Personal Branding Blog - Dan Schawbel

When I was growing up, I was always intrigued by how successful people got to where they were. I desperately asked some business colleagues, but did not receive the answers I requested. In this search, my thirst for knowledge was never quenched, until I stumbled upon a book called “From the Sandbox to the Corner Office” that relieved me. With insights and honesty from business legends, this book explores the experiences of those who learned by making mistakes and by grasping opportunities.

About the Author

Eve Tahmincioglu is the “Your Career” columnist for MSNBC.com, the author of the book I’m holding in that picture, as well as a blogger. She understands the importance and demand for blogging as a supplement to traditional journalism and even offers a mailing list, so people can keep up with her hectic life. She’s a regular contributor to the New York Times and BusinessWeek’s SmallBiz magazine. Eve has also bought her domain name or shall I say “personal brand website.” With 20 years of experience writing about workplace issues and hosting daily newspapers from New York to Florida, Eve has seen it all and shares her experience daily.

You Think You Know Them - But You Have No Idea!

In the book, 50 executives are profiled, but I’m going to stick with the biggest and most reputable personal brands for this review.

• Richard Parsons, CEO of Time Warner: His dream job is to be a piano bar player.
• Pernille Spiers-Lopez, President of IKEA North America: Her first job as an adult was a tour guide.
• Brian Gallagher, President of the United Way: He is afraid of failure more than anything else.
• Ralph de la Vega, COO of Cingular Wireless: The person he respects more than anyone is Martin Luther King Jr.
• Christie Hefner, CEO of Playboy Enterprises: Her bad habit is rushing and her good one is trying to always be kind.

Now for lessons learned

• Parsons: “A great leader doesn’t need people revering him or her. A leader needs to develop a trust with subordinates so they can readily disclose bad news.”
• Pernille: “You have to accept that working your way up the ladder is American way of doing business. It’s not always about connections.”
• Brian: “Focus on the job at hand, not advancement, if you truly want to be successful.”
• Ralph: “If you don’t take a chance and leave your comfort zone you will not be able to advance in your career and your life.”
• Christie: “Keep your smart, on-the-ball rivals close so you can have the best team around you and learn from their expertise.”

There is way more where that came from, but I don’t want to ruin the book for you. If you have an appetite for success, you must read this book.

Background

Google is the dominant search engine, with about 70% of all search traffic. At the end of last year, the Pew Internet Research Team found that 47% of people search for information about themselves online (Self-Googling), which was more than double 5 years ago. I have written about the importance of Google before, when I mentioned that you have to be #1 in natural search because mobile devices only list the first one, unless you scroll down. I’ve also spoken about the importance of securing your brand on Google by purchasing your domain name and the difference between natural and paid search. Finally, I noted that Google is a background checker.

People are Googling you as we speak and you better make sure you have some internet presence if you want to exist. Employers will be searching for you or people like you. “Given that everyone from potential employers to potential mates is likely to be Googling you, you should have a good idea of what they will find,” said Alexander Halavais, a Professor at University of Buffalo. The Wall Street Journal even wrote a story called “You’re a Nobody Unless Your Name Google’s Well.” The article can be summed up as “Before Abigail Garvey got married in 2000, anyone could easily Google her. Then she swapped her maiden name for her husband’s last name, Wilson, and dropped out of sight.”

Try Self-Googling Right Now

If you Google “Dan” you get 683,000,000 results, whereas if you Google “Schawbel” you get 89,000 results and “Dan Schawbel” gets you 28,700 results total. I’m not sure about “Dan” but “Daniel” (my legal name) is the 7th most popular baby name this year. There are even Baby Naming businesses that select distinct names for children and families are purchasing the children’s domain name as presents. Also, my uncle purchased “Schawbel.com” and has an internet presence, so if you Google “Schawbel” it will be 98% me and 2% him (and my aunt laughs about it). Why do you get the results you do?

What Does the Dictionary Say?

Self Googling: The act of using the Google search engine to look yourself up. Extreme cases of self-googling have resulted in googlitis.

“I was dying to know how many different ways people could find me on the Internet, so I did a little self-googling in order to count. Sadly, I’m not nearly as popular as the other person out there with my exact name.”

Seth Godin’s Words of Wisdom

“Google yourself. If you’re a salesperson, your prospects already do. If you’re looking for a job, your prospective employers already do. If you’ve got a job, your co-workers already do.” - Seth

William Arruda’s Classification

William is one of my friends and a fellow personal branding guru, more focused on executives and companies. This is part of his entry on a MarketingProfs article he wrote, based on how he categorizes your Google presence. If you want to calculate your online identity, go to his website. I’m sure he’s monitoring his Google presence, so he should be reading this as we speak.

