Motivation

This video is so funny yet true. I had to share it as a motivation for my readers.

The Procrastination Monster bites us all from time to time but some of us have become epically skilled at it. We would benefit greatly from mastering it but since it has become such a dear friend to you I figured I’d give you some tips on how to do it better. Hey, we always say “If you’re going to do something, why not be the best at it” right?

You ready to continue being the best procrastinator you can be? Click below and start your day off right!

I hope that you have had the opportunity to implement some of the tips I gave you in Part 1 (Article Archive) of this three-part series on ways to brand and market yourself. Have they been successful for you? What has worked? Please give me your feedback.

The world is waiting for you and there is no time to wallow in sorrow about how poorly your marketing strategy was this past year. Do an assessment, note the mistakes and learn from them by not consistently repeating them. Insanity is sometimes defined as doing the same thing over and over expecting different results.

Don’t rob 2009 by kicking it off with the same old tactics. Here are some more tips to properly brand YOU:

1. Create a professional e-mail: Unless you are living in a cave, you should have an email address. Create an account with an email name that is tied to your business. It is recommended that you buy your own domain around your name and create an e-mail based on this domain. (i.e. mynamehere@mynamehere.com). When doing business avoid using your nickname from back in the day as an email address, it’s unappealing and unprofessional.

2. Create a catchy e-mail signature: Every time you communicate with someone, you need to “pound” your brand into their minds. Your email signature, which appears at the bottom of each one that you send, should consist of some form of message that re-enforces YOU. For example mine is “Mediocrity is NOT in Your D.N.A.”, which is the theme of my motivational talks. I have only been using it for over a year but a lot of my contacts tell me they think of me when they hear the word mediocre.

3. Keep Updated & Professional Photos: I know you are still using the same pictures from 10 years ago to promote yourself because you may be uncomfortable with the way you look but you don’t know that can undermine your image. Once people see you in person, they might say “Man, you aged fast”.(smile) Don’t feel bad because most celebrities get their pics “photo-shopped” or graphically enhanced. Hire a professional photographer and do a fresh photoshoot once a year. You need to have your images on disk because you never know when it will be requested plus you need them for your website and kit.

4. Step up your appearance: A good friend of mine named K.Jer’Rod likes to say “Your image is the first judgement made”. He’s right. The man with a so-called million dollar plan that looks like he just finished playing rugby won’t get heard. First impressions at in-person meetings are an important component of developing your brand. Be creative with your look but don’t get outrageous. When you step into a room, command attention without having to say a word. Research shows how you dress dictates your posture. Dress according to your daily game plan.

5. Develop your information kit: If you are trying to get a new job, where is your resume? If someone wants you to speak, where is your track record? Can you email a bio to the news reporter who is on deadline and needs your info now along with a quote? The key is to build these things before they are needed. Develop stationery of business cards, letterheads, etc. Research online the various media kits that are needed for your particular endeavor and start developing it immediately in electronic form.

6. Get Out of Your Bed: Emails and text messages are the norm but nothing beats the human contact. Stay abreast on the happenings in your city so you can make an appearance. I have a friend who goes to a minimum of seven events per week to network with people he can potentially add value to and vice versa. Whether it’s a banquet, community event or private invite, do your best to plant your image into the minds of as many people you can because you never know when your big break will come. Like Kanye West says “get your back up off the fouton“.

7. Build Your Database & Follow Up: Most potential business relationships go down the drain due to poor follow up. So you have to be relentless in following up on conversations you have with people who want to do business with you. Don’t wait for them to do it, you do it! If you don’t follow up, it negates the purpose for even getting yourself exposed. Relationship building is an art, so soak up as many books as you can on the subject matter. I recommend Never Eat Alone by KeithFerrazzi and How To Win Friends And Influence People by Dale Carnegie.

Branding and marketing yourself is not an insurmountable task. What are you waiting for? A new beginning is upon you.

