The One Hour Time Investment That Changes Everything: Why You Absolutely Need a Personal Brand (Even if you don't think you do) ft. Vanessa Errecarte

Speaker A: Hey friends, and welcome to episode 332 of It's About Time, a podcast about work, life and balance. I'm your host, time management coach Anna Dearman Cornick. And before we get into this episode, I want to share with you the worst career advice I ever received. You ready? Here it is. Keep your head down, get the work done, and people will notice. And I'm just gonna say it, that advice doesn't work. Worse, it can leave you feeling like if you do have to promote yourself, you must not be good enough to be noticed on your own merit. And that's a rough place to sit. That's why I knew I had to bring my guest today onto the show. Because here's the thing. You can't control someone else noticing your hard work. That's chance, that's passive. But you can control how you show up and how people understand what you bring to the table. And that's exactly the conversation I had with today's guest, Vanessa Aricardi. Vanessa sits at this incredible intersection of personal branding, marketing and teaching. And she has a way of making personal branding feel like the least icky thing in the world. So if the term personal brand makes you cringe a little, or if you feel like it doesn't really apply to you, stick around because Vanessa is about to reframe the whole thing for you. So let me tell you a little about Vanessa. Vanessa Aricardi is an award winning lecturer and marketing consultant who created and teaches one of the nation's only four credit MBA courses in personal branding at the UC Davis Graduate School School of Management. She's been named Teacher of the Year twice and was recognized as a favorite professor by Poets and Quants. Best and Brightest MBA List for more than two decades, Vanessa has helped thousands of professionals and organizations clarify their value and create meaningful impact through her consulting and training agency, Marketing Simplified. Her insights have appeared in the Financial Times and her debut book, Valuable Redefining Personal Branding by Putting Impact Over Image, just launched with Wiley Publishing. In today's conversation, Vanessa shares why personal branding isn't actually about you and why that reframe changes everything. She talks about the counterintuitive reason holding you back on your personal brand is actually the selfish move. Vanessa talks through how to find your distinctive angle using a simple framework she calls the Truth Framework and why owning your own website, not just your social media accounts, is a form of control. So if you've ever felt like your hard work should speak for itself, but somehow it's not being heard, this episode is your guide to becoming the kind of distinctive that actually gets noticed. And I know you've got a lot on your plate, so I want to make this as easy as possible for you. You can find all of the tools and resources mentioned in this episode, including how to conn with Vanessa and grab her new book over in the show notes@abouttimepodcast.com 332 Finally, I want to thank you again for tuning into It's About Time. If you haven't already, take a sec and click subscribe so you never miss an episode. And if you have a few extra minutes, I would so appreciate you taking the time to leave a rating and review. Your reviews play a huge role in helping this show reach more busy women just like you. And with that, it's about time we get started. So let's get this show on the road.

Speaker B: You're m listening to It's About Time, a podcast about work, life and balance around here. We believe that busy is not a badge of honor. Your host, Anna Dearman Kornik is here to share tips and strategies to help you make the most of your time. Listen in on real conversations and success stories to find out how other go getters are getting things done. If you're ready to step away from the overwhelmed and spend your time on what matters most, then you're in the right place. Here's your host, time management coach Anna Dearman Kornick.

Speaker A: Hey, Vanessa. Uh, and welcome to It's About Time. I am so excited to chat with you today. How are you doing?

Speaker C: I'm doing well. I'm really excited to chat with you as well. Thanks so much for having me. I. I truly love your work and I've learned a lot from your work actually.

Speaker A: Oh my goodness. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Honestly, I am learning from my work all the time too. It's a constant trial and error, work in progress situation. So I already gave everybody the official Vanessa Eric Carte bio in our intro, but we want to hear from you in your own words. So how do you spend your time these days?

Speaker C: How do I spend my time these days? So my time is a mix of running my business, teaching at the UC Davis Graduate School of Management, and trying to make quality time for my family, uh, first and foremost, and then hopefully some friends. And then I sneak in some workouts. I'm in a phase of life that is a little unforgiving time wise these days.

Speaker A: Isn't that the truth? Okay, so you're teaching. What does that actually look like for you? Are you teaching multiple classes? Tell us a little bit more about what that looks like.

