What to expect from Penny Haslam’s motivational keynote – Make Yourself a Little Bit Famous

At the start of my motivation talk, Make Yourself a Little Bit Famous I ask people to raise their hands as I ask, who wants to be famous? By famous, I mean properly Kim Kardashian famous.

There are usually one or two people putting their hands up. On the flip side, I then ask who wants to be a best-kept secret. A few hands also, but still not a popular option. You see most people, quite sensibly, don't want to be either!

So where should people be on that scale of nobody to star? I explain there is a wonderful middle ground which I call, Make Yourself a Little Bit Famous.

Making yourself a little bit famous is really a way of raising your profile, and getting known for what you do, so people think of you first rather than your competition. By competition, I'm talking about how you can stand out from the crowd in your career or business.

Why should you Make Yourself a Little Bit Famous?

So why do this? Because guess what? It's not good for you to be a best-kept secret. You're never going to advance your career or be a great leader because of your lack of visibility.

If you are an ambitious employee, a leader or run your own business, you need to be prominent and be out there. You could try to do that by selling what you do all day long, "look at me, come buy from us!" But that can get a bit tedious.

Get known, liked and trusted

I work to help people and organisations to get known, get liked and get trusted. All that good stuff. I help power up their profile and get known for how they help and what they do.

The why is in the PIE

In my quest to get people to spend more time making themselves a little bit famous, I like to point out how little time people devote to this job (and how much they should!) PIE stands for performance, image and exposure. It's also a Pie chart I use in my talk (see below).

Performance refers to an individual's job performance and ability to perform their tasks effectively. People are quite shocked when I recommend people spend 25% of their time working on this. Surely, they say, it must be a larger proportion!

Image refers to the individual's professional reputation and how they are perceived by others. I say spend 25% of your time nurturing this also.

Exposure. However, a whopping 50% of your efforts should go towards 'E' which stands for exposure. This is the amount of time you spend getting exposure for your great performance and amazing image! This is the lion's share of the work telling colleagues, customers, potential clients, stakeholders and candidates why you are great at your job and great to do business with.

I have some great ideas on how to get started with getting exposure and raising your profile. Read my blog: 10 ways to Make Yourself a Little Bit Famous right now.

There's no time to waste. Stop colouring in and sketch your future!

Procrastination is the enemy when raising your personal brand profile.

In my motivation talk, Make Yourself a Little Bit Famous, I tell the story of an email that took me months to write. It was a newsletter to clients sharing the great work I do and offering ideas about how I could help. But something stopped me from sending it. I tinkered with the text to get it just right, and I fiddled around designing the logo.

In the end, I rang my friend Gail to discuss my procrastination. She said, "Penny, stop colouring in. You've got all your little crayons and coloured pens out. You are busy with your colouring book making it all look neat and tidy!" She was right. I hit send on the email and had some wonderful replies and even some interest from potential clients.

The lesson from this, there is no time like the present to start your profile-raising journey. Ask yourself what's the thing you are wasting time on?

Spending time “colouring in” often shows up as something on your to-do list that isn’t getting done. You just carry it across to the next list. It gets to the point where it would be quite alarming if you actually completed it. Here are some examples of those things you might recognise:

• a website you’re building
• a book you’re writing
• a report/dissertation/article/blog that needs to be submitted
• a conversation you want to have
• a group you want to set up
• a meeting that needs scheduling
• a speech you’d like to give
• a CV you want to upload
• an organisation you’d like to join
  an important email you need to send.

Whatever is on your list, I tell my audiences to stop colouring in sketch their future!

How to make yourself a little bit famous - Run for mayor!

In my keynote, Make Yourself a Little Bit Famous, I talk about the idea of running for mayor. It's a strategy for raising your profile a little like a political candidate, without the baby-kissing and broken promises.

I tell the story of Jay Klein, the inventor of Pür Gum. Despite facing stiff competition in the global gum market, Jay found success by positioning himself as an expert on the topics of low-sugar diets and concerns about artificial sweeteners like Aspartame, which his gum didn't contain.

By sharing his expertise he managed to promote his brand which now turns over tens of millions of dollars a year. He talked about his 'campaign issues' - a low-sugar diet. He took his expertise on his 'campaign trail' - being invited to discuss it in the media.

Jay Klein - Made Himself a LIttle Bit Famous

Want to make yourself a little bit famous?  Hit your campaign trail

To run for mayor in your own career or business, you need to identify your campaign issues, 2-3 topics you know about and have experience in that will resonate with your target audience. You also need to hit the campaign trail. Put yourself in front of your audience, whether it be customers, clients, candidates, colleagues or investors.

Remember, your campaign issues must be relevant and of interest to your audience, and your campaign trail should lead you to where your target audience is located. By adopting this approach, you can position yourself as an expert and effectively get exposure and reach new audiences.

Where could you make yourself a little bit famous?

By this point in my keynote talk delegates are raring to get started on the profile-raising journey. But where to start? The content here will depend on your attendees' careers and industries. I don't practice a one size fits all approach when delivering my talks so this will be tailored to the audience. For example, as an employee, you could start your campaign trail by asking a leader in your organisation to share a quick coffee. As a leader, you could seek out industry panel discussions to host or participate in. Here are some other ideas:

• Tell your friend and colleagues you are looking for opportunities to get out there!
• Volunteer to speak at a work or networking event.
• Join and get involved with an industry association.
• Share your expertise by sharing or commenting on social media.
• Track down a podcast on which you could be interviewed.
• Offer your expertise to the news media.

In summary my keynote is packed with inspirational and practical advice on getting out there. advicTo book a no obligation discovery call with Penny Haslam email: hello@bitfamous.co.uk