Tag Archives for " opportunity "

May 18

Give Your Personal Brand Some Zip

By Lauren | Insight , Personal Branding

One of the must-do’s while we were in Chiang Mai Northern Thailand was the Flight Of the Gibbon zip line made famous by the Amazing Race program and we weren’t disappointed.

With over 7 kilometres of zip line stretching high in the canopy, one section an awesome 800 meters long and the possibility of seeing the gibbon apes in their natural environment, adventuring into the mountain jungles of the area was an absolute must.

Interestingly the zip line facility was initially developed by a Kiwi guy and built in just 3 short months. He passed away a few years ago from skin cancer, but the ingenuity and innovation in the platforms, bridges and staircases that link each section lives on as his legacy.

They also have a keen focus on the environment, taking the time to teach visitors about the village and its ecology, the plants and animals and how they are supporting replanting and care for the natural habitat.

Apart from fun and excitement, what on earth can zip lining through the trees possibly teach us about personal branding?

I was amazed at just how many lessons there actually were, and they are pretty zippy to implement too: Watch the video here.

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May 08

The Itty-Bitty-Shitty-Committee Is Killing Your Personal Brand

By Lauren | Insight , Personal Branding

The #1 one thing that is holding you back from becoming well known, well paid and wanted is….You!

If you question whether you are really that good or simply delusional, or consider at times that you are tricking people out of their money because they don’t really need you or that you’re not that good and not worth that much, you are holding yourself back.

And if you believe that there are way better experts out there and that you can’t really charge $$$ for what you do because you don’t have any expertise, you’re nothing special and everyone already knows how to do what you do, then you are only swindling yourself.

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May 07

Camera Shy

By Lauren | Brand Magnet , Marketing

Fear is a funny thing. It’s possibly one of the most powerful influencers inside the entrepreneurs brain.

The fear centre of the brain, or Amygdala, works on memory and emotion, it generates that sick feeling in the pit of your stomach, the fluttering butterflies and sweaty palms.It’s not all bad though, the Amygdala is there to keep you alive, so that’s pretty useful.

It stops you from making bad decisions and reminding you of pain or suffering to avoid repeating mistakes.

Fear also stands for False Expectations Appearing Real though, and that can have serious consequences for your personal brand.

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Jun 16

Do What You Do Best

By Lauren | Brain food , Insight

Do you currently do what you do best?
Ironic I know, but you might think you have nothing to teach anyone...it's probably because you have forgotten just how much you know!
If you've been doing what you do for 5 years or more, chances are you do plenty on autopilot, you get it done without even thinking about it!
It's all part of the learning process:
Whenever you learn something new you begin with Unconscious Incompetence - you don't know what you don't know, you are just excited because it's all new.

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Jun 02

The Entrepreneurial Brain

By Lauren | Brain food , Insight

The Entrepreneurial Brain is amazing, with it you have overcome the fear of failure and decided to start your own business, telling that "itty-bitty-shitty-committee' in your head to be quiet and let you just get on with it.

Trouble is, now that you have the superhuman power to be in control of the fear centre in your own brain, you are also incredibly wide open to opportunity.


Having a tsunami style flood of ideas on the go is typical of the entrepreneur, an effect otherwise known as 'bright-shiny-object-itis'.

It's a powerful thing to have all these great ideas, however it can lead to having called FOMO - the fear of missing out. when you suffer FOMO, you try to be everything to everyone, stopping you from standing out as different.

Of course standing out from the crowd will always help you attract more of your perfect prospects and the first step is to decide what you want to stand for.
Most brands have something they are known for - Nike is action, Apple is Imagination, Cadbury is a luxury treat, Volvo is safe...

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Apr 13

Lets Target Gays

By Lauren | Core Message , Marketing

What do you say when somebody asks your opinion about targeting the gay market?
Recently a personal travel consultant asked for my advice about a great idea she had.
She told me she'd like to go after the gay market because they had discretionary income for travel.
Although I thought that was a bit generic, I agreed with her idea because most gay people I know are DINKies - Double Income No Kids, meaning they potentially have more money to spend on things like travel. She might have a point.
So then I asked her how many travel tours for gay people she had managed before.

None she said.

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Apr 06

++ Just Do It ++

By Lauren | Brain food , Insight

When it comes to goals... you need to Just Do It!
So here we are...the first quarter of 2015 is over and a nice 4 days off for those who celebrate Easter...what did you plan to be doing at this stage? Did you write goals in the New Year that are now buried under paperwork or gathering dust somewhere?

Do any of your goals scare you?
Do they push you outside your comfort zone?
Are they the type of goals that make you sweat at night and wake up gasping with your brain screaming at you "How are you going to do all that!!!???".
Are your goals motivating you enough?

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Jan 10

Shortcut To Success

By Lauren | Insight

One morning I had an urgent Skype call and I didn’t want to miss out on my exercise routine, so I decided to take a shortcut. This is what happened.

6 days out of 7, I go for a morning bike ride, about 10 kms, very flat, nothing serious. I have lycraphobia and ride an old dunga mountain bike. It’s more for keeping fit and healthy, certainly not peloton level. The bonus is, it’s great thinking time.

This one morning, I knew I didn’t have the 45 minutes I usually take, so I decided to try to find a shorter route. And I managed to navigate my way around in about 20 minutes, got home and got on that call.

Trouble was, now I knew there was a shortcut!

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