Speaker C: Absolutely. So teaching was the best surprise of my life. About six years ago, UC Davis gave me a call and they said, would you teach corporate branding and digital marketing here? And I said, sure. I've always loved teaching and training on the corporate level, you know, and gosh, I've loved teaching uh, these, these business students. And uh, it led to also developing a personal branding class that's kind of more of a general class for just everybody. Because, you know, in 2026 we can no longer just say that working hard is enough. You know, I was so tired of the talk about time, right. If you make it to the UC Davis Graduate School of Management, it's a top year business, top year, uh, top tier business school. And so you're excellent, you know, if you make it there. And then I kept seeing these students disappear as they were looking for opportunities because it's not enough to just again be excellent. These days you have to be distinctive as well to be noticed. Especially with AI now everything is just very noisy, you know, and so it's that distinctiveness that rises above. So that has been also a nice gift to be able to put those kind of corporate theories together in a way that actually helps the student and does it in a little tiny amount of time. Because this can't be someone's full time job. You know, influencers have full time jobs and we all think that that's how we build a personal brand. Right. So that's been, that's absolutely my favorite thing to do. So I always prioritize kind of that teaching time. I like to get to know my students. And you know, this is kind of, I'm um, 44. So in this back half of my career, you know, this is kind of my, my dream of, of how I spend my time. But I do love, you know, the client side with my business because that helps inform me. You know, it's like here's what I did yesterday that really worked, especially in digital marketing. And now, you know, here's what I want to tell you to do, right? So it complements the time, complements each other.

Speaker A: I could see that. It's almost like having a laboratory on the business side, uh, on the, with your corporate clients observing and experimenting and then bringing back your findings to the classes that you teach.

Speaker C: Okay, yeah, yeah.

Speaker A: So you are teaching at UC Davis, but you also still have your business. So what does working with clients look like on the business side that in a way that enables you to do both. Like you said, you'll experience one thing with a client and then the next day you have the opportunity to share what you've learned with your students. So what does working with your clients look like?

Speaker C: Yeah, another gift that teaching gave me is I decided I did not want to give up my business in whole when I started teaching. But I knew that if I'm already running this full time equivalent consulting business, I needed to do something and I needed to go from like one part time person that helps me to actually I went to three and I had to. It was a nice exercise. In a lot of what you talk about, it's hard to let go of control. I like eating control for breakfast, lunch and dinner. But I was forced because I wanted to do this, these things right. And I wanted to do them well. And so one thing I started doing is I started, I found two people in key areas of like, okay, social media, content and you know, administration, organizational, like implementation. Right. And this was, this was years ago that I made this model, but it's still works to today where it's like everything I do is the high level, strategic and then implement it for the first time, make sure that it's going to work and train you know, the person who's going to then take it in that way. And, and it's been such a great gift because you learn a lot of lessons about control. Control is maybe this, you know, false, almost selfish assumption and once you let go of that control too, like there's so much more potential. I what I didn't realize. And you know, you hear people say this and you hear this advice and you think like, oh, that's for someone else. Like I remember before I had kids, someone's like, you won't believe how fast it goes. And I'm like okay, fine, whatever. Like anything else you need to say to me? Right. And now I'm like, geez, how are my kids? 9 and 11 already? Right. And so you know, I'm like, wow, I am more creative. I am. You know, it does give you that space in your brain when you're not constantly in the minutiae, you know. And so, so that's how I did it and that's the nice lesson I learned. Uh, but still though, I think we all fight ourselves when it comes to that control. You mentioned the phrase work in progress. I think we can all be a work in progress. I love being cc'd on every single email. And uh, that can be a time suck too, right?

Speaker A: Yeah, it's definitely one of those counterintuitive ways to take back your time and your capacity. Because there's that upfront time investment in order to identify the process, capture the process, refine the process, teach the process, give feedback on someone else doing the process, and we can get stuck in that trap of, oh, well, it'll just be faster if I do it myself.

Speaker C: Yeah.

Speaker A: So, yeah.

Speaker C: No, and there comes a certain point to, uh, where it's just, like, jokes on you, you know, so I'm glad I was forced because it's like I had to find a way to make my business, you know, more part time if I was going to do this thing I wanted to do. And then I also. Oh, I forgot to tell you this. I also started realizing that the things I outsource are the things I don't want to outsource. So, like, instead of having, like, a sitter stay late and hang out with the kids an extra hour so I can get all these chores done, like, you know, get an extra load of laundry or something. It's like, I just outsourced all of that. Right. And I have, like, come to. Okay. It's okay if it's harder to find a sweater one day because, like, they may not have put it in the place I would have put it or something like that. Right. Like, I would so much rather get that quality hour with my family than, you know, be running to catch up on chores. And it's so. I, uh, don't know. It's so weird how it feels more productive sometimes when you're spending that hour frantically doing things. But the meaningful hour, you know, is with those people that, like, you know, you do one, one quality hour. It's amazing what that does, you know? Yeah.

Speaker A: And, uh, that's such a great example to share because the obvious solution for many of us would be, oh, let me get a babysitter so I can finish what I need to do. And the immediate thought isn't, oh, no, let me just outsource the things that I need to do instead of a babysitter in order to have the quality time. Because that's the goal anyway. That's brilliant. I love that. So time with family, time with friends. What do your workouts look like lately? And I asked this question because, hey, we are in a time where it is tough when we have families, when we have things that we want to do for ourselves. I mean, you are teaching and you are running your business. What does getting some movement in look like?

