Package Your Genius Personal Branding Podcast

PYG 78: Safeguarding Your Mental Health as a High Achiever with Dominique Fluker

May is Mental Health Month and I've been meaning to do an episode on mental health for some time. I mainly wanted to talk about what I've experienced personally, and what I've witnessed with other high achievers.
 
As you know, my personal branding and coaching practice is geared towards high achievers and with that comes a unique brand of personality - typically I work with hard-driving, ambitious, super smart people who have been working hard to achieve since childhood.
 
While many of us are simply wired this way, I've increasingly been pondering how achievement can sometimes be more harmful than helpful, and how easily we can straddle the line between performing at the highest levels and burning ourselves out.
 
I have personally struggled for decades with anxiety, depression, and perfectionism; on the one hand, I believe that the unique way my brain is wired makes me a more sensitive thinker, a more eloquent writer and a more connected coach. I am able to relate with a range of emotional and life experiences by the very virtue of my own experiences.
 
But when things are bad, they're real bad, and for many years I paid a high price of my brain chemistry. I  struggled with the shame of trying to hide my depression from new friends and colleagues. It cost me relationships and new experiences I may have otherwise had, had I not been so guarded.
 
Fortunately, in recent years and with the help of gifted therapists I've learned how to take better care of myself and my gift so I don't struggle so much. I've zeroed in on my triggers as well as some of my non-negotiables so I can cultivate personal peace and live in a space of joy.
 
I've  shared how my physical health has come into focus in recent months as I better understand how important it is for me to safeguard my physical vessel if I want to effectively access my gift.
 
Taking care of my mental health is just as important.
 
So for today's episode, I wanted to have a conversation with a young woman who reminds me a lot of myself 10 years ago - ambitious, coming into her own and making a name for herself in the media world while also managing her anxiety and depression. I wanted to bring her on the podcast to shed light on the inner workings of high achievement and to share the lessons she has to teach us because she is wise beyond her years.
 
Our guest today is Dominique B. Fluker. 
 
About Dominique:
 
Dedication, passion, curiosity. 
 
Dominique B. Fluker is a content strategist, writer, and Senior Account Executive at Max Borges Agency specializing in influencer relations and launching effective and impactful social programming for Cricket Wireless and AT&T. Her deep ability to understand analytics and metrics has allowed her to be successful in leveraging audience insights to drive impactful content to specific audiences across digital platforms. Through her work in public relations, social media strategy and content development, Dominique has successfully amplified the online presence of the following brands: TIDAL, Air New Zealand, Microsoft Pulse, Israel Ministry of Tourism, Taylor Morrison, Senseo, WeWork, and more. 
 
In addition to her work as a content and social strategist, Dominique has a budding writing career. In 2018 she embarked on her writing journey with ForbesWomen and ESSENCE Magazine. Within an 11-month time span, Dominique strategized to bring 30 stories to life that are centered in millennial based entrepreneurship, specifically highlighting women of color. In August of 2018, she was elevated to Senior Contributor at Forbes and invited to speak on the “Standing Out From The Pack” panel at Forbes HQ which highlighted her articles and decision to profile millennial women of color entrepreneurs in business and the arts. 
 
Dominique is passionate about telling stories of other dynamic millennial women and helping brands explore the interconnectivity of culture and communication through social media to garner awareness and to create an impact.
 
Dominique received a bachelor’s degree in Liberal Arts, from Sarah Lawrence College in 2014 and is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated.
 
 
Find Dominique Online
You can find Dominique online at werquedominique.com and @werque_dominique on Instagram.
You can check out her Forbes stories and profiles of amazing women at Dominique Fluker x Forbes.
 
 
MY HAND-PICKED MENTAL HEALTH RESOURCES
 
MENTAL HEALTH INFORMATION, TOOLKITS, AND RESOURCES
 
NAMI - National Alliance on Mental Illness - Learn More
 
MY ALL-TIME FAVORITE THERAPIST
 
Dr. Reisha Moxley is a therapist based in Atlanta, Georgia and a personal friend. Conversations with Dr. Moxley have been life-changing for me. She helped me in so many ways from seeing the depth of my own imposter syndrome to helping me develop a new approach to anxiety by giving me a mantra - "you've already done the work" among other powerful tools. She is an integral part of our Package Your Genius Academy where she hosts sessions for our students as a performance coach. And she also works with patients privately - you can find her on LinkedIn.
 
Listen to our podcast interviews 
PYG 37 - How to Push Past Imposter Syndrome and Claim the Full Power of Your Gift
PYG 35 - The Gift and the Curse of the High Achieving Mindset
PYG 26 - How to Move Past Fear and Step into Your Big Dream
 
MENTAL HEALTH GENIUSES TO FOLLOW ON TWITTER
 
Dr. Thema (@DrThema) - I first heard her on Redefining Wealth with Patrice Washington on episode titled Stop Suffering in Silence. Definitely listen to that episode and check out her daily Twitter ministry, which is incredible.
 
