We want to hear from you! Use the forum below to share your thoughts on your brand, your career, your life with other readers.
Got a question? Ask Robin: Robin Fisher Roffer welcomes questions from readers about their careers. Each month, she will select several of the best questions, and post her replies on the site.
Write your question to Robin.
Dear Robin,
Thank you for the extremely interesting articles. I'm a middle-age
career changer/enhancer: in India I was a business executive, and after
immigrating to the US I added on IT (programming) skills. What tagline would
you suggest for my personal brand? Thank you for your time.
- Barry
Dear Barry:
Taglines can be either inspirational like Nike's Just Do It; descriptive like
CNN's The World's News Leader; benefit driven like Maxwell House's Good To
The Last Drop or combine all three attributes like BMW's The Ultimate Driving
Machine. Your tagline should be short and express your expertise and your
authentic self. Perhaps something like... Infusing Business with Technology.
Robin,
I am one of those PR refugees from the world of Presidential politics.
I've built a strong resume, learned a lot of crisis communication and built
a successful corporate branding campaign and media relations program for
a large bureaucratic government agencies. How can I now leverage
that to start a unique image consulting business in a town where
PR people are a "dime-a-dozen"? And do you offer any group sessions on "branding?"
- Barbara
Dear Barbara:
Your expertise in presidential politics is the very thing that will make
you a hot item in PR, regardless of the number of competitors you have.
Having a specialty and declaring it in all of your communication is how
you command business and big bucks. These days creating a buzz is what
presidents of companies want for themselves. Create your ideal target
audience by cultivating a list of local titans of industry. Contact
them via email with an invitation to give their brand the presidential
treatment it deserves. You might want to brand yourself a "buzzmatician"
or "buzzmologist" to add interest and further differentiate yourself.
As an aside, your experience would also play well to the lucrative
area of headhunting. Since you know the ins and outs of bureaucracy,
you could reinvent yourself as someone who places people in government
agencies or large corporations.
Robin,
The program sounds good - the ideas sound good, I'm sure it all works. But
how do you find out what you want to do in the first place? All too often
we go after something only to find when we get there that it's not the
great shakes we thought it was. How can this be avoided?
- Heather
Dear Heather:
You need to dig deep to unearth who you are to figure out what
you'll be happy doing. Look into your childhood, what did you
enjoy doing then? Look at the work you're doing now, what
constitutes a great day for you? What kind of people and
projects are you passionate about? What are you really good at?
When you close your eyes to imagine the life you want, what do you see?
If you've tried many things without loving the outcome, it could be
that you're listening to everyone else's view of you, and not your own.
Surround yourself only with people who believe in you. Encourage
yourself to take a risk this time. Adjust your expectations to
reality. I can't guarantee that you'll avoid disappointment entirely,
but I know you'll be closer to finding your life's purpose.
Robin,
Your articles are interesting and value added for a true professional.
- Mohanan
Dear Mohanan:
I'm glad that you found my writing to be valuable. Thank you for your kind feedback.
The real question is, do you believe enough in yourself and your dream to make
committments to others, proving that you believe in yourself? A short footnote:
you must be very good at visualizing where you want to be, and act like you have
already achieved it for your dream to come to reality.
- Michael
Dear Michael:
Commitment is a powerful word. Combined with discipline, I
believe that it can lead you to true happiness-- especially if
the commitment is to yourself to fulfill your mission and realize your
life's purpose. I practice visualization everyday and watch my dreams
unfold in my mind's eye. And, yes I tell people what I've imagined is a
done deal. And, soon or later, it is.
Dear Robin,
I'm the founder of an anxiety program and have been quite
successful. I offer free phone support to people, whether they buy our program or not.
I believe our free phone support is unique in this industry. It's been my greatest
pleasure to help others past this condition which I once suffered from. I am
going for my doctorate in nutrition as well. I now receive calls from all
over the world, am being written up in magazines but I would like to produce
some sort of infomercial. I do not know where to start though. There are a
lot of people who produce these type of programs who are not reputable. It's
quite costly and I don't want to jump into something without selecting the
right path. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your
suggestions.
- Davida
Dear Davida:
The most reputable people I know who create infomercials are Guthy-Renker Corp.
Their telephone number is 760.773.9022. Good luck!