Speaker C: Yeah, so I am going through a workout, like burnout Phase, I think. Not burnout because of the workouts, but I just launched a book a couple months ago and I've never been the type of person that 40 minutes in the morning and always getting up at like 5:30, getting it in, always has meant so much to my life. And I've never understood like people that say, like, gosh, I wish I could get to it, but it's just too much. But trying to get this book launched, that was, that was the thing that put me over. And I'm like, now I know that feeling of, uh, you know, at 5:30, maybe the last thing you want to do after going to bed at midnight is, you know, really moving your body for 40 minutes. And so then you. My workouts have kind of gone, you know, to be honest, because I, uh, you know, to be real, right. I have gotten from like, you know, five to six days a week. That was really important to me, my sanity, all that. And it's kind of gone to you know, anywhere from two to four days a week. And so what I've started to do is just prioritize like movement and squeeze in little walks and stuff like that. And next week I actually go on vacation for the first time in a long time. And I told my husband, this is going to be my reset. This is going to be my. Okay. I get, you know how sometimes when you're in a very busy phase, you have to actually unlock, you know, it's like, it's uh, it almost reminds me of when you're done with finals, uh, when you're a student and then you feel like the next day I, I need to be doing something, you know, I need to get out of this mode, of this like, you know, there's no definition right now between when everything starts and when everything stops. And there can be, it's all in my brain and I just need to unlock it and reset and get back to that. So in normal phases of life, that's what working out looks like. It's like that important 40 minutes to me. And I have equipment in the next room where my kids have like their bean bags and booby room and everything like that. So I don't even have to like, look anyway, when I go out of the house, it's right here.

Speaker A: Setting up a garage gym has been one of the best moves for me because as much as I love getting in a workout at the gym, just skipping the drive there and back and the parking and the walking in and the potential for chit chat don't get me Wrong. I love some chit chat. It. It condenses. What would be an hour and a half investment into just the 30 minutes in and out? And uh, so I love that you mentioned that you work out at home. I love that you shared actually a couple things here in your busy season. You didn't go all or nothing. You went all or something in order to maintain something. And I think it's really easy to slip into that if. Well, if I can't do everything, then I'm just gonna let it all go. I was actually reflecting this morning when I was journaling about how when I am traveling, my diet goes out the window. It's like I just forget or I just. I'm like I'm on vacation or I am traveling. I am gonna eat Oreos for breakfast, lunch and dinner. And I'm actually going on vacation as well. Uh, the. In a couple weeks. And I'm just like, okay, I know this about myself. What can I do differently? So it's not all Oreos all the time. And it's maybe, you know, let, let's kind of maintain some, some of what I have created so far in terms of eating habits. So I, I always love to ask that question about what your workouts look like, especially because you mentioned it, because that is one of the biggest challenges for working women.

Speaker C: Yeah.

Speaker A: Is when. When do I fit this in? How do I fit this in? What should it look like? What does it look like for other people? And so thanks for being real because that's incredibly helpful, you know.

Speaker C: Well, and I appreciate your reminder about this something too, because sometimes in these phases, I, I have really beat myself up over, you know, just not being able to do this thing that I used to take so much pride in. Right. And it's hard sometimes to recognize the something when you're in a busy period. You recognize what you're not doing. Right.

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker C: I fight with that a lot. I really do. I really do.

Speaker A: Yeah. Uh, and you didn't even consider. But, like, what? Look at all the new things that I'm doing in this season. I'm literally launching a book. And that's not something that we do every day. And it kind of gives you that catalyst of, okay, this feels like a lot compared to when I wasn't launching the book or whatever that looks like for different people, getting ready for a move, the kids being involved in tons of travel, ball tournaments, you know, whatever it is, we all have that thing that kind of pushes us over the edge and really shows us where our capacity is.

Speaker C: Yes. Why did my neck get tight when you said ball tournaments? Okay, going on, moving on.

Speaker A: Okay, so ball tournaments. That must be a part of it too. So tell me.

Speaker C: We're not. My son's not a travel ball kid. He's. We say every, every team needs a, uh, needs a little bit of everything. And, and he's, he's really growing, you know, as an athlete right now. But we've known him for years as the hype man. That may not get the hit, but makes everyone feel great. That does. On the team. So we're not travel ball. We're not travel ball, but we do have a lot of weekend ball. That's fun.

Speaker A: That is fun. Hey, I love that. I love that self, that awareness there. Hey, look, I'm here for fun and to hype people up. That's awesome.

Speaker C: Yeah.

Speaker A: So I'm hearing that you spend time at the ballpark and you get in workouts when you can. You are kind of. You launched this book a couple months ago and you are teaching and you are running your business. I mean, that's. That is a lot when we really look at that. And so how do you do all of those things? What makes it work for you?

