#strategy #personalbranding #socialselling #personalbrand #socialmediastrategy #entrepreneur #strategytalks
Many of us have a strong physical brand, but a weak digital brand.
This session of Harbourtime Strategy Talks discusses various strategies to enhance your brand (personal and corporate) and defines social selling. Strategies are presented to help with social selling and personal brand building, with a delineation between a physical brand and digital brand.
What are you doing to build your personal brand?
Do you even care?
The guest on this strategy session is Olesija Saue (olesijasaue.com). “I don't want to be a superstar I just want to do my job is personal branding for me.” We will answer this question.
Personal Branding and how it is tied to Social Selling
Olesija has been in the business world for over 20 years, during which time she has have experienced both very quick high rises, and then also very big lows. It is easy to be in business when everything is thriving, but we really learn our lessons and we evolve when life gets tough as it is right now.
We all have experiences that we can use our advantage business and in marketing, and also our unique strengths, our values, our why, and most importantly, our story and story that we have to own and we have to share.
People and Social Media combined make for a great passion. The most important part of personal branding is actually your substance: what is inside the story, your strengths, your values, your why, because they really talk to our subconscious mind, which draws on emotions, which is how decisions are made.
Personal branding is putting together our uniqueness and packaging it in a way that that our ideal customers can resonate with.
Think about Audi or Porsche. These brands actually create certain emotions. Keep in mind that we all have a personal brand from the moment we do anything.
In 2021, personal branding is now what other people know about you before you actually enter the room. We have two worlds . . . the physical world and the digital world. We must make sure that our digital and personal brand are at the same level. Make sure your personal brand is telling the story that you want it to tell.
Balance growth, fun and achievement for success. Enjoy the process. The process and the end results are equally important. In order to stay relevant in today's environment, we really have to learn not all the time.
Make sure that you are balancing work and “life” to make sure you are covering the things that are important to you. Social Selling: Social selling is in our DNA.
Now, we build the relationships online. Content Marketing is communicating “one to many,” but social selling is communication “one on one.” Trust is built through digital/online social selling. According to Olesija, Social Selling is like dating. The relationship takes time to develop.
Businesses in 2021 can stand out by implementing a social selling/social media strategy by taking care of their social media profiles. Stand out. Be visible. The buyers have to know you exist. Webpage, Articles, Podcasts – online conversations – thought leadership.
Olesija co-authored a book, “The Brand Named You”, is to help individuals with social media strategy and exposure. In this book, they fight the misconception that personal branding is “bragging.” They also provide a step-by-step process (Roadmap) to help with personal brand strategy.
Leadership as a business strategy or leadership in general is always an important topic.Learning about leadership can help you grow into a better person.My favorite leadership style is “servant leadership.” Servant leaders don’t see themselves as the dictator and that they actually serve others. They lead by example.
Highlyeffectiveleader.com is a website that started off as a blog in January, 2020.The purpose of the book and YouTube Channel, Leadership & Growth, is to help people learn from Tom’s mistakes and resonate with them to become better leaders. Tom intends to inspire others to take the next steps in their leadership journey. Tom has written a book entitled Manager to Leader. It is targeted at managers, supervisors, and team leaders who have the position and job title, but now need to know what to do. Having a job title gives you a certain authority and gives you a certain amount of power, both as a leader. The leader’s job is to serve their people, serve their team. The book is to help them understand what servant leadership is, why we need to save our people and how to save our people.
How, how can leaders serve their people?
“Serve” is another way of saying “help.” It's a responsibility of the leader to grow and develop others. Develop yourself as a leader. Don’t be exposed.
Why is dictatorship why is a deep dictatorial style of leadership and effective in 2021?
Dictator-style leaders do not inspire people to give their own ideas, their own solutions, their own recommendations, and they are not inspiring them to implement their own ideas. Servant leadership is the exact opposite. Servant leaders inspire others to come up with their own ideas and solutions. Tom is a former rock star and the leader of the band led by example. She helped others learn their parts and stay focused on the goal. What Tom learned from his Rock Star experience is to follow your dream: Do not give up on your dream. If you have something that you really want to do that you think can make a difference in the world or even will make a difference in other people's lives, don't give up, keep doing it, keep working hard.
What is Tom’s vision? What is his just cause?
Tom’s just cause is that envisions a world where leaders create environments that focuses on people.
https://highlyeffectiveleader.com/
Podcast Guest is Business Coach and Author, Warren Coughlin from Toronto. Warren is a dad and business coach to entrepreneurs since 2002.
