When you have a unique name, face, personal brand statement and skill set, differentiation is natural and fairly easy.  Out of everything I just mentioned, your face is perhaps the most important asset you have, both online and offline.  We spoke about how to brand yourself with business cards some time ago and how your cards should contain a picture on one side because that’s how people will remember you.  When was the last time you forgot a face?  Unless you meet someone when they are five years old and then visit them when they are twenty-five, there aren’t drastic changes in their physical appearance.  Of course, people can gain and lose weight, change their hair color, grow taller and have their skin age, but for the most part their appearance remains the same.

You officially have a twin brother/sister

How can you brand yourself so you separate yourself from your twin? People get confused when they meet twins all the time.  It’s nearly impossible to remember their names.  You are probably guilty of trying to analyze them and pick them apart!  People who really scrutinize twins typically say “oh it’s that one with the mole.”  Even parents of twins can get confused at first.  Over time, they figure it out because they have to.

Predicaments

• The twins interview at the same company, at the same time, for the same position.
• One twin goes on a date with a guy and then the guy sees the other twin the next morning.
• The two twins sit in class and the teacher swaps their grades.
• One twin sleeps in, while the other twin receives an award that his/her twin won.
• One twin starts an online TV show and gets sick.  The other twin takes over and isn’t as funny, so viewers notice and comment.
• A hiring manager is conducting research for an open position, finds both twins Facebook accounts and selects the wrong twin for the position.

How to differentiate yourself as a twin

1.  Play up your name as much as possible. Whenever you have the chance to say or write your name, do it and repeat it.  Purchase your unique domain name and accounts on the leading social networks.  If you are using a picture of yourself online, then edit your name into it.

2.  Use your hair as a secret weapon. The picture of the Olsen Twins depicts the girls with two completely different hair styles.  Anyone in the world can have a different style, whether it’s long, curled, or standing up.  Even if you’re triplets, you can change this on a dime.

3.  Buy a different wardrobe. If you both wear the same black ACDC t-shirt everyday, no one will ever get your name right and I wouldn’t blame them.  Hopefully, if you are a twin, you will have a different favorite color and clothing style.   Don’t borrow each others clothing because you have the same weight and chest size.

4.  Follow your passion and don’t copy. Some twins just hold the same profession because they are always around each other and rub off on one another.  Try to follow your passion instead of just taking the easy path.  You will regret it later if you don’t.

Today, I spoke with Ian Ayres, who is an author and law professor at Yale. He shares insights as to why you really need to learn about statistics and how companies are using these so-called “Supercrunchers” to conduct business.

Why do we need to understand numbers to succeed and survive in our world? Should every college student have to take a statistics class before they graduate?

Every college student should definitely take statistics before graduation. I’d even think we should mandate it in high school. Only about 2% of college students use calculus in their subsequent lives. But 100% of college graduates can use statistics to understand the meaning of political polls or of medical studies or to understand advice about how to invest for retirement.

There’s some progress here. I’m heartened to see that many Algebra and Pre-Algebra text books are sneaking in statistics (often by brute force). But it is an afterthought and not clear that teachers actually teach these sections or those students come away knowing how to compute for example a test of statistical significance in the difference of two means.

Which companies are looking at databases to find unseen connections to predict human behavior? Do you know any specific people who are “stand-out” number crunchers?

Virtually every Fortune 500 company now is doing some kind of data mining. The difference is in the quality of the number crunching that is being done. The book “Competing on Analytics” does a good job of giving an idea of some of the best companies (including Harahs for example). A lot of companies are stuck at just doing descriptive statistics. They are only pulling cross tabs and using dashboards. The next level up is doing more sophisticated scoring. The next phase is to improve quality of scoring prediction and pay more attention to the precision of the predictions. One of the coolest things about regressions is that the same technique that makes a prediction, simultaneously tells you the precision of that prediction.

What is a “super cruncher” and how do we become one? How does that differ from an “intuitivist”?

Super crunchers are using traditional tools of regression and randomization but they are applying them to mammoth datasets and they are having impacts on a scale that we’ve never seen before. So size, speed and scale are the hallmarks of super crunching. Super crunchers still use their intuitions, but they are willing to put their intuitions to the test. To become a super cruncher, you need to be trained in the techniques of randomization and regression. If your organization is not using BOTH of these techniques, you’re presumptively screwing up.

