Package Your Genius Personal Branding Podcast

PYG 128: Harvest your gifts before the rains

When it comes to working the land - especially in the Southern region of the United States, this time of year is an exciting time because it marks the season of harvest.
But it can be a potentially dangerous time for the farmers who aren't quick enough to get their year's work out of the ground.
It's essentially a race against time to harvest before the winter rains when anything you've left out in the field will be rendered useless.
Unpicked fruit will be left to rot.
A fortuitous conversation with my grandmother revealed this wisdom that's native to Southerners, and I had to share it with you. The similarity between our gifts and a farmer's crops were too stark to miss.
So many people have allowed their gifts - their expertise, skills, and wisdom - to ripen for years, but have yet pick their own fruit.
Let this comparison to nature be your own cautionary tale: there comes a point when you're not growing anymore. But it may not be because you've simply reached a plateau, instead you're fully ripe and it's time for you to get off the vine. And if you stay on the vine too long, the very gifts you've spent years cultivating may be in danger.
 
***
Thank you to Nikki Rogers of the Wednesday Morning Bulletin for mentioning Package Your Genius on your latest edition. For those who want to check out her newsletter, you can check it out here.
 
It's harvest season - and that goes for you, too! If you know your gifts have ripened and you're ready for your harvest, I welcome you to apply for the opportunity to work together in Package Your Genius Academy this fall.
 
If you've been doing great work and getting results in your industry, but you want to expand your exposure, learn more about our PR mastermind and apply.
 
Enrollment is open now for the visibility academy and our PR mastermind. Visit www.packageyourgeniusacademy.com to learn more and apply.
 
 

PYG 127: Choose to choose

High achievers typically do such great work that they're often recruited for opportunities, courted by associates, even pursued by friends. 
Instead of being the aggressor, it's not uncommon for them - despite all of their success - to find themselves in the passive role of waiting to be chosen.
It's what they're used to after all.
If this resonates with you, and you're not in the field you want to be in, on the career track you want to be in, or in a relationship that serves you because you were chosen but did not choose, let me be the first to tell you things can be different.
You can choose to choose.
Don't settle for what falls into your lap. Decide what you want in every area of your life, and go after it.

PYG 126: Must-haves, deal breakers and multipliers

Every living thing has its own set of base level requirements for survival. 
Every living thing also has its own set of factors that would make it hard to grow.
Last but not least, every living thing has certain factors that would take it to the next level and cause it to thrive, regenerate, multiply.
The same is true for us.
Each of us has our own set of must-haves, deal breakers and multipliers. A part of radical self discovery is paying attention to all three in order to get the clearest picture of ourselves and our personal recipe for success.
 
***
Package Your Genius: 5 Steps to Build Your Most Powerful Personal Brand has officially been in the world for a full year!
Thank you to all of you who purchased the book (or the companion workbook), left a thoughtful review, bought the book for a friend and shared this life-changing content. 
I am so grateful!

PYG 125: Radical Self Discovery

I was reflecting back on a few of my incredible clients and the reflection reminded me what it is I do that matters, and more importantly, WHY I do this work.
 
As I was thinking about the simplest way to describe what I do, I realized that at the core of my work I help people remember who they are -- even if you've never truly been able to articulate your understanding of yourself, or if you knew it very clearly at another point in your life but somehow drifted away from yourself and forgot, I help you put a framework around yourself so you understand who you are, what makes you tick, what energizes you and what drains you.
 
In some ways there is nothing more important than this.
 
Once you get a clear understanding of who you are, you can not only make better decisions, but you can make the BEST decisions for you because you will immediately understand why something doesn't feel right.
 
Once you get a clear understanding of who you are, you will know immediately what you have to do in order to get yourself back on course once you've fallen off track.
 
But if you don't know yourself, you'll keep finding yourself in relationships, on career paths and in situations that don't serve you, but you won't know why.
 