Speaker C: Mm. Uh, so each night I, I take a look. I take an intentional 10 to 15 minutes of looking at my calendar for the next day just to, like, get mentally prepared for the day ahead. I also, on Sundays, take a good, you know, actually Friday's the goal. It's been Sundays lately. I'll, um, be honest. But I'll try to take a good hour to look at the next week ahead because I'm not in complete control of my calendar. One of my employees also works on my calendar. And so sometimes I can see things that I can move around that aren't urgent that I could move to later if there's a really busy week. I've also learned that once I lost control of my calendar a year or so ago, which was great, by the way, which was a great decision. But I've also learned when I need breaks. So I have in the past been willing to do a four hour wall. And I've started saying, okay, well, after three hours. Now I want a half hour because I just think that my, the quality of what you get on the other end is better. I always, I started noticing that that wall wasn't, you know, it doesn't work for any of us. Right. And so really being intentional about the calendar was something that I needed to do. Again, this all happened kind of this last year as this book was added. You know how sometimes you're. You have this fine balance and you're managing everything well, and then, you know, there's that one thing that, you know, changes that balance, and you really have to revisit some of your systems. So that was it for me. So the intentional calendaring is. Has been a really big deal. And also intentionally putting on the calendar things I want to do, if I want to do it. So I have this one person who's a dear friend. She was a former client, actually, this morning. I have an hour with her later this morning. And once a month we say we're going to go to coffee. We're both incredibly busy, but we miss each other so badly because, you know, we don't work with each other anymore. You know, she's the. The client, work was done. She's moved on from the organ, all of that stuff. Right. But we're like, geez, we miss each other. And so, you know, doing that with key people I think is really, really helpful. And so I just treat it as like something that's part of my workday, you know, so that then when it's like, I've kind of let go of, um, especially after the pandemic, this whole, like, I'm done at a certain time in the day, but for me, like, I can get fuel if I have some of those things on the calendar. And sometimes I tell my husband too, like this half hour, like, we need to go to the coffee shop, like down the street, and we need to just sit, the two of us, you know, and put it on our calendar. Cause I can see that this is a time that we both have, and, like, we need to do that with ourselves too, you know?

Speaker A: Yeah. I love that so much. Putting the intentional relationship time, the want tos, the things that, you know, fill your cup. When I'm. Especially when I'm working with new clients right after we do a, uh, personality assessment together and we really get clear on. Okay. What energizes you, what drains you. There is. There is a certain type of person who absolutely must have social time put into their calendar so that they can ride the waves of energy throughout the week.

Speaker C: Yeah.

Speaker A: And so I, uh, love that you have that in there intentionally. So a couple of the things that you mentioned that I really want to highlight are having that daily evening preview for tomorrow. That's huge. And that's the secret to keeping your head from spinning with all the things on your to do list as you're trying to fall asleep at night in The Academy, I teach it as the workday shutdown. So something that you do kind of as your transition from the workday into the evening. And it just like that, that's huge for being ready for each day. Just mentally weekly planning and you know, you maybe were previously in a season where Friday weekly planning was a really good fit and maybe now Sundays is the best fit and maybe in your next season it's going to be Thursdays and it doesn't matter when it happens as long as you have that time, right?

Speaker C: Mhm. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, Friday, you know, it's interesting. Friday, it's like the last two hours of the day have started. Have started becoming this frantic, like productive work. It's just. Yeah. It's not the soft landing it used to be on Fridays. Right. So.

Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, I, I can't do weekly planning on Fridays. I get so checked out by lunchtime that I've. I've got to just do low impact. I don't want to call it busy work, but like low impact or like fun work is what is good for Fridays. I find, uh. And then handing off your calendar. So when you were prepping for the book launch you as a part of. Well, maybe it wasn't prepping for the book launch, maybe it was another time. But you had it in place for the book launch. But handing off your calendar to an assistant and establishing rules and guidelines around when you like how many meetings in a row, when you need.

Speaker C: Uh-huh.

Speaker A: When you need rest. Hitting off your calendar is. That's a control thing too. I mean, uh, it can be really tough to imagine someone else managing your calendar because they don't know the way that you think. They don't know inherently what decisions you might make. And it's almost like outsourcing a way of thinking by creating if X then Y style works.

Speaker C: Yes. And you learn a lot about yourself. I tried calendly before that and I, I always completely screwed it up. I never liked what my schedule looked like and then I would always try to go update it and you know, I think it might be an easier. It might be easier to use one of those tools now that I've gone through this exercise of having someone else do the calendar because now I know what I prefer. But uh, using one of those tools before I knew what I preferred did not work for me.

Speaker A: Oh. I mean, I could see that because it ends up being a free for all.

Speaker C: Yeah. And yeah, because I think we think we have more time. I. Okay, I'm not going to put this on anybody else but my husband. Everyone who knows me knows that I always think I have more time than I have.

Speaker A: Optimistic.

Speaker C: Yes. Uh, my transitions are always, like, tightly scheduled. And, you know, I. And it's. It never works out. It never works out when I get in that mode, you know, and so having to own up to that is a good thing.

Speaker A: That's huge. Owning up to it. I mean, that's the first step, right?

