Kristin Colier

My grandfather worked as an Electrical Engineer for Goodyear almost his entire career, 40 years, 9-5. My parent’s post-college careers were long stretches (10-20 years) in large organizations, with upward mobility and various titles, but still relatively the same job description and talent requirements in each position.

In my 20 year professional career, I’ve worked at small start-ups and large corporations, W2, 1099, part-time, full-time, flex-time, consulted and contracted. My average job has lasted 3-5 years… with various reasons to “move on” from one to the other including acquisition, spin-offs, parenting and dot-com bubbles bursting. I am not unique, it is the trend of my generation. And the 20-somethings (Millennials, Gen Y) won’t remember when “corporate culture” wasn’t a major component of a business’ identity and employment decisions. (But are there ping-pong tables in the break room?)

So what does this have to do with personal branding? I think the sooner we stop asking ourselves (and our children) “What do you want to be when you grow up?” and instead start asking “Who do you want to be?” or “What do you want your life to be like when you grow up?” there will be fewer mid-life identity crises.

So as I find myself with many talents and much experience, there exists no clear job description for what I’m really good at – inspiring people to go from good to great.

Enter Personal Branding.

Personal Branding is kind of like identity therapy for your business and/or career goals – plus marketing – plus sales.

It is learning how to tell your story at the drop of a hat with clarity and confidence.

I met Dave Cohen at SoCon several years ago and was really impressed with his knowledge and presentation. I had the pleasure of working on his very popular StartUp Weekend brainchild project, MoodyTweets last Fall and now I am again working with him on my own “personal brand” as I propel my consulting business to the next level.

I highly recommend any solopreneurs, entrepreneurs, job seekers, consultants and creatives to spend qualified time (and money) on defining your brand and learning to tell your story.

David will be offering a 3-part Personal Branding teleseminar series starting NEXT WEEK and is giving my friends/ clients/ customers a 10% discount (Use discount code TROUBADOUR). The teleseminar is 3 consecutive Thursdays starting February 18 at Noon.
He’ll cover:
• Why Personal Branding is more important than ever before
• The risks of not being brand aware
• The three R’s of branding
• The three C’s of effective communication
• The Beacon Principles that will give you confidence in your message
( and plenty of Q & A)

Use discount code: TROUBADOUR when you check out.
He’s also doing a Personal Pitch Clinic March 10.

Register for Personal Branding – Be A Beacon
So, I highly recommend this.
At least 80% of the websites I review and analyze need a better story and more cohesive branding. Dave is the person I would have referred you to anyway for that. So you just saved you a step. Of course, I can still help you with user-centered design, better conversion, search marketing and social strategy.

I look forward to hearing everyone’s new and improved Personal Brand stories.
Keep me posted.
-Kristin