Warren believes “deeply in the core of my being that entrepreneurship is one of the most powerful forces for positive social change.”
The first part of the discussion centers around business coaching and operational strategy:
Business coaching is not the same as life coaching for business folks.
Business coaching is about integrating the organization: All the specific business skills, mindsets, the systems, even the tools to help the owner reach his or her goals.
Business Coaching involves some training and consulting as well as that kind of goal setting envisioning and that kind of thing. Business coaching isn't pure coaching, it's a combination of coaching, training and consulting on the strategy piece.
Entrepreneurs face many challenges:
Don’t confuse symptoms with the problems.
Utilize tools (like this one created by Warren Coughlin) to help with strategic planning. In this case, the tool automates the entire front end of the strategic planning process.
Once you’ve identified issues, make sure to build out an actionable plan, perhaps monthly, perhaps quarterly. But set real goals and make real changes.
As an entrepreneur, don’t play whack-a-mole.
Consider the impact you could have on your business if you made two significant improvements per quarter.
Business is like poker, particularly when considering long term strategy:
Make sure you don’t dwell on short-term thinking. Focus on strategic long-term thinking.
Business is similar to poker. Business is a game of skill, but there is much uncertainty and an array of probabilities.
In both business and poker, the professionals will when the game, even if they don’t win the hand. This is due to strategic thinking.
Are you focusing on winning the hand or the game? Long term thinking will focus your attention on the game. Consider your business a game. Why are you in this game? What game are you playing? What do you want out of the game?
If you don’t focus on strategic planning, your business will face danger. Don’t overlook the risks. There will be another pandemic, economic crisis, weather crisis. A downturn is always around the corner.
If you're only focused on the short term, you're not going to build for the eventual downturn.
And that's just because, so when you, you know, when you say stories like that, hopefully help people go, Oh, maybe I shouldn't just be thinking about the next two or three months. I need to be thinking. Long-Term.
It's okay to spend some time on short-term thinking, but your focus should be on strategic long-term thinking.
Make sure your decisions are based off of planning rather than off of fear:
In the face of an uncertain environment, don’t tortoise. Instead, plan.
Don't spend all of our time on short-term results. Make sure to look at the bigger picture.
In the face of uncertainty or fear, there is a natural human instinct to go into a protective mode – go into your shell.
Focus on the underlying needs of your clients. Even if there is a disruption that changes the way you deliver your service or product, the underlying needs of your clients still exist.
Consider pivoting, morphing, adding or modifying your business, your career, your life:
Pivot general means, “I’m here and now I’m going there,” which is something totally different. A pivot is a fundamental change for a business.
Most businesses don’t necessarily need a "fundamental change."
Impact your culture in other ways that can lead to change, morphing, adding.
https://collinharbour.com/
Are you your own worst critic? I hate receiving criticism, but I certainly love dishing it out. Or are you like LeBron James in that criticism stimulates you? Lebron said, “I like criticism. It makes you strong.”Everybody's a critic these days. And I mean, literally everybody, social media has made it more harsh, more frequent and more real, like it's a real punch in the face.For instance, on February 5th, 2018, the following was tweeted. Dear KFC. “No one likes your fries, your sincerely, the entire world.” @Upgrade_ music sent that on behalf of the entire world.The bigger point here is that everyone receives criticism and sometimes it's, or at least it seems like it is from the entire world.So how are we going to handle this? How do you handle criticism professionally? How do we handle it personally? How do we handle it from a corporate standpoint?Criticism is generally just in your head. We worry about things.“Remember the only taste of success that some people have is when they take a bite out of you.” Zig Ziglar.“Any fool can criticize condemn and complain. And most fools do.” Benjamin Franklin.Don’t worry about criticism. Move past it.“Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfills the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things.” Winston Churchill.
How did KFC handle the criticism?
They realized that criticism comes, they evaluated it. They categorize it as true. They contemplated a response.It took them nine months to respond and they activated a plan to overcome it. Nine months after the entire world criticize their fries.I hate criticism as much as anybody. I must admit a lot of times I like dishing it out.Criticism hurts. It slows me down. It makes me angry.
https://collinharbour.com/
Is your business prepared for the next big crisis?
The utility companies in Texas are learning about preparedness.
2020 taught us all that we need to be prepared: for global pandemics, for social unrest, for changing economic environments.
