What makes you so memorable that you stick in people’s minds long after you’ve left the room?If you can’t answer that question quickly, you probably haven’t created a personal brand strong enough to be considered a business asset.You’re also not alone. It’s estimated that over 95% of business people haven’t bothered to create a personal brand.The other 5%, people like Donald Trump, Howard Stern, Gisele, Martha Stewart, have leveraged their personal brands into a competitive advantage.So has the person in your company who seems to defy the odds and get all of the promotions. And so has your competitor whose product is no better than yours but who magnetically attracts clients while you battle it out with the rest of the pack. And so has that industry ‘expert’ who gets the phone calls from the press for commentary.A strong personal brand has the ability to increase your value in the marketplace, raise your profile within your company, attract like-minded clients and customers who identify with your brand, and increase financial returns. And every day you don’t spend time cultivating and leveraging your own personal brand, you are creating missed opportunities.I worked with an executive who decided when he was in his 20s that he wanted to become the global CEO of a major organization. From that moment on, he considered his personal brand a business asset.While he wore the same blue suit, white shirt, and black loafers as everyone else in the company, he naturally stood out.Why?He was gregarious, he showed an interest in everyone he came in contact with, he asked a lot of questions, he went out of his way to support others, he built a strong network of people at all levels, he smiled more often than not, he found solutions, he showed up.All common behaviors of successful leaders.When people saw him, they saw a future CEO. He used that brand to set himself apart. It became his distinctive advantage. And he became a global CEO in his 40s.That’s what personal brands do. They build expectations of what you promise to bring to the game. And every time you deliver on it, your brand becomes more valuable. It sets you apart as the go-to person for the skills associated with your natural brand. Your value goes up.Whether you know it or not, you already have a personal brand. It may be an advantage, it may not be.The power is in knowing what it is, how people perceive it, and cultivating it every day to stand out from the crowd – even when you’re dressed like everyone else in the room.Here’s how to create an unforgettable personal brand that fires up your business success:ACCESS YOUR NATURAL BRAND ADVANTAGEThe most effective consumer brands are powerful because their central promise is built into the fiber of their organizations. Everything they do – from their products to their customer experiences and marketing messages – are all designed to articulate and reinforce their central brand message.Your personal brand is exactly the same. To be effective, it must communicate the values and behaviors at the core of your personality.Who am I? What value do I bring to the table? What sets me apart from everyone else? Your personal brand must answer these questions.The good news is the values that make up your brand are there. You just have to dig them out and take a good hard look at them.Think about the kids you grew up with. If they were asked to describe you, what would they say? That unvarnished truth about how you behaved consistently as a kid will give you a good indication of your starting point.To this day, I can go down the list of kids I grew up with and tell you exactly what their personal brands are:THE TOUGH COOKIE: Becky was the tough, take no prisoners tough cookie who backed up her challenges to ‘bring it’ with a few epic brawls that set her brand firmly in neighborhood lore.
THE OLD SOUL: Nonnie was the quiet, kind, and thoughtful girl who always chose to sit on her front stoop and read a book while raucous games of dodgeball and double-dutch played out before her.
THE GOLDEN BOY: Todd seemed to be able to effortlessly do it all — the football hero, the straight-A student, and the kid who was able to build a fort out of snow that could withstand any frenzied snowball assault.Why do I remember these people so clearly years later? They were consistent; what you saw was what you got. I knew if I wanted help with a troublemaker, Becky was my go to. If I wanted to sit and chill out, there was Nonnie. And if I wanted help conjugating a Latin verb, bring on the Golden Boy.Identify your natural brand advantage and you’ll reveal the behaviors that flow naturally from the values at your core. You’ll understand what you won’t do even under the toughest peer pressure, and what is so memorable about you naturally that it sticks in people’s brains even years later.DEFINE YOUR BRAND PROMISEDetermining what sets you apart is only a professional advantage if people can quickly recognize the promise of value that goes with it. Or, in other words, what’s in it for them?This is the promise that underpins your personal brand – the value you bring to an employer, colleague or client, consistently reinforced through all your interactions.Ask yourself what it is about your personal brand that makes someone’s life or business better, easier, happier, or more profitable. What expectations do you want your personal brand to build in the minds of the people you work with and for? And what can you consistently deliver on?Becky promised protection, Nonnie promised good conversation, and Todd promised to elevate my standing in the neighborhood simply by being a part of his inner circle. They all brought clear, consistent value to my life.This is how you become a go-to person. Communicate your brand promise clearly — and deliver on it consistently – and you’ll quickly rise to the rank of indispensable.MANAGE YOUR BRANDWith your clearly defined personal brand in place, consistency becomes the name of the game. Just as consumer brands build loyalty over time with consistent customer interactions – and lose it with one bad review – you must also