Speaker C: Yeah.

Speaker A: So you think about things like handing off your calendar or simply delegating. You know, we were talking earlier about how there is a bit of a. An upfront price to pay when we delegate, and that one of the traps that keeps us. One of the many traps that keeps us from spending our time intentionally is holding onto too much control is having that thought of, well, it would just be faster if I do it myself. Uh, and then. But. But. But now you're doing it yourself forever instead of just a few times and then handing it off. You know, when I think about what you teach, it's so cool because you sit at this intersection of personal branding and marketing and your teaching, and you are supporting your. Your clients.

Speaker C: Uh-huh.

Speaker A: What are the biggest mistakes that you see people making when it comes to not just personal branding? Because that's a completely different thing. But you have to have time in order to build a personal brand in addition to just doing your work.

Speaker C: Yes. And I do want to touch on that, because what. What you said is very valid of, um, this. You know, putting time into the personal brand. I think that we can always. We can. You know, how we say, you know, at the end of the day, we put ourselves last and we're tired, and we may not have time to go do the, like, pedicure we wanted or whatever it is.

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker C: And putting off the personal brand, I think is. Is a form of that in 2026, because it's so important. And so this was kind of. This labor of love for me because, again, I saw these students that should not have been struggling to find opportunities, but were. And it was happening over. And, like, what did it for me, too, was, like, this student that was just top of my corporate branding class. And I'm like, you should have that Silicon Valley job you want in product management. You should be the first one to get it. But she was struggling, and so I just kind of casually said to her, let's work on your personal brand. And her whole body got stressed out. And I'm like, I know, I understand. It feels icky. That term feels icky. Right. It Feels icky to me. I don't. I love marketing because I get to be behind the camera helping other people grow, right? Like that is a passion for me. And so, and I think a lot of us, we like to humbly go on our way, do what's expected of us, be as excellent as we can, and, you know, that's a good day. And so personal branding is a tough thing to stomach. However, branding is not defined as anything personal, right? So we've put the term personal in front of it and we think it's an icky thing because we see influencers who are less than 1% of the population. That is actually a job, that's a profession. There is nothing wrong with that profession, but it's a full time job. You're spending all day, every day creating content, gaining followers and exchanging that for money to promote things. It's a whole career. And the personal brand is just something to help you not be one of the many people that are just passively out there in the world. And so I always say, like, if you think about a personal brand, do you know, like you have two people, same age, same experience, maybe even the quieter one is even more experienced, who knows? But there's that one person that seems so much more distinctive than the other. And we usually write that off as they're lucky. They were born distinctive, they were born a leader, they were born an athlete. We say this a lot because we just don't know how. No one teaches us how. You and I, before we went on, we were having this conversation about kind of our age as millennials. And I'm 44 and I was always told, like, work and personal are separate, right? But then you have Gen Z underneath who. They grew up on two screens at once, you know, so for them it's all blended together. And the Internet has become this more personal and authentic place. And employers over 90% of the time are looking at us before they hire us or before they even finish evaluating your resume. So what I say is personal branding is not about you. And try to think of it that way. So Tony Robbins once said, here's the simplest example to briefly describe what I mean. Tony Robbins once said, knowledge is not power. Knowledge is potential power. Action is power.

Speaker A: Oh yeah, love that.

Speaker C: M. That's cool. That's a signal that what he's telling us there is. Here's what you think you know, here's why you don't know it, and here's what I want you to know. This is a form, this is a framework. I call it the Truth Framework. I have these five steps of how we got there, right? The first three being what does everybody think? Everyone thinks personal branding is about you. We'll just use that example. What's the real problem? The real problem is brands are not about the brand. Right? My favorite pair of workout shoes, when they wear out, they keep me really comfortable. They make me feel like I'm going to be able to work out for many years. Right? That's why I want them. I don't want them because the technology is so special. We don't want that human because they had a certain experience five years ago or won an award. We want them because what they can do for us, Right? That's the opposite. So the real problem is everyone. First of all, the common thinking is everyone thinks personal branding is about you. The real problem is we lose the definition of a brand when we treat a personal brand about us. The, uh, understanding of a better solution, which is the third step, is make personal branding about what you can help other people with. Yes. Okay. And so I always tell my students, I have this, like, story lead in counterintuitive moment. Three steps to teaching someone something, right? If you can do a thought leadership post like that once a week with like a video lead in of, my name's Vanessa, and here's what I want to teach you today. And you put that on LinkedIn. You do that a couple months, then you take all of that thought leadership and you make even a personal website with a blog. Many of us don't have a personal website with our first and last names.

Speaker A: But why?

Speaker C: We spend more of our time online. We spend eight hours and three minutes a day online. And then we go to the bathroom, eat and sleep. We're online more than we are in person, yet we're not knitting together our identity there. Corporations never leave their company everywhere. But a website, that's the hub. And so then you can start getting your audience to come to your website. And, you know, because you run this kind of a business and we should all be our own, um, many CEOs with our brands. You get people to opt into your own list. You don't want Mark Zuckerberg to control your followers, right? No.

