Part of my charm and sparkling personality is, well, my lack thereof. Lately, I’ve decided to eff it and just be myself – this is a piece of what they like to call my “personal brand.”
During my job hunt I found that following the rules got me nowhere. The blog posts that get the most hits and comments are the ones where I spew my opinions like a vomiting frat boy at a kegger. The jobs I’ve gotten recently haven’t involved suits or resumes or professionalism. I pride myself in that ability to collect business left and right without “playing the game.”
But am I biting myself in the ass? Is my complete lack of professionalism actually bad manners?
Personal Branding 101
Earlier this month I wrote a guest post on Ryan Rancatore’s blog: Personal Branding 101. Here’s a little snippet:
Sometimes one person’s definition of “unprofessional” is another’s idea of innovation and cleverness and fun. So keep that in mind whenever you worry about censoring yourself.
Example: Today I met a woman who has the word “shit” on her business card (my kind of girl!). She also gets around 100 comments per blog post and has over 20,000 followers on Twitter.
Be yourself people, and while everyone else takes that cliche and proceeds to be what they think everyone else wants them to be, how about you actually be yourself – warts and all – and watch your personal brand take a new, exciting and more successful shape.
I had a lot of fun writing that post, especially when I later found it inspired quite a bit of discussion. One commenter wrote: “Your speech should be a reflection of your intelligence and education. The ability to articulate and communicate effectively with others is hindered by profanity and use of slang, especially others belonging to another generation.”
Eh. I’d like to think my language is colorful. Colorful = not boring. I also 100% disagree with said commenter; her views are outdated and a little prejudiced given that everyone’s education (and therefore speech) is different. Intelligence also does not necessarily equal education. That aside, I can’t ignore the fact that many people feel this way, and there are many jobs/clients I wont land because of how I “talk” on my blog and my general unprofessionalism.
But what the hell does that mean?
What I’m struggling with right now is the definition of professionalism. I’m not going to go running around insulting people, but I’m also not going to censor myself. I think my honesty and lack of bull shit is something I have going for me, but potential (high-end) clients might not see it that way. Should I change the way I act for the sake of professionalism? Or should I continue my distinctive – but authentic - personal brand, hoping there are enough awesome clients out there who like that part of me and can keep me in Ramen and shoes?
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