In contrast, have you ever met someone who was so excited about what they do that you couldn’t forget them?

What sets these people apart? Three things: Clarity, consistency, and constancy. These are the three qualities you want present in your personal brand. Here’s why:

Clarity – Be easy to see.

As an expert in your industry, you may sometimes talk over your target audience. But customers just want to know what you really do. What’s different for your customer after you help them? Talk about that! When working on your personal brand get clear on what you stand for and how you make an impact. This is a good first step in revealing who you are.

Consistency – Embody steady continuity.

Once you have clarity, begin planning how you will share your personal brand. Remember, repetition is the key to learning. So conform to your authenticity and stand for it repeatedly. Sometimes, this might involve taking a risk, such as debating something when you would typically be agreeable. Ensure your personal brand is a repeated and recognized common thread in all of your communications.

Constancy – Be faithful & dependable.

Have a personal brand your target audience can rely on. A co-worker from my past shared a comment about a panelist with a strong brand once. She said, “You can always rely on John to say something shocking and the audience will love it.” It was true. Everyone was engaged when John spoke. He would invariably offend someone; however, the guy was dependable in his way. He even inspired people to get an opinion. You choose where and how you want to be faithful to your audience. Be intentional with how you communicate to your fans. Strong brands repel and attract at the same time.

My Moxy Message to You: Put the 3 C’s to work for your brand. What is one thing you really care about in your career? How can you stand for that? How will you communicate what you care about to your target audience? How will you be consistent?

Take a risk. Remember if you try to please everyone you won’t be memorable to anyone. Use your moxy!

1. Systems, Systems, Systems: Where are you repeating a task in a given month, week or day? Document what you’re doing. Make it a checklist. It’s not a good use of your brainpower to rethink of the same thing over and over.
2. Experiment vs. set a goal: At times, the word “goal” can mess with our minds. “Experiment” is not so permanent and gives you permission to change direction if it doesn’t work.
3. Interviews: Learn what others do to manage their day. But don’t make the mistake of saying ”I must do it the way she does it.” Your method may borrow aspects of what others do, but it still must be unique to you.
4. Clear boundaries/personal policies: Be willing to set your boundaries. Where are your limits? Learn to say “No thanks,” or “Let me think about it.” Once set, the boundary must be protected.
5. Eliminate tolerations: Tolerations are things that distract us from our priorities. We didn’t plan for them to occur yet we don’t address them. What are you tolerating?
6. Protected time: Carve out time in your week/day where you are uninterruptable. Turn off the phone and your email notifications. Shut the door. Communicate when you will be available to respond.
7. Label-makers rock. Get one and build a system. For example, have folders on hand. Put your papers in them and then label and file them immediately so you don’t end up swimming in a pile of paper and feel overwhelmed. When you’re ready, get a snap-scan. This one is on my list for this year.
8. Priorities: What are they? How many do you have? If you have too many then nothing is really a priority. Write your priorities down so you can be reminded when it gets difficult to say “no.” Look at them daily.
9. Timers: Set a timer for the amount of time you have for a task. Watch your focus increase. My friends know I use timers all the time. I don’t want to have to watch my clock, yet I need a reminder at times to move on with my day. All smart phones have a built in timer.
10. G.O.O.O! Get Over Others’ Opinions. Do what you need to do to be successful with your day. STOP beating your self up thinking you just aren’t organized. This wastes your energy and fills your head with nonsense.

My Moxy Message to You:

Pick one thing on this list to implement each week or month. Experiment with it. Modify if needed. You can get more done with less time, but it takes practice. Get uncomfortable.

OBJECTIVITY. The coach is not your mother, father, brother, spouse, or best friend. Because of that, the relationship is objective. A good coach is not attached to your outcome; therefore, the coach can support you in doing the thinking YOU need to do in order to come up with YOUR decision.