Speaker A: Can we just say real quickly that having your own website actually gives you a lot of control? Like we were talking earlier about how, oh, uh, I eat control for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. You know, uh, when you think about having your own website, you are controlling how other people understand the way that you can help and what you bring to the table. So just want to throw that out there really quickly because there might be a bunch of y' all listening right now who are like, why would I possibly need a website? Or, why can't I just lurk on LinkedIn and just, like, randomly, like, things like, why do I have to post? And I think I want to dial it all the way back and ask you, like, who needs a personal brand?

Speaker C: Every single human. And so, and I know this sounds weird because, you know, you think about that person who's, like, trying to be an accountant, and, you know, they're like, why do I need a personal brand? I just want to go work for a company and crunch numbers. And so I will explain to you. I call this now, since April. I used to call it the, you know, leader transition problem, but, you know, now I call this the John Ternus problem. So in the New York Times in April, there was an article that Tim Cook's retiring from Apple, and John ternus is around 50 years old, and he's the person that's favored to be the next CEO. And there was a line in that article that said, now Apple just needs to decide if they want another deft manager or an innovator. Now, a deft manager is what they were implying. Tim Cook was. And that term doesn't sound great, but it actually means you did well, right? You managed your people well, you made money, the ship sailed well. Yeah, but you know how we have these three, uh, dots on our phone when we have our camera? And some of us do, some of us don't, some of us have one dot. And John Ternus innovated that he made the camera in some of these phones, like yours and mine, higher level. And then, you know, the one dot phone has now become known amongst, like, parents with, you know, my daughter's, like, phone age going into junior high, it's known as the kid phone, right? Now, all of a sudden, this one phone here that you don't think you can tier the product, which is actually very important in marketing and everything, right? These product suites he managed through his engineering solution to tier the product that is innovative. But no one ever told him, just like no one ever told us, they told us business and personal are separate, that he had to go make himself distinctive, that he had to go talk about that. That he had to go talk about why he's so passionate about giving options and why his engineering experience allowed him to see those options, right? Because he knows about all these use cases throughout the year, whatever it is, right? And then he needs to teach other engineers. Here's how you can take a use case. Right. And how you can figure out extra options or whatever it is you're going to teach. But the key is he needs to earn his distinctiveness by helping other people because it's easy. The world is a busy place. We talked about AI infused M everything. There's so much crappy content out there. So to become distinctive, you have to say something different that works for someone. So if you're teaching someone something new and they try it and it works, then they remember you, then your brand works for you off the feed, you can get by with that once a week post and you can slowly then grow it. And so what I've done with what I did with my class is, you know, I have these students that again, like, why should I do this? This sounds like so much time. I'm not a marketer. It starts with that one post a week and then we layer on this whole system slowly so that in three or four months, in one to three hours a week, you've built this whole ecosystem of m, the most important things you need to do on the Internet to have a personal brand, which is that once a week, posting, maybe up to three or four days a week, eventually by chopping up that thought leadership into smaller posts after you make the initial 1m, migrating that all to a website, which you already have and you don't realize it. Right. And getting that owned space online, that control that you said. And then the third part of it can even be that monetization for some people with guides, courses, whatnot. And then that hidden benefit too is we get better in person when we find our distinctive angle. And it's all about that counterintuitive edge. Like, if there's one thing you can do right now to work on your personal brand before you say anything online or even in person, just think, what would everybody else say and how can I be a little bit different in a way that works for someone and is compelling?

Speaker A: Ooh, and what would everyone else say and how could I be a little bit different? Now, speaking of something that everyone else says, I go back to some of the advice that I was given early in my career. And I've heard this multiple times from people one to two generations above me, parents, you know, family members, that in order to be successful, you need to put your head down.

Speaker C: Yep.

Speaker A: Get the work done, avoid the office politics, and you will be recognized and promoted for your hard work. Now, I know firsthand that doesn't work. And it can be incredibly discouraging, I think, on one hand, discouraging. On the other hand, when that, uh, advice comes from people that we trust and we, we trust them, we believe them, it can make us feel like, okay, well, if I have to promote myself, if I have to be so self promoting, then I must not be good enough on my own to be noticed. Uh, so for someone who's like, okay, yeah, okay, I get it. I, I want to have a personal brand while still doing good work. Okay, I hear that I can post once a week, but like, what, what else can I do? Like, what difference is it really going to make?

Speaker C: And that's the key, right? If we're doing this in a way that does cause that memorability. Marketing is only secondarily about growth, but you have to have memorability to grow. Right? And so if you're doing this in a way where you're going to become memorable, it's. It's not about you. It's actually selfish to hold back. And here's why. Ooh, hold on.

Speaker A: It's selfish to hold back. It's selfish to hold back. Okay.

