In the 21st century, everyone's a freelancer. Your value in the marketplace is going to be based entirely on what a prospective employer or client perceives as the value you bring to the table.
The coolest and most fun way to bring perceived value to the table is to brand yourself. Be as distinct and as memorable as Coca Cola or Oprah Winfrey, and watch your income rise along with a demand for your services.
1. Have a really fabulous website.
This one's mandatory. At the very least, you need a personal
page where you post your resume and interests.
Show the world you're with the program.
And here's a way to make your website extra cool--have a message board and/or a discussion list that keeps cool people coming back to the website to discuss cool stuff.
2. Have a strong network.
It doesn't matter how distinctive you are as a person or a
professional if no one knows you. Meet new people every chance you
get. Become known for something. Read "Power Networking" by Sandy
Vilas, and do the homework.
3. Have a "You, Inc." Mindset.
Starting today, think of yourself as the CEO of your own
personal services company. If you're employed, think of your employer
as your biggest client (for now).
And read "Die Broke" by Stephen M. Pollan and Mark Levine, especially the section entitled "Quit Your Job."
And run your professional life like it's a business you own--because it is.
4. Know what you stand for.
Make a list of what you stand for personally and
professionally. Spend lots of time on it. Fill a couple of pages in
your journal.
Then narrow it down to between two and four items that you're 125% excited about standing for. Make a sign or a bumper sticker to remind yourself.
5. Master your craft.
Don't just be competent; the world is full of unemployed and
unemployable competent people. As the white-collar revolution rages on
around us, it will soon have many more of them.
Instead of being competent be a master. Invent something new in your field. Do something no one else does. Start a new field.
Masters always make more money, and masters never lack work.
6. Have work that matters.
If the work you're doing now doesn't matter to you, quit.
Or change your mindset about what you do so that it does matter.
Or make dramatic, drastic changes in what you do and how you do it until it does matter.
7. Be someone who can afford to be unbelievably picky about who you
work for.
Your brand is only as cool/innovative/exciting as your clients
are. Get cool/innovative/exciting clients or employers.
8. Underpromise; overdeliver.
You'll never stand out if you overpromise and
underdeliver--everyone else is already doing that.
Why not make it easy on yourself to impress others? If you always deliver twice what you promised you would, then your reputation will gleam.
9. Read "The Brand You 50" by Tom Peters.
Study it. Do the homework.
10. Get out of your rut.
No one's interested in a stale, tired brand.
Read 40 magazines this month that you never would have considered reading before. Go somewhere on vacation that you've never been before. Learn to dance, or sing, or juggle.
Do anything and everything to break out of that rut.
======================================= Submitted by R. Ray, soon to be famous e-zine publisher, salesperson, and life coach, who can be reached at randyray2000@hotmail.com ======================================= The original source is: Tom Peters' 'The Brand You 50' and Stephen M. Pollan and Mark Levine's 'Die Broke.'