put your money where your mouth is.Consistently reflect your personal brand values in everything you do. Not just in delivering your hard and fast KPIs, but also in how you interact with colleagues and clients everywhere from the boardroom to the water cooler.For your personal brand to be seen as an asset, people have to experience it over time so they can build a confident frame of reference as to what to expect when they interact with you. To leverage your personal brand, you have to think, talk, and act in a way that delivers consistently.People are looking for clues that they can trust you, that you mean what you say, and that you will deliver on that brand promise you made. Give it to them.ELIMINATE DANGER ZONESNone of us are perfect, and we all run the risk of falling into old behavior patterns or allowing negative emotions to drive reactive responses to stressful situations. This, of course, is part of being human. However, identifying and understanding your triggers will go a long way to keeping your personal brand on track even when the stress hits its hardest.Stay mindful that everything you do and say has an immediate impact on your personal brand and, just like a bad review, snapping at a colleague, letting down a client or losing focus on a project will threaten to topple your carefully constructed personal brand.Set aside a few minutes at the end of each day to evaluate how your behavior that day reinforced or detracted from you brand. Identify any negative behavior patterns that need busting, confront any emotions that are likely to send you into a downward spiral, and consciously de-stress.Most importantly, be kind to yourself in your lesser moments. We all fall off the wagon from time to time and behave in ways we’d rather not in hindsight. But take these missteps as opportunities to learn and grow, not as reasons for self-punishment.And remember, to master your personal brand, understand that talk is cheap. Say what you mean and do as you say.

As we continue to sift dutifully through the over 1,000 pages of the stimulus bill (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009), there is one provision that is not getting much attention, but could be very helpful to small businesses. If you are a small business and have received an SBA loan from your local banker, but are having trouble making payments, you can get a “stabilization loan”. That’s right; finally some bailout money goes into the hands of the small business owner, instead of going down the proverbial deep hole of the stock market or large banks. But don’t get too excited. It is limited to very specific instances and is not available for vast majority of business owners.There are some news articles that boldly claim the SBA will now provide relief if you have an existing business loan and are having trouble making the payments. This is not a true statement and needs to be clarified. As seen in more detail in this article, this is wrong because it applies to troubled loans made in the future, not existing ones.Here is how it works. Assume you were one of the lucky few that find a bank to make a SBA loan. You proceed on your merry way but run into tough economic times and find it hard to repay. Remember these are not conventional loans but loans from an SBA licensed lender that are guaranteed for default by the U.S. government through the SBA (depending upon the loan, between 50% and 90%). Under the new stimulus bill, the SBA might come to your rescue. You will be able to get a new loan which will pay-off the existing balance on extremely favorable terms, buying more time to revitalize your business and get back in the saddle. Sound too good to be true? Well, you be the judge. Here are some of the features:1. Does not apply to SBA loans taken out before the stimulus bill. As to non-SBA loans, they can be before or after the bill’s enactment.2. Does it apply to SBA guaranteed loans or non-SBA conventional loans as well? We don’t know for sure. This statute simply says it applies to a “small business concern that meets the eligibility standards and section 7(a) of the Small Business Act” (Section 506 (c) of the new Act). That contains pages and pages of requirements which could apply to both types of loans. Based on some of the preliminary reports from the SBA, it appears it applies to both SBA and non-SBA loans.3. These monies are subject to availability in the funding of Congress. Some think the way we are going with our Federal bailout, we are going be out of money before the economy we are trying to save.4. You don’t get these monies unless you are a viable business. Boy, you can drive a truck through that phrase. Our friends at the SBA will determine if you are “viable” (imagine how inferior you will be when you have to tell your friends your business was determined by the Federal government to be “non-viable” and on life support).5. You have to be suffering “immediate financial hardship”. So much for holding out making payments because you’d rather use the money for other expansion needs. How many months you have to be delinquent, or how close your foot is to the banana peel of complete business failure, is anyone’s guess.6. It is not certain, and commentators disagree, as to whether the Federal government through the SBA will make the loan from taxpayers’ dollars or by private SBA licensed banks. In my opinion it is the latter. It carries a 100% SBA guarantee and I would make no sense if the government itself was making the loan.7. The loan cannot exceed $35,000. Presumably the new loan will be “taking out” or refinancing the entire balance on the old one. So if you had a $100,000 loan that you have been paying on time for several years but now have a balance of $35,000 and are in trouble, boy do we have a program for you. Or you might have a smaller $15,000 loan and after a short time need help. The law does not say you have to wait any particular period of time so I guess you could be in default after the first couple of months.8. You can use it to make up no more than six months of monthly delinquencies.9. The loan