Dr. Steven Brownlow (@sgbrownlow) - He's the founder of Adept Psychology also offers bite-sized nuggets of therapy every single day. I found him on episode 18 of Therapy Chat - Can Therapists Really Change the World? Follow him own Twitter to open your mind up to new perspectives.
 
 
MENTAL HEALTH PODCASTS I LOVE
 
Therapy for Black Girls Podcast with Dr. Joy Harden Bradford who also has a directory of therapists if you're looking for an African-American therapist. This priceless directory has over 1,000 therapists listed.
 
Therapy Chat Podcast with Laura Reagan, LCSW-C is one of my favorites as Laura brings on experts from a variety of mental health specialties to share their expertise.
 
A few of my very favorite episodes:
 
148 - Effects of Childhood Traumatic Stress on Physical & Mental Health
111 - Relationships and Childhood Emotional Neglect
092 - The Emotionally Absent Mother & The Effects of Childhood Emotional Neglect
 
Mom is in Control Podcast with Heather Chauvin
This is not a mental health podcast per se, but Heather talks about many of the issues that parenting brings up - like anxiety, sense of control, loss of self and how your children can trigger the unhealed parts of yourself.
 
A few of my favorite episodes:
453 - How to Overcome Emotional Triggers
445 - Sustainable Motherhood
443 - How Your Child Triggers You is a Deeper Healing Opportunity

PYG 77: Create Your Own MOMENTUM

Today I'm here to shake you up, to wake you up, and remind you of how POWERFUL you inherently are.
 
And I'm only sharing with you because I've had to get myself together a time or two in recent days, so I wanted to share a practice that has been helpful to me.
 
Most people understand the power of gratitude - how simply making a list of ten things you're thankful for can take you from "in a funk" to "on cloud nine" in less than the time it takes you to make out the list.
 
Ask me how I know.
 
But another side effect of gratitude for me is getting a clear picture of my own power.
 
I was making out a gratitude list recently and was expressing my gratitude for two concurrent group programs through Package Your Genius Academy, as well as a team to support my students. Just one year ago, I checked out because I was BURNT OUT - I had run two live cohorts each year in 2016 and 2017 while still managing my one on one client work. I was getting my kids prepped to apply for new schools and fundraising for my 10 year old's trip to China. So on the side of running my business, I was doing the most with all the extra-curricular stuff for the kids.
 
Once spring 2018 rolled around, I was spent.
 
I didn't have enough to give to another group. I wanted to, but I couldn't. And I realized that the way I was running my program could be improved so that it took less out of me. Long story short, I spent the next 12 months making changes.
 
I wrote and published the book that became a feeder for my programs, finally got a membership site set up to house the content for my programs, hired a business coach to help me re-structure my business model, started outlining the Maximum Exposure program, and started identifying coaches who could support me there.
 
Now a year later, life is no less busy, but I have a book out in the world and two group programs that are running pretty seamlessly.
 
In my gratitude for this big shift, I also gained insight into my own power to change things in my life - my power to make things different if I don't like how they are.
 
The same is true for you.
 
You and I? We are not broken people destined to stay broken. We are powerful.
 
You have the power to do something to shift your energy and move toward the life you see for yourself, toward the person you most want to be.
 
So much of your life is scheduled and dictated by your responsibilities, we often forget the degree of agency we have as people living in a modern society.
 
We have the choice to change our diets, change our relationships, change the information we consume at any given time.
 
We have the power to change who we surround ourselves with, what we listen to or discard, what we do moving forward. We have the power to change our habits.
 
Because we all have agency which is defined as the capacity, condition, or state of acting or of exerting power.
 
Newton said it all in his first law of motion which states that an object at rest will remain at rest unless acted on by an external force.
 
What outside force will you introduce to your life?
 
What small or big thing will you change?
 
So again - you have agency which is defined as the capacity, condition, or state of acting or of exerting power.
 
And when you exert your power, you create momentum, which is defined as strength or force gained by motion or by a series of events.
 
I recently wrapped up one cohort of Package Your Genius Academy and we were reflecting on the lessons learned during the academy, what changed for us, what surprised us.
 
One of my students mentioned that she joined the academy because she felt stuck in her career. But what later surfaced was that she was stuck in other areas of her life, too.
 
But she dug in. She started doing assignments, pushing herself out of her comfort zone. Because she did the work - even though she wasn't always sure what the work was adding up to - she began to unlock her own personal power. While she wasn't sure the exact steps she wanted to take in her career, she liked the feelings she derived from being in motion instead of being STUCK.
 