If you don't get to know yourself you'll never quite feel at home in yourself, but you won't know why.
 
If you can understand yourself, showing up clearly to others becomes easy. When you know yourself and are clear on who you are, it's easy to communicate that message to other people. It's easy to know when something's a fit or it's not. It becomes easy to say yes instead of no, or no instead of yes because you know yourself.
 
You know your landmines, you know your triggers, you know your deal breakers, you know your must-haves.
 
But how many of us seek to get to know ourselves on such a level? How many of us set out to become a student of our own personal tastes, our likes and dislikes, our motivations?
 
I recommend that if you say you're ready to package your genius, follow a big dream, build a personal brand in a way that puts you further out in the world, first make it your mission to understand yourself.
 
If you can understand yourself, you can set up each day in a way that serves you. Then week after week, month after month, and year after year will be a delight.
 
When you know yourself everything you want - fulfillment, self actualization - all of it - will be within your grasp. You'll become the architect and the builder of your own happiness.
 
***
 
Radical self discovery is the first stage in our successful personal branding process, and we spend the first month in Package Your Genius Academy on that topic alone. If we can get that part right, the packaging and promotion naturally follows. So we don't rush to package you - we seek first to help you understand yourself, and understand how to take personal inventory in the future because some things about yourself will change.
 
If you've ever
landed a great job only to find later on that it's just not a great fit, and you wonder how you missed the red flags
built up a successful business only to realize the clients you serve don't light you up,
had to wake up everyday to a sense of dread instead of joy,
it's time you get to know yourself on a deeper level.
 
Package Your Genius Academy is a powerful opportunity to do that before you package a personal brand that is built on your own recipe for success and fulfillment. Visit packageyourgeniusacademy.com to learn more and apply.

PYG 124: When finishing matters more than winning

As you are on the road to package your genius, and you're a high achiever who is used to always being the best, I want you to remember:
No matter where you place
sometimes just finishing the race
is a form of winning
when you're doing something new.
 
***
If you know you have valuable gifts inside you, but you are unclear which race you're running and where's the lane for your gifts and talents, I welcome you to apply for the opportunity to get that clarity during our visibility academy where we can work on it together.
 
If you've been doing great work and getting results in your industry, but you want to expand your exposure, learn more about our PR mastermind and apply.
 
Enrollment is open now for the academy and our PR mastermind. Visit www.packageyourgeniusacademy.com to learn more and apply.

PYG 123: When you have to drop the ball...

Sometimes limits are in our heads, telling us we can't go any further when we have just a little bit of gas left in the take.
Other times limits are deeper, and our exhaustion is our body/mind/spirit's way of telling us we need to rest.
But the beautiful thing about life is, for most things, we get another day to try again. If you had to put down a work project, take a day off from cooking dinner for the family, or skipped a workout - you can get back on track. 
Don't beat yourself up if you drop the ball.
Just pick it back up tomorrow.
 
***
Here are all the ways you can work with me:
 
Join our free Facebook community where you can meet other podcast listeners and engage directly with me. Join here.
 
Check out the book Package Your Genius: 5 Steps to Build Your Most Powerful Personal Brand if you haven't read it yet.
Pick up the companion workbook - a tool I made to help you think through the questions that can help you get closer.
 
If you need help remembering how to answer the call, I'd be honored to support you this fall in Package Your Genius Academy. Visit the site to learn more and apply.
 
If you're ready for Maximum Exposure, learn more about our PR Mastermind.

PYG 122: Reframe your default

My mom retired a few years ago, and in the time since, she's been living her best life. She had a goal to see all the states in the lower 48 of USA and as of today, she's officially done it.
 
She left for a road trip for her birthday early last week, headed with her bestie from Tennessee to New England.
 
When she initially told me about the trip, I remember catching myself getting wistful. "I sure wish I could take off for ten days at my own pace to see the sights," I thought to myself. "And I sure wish I could spend that kind of quality time with my mom..."
 