will be for a maximum term of five years.10. The borrower will pay absolutely no interest for the duration of the loan. Interest can be charged, but it will be subsidized by the Federal government.11. Here’s the great part. If you get one of these loans, you don’t have to make any payments for the first year.12. There are absolutely no upfront fees allowed. Getting such a loan is 100% free (of course you have to pay principal and interest after the one year moratorium).13. The SBA will decide whether or not collateral is required. In other words, if you have to put liens on your property or residence. My guess is they will lax as to this requirement.14. You can get these loans until September 30, 2010.15. Because this is emergency legislation, within 15 days after signing the bill, the SBA has to come up with regulations.Here is a summary of the actual legislative language if you are having trouble getting to sleep:SEC. 506. BUSINESS STABILIZATION PROGRAM. (a) IN GENERAL- Subject to the availability of appropriations, the Administrator of the Small Business Administration shall carry out a program to provide loans on a deferred basis to viable (as such term is determined pursuant to regulation by the Administrator of the Small Business Administration) small business concerns that have a qualifying small business loan and are experiencing immediate financial hardship.(b) ELIGIBLE BORROWER- A small business concern as defined under section 3 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632).(c) QUALIFYING SMALL BUSINESS LOAN- A loan made to a small business concern that meets the eligibility standards in section 7(a) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 636(a)) but shall not include loans guarantees (or loan guarantee commitments made) by the Administrator prior to the date of enactment of this Act.(d) LOAN SIZE- Loans guaranteed under this section may not exceed $35,000.(e) PURPOSE- Loans guaranteed under this program shall be used to make periodic payment of principal and interest, either in full or in part, on an existing qualifying small business loan for a period of time not to exceed 6 months.(f) LOAN TERMS- Loans made under this section shall:(1) carry a 100 percent guaranty; and(2) have interest fully subsidized for the period of repayment.(g) REPAYMENT- Repayment for loans made under this section shall–(1) be amortized over a period of time not to exceed 5 years; and(2) not begin until 12 months after the final disbursement of funds is made.(h) COLLATERAL- The Administrator of the Small Business Administration may accept any available collateral, including subordinated liens, to secure loans made under this section.(i) FEES- The Administrator of the Small Business Administration is prohibited from charging any processing fees, origination fees, application fees, points, brokerage fees, bonus points, prepayment penalties, and other fees that could be charged to a loan applicant for loans under this section.(j) SUNSET- The Administrator of the Small Business Administration shall not issue loan guarantees under this section after September 30, 2010.(k) EMERGENCY RULEMAKING AUTHORITY- The Administrator of the Small Business Administration shall issue regulations under this section within 15 days after the date of enactment of this section. The notice requirements of section 553(b) of title 5, United States Code shall not apply to the promulgation of such regulations.The real question is whether a private bank will loan under this program. Unfortunately, few will do so because the statute very clearly states that no fees whatsoever can be charged, and how can a bank make any money if they loan under those circumstances. Sure, they might make money in the secondary market, but that is dried up, so they basically are asked to make a loan out of the goodness of their heart. On a other hand, it carries a first ever 100% government guarantee so the bank’s know they will be receiving interest and will have no possibility of losing a single dime. Maybe this will work after all.But there is something else that would be of interest to a bank. In a way, this is a form of Federal bailout going directly to small community banks. They have on their books loans that are in default and they could easily jump at the chance of being able to bail them out with this program. Especially if they had not been the recipients of the first TARP monies. Contrary to public sentiment, most of them did not receive any money. But again, this might not apply to that community bank. Since they typically package and sell their loans within three to six months, it probably wouldn’t even be in default at that point. It would be in the hands of the secondary market investor.So is this good or bad for small businesses? Frankly, it’s good to see that some bailout money is working its way toward small businesses, but most of them would rather have a loan in the first place, as opposed help when in default. Unfortunately, this will have a limited application.Wouldn’t it be better if we simply expanded our small business programs so more businesses could get loans? How about the SBA creating a secondary market for small business loans? I have a novel idea: for the moment forget about defaults, and concentrate on making business loans available to start-ups or existing businesses wanting to expand.How about having a program that can pay off high interest credit card balances? There is hardly a business out there that has not been financing themselves lately through credit cards, simply because banks are not making loans. It is not unusual for people to have $50,000 plus on their credit cards, just to stay afloat. Talk about saving high interest. You can imagine how much cash flow this would give a small business.We should applaud Congress for doing their best under short notice to come up with this plan. Sure this is a form of welcome bailout for small businesses, but I believe it misses the mark as to the majority of the 27 million business owners that are simply looking for a loan they can repay, as opposed to a handout.