INFOGRAPHIC: How To Brand Yourself an Expert on Social Media

Social media is a great leveler and it’s easier than ever to brand yourself a thought leader, publisher or expert online. The trouble is that there are no barriers to entry and anyone can call themselves an expert. Social media ‘experts’ are ten to the penny for sure, not to mention their peers known as gurus, samurais and ninjas.

You have to be a bit careful with social media and what you label yourself; if you claim to be an expert you’re probably doing it wrong. Most well-known experts would probably not call themselves just that, but others would.

Our friends at Zintro have put an infographic together about how they believe you can leverage yourself as an expert in your field. They say that if you research the most well known people in your feild or industry and they probably have one thing in common: They voice their opinion on and off the Internet and have publicly displayed contact information on one or more social media platforms.

Each business and industry is different, which means the audience and potential client base may better be suited for one platform over another. Recognizing the right social media site to use is important, and connecting with your audience on a personal level by giving valuable tools, resource or tips is paramount. See what you think.

Related: How To Use Social Media to Build Your Personal Brand (Infographic).

expert social media become one now

Related: Top 3 Ways to Become an Expert in Your Industry.

Filed Under: Infographic, Personal Branding, Professional Tagged With: ,

There’s a Guy on LinkedIn Swears He’s Elvis

Elvis Presley on LinkedIn

“There’s a guy works down the chip shop swears he’s Elvis / But he’s a liar and I’m not sure about you” - Lyrics by Kirsty MacColl

In pre-social media days the traditional hiring process was thus: Advert in paper, CV posted with covering letter, interview, second interview, offer negotiation and then references. Pretty linear stuff with information shared between a fairly restricted number of players and usually confined to a discussion on professional competencies and achievements.

In the past CVs could contain embellishments (or sometimes downright lies) and only the most fastidious of hiring companies and the most honest of referees would challenge any potentially dodgy data.

Stories of such hoodwinks or blags are legion and I suspect mostly apocryphal but who’s to know how many senior and successful professionals previously managed to achieve moves up the career ladder with the odd little white lie or exaggeration on their CVs?

Online profiles help transparency

Today however we expose multiple aspects of our lives across sites such as Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, Blogs, Instagram, Foursquare and many more. Savvy employers are able to tune in to and survey these online personalities and achieve a much more complex understanding of who are, or who we purport to be, without the need to ever read a CV.

In some circumstances this has even taken a more sinister or intrusive direction with stories of employers asking employees or prospective employees to hand over passwords to social media accounts so they could vet even the information we have chosen to remain private to certain circles of friends, connections and followers. Recently two US senators have asked for an investigation into this practice and Erin Egan, Facebook’s chief privacy officer, has issued a statement to users highlighting their right to refuse these requests.

Our professional profiles, which advertise our skills and experiences on sites such as LinkedIn for networking, promotional and career advancement reasons are necessarily more open than the social biased sites such as Facebook. This openness means they are there to be judged and shared online by colleagues, peers, competitors, clients and employers.

Woe betide anyone considering bending the truth or bigging up their achievements without the evidence to back it up as they can be quickly challenged and exposed. Nothing irks quite so much as someone taking undeserved credit for something and if found out the action taken against the usurper is likely to be very public and impossible to keep a lid on.

Never reveal sensitive or confidential information

The other big no-no is revealing information on profiles which others may deem sensitive or even confidential. The recent case of HR Manager John Flexman fired because of his Linkedin profile seems to hinge on two key items of contention. First that Mr Flexman was advertising himself as interested in career opportunities which is employer objected to. Second that he published company data that was deemed sensitive. I understand Mr Flexman’s court case against his employer is ongoing and many social media commentators are waiting with baited breath to see how this pans out as the repercussions may be significant.

Similarly users should avoid employing outlandish corporate gobbledygook on their profile to describe their fairly prosaic skills and services. A bit of spit, polish and marketing sparkle is perhaps fine but go too far and you run the risk of online ridicule.

LinkedIn profile for Elvis the King of Rock n Roll?

Staff augmentation service?