David Obert is Vice President of Property Technology Solutions at Xactware.
Finding a “better way” to provide service is the premise behind this technology company.
Here how a company that focused on contracts shifted to new verticals including insurance, remodeling and mortgage default servicing verticals.
Preparedness. Why is business preparedness so important, especially in 2021?
Enter 2020 . . . that’s why it's so important.
Are you ready for all issues that will hit your business? Don’t be surprised by unforeseen issues. Be prepared.
Businesses can learn a lesson or two from biology and nature. Biological concepts are important when discussing preparedness.
For instance, heterogeneity is a concept that businesses can learn from. Take the cactus: The cactus is just fine during the day as it's built for that, but those flowers, it protects so that when, when the time is right, it can open those flowers back up in the evening. it can be pollinated by bats and things like that.
Your business very similarly should be prepared. Consider diversification. We should look at ways to enhance our businesses so that we can be ready with for these harsh times with alternatives.
When one side of our business slows down, we should pick up on the other side so that we can maintain some semblance of continuity with our businesses.
How do you decide what project to focus on at any given time?
Make sure you have a process to focus on specific issues.
Can you identify any low-hanging fruit?
Where can you make the most impact?
How can you get ready (PREPARE) for an influx of business?
How can you improve our customers their livelihood?
How can you ultimately help them make more money in the long run?
Businesses always have time to prepare, with the right process, for things to come.
Is business/revenue diversification is more important as a strategy in 2021 than the past?
Business/revenue diversification is always important. I think, I think is it, is it more important now than, than in the past? I would say no, just because it should have always been important.
What is the biggest challenge you have had with your specific business role in the last few months? And how are you overcoming it?
Pivoting a business strategy. Diversifying your business.
When is the last time you failed, I mean, really failed?
I know that you failed and you know that I have failed. I know you're scared of failing again, whether you're a business owner, a successful executive, maybe a solopreneur, someone looking for a job I'm willing to bet money that you've already failed, If not miserably in 2021.
How are we going to handle failure in 2021?
I'm going to focus on a few key basics of life. I might even refer to this as my vulnerability tour because a lot of these are inward-facing they're things that I need to deal with and, and how I am going to deal with them moving forward. But I hope as we explore these topics, that you'll go on this journey with me and that we can grow together.
But this new focus at this stage of my career, where I am life is where I want to focus on some of these topics. One of the roadblocks that stood out to me is failure, the failure roadblock, or how he puts in the book when we blow it, when you blow it, you know, you've blown it. Sometimes you can sense it coming.
It can be in your personal life. It can be in your business life. It could be in so many aspects of life, but you know, you've blown it.
So how do you deal with that? What we're going to talk about is ways to handle failure. We know we're going to fail. I'm not saying that to be negative. I'm actually saying it and hoping that we're exploring this to set us up for success, because success is going to be defined with how we deal with failure. collinharbour.com
If you're listening to this or at least something for you to think about. And I mean it right now, think about this next question.And the question is, is it time for a pivot in 2021?We’re going to talk about pivoting in a little bit. We're almost through with the first month of 2021.The first month is almost over.We also cover leadership, how to stay motivated, and how to stay focused as business leader.Guest = Justin Rand of Rand Consulting, LLC-------
Key traits of a leader in 2021:Three key things:
How to develop yourself as a leader: Constantly learning! Check out the book, The Road Less Stupid, uh, by Keith Cunningham. Each section of the book can be read independently, so you don't have to start and read from, start to finish.Work on your weaknesses, maximize your strengths!What is driving Justin, as the business leader/entrepreneur to keep moving forward?
Advice for small business owner, mid-sized business, business leaders just trying to make it through the day or week in 2021.
Pivoting: Are you continuing to spin your wheels on something that isn’t working, not being received in the marketplace?#PIVOTMaybe you have these goals and aspirations and you, and you want to achieve something, but it's just not there yet.Maybe it will be developed in a year from now two years from now, but you need to do something now and pivoting is not bad. So, there is no way that I'm implying anything bad about pivoting.How do you encourage someone to pivot if what they are doing simply isn’t working?You’ve got to find your sweet spot. Getting out there and looking and finding the right thing for you is, is the best optionAirbnb is a good example of pivoting: It’s a mobile app? But how did it start? By providing mattresses to overflow trade show participants. It was an idea for extra cash, and pivoted into a major business.Amazon is a good example of a pivot . . . remember when they were mostly (or all) just a platform to buy and sell books?
