When LOCAL meets BUSINESS meets PERSON meets IMPACT…… 8 surprising reasons I loved attending the Wynnovation Summit today 1. Playing in my own backyard. 🏠 I love travelling the globe to attend great events. Equally I love the significance of going to a place I drive past daily on the way to and from school pickups! 2. Championing Local Businesses 🏫 Wyndham City Council is the fastest growing council in the country (with 80% of residents born outside Australia!). The vibrant array of businesses, innovation and social impact represented was mind blowing. 5, Local Ideas - National and Global Impact. 🌏Amazing entrepreneurs providing local jobs and being role models for creating change is always so inspiring. Like Priya fusing sustainability and art and innovation into eco-friendly products. 6. Neighbourly connections 👯 Dr Morley Muse and I are virtually neighbours and have been trying to catch up for a walk or coffee for ages but between school and schedules and speaking engagements it’s been hard for us both. We finally got to do this! Yayyy so fun. 7. Local Leaders 🤝🗝️ Susan McIntyre and I have known each other for years and I’ve always been inspired by her passion for local people and initiatives. She is an action-taker and has had huge community impact for so many years then amplifying this through work in local government by becoming a councillor and Mayor. Yet what always amazes me is how incredibly in touch with people and the local community she is. Online and offline, I always see her engaged in meaningful conversations with everyone who wants to chat, she truly cares and it’s inspiring. 4. Economic development team making big waves. 🌊 I love connecting with my local council whether it’s speaking at local events, supporting local business initiatives or just hanging out and exchanging ideas with brilliant minds. This was no exception. Always great to see the fabulous Fides-Mae Santos in action and I loved hearing the latest developments in the Spark Innovation Hub with Brendan Quirk. So much great local talent and so much potential! And so nice to witness the great work of to Ophélie Mouton and David Gatt in action today too! 8. The Synchronicity Cup 🧋 As I’m leaving the event I’m handed a lovely keep-cup. Serendipitously I had added “new keep-cup” to my shopping list just this morning as I couldn’t find the lid of my regular one. How did they know? Can’t imagine it was A.I. that informed them let’s just say it was a nice touch, I loved the synchronicity of it all. Walked away so excited about all that’s happening locally and so thrilled to be a part of it in multiple ways! There’s something so special about living in a fast-growing dynamic and diverse environment and I’m here for it!!! 💛

Relationships, Resilience, Reality. A unique blend of these is non-negotiable for anyone wanting to build an authentic personal brand. The ability to pivot gracefully amid challenges, nurture meaningful connections, and remain grounded in your truth forms the backbone of a personal brand that is both impactful AND goes the distance. (way too many try so hard for the former but can't sustain the latter).

Mega-Myth 1: “Personal branding feels like bragging.” Mega-Myth 2: “I need to be uncomfortably vulnerable to build a brand.” Neither is true. This is possibly my favourite article I've ever published. Because it definitively debunks the biggest myths that stop people from building their personal brand. And how to build a brand that has influence and that people want to connect with. When you get this paradigm shift, everything changes. Your confidence lifts, and the road ahead becomes so much clearer, and people respect you more. https://lnkd.in/dTKXv5RJ Do you relate to either of these common myths? What's been holding you back from building your personal brand?

Not at all surprised that Open Universities put "Personal Brand Consultant" in their top 5 "Jobs of the Future" list. Can totally see why and I have been calling this loudly for several years now. And why the the latest report by the RSA Future Work Centre (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce) theorises that personal brand consultants will become critical as automation takes over sections of the workforce, and emotional skills become highly sought after. And as the need increases for people to promote their authentic selves on social media—and beyond (because you DON'T have to be on social media to build a brand!). It's not just about people being more visible if they want to build a business or career and grow a following (although it definitely is necessary if you want to do that). Moving forward it's about how to intentionally communicate "who you are" in a digital way - so people get the same feeling and vibe about you when they engage online that they do when it's offline and IRL. This is a stellar advantage not just for entrepreneurs but for anyone leading a team, in business development, championing a cause, looking for a promotion, a new job, even a start in their career. Everyone has a personal brand - whether you know it or not, whether you like it or not. How you distinguish and build connection in the era of tech, automation and copying - when anyone can in theory be anything - is where the gold lies. And this is absolutely why I moved away from running a traditional full service marketing agency to helping people position themselves. Helping you find how to do that, what your X-factor and secret sauce is, and how to get the confidence to do it in a way that people enjoy and engage with. I also wrote a book about it last year :-) And speak on it at conferences and for organisations. If you're a leader of people, learning how to encourage and support them in this and give them tools and skills is vital if you want to attract and retain top tier talent in the next few years! As people wise up to the need to build their brand it'll become a non-negotiable, And a tremendous brand asset to your organisation if you do it the right way! If you'd like me to come and speak to your team about how to build personal brand in a way that attracts and retains customers, please reach out! It's never too soon to start equipping your people to be ambassadors for your brand in a way that feels good to them and is easeful and authentic! https://lnkd.in/g4zjSx_K

Normally I write about marketing & personal branding in my monthly column for Mediaweek Australia. But this time I wrote about how to be a mindful consumer of content and marketing material. Doing this will boost your potency as a personal brand enormously. As well as protecting your mental health and preserving your energy and keeping your focus in the right place!

