Do any of these situations sound familiar?

• you’re in the subway and you notice that the CMO of Starbucks is standing right across from you. You know She’d be getting out on the next station. You build up the courage and walk up to her and then …
• you see the girl of your dreams hailing a cab at the entrance of the hotel. You know that you can’t let her get away. So you put your best smile on and then …
• you run into a well known VC at the checkout booth at Carrefour. Finally, you within arms length of getting some funding for your great project. You give her a slight tap on the shoulder and then …

… and then YOU FREEZE!

Look closely at the situations presented above – do you notice any overlapping factors?

• it’s something you really want
• it’s within your reach
• you have a short window of time

You were so close … to get that job, girl, funding … but you blew it. Why? Because you weren’t ready. Louis Pasteur said it best, “chance favors the prepared mind”. And yours just wasn’t! Don’t blame your bad luck, because the latter was standing right there, in your face! You had one shot, and you let it go!

Understanding your personal brand allows you to be in full control of your brand attributes – what I referred to as personal brand DNA in previous posts. This in turn allows you to formulate an elevator pitch in any situation your presented with. The name “elevator pitch” reflects the idea that it should be possible to deliver a pitch in the time span of an elevator ride, or approximately thirty seconds to two minutes (source: Wikipedia)

My personal brand DNA is best described as Creative, Passionate, and Dedicated – this applies to all aspects of my life, be it work, family, love, friends … this DNA strand inspires my situational elevator pitches.

Your DNA is acquired by matching your brand identity (what you think your brand stands for) with your brand perception (what others think of your brand). William Arruda and the team at REACH Communications Consulting have developed a FREE Personal Brand Assessment tool that can help you do that and much more. I would highly recommend it to be a first step to self discovery. Next I advise you think of your personal brand just like any other brand with strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Yes, I am talking about a Personal SWOT Analysis – you may think that is easy but I really want you to try it. Here’s a link to the template you can use. The combination of the results of these two tools would provide you with enough information to formulate your personal DNA.

So what are you waiting for? Will you freeze the next time you’re presented with a lifetime opportunity? Or will you be prepared? Think About It!