Can you explain how the “super cruncher” phenomenon will impact the workplace, recruitment and how we manage our personal brands?

Super Crunching tends to take discretion away from line employees. The front-line tasks tend to become more scripted.

Ian, please list the top 5 skills that you would recommend we all work on.

You need to learn how to:

• 1) generate testable hypotheses
• 2) run randomized tests
• 3) run regressions
• 4) analyze the results of the regressions and randomized trials
• 5) use the results to generate more testable hypotheses

I’d recommend starting with running randomized tests. The new chapter that’s been added to the paperback editions, talks about free software that Microsoft and Google are giving away to help you start regressing and randomizing. It’s really easy and free to run randomized tests on your own websites. Finally, checkout my prediction tools if you want to start generating some predictions about things in your own life.

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Ian Ayres is a lawyer and an economist. He is the William K. Townsend Professor at Yale Law School and a Professor at Yale’s School of Management.Professor Ayres is a regular commentator on public radio’s Marketplace and a columnist for Forbes magazine. His research has been featured on PrimeTime Live, Oprah and Good Morning America and in Time and Vogue magazines. Professor Ayres has published 9 books and over 100 articles on a wide range of topics. In 2007, he published Super Crunchers: Why Thinking-By-Numbers is the New Way to be Smart.

Darren Rowse is the guy behind ProBlogger.net, which has become one of the leading places on the web for information about making money from blogs. He is a full-time blogger himself, making a six-figure income from blogging now since 2005. In addition to his blogging at ProBlogger, Darren also edits the popular Digital Photography School blog, as well as numerous other blogs. Darren is one of the founders of b5media, a blog network with hundreds of blogs across numerous different verticals, including business, sport, entertainment, style and beauty, and technology.

Darren, how is this book different than the content on your Problogger blog? Would you consider it a compilation?

Yes in many ways you could see this as a compilation. The idea for a book came about out of the many requests from new readers to my blog who struggled to find a way to access the information in it in a logical way. With over 4000 posts on ProBlogger there is a lot of great information hidden away in archives that is difficult to find unless you know what you’re looking for. Reading it from beginning to end isn’t always helpful as the topics covered are quite scattered when you take them chronologically and over time the older archives date.

So the book was an attempt at compiling the best and most up to date information possible on blogging.

The other bonus of it is that in having Chris co-author it with me he brought a fresh perspective to my own teaching on the topic – something that actually makes it ‘new’ as well as being a compilation of older ideas.

In terms of personal branding, how might blogging become the foundation for creating a compelling eBrand?

I see my blogging as one important component in my overall personal brand. For me blogging is definitely a foundational part of my brand but also important are other elements such as social media presence (using tools like Twitter, FriendFeed, Facebook etc), the book (which opens up new opportunities offline), speaking at conferences etc.

Blogging is a fantastic tool in this mix because it enables you to build trust and develop an ongoing relationship with those who read it. I liken it to real life relationships – when you meet up with someone every day for a few years and they catch glimpses of different sides of you over that time a deep relationship can open up – this is the opportunity that blogging affords people

So in terms of ‘how’ to do this – I guess for me it’s about blogging in a personal voice (I try to write like I speak), about using images, video, audio to add a personal touch and only blogging things that enhance or build the brand that you’re attempting to build.

Do you think everyone should inspire for that 6 figure income? What are the soft or indirect benefits from blogging?

I encourage new bloggers to see direct income from their blogs as one possible benefit from blogging. Sure – it’s nice to earn money from blogging through advertising or affiliate revenue – but there are actually bigger benefits for many bloggers than that kind of direct income. For example – blogs have the ability to build your profile or perceived expertise in a niche. This can open up opportunities to speak, write books, consult, sell products etc.

Would you say this book is geared to companies, individuals or both?

Chris and I wrote this book for individuals wanting to get their head around how bloggers make money and wanting some starting points on how to do it for themselves. It’s aimed at the beginner to intermediate blogger. Having said that – quite a few more experienced bloggers and even business bloggers from companies have told us that they’ve picked up worthwhile ideas from the book. In writing the book we cover everything from SEO, to writing engaging content, to building an audience, to blog design – these are topics that anyone producing a blog of any kind can benefit from.

What differences are there between publishing a book and a blog? Do they support or compliment each other?