PERSPECTIVE. A good coach will listen to you more than she will talk. Usually, when the coach talks, it’s to recap what she heard and to have a clear understanding. She may ask you a few questions and may even re-frame your thought in a new light. This is powerful because so often we look at things one way.

NON-JUDGMENTAL. It is not for your coach to sway you one way or another or place judgment on what you SHOULD do. Your coach is there to help you decide what is best for you. Certainly a coach will share sage insight here and there, but that will not be the basis of the relationship. Your coach will help you tap into your own wisdom and courage.

My Moxy Message to You:
You, only you (and God) know what is best for you. You live your life. Nobody else. Instead of using language like “I have to do that,” remember that you always have a choice. You get to do that…but only if you choose to!

First impressions matter, and I like helping people make a good one. One of the best jobs I’ve ever had was being a personal shopper at Dayton’s, a department store here in Minnesota. It was a sweet gig. But as much as I enjoyed it, each day I worked there a feeling of uncertainty grew inside me that I could not ignore. I knew I wanted to do more than just help people look good on the outside. The feeling stayed with me. When I started Moxy in 2007, I spoke with a mentor who helped me remember how first impressions stemmed not just from how people dressed, but also from how they felt on the inside. Enter personal branding.

At my first international coaching conference I met William Arruda , personal branding guru and now my teacher. He has a wonderful approach to helping people discover their personal brand and trains people to use it. I soon became certified in his REACH Personal Branding process.

What is personal branding? 

Personal branding is what makes you unique. It’s the thing about you that is compelling and relevant to your target audience—your “special-sauce.” No matter how quirky, freaky, or unusual you feel, when you embrace your brand you have the courage to be that. It’s how you (and only you) do what you do. Think of personal branding as permission to be you.

Why you need a brand

Here’s a secret. You already have a personal brand. So it’s not about whether you have one or not; it’s what you choose to do with your brand that matters.

Your brand is held in the hearts and minds of others. Are you projecting the things you want to? Personal branding helps you think about how you perceive yourself and how others perceive you. Only then can you get clear about how you communicate who you are in a way that feels authentic. That’s a recipe for innovation, which is important in today’s ever-changing world.

My Moxy Message to You: Know what you stand for. Ask ten colleagues what makes you unique. It’s easy to underestimate the things you do because we often think “EVERYONE knows what I know and can do what I do the exact same way I do it.” Nope. You have a “special-sauce.” It might be buried under “this is what I’ve always done” or “my boss thinks I am good at this.” Unearth your personal brand. Let your freak flag fly!

Having a strong sense of self-motivation is essential to lead yourself. After all, you need to be able to effectively lead yourself before you can lead others well.

I’ve found that motivation requires 3 things:

1. Knowing your desires or needs
2. An expectation and belief about your desire
3. Action

Getting past that first point is often the most difficult step. For example, sometimes my clients will share what they don’t want. I ask them, “What is it, then, that you DO want?”  Their first response is often, “Well, I don’t want….” At that I interject, “Your brain can’t NOT WANT things very well. What DO you want?”

While it can be helpful to determine what you are not willing to put up with anymore, for you to get to a place where you are self-motivated, you have to determine your desire.

What DO you want?

Motivated leaders have a clear idea of what they want for themselves. They deliberately choose a path. They are secure with who they are and who they are not. They have developed attitudes and habits of thought required to stay motivated throughout their lifetime.

My Moxy Message to you: When you want to/need to accomplish something, think about and answer the following questions. Set a timer for 10 minutes and just do it.

• What is your desire?
• Do you believe, really believe, it can happen? If not, what do you believe you can accomplish?
• What can you do to increase and maintain self- motivation?
• How will you benefit as you develop the art of self-motivation?

Why the dilemma? Many things in life these days have a cookie-cutter approach. Coaching does not. You choose what you are going to work on and the best way to do so. As such, there are many things you could talk about with your coach. Here are the top three that come to mind:

1. Wins. When something great happens, when you reach a goal, or when you get through a seemingly impossible situation, share it with your coach. Celebrate when you make progress. Doing so will make the win more rewarding and build confidence. I know it sounds silly, but it’s true. Don’t be afraid to celebrate.