I recently had a good chuckle at a tweet sent to over 3,000 followers by an industry voice (and then retweeted onwards by many more) raising an arched eyebrow at a recruitment agent describing their “exceptional staff augmentation service” available to clients. What was going through their mind when they wrote that particular piece of copy I have no idea but it clearly didn’t have the desired effect of accurately describing what they do but rather made them look a tad ridiculous.

The most bizarre and wrong-headed use of misinformation and deception used online that I’ve come across (so stupid I thought it was made up) are the foolish users who choose to create bogus profiles in the hope that they can solicit useful industry information from unsuspecting networkers.

For instance recruiters who hope that their false profiles will be approached with job opportunities, which they can then in turn act upon. How many flavours of stupid is that? At some point they are always “outed” and in one stroke they drag their profession through the mud, destroy what reputation they may have had and make themselves pariahs. Not to mention the distracting effort it must take to maintain the subterfuge.

Online profile guidelines

So when honing your online profile it’s probably best to stick to the following guidelines:

  • Sticking to the truth is always the best policy
  • Employment dates should add up, job titles should be truthful, responsibilities and achievements accurate, qualifications comprehensive
  • Use a photo that is actually you; not a cartoon character, album cover or movie star (I’ve seen them all)
  • Use plain English as much as possible and avoid too much corporate speak
  • Be 100% sure that you’re not posting any information that your employer, past employer or clients may deem sensitive or confidential
  • If your employer has a social media policy take care to ensure you abiding by it
  • Be mindful of the difference between what is appropriate on a site like Facebook where your friends are and what is appropriate on a site like Linkedin which may be seen by employers, colleagues and clients

Promotion and polish to make your profile look as good as possible is fine but mendacity is not: “There ain’t nothin’ more powerful that the odor of mendacity” – Big Daddy in Tennessee Williams’s Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Related: What Does Your Online Persona Say About Your Personal Brand?

Robert Wright is a Soft Southerner hiding in the North interested in Recruiting, Career Advice, Networking, Veggie Patching, Walking the Dog, Parenting and Husbanding. Find him on Linkedin or follow his Twitter account @robmwright.

Filed Under: LinkedIn, Personal Branding, Reputation Tagged With: , ,

INFOGRAPHIC: How To Boost Your Personal Brand with Social Media

Social media is everywhere – and since there’s no escaping, you might as well learn to leverage it best for your personal brand! Now more than ever, employers are using social media to not only screen applicants, but hunt for potential candidates.

Check out this infographic from HiredMyWay on the basics of personal branding with social media and learn how to showcase yourself best on the web.

Some takeaways:

  • LinkedIn is the business oriented social networking site where you can follow companies
  • Twitter is a great place for searching and finding real-time conversations
  • Google Plus content will show up in Google search results, so make sure yours is positive
  • Klout gauges your online personal brand’s effectiveness, it gives you an influence score online
  • about.me allows you to create a personal landing page, very easy to format – no coding needed

how you can brand yourself on different social networks

Filed Under: Infographic, Personal Branding, Social Recruiting Tagged With: ,

INFOGRAPHIC: How Your Facebook Picture Can Damage Your Personal Brand


Can a good picture help your personal brand? Maybe. Can a bad photo on Facebook ruin your brand? Absolutely.

Here’s a nifty infographic from LinkingR about the level of damage your image can make to your online identity on Facebook and other places.

Minor damage is incurred by using a default picture (imagine the egg on Twitter). A little more damage is done by using a low-res photo or something blurry altogether (so forget those holiday snaps please).

Dual damage is when you use someone elses photo, especially if that photo is bad as well. In the graphic below they’ve used Brad Pitt which probably mitigates that damage just a tad. Severe damage is caused by using an offensive image that will shock your grandma.

The highest level of damage is apparently the use of pornographic imagery. Funny that, I see lots of these images on Twitter by spammers and it seems to work for them, mind you they’re not looking to boost their online personal brand of course.

Related: 7 Pictures You Should Never Use on Your LinkedIn Profile.