Small and Medium-Sized Business Owners should listen to this episode. So should anyone who leads a team, a department, a company of any size.collinharbour.com
Trent Simmons is the CEO of Hardeman Company and has a passion for small family businesses. Trent and his brother took a natural gas marketing company from their father which was the genesis of Hardeman.
Trent has a passion for small business. Hardeman seeks to purchase businesses that they can own and operate as owners for the long haul. Not looking for a quick flip. They want businesses that are built the way we are built. We want businesses that ran for the previous 25 years, the way we plan to run them for the next 25 years. Small businesses built through character, work ethic, and relationships Manufacturing, Distribution, and Service-related industries Business owners who want to see their legacy preserved and their employees and customers are taken care of Trent is a business leader - he has acquired several companies over the years. He knows what it takes to be a business strategist, private equity guy, and owner-operator of established businesses. He was also a professional triathlete and we discuss how that experience translates to business strategy.
During this part of the podcast, Trent discusses lessons he learned from world class athletes, gold medal winners, and a former Australian boxer! The lessons are great -- everyone can learn from them: Paraphrased: The man on top of the mountain did not fall there. Don't try to swim like Michael Phelps if you are not Michael Phelps. Don't waste your time on comparative analysis -- you're probably not going to be the next Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos . . . but that's okay. Reach the highest level you can.
The secret sauce of world class athletes (and CEO's)? Their minds. They put in the work. Most of the time, they put in the work when no one is looking. Day in and Day out. Hard Work, Over And Over Again. What we see are the "medals" the awards, but the hard work is almost never seen. Work on your weaknesses for improvement, but MAXIMIZE your strengths.
Questions/Topics are listed below:
Referencing Hardeman company’s LinkedIn page, How are you built? Hardeman = Perseverance, Survival
Trent, If you had to pick 2, maybe even 3 key traits of the CEO/leaders of these businesses, what stands out? What drives a business leaders/CEO/entrepreneur to build a successful business?
Hardeman has a nice portfolio of companies – a good mix of service, manufacturing, and other types of companies. How do you decide your portfolio strategy? Are you looking for a specific mix, or do you look for specific revenue targets, or any combination thereof?
You’ve looked at a lot of companies – You’ve acquired some of them, and I’m sure you’ve passed on more than you bought. What strategic advice would you give a business owner who is thinking about selling their company in 2021?
What should they be doing to prepare their company for acquisitions?
When reviewing a company, you are competing against many factors: Owner Expectations, Family Member expectations, other acquirers, and many other factors.
How do you balance seller expectations and other competing factors when you are in trenches of a potential acquisition?
What lessons did you learn in training and competing in triathlons teach you that can be translated to business strategy?
I know this is a bit vague, but what business lessons did the rigorous training teach you? Who is your favorite business leader and Why?
Our guest this week is Shelia Butler, COO of the Arrangement. Shelia is also a former classmate of mine in the Baylor University Dallas Executive MBA Program, Class 10 (2004)Shelia has experience starting, building and selling companies. She also has experience as a Consultant, Industry Thought Leader and Speaker.
Shelia was "Podcasting Before Podcasting Was Cool". We discuss what it used to be like to run a podcast. Some of the most important things about podcasting: There are many ways to get your self out there if you want to be seen as a "thought leader". A podcast can be shared many ways, and it helps create content. A podcast can also help you discover a little more about who you are . . . and can push the theme of "not being afraid to fail". Podcasting can help you take on and overcome various challenges. In Shelia's case, Podcasting helped her speak to people more, which led to speaking opportunities and business consulting opportunities.
Tips for entrepreneurs who are starting a business. Be intentional. Everyone thinks it is necessary to be on all social media platforms and be everything to everybody.
Shelia suggests that these three things should be the focus:
Decide what needs to be done to make these things happen and then determine which social media and marketing platforms can help make this happen.
Above all, don't be afraid to fail and try something different.
How to focus on Strategic Planning and Leadership.Realize that you don't know everything and learn from others -- it can make a big impact in your business. Don't be afraid to pivot. And pivot quickly. It is okay to learn and grow from your experiences and move on.
Shelia's Favorite BookClarity First by Karen Martin
Shelia's Favorite Business Leader
Sara Blakely, Spanx -- Bootstrapped her company from day one. Her father told her "don't be afraid to fail." Sara's a mom, down to earth, runs her business and is a philanthropist.