2. Problems. Life happens. Yes, we all have bumps in the road: The contract was canceled, the employee left unexpectedly, you caught the flu before the big presentation. Communicating the setbacks with your coach takes away some of the sting. Once you’ve been heard, the solution (and there is ALWAYS a solution) often arrives. It’s even worth sharing those things that “aren’t really a problem, but…”

3. Commitments. It can be helpful to have external accountability. When you need to get something done and you don’t fully trust yourself to do it on your own, tell your coach exactly what you want to do and when you promise to do it. Your coach will help you think how your action will further your ultimate goal or vision, and will hold you accountable for what you commit to doing. Just considering a commitment can rise up any limiting beliefs that may be hiding. Once those are addressed, you can get into action.

Using a coach helps you reach your goals faster than working on your own. Having an objective person outside your circle listen and reflect your thoughts is invaluable. It seems simple, yet it’s powerful.

My Moxy Message to you: Try coaching. Almost any great coach will offer a sample session. Open your mind, make the call, and set up a sample session. Here are a few places you can look for a coach to try out: the coach referral service at the International Coaching Federation, at Noomii, a professional coach directory or just search on good ole Google.

The allure of email makes sense. Ever since I was a little girl, I loved getting a piece of mail with my name on it. Who doesn’t? As I was pondering this scenario I realized the anticipation of email had become a detriment to momentum in my workday. So I vowed to be more efficient with email. I was reading The 4-Hour Work Week, by Tim Ferris when I realized something great. You can turn the feature to automatically send/receive OFF on your email! At some level I probably knew this, yet my mind was trained to think that there really wasn’t another way—that it was the social norm.

My new desired outcome was to focus more time on business building tasks at Moxy and to be more present with friends and family in my personal life. Therefore, my new email rules were as follows

• Check email twice a day, before nine and just before four
• No checking email on Saturday or Sunday

When I first implemented these changes, it was hard. There was a magnetic pull from my email. It had a mind of its own and was screaming, “Check me!” I had to be disciplined. I’d often come to a point in my day where I would have to actually say aloud, “Nope, you do not need to check email right now. Do your work, Jen!”

On the weekend, there was a time when I lurched over to my phone while playing Monopoly with my kids. I was about to hit the email app on my iPhone. “STOP IT!” I said to myself. I had to set my phone down and walk away. It was like some addictive drug. This was my ego, and it was not serving me.

Eventually, taking control of my email got easier. I modified my rules slightly:

• Check email thoroughly Sunday evening or Monday morning
• Glance at it once in the morning and once at three for important messages from clients during workdays
• No checking it on the weekend

I keep my clients informed of my rules and have alternative ways for them to get in touch with me if there is an urgent need. I am no longer a slave to my email.

Here is my Moxy Message to you: Turn off your auto send/receive on email for two weeks. Choose to receive it manually, just like you choose when you pick up your mail at your PO box (if you have one). I double-dog dare you! Google how to do this for whatever email tool you are using. Then, think about how often you are going to check your email. Perhaps two or four times a day will work for you; maybe you will do it daily or only on weekdays. It is up to you. I know that your mind is telling you it can’t be done and that you won’t survive. But it can and you will. Live intentionally, even with your approach to email.

Ninety percent of my clients say that time management is a struggle. Many of them don’t have that natural ability to get organized to a point where they feel “totally on top of things.” They simply don’t know where to start. Neither did I. A foundational belief I have and share with my clients is a common desire to develop their personal leadership as well as their ability to lead others. Being able to manage your day and feel productive is the core of being able to lead yourself and others well.

A few years ago I was discussing the qualities of leadership with my pastor. He mentioned a book on organization he loved and suggested I read it. The book was Getting Things Done by David Allen. When I read it, I felt like the author cracked open my head and wrote solutions to all the issues I had about feeling scattered. I could see how my life and they way I worked could be different.