I can't do that because of the kids, I immediately told myself. For the last decade plus, that has been my default reason whenever I get too excited about doing something or going somewhere that will take me away from the DC area. Because the kids have to get to and from school, my husband travels a lot for work so I need to make sure my calendar is clear.
 
But is that true, really?
 
At this point, my kids know how to catch public transportation, manage their chores, bathing themselves, and even preparing some of their own meals themselves with light oversight. Now they are still kids and therefore need emotional support, lots of refereeing, and general coaching and guidance. But for the most part, I must tell you, I have hit my stride as a mom. And with their new school the support from the school and other parents really takes the whole "I can't be away from the kids" excuse off the table.
 
But when my mom told me about her trip, it was my immediate default. Looking over the last ten days though, I totally could have joined her!
 
This made me think about defaults. Even when our situations change - often times because we've been grinding to bring on the change - our minds can lag behind.
 
It's kind of like muscle memory which I talked about on episode 99. If we have leaned on a reason for long enough, it becomes our default without us even realizing it.
 
So we end up making broad assumptions based on default decisions of our past that used to serve us. It's easier for your brain to go on autopilot - that uses up much less energy - but sometimes that autopilot needs reprogramming.
 
For example, say you have a seafood allergy as a child, so even though love lobster and crab, you avoid seafood restaurants because you know the food will make you sick. But then you go for an annual checkup as an adult only to find you've outgrown the allergy and you can now eat all the seafood you want. Now you love seafood, but even after learning that you are no longer allergic, when it comes time to plan dinner or choose a restaurant, your brain automatically removes any seafood options by default. Even though that's no longer your reality.
 
And we do it all the time. Even if you haven't outgrown an old reason like I have with my kids being why I can't travel, you may be coming up with reasons that match a mindset you held in the past that you don't hold anymore.
 
For example, I'm going to a conference in a few weeks to Richmond, Virginia. I knew what hotel I wanted to stay at so I went to their website to book a room. When I went to book my room, they didn't have my dates, so I started doing research on other hotels that fit my preferences. I started going down the rabbit hole until it dawned on me that I don't have to do this. I have an admin. Let me let her do this so I can go do something else. She's way better at that stuff anyway.
 
Now the thing with my admin is I'm pretty good about having her do things for my business - but I always forget that she can help me with some of the more personal administrative things too. Having spent my entire life doing personal administrative things myself - and having to do so much personal admin for my family - it's easy to forget that I have help. So my default in that situation was "I have to find a hotel myself..." I reframed that to "I have support."
 
For me it requires practice to reframe. What about you? What are some of your default decisions that you see yourself making?
 
Here are a few more of my defaults plus my reframe.
 
1) Default: I don't have time to write. Reframe: I've set my business and life up in a way that I have ample time to write.
 
2) Default: I have to put off large purchases for the future. Reframe: I am not just starting out. I have considerably more financial resources. I can buy it now.
 
3) Default: I can't drive to NYC on a whim. Reframe: I feel confident driving long distances on my own now. When are we leaving?
 
4) Default: I have to know all of the answers and do all the thinking work when it comes to my clients. Reframe: I have 2 other brilliant communications coaches working in my program. They have amazing ideas and strategies to share. They are here to empower my clients.
 
5) Default: I only have a few more weeks before I start my new job. Even though I had planned to do some self care, travel somewhere restorative, and rest, I will have to spend the rest of my time off moving and getting settled. Reframe: I can get help packing up my things, get this move done in a weekend, and use the rest of my time off for me.
 
So whenever you get that sense of wistfulness I described when you think I wish I could do A but i can't because of B, I want you to ask yourself...do you really?
 
Is there not another way you can accomplish what you want to accomplish? How can we remove this as a barrier to your real goal and where you really want to be putting your energy. Let's get creative.
 
