iYOU: Spike Up Your Career . . . Manage it as a Brand

The date was the 29 June 2007. It was a Friday. I was there and they were there. I was at this humongous shopping mall and there was this really really long queue. It stretched all through the mall and further unto the street. “What in God’s name are these people queuing up for”. Those were my thoughts. And they remained my thoughts until it was reputationally-correct to ask someone. You couldn’t have imagined my shock when I got the answer. Those people were on that long queue waiting and waiting to be amongst the first people to pay and own a product. If it was going to be free, I would have been the first to understand – I would have wondered why I wasn’t even on the queue. That was the day the iPhone was launched into this world by Apple Inc.

This is how www.cnnmoney.comreported it, “ iPhone mania was in full bloom Friday as hundreds of people camped out at Apple stores in New York and elsewhere for their shot at the pricey gadgets. The line outside Apple’s flagship Soho store in New York snaked for blocks as consumers stood, sat under umbrellas and lounged on folding chairs, ready to shell out up to $600 for the devices that go on sale at 6 p.m. “We’ve been in line for days. It’s very uncomfortable out here in these chairs,” said Melanie Rivera, a customer near the front of the line. “But people are very social. We’ve made it through the rain, so we feel like we’re getting closer to the phone.” At the Apple Store in San Francisco, eager shoppers who began lining up early Thursday spent the night on folding chairs and in sleeping bags – one even brought a mattress. A 54-year-old marketing specialist who was first in line claimed he’d been offered $1,200 for his slot”.

The 2007 iPhone launch was the largest first weekend consumer electronics launch in history as measured in inflation-adjusted dollars, garnering somewhere around $150 million in its first weekend on sale.Just as Apple consciously manages its brand and its products, we also must begin to manage our personal brands more delicately than before. Both as new entrants to the workplace and as mid-level professionals, the need to identify, craft, communicate and manage ourselves as brands (iYou) is now more apparent.

Personal branding is a premeditated and proactive effort at discovering your life’s purpose and personal identity; designing a pathway through and continuously communicating and managing this identity.

Hear William Arruda, Kirsten Dixson in Career Distinction, “Personal branding is the most effective way to clarify and communicate what makes you different, special, and valuable to employers and customers—and to use those qualities to guide your career.

DO NOT KEEP YOUR JOB WHILE LEAVING YOUR CAREER BEHIND!!!

Get a copy for yourself and as a gift to others, click here: https://www.jumia.com.ng/aruosa-osemwegie-iyou-spike-up-your-career….-manage-it-as-a-brand-6129724.html