It has been an interesting process writing a book. At times it was overwhelming to put together because you commit to writing something that is many thousands of words – however the reality is that I’ve written many more thousands of words on my blog. I guess the challenge with a book is that you need to be a little more disciplined to stay on topic and take things through a logical process and to a logical conclusion. A blog has more scope for getting sidetracked, following streams of ideas, being a little more creative.

I see having a blog and book on the same topic as being complimentary. They both engage people quite differently yet reinforce one another quite well.

This is part of my series of posts called “Brand Yourself As.” Today, I decided to interview Tom Clifford, who directs corporate videos. As you can see to stage right, there is a picture of Tom in his director’s uniform (notice the hat). If you have an angle or a unique personal brand, please email me and I’ll try and include you as well.

Tom is an award-winning filmmaker and he thinks “remarkable organizations deserve remarkable videos.” For 23 years, Tom has been helping companies tell their story by producing award-winning remarkable documentary videos. Companies from Fortune 500’s to non-profits use his films for marketing, recruiting and retention, sharing corporate values and more. From CEO’s to the front-line, Tom makes people feel comfortable being in front of the camera.

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Me: What are 3 ways you’ve branded yourself as a director online?

Tom: The first, and foremost, is through my blog, “Bringing Brands to Life!”

I remember in the summer of 2006, scouring the web looking for blogs, not static sites, from other corporate filmmakers. I couldn’t find any. That “void” prompted me to put a stake in the ground and start writing about my 20+ year experience as a corporate filmmaker. “Bringing Brands to Life!” has recently been picked up by Advertising Age’s Power 150 List, so I’m thrilled at this honor!

Second, I created a Squidoo lens, “Corporate Video: Is Yours Remarkable?”

Being a Seth Godin fan, I was first in line two years ago when he launched Squidoo. The lens continues to generate a lot of traffic to my blog and it’s one of the best moves one can make to start “finding their voice” on-line. That lens has really paid off. When searching “corporate videos” in Google, my Squidoo lens consistently appears high in the results, appearing around fourth or fifth, or at least in the top ten. Once a person lands on my lens, it points them right to my blog.

Third, my LinkedIn profile has been extremely helpful in growing my network in ways I’d never thought possible. Plus, creating a custom url of my LinkedIn profile usually puts my name on the first page of Google searches.

Me: What brands need the most help in coming to life?

Tom: In my own experience, I’ve found that it’s brands that are trying to express and capture that “invisible and human spirit” in each of us. When companies talk about “innovation, values, team spirit, caring, diversity, support and team work” and such, video can show these qualities in action very clearly.

Imagine hearing different employees sharing their personal points of view about these concepts while seeing them “in action.” The documentary format lends itself incredibly well to these ideas. Most times, it’s as “real, authentic, emotional and engaging” as possible. And just to clarify, I favor the documentary and “real people” approach only because this is how I’ve been capturing stories for many years. It’s not to say other forms and styles do not work.

Me: You produce many videos, but which are the most successful? Are you looking to generate buzz by making a viral video?

Tom: The most successful videos are ones capturing personal stories. It doesn’t matter how small or large your organization is; an organization is made up of people. And people have stories.

Since we are hard-wired to tell and share our stories to one another, it makes sense, to me anyways, to discover and capture those stories and feelings from an employee’s (or other) perspective. My approach is to capture one person or perhaps a few people to tell a company story. I’ll look for diversity in the voices and diversity in the stories. These voices wind up creating an interesting video story; a story creating an emotional connection with the viewers.

Viral videos? Think about this for a moment.

What’s the first thing that happens when a video story fades to black? Silence. Talking. Conversation. Sharing. What’s viral? Talking and sharing, of course. Of course, new technologies enable more eyeballs to see these stories. But the premise remains the same: ignite conversation. In the end, I’m interested in igniting conversations and sparking action…all aimed at helping clients solve problems or raise awareness about an issue.

Me: What are your thoughts about production quality vs blogger “podcast” quality?

Tom: Great question! 22 years ago, my mentor said something to me in the edit room which has never left me. He said, “I’d rather see a great story on paper than a poor story filmed in Panavision.”

So, capturing stories is in my DNA. Since every member of my team is first-rate, I honestly don’t ever have to worry about quality. It’s embedded in everything we do. My focus is always on the story and helping to move an audience to action. “Why are we capturing this?” “What difference will this story make to those watching it?” “What happens when the video story fades to back?” “Who can tell this story?” “What emotions do we want to capture?” These questions drive me in every project.