One of the best tips I took and implement today is managing my actions instead of my time. I ask, “What is my next physical action?” on just about everything I do. For example, before reading the book I might have thought, “I need to get a certification completed.” I may have even scheduled time to work on it, but getting to the goal was always a time management balancing act. Today I ask, “What is the next physical action I have to take in order to accomplish getting that certification complete?” My answer: “I need to schedule three hours to do the required time log.” Then I schedule time to do the log and ask the question again. It sounds so simple, I know. Yet it’s powerful.

Getting Things Done is a helpful resource I’ve shared with several clients. Although it has been useful, I notice some of them never get implement the practices shared in this best-selling book. Ah-hah moment for me! To help clients with this common struggle, I launched the GET THINGS DONE! Tele-class. They get group coaching on implementing and realize it’s not such a big, hairy deal. It’s been a great success.

Here’s my Moxy Message to you: Think differently. Your brain is a powerful tool. Make a list of all the projects that are looming in your head. Next, grab a different color pen and write down the next physical action you need to take to complete each task. Get specific and drill down to the simplest detail. Your day will move from being filled with activity to high-level productivity. The difference translates to your bottom line.

If you are interested, a Get Things Done! class is starting February 7th. Find the information here: http://www.facebook.com/events/314154061955734/

The word “moxie” is special to me because when I was growing up my father used to tell me, “You’ve got moxie, kid.” Later in life, I began to consider the meaning of the word.

mox·ie n. Slang 1. The ability to face difficulty with spirit and courage. 2. Aggressive energy; initiative. 3. Skill; know-how.

Did I really have courage, initiative and know-how, or was dad just building up my confidence?

Whether I had it or not, I knew moxie was something worth striving for. Achieving success in life generally requires the guts to take a risk that might not flow with the status quo, the skills to perform complicated work and the determination to follow through on promises. That’s moxie.

Fortunately for me, and for you, the decision to nurture one’s moxie is a sign of having moxie. So whether we’re born with it or not, we can attain it.

In this debut blog post I pay homage to Dr. Augustin Thompson, who founded the Moxie Nerve Food Co. and included the word “moxie” in his 1885 trademark application. He had developed a nerve tonic, which he marketed as a health drink “guaranteed to cure almost any ill, including loss of manhood, paralysis, and “softening of the brain.”

Moxie nerve tonic faced a lot of competition among health beverages, but Dr. Thompson worked tirelessly to make his brand a household name. As a result, the very word “moxie” became a slang term to describe people with guts and savvy. The tonic went on to become a soft drink, outselling Coca-Cola in the early 1900s. It’s still distributed in northern New England.

The fruit of Dr. Thompson’s labor lives on over 100 years after his death. If that doesn’t show you what a little moxie can accomplish, nothing will.

Scenario:

You land a great client and agree to work on part of a large project. The client did not hire you to manage the whole project, but keeps asking — politely — for you to do extra. You reluctantly do, and the client appreciates it but keeps asking for more and more without offering additional compensation.

It’s as if the client wanted you to project manage in the first place. You are angry, you resent the client, and you feel trapped.

In your attempt to be kind, you trained your client to lean on you beyond the contracted agreement for no additional charge.

Moxy Challenge:

You always have the choice of how to respond. You are not trapped.

First of all, tell the client what you can do. What you can’t do doesn’t matter, and there’s no need to draw attention to it.

Then explain that what you are offering is not part of your original agreement, and make an offer to do the additional work under terms you are comfortable with.

If the client persists in pushing for you to do the work for free, don’t be afraid to say no. By rejecting something that isn’t right, you are likely making room for something better.

Make sure you are walking away from every client and/or employee conversation with a win/win outcome. If you are feeling ripped off in the situation, you probably are. Speak up … with grace, of course.

Don’t be a slave to your work life. Love your work and live intentionally.