Crystal Ware 0:00:02
Welcome to the Get Clear with Crystal Ware podcast. The place where we get clear on our goals, own our worth, and learn to be the CEOs of our own lives. I'm your host, Crystal Ware, lawyer and former Fortune 500 corporate leader who found the confidence to say goodbye to a lucrative career and start my own business. Now I'm opening up the playbook and sharing everything I've learn to get you there faster. It may not be easy, but it will always be worth it because you are made for more. So put on your big girl pants, jump on board, and let's reach for the stars. Are you ready to get clear?

Crystal Ware 0:00:38
We are back here with get clear. I'm your host, Crystal Ware, and today I'm going to talk about something I really never thought that I would be talking about, and that's building a personal brand and how it can really change your life. And when you think about that and you think about personal branding, you may be thinking about famous people online or influencers who you've seen. That is not exactly what I'm talking about, although it is sort of what we're talking about. There are actually so many people out there who have taken professional networking to another level, to ware. We call it creating your personal brand on LinkedIn. I know of a few that I have been connected with for some time and or following. One is Alex Sue, who leveraged his creation of legal memes to give him enough visibility and expand his horizons to where he leveraged that into a startup legal position. Miranda Von Frickin was an HR professional who built out her visibility and her network because she was recruiting and connecting people and working in HR. That's what people do oftentimes. Well, after being laid off multiple times, she turned that into consulting and then coaching. And there is also a guy on Instagram that I know through one of my personal friends and connections, Brittany Crosson, who's also really fun and created her own brand on Instagram. But Lanier Young and he did funny sing alongs in his car to and from work or other places like that. And I don't know what he's up to, something like 100,000 people on Instagram, but he's not doing that and leveraging that to create influence status. He's actually using that to bolster donations to the nonprofit that he actually runs as his normal career and day job.

Crystal Ware 0:02:44
So these are just a few examples that came to mind in thinking about what a personal brand really looks like and what it means. And I can speak to it myself that I really started using LinkedIn more frequently over the pandemic to have connectivity and because I wanted to learn and grow from other experts in different fields in the industries that I was in or working ancillary too. And I saw what other people were doing and I thought, why am I not sharing stuff? I do that in my professional life, I do that in my personal life. Why am I not doing that with a wider audience? So I got really intentional about what I was doing. But you shouldn't be scared away about thinking about personal branding as an avenue to just get famous or get rich or be an influencer. It really can help you in so many more ways that you really need to think about. Are you or do you need to be on social media in some form of fashion? Sometimes people don't think of LinkedIn as being social media, but LinkedIn is actually a professional social media networking. So whether or not you are already on there, you should be thinking about how you can utilize that more to create brand awareness around yourself and who you are and what your expertise is. If you are building a business then definitely you need to be on some social media networks. But even if you are just looking to grow in your career network for other opportunities if you want recruiters to reach out to you. I get people reaching out to me almost every single week for different traditional jobs that align with what my expertise has been historically. So if I was in the position to be looking for a job because I have so much information and so many connections out there on LinkedIn, people can easily find me and recruiters want to talk to me all the time.

Crystal Ware 0:04:49
I usually take the opportunity to connect them with other people who may be interested in but it just goes to show you what being online and being focused in what you're doing and how that can position you in your career. It really isn't about building up to do something greater or larger or different but it could lead you there. So if you think about the big picture and what your end goals are, it may be that you want to start now building your personal brand up and identifying areas in which you can utilize your specific skills or attributes or whatever it is to build a business for yourself. And it may start with just building in a traditional sense and it could leverage and grow to something different. I know that from a guy that I went to college with. His wife started along with him. Actually they were on facebook and she was doing marketing for some holistic health products that she was working with. And in doing that she started creating content and videos on instagram that grew and grew and grew until it did actually lead to other mom and child and parenting type partnerships and paid ads and things like that. That really took on a sense of its own kind of business and it really started with it was an avenue to do her traditional sales, health sales job and role and it grew into something more. So using it as a starting place is never a bad position to be in. It just does so much for you. It helps when you are working to get a job, if your LinkedIn is out there, if you have the full scope, if you have information about you, all of the information filled out about your old jobs, building a strong social media profile will catch the attention of recruiters. And that's not just for regular jobs or middle management. That also goes for executives and moving up into the next category. The more you are networking yourself, getting yourself out there, people can see and understand who you are.

Crystal Ware 0:07:15
People will think about you when there are opportunities that open up. I know people that have a strong, very professional, industry oriented content on their LinkedIn who get recruited from across the United States. Four big roles, four operational controller, CFO, COO type jobs. So being really intentional about what you're putting out there and what you're presenting is important, but it goes beyond what is on the Internet. It really does also have to do with how you're presenting yourself at your office and what your personal brand is. Do you want your personal brand to be a person that is doing the bare minimum? Do you want your personal brand and what represents you to be? This is a leader. This is somebody that mentors and grows other employees. This is somebody that takes on all kinds of tasks and is willing to try and expand their horizon outside of the box and category of their current role. How are you perceived? Are you friendly? Are you trustworthy? Are you outgoing? Do you make people laugh?