• Digitally Disguised: There is absolutely nothing about you on the Web. Your Google search yielded no results. This is easy to remedy, but you’d better get started right away.
• Digitally Dissed: When you fall into this category, there is little on the Web about you, and what is there is either negative or inconsistent with what you want to be known for. Although not where you want to be, it is easy to improve your on-line profile.
• Digitally Disastrous: This is the most challenging situation because there is lots of information about you on the Web, but it has little relevance to what you want to express about yourself.
• Digitally Dabbling: There is already some on-brand information on the Web about you. Although the volume of results is not high, the material that is there is relevant and consistent with your personal brand.
• Digitally Distinct: This is nirvana in the world of on-line identity. There are lots of results about you and most, if not all, reinforce your unique promise of value –- your personal brand.

Google Me - A BRAND New Film

For more clips, go to the YouTube channel. The full-length movie is there, which runs about an hour and a half in length. It’s very interesting and if you have time, you should watch it. It is a documentary about Jim Killeen, who Googled himself and then went all over the world meeting others with his name.

Google Me - The Music Video by Teyana Taylor

Who is Katherine Banning?

Currently living in the US, Katherine is a member of the National Trust (UK), as well as English Heritage, the Royal Oak Society, Friends of Kew, and the National Trust for Historic Preservation (US). An energetic and enthusiastic professional, she plans to graduate from Eckerd College with a degree in Museum Studies in 2008, and hopes to return to Washington DC to attend graduate school with a concentration in Museum Studies and Historic Preservation.

Katherine Banning’s Story

Museums are my passion. In college, I majored in Museum Studies and took all the courses I could find in Cultural Heritage Conservation and Historic Preservation. I took honors classes, volunteered for extra research assignments, stayed on the Dean’s List, and worked very hard to learn everything I could about my favorite subjects. But as is often the case, I had guidance only on fulfilling my majors, not advice on establishing a career. I’d never heard of Branding.

It was by happy accident that I took an Arts Marketing class taught by Marshall Rousseau, Director Emeritus of the Salvador Dali Museum. Professor Rousseau assigned a book called Museum Branding, by Margot A. Wallace, and I read it voraciously. It was fascinating to think of museums as just like people, with identities of their own, often in need of image consultants.

With that idea in mind, I googled “Personal Branding” and found Dan Schawbel’s site. I followed his advice and bought my own name’s website, before anyone else. Then I jotted down some fundamental ideas from his blog: have the same photo on all social networking sites, create a tagline, and get busy building a Brand. Despite my schedule, (I work two full-time jobs while going to school and volunteering) my online Brand quickly and easily became a reality.

Although I still have a lot to learn, and my site could do with more content and some polishing, it’s a start. With each blog I read from Dan’s Personal Branding RSS feed, I feel better informed, and I’m grateful for the head start. I have Professor Rousseau to thank for opening my mind, and Dan Schawbel to credit for helping me focus my efforts. Personal Branding isn’t just online marketing - it is our duty to ourselves, these days. Frankly, it should be taught at every college.

Who is Willard Barure?

“My name is Willard Barure and I am a global brand. I am outgoing , good humoured and emotionally stable although i am not seeing anyone at the moment. I am a University student and i am an establishing stand up comedian who is lloking to elevate myself to an international actor`s status.I am also a gender activist apart from being a talented musician and poet.”

Willard Barure’s Story

“I first met Dan when I was thinking about re-branding myself as a Marketing Student ready to launch a successful career path and my quest for Knowledge led me to Dan through his personal Brand E-blog issues. I have to say I was blown off by what Dan was talking about, never in my life had I imagined myself as a brand vis –a –vis a corporate brand and I never imagined that my e-blogs could actually create lasting impressions and as such shape the total brand experience ,me.

With this new view I began consciously positioning myself as a marketing student with visible distinctive competencies and I practically created my own network using blogs like Hi5.com and Facebook.com which helped me to become a stronger brand. I say this because I used this platform to successfully run for a post in The Student Representative Council at Midlands State University, Zimbabwe. I also played a major role in helping to redress toxic masculinity traits amongst male students her at Midlands State University and the intervention programme was recognized as the best practice model by Oxfam Australia. There is no price for guessing whose face was chosen for the Cover page; mine, plus my profile was featured in the case study.

As I roll out my career path I have developed a passion for event management, and I am the Founder and President of PRACTIKAL, a creativity student welfare organization (www.practikalminds.cfsites.org). I am looking forward to finding an internship in one of the reputable firms in America so I can gain invaluable experience in a much faster paced economy and can strategically position myself as the global brand.

An interesting thing to note is that although me and Dan were born in the same year, 1983, he has already achieved far much more than I have, I guess this is because he has mastered the mystery of identifying, creating and understanding the personal brand.”