She submitted herself to speak at a conference, which she'd never done before. (She killed it by the way). She launched a podcast and started sharing her ideas on her industry.
 
She reported back to our group that the act of moving in one area of her life made the rest of her life seem too static. It was like she could see the rest of her life clearly. Where she'd felt stuck in her relationships and even on household projects, she had renewed energy to tackle them.
 
That's what happens when you realize your own agency - the power to act - and your agency unlocks momentum. You don't know where it's going.
 
You may start speaking up in your personal life and unexpectedly see it spill over into your career.
 
You may launch a new podcast and suddenly find that you have more to talk about with your kids.
 
You might put yourself out there to pitch new clients, and find going out on first dates isn't so intimidating anymore.
 
It's all connected.
 
So I urge you - first be grateful. If you're in a funk, try making a list of the things for which you're grateful. It's powerful.
 
Then make a list of things you've made happen. Now, if you've been in a funk and don't feel like you've made anything happen in a while, reflect back on when you were your most powerful self.
 
What did you make happen then?
 
Sometimes we just need a good reminder of who we are. It's easy to forget.
 
 
***
 
Are you managing your own PR efforts?  One of the hardest things about doing your own PR is coming up with new pitch ideas, fresh story angles AND knowing how to craft that message to the press. It’s time-consuming and easy to put off if you’re not intentional about it.
 
That's why we created Maximum Exposure - a one of a kind program designed to help industry experts land the media exposure their BIG IDEAS deserve.   Apply to join - bit.ly/MEMastermind
 

PYG 76: Do the Joyful Thing

 
Do the joyful thing and don't take your gift for granted.
 
I've been reflecting a lot on joy, life, our time on earth and the like - for a number of deeply personal reasons.
 
For one, it's been exactly one year since the sudden passing of my dear friend who was like a big sister. And as I've shared on the podcast before, hers was one of those rare friendships that comes along once in a very long while.
 
I pride myself on pouring into others and encouraging them to see themselves - well she poured into me, and encouraged me to see myself. She was a huge cheerleader for my writing and the work I'm doing here, so it was an unfathomable personal loss for me, and so unexpected. 
 
I've been spending the last week or so reflecting on our friendship, thinking about her, and the gift she was to this world. Which always serves as a pressing reminder that none of us knows how long we have here on Earth.
 
Secondly, I've been in and out of sickness for the better part of the last two months. It started out as a respiratory infection I got from one of my kids, and a persistent cough which cleared up right at the start of one of the most severe allergy seasons I've ever experienced. So just as I was recovering from the respiratory stuff, the pollen begins to spread and fill the air, which triggered my spring allergies and brought the cough and everything back. So I got on a regimen of asthma meds, which seems to be doing the trick.
 
But in the midst of being sick, I have had to face off with my own limitations, and the limitations that have a way of getting our attention when we're taking our bodies and our gifts for granted.
 
Being sick brought to light how much I do, how much I rely on breathing to do what I do, and how much I take all of that for granted. At one point I sat down to record a podcast, and I couldn't because I didn't have enough air to speak! I hosted a small retreat for my academy students, and I found myself wanting to speak passionately, but had to pace myself.
 
Limitations. How humbling they can be.
 
I realized that if I can't do the things that energize me, life is lame! Not to say that it's not worth living, but it certainly loses a lot of its luster.
 
What is life if I can't speak and share, if I can't write and express myself? 
 
By not tending to my health, by not showing up to use my gifts when I can, I realized that I've been taking my gift - which I can't access without my health - for granted.
 
I've been taking the simple ability to breathe deeply and share passionately for granted.
 
I've been taking the ability to write and share from my heart for granted.
 
And to some degree I know it's because both of those things come so naturally to me, they take minimal effort. That's WHY I take them for granted, but that's also why I have to STOP taking it for granted. Because that which both ENERGIZES me and that thing that is EFFORTLESS is my gift. 
 
What ENERGIZES you and is EFFORTLESS to you?
 
The other thing I've been obsessed with has been the idea that everything we do has to be a runaway smash hit to be worth doing.
 
I spoke to my brilliant friend who launched a podcast that he absolutely LOVES - and it's brilliant. But because it hasn't completely taken off yet, he starts, stops, and questions - Why am I doing this, again?
 
I hadn't seen any new episodes in a while so I asked him about it. He informed me that he'd asked around to a few colleagues to get feedback on it, and because they didn't really understand what he was trying to do, they made less than helpful suggestions (I'm paraphrasing, I wasn't there) that basically led to him NOT pursuing the project anymore, EVEN THOUGH it brought him tremendous joy and satisfaction.
 