Just drive down the street and you will see signs, logos and slogans from companies that have been embedded into your mind, even when you didn’t know it. To the point that even if you pass by the television and hear a snippet of a certain theme song you know what companies’ commercial is showing. How does this happen?

According to research, corporations hire people whose specific job is to analyze the best methods by which to seduce consumers even when they are not aware they are being seduced. They study quarterly trends, thought patterns, and buying powers to eventually maneuver their way into your pocket books or draw your support.

Well what about you? You can have the best product, company, or intellectual property in the world, but what good is it if nobody knows about it?

Branding is defined as a trademark or distinctive name identifying a product or a manufacturer; a product line so identified; providing with or publicizing using a brand name; and a mark indicating identity or ownership, burned on the hide of an animal with a hot iron.

Some fear marketing themselves because they think it’s borderline arrogance to toot their own horn sometimes but who better to market you than you? Yes, there are execs who hire outside firms to market them but they oversee the plans to make sure it is in line with their vision. They are not shy at all about “pumping up” themselves or their brands. You can’t either. This doesn’t mean one should get a crazy ego that drives away clientele but should show ultimate confidence in what they have to offer.

If your business or game plan is going to stay afloat in this shaky economy you better act fast and start letting the world know that you exist and you’ll find ways to make more money along the way.

Here are 7 Tips to get you started:

1. Become a go-to expert: Pick an area you’re passionate about (such as technology, marketing, youth, relationship building, art, etc.) and learn all there is to know about the subject. Be a sponge! Spend time becoming an expert so you can become the go-to person for this topic for consulting, speaking engagements, and news interviews.

2. Pick up the pen and pad: To further brand your expertise, take the time to write and publish articles that demonstrates your knowledge. Seek out publications and pitch your articles. Search out those who need writers and contact them now. Some publications will pay you too! The Internet is filled with tips on how to write articles on anything.

3. Book Speaking Opportunities:  Demonstrate your expertise by talking about your subject in various forums. You will have to approach people in the beginning but soon they will be knocking down your door if you can deliver. The honorariums will come but first focus on elevating your audiences no matter how small the turnout is. One talk can produce multiple leads so take the time to properly prepare.

4. Launch A Blog: A blog can even further brand yourself as an expert because you can freely share your thoughts. Also, this is an opportunity for readers to comment and to have a dialogue with you. Yes, you! With blogging, you can instantly become a subject matter expert. It’s not hard to set up a blog but remember consistency is key to have repeat visitors. Use Blogger, WordPress, etc.

5. Get a Web site: Set up a personal Web site that you can use to further brand yourself. You can use your own name for your domain. The site provides an opportunity for people to find out everything you or your company can offer. Make sure it’s a clean design, not too cluttered and is interactive with online visitors. A person once said, “A business without a sign is a sign of no business.” Where’s your online sign?

6. Become E-Sociable: There are millions of people who are apart of social networks but not everyone is using them to further their goals. You have to. Join as many of them as possible whether its Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, DirectMatchesOnline, or start your own. If you feel technologically challenged, get some help because you have to take advantage of these online phenomenons to thrive. They are good for leisure too but remember your objective is to market.

7. Obama, Obama, Ooo-bama: Whether you plan to launch a barbershop, run for office or become a motivational speaker, President Obama’s team created a model for what can happen when you formulate a powerhouse branding strategy. Go to Obama.com, see what elements you can learn from and then apply them in your unique action plan.

A Houston marketing guru, who goes by the brand name Mr. D-Mars, always says, “a closed mouth never gets fed”.

Brand Yourself.

If you know me, you know I have a keen ability to extract wisdom and lessons from just about anything whether it is a movie, a cartoon or a tweet.

Today I had a chance to watch the post-fight press conference from 2012 highly anticipated match. When the dust settled, Floyd Mayweather Jr. (41-0) remained unbeaten with a 12-round unanimous decision over Shane Mosley (46-6) in their welterweight bout at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Vegas.

I had planned to watch it but something occurred that disallowed me to view it on television. So I decided I was going to watch (read) the highlights via Twitter. Yes, Twitter. Anyone who is a Tweet-a-holic knows that you can follow award shows, concerts, sporting events, press conferences, news broadcasts, etc just by reading people’s updates.

