exercises I've made the most of by giving coherence to my actions with my raison d'etion.

Are there any of these strategies that work better than another, or maybe some we haven't mentioned?

Guillem: The blog bloo.media, defines ten strategies Growth Hacking to speed up the implementation of the entrepreneurial project, combining the personal brands of its drivers with those of the project, Brand, service or product. These techniques include the model Freemium, gamification, Affiliation, crowdfunding, Contests, remarketing and retargeting, WOW effect, urgent sale, skyscraper technique or resort to influencers or microinfluencers. Under your experience from Integra Personal Branding with hundreds of entrepreneurs, are there any of these strategies that work better than another, or maybe you know one we haven't mentioned?

Nancy: Each strategy will work best based on the personality and profile of the entrepreneur. I can't tell if the WOW effect is going to work for you better, that will depend, in addition to personality, of the value proposition. In the end, everything has to do with one's own style.

Customization is the main technique when it comes to kicking out a model and working it together with a personal brand. Maybe I'll propose a remarketing action and think that doesn't go with your values and personality.

This customization makes it easy for us to choose the right tool for your personal brand: you might consider giving free lectures, books to position you... There's a lot of possibilities.

Guillem: I'm with you, there's no equal recipe for everyone. And in growth hacking sometimes the ethical aspect is violated. For example, the skyscraper technique tries to "spy" on the content of the competition, analyze the keywords that position them more effectively and improve it. Maybe it's an aggressive form of benchmarking, maybe at the frontier of ethics.

Nancy. Agree. I know cases of people who are already conditioned to, For example, make videos, and maybe they don't have enough skills to do it. And here I return not only to personalization but to be consistent with our values, which are our code of ethics.

Not bad, I hope he gave you this interview with Nancy.. I'll wait for you next week to try "Personal Branding to Manage Fame."

Stock Photos from Master1305, Peshkova, Roman Samborskyi / Shutterstock
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