He was still figuring out the messaging, the audience, the promotion - but he was figuring it out. And because it hadn't become a runaway success yet by podcasting standards, he abandoned this project despite the joy it brought him to produce.
 
So my question to him was - after I told him to stop looking for permission and validation that this is a bad idea, because that's a pretty standard move when you're standing in the vulnerability of launching something new -  in response to his sentiment "Why am I even doing this?" 
 
When did 'because I like to, because I enjoy it, because it makes me happy' become not enough of a justification to do something?
 
Why can't joy be enough to sustain us as we build, grow, and get there - wherever 'there' is?
 
And this speaks to a larger point about building your brand and monetizing your passion which assumes some level of commercial success - enough people like what you're doing to listen, read, buy, use - and that audience creates a pathway to create success by the world's standards.
 
But everything we do doesn't have to fit neatly into the monetization formula.
 
And trust me, I teach people to package their genius and monetize what they already know everyday - if that's what they want to do. But if that's NOT what you want to do - if you just want to do what you love for the joy of it, that is perfectly okay.
 
If you just want to do what you love for the joy of it, that is perfectly okay.
 
I watched Brene Brown's Netflix special and one of the things she said that struck me was this:
 
"Just do the joyful thing for the hell of it, just choose joy. Sometimes just choose the thing that seems frivolous and fun and has no ROI or payoff or upside. Just do the joyful thing."
 
YES!
 
Now, you may have to keep your day job to support the practicalities of living on planet Earth, but if you find something you enjoy, don't put so much pressure on it to win.
 
Having something that brings you joy IS winning.
 
It doesn't necessarily have to bring you joy AND support you financially, too.
 
So remember:
1) Don't take your gifts or your health (which you need to access your gifts) for granted
 
2) What both ENERGIZES you and feels EFFORTLESS to you? That may just be your gift...
 
3) There are many levels of success between zero and smash hit, just because something doesn't perform at the top of the charts, become a NYTimes Bestseller, an iTunes Top 10 Podcast, earn $1M in the first 6 months - doesn't mean it's not worth doing.
 
4) Just do the joyful thing.
 
***
 
 
As always, Package Your Genius: 5 Steps to Build Your Most Powerful Personal Brand is available on Amazon
Package Your Genius Personal Branding Companion Workbook is available on Amazon
If you want a tangible toolkit full of fun worksheets and exercises to help you get clear on your personal brand, check out The Branding Box.

PYG 75: The Number One Reason You're Not Getting Traction

You may be great at what you do - you have a phenomenal message, you do life-changing work, you're seriously a game-changer.
 
But the reason you have yet to blow up and your business has yet to take off?
 
No one has heard of you.
 
You may be thinking, 'Duh, Amanda. Tell me something I don't know...'
 
I get it. If you're here because you're interested in building your personal brand, you probably already know that you want more people to know about you.
 
But what you may not know is this: you have more power over the fact that no one knows about you than you think.
 
And that's because the main reason no one has heard of you is YOU WON'T TELL PEOPLE WHAT YOU DO.
 
And if you do tell them, YOU REFUSE TO REPEAT YOURSELF.
 
You don't have more opportunities on the table because you're not telling people you're open to working with them.
 
You're not telling people how they can take advantage of what you have to offer. Or once you've told them one time, you're not following up by reminding them. 
 
You can't say it just once, as my husband says, you have to be a broken record. You have to tell them, then tell them again.
 
 
So how do you make it so that people have heard of you?
 
First, you have to own that you have something to share, something that is valuable to others, something the more people need. This is actually the mindset work that many people have to do first especially when they work in corporate america because corporate will have you thinking you're nowhere near as good as you actually are. But that's another story. So that's the first step. You have to own the fact that you're good, your skills are solid, and your work adds enough value to others that more people should know about it.
 
Second, you have to publicly declare you're available because you can't sell a secret. So that could mean making a post about your new venture on social media. That could mean making an announcement at an industry meeting or speaking engagement. That could even mean making a list of targets and then reaching out to them one by one. But if you do reach out to people individually, you still need to have something public-facing that declares what you do like an updated LinkedIn profile or website you can link to.
 
Last you have to keep telling people. Over and over again. Repeatedly.
 
And here's where resistance typically shows up for most people even if they managed to get past steps one and two: You may start telling yourself you're 'bothering people' or 'getting on people's nerves' or people are 'tired of hearing about' whatever you have to share.
 
And if you manage to share it and no one responds, or no one reaches out, you might mistake your audience's silence for indifference. You may even mistake their silence for disinterest.
 
Listen, I know as well as anyone how nerve-racking it can be to put things out and hear nothing. It can really mess with your mind after you've mustered up the courage to announce that you do this thing and then hear nothing.
 
