Lori Bumgarner is the owner of paNASH, a career coaching service, and is a certified transformational coach with over 20 years of experience. In this exclusive feature, Lori offers her essential advice for becoming more confident in your career and, with the help of new book – Personal Branding – shows you how you can conquer your interview fears and really sell yourself to achieve your career goals!
Your new book on Personal Branding is out now. What gave you the inspiration to write?
The book is based on my most popular coaching program I take my clients through in their one-on-one coaching sessions with me. It serves as the foundational piece for all the other coaching I do with them. This coaching program evolved from my previous work.
When faced with the question, ‘What makes you unique?’ most people can’t answer it, either because they don’t know the answer, or they can’t articulate it. And everyone has to answer this question in whatever they’re trying to accomplish. It’s just worded differently depending on the situation. For instance, for a job seeker, it’s usually worded as, ‘Why should we hire you?’
I was inspired to write the book because I’ve seen real results, both personally and from my clients, when applying the exercises I created in this program for use in my coaching. Those results include a better understanding of self, clarification of direction, and increased confidence. Because of those results, I wanted to make my program and its exercises available to readers. It’s the first step in the paNASH coaching system.
Which leads us to… why should our readers buy it?
The book has numerous exercises that give readers something tangible to work through. They can use these exercises for them personally, and for any life or career transitions they’re going through, including any goals to start their own business. The results of completing these exercises include:
- The ability to know which big decisions are the right decisions for you
- A better understanding of how you add value to the world
- Better knowledge of who your audience is and how you can best impact them
- The ability to think ‘big picture’
- Confidence in being yourself
- Feeling comfortable in your own skin and your own abilities
Please could you share a recent successful case study…
I had one client who, after completing paNASH’s personal branding program, overcame her destructive habit of comparing herself to other people with the same goal. She now focuses on her unique differentiators and knows her worth is tied to her unique way of doing what she does, instead of it being tied to how she compares to her peers or competition.
Also, right now, I have a client who’s in the middle of working through the program. One of her biggest take-aways so far has been she’s learned how to keep from minimising her passions, interests, and abilities. Before, she assumed no one would be interested in the skills and abilities she has to offer. But now she’s starting to learn who her true market is – those who have an interest in her skills and can benefit from them! She’s learning how to speak to her audience and market herself to them so she can do work that matches her passions and supports her mission.
What are your top three tips for personal branding?
1. When going through the personal branding process outlined in the book, don’t worry about what other people might think of your ideas, interests, passions, or abilities. Don’t edit yourself in the beginning.
2. Don’t worry about those who don’t/won’t see the benefit of your uniqueness. Only focus on how your uniqueness can help those who do see the benefit of it.
3. Don’t compare yourself with others who are pursuing the same goals. Stay focused on your unique way of pursuing your goals and delivering your skills and abilities.
Bonus! Use your personal mission statement (which you’ll learn in the book how to create) to help you make big decisions. Look at each option and ask yourself, ‘Does this option support my personal mission?’ If it doesn’t, say no to it. If it does, embrace it!
How to order:
- Paperback from Amazon (retail $12.99)
- Kindle from Amazon (retail $9.99; no charge with Kindle Unlimited)
- PDF download ($9.99)
Lori Bumgarner was ranked in the Top Ten Best Coaches in Nashville, USA, for the last three years and is a certified transformational coach. Lori has authored three books, including the Amazon #1 bestseller, Advance Your Image and has also been published in The Huffington Post, The Daily Positive, Thrive Global, and INC.