360 DPI

What if you decided to write your own philosophy and give it a visual rendering? This was the challenge put to me by Karen Davis of Karen Davis Design in Houston. Karen actually directed me to a video she liked on YouTube about one of her contemporaries, Eric Cohler. I watched his promotional video and became inspired. I could create something very similar. My mind started going into creative overdrive as soon as this idea became tangible. Watch the video I created for Karen, and then watch the video that inspired me.

This past week, Tiger Woods made a public statement about how he compromised his core values. It made me think about my core values…I know I live by some, but I hadn’t defined them in quite a while. What are your core values, and do you live by them?

Reflecting back over my year has reminded me of something I learned in one of my own workshops. What’s the “One Thing” that makes you different?

Recently, my colleague Karen McCullough and I gave a workshop on how to market yourself as a public speaker.  It was a day of giving away all the things that worked for Karen in her career as a public speaker, some of which I helped her with, and all the things that did not. The workshop ended up being very interactive, with most of the participants adding extremely valuable information and experiences to the mix.

One of the most notable people there was Julie Haralson, the Marketing Director at Texas Children’s Hospital and a marketing consultant.  She shared a piece of information that has helped me immensely in the area of Personal Branding.  It was the concept of “The One Thing”.   Julie posed that very question to us, and it really clarified the crux of personal branding.  In a world where we’re all trying to stand out and be noticed, very few of us can easily identify that One Thing that defines us.  Julie reminded us of the movie City Slickers and this important scene where Curly learns about the secret to success and happiness.

Take a moment to think about that one thing that makes you different?  It’s not an easy question to answer.  I’m still working on it.

I’ve recently had the opportunity to help Karen McCullough with her book endeavor. She and her daughter Meredith have honored me with the privilege of creating the design and layout of “The Seven Women Project”. You may recall from one of my previous posts that I have been hard at work on the cover design. (Unfortunately, my blog posts pre-August 2009 have all disappeared due to a clerical error by my web hosting company so they aren’t available to see at this time). Both efforts, the cover and the layout/typesetting, have been an incredible learning experience for me. My hours at Rice University Glasscock School of Continuing Studies have paid off!

Most experiences, positive or negative, allow us the chance to learn and grow. What I’ve realized through this is another outlet for my creative energy, and also that I have the capacity to offer a new area of expertise to speakers and authors.

As a speaker, to have a book under you belt can be one of the most effective marketing tools in your arsenal. Just ask some of my colleagues (Donna Fisher, Jim Bob Solsbery) and they’ll tell you to “get published”. First of all, your credibility goes up about 1000 percent. Secondly, it can be a great source of income or another way to leverage your fee.

My advice would be to start. Develop your area of expertise. Nothing will make you an expert faster than writing a book. Take some tips from one of my favorite folks, Seth Godin. He has a blog post that might help you. This one is just about me bragging.

My favorite bunch of babes, Houston’s very own Texas Women Speakers Who Rock, is putting on a breakfast on September 25th that focuses on how to manage money. The gals had such a success with their first event back in June that they got right to work on this second one. It should be a hoot, so sign up soon.

They approached me about creating a very simple marketing video that they could upload onto each of their blogs to promote the event. If you haven’t considered using video and YouTube to promote or market your goods or services, then you are missing out on an amazing (and free) tool that is always at your fingertips.

I’ve been trying my hand at these “walk on” web videos. I had to film my subject in front of a green background. We wanted him to appear to be to walking onto the page, so I had to make sure his entire body was in the shot. I also had to be sure the background was evenly lit, as well as my subject. Notice how he looks a bit fuzzy around the edges. Getting the edges to stop glowing is a big challenge. But this is my first attempt at filming in front of a green screen. I know it’s not perfect, so I’ll be heading back to the studio to try again. I know I can get this if I keep trying.

One of the great things about the web is that I can find dozens of video tutorials on how to do this.

Kylie Minogue was just voted as Austrailia’s most marketable personal brand in a recent study conducted by Talent Inc! , a serveying company in Sydney.  She ranked higher than the Prime Minister, sports personalities, Hugh Jackman or Nicole Kidman.