Photo by petermeuris

I was interviewed by Elaine Pofeldt from One+, a meeting planner magazine. She was writing an article on how to utilize social networking websites to find suitable venues in Europe. It was in the February 2009 issue of One+:

ONCE YOU’VE BUILT a presence on the sites with the biggest worldwide presence, you may find that local networks can add depth to your networking. If your goal is to connect with professionals in Europe, popular sites such as U.K.-based Ecademy, Xing in Germany or Hyves in the Netherlands can be good resources. Targeting an Asian audience? In Japan, Mixi is the most popular.

“Facebook has a lot of equivalents in other countries,” said Marieke Hensel, founder of Branding Personality, who started out in Internet marketing in the Netherlands and now runs her business in Los Angeles. “Usually people who are into social networking use their local languages instead of going to Facebook.”

Unlike LinkedIn, which many professionals use to stay connected to those they already know, the culture of some sites fosters meetings between professionals who don’t already know each other, Hensel says.

“Ecademy, for instance, is about connecting with people worldwide and making new, random connections,” she said.

One of her clients recently asked her how to find an event location in Copenhagen. She suggested he contact the “country leader” on Ecademy for Denmark, who directed him to local sites that he included in a proposal now under review.

“She hosts events and knows exactly which places are available,” Hensel said.

Read full article on One+

This is a presentation I gave at the BNI Liaisons meeting on April 9, 2009.

Photo by scissorhands33

I’m rich beyond my wildest dreams
… unfortunately my dreams weren’t very wild.
- Author unknown

Do you have goals for your business? Do you have goals for your life?
Or are you getting further away from your glory and personal success?
One thing can be said: if you are waiting, hesitating…
you can miss getting out of business what really helps you improve your life.
What will give you energy and inspire you to shape your future?
Do you have dreams to fulfill?

I loved the internet since the first time I saw it. And when I started making good money online in 2001, when I had an e commerce shop and made $1500 in revenues, and still being a student. I sold Hello Kitty products online, that I imported from Asia, and 75% of my clients were in the US. I woke up every morning and saw all the closed sales that were done while I was sleeping. Really, that was the best start of my day. And I would like you to have that too!

Do you like to grow your business with 50% in 2009? Tell me, how much money do you want to earn?
More and more people want to be on the internet to grow their business, as it does not matter where you are and when you are. It’s just there, 24/7. And everybody has access to you and your services whenever -they- feel like it.

What does your (business)life look like in 5 years?
(choose one or the other)
1. Self-employed <-> employed
2. Work by yourself <-> Work in a team
3. Steadily grow my business <-> take risks that could pay off (or not)
4. Hire people <-> be on my own
5. Work at home <-> get/have office space
6. Local clients <-> national clients <-> global clients
7. Work routine <-> work whenever I want to
8. Work more <-> work less
9. Keep doing what I do and get better at it <-> change my products/services
10. I grow my business according to the inflation rate <-> I triple my business income

While thinking about each of these, just focus on the business that you have right now. You might want to add new things to your life that might eat up time to focus on your company. And that’s not bad at all, as long as you consciously choose to slow down your current business and make a decision. There could be all different reasons for this, getting kids, hobbies, education, new large clients, or other new interests that you develop.

Another thing you can see from the list, is that there are so many more things important than just a monetary goal. Making money is important and without it – a business is less fun, but that can count for many other items on the list. What would you do if your work time is out of balance? Or when you are a teamplayer and you work at home with no-one around? Motivate yourself and make sure your environment is stimulating for you to perform at your best.

I am excited that you are still here with me! Now you have started the thought process about your goals and maybe already defined goals. To reach your goals, its time to look at the product, the services and the core of all that is *you*. We will cover this in the next issues. Stay tuned!

Many people share their name with someone else. If your real you has the best online reputation, do not change a thing, and keep building your name. If you do find someone else using your name to shame, you can try the following things:

1. Boost your reputation, say you have used your name as Joseph Rapsody, but another Joseph Rapsody came along and posting rubbish in forums, really work on your personal brand and get your name to fame on the internet.

2. Enhance your name, if your name is Joe Smith, you stand a good chance that there is not just one other Joe Smith to beat, there will be many. By using an initial in the middle, or always using your title in your name you will differ your name from the crowd of Joe Smiths. While there are 193.000 listings in Google for Joe Smith, none exists for Dr. Joe G. Smith.

3. Choose a new name that stands out, when I started my ways on the internet, I really did not like my name as it was, long and difficult for any non-Dutch speaker to repeat. A great moment was it that I married and could choose for my husband’s name, which I did, and I changed my last name from van der Graaf to Hensel. Other people choose for an entirely non-existing name that reflects what they do or make it easy to remember. Trade your own last name in for a last name that reflects your ambitions, i.e. Marieke Gates – Bill Gates or Marieke Branson – Richard Branson.

Change your first name into a name that is powerful or international can help to enhance your personal brand as well.  What is it that you want your personal brand to be.

It is not easy to change your name. You will only see the full effect, if people use your name like that and you feel confident if you feel you are that name.