In an era when anyone can write anything and insights are flying around fast and furiously in the name of "marketing", connection is everything. Last week I took some of my kids away for a few days with the express purpose of nurturing connection with them. There was desire to connect, intentionality around creating the container to make it happen, making them the priority and not just watching and observing but participating in the experience with them. What about in business? How do we define connection? It's not about technology vs non-technology. Plenty of humans use technology to connect. Just like plenty of humans who avoid tech still don't connect. Marketing is in Flux. And when you're the face of your business you need more than just getting your message and expertise in front of people. The true power comes as you connect with your authentic identity in a deeper way, and use that to create a connection with your audience. So that people don't just notice you, the right people forget a deep bond and are drawn to you. Becoming "more you" is what people want - especially in B2B environments - and genuine connection comes from within. And it's not about sharing "everything". It's about sharing elements of you, and the work you do, and what you know, that's in service to your audience, but also feels uplifting too. If you've made it this far, what inspires you to connect with people? What makes the difference between the people you pay attention to, and feel a connection with, and those who you gloss past and screen out?

When you harness the uniqueness, significance and intention that sits within who you are and what you're communicating, it does the heavy lifting in attracting the right people to your message. That means.... More inspired INTERACTIONS = INVITATIONS. More easeful ENQUIRIES = ENGAGEMENTS. More commercial CONVERSATIONS = CLIENTS. It doesn't matter if you're in technology, professional services, not-for-profit, mental health or wellness, this works. I have clients in the most bespoke of professions (for example a rural business broker or an ISO quality assurance specialist) and because they take small consistent actions, they experience the above with surprising ease. But I'm not just here to share lofty and nebulous ideas. Here are a few pointers as to HOW to do this (along with a glimpse into my own application). UNIQUENESS It's not just about what makes us different as individuals, but what's the relevance of this to our message - and what makes our approach different? My application: I share openly that I'm a mum of five kids. The relevance is that I'm super skilled at finding effective shortcuts and systems that get fastest outcomes with minimum fuss and effort. I do it at home and I help my clients do it too. SIGNIFICANCE People can tell if we genuinely believe that what we have to say is important and we can articulate why. Not just the short term individual and commercial impact, but the long-term, societal or communal benefit too. When you embrace this, our message is way more attractive and has more staying power. My application: Embedded into all my messaging is my drive to elevate more inspiring voices and people doing great things in the world because I want these voices to be heard so that it has a positive impact on humanity at large and the next generation. I might not specify this overtly all the time but I have a deep belief in what I do and why and this is something people latch on to. INTENTION This is critical, and it can't be faked. People can sniff and pick up on your intentions and motivations, and especially in a tech-dominated world, the intention matters more than the information in most cases. People want to feel something and if your motive it so genuinely be in service, they will notice that and be attracted. My application: Whenever I write a piece of content or an email or am a podcast guest I think carefully and intuitively about the audience - what do they need to hear that will most help them? How do I want them to feel as they engage with this content? I will inject that emotion into my content and I get a lot of feedback. There are people who are great at doing this instinctively - it's not rocket science. But for those who are struggling to stand out and are not sure where to start this will break down some of those "X-factor" ingredients that attract the right people into your world. Because if you're doing important work that matters, people deserve to know about it!

So often we listen to the voices around us instead of valuing our own. This leads to our own voice, our message, our essence and our expression being buried beneath, unable to shine and be seen in all its glory. When, in this time, this is exactly what the world needs to hear and see. For all the deluge of data and in the murk of the mundane, people are seeking out genuine connection. It's what humans crave the most - more than tools and technology. More than manufactured words, lingo and recycled knowledge. Connections that make them feel like they matter. We all crave it, and when we embrace our true identity, that's when we are able to truly connect with people. The right people. And with ease. In an ear where anyone can say anything and insights are flying around fast and furiously, connection is everything. And when the right people connect with YOU because you use your authentic voice, it's bliss. Your voice is more beautiful than you know, more powerful than you know, and has inherent power to be more comforting than you know. Please, in service of the world, don't be afraid to value it, and more importantly to use it.

When you are a personal brand, synchronicity is one of the most powerful forces in marketing. It can’t be manufactured, but it CAN be encouraged. Synchronicity is more than just about joining dots though – where dots are things that already exist, which our strategic brain figures out rationally how to link. Here's what I discovered as I started to incorporate it not just into my life, but into my marketing and branding as well. A chilled, uplifting relaxing weekend read :-)

Right now complexity and information overload is holding so many people back and a clear path is so important. Especially if you're an expert, a business owner - who doesn't have time for a whole lot of marketing because you have a job, a business, and a life! Information isn't enough. There's a plethora of that online, everywhere you look. The most powerful insights won't make a difference if you don't apply them. And 99% of the time people don't apply them because it's too hard, life is too busy, they forget or don't get around to it. Or of the gazillion of pieces of advice and tools out there, they don't know which ones are right for them. This is why my approach is to make things SO simple that anyone can do it, if they're able to commit an hour a week to building their personal brand. Empowering people who are great at what they do share more about their work in a way that feels good to them and helps grow their business is always rewarding. So I was so thrilled when Moorabool Shire Council invited me to host their Women in Business Networking Day on 30 May! I'll be doing an opening keynote, then running breakout and practical implementation sessions where the women will apply what they learn to their own business, and walk away with a clear and simple plan, and confidence for how to put it into action. I just love dispelling the anxiety around what to say so people go from "I don't know what to do and say" to "I can do this, and I'm excited to do this! Because building the muscle for follow-through is everything. And I'll be helping the women of Moorabool set their marketing and brand up for success next month - bookings are now open. If you're you a woman and you're living in or running a business in the Moorabool Shire Council you're invited to attend, and it's completely free for you! And if you'd love something like this but don't live in that area, I also talk about it in my book Marketing Me: Take Charge of Your Personal Brand and Make Your Mark on the World and regularly do workshops on this. Finding the one or two small, do-able actions you can commit to once a week (or fortnight or month) - and that align with your business or professional goals - is where it's at if you want to build a brand that goes the distance!