Friday, April 17, 2009

Signature Style

As a business woman and the president of a company (I just made myself sound way cooler than I really am), I feel as though it is my job put myself in a position to stand out. I long to claim my femininity in an industry full of middle aged boring men. The CEO of a communications company once told me that I was different than what he though of as an insurance agent. That he pictured an insurance agent as a middle aged man (probably with a terrible suit) and dust within his wrinkles. I'll go ahead and add in that this man probably has salt-and-pepper hair, a boring leather briefcase and a diligent, lackluster personality. I am very, very, very far from that. I am young and fun, love fun clothes and suits, great shoes, have an adorable blue leather briefcase, I don't have wrinkles and have an...overwhelming personality! As we are approaching our 1 year anniversary as a company, I am mentally reviewing the many experiences, the life changing accident, the lessons and allllll the things I would do differently the next year.
Which leads me to my subject of the day, personal branding.
In The Devil Wears Prada (the book, not the movie), Miranda Priestly wears a Hermes scarf everyday. She incorporates it in her outfit in creative ways each day. Rev Run sends emails to his friends at the end of ever show as he lounges in a bubble bath surrounded by candles. Michelle Obama and Jackie Kennedy had their style of pencil skirts, sleeveless dresses and pearls (that was hard to describe, but you know their style). Serial killers are defined and named by the way they kill their victims or something they leave at the scene. Donald Trump has horrible hair and the "You're Fired" line. Lisa Sheppard of Remax has the picture of her around town with that awesome hat.
I googled personal branding and found this definition on Wikipedia:
Personal branding is the process whereby people and their careers are marked as brands.
I want a signature thing.
I was thinking something simple... something meaningful... or something not meaningful at all. Just something to do, before my company grows to be huge and I have lots of employees.
I don't necessarily want it to define me, but for someone to think, oh, she always does that.
I don't really have any ideas or suggestions and haven't figured out if I want it to be something in my signature, my emails or something I wear.
Regardless, it shall be fabulous.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi Alicia- Enjoyed your blog and seeing your pic's. We don't get out much so it's great to be able to see and hear how you are doing!!
Love,
Grandpa Dick & Irene