Image credit JD Hancock

Filed Under: Facebook, Infographic, Personal Branding, Picture Tagged With: , ,

5 Ways To Uncover Your Personal Brand’s Strengths

Personal branding is all about leveraging your strengths to stand out and differentiate yourself. Our strengths are what makes us unique, authentic, and real. Yet we tend to fall into the trap of trying to fix our weaknesses. We invest time, money, and effort trying to be better at something that we may never get better at doing even after training, studying, or practicing. This really comes as no surprise as the focus on weakness in society is hard to ignore. Almost every job interview asks about our weaknesses in light of our strengths! Why do recruiters and hiring managers waste time on such a question?

John Falchetto recently wrote a great post about the importance of knowing our strengths and how to use them. He points out that “we are experts at defining how much we suck at something.” We are quick to say things like “I can’t do…”, “I’m not good at..”, or “I suck at…”. So this got me thinking. Maybe it is just easier for us to talk about our weaknesses rather then pointing out the strengths that set us apart. Here in Japan I see this all the time. Ask someone what they are good at and they immediately turn the answer into what they are NOT good at. This is certainly not unique to Japan and John says that this mind-set is the result of being conditioned that humans are naturally bad.

When reading John’s post I immediately recalled a powerful commercial for Saucony running shoes called “What is Strong?“. I simply love the message in this commercial that maybe strong is just what we have left when we’ve used up all our weak. How can you ‘use-up’ your weak and use your strong? Try the following 5 activities.

1. StrengthsFinder 2.0

Are you an “achiever”, “relator”, “maximizer”? First introduced in 2001, the StrengthsFinder assessment was designed with the simple purpose of helping you to discover your top five strengths and how each of these plays out in your life. By doing the assessment you have more clarity in understanding how to do what you naturally do best every day, and how to identify the opportunities that will enable you to use your strengths. Access to the assessment does require a code that comes with the purchase of the book, but it is worth it.

2. Don’t SWOT, SOAR!

We are all familiar with the SWOT analysis. It continues to be one of the most widely used strategic planning tools. When it comes to personal branding, swat away SWOT and let your brand SOAR! SOAR retains the ‘strengths’ and ‘opportunities’ from the traditional SWOT, but adds a critical process of ‘appreciative intent’ by including ‘aspirations’ and ‘results’. Appreciative Intent (AI) really goes hand-in-hand with personal branding as its function is to build plans around what works, rather then trying to fix what doesn’t. This empowers us to focus on the positives that we can imagine and actually achieve in the future.

3. ‘Headline News’

How do you want the world to see you? What do you want to be known for? If someone picks up the newspaper and there is a front page article about you, what would the headline read? Identify a list of people who know you well including friends, family, colleagues, etc. Ask them to write a front page headline about you. Remind them to be genuine and real here. You don’t want them to fantasize. Their headline should be something they feel is absolutely achievable and realistic for you. What you get back will be amazing collection of headlines. Look for themes across these headlines and pay attention to all the verbs used as they will say a lot about how they see your strengths.

4. ‘Seven Stories’

Seven Stories is a comprehensive introspective activity where you first make a list of 25 enjoyable accomplishments in your life from childhood to present time. Things you not only enjoyed, but also did well. From this list you narrow it down to the seven that are the most important to you and write a short paragraph about each accomplishment. With these seven stories you will find some common threads and uncover strengths that perhaps you never realized.

5. ‘My Retirement Party’

This is a great “forward visioning” activity that combines aspects of ‘Headline News’ and ‘Seven Stories’. Imagine you are sitting on the porch of your home and old friends, family members, and colleagues are showing up. People are coming to celebrate your retirement. As everyone gathers they are gradually breaking into smaller groups, talking, laughing, and having a great time. They are talking about you and how you have impacted their lives. You get up from the porch and walk around. As you pass by each group you can overhear what they are saying. Write down what you hear. How have you made an impact? What did you do to help them?

Using any of these activities will help you to find your strong! How about you? Do you have any other ways to maximize your strong? Please share.

Related: 3 Smart Ways to Brand Yourself in the Job Search Process.

