Go beyond the conditions

We were skiing and skating in Dalecarlia - a bit up north in Sweden - this weekend. It was snowing on Sunday. Bad sight - but good powder to ski in! It was thaw on Saturday, which covered the ice on the lake with water - but it was quite an adventure to skate in it!

We could have chosen not to ski and skate because of the weather conditions. We could have stayed home and sulked about the weather. It would have been quite boring. Instead we had a great weekend with lots of fresh air, a couple of good workouts and new experiences.

Conditions can be good or bad. We can choose how we look at them and how we handle them. Usually there are positive experiences to find, if we choose to look at things from a positive and constructive angle.

Acting on the edge

Many of us choose to live parts of our lives on the edge. We climb mountains, dive oceans, exercise almost fanatically... We also meditate, go on retreats where no-one is talking, faste for many days, eat only bananas for a week (I actually did that as a student, to fit into a favorite prom-dress...I don´t even like bananas!) , eat only raw food, avoid additives... We are either superactive or superlazy, either superengaged or superindifferent.

Many of us choose the extremes in one way or the other.

I have learnt from a colleague - an aikidomaster - how important it is to have a balance between activity and rest. And between active rest and restful activity.

All in all, we are coming back to our own wellbeing. And our wellbeing is part of our personal brand.

On May 15th we will hold a seminar in Stockholm, where you will be able to learn more about personal branding in an inspiring way. Visit our website and come join the seminar together with your friends and colleagues! It will be a fantastic day!

www.hetpajobbet.se

At the seminar you will meet Per Furumo - voicecoach, Lena Gustafsson - consultant in relations, Anna-Karin Lingham - consultant in branding and businessdevelopment and Jan Nevelius - aikido master. A different and inspiring combination of knowledge and experience.

The art of genuinity

Being genuine is becoming trendy.

Restaurants have food which can be tracked back to the farmer. Barack Obama ran a marketing campaign which was considered by many to be genuine. We grow our own food and make our own gifts. We like food and products which haven´t been transported all over the world in order to reach us. Small producers are in.



Most of all, I believe in genuine people. Genuine people are interesting. Genuine people are longterm winners.

Keep Odd Molly odd

The fashionbrand Odd Molly opened up a store in central Stockholm in February. I like the brand. It is different and has a great female touch. The story behind it is good too. Read about it at oddmolly.com. Some guys met a girl who was different from all the others. Everyone wanted to spend time with her. They called her Odd Molly.



Photo: oddmolly

As long as the fashion clothes from Odd Molly are odd enough, they are interesting. When too many people start wearing them, my interest will drop. They should be part of building personal personal brands, not fashion for everyone. A way of handling that is to keep the price quite high. Not so good for our wallets, but probably good for the brand. Both their own and our own.

Having cold pizza for breakfast

When I grew up, we always had a big party at my house on the 30th of April. There were 60-70 people in the house, both children and adults. On that night, pizza was served. My mom baked pizza for many days in advance. Good ones. Everyone loved them. It was a favoriteparty for lots of people, who came back year after year. The pizza was good on the night of the party, but there were always leftovers which mom put in the freezer. We had them for breakfast every morning the week after. I loved it. Cold breakfastpizza was actually better than hot partypizza.

Sometimes it is good to repeat things or to dive into a certain topic many times. We can learn better when we recognize things and repeat what we have done before. We may see things with new eyes, hear things with new ears or visualize things with a new mind when we experience them a second or third time. The content may just get better with age. Don´t just look for new experiences. Come back to the old ones and experience them again. You may get a completely new understanding of them.

The same goes for branding. Be consistent and give people a chance to recognize what you offer them. Some safe and repeated messages will make it easy for your client to choose you again and again. Like I chose cold pizza morning after morning...

Photo: www.fotoakuten.se

Be an attractive employer

A new article about employer branding has been published at www.driftig.nu. Come and visit. It is in Swedish.

Physical attraction

At Beautiful Business Awards last week, I met Linda Ahlgren, who has started the site görakarriär.se.
She is young, has big dreams and will surely reach most of her goals. We chatted for a few minutes about personal branding and how to build your own brand in the most successful way. I believe in starting from the inside and then moving on to the outside. In that way, your brand will be worth something, not just a shallow shell. Someone working at an advertising agency had adviced her not to leave her home - not even to go to the laundry room - without putting on a good makeup and being well dressed.

Today the daily newspaper Svenska Dagbladet writes about the importance of looking good when you apply for a job. I am certain that a good appearance is important - especially when we meet people for the first time. That includes your clothing and your overall charisma. If you look good AND have a great personality, everything is fine. If you look good and have no goals, no sense of humour and a disagreeable personality - then your good looks won´t take you very far.

Know who you are and what you want. And then add some physical attraction. Then you´ll be fine.