With that said, “blogger quality” video certainly has a place and one I’m all for embracing.

Here’s how I see it: in the end, all this new technology enables the sharing of our stories. And that’s a great thing!

Me: You own directortom.com, but not thomasclifford.com. What is your reasoning here? I know that you’ve branded yourself as director tom, but what about your real name?

Tom: Well, that reminds me of a story that happened in the summer of 1999…

I had dinner with a client after filming a full day and he said, “You know, you should grab ‘directortom dot com.’ Being busy producing, I never really followed up with the idea. But I always entertained the idea once and a while and I’d often bounce the name off friends and clients to see their reaction. They all loved it..it’s easy to spell and easy to remember. Seven years later, when I started blogging, I remembered that dinner and grabbed the name. If I recall, my name had been taken, so it’s worked out well in the end.

Nothing like a happy ending, right?

I want to wish everyone out there a happy thanksgiving from the Personal Branding Blog. Thanksgiving is a time when we give thanks to the prosperity of our own brands, as well as our friends and family. At the dinner table, although our hearts are with the attendees, our minds are on the turkey(see left).

I just came out of my meal, after eating turkey, brisket, stuffing and cake. I’m so stuffed right now and don’t want to see turkey again for a very long time (I’ll probably eat leftovers within the week). I think we should all be thankful for having these extravagant dinners on this glorious day.

On another note, I think it’s a great time to reflect on our personal brands. Taking a closer look at how far we’ve come and our dreams for the future, with the people who know us and love us best. As we move towards the end of 2007, we must keep a few things in mind. Firstly, whether you’re a student or CEO, we must assess our network, discovering who has moved positions and may turn into a bridge into a new opportunity. Secondly, it’s a great time to ask for personal brand feedback, so that we can improve on who we are and learn how we can gather new communication and technical skills that will help us in our careers. Lastly, I feel it’s important to give back. The more we grow and develop, the more we can offer to others who haven’t achieved or had the luxuries as we’ve had. Find someone in your life that you can reach out to and mentor. You can make a real difference in someone’s life…more than you would ever know!

Happy thanksgiving readers!

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Today, I had the great pleasure of interviewing Gary Gil. Gary Gil is the Founder & CEO of Podclass.com, a new website that allows you to teach online courses on any subject, share information, collaborate and learn from other experts. Gary is also a great networker (as I met him through Facebook) and an overall nice guy to talk to. He put a lot of effort into this lengthy interview but you will really benefit from his expertise and his social networking website. Don’t we wish all teachers we grew up with would be as inspiring as Gary.

Me: Why brand yourself as a teacher?


Gary Gil: When a person brands himself or herself as a teacher or instructor, there is an immediate and automatic boost to his or her credibility. Why? Because in most cultures, the label “teacher” or “instructor” is associated with knowledge, trust and respect. In our culture, we automatically associate teachers as being smart, knowledgeable, trustworthy and credible.

It’s like being a published author. If you are a published author, you automatically have more credibility in your field compared to someone who is not, irrespective of the quality of your published book. The fact that you ARE a published author, the public perceives you as being more trustworthy, knowledgeable and credible. Branding yourself as a teacher gives you the same kind of automatic boost to your credibility and reputation. This is why many famous people including NY Times best-selling authors such as Malcolm Gladwell, Jim Collins, Chris Anderson, Tim Ferriss all identify themselves as teachers, instructors or lecturers and often print this badge of honor on their bios.

Me: Does Podclass allow everyone to become a professional instructor?

Gary Gil: No. I wouldn’t say teaching a course in Podclass instantly elevates you to the level of a professional instructor. I would say that Podclass enables people, anyone with expertise, to teach and share their expertise with others and earn money for teaching it. Technology has and continues to enable ordinary people to uncover extraordinary talents and abilities they have. If you look at the proliferation of amateur videos, music CDs, literary works, news-casts and the like, you quickly realize that our society has extraordinarily talented people, both young and old. Large companies (like Doritos for example) are beginning to tap amateur talent for their own TV commercials.

But what about the millions of talented people who don’t get recognition by having their home-made creation picked up by a Fortune 500 company? Those individuals can now teach their talent and expertise to others through Podclass, earn income, and gain the recognition and credibility associated with being a teacher or instructor. And what most people don’t realize is, it is very easy to teach a course in Podclass. It less than 5 minutes, a course can be listed in our directory and content can be added at any time in the future.