So I said, why not!

Then I saw that alot of people tweeting could see the match online somewhere. I didn’t believe it, but hey in the age of the net anything is possible. I clicked the link and there was the fight! (Warning: I do not advocate bootlegging but don’t come to my home and see my DVD collection…I had an old connect in front of Fiesta Mart! Lol!)

Fast forward to the second round. Mosley caught Mayweather with a solid right and shook him up. I thought to myself: Why won’t Mosley go in for the knock out? What is he waiting for? Here is his chance!

He gave Mayweather a chance to shake it off and then it all went downhill from the third round. I saw Mayweather come out the corner on the offensive and with a laser sharp focus in his eyes. At that point, I guess MGM moved in on all online sites because everybody got shut down. Good! Now my guilt went away. (smile)

But I really didn’t have to see the rest of it because I felt it was over for Mosley. Why? Because he let his opportunity slip away. His moment was gone. I said to myself “Mayweather about to put on a clinic.”

And as I went back to reading Twitter play-by-play updates, that’s exactly what happened. Mosley never recovered. Mayweather reigned.

What’s the lesson in it for me? Many. 

It reminds me of what Chuck “Jigsaw” Creekmur of AllHipHop.com wrote in his recent editorial titled Can Hip-Hop’s New Generation “Master The Moment”. In that editorial he said “Generally, the moment is bestowed upon you and other times created by you. Whichever is the case, you better be ready and I hope you are, because the time is now.”

Mosley had his moment in the second round. He created it for that split second but didn’t fully take advantage of it.Who knows what the outcome might have been had he laid out Mayweather. I’m not a boxing expert by far but I am a student of warfare and for that brief moment he had the momentum.

But he’s not alone. Some of us do it in our personal, family and business lives.

We see our moment…we even may create the moment…yet we don’t strike. We drop the ball. We may procrastinate. We may have fear. We may not be quick thinking and fast moving as we think we are. Then we beat ourselves across the head with the words “What if?”

What happened to Mosley in that moment? What happens to you and I in that moment?

I think Mayweather said it best in this video:

“I got the will to win under the lights. If you guys watch 24/7, I said we all may hit the bag alike. We all may do the pad work alike. We all may jump rope the same. But we all don’t perform under the lights the same.”

What about you? Our number #1 contender is self…stay in the ring

(You’re welcome to follow Brother Jesse Muhammad further on Twitter, become a friend on Facebook, or visit his award-winning site Brother Jesse Blog)

Here I go again with my “deeeeeep” breakdown of yet another movie that I watch a lot….sorry I can’t help myself. (smile) 

On this Tuesday morning, I thought about the epic movie Troy and one particular scene in which Achilles and his soldiers prepared to take over the beach of Troy. Before they reached the shoreline, Achilles delivers a 33 second speech that I believe is more inspiring than many who can deliver a one hour lecture.

Achilles says to his soldiers:

“Myrmidons, my brothers of the sword. I’d rather fight beside you than any army of thousands. Let no man forget how menacing we are, we are lions! Do you know what’s there, waiting, beyond that beach? Immortality! Take it, it’s yours!”

If you noticed in the title of this blog post, I changed the word “beach” to “fears”. Why? We all have something that we want to conquer that we can attain if we’re able to master our inner beaches of fear, doubt, laziness, procrastination and weakness. We have a moment right now to embrace immortality by fulfilling a purpose that will be felt for generations to come.

Whatever you desire of good–take it! It’s yours!

(You’re welcome to follow Brother Jesse Muhammad further on Twitter or on Facebook)

This past weekend I was in New Orleans as a parent escort for The Elevated Places School. Their junior engineering society was attending and competing at the Region V conference of the National Society of Black Engineers. They won first place in the robotics competition! Great job students! Ok, this is not what this blog is about but I had to give them a quick shot out. (smile)

On Saturday night, while enjoying Bean Soup and Bean Pie in our hotel rooms, we started watching the Sergio Martinez and Paul Williams boxing match. Not knowing what was ahead, we all started saying that from the looks of the first round Williams was going to take the match. He was looking vibrant, sharp, landing more punches and looked confident.