***
If you know you have valuable gifts inside you, but you are unclear on all of the how - how do I figure out what to focus on, how do I describe it to people, what do I charge - you NEED to get yourself into our visibility academy where we can work on it together.
 
If you've been doing great work and getting results in your industry, but you want to expand your exposure, learn more about our PR mastermind and apply.
 
Enrollment is open now for the academy and our PR mastermind. Visit www.packageyourgeniusacademy.com to learn more and apply.
 

PYG 121: Op Ed Writing to Spread Your Ideas

We've been talking a lot about purpose, but I want to change the conversation and switch gears back to visibility because it's one of the reasons you're here.
In this two-part episode on op-ed writing, I share 5 questions to ask yourself to get closer to the op-ed you want to write.
In part two, we'll talk to a journalist who will share how we can reach millions of people with our words.
 
 

PYG 120: Someone needs to hear it from YOU

Do you remember your favorite teacher from when you were in school? Or a teacher who could make a subject you usually didn't like come alive? Or better yet, a teacher who could break down a subject in a way that could make you understand even when others couldn't?
 
And they may have been saying the exact same thing or reading from the exact same textbook as all the other teachers who taught that subject, but for whatever reason you could just hear it better from them?
 
Well someone out there is thinking the exact same thing about you.
 
Someone out there needs to hear your area of expertise, but they need to hear it from you.
 
Even though there are already people who are saying some version of what you're saying, or doing some version of what you're doing, there are still people out there who still need to get the goods from you.
 
Why is that?
 
I can't explain it. Just like you can't explain how two cooks can follow the same recipe but turn out completely different dishes. Even though both taste good, one is crispier and you like it that way. But then if you ask someone else, they prefer it less crispy. It's all a matter of preference.
 
But my point is, you are someone's preference.
 
Someone prefers YOU.
 
That's a part of why you have to package your genius - aside from the fact that it will call you until you answer it as I've said before.
 
But if you're one of those people who gets so caught up in what other people are doing, or the fact that the market is saturated, or there are so many coaches in this space, or there's already five other books out on my topic there's no point in me even getting in the game - you're hurting yourself because you're not expressing what you need to express, and you're hurting the people who need to hear it from you.
 
Now. There may be thousands of people who claim to do what you do, serve how you serve, support others how you support others.
 
But they aren't you.
 
They don't have your spirit. They don't have your story. They don't have your energy. They don't have your humor. They don't have your journey. They aren't from your hometown. They don't have whatever it is that gives you the power to connect with someone who may find themself on a similar path.
 
They aren't going to say it the way you'd say it.
 
They won't write it the way you'd write it.
 
They won't use the same analogies and metaphors.
 
And because they aren't you, your people may SEE the others in your field, but they won't be able to HEAR them.
 
It's about connection. It's about bringing your you-ness to the table so others can connect with what they need in you, and you can connect with what you need in them.
 
When you can truly understand this, you can stop wasting your time getting frustrated with why you can't land corporate clients but he seems to attract all the corporate clients. Or why the same people who read her book aren't flocking to read yours.
 
And another thing, I'll leave you with: you have to understand that some people have "mass appeal". Others are for a more discerning palate.
 
Both are great, both are necessary. Neither is better than the other. They're just different. Remember - it's a matter of preference.
 
So whether you find yourself in the category of being for the masses or being for the more discerning - it doesn't matter. Either way, you're for who you're for. Don't discount a smaller audience that may have a deeper connection to your work if you like to go deep.
 
Don't get discouraged when the masses seem to respond to someone who is saying a version of what you said six months ago, but they didn't want to hear it from you. You have to understand, they couldn't hear it from you. Who needed to hear it from you heard it, but those that couldn't hear it aren't your people. Your people caught it, digested it, and are waiting on your next insight, your next big idea, your next aha moment.
 
We have to learn to trust - and release comparison which I know is difficult to do in the age of social media - but we have to learn to trust that what we have to share is of value and can set someone else free if we give ourselves permission to give ourselves away.
 