Speaker C: Because find that distinction. Right? Like, and thank you for highlighting that. And I actually, I say that to students to kind of jolt them into doing this, because the people that need to do this the most, because they have such gifts to share, are the most hesitant. And it is because, you know, I played the Oregon Trail growing up and I killed so many oxen because I always wanted to be that pioneer and get there first. Right? Pioneers are. It's scary to be a pioneer. Oxen can die, right? Yes. And so whenever you create that new point of view, whenever you say that thing, not everyone else would say you're a pioneer. Of course that feels uncomfortable. Of course there's imposter syndrome involved there. Right. But it's that signal that someone needs to know. Because look at all these students I've had that have held back and become invisible after making it to incredible places with incredible experience. And then I can say, your personal brand's not about you, so you don't even have to worry about it. You don't have to worry about self promotion. Just go do it. Because the truth is, when we go to buy a new car, we've already made up our mind that we're buying that car based on feeling prestigious and being able to show that off, or keeping our family safe or saving the environment, whatever signal we want to give. And then we remember, maybe before we've driven it off a lot, maybe not to take that plastic off and unfold that little window sticker. Right. Those are your credentials, those are your qualifications. Those are the things that we have falsely told people that, oh, put it into a 30 second elevator pitch and go for it and sound like everybody else and make them hit door open, man. Because they can't wait to leave that conversation. Rather than saying something like, you know, in product management, I have become so passionate about, you know, here's our four common steps. But gosh, we do this one thing wrong in step two, and I've become so passionate about it because it makes step four so much smoother. And I know it doesn't seem like a big deal, but to me it is because I'm so passionate about, you, m know, making that system smoother and saving that money. And I think if we can do that with as many organizations as possible, I would just be so fulfilled in my career. And then all of a sudden I'm hitting door open, but only because I want it to stay open longer so I can shout, wait, what's your name? I don't care what degree they have. I don't care what award they just got. And they don't need to post about that. They don't, they don't need to dance on TikTok. They don't need to do any of that stuff for them to notice me because they've helped me. I'm like, man, now I want them in my company.

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker C: And so again, you know, that's a gift that we're, that we're giving and that's what branding truly is. And so, you know, I think that if more people treated their personal brands in that way, the Internet would be more fun, first of all. But second of all, like, it's just a playing field leveler. Right. You know, we talk about learning about ourselves and our thinking when we do, uh, our. When we have someone else do our calendars and all that, this is the same. Right. You have ideas that you haven't even uncovered. You know, when you jump into this a little bit. So it's kind of fun in order

Speaker A: to communicate how you help people and how you are distinctive.

Speaker C: Uh-huh.

Speaker A: To me, it goes back to having the capacity to think about that in the first place.

Speaker C: Uh-huh.

Speaker A: And I, I think that if we think of building or maintaining a personal brand as something that is extra or separate, we're always gonna feel like we don't have enough time to think about it. Yeah, it's kind of like how you scheduled in coffee with your husband, uh, or making intentional time to have that coffee with a friend, if at face value, you don't have time to do those things because there are things on your to do list that you are probably not doing in order to have that intentional time. And I think that's the way we have to approach our personal brand is it's got to be an intentional part of the week rather than. I'll get to that if I have time.

Speaker C: Yes, absolutely. And going back to that control, it also takes some of the chance out of things. Right. So, you know, whenever we take control of our time management, which you so brilliantly teach people. Right. What we're doing is we're reducing a chance of failure at, uh, missing this meeting or running late for this thing or feeling so frazzled and the shadow of ourselves. Right. And so, again, like, when we regain control with that personal brand, we're just increasing our chances of success because, sure, we can put our heads down and try hard. And, you know, John Ternus, he made it pretty far doing that. Right. But what if there were a 90% chance that the New York Times would have said nice things about him, you know, in which they did, but all the way through versus, like, you know, that 70% of, like. Yeah, that sentence. That was kind of a bummer. Right. And so I think gaining that extra 20, 30% of control makes it worth it as well. Uh, you know, because again, like, you're doing so much hard work, and I guess this might. You know, this is maybe the part that feels selfish, but to me, it's not because you're giving so much to get that personal brand. Right. You do get to gain a little bit of that, you know, that. That the Internet is going to show that you are who you say you are. You know, like, this is such a great conversation, and I've enjoyed my morning with you so much. But I will tell you one thing. If right now the Davis police department said, your identity's been stolen and you need to come down and talk to me, I would have to say, I gotta go. Right. Because that's my most, uh. You, uh, know, my identity's been stolen. That's it online. We're just like, steal it. Say whatever you want. Look me up in all these little tiny places and, you know, figure out who I am. I don't care why, you know, wow.

Speaker A: What a way to explain that.

Speaker C: Uh-huh.