Then in the second round, at the 2:02 mark, Martinez landed a vicious left that sent Williams flying to the mat. It looked as if he was totally unconscious from being hit by a Mack truck. We all said in unison “Wow” and “Daaaaaaaaaaaang!” in our best Chris Tucker on Friday voice.

Just like that, the match was over. This has to be the knock out of the year.

Since I have a history of looking “deeper” into things such as movies like “300”and “Troy” or even the “Mayweather vs Mosley” fight, you know something came across my mind to blog about.

One of the commentators said, “Williams was fighting the perfect fight–doing everything right. And just one punch out of no where changed the whole result.”

That happens in life. When you want to be the best. When you want to be a champion. When you want something valuable, remember the difficulty factor is inevitable.

Sometimes everything is going perfect and then BAM—that one ‘punch’, that one failure, that one mistake, that one miscalculated step can leave some of us immobile. What do you do? Do you hang the ‘gloves’ up or do you get back into the ‘gym’ and regroup yourself?

The choice is ours. Motivational speaker Jonathan Sprinkles says “A setback is only a setup for a comeback.”

If you’ve been knocked down or fell flat on your face….get back up. It’s not over unless YOU say its over.

(You’re welcome to follow Brother Jesse Muhammad further on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook)

I admit I have a passion for military and mafia movies, so on any given week I could be watching The Godfather or Gladiator. I have many in my circle who watch the same movies and we’re always discussing some of the jewels we extract from them.

This morning I woke up thinking about the movie 300. Why? Because the last week or so I found myself engaging in a serious battle within self and actually started feeling this slight urge to make excuses for my lack of focus at certain moments. Have you experienced that lately?

I was pondering over how to convince myself that it was okay that I had yet to do all I said I would do by the end of March. I was concocting a mental “masterpiece” of excuses in my head to justify why I have slowed down after coming out of the blocks so strong on January 1 of this year.

“Hold up Brother Jesse,” I said to myself.

This was a critical moment.

If one wallows in this type of thinking for too long it can become an internal epidemic. You can become comfortable with that type of thinking and put yourself at ease about not moving out on what you said you would do. Excuses can come in many forms but all of them can be paralyzing to motion.

So I had to take control of those thoughts immediately no matter how rough it can get sometimes. Everyone has their down moments but it is how we respond that truly shows what we’re made of.

This is what caused me to think about the movie 300 and in particular the character Leonidas. That man did not care what his army of 300 soldiers was up against–it was always forward motion. He made no excuses and did not allow weakness in his ranks.

Just before the last battle in the movie, Arcadian Daxos was trying to convince Leonidas to quit because the opposing army was greater in size. Daxos was trembling with fear and was saying it was all over. Here is part of that dialogue between Daxos and Leonidas:

Leonidas: This battle is over when I say it is over.

Daxos: By morning the immortals will surround us. The hot gates will fall.

Leonidas: Spartans! Prepare for glory!

Daxos: Glory? Have you gone mad? There’s no glory to be hunted now. Only retreat or surrender… or death.

Leonidas: Well, that’s an easy choice for us, Arcadian. Spartans never retreat! Spartans never surrender! Go spread the word. Let every Greek assembled know the truth of this. Let each among them search his own soul. And while you’re at it, search your own.

That’s an internal battle taking place in us all. We have to search our own souls for that innate power to overcome and master obstacles. It’s there. The trials will come, the challenges will arise and the problems will be there.

The question is: Will we surrender, retreat or make excuses?

Today, I think NOT! Let’s be the best! Go to war with self!

—@Brother Jesse

P.S.:–If someone has the secrets to the “300 Fitness Abs Regime” please pass it on to those struggling to get a tight stomach!…ok, just a small joke. You know how I do. (smile)