Personal Branding Blog – Dan Schawbel

Personal branding is about connecting with other people and blog’s are the cheapest, most cost effective way to “meet and greet.” Scott Monty, a Boston social media marketing guru, tagged me in one of his recent posts and asked me to write one of my own. The post was called “8 Things You Didn’t Know About Me.” I thought this was a clever idea because it puts the “personal” in personal branding and gives your readers a closer look at who you are, with information not everyone knows.

• I wasn’t always prolific. Believe it or not, before college I had very little motivation, determination or idea of who I was. When I was a freshman I was interested in math and now I’m doing marketing and branding. When College rolled around, my mindset changed because I wanted to start a new life and it was very expensive. I didn’t believe in myself until after my first semester, when I received straight A’s after putting the effort in. After viewing my report card, my life changed forever.

__

• My family is obsessed with cruise ships and tennis. I’ve been going on cruise ships since I was 8 years old and have been on a total of 16. I’ve been to Alaska on a cruise during the summer time and also traveled
  to St. Thomas, Haiti, St. Maartin, Jamaica, Key West, Bermuda, Nassau, Freeport, and many other islands.  After my father left the food industry, he transitioned to travel and became a travel agent, specializing in cruises. Since I was 6 I’ve played tennis, both competitively and for fun. I was on my high school tennis team for 3 years but gave it up in college due to commitments.

__

• I discovered my brand on March 14th. This blog will celebrate it’s first birthday this March. There are entries from October 5th because they were from first blog I created on Blogger.com called “Driven to Succeed.” I was branding myself and mentoring others before I even new the term “personal branding” existed, but on that day, it was like an awakening. For some reason, I feel like I was supposed to wait until this date in order to full embrace the topic. In order to pull off what I’ve accomplished today, I needed skills, such as web development, graphic design, online marketing and social media. When I decided to go in this direction those skills were available to me, so I could quickly become what I am today.

__

• I have many hats and people can’t keep up. Dave McClure is the master of 500 hats, while I have a mere 9. Aside from being a blogger, I publish Personal Branding Magazine, freelance write, host the Personal Brand Awards, direct Personal Branding TV, am on the board of advisers for ((echo)) MyPlace, work full-time at EMC Corp, hold keynote speeches and workshops, and will soon be a book author. A future post will describe a typical day I have.

__

• I used to be very shy. I would say one of the best benefits of discovering your brand is that it gives you confidence to speak to others. When you don’t know who you are, you have very little to talk about. I’m not saying I was never social, but I used to keep to myself because I didn’t feel comfortable around other people who had a clear direction.

__

• Video games were a huge part of my life. I had Nintento, Super Nintendo, N64, Playstation 2 and Game Gear (Sega). Any systems or games I didn’t own I would borrow from friends or rent at Blockbuster. Back when I was passionate about video games, there were no internet/multi-player options. I remember selling my Super Nintendo and N64 and getting more money back from the Super Nintendo ($50 compared to $25).

__

• I’m a straight guy who likes fashion. There are too many stereotypes about men who dress well. As noted in many posts and articles, I feel that how you dress is an essential element of your value proposition. When it comes to first appearances, as someone is about to greet you, they notice your looks and dress. As they approach you, your personality becomes apparent. My favorite brands are ETRO Milano, Ted Baker London and Paul Smith. Each one is very unique and matches up to my personal brand. My wardrobe is probably as exhausted as most women’s, but I’m fine with it.

__

• I never used to like reading or writing. In fact, I was always stubborn about taking the time to learn new things, but of course that has all changed. The longest paper I’ve ever written before I started this blog was 20 pages and now I’m writing a book that is over 200 pages. This blog is inching closer to 200 posts and if you combine all the articles I’ve sent to publishers, then that may be a book’s worth as well. As for reading, I subscribe to many blogs and read them each day. Reading and writing continuously in this fashion is a great exercise for learning and developing these skills.

Now that I’ve spilled my guts, it’s time to tag others. Ann Handley, Peter Kim, and Krishna De.