All Articles Tagged "building a business"
You Being Your Number One Brand: Lessons From 'The Brand Called You'
by Alexander Cain
Nike, Ralph Lauren, and Apple; these are all brands we are obsessed with on a daily basis and associate with high quality and prestige. All these brands have invested millions of dollars and manpower in order to maintain their status and continue the legacy of their brands. While we face an influx of advertising, there is a brand we are heavily vested in that doesn’t get the attention it deserves: ourselves. Whether we are hanging out at social events or working day-to-day at our jobs, everyday we are building our brand for better or for worse. For those running their own business, the personal brand becomes critical.
While many people like to think they make decisions on pure rationale, at the end of the day many decisions are made on the concept of “fit.” During many job interviews, interviewers often cite someone not being the right fit as the reason for not hiring him or her. For business owners, many customers decide on purchasing a product or service based on the perception of the owner or sales team. Peter Montoya’s book The Brand Called You is often cited as a top-notch book resource for anyone interested in changing how business owners and professionals promote themselves. Despite having a focus for those currently owning a business, there are many lessons any individual can take away from this book. Montoya explains personal branding in the three parts. Hexplains what exactly is a personal brand, he then gives insight to the three essential pieces of personal brands, and finally, he provides insight on how to bring your brand to life.
Cultural Values That Will Make Your Office an Idea Factory
(Fast Company) — Building a Playful Culture: It’s unfortunate; when people speak about a playful office environment, they often describe Nerf darts, beanbag chairs, and funny hats. This stereotype, reinforced by lavish dot-com and web 2.0 spending, comes from poor consulting cultures that positioned juvenile behavior as necessary for those coming up with new and novel ideas. This only serves to reinforce the view of designer as magician — that somehow, while playing hours of foosball or XBox, designers are busy dreaming up the next Twitter, Apple, or Nike.
Making The Brand: Jai Jai Greenfield of Harlem Vintage Wines
Jai Jai Greenfield, owner of Harlem Vintage, talks about how she built her business along with co-owner Eric Woods. She used her nine years of experience in finance with Smith Barney and Morgan Stanley and launched the wine store in 2004. The store and its brand have been going strong ever since.
6 Cool Crowdsourcing Business Tools
(Inc) — It’s been four years since Jeff Howe coined the term “crowdsourcing.” Since, Facebook has engaged thousands of members to translate the site into more than 65 languages. Pizza Hut uses virtual order-takers through the cloud, and if you need a new logo, you can tap the design pool through 99Designs. Biewald and Janah have compiled six of their favorite tools for crowdsourcing in small business.