Peter Sterlacci, Founder of BeYB – Believe. Become. Be Your Brand, combines personal branding strategy with cycling imagery to empower on-the-move careerists in global companies in Japan to shift gears, get out of the saddle, and sprint to career success! Follow his personal branding rides on Twitter @petersterlacci.

Image credit Victor1558

Filed Under: Personal Branding Tagged With:

How To Start Conversations with Complete Strangers in a Natural Way


You might wonder why on earth you should speak to strangers in the first place. I mean afterall, we’re taught by our parents never to speak to strangers and the only folks that do seem to be the village idiot and local yokels. I guess the reason I speak to strangers is to network, by going to and running events you get to know very useful and interesting people – and the only way to do this is by talking to them.

In business, the ability to small talk with (and get on with) anyone is very useful. If you want to be seen as an all-rounder that can get on with multinational and cross-sector teams, you’d have to have the ability to speak to strangers. Here are the stranger-talking tips that I have come up with:

Get introduced if possible

This is the simplest way of speaking to strangers and it will work when you’re at a well-organized event. Ask the host of the event you are at who you should speak to and get an introduction – this is of course much more powerful and cuts through the chit chat. It saves you having to think about an icebreaker as well. The host should know what people are happy to chat with someone like you and vice versa.

The big city question that always works

In London you can get away with the easiest question of them all: Where are you from? Very few people are actually from London and most folks have a great story about how they got there. I would think this one applies to any major city which has an influx/outflux of people.

Talking points allow strangers to speak

Whenever something unexpected (especially something less-than-great) happens, people get talking. If you get stuck in the elevator, if the service is really slow at the bar, someone stinks on the train, if the weather suddenly shifts – it’s ok to speak to strangers all of a sudden. This is because you now have a talking point and you have an experience to discuss.

Got a joke? Deliver it!

Humor always works, crack a clever joke and it’s now acceptable to laugh and comment on your wit. You have to be a little bit careful with jokes when dealing with strangers, you don’t want to slate a restaurant and then find out that the owner is the stranger’s brother.

Learn from pick up artists

If you look at the world of chat-ups, it usually starts with a genuine question like ‘do you have a light’ or ‘do you know what DJ is on tonight?’ – and take it from there. You’ll know whether someone wants to have a conversation with you or if they quickly answer your question and turns away. Don’t forget to smile when using this approach by the way!

Fancy dressing up a bit?

Another observation I’ve made is that fancy dress tends to encourage people talking, if you’re wearing a chicken suit people think it’s normal to have a chat for some reason. If that’s too extreme for you, try wearing a peacock item like a hat, a scarf or a loud shirt – all of which are great conversation starters.

Bring an icebreaker

People in parks don’t tend to speak to strangers. People on buses don’t speak to strangers. There is an exception however, this is when someone has brought their baby or dog, suddenly it’s ok to smile and ask ‘how old is she’ or ‘what’s his name’? So if you want people to speak to you, bring an icebreaker of some kind.

Have a drink

Alcohol is another obvious icebreaker, people that work in the same office and never speak will suddenly be best pals at the Christmas do thanks to a few drinks. Trouble is they go back to not speaking in January again… Alcohol works but it’s not a great strategy in my book, I know I’m not the best networker when I’ve had a few drinks!

When you do speak, find out what they are passionate about

Find out what people are passionate about if you want to stand out. Everyone asks what’s your name, what do you do, what company etc – you have the same conversation with everyone. Instead ask what they did on the weekend, what holidays they have planned etc and get them talking – everyone wants to speak about their passions. The following day this person will definitely remember speaking to you and you can take it from there – now that you know each other a little bit it’s time to see how you could possibly help each other.

More on this at 3 Smart Networking Strategies To Use at Your Next Event.

Bottom line

When attempting to talk to strangers you have to accept that the first few moments will be awkward sometimes, that some people will blank you – that’s just life. My experience tells me most people are very happy to have a chat and nobody will bite you! Your only challenge is breaking the ice and the conversation will flow from there.

Do you have any hot tips for talking to strangers? Or how to avoid strangers talking to you? Or how not to be strange? Please let us know in the comments!

