Your Personal Brand with Chellie Phillips

george grombacher 0:00
Come on Well, this is George G and the time is right welcome today’s guest starring Apophis che Philip Shelley, are you ready to do this?

Unknown Speaker 0:17
I am ready to go.

george grombacher 0:19
All right, let’s go shall he has a sweet tea sipping sassy, Southern other passion for helping dynamic driven minded professionals write down their own success stories. She’s a coach, a corporate trainer, motivational speaker as well as an author, Shelley excited to have you on. Tell us a little about your personal life smart about your work and why you do what you do.

Unknown Speaker 0:39
Well, yeah, so like the bias said I am a sassy Southerner born and raised raised in Alabama and living in Georgia currently, so I just can’t seem to shake that whole southern roots kind of thing. I am a fur baby loving Mama, I got two months that you know take up a lot of time and get to do a lot of my stress relieving by getting out playing in the yards with them and watching them romp around. And I’m a huge SEC football fan, of course, I’m going to be going Roll tide all during football season. So if you want to have a conversation about that, I’m happy to to chat to. But I really got started in what I’m doing now with the books and the coaching and the training, dealing with personal branding. And that started with a career change for me. And then also with some work that I’ve been doing for about 14 years with a sorority on a campus in in Alabama. And so personal brand name became really personal to me when we had a CEO change at the company that I was with, and they decided that marketing and public relations was not something that they wanted to focus on or value anymore. They were from an accounting background and couldn’t figure out how that played into the return on investment for things. Because we were in an industry that was in in an electric industry where people didn’t really have a choice who is going to provide their power. So why waste money on educating them about things like that. And so I found myself over 40, looking for a new job if I wanted to be engaged and really enjoy what I was doing and feel valued. And the kicker of that came when one evening I was working Boston an email and basically wanted to know if my skills had come out of a fruit box, because his 17 year old daughter didn’t like something that we had put out who had no background in what we were doing. And so that was kind of the moment, things got really serious for me. And I said, you know, when you’re hunting for a career, and you’re doing these kinds of things, it’s really no different than building a PR campaign for a product or something, we are our own best product, and how we communicate that, and how we put that out to the world is so important. And it came even more amplified. Because of the work I was doing on that college campus. I would see our women cross the stage get their degree. And they would struggle to find work in the field that they were you know, they graduating in, and they would take what I call get by jobs, whether it’s like barista or retail or something just so they could pay the bills and start paying back student loans. And then six, seven months down the road, I would get an offer from somebody in that field. But it would be below the offer that people were getting jobs right out of college yet because the organization is focused on their current job experience more than their education experience at that time. And so I really got serious about how can we help people brand themselves and tell their story in a way that gives them the most value in the workplace.

george grombacher 3:50
I was gonna say I appreciate all that. But certainly getting a call from the CEO asking if you got your skill set out of a cereal box because his 17 year old didn’t like it. I don’t like that part. But certainly appreciate everything else that you just said, what a what a what a awful experience that must have been. So a get by job. That’s fascinating that it’s just something as I’m trying to sort of find myself I do it to pay my bills and be responsible, but then it actually comes back to sort of bite me, by me in the end. And there’s there’s probably never a good or probably ever bad time to start thinking about this. If you’re 40 years old and looking to make a career change or you are, you know, an undergraduate in college.

Unknown Speaker 4:35
Yeah, I really wished it was something that I had focused on even earlier in life. You know, I think about, you know, that whole career progression thing is interesting to me, because you’re going to grow and you’re going to learn new skills and you’re going to take on new opportunities, you know, from 20 on basically let’s just say because you’re gonna be in the workforce for over 40 years. And if your brand is the same by the time you’re 40 or 50 He as it was, at time when you were 2021 22, something’s wrong, because you have not grown and you have not added to your skill set, and you have not improved on what you’re doing. And so I tell people that, you know, it’s never too early to start, I even encouraged current high school students to start because you can use personal branding as a way to obtain scholarships and get into the schools that you want by building that story about you that you want people to know. And you know, really, that story is just like a book has different chapters, your life has different chapters, and you have different moves, and that story is gonna grow as you grow. And that’s not a bad thing. It’s just being authentically you and sharing what’s happening at that point in time. But it’s doing it in a way that effectively shows the skills and highlights you in a way that gives you the best opportunity at that moment.

george grombacher 5:54
I think that that’s that that’s really, really important. And something that I spent a good amount of time thinking about that I wish that I would have been doing that along the way, sort of. And it was before it was I think we thought of it as personal branding, I just sort of thought I should be somehow capturing the work that I’m doing, if it’s writing or if it’s creating, what do you think about that?