It's tempting to think people aren't interested, but the reality is, they likely didn't hear about it, or if they did hear about it, they need time to process.
 
But the silence can be deafening, and that part become a mental game. So you have to push yourself to keep putting it out there, you have to give it a chance to actually work.
 
So this doesn't mean you mention your service once, and if it doesn't yield a slew of new clients, you stop, beat yourself up for having the nerve to put yourself out there, and vow to never mention it again.
 
This means saying it again a few more times that way, switching your medium to social, to phone, to handwritten notes until you find the way that works for you.
 
And then keep doing it.
 
Tell people about what you do at least twice a week, because if you don't tell them, how you can expect them to find out? And if you don't remind them, how can you expect them to remember?
 
Whatever your medium of choice is - however you most successfully connect with your tribe - put that on your calendar so you get a reminder. Did I connect this week? My husband always talks about my long posts on LinkedIn or my email newsletters 'missives' - he says 'I haven't seen one of your missives in a while!" so that means I know I need to send one out.
 
Whatever your version of a missive is, maybe it's an Instagram story, maybe it's a thank you note, maybe it's a Twitter rant - be intentional about doing it. Don't leave it to chance.
 
Put yourself in your audience's shoes - we are all so incredibly busy. Think about the last time someone had the solution to your big problem but you needed time to mull it over, to think it through, to make up your mind. Then your life got in the way - you got busy, you meant to sign up but you have a deadline to meet, or had to go do something for your kids, or got tired and needed a nap! You're busy, and the people who need you are busy too.
 
So give them some grace. Don't be too good to repeat yourself.
 
No one gets upset when you remind them about something good.
 
***
Applications are open for the next round of Package Your Genius Academy that starts in early May. To learn more about the program and submit your preliminary application, please visit Package Your Genius Academy.
I'm excited to work with a few more high achievers who have a track record of professional success and need help framing their story, articulating their value to the clients who need them, and becoming more visible through media and speaking.
If you:
have had some success in one area, but want to make a shift and do something you’ve never done before,
don’t know how to clearly describe what you do, package who you are, or sell yourself to others, or
have had on the job successes and are often praised for your work but now want to translate that into more consulting opportunities, apply here.
 
As always, Package Your Genius: 5 Steps to Build Your Most Powerful Personal Brand is available on Amazon
Package Your Genius Personal Branding Companion Workbook is available on Amazon
 
 

PYG 74: From Burned Out Politico to Light Worker - How to Live in Your Light with Rebecca Thompson

Applications are open for the next round of Package Your Genius Academy that starts in early May. To learn more about the program and submit your preliminary application, please visit Package Your Genius Academy.
 
The idea of going slow, taking baby step and waiting for permission to start is a syndrome that holds so many of us back. When you know your stuff and are a genius in your own right, your gift is likely more ready for the world than you think. It's up to you to stop overthinking it.
I'm excited to share this conversation with a powerful woman who did just that. I met this tremendous being when she was on the cusp of a major life change and she enrolled in the Package Your Genius Academy fall 2018 cohort.
Rebecca Thompson is a Clarity + Career Coach for bold, politically minded women. After losing her election for State Representative by just 6 votes on Election Day, she has made it her personal mission to help other women of color run for office and to create the life and career of their dreams.
She is the Founder of the Live In Your Light Bootcamp, a personal development intensive that is inspiring a new generation of high achieving women to live authentically, purposefully, and in their light.
Rebecca says she was burned out after the 2016 election and knew that she was being called to more. While she loved the training and leadership development components of her work, she wanted to phase out of the nastiness of politics.
That's how the bootcamp was born.
According to Rebecca, the timing for high achieving women of color to live in their light is year round. No matter what you see women achieving on the outside, inside they still struggle with limiting beliefs, negative self talk, and self doubt. This is what's keeping so many amazing women from walking in their purpose. Rebecca now helps her clients overcome imposter syndrome, create morning routines that start with powerful affirmations, get crystal clear about what they want their future to look and feel like, and surround themselves with people who light them up.
On this episode we discuss:
How Rebecca turned a losing political race into the fuel to start a new career path 
Her struggle with depression and anxiety and how she nurtured herself back to wholeness
How she shifted how she works
How naming what you do aloud can give you permission to claim your new path
The tell-tale signs that you need to do inner work
How to re-ignite your hobbies and passions
You can learn more about Rebecca, her Live in Your Light Bootcamp and her free 30 day affirmation challenge at RebeccaMThompson.com
***
Applications are open for the next round of Package Your Genius Academy that starts in early May. To learn more about the program and submit your preliminary application, please visit Package Your Genius Academy.