The message we want to send to the world is that all of us are experts at something, and technology continues to foster that expertise. And Podclass enables people to teach and share their expertise with others.

Me: What are the benefits of holding these sessions?

Gary Gil: There are many benefits of teaching a course in Podclass, but I would say the most significant benefit of teaching a course in Podclass is the ability to build a community of like-minded students who share an interest in you and what you teach. In addition to the obvious benefit of earning income from the sales of the course, the instructor is in a position of leadership, trust and credibility with his or her students.

Teaching a course in Podclass is like being a public speaker in a virtual environment. A public speaker can have an audience of hundreds or thousands of people sitting in a room or stadium who are gathered together to hear the speaker speak. The speaker has a captive audience. The speaker is the respected leader and the audience are the students. In Podclass, your course becomes a virtual community of like-minded individuals who have signed up for your course to learn from you. There are forums, a Wiki and a chat system where students can interact with the instructor or among themselves. The instructor can create assignments for the students or create questionnaires to engage students.

Another benefit of teaching a course in Podclass is it allows you to learn new things. That’s right, when you teach, you learn. So offering a course in Podclass challenges you to learn your material enough to teach it and respond to questions from students.

So to quickly summarize the benefits of teaching a course in Podclass, I would say that Podclass enables you to get paid for your knowledge, positions you as an expert and showcases your talent to the world, boosts your credibility as a respected expert in your field, enables you to build a virtual community of “fans” who are gathered together “virtually” to learn from you, and it allows you to sharpen your saw, intellectually.

Me: Why do you feel it’s important to share your learnings and expertise with the world?

Gary Gil: There are only two ways we can learn: 1) From our own experience, and 2) From the experience of others. The only way we can learn from the experience of others is if people pass on their knowledge to us, enhancing and enriching our own experience. Sure, we can study the results of famous people, read biographies and interviews of certain people to try to uncover “clues” about how they think (observational learning). This is an example of learning from our own experience, and is just one of the ways we learn. If we could take a class directly from an expert in a particular field, learning takes place at a much higher level because we then learn from both our own experience and the experience of the teacher.

Most people have so much knowledge locked up in their heads and the only way for it to impact others is to share and teach that knowledge. I’m not suggesting that everyone share their proprietary or competitive business ideas, per say. I’m suggesting that knowledge shared is a priceless gift a person can offer to others.

On a more pragmatic level, when you teach a course, you learn the material at a much higher level. I touched on this earlier, but when you are in a position of being the instructor, you are forced to know your material in an articulate, eloquent, intelligent and organized manner. The ultimate level of knowledge is erudition and elocution, that is, having profound knowledge and having the ability to speak publicly about it. Teaching a course, whether in a formal classroom environment, on stage as a lecturer or through an online course in Podclass, forces you to know your material at this ultimate level.

Me: What made you want to start this site and how does it portray your brand?

Gary Gil: I have always believed that technology will not only enhance life, but transform certain aspects of our lives. In January 2005, I set out a personal goal to start a new technology company that would impact society in a lasting way. The entire year, I observed trends in technology and tried to identify emerging technologies that I felt would fundamentally shift some aspect of our society.

Then in October of 2005, I began to take notice of the raising popularity of podcasting. I have to admit, at first I didn’t quite get what all the hoopla was about. But as I spent more time thinking about podcasting and how it might impact society, I was struck with how this technology would impact education. In fact, I became convinced that educators and students would ultimately be the greatest beneficiaries of podcasting. I consider myself a life-long learner, and the idea that a technology such as podcasting could transform my ability to learn (and teach) was very exciting. So I acquired the domain name of Podclass.com and began by journey of building the first online marketplace for the buying and selling of knowledge in the form of online courses and educational podcasting. The business model changed once along the way, but after over 2 years of development, we finally created Podclass.com.

Podclass is a platform that enables people to teach and learn. I position myself as an expert in enabling people to achieve their goals. Admittedly, I haven’t spent as much time branding myself as I should. I’ve always tried to let the products and services that I create be a reflection of who I am. And Podclass is no different. Podclass is a reflection of my personal dream to revolutionize teaching and learning and enable every person with a talent to teach and share their knowledge and expertise with a worldwide audience, and enable learners across the globe to learn about any subject through Podclass.

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