Unknown Speaker 6:18
Yeah, one of the things I work with clients with now about is, is I tell them that, you know, I’m still old school, and I don’t think it’ll ever get out of me, I still have a PayPal journal. I like I can’t just cannot move to the whole digital journal thing kind of thing. I said that keep a journal and whether you know, whatever format works for you. But once a week, write down your wins for the week, what did you accomplish? You know, what skill did you learn? What did you tackle? What problem did you face, you know, something that you can keep a real record of this is how I’m learning and how I’m growing. And you know, it’s something that you can use not only for your brand building, but when it’s evaluation time at work, you can go back and look back and go, This is what I’ve added to this department for the last six months or the last 12 months, because we forget that we’re so quick to move on to the next project, that if you ask me now, what were you doing in January, it’s hard for me to come back to that and go, Oh, I don’t know what I was doing in January. But if you write it down and have a way to track it, when it becomes time for you to have these conversations, whether it’s about promotion, or your next raise, or your next opportunity, you really have this database to pull from, that you can really use to highlight, here’s the things that I’ve been doing that would really amplify this next opportunity that I’m looking for.

george grombacher 7:34
Yeah, isn’t that true? It’s like, I can’t remember what I did 20 minutes ago, let alone let alone six months ago. And it was obvious, you know, not obvious, but it was probably, you know, a important thing that everybody was working on. And so we don’t want to forget about those things. We want to be able to advocate for ourselves. So should absolutely document it. To a degree we were we’re all now sort of publishers through social media. How do you think about that?

Unknown Speaker 8:07
Yeah, social media is both the best thing and the devil all rolled up in one as far as I’m concerned. But it is where everybody goes to get their information. And I think the last status, I was like over 80% 87% of like hiring managers and employers look at social media before they even decide whether to interview you or not. So not after they’ve interviewed you to see if, you know, we like you and we want to see what’s out there about you. But even before they decide if it’s worth bringing you and to talk to. So it is something that you know, if you’re if your career focus that this is an area that you really need to pay attention to. And social media can be fun, it doesn’t have to be a chore and it doesn’t have to be something that you’re you know, that you worry about all the time, it just needs to be a good reflection of who you are. And especially in the Career Film, you know, LinkedIn is the place to really focus your other profiles, you know, you know, LinkedIn, to me should be one that is public, because that’s where you want people to go to find the information about you as far as your career and your job. If you want to have a couple other platforms, that is just you and your friends and you keep them private. You know, I will say that with a word of caution, that is things are never 100% private, but you know, so be careful what you post, but focus on your LinkedIn, you know, make sure that you are sharing these these career wins, whether it is you attended a training, whether it is I went to a conference and I’ve met these great people and you network with them online, whether it’s joining groups, whether it’s sharing industry information, any of those kinds of things that you can do to positively portray that you’re interested in this field and that you’re making an effort to do that. It is you know a value because that is where people do their research. Now it is where they’re going to go look and see is does what they sent me on paper on this resume cover letter match what I’m seeing out there in public and And you know the other. The other thing is that it’s almost as bad not to have that presence as it is to have a bad presence. Because people feel like if you don’t have a presence out there, and they’re looking for you, then you must be trying to hide something. And so, you know, even if you’re not, you know, like, if you’re not social media savvy, it does pay to actually spend some time and get comfortable with that platform and get it out there for you.

george grombacher 10:26
It sounds like, we all should, I don’t know if have a plan is the right time, but be intentional. And if you’re listening, you’re thinking, I don’t need to do that, or I don’t. But we just don’t know what’s going to be happening in the future. Right?

Unknown Speaker 10:42
Yeah, well, as you know, it’s just like I said, beginning with, you know, I had worked at the other company for over 20 years. And if you had asked me prior to getting that email, I would have told you, I’d probably retired there, you know, I was vested in all the programs, I had my benefits, I had built a network of people and coworkers that I’ve spent, you know, 20 years of my life with, I knew their children, you know, and had that not happened, you know, I wouldn’t have been there. But if my, if my social media, my LinkedIn, my brand, had not been being curated, I would not have been ready when that opportunity came around that I needed it. And so that’s the thing is that, you know, you never know, when that next opportunity is gonna come. And it doesn’t have to come because of a major change. It could come because somebody sees what you’re doing and thinks you’re a great fit. So you putting yourself out there and, and being proactive, and being consistent with that work, might open a door for you that you didn’t even know is there. And, you know, you think about if I didn’t have it, what opportunities might be lost?

george grombacher 11:47
Yeah. Always planting seeds and, and chopping wood for, for for the winter time. So we never know when, when, when we’re going to need it.