PYG 73: Sometimes You Are Who You've Always Been

What's your secret sauce?
What makes you unique?
How is your approach different from that of everyone else?
What makes you, you?
When it comes time to package a message around one's personal brand, clarity on those distinguishing factors seems to be where most people struggle.
But I've found that our pivotal life moments - the moments that are forever etched in our memories - tell the story of who we really are.
Because more often than not, who we are is who we've always been.
The life moments, our first or earliest memories of feeing disappointed, torn, devastated...
Our first recollections of feeling powerful, exhilarated, energized...
Those first memories of feeling confused, furious, or that life was unfair...
What do you remember?
What sticks out to you, even now?
How did those life events change you? 
***
I have a vivid memory of playing on the playground in elementary school. My elementary school was pretty racially diverse, but socially segregated. Yet somehow I always found myself straddling the line.
Back then your 'cool quotient' was calculated by how fast you could run on the playground at recess. The 3-4 other Black girls in my grade were fast; and as the only Black girl lacking speed, I felt cursed. But I was cool enough, just not as cool as the girls who came in first and second place in every foot race.
I remember one day another speed-less girl - a little White girl - was accused of having the dreaded 'cooties' during recess. The playground suddenly cleared out after this accusation, and the little girl was left dangling on her swing, all alone.
I can remember as the crowd sped away, one reluctant classmate turned back and asked me "Aren't you coming? She has cooties, you can't stay with her..." and there I was, torn between going with the crowd, and doing what I felt was right.
I knew then that I couldn't leave her, that the rest of the students would be alright, that I may have to pay a price for being in such close proximity to her cooties. But it was a price I was willing to pay.
At the end of the day, I couldn't bear the thought of leaving her there all alone with no one to play with. It just wasn't in me to do it.
And it still isn't.
Years later, I don't like leaving people behind. It's who I've always been. I have attended expensive conferences only to go home and blog about everything I learned so others could learn, too. When I was a journalist, I dedicated my beat to giving voice to those who didn't have a microphone. And as a PR woman and a coach I've used my skills to amplify the voices of others. I've built a business around unlocking the gifts of people who may not have felt they fit anywhere else. 
And every time I do that, every time I make a choice that may not necessarily be the most popular or profitable, it speaks volumes for my brand on my behalf.
And better yet, it attracts people who are also on that same frequency. 
What are some of the pivotal life moments that you remember?
What memories are etched in your brain and heart, years later, even now?
And what story are those memories - the ones you've held on for decades - telling about you today?
 
Applications are open for the next round of Package Your Genius Academy
I'm excited to work with a few more high achievers who have a track record of professional success and need help framing their story, articulating their value to the clients who need them, and becoming more visible through media and speaking.
If you:
have had some success in one area, but want to make a shift and do something you’ve never done before,
don’t know how to clearly describe what you do, package who you are, or sell yourself to others, or
have had on the job successes and are often praised for your work but now want to translate that into more consulting opportunities, apply here.
As always, Package Your Genius: 5 Steps to Build Your Most Powerful Personal Brand is available on Amazon
Package Your Genius Personal Branding Companion Workbook is available on Amazon

PYG 72: How to Use Your Energy to Assess When It's Time to Pivot

Popular advice from the coaching and co-working world these days is "Do What You Love..."It's a powerful mantra - one that I believe - but it throws so many people for a loop.How can you do what you love if you've never really done it before?How can you bring your life's purpose to the forefront if you're not sure what it is?
And how can you figure out what you're supposed to be doing when you're feeling stuck, drained, or uninspired?I have a clue for you.If you're searching for work that you love, start paying attention to what LIGHTS YOU UP.Are you aware of what energizes you? What about what drains you?What people are always a joy?What people are always a pain?If you're ready to find your life's work and bring purpose front and center, first you need to assess your ENERGY.And I have a free tool to help. Get the process of inquiry my clients use to understand their energy and plan a pivot towards more fulfilling work. Download the Package Your Genius Brand Energy Assessment here 
 
Applications are open for the next round of Package Your Genius Academy
I'm excited to work with a few more high achievers who have a track record of professional success and need help framing their story, articulating their value to the clients who need them, and becoming more visible through media and speaking.
If you:
have had some success in one area, but want to make a shift and do something you’ve never done before,
don’t know how to clearly describe what you do, package who you are, or sell yourself to others, or
have had on the job successes and are often praised for your work but now want to translate that into more consulting opportunities, apply here.
As always, Package Your Genius: 5 Steps to Build Your Most Powerful Personal Brand is available on Amazon
Package Your Genius Personal Branding Companion Workbook is available on Amazon
 
 