Crystal Ware 0:08:33
All of these little nuances of who you are and the qualities that make up who you are represent your personal brand in the real world and where you're working. And those things, whether you know it or not, are talked about in meetings at the next level. If your company is doing planning to fill roles or vacancies in the future, or if you're at a very big company who wants to move employees around to cross train, managers from one section and managers from another section will talk. And your personal brand is what will come up, the kind of person you are, the kind of opportunities that would be right for you. So you want to make sure that you are creating a personal brand in every interaction that you have, every meeting that you have, every communication that you send, that it is representing what you want to represent and who you want to be along with your colleagues and in that position. So when we talk about personal branding, it goes so much further than what we think about as a digital brand, something that monetizes, but it still monetizes because that personal brand is what is going to be, whether it's subconscious or at the forefront of the consciousness. When you're going in for a raise, when you're going in for a review, what people think of you and your personal brand in the first three, four, five words that come to their mind when they think of you. That is going to be the starting point of where your review sits. Okay? That makes a huge difference on if you get a raise, if you get a promotion, how you are ranking, what is the feedback in your review, and that goes up the chain of command and the bigger picture of who you are and where you're going in your career. So this matters really across the board, honestly. And that's what I was thinking about when we were talking about social media and how Clint Murphy basically took his social media and his ability to think and growth and create structures and strategies for other people to grow. And turned it into its own Clint Murphy Growth Guide brand. And the way that that can really impact your life in your day job, in your personal life, and then if you do want to create some other kind of brand awareness or product or book, all of those things matter. So this whole conversation, what I really wanted to come and talk about was just leaving those questions that creating a personal brand can really change the course of your life and structure and why building a personal brand really can be the starting point towards you hitting massive success.

Crystal Ware 0:11:34
And that can look like whatever your goal is. If you want to be the CFO, if you want to be a VP, if you want to be the president of a company, if you want to start your own business, if you want to be an investor, it also matters the brand. Do I want to work with this person? Do I want to have them as investor? Am I going to seek them out? Am I going to let them into my deals? And am I going to give this person at the company a promotion? All of these things are a factor, okay? So wherever you are today, if you think about your personal brand and what it represents and who you are and who you are to the organization, who you are to your colleagues, who you are to the other people that you're working around with for all those good things, it is there resonating somewhere. And you want to make sure that if you're looking to make a change, grow, shift, do something different. It starts with your personal brand and that can open and unlock a lot of doors for you. It can make people think of you for opportunities that you never otherwise would have gotten. It can give you the visibility to get you in the door. And once you're in the door, you have a much greater opportunity of getting somewhere. Okay?

Crystal Ware 0:12:43
Sometimes it's just getting through the door that matters. And the visibility that you create by being on social media can unlock the door sometimes. So it's just something that I started thinking about because really I had a lot of heartburn about getting on Instagram and creating that kind of social media where I had never taken a step like that before. But I realized that if I wanted to do something different and I wanted to grow and I wanted the podcast to grow, I really had to work on that and having myself out there and being more visible. So I would tell everybody to think about what am I doing with my social media, which does include LinkedIn. What am I doing in my day and how do I want to present myself. If you're not sure, if it's not clear, start at the starting point, which is write it down. Write it down, think about it, talk about it. Recognize where the weaknesses in you might be and how you could shift them, how you could do stuff differently to change your personal brand. If you're a person that has a mess on their desk and you want to be taken as more of a leader and prepared and organized, then it starts with that. It doesn't mean you have to have everything perfectly organized or perfectly mapped out in this pinterest worthy desk. But just think about small things like that, that you can change, that would signal to other people that I am making progress, I want to work into something different. If you are a quiet person, but you want to be a leader of a team, then how can you make your voice heard so that your personal brand starts resonating that I am a leader. I am able to command the room and take charge and be a leader doesn't mean you have to be super loud and obnoxious, okay? People, you know who you are if you're a quiet person and more reserved or a verbose person that's always raising their hand.

Crystal Ware 0:14:37
I mean, for me, what I had to work on was toning it down a little bit so I wasn't coming across like a gunner, overly obnoxious. Crystal wants to do it all. Crystal wants that. Crystal has an opinion about that and really just start speaking up when I had something really good to say or something really mattered to me. And making small adjustments and choices like that helps your personal brand. So do you have a personal brand? Have you put any thought into it? Are you on other social medias? Think about all those things. And then if you want to grow in your career, you got to also think about if you are on social media for personal reasons. That's all out there for people to find as well. So if you're applying for jobs, if you're looking for something, if you want to get into business with somebody, they can Google it, they can find you, they can dig around. So make sure that what you're doing in what you believe is your personal space is not also holding you back in your professional sphere as well. And I'll leave you with one that was really interesting. I knew a person that worked with me many years ago who went on, quote unquote, leave to take ware of a sick grandma.

Crystal Ware 0:15:51
Well, HR got wind from social media that this person was in fact skiing and working at a ski resort over Christmas break. And they wanted to be on leave so they could stay there and keep skiing and hanging out with their other friends for six weeks and not lose their job. That didn't work out so well. They lost their job. So keep that in mind. Social media is out there for everybody, so make sure that you understand that, that you are responsible about it and that you lock it down or just steer clear. All right. With that, we will end this. Close it out. Think about your personal brand. Take the step. Be intentional. The big things are out there. The success is there. It's all open for us.

Crystal Ware 0:16:39
Remember, an abundance mindset. It's an unlimited pie. We're all able to go out there and create the wealth, create the happiness, create the success that we want. So keep getting clear, keep doing the work, keep being consistent. We'll talk to you soon. Don't forget, share this like it. Make sure that other people can find us. We want to keep bringing you all this amazing goodness and can't wait to clear from you.

Crystal Ware 0:17:09
Thanks for listening in. If you loved what you heard, it would mean so much to me if you shared it with your friends. Tag us on social media so we can give you a big shout out.

Crystal Ware 0:17:18
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