How much time does Twitter cost?
In these times, when we have less & less time on our hands to keep starting conversations that can grow into relationships. That is how I started blogging on Twitter. It was much easier to create an output of 4 microblogs each day on Twitter than 1 blogpost three times a week on my blog. In a couple of weeks I was hooked. Moreover because I had a heart surgery and stayed in the hospital for three weeks, and with a phone on my hands I could Twitter, read messages from others, if not I would have felt isolated. Please use useless time for Twitter, like standing in line, when in writers block, or waiting for a traffic light in the car (before the other cars start honking).

How can you read all messages from your friends on Twitter?
There is so much output on Twitter. You simply can’t read all your friends messages on Twitter. And if you could, you shouldn’t. Do you think all your friends always say something highly worthwhile? Yes, its worthwhile for them, but not at all always for me. So use your internet reading technique: scan the messages.

So, if everyone is posting and not everyone is reading, why is that worth my while?
The value is in the conversation, or you could say in the reply. That’s where the connection with a person starts. Share topics that you would like to interact on with other people. People build relationships with others, because they share something. Start sharing your interests, your business interests and what you do, and people will find you because they are interested in the same thing as you.

Also, find people through Twitter Search for example that talk about topics you are interested in, and start conversations with them.

Last week I highlighted a business from a friend that offers mediation services. My friend got people contacting him through my one Twitter post. Just 140 characters can result in closed business for you or someone else.

So should I start posting anything I want on Twitter?
I suggest sharing quality content in your Twitter feed, as that builds your credibility. And eleminating trashy posts, just helps that matter too. Use the keywords you like to talk about, be positive and supportive and most important: reply!

So Marieke, what did you get out of Twitter?
I use my Twitter mostly for strengthening relationships with the internet-geeky community in The Netherlands, but that has grown to something. And right now I have a lot of local connections in California too. My ultimate goal, is that I keep strengthening and building relationships with people in The Netherlands while I am here (in California). So they think of me, when they hear about online personal branding, social media marketing or blogs and invite me to give workshops in The Netherlands now & then. (I have one full-day workshop scheduled in December on Google Analytics)

How can you help me getting the most out of Twitter?
I give workshops to companies on Twitter, and provide 1-2-1 Twitter trainings by phone & face-to-face. Next to that, I set up profiles on Twitter and develop personalized Twitter strategies for business development, customer loyalty, etc.

“Jelly Coworking” in Fullerton – Network and mingle at this exciting event!

Jelly is an every-so-often casual coworking session. Anyone is welcome to come, bring your laptop, art supplies, or whatever, and work alongside other creative, fun people. We hope to see you!

Where?
Coworking location in historic downtown Fullerton. Plenty of seating, wifi, free Starbucks coffee, spring & purified water. More than 60 restaurants within walking distance.

Address:
Branding Personality
122 N. Harbor Blvd, Suite 110 (we’re around the corner on Amerige Ave)
Fullerton, CA 92832
1.877.747.FAME (3263)

From Harbor, turn into Amerige Ave and you”ll find ample free parking space on both sides of the street. Most parking spaces are 2 hours spots. All-day-for-free parking spots can be found on the Northwest corner of Chapman & Harbor. Its a 2-minute walk.

It is only a 1 minute walk from the Downtown Fullerton trainstation, both the Metrolink and Amtrak trains stop there.

When?
Hours are from 9am to 5pm

Wednesday, October 22nd – FIRST JELLY!!!

Next Jelly’s:
* Wednesday, November 12, 2008 9am – 5pm
* Wednesday, December 10, 2008 9am – 5pm

So what is the style of your business? Is your business formal and do you mainly work with corporate clients? Or are you a creative company that inspires people with new ideas? In all cases, people like to work with your company if they see in you what they are looking for. So if you are a very formal company and you meet your clients in jeans – that doesn’t reflect the style of your company and the people you are meeting – are wondering which one you are: formal or informal.

To repeat your style, you are showing everyone what your company is all about, what your style is all about. People will understand your business and it is comforting as they know and start building trust in what you can deliver.

Does your business reflect who you want to work with? Is your style reflected in your communications? Brainstorm and write characteristics down of yourself, of your clients. Come up with a shortlist of the characteristics that you want to reflect in the personality of your business. How can you repeat these characteristics in other communications, your style, your brand, … you?

What does your logo say about your personality? What does your newsletter say about your personality? What does your business card say about your personality? What does your website say about your personality?

Your business has personality, make sure it stands out in the most attractive way you can imagine.

Well, you are not in this world, just to fill up a space.
You are here to do something.
And the only way to figure out what you are to do is, do something.
You will learn from internal feedback (you love it, you hate it) or external feedback (thank you’s and compliments) that you are on the right path. But most of all, it should be something that helps you wake up in the morning and never gets you bored.

What can you do every day that is never boring to you?

Do it

And do something else that will help you sharpen (not find!) your personal brand. Because you are never there. Life is evolving and what you are all about is evolving as well.

Do Something Else.

A strong personal brand is mainly dependent on two factors: credibility and visibility. If you have a large network, but people do not exactly know what your expertise is, we can help you brand your strengths and let people know what you do.

If people really trust you and love working with you, but only a few people know you are there, we can really enhance your visibility.

Visibility + Credibility = Personal Brand