Finding Focus and Branding Your Brilliance

This past Saturday, I attended a Branding Brilliance workshop presented by Lethia Owens and T. C. Coleman. It was absolutely incredible. The knowledge these women have together is extremely powerful. Lethia focuses on personal branding while T. C. presents on business branding. I loved how they integrated both topics together creating a dynamic package.

They discussed a variety of reasons why you need to brand yourself and position yourself as an expert in your field. They talked about how to determine who your target audience is and how to create a variety of services that help support them.

Some of the program included social networking such as where to go and why. They even shared something that is a critical piece of designing your plan which made perfect sense to me. Here are the three important pieces I learned at their seminar to create an internet marketing plan and branding strategy:

1. Hang It - put your information out somewhere online, ie. a website, articles, pdf, powerpoints, blogs, etc
   
2. Link It - create links everywhere online to drive traffic to these places you hang info
   
3. Promote It - Find places where you can talk about it and market your products and services

There were tons of people that attended that wanted more detailed information and both of these women will be offering further courses and personal coaching for more assistance.

I personally want to thank Lethia and T.C. for taking time to talk with me after their program ended. It was amazing how they both had insights into who I am and where I'm going. If you are looking to create a brand for yourself, I hope you consider connecting with each of them to determine your next steps. You can reach them at http://www.lethiaowens.com/ or http://www.upwardaction.com/

To Your Sassy Success,

Darlene Willman

Don't Waste Your Time and Energy On Gossip

This week I attended a social gathering with other professional women and bumped into someone I hadn't seen in a long time. I was excited to see her and wanted to know what she's been up to. She went into full "sales pitch" mode and told me I needed to get with her immediately about it. Then, she switched gears and started telling me all about a woman that was a mutual acquaintance of ours. Within minutes, she told me that the woman had to dissolve her corporation and closed her business. She continued telling me about the woman's new relationship which she explained didn't seem very healthy and that she's "dropped the ball" on everything else.

I'm sure you've heard things like this through the Grapevine before, right? Maybe you were the topic of discussion? I guess the good news is you are being talked about but the bad news is you have no control over what was being discussed. It's easy to get sucked into the drama of the conversation but be careful, it's not very professional.

Rumors are spread very easily and usually get back to the person that was being talked about. For example, when I made the decision to resign from my previous position as Executive Managing Director for a major women's networking organization, someone actually told me that someone else said I was fired! Nothing could be further from the truth; first of all, I wasn't an employee and second, I was one of the top producers in the company! It was totally my decision and a very difficult one to make. I've always said, St. Louis is the smallest big city in the Midwest!

The point I'm trying to make is don't spend precious time talking SMACK, it's not worth it. Instead, focus on all the positive things happening and maintain a professional manner at all times. If the conversation starts with..."Did you hear about???? or "I heard..." immediately redirect and change the topic into something else or excuse yourself from the conversation. One of my favorite redirects is "So, how 'bout those Cardinals, huh?" Everyone usually laughs.

This week listen closely to the conversations around you and monitor your own responses. Make the commitment to only talk health, wealth and happiness to everyone you network with!

To Your Networking Success,

Darlene Willman, "The Sassy Networker"