Discovering Your Own Voice Episode Summary
David Thompson talks with Employee Benefits Consultant at Hardenbergh Insurance Group, Doug Holcombe, about beginning to build your personal brand, overcoming the fear of failure, how to choose valuable people to network with, and more.
Episode Highlights
When did you first become aware of the concept of personal brand?
Doug: left college, dropped out of PT school, career path took a complete 180, and had to find a new identity at 23 years old
Had to figure out what he was passionate about/enjoyed, but that’s not enough
You have to experience highs and lows, pressures and responsibilities
Experience and failure → leads you to carving out your own identity/brand
How you want to be perceived and how others perceive you should align, which comes from an authentic narrative and messaging
This will make you stand out from the rest
How did you begin to build your brand?
Avid reader → encourage everyone to read
Main takeaway from readings: you have to attach yourself to an identity/brand, you have to stand for something
Networking (organic or inorganic)- have your elevator pitch ready, look the part, speak the part, embody your role
Reading, passive learning, active learning, engaging and networking are ways to perfect your brand
How does Doug Holcombe come across?
Nice, agreeable, supportive of others
Puts others interests before his own → philosophy of the giver
In business: many think it’s a zero sum game (winners and losers) because we live in a competitive capitalistic society
Hard to give without feeling like you need something in return
Stop creating an expectation of reciprocation, instead just give selflessly
Lead with who you are as a person, your core principles
By supporting someone else, you further your personal brand
And it will come back around in some shape or form and benefit you eventually- just don’t attach a timeframe to it
Consciously creating perceptions when networking
You need to have goals and objectives for yourself, otherwise you will not see a return on your networking investment
It's easy to wing it, but you shouldn’t → go in knowing who you want to meet and leave with a next step agenda
Look at who’s attending the networking event
Who is in an industry that you can positively impact
Get in front of those people
Introduce yourself
Explain to them why they need to meet you and why they need to have a follow up call/meeting with you
Be intentional with your time - quality of networking over quantity
Always be authentic
Following up is key!!
Introvert vs Extrovert
People are usually a combination of both
Growing up- more of an introvert, through sports- developed more of an extroverted personality
“An identity crisis doesn't help in being an extrovert.”
Important to toggle between the two if you're going to be in business development
Networking - try to explore the extroverted side
Confidence and fear of failure
Its much easier to suppress the failures in your life
Manifest themselves to introvert vs extrovert
You overcome failures and you learn from them
Certain moments can help you extinguish that fear of failure and allow that fear to motivate you and propel you forward
As time goes on and you gain more experience, it puts everything into perspective- context is everything
Experience and failure can give further clarification of what you want to do with your future
Once you realize those experiences, whether positive or negative, are substantial and impact you and your current state - then you can learn from your failures and use them to make you a more mindful and effective person
You can then put your failures to bed, come to grips with them
It’s easy to succumb to failure… but experience will help you realize there’s really nothing to fear and will put things into context
When you’re young you think things are planned for you, that there is a blueprint that was built for you… then you realize as you...
