February 2008

What’s Inside:

• Founder’s Note
• Feature Article
• Spreading the Love
• Certification

Founder’s Note

Happy Valentine’s Day!

At Reach, we focus on personal branding for professional success, but because it is St. Valentine’s Day, I thought I would share with you my thoughts on how personal branding applies to the world of romance. The dating world, just as the corporate world, is ultra-competitive. To attract your special someone, you need to stand out among all the other singles who are out there looking for love (hopefully in all the right places). You need to be differentiated, compelling, special. And most importantly, you need to be authentic.

You want to attract the attention of the person who is going to be enthralled with what makes you – you. This is – plain and simple – branding. When you know what makes you exceptional and you use that to attract the attention of the people you want to meet, you are a strong brand. So you need to ensure that everything you do and say and everything that surrounds you sends that same on-brand message.

Several years ago, I was the guest personal branding expert on a TV show for the BBC (it was my first experience with TV and a ton of fun!) where a young woman, Susanna, had to choose among three men to date. The only catch was that she could not meet them. She had to learn about their personal brands from their friends, by snooping around their apartments and speaking with their colleagues and manager. It was a fascinating experience for me. One of the guys had an incredibly strong brand – and his brand attributes of confident, adventurous and successful were reinforced with each of Susanna’s interactions with his brand environment. The other two guys were less clear about who they were; they were being all things to all people – and it was much harder for Susanna to decide if either one was right for her. In the end, she chose one of the two with less clear personal brands. The date didn’t go well and she continued her search for Mr. Right.

The moral of the story is to be clear and consistent about who you are and what makes you unique. If you are using online dating services like Match.com or e-harmony, make sure you are communicating a highly differentiated and authentic brand so you attract the right suitors – those who will appreciate the real you.

And remember, prospective dates are going to google you – so make sure everything the virtual world says about you is consistent with your authentic self – your best self. If you haven’t already evaluated your on-line identity – check out our Online ID Calculator (it’s free!).

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Best.

William
What have you done for YOUR brand today?

Featured Article

I wrote an article that was just published in the Ladders called Eliminate the F-words and received countless emails about how the message was helpful. So here’s the article. Let me know what you think.

Eliminate the F–Words
By William Arruda

If you want to get ahead in your career, you have to stop using four–letter words that begin with the letter ‘F’.

No, I’m not talking about cleaning your mouth out with soap. Of course, cursing your boss is probably not going to get you very far. But the F–words I share with you here are far more lethal, more destructive and more devastating to your career and professional fulfillment.

The ugliest four–letter words that begin with ‘F’ can hold you back if you don’t keep them in check. The words?

 F _ _ R

 F A _ _

 F _ N _

Have you guessed them?

The key to career success is to get the F–words out of your vocabulary, mindset and actions. Here’s how. > read more

Spreading the Love
We want to make sure that we are sending this newsletter to just those who truly want to receive it. So please re-subscribe (it takes 5 seconds, literally) so that we know you would like to continue to get your monthly dose of personal branding love from Reach. You can re-subscribe here.

And since it’s Valentine’s day, we are going to give ten random re-subscribers complimentary membership in the Reach Branding Club for a full year. You will be able to choose between Entrepreneur Edition and Job Search Edition. So re-subscribe now.

Certification
We have new sessions starting in March for our extremely popular Personal Branding and Online Identity certification programs. Join the hundreds who have already been certified – adding this important credential to your personal brand.