PYG 71: 5 Types of Advice Experts Can Repackage for Visibility and Revenue

Experts: stop overthinking it!
Visibility does not have to be as hard as we're making it. 
After countless conversations with students, clients and friends, I wanted to establish once and for all how easy it is take what you're already doing and repurpose it for visibility and even revenue, if you're so inclined.
Regardless of where you are in the personal branding process, you can repurpose your advice - the thoughts you have and expertise you share - into more tangible ways to support infinitely scalable more people.
Want to reach more people?
Here are 5 types of advice you can repurpose:
1) 1:1 Client Sessions - Do you have coaching, consulting or strategy sessions with your clients? Do you frequently brainstorm with work colleagues one on one?
If you're frequently giving the same advice over and over again, maybe it's time for you to repurpose that into something bigger. You can repurpose the advice you've given during your 1:1 client conversations into:
media interviews - sessions provide great fodder for talking points and soundbites 
podcast episodes - you can tell a great story using what you worked on in your sessions
newsletter articles and blog posts - mine client sessions for "stories" that can bring what you do to life in your newsletter or blog posts
guest post submissions to larger sites - share the results your clients received in a teachable moment for others
2) Session Notes - Do you take detailed session notes for your individual or group clients? Do you keep seeing the same themes pop up over and over again? Why not repurpose them into:
Blank worksheets  - you can give these away to build your email list or use them with new clients
Workbooks - if you notice multiple themes towards one big goal, i.e. how to get media interviews, how to get speaking engagements, and how to grow your social media following - maybe all of those can be packaged together into a workbook
Workshop or Conference Curriculum - I frequently reflect on my client session notes to pull out what makes most sense to share during events and retreats
A book - depending on how many themes you can find, your book may be inside of these notes
A course - similarly, if courses are more your speed, there's likely a bank of videos you can create simply from the roadmap of your client session notes. Don't reinvent the wheel if you don't have to!
3) Your Speaking Opportunities - Do you do a ton of paid talks? Do you create several slide decks each year to correspond with your workshops? Why not repurpose those into more content like:
Media Segments/Interview Pitches - if you've prepared a good deck, those talking points are done.
Book outlines and books - My book Package Your Genius 5 Steps to Build Your Most Powerful Personal Brand started from my notes and speaking decks. I used my signature presentation content as the outline for the book and filled in the blanks from there.
Course Modules - the deck is the hardest part. If you have a few SOLID presentation decks on a similar theme, all they need is your voiceover to turn them into video course modules. You can record them using a tool like Screenflow or Camtasia, OR you can teach live masterclass and turn the video recordings into your course.
4) Content series - I recently discovered the power of creating video content during an event. You can use your own telesummit or virtual conference to help you develop a massive amount of content for 
a podcast launch - this is an easy way to create a bank of interviews you can use to launch your new show. 
Course videos - Once the virtual event is done, repurpose those videos into the modules for your online course.
Membership site content - another smart way to develop a bank of content for a new membership site
5) Frequently asked questions and general advice - We all give it. Why not repurpose it? Furthermore, why not monetize it?
a blog post - the most basic format to repurpose your FAQs; you can even write the most epic blog post and submit it to a larger site like Business Insider if you want to use it to grow your email list
a media pitch - This is where I typically start with PR for experts. I have them take their most frequently asked questions and position that advice as the basis for a media interview. You're already giving out this advice - why not capture your gems on tv or radio?
a keynote presentation or book - Again, if you're always giving out the same gems, perhaps they're the basis for your signature talk or keynote presentation, your book - or both.
a paid signature consulting session - If people are getting get results from your free advice, why not package what you're telling people into a paid consulting session? That was one of the first ways I monetized my ideas and it's been amazing.
 
 
 
 Applications are open for the next round of
Package Your Genius Academy
I'm ready to work with a few more high achievers who have a track record of professional success and need help framing their story, articulating their value to the clients who need them, and becoming more visible through media and speaking.
If you:
have had some success in one area, but want to make a shift and do something you’ve never done before,
don’t know how to clearly describe what you do, package who you are, or sell yourself to others, or
have had on the job successes and are often praised for your work but now want to translate that into more consulting opportunities, apply here.
As always, Package Your Genius: 5 Steps to Build Your Most Powerful Personal Brand is available on Amazon
Package Your Genius Personal Branding Companion Workbook is available on Amazon
 
 

PYG 70: How to Anticipate Seasons of Brand Growth and Make a Record of Your Expert Ideas