Related: The Psychology of Networking: How Some Appear Natural While Others Stutter.

More on networking and talking to strangers at our Personal Branding from the Inside Out workshops in the UK – would love to see you there!

Filed Under: Networking, Personal Branding Tagged With:

3 Smart Ways to Brand Yourself in the Job Hunt Process


In a sea of resumes, it couldn’t be harder to stand out than it is right now. While your experience screams, “Hire me!” so does everyone else’s. In today’s job world, it’s a competition about who you know, and even then, the process of getting plucked out of 300 resumes can be an impossible task.

There are a number of ways you can brand yourself to stick out in a crowded stack of resumes. How do you get ahead? Get interactive.

“…The job search techniques of yesterday – send out résumés, search the want ads, and wait for a job to fall in your lap – won’t even get your foot in the door. What you need in order to get a job today, says Jim Kukral, is the courage to put yourself out there and get the attention of employers by trying something no one else is doing.” – RP News Wires

1. Keep a Blog

Blogging has become a popular new form of social media. While blogging has been in existence since the late 90’s, it has become more popular across the board as of late. While many businesses have taken to this medium as a form of social media, you can use it to boost your hiring potential. This shows that you have technical skills with your particular blogging platform and that you are dedicated to your personal growth.

• Focus on a topic you’re passionate about, even if it has nothing to do with the position you hope to get. This reflects your personal brand.

• Consider a number of options ranging from traditional written blog, to short form blogging, or photo blogging.

• Place this in your skills section and hyperlink your URL in.

Related: How Blogging Will Boost Your Personal Brand.

2. Take Advantage of Google Plus

The social platform created by Google might be your best professional portfolio. With a variety of ways to express who you are, it serves as an excellent way to be your brand. Having a Google Plus account, and using it only for professional interactions, allows you to create the best reflection of yourself.

• Photos: The trouble with Facebook photos is the tagging ability. A survey by Reppler found that 11% of survey participants decided not to hire a candidate because of inappropriate photos. With Google Plus you can place a few simple photos to communicate who you are as a person and keep your St. Patty’s festivities out of the picture.

• Portfolio: Perhaps one of the best features is the portfolio section of your profile. Here you can place links to various places where you or your work has been featured. Whether it’s photographs, blog posts, interviews, etc, being recognized or published is always good.

• Other profiles: Use this link area to send potential employers to networks other than Facebook. Link your Tumblr account, your blog, etc.

Related: How To Use Google Plus for Professional Networking [10 Ideas].

3. Create a Video

Whether you’re a skilled videographer or not creating a video of some sort is a smart way to boost your chances of being remembered for the position. Your brand will come through better in video than on paper.

This phenomenon has gained popularity on sites like ResumeTube which allow you to promote yourself via resume video. Beyond.com says, “The use of video resumes is a growing trend used by job candidates to effectively market themselves to employers and stand out amongst other candidates who do not yet utilize this tool.”

If you can’t manage to create a video, utilize another medium such as Prezi. Whatever medium you prefer, remember to:

• Be creative: Don’t simply read your resume out loud, find creative ways to show them your resume. Mashable suggests using the video as a means of showing what you will achieve in the future, not necessarily what you already have. You can sing, act, be silly, whatever fits who you are.

• Make it short: While your video will be entertaining, the employer doesn’t have time to watch a ten minute video. Two minutes or less is ideal.

With the number of qualified candidates growing with each new graduating college class, it’s more important than ever that you stand out in your job hunt process. To do this, it’s smart to brand yourself – give your potential employer something to really remember you by. Be creative, have fun and get the job.

Related: Personal Branding: Blending in to Stand out.

Jessica Sanders writes for lead generation resource, Resource Nation. She gives small business advice on topics such as social media and career advancement. Follow her on Twitter. 
Image credit Beth Rankin

Filed Under: Job Search, Personal Branding Tagged With: , , ,

Top 3 Ways To Become an Expert in Your Industry

how you can become the expert in your industry

In traditional branding, the goal is to position your product in the premium segment. When you achieve this you can increase the price of the product and the demand will stay constant. In personal branding, you can do the same thing – you can become an expert.