Will you give yourself permission to give yourself away?
 
I sure hope so. It's so much more fun when you do, trust me.
 
If you're new to the podcast, I welcome you for coming on this journey with me. Don't forget to rate and review the show wherever you listen so we can reach more people like us.
 
I'm super excited to be hosting an opinion page editor for the New York Times for our Maximum Exposure PR mastermind this week. In addition to meeting with the mastermind students in our closed session, she's also agreed to answer a few questions for the podcast. I'm so excited.
 
If you have ever wanted to know what it takes to get your ideas published by a major outlet like the New York Times, email me your questions so I can ask her on the podcast. You can email your questions about op ed publishing to support (at) packageyourgeniusacademy (dot) com and I'll be sure to cover those when we do our interview.
 
***
 
Enrollment is open for the second cohort and we're getting excited. For our first cohort, we've landed media mentions in the Washington Post, WJLA, ABC, NBC, Fast Company, Washington Post Express, Fox, News Channel 8 in Washington, DC and more.
 
If you want to learn more about the ME program and how we help our students brainstorm story ideas, craft timely pitches and contact the media each month, visit the website and learn more and apply.
 
In closing, I hope what you've heard here today will set you free. I hope I've inspired you to stop over thinking it and finally package your genius.
 
Because someone needs to hear it from you.

PYG 119: Change your personal culture

I recently attended an organizational effectiveness training retreat for an organization I'm a member of. One of the most powerful things I learned was how easily an organization's culture can get off track, and how possible it is to get things BACK on track.
 
So think about an organization you're a part of, or even a relationship you have with someone to make it easier to imagine. If you have one bad interaction with someone, you may say "Oh we had a tiff," or "we didn't see eye to eye..." and you chalk it up to a misunderstanding, but the relationship isn't over.
 
If you have two or three bad encounters, internally you go on alert. You may start to rethink the relationship and even say "We're not in a good place..." But once you get into the four-five range with negative encounters, you're in the red zone. In the training, our facilitator said that 5x is a DECISION that this is how we will deal with each other. This is our culture.
 
But what I find fascinating is the same way you can make a decision to not check an organization's culture, and just let it be toxic, you can also make a decision to be positive.
 
You can make a decision to fix things.
 
You can make a decision to change.
 
And if you can make five steps in a positive direction, you can start the process of reversing the negativity. You can decide the culture will be good.
 
Your relationship with yourself is the same way. You can make a decide with your actions to change your personal culture.
 
So if you haven't been prioritizing your calling, or making time to package your genius, let's change your personal culture.
 
To make this practical, I want to know what's on your calendar this week? If you're ready to prioritize your goals, where are you fitting that on your upcoming agenda? Where are you making space?
 
What step can you make this week to change your personal culture?
 
For me, I'm really to bring some intention to my new morning drop-off routine. My kids' new school is near some of my favorite hiking trails, so I'm excited to build some hiking, thinking and writing time into my weekday agenda.
 
As I've mentioned before, daily thinking and writing time really helps me feel centered and pays off in every area of my life from my business, to my creative writing, to my marriage, to my parenting. So it's silly to not do what I know works for me.
 
I'm changing my personal culture. I'm making what I know works for me a priority. This way I'm being intentional. I'm not letting my life happen to me by default. I'm not wondering why I'm no closer to my goals than I was last time I checked.
 
 
***
If you know you have valuable gifts inside you, but you are unclear on all of the how - how do I figure out what to focus on, how do I describe it to people, what do I charge - you NEED to get yourself into our visibility academy where we can work on it together.
 
If you've been doing great work and getting results in your industry, but you want to expand your exposure, learn more about our PR mastermind and apply.
 
Enrollment is open now for the academy and our PR mastermind. Visit www.packageyourgeniusacademy.com to learn more and apply.