Speaker A: If someone were to steal your identity, we would be like, oh, my gosh. And yet every single day that we don't have a personal brand and that we're not making time to intentionally decide how we want to be seen and understood. That's your identity getting just piecemealed and guesswork. And, uh, I mean, it reminds me of what we talk about in our time management coaching sessions. When it comes to what can you actually control about your week and your time? What can you control? You cannot control someone noticing you.

Speaker C: Uh-huh.

Speaker A: By doing hard work like you cannot.

Speaker C: I love that. Oh, my gosh. I love that.

Speaker A: You cannot move someone's head to see your hard work. That is leaving it up to chance. That is being passive. But having you are in control of the way that you position yourself through your personal brand based on what you decide to intentionally and proactively put out into the world.

Speaker C: Yeah.

Speaker A: You have given us so much to think about, Vanessa. When it comes to the importance of a personal brand, it's not optional anymore. It's not optional. And it has to be treated like a, uh, non negotiable and recognized as being something that we can control. So tell me this. What advice would you have for someone who is listening to this and thinking, okay, all right, I hear you. I will, you know, put my stake in the ground. I will do something with a personal brand. Where should they start?

Speaker C: I think they should start by doing what we did a few minutes ago. Maybe five, ten minutes ago. What does everybody say? And, you know, what's the real problem? And what do I know better? Then you start having fun with what you know. And, uh, you can even now that we have AI, don't ask AI what you know better because it'll tell you what common people say. Right. That's its job. And that's why everything sounds the same online. So do that brainstorming ahead of it. But then you can go ask AI if you want. You can put in the here's what everybody says. Here's what I think is different. AI gets 2.5 billion queries a day. So ask it say, hey, look at these two sentences. What uncommon perspectives am I missing? Give me 20 more. And you'll, like, do this thinking exercise. And you'll probably see like, oh, I do that. I do that. See, most people say, tell me how to teach someone to tie their shoes, and you get the common way. But if you use AI to think with you, it becomes kind of addicting. And then you ask it make it a hook. And that's where you come up with things like, everyone says personal brandings about you. Everyone's wrong. You know, everyone says Knowledge is power. It's only potential power. Action is power. Once you get that, you know, once you start really refining the idea, I think you're going to be pretty hooked on what you can share. And then you start seeing and feeling the meaning in it, just like you feel the meaning in your day to day work. I love that. I uh, love that technology on yourself. Make it, make it something you do. Even picture that person in front of your face that if they knew what you had to say, they'd be better off. And then you'll probably say it even a little bit differently. Right, because you're taking yourself out of it. Now again, that window sticker, people are going to go find it. That's what people will find on the Internet because you're going to knit all your stuff together, right? You're not going to have the John Ternus problem.

Speaker A: Mhm. I love it. Okay, Vanessa, how can we stay in touch? How can we continue to learn from you?

Speaker C: Well, my website that you've posted is houses, all of it. So I practice what I preach. Vanessaerricardi.com is my website. I think everyone needs their first and last name, middle name, if it's common, as their own URL. So there's a little bit more of advice when I talk about how to reach me. And I'm just so grateful that you've had me on because I mean, you help so many people in ways that are so real, you know, which is important because I mean, we have to believe we can attain something to actually want to do it, right? Mhm. Yeah.

Speaker A: Well, thank you so much for saying that the work that you do is so important in helping others achieve the goals that they have for themselves, you know, through their businesses, through their brands, through their careers. So thank you so much for spending time with us today. I've got all of the links in different ways that you guys can connect with Vanessa waiting for you over in the show notes. So head over there, check it out, check out her book, I'll also link that as well. But Vanessa, thank you so much for spending time with us today. This has been a really fun conversation.

Speaker C: Oh, uh, thank you so much. Have a wonderful day.

Speaker A: Thanks. You do. So there you have it. A conversation that I'm going to bet has shifted the way you think about your personal brand. And here are a few things I want to make sure you walk away with. First, personal branding is not about you. It's about what you can help other people with. And that reframe takes all of the ick out of it. Second, being distinctive is a form of taking control of your time and your career, the same way we talk about taking control of your calendar. And third, the smallest step one post a week where you teach something you know. That's enough to start building that ecosystem of visibility over time. Thank you so much to Vanessa for joining me and for sharing her insights so generously. She is a true expert as always. You can find all the details from this episode, including how to stay in touch with Vanessa and grab a copy of her new book, Valuable and Visible over in the Show Notes. And this week's Show Notes can be found@abouttimepodcast.com 332 if this episode gave you a lot to think about, I want you to share it with a friend who's been putting her head down and hoping to be noticed because she needs to hear this too. All right, I'll see you next week. And until then, keep making time for what matters most.

Speaker B: Thanks for listening to It's About Time, a podcast about work, life and balance. Head over to www.abouttimepodcast.com to join the conversation. Check out the Show Notes and dive into bonus bonus content so you can start living your best life today. Love this episode. Be sure to share it with a friend, subscribe and leave a review. Thanks for tuning in and we'll see you in the next episode.