Who is an expert?

An expert is someone that knows their stuff better than anyone else in their field. When you start a job, you are likely to look up to your seniors and ask them for advice. One of these senior colleagues will be an expert, the person that basically has the best subject matter knowledge and can tell the others how to do things. An expert is not necessarily a people manager, oftentimes they prefer hone their own skills than managing others.

Whenever you see traditional titles like professor, chief architect, field marshal or anything else pompous you can expect the person to be an expert. Nowadays, you get the ‘new’ titles such as ninja or guru to denote an expert. Thought leader is another popular label used liberally across the Internet.

Some would argue that you can only earn your expert status from your customers and peers, never by simply saying that you are one.

Why should you want to become an expert?

It may sound a bit dull but there are a number of advantages to being an expert. Two of these stand out with clear benefits.

The fist one is that everyone wants to work with or buy from the person who has the reputation, credibility and knowledge of an expert. This means there is an increase in demand but not in supply; the person only has so much time to do their work. The first benefit of being an expert is that with more demand, you can choose which customers to take on as opposed to engaging with everyone.

The second clear benefit of being an expert is one of classic economics. I just mentioned that demand goes up but the supply stays the same; this means the supplier can set a higher price for their product or service. Again, instead of catering for the masses and competing on price like everyone else, the expert can choose who to work with and request a higher fee.

How you can become an expert in your field

There are probably as many ways to becoming one as there are experts out there. Some of these ways keep being mentioned and to me they are the top three. The three activities you have to be doing to become an expert are: listening, communicating and creating.

1. Listening

Listening is the first one, by this I mean picking up information from all corners of your industry. Read blogs, magazines, books, go to seminars and workshops, watch and listen to the right programmes on TV and radio. When you listen and take onboard all that information, you will by default be improving your skills and getting closer to being the expert every day. Information is power as the old saying goes.

2. Communicating

Communicating is all about being out there and talking to the people that matter in your industry. Whether it’s a client meeting, a networking event or you are commenting on a blog – it’s all interaction with your target audience. When you are engaging with the community, you will notice exactly what problems they are looking to solve – allowing you to adjust your service offering accordingly.

3. Creating

Creating finally is where you produce content that secures you that expert status. Choose your channel wisely here according to what fits your audience. You could for instance write blog posts, newspaper articles, record podcast or produce video content. If you are really serious about becoming an expert, try your hand at writing a book. Whatever you choose to do, the results of your creative output will lead to further promotion of your personal brand and increased interest from customers.

The expert’s advice

Chris Brogan says that as a rule of thumb, you should listen 50% of your time, communicating and creating each 25% of the time. He produces quality blog content every day that ensures he stays at the top of his game. As a result of his blogging, he provides consulting services to major blue-chip companies, charging top dollar as an expert.

Bottom line

It may sound a bit odd but becoming an expert has many benefits to it. If you are into personal branding, blogging, social media and networking you will have seen that some people enjoy a lot of attention and can exert a great deal of influence. If you are serious about your business or career, becoming the expert is the way forward.

Do you create content of some sort in order to be an expert?

Related post: 5 Kick-Ass Reasons to Boost Your Personal Brand Today.

photo by: JonoMueller
Filed Under: Personal Branding, Professional, Reputation Tagged With: ,

3 Smart Networking Strategies To Use at Your Next Event


I get asked quite a bit about networking and the relation to job search and personal branding. Sometimes it’s about where to find good networking events, sometimes it’s more about how to approach the whole networking thing. Networking is second nature to some people and it’s a bit foreign to others. Once you have developed and positioned yourself in your personal brand it’s time to go out and meet some people and make an impact with it I say.

Why should you be networking?

Did you ever hear the mantra that “people buy from people they know, like and trust”? This is as true as it ever was. But to get trusted you have to be liked, to be liked you have to be known… How do you get to know customers in the first place? Well, a networking event is a great forum for it. This is where people come out for the very reason to meet people, share ideas and in a way sell themselves.