Spring is almost here, and in my opinion, this is the perfect time to be thinking like a planter.
If you owned a farm and were preparing for the spring planting season, what would you be doing?
Likely assessing last year's harvest to determine what worked and what didn't.
You may talk to your customers to find out which crops were most in demand, and which ones you could plant less of.
You'd be spending time making the decisions that would impact your season of growth.
The same can be true for your brand. At this point in the year, you likely know about the major speaking engagements that are on the calendar. You know about most of your major travel. If you're an entrepreneur, you have an idea of the major service or program launches happening soon or later in the fall. 
How are you preparing?
Better yet, how are you planning to make a record of the success you're going to create in the upcoming growth months of the year?
I spoke with a current Package Your Genius Academy student who has a number of big speaking engagements on her calendar this spring. Some of these talks occur at major annual conferences for her industry. I asked her to consider preparing for the opportunities coming her way - not simply by preparing her remarks and shaping her deck; I challenged her to think about how could she be intentional about snagging other visibility opportunities to coincide with her talks.
For example, could she write an op ed and pitch it to either a major national newspaper or an industry publication all her peers read? Could she look at the cities where she'll be speaking and research local news outlets where she could potentially book a segment while she's in town? How can she leverage the hard work she's already doing to deliver an amazing talk and create a way for others in her industry to learn from her? 
How could she plan to make sure there's a record of her being there, saying what she said and delivering her genius?
That's one of the reasons I'm so passionate about media. Say what you will about it, media coverage creates a record of what happened. It reminds the world of what you did, what you said, and that you were there. 
In an era of disappearing media as Dr. Richardson discussed on episode 69, it's all the more important in today's digital age to make sure your story is being recorded permanently.
What's coming up on your agenda? What do you want to add to the historical record? What op ed can you write? What coverage can you go after to make a record that you said what you said, did what you did and made the contribution you made?
 
As Mentioned During the Episode
During the recent Virtual PR Conference I announced a new PR program we're launching specifically for experts who are building their personal brands. Maximum Exposure is an opportunity for you to work with my team of experts to meet with journalists, brainstorm story ideas, fine tune your message and pitch the media every single month. We're accepting applications, so if PR is on your agenda for this year, submit your application and plan to join us. Submit your application

PYG 69: Making Storytelling and Visibility Accessible to Combat Erasure with Dr. Allissa Richardson

Allissa Richardson, PhD is the assistant professor of Journalism at Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California. A 2016 graduate of Package Your Genius Academy, Dr. Richardson is also a pioneer in mobile journalism, and was one of the first professional journalists to teach storytelling and reporting using smartphones and mobile cameras. 
Allissa trains youth to use only smartphones, MP3 players and tablets to report news. She calls her students mobile journalists, or MOJOs. At age 25, she joined the faculty of Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland. She served as coordinator of its journalism program, and launched and directed the Morgan MOJO Lab in 2010. Under her leadership, Morgan State became the first and only historically black college in the country to offer mobile journalism courses. 
The National Association of Black Journalists said Richardson empowered her students around the globe “to speak truth to power using new media.” In spring 2012, NABJ recognized her as its Journalism Educator of the Year for her international work. In 2013, Apple, Inc. inducted Richardson into its elite Distinguished Educator program for her innovative uses of its products. 
Richardson is the founder of MOJO MediaWorks. Her firm designs mobile journalism workshops for youth, educators and working journalists. Her clients include The Washington Post, PBS, Black Girls Code, GlobalGirl Media, Journalism Educators Association, and the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. Black Enterprise has called Richardson’s fast-growing company a “feel-good tech firm on the rise.”
Richardson’s writing has appeared in Oprah Magazine, Diverse Issues in Higher Education, JET Magazine, Baltimore Sun.com, the Miami Herald and the Chicago Tribune. She earned the Weinstein-Luby Outstanding Young Journalist Award in 2002, and the Freedom Forum’s Chips Quinn Scholars award that same year. And Harvard University selected her for its prestigious Nieman Foundation Journalism Fellowship to work on a project that advances the industry.
Richardson holds a Ph.D. in Journalism Studies from the University of Maryland College Park, a Master's Degree in Magazine Publishing from Northwestern University's Medill School, and a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Xavier University of Louisiana.
Our conversation touched on
Personal branding in academia and how Dr. Richardson used her brand to get on the tenure track. 
How positioning herself as an expert helped her snag a Harvard fellowship and international teaching opportunities
Why she loves the freedom and schedule of academia
Her forthcoming book Bearing Witness While Black and how she landed a book deal at the top academic press
Why writing and authorship are important to her
How visibility combats erasure and why it's important for people of color to tell their stories
 
 
As mentioned on the episode
On Wednesday March 6, I'm excited to my first ever all day virtual conference. Maximum Exposure is a daylong online event where I'll be speaking with host journalists and experts about how you can gain valuable media exposure for your personal brand. 
Join us for the conference by registering on Crowdcast: http://www.crowdcast.io/e/PYGAMaximumExposure/register