Shelia's LinkedIn ProfileShelia can be contacted at: sbutler@sheliabutler.com.
Presented to the National Association of Mortgage Field Services. The third part of a 3 Part Series to provide information to Mortgage Field Services Companies and Inspection Companies in preparation for potentially increased volumes in 2021 and 2022.
Rand Consulting and C Harbour Services collaborate to provide useful information for small and mid-sized mortgage field service companies.
Market Position – Strategy Decide • Organize your thoughts • Write them down • Consult with others Network • Social Media • Video Conference Calls • The good old-fashioned way (Pick up a phone) Commit • Take the first step
Remind yourself daily about the commitment
Re-evaluate at a previously scheduled time (6 months, 12 months, etc.)
Network-Market Your Business
Social Media
Find a way to get in front of others
Just.Make.Contact
Commit to Strategy • Execute • Rest • Repeat Track Results •
Set goals
Hold yourself and others accountable
Track Results in a CRM
#businessstrategy #marketing #strategicgrowth #crm #businessdevelopment
#businessstrategy #mortgageservicing #fhaloans #businessdevelopment #strategicthinking #fieldservices #propertypreservation #proppres #singlefamilyrentals #inspections #insuranceloss
Eric Miller, Executive Director of National Association of Mortgage Field Services and I discuss business strategy including: Working with a volunteer board Working with volunteer committee members Developing Strategic Plans Focusing on new markets when current volumes are down Reason to aggressively pursue new business.
"You can’t jump into the deep end, but you also can’t just put your pinky toe in and say I don’t like this. You’ve got to find something to commit to and there has to be a strategy around it. Those are things that have to happen. It has to be mindful. It has to be thought out. It’s not just going to magically happen." .
I had a great time visiting with Carl Brown of Cavanal Services about why and how he started his business, execution strategy, and the challenges of 2020.
Several topics are covered:
✔️ Partnerships – Seek right strategic advantages and partners for your business (HUBZones, Regional Business Centers, established companies), do the research, network with the right people.
✔️ Opportunity – The mission of creating jobs in a historically underserved community and how creating these jobs can impact lives. ✔️ Onshore – Creating opportunities in Oklahoma and the Choctaw Nation in order to create and keep “resume jobs” in Southeastern Oklahoma.
Sage advice from Carl on a business startup strategy:
👉 Educate yourself
👉 Get involved with the community
👉 Believe in your story, yourself and what you are doing.
The Lessons I Learned in my First Season of Podcasting
I kicked off my business Podcast (Harbourtime Strategy Talks) and spent 3 months on “Season 1”. These are the lessons learned during my initial venture into Podcasting.
Are leaders born or made?
When you think business strategy, it is difficult to think about how any company could develop or implement a strategy without at least one person taking on some leadership.
Leadership is just something that we see all the time - I’m sure we can all think of examples of lack of leadership – how it affected a business plan, a war time plan, a sports game plan.
Leadership is a broad topic – we will focus in on Leadership as a Business Strategy.
Mike Harbour is President and CEO of Harbour Resources Leadership Consulting.
In this episode we will focus on:
Launa Lawhorn of Impact Leadership Institute (and former Baylor Executive MBA Classmate of mine) will walk us through the vendor management life cycle from both sides of the equation - the vendor management side and the vendor side. Launa recently posted a series on LinkedIn and she began with, “I am passionate about the vendor management lifecycle because when done right businesses will reduce costs, minimize risks, and improve the quality of services received.”
Because of her passion, she will walk us through the following questions:
What happens to a company if a company does not have the right vendor management strategies in place?
From a strategic standpoint, how can a company maximize its vendor management relationships?
What size does the company need to be to have a dedicated “Vendor Management Group”?
What should the vendors be doing to firm up their finances, technology, operations and reputation in order to work with companies that outsource and manage the relationships with vendor management groups?
Businesses must focus on the legal side of data protection and consumer consent, as well as the reputational risk that can occur if consumers lose trust. Both sides of the discussion are covered in this week’s Harbourtime Strategy Talks Podcast. Jon Davis from BIGtoken shows us how the consumer can become empowered . . . but also discusses how this same process can help companies and marketers create more targeted approaches to their customers.
Content creation strategies.
Hear about Client Retention Strategies and Maintaining a personal touch.
I discuss a couple of points from a podcast with Chris Baggett from Canyon Creek Travel. Yes, you can be a PIRATE and help your clients..
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