At a networking event, you are showcasing yourself, your expertise and ultimately your personal brand. There is plenty of networking advice out there, I have come up with three things that have worked well for me over the years and here goes:

1. Listen and then ask the right questions

The golden rule at a networking event, or any other business interaction for that matter is to listen more than you talk. This is classic sales stuff that everyone should know. If you think about the really successful people in your life, are they very chatter boxes or are they listeners? I would think the latter. Do they ask the right questions? I would think they probably do.

You will only reach success when you understand what other people really want. Sometimes you will get people asking for your services but not knowing exactly why. This is your job to listen and make sure they know their reasons for it and what they are trying to achieve. If you think about it, what salesperson would you buy a camera from; the one talking at you and selling feature after feature, or the other one asking what you are going to use it for?

Being an active listener and asking the right questions sounds like simple stuff but it can be harder to actually do. Active listening takes effort but when you do it the right questions will pop up and the payback is there.

2. Partner up with the competition

You will inevitably bump into people doing similar things to you at networking events. Instead of the Mexican stand-off which sometimes happens, try to find out where there can be synergies between the two of you.

Let’s say that you sell ice-cream for instance and you get talking to another ice-cream salesperson. Do you work the same location? Do you sell the same flavors? Do your customers have the same demographic? Same pricing? Probably not on most of these questions. This means you can share information on suppliers, discuss general market conditions and you can even set up a joint venture and seek global ice-cream domination.

If you are a solo-preneur, your success will depend on fitting into an eco system of other consultants and freelancers. Make yourself useful to them and help out as much as possible; your efforts are always appreciated and you will be repaid at some stage.

You will invariably bump into and sometimes lock horns with the competition at client sites. The networking event provides a ‘safe’ environment where you can you can practise interaction with the competition without causing too much damage in front of a customer.

3. Hunters vs. farmers

We have all been there. You get chatting to someone with a big smile from ear to ear. They are hyper friendly and rather quickly state their business while scanning the room for their next prey. They hand over their business card and expect you to reciprocate; they then make an excuse and move on to the next person.

This person will go home that night and count up the number of cards they got and more crucially, how many of their own cards they handed out. These people are called hunters, meaning they are only interested in a quick chat and exchanging cards. Study after study shows that this approach doesn’t work but some folks do it as handing out cards feels like an achievement.

Farmers on the other hand, understand the value of knowing, liking and trusting people. They know that business relationships grow over time and they are prepared to bide their time.

They say that all you need is twenty people in your network if you nurture it well. These twenty people may take many networking events to get right but the farmer knows that having a real connection with one person is much stronger than shallow chats with hundreds.

In practical terms, when you start out on the networking circuit it’s probably difficult to know who’s who. When you see the same faces a few weeks in a row you’ll know who the farmers are – and where you need to put your energy. The fact that the farmers are laid back, very comfortable with networking and genuinely interested in people certainly will certainly help you on the way.

Your turn

That’s three tips that have worked for me, hope they are of use to you. Now what are your best networking tips? Please share your thoughts!

Related reading: 5 Great Ways NOT to Network.

Image credit szeke

Filed Under: Events, Networking, Personal Branding Tagged With: ,

How Personal Branding is Making Headway in Japan [Video Interview]


How often do you get to chat with someone who’s a true pioneer? We just had a chat with the first (we think) personal branding consultant in Japan, our great friend Peter Sterlacci who is based in Kyoto, Japan.

Peter is an American based in Japan for over ten years and he is quickly becoming that country’s go-to guy for personal branding. Being a long-term resident in a country where ‘fitting in’ is the cultural norm, Peter understands the challenges facing Japanese professionals to ‘stand-out’. He is dedicated to empowering on-the-move careerists in global companies in Japan to ‘break away’ from the pack and ride to success.

As you can tell by the picture above he loves his bicycling and nicely embeds this passion into his own brand. See what he had to say here and be sure to check out his guest post How Personal Branding is Just Like Riding a Bike.

Another interview covering personal branding is with Joshua Waldman, see more at How To Get a Job Using Social Media [Dummy or Not].

Filed Under: Expert Interview, Japan, Personal Branding Tagged With: , ,
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