Unknown Speaker 11:58
Yeah, you know, like, especially with LinkedIn, and like with, with your network of people that you most opportunities come from your network, they don’t come because you see a job posting someplace they come because someone reaches out to you and says, Hey, I know you and what you’re doing. And I’ve seen this, and I think you would be a great fit for XYZ, or either we’re considering opening up this and we need somebody to run this project for us. And I was thinking of you because I’ve seen what you’ve been doing. So you know, really curating that and really nurturing those relationships, both digital and in person are super effective in helping create that brand that you want to be.

george grombacher 12:38
Are there certain areas that the use or you think that this is what we ought to be sharing? Is it? Is it hobbies, family, professional, personal development? How do you how do you think about all the different aspects of life and then how we should present that, for sure that

Unknown Speaker 12:57
so I look at it as your your profile should have a personality, they should reflect you. Because you want people to have a true feeling of who you are. culture plays such a huge part in whether we enjoy going to work every day and being around that the people that were around. So I think sharing a bit of who we are, that makes us who we are is vital to that. Because when you when you go in interview, I hope one of the things that you’re asking is about the culture of that organization. How do they treat the people there? What kind of turnover rate? Do they have all of those kinds of things. And so, you know, especially on LinkedIn, there’s this area called summary. And I think that that is the storytelling area. And I think that’s where you can include some highlights about how you as a person feel and what matters to you, and why you’re in the field that you’re in and why it’s, you know, like, why it matters to you and why you love doing what you do. I was working with a client not too long ago that was in a finance field that was getting ready to shift. And they were wanting something that would set them up more for retirement that they could do. And they were moving into real estate. But he got interested in real estate when he was a child, because his father had some rental properties. And he would used to work on those with his dad. And then he used to see them, you know how they could take that money in it. And it supplemented the family income and they took vacations because of the rental property and, and and so that love for real estate and what it could do and how it could add to your, you know, your nest egg and different things like that came really as a young age. And so when I was working with him, like we need to incorporate that story into your summary, so that people see this is not just a total flip, you know, like, you know, like, I’m not just changing all of a sudden, I’ve had a passion and a love for this since I could remember. And this is why it mattered to me. And this is the feeling that I want people to get when they’re looking for another property or they’re looking for a family vacation home is I know what these properties can mean and what they can bring to people. And so when you can add that personal flair that authenticity that makes you stand out. I think it’s such a great thing to do.

george grombacher 15:06
And that summary space on LinkedIn, so that that’s a pretty valuable place.

Unknown Speaker 15:12
Yeah, you know, I mean, like, it’s an area that doesn’t really have a limit on characters. It’s not like the headline that is super short, which you need to focus on to your LinkedIn headline, shit and sound just like every other LinkedIn headline that you’d see, put something in there that makes you stand out, you know, I tell people use the photos, you know, like you, you need your professional headshot. But then you have your banner images that they’re that you can put, you know, put a training that you went to put a quote that matters to you put yourself in a work situation, or something that you enjoy doing, and show that as an image up there. So that people can really get a feel of who you are and what you do. There’s a lot of wasted space, I think, and there’s ways that you can really incorporate who I am and what I love to do in a way that can be very eye catching, and also in a way that doesn’t take hours and hours to develop for you. You know, I’ve and or social media should not become a chore, it should be something that you do that you’re consistent amount that you do have a plan in it. Because all of the platforms reward consistency, they want you using them, they want you engaging on them. But it doesn’t have to be something that you spent two hours aimlessly scrolling and clicking and doing and, and stressing over every day, they’re, you know, a couple times a week, hop on there share something that you you learned about your industry share a training that you got share a team win, you know, I love to see people posting about their teams. Because what that does is shows me that you can work in a group, it shows me that you can lead it shows me that you can be collaborative, which is huge in the workplace. And so there’s a lot of things that you can do that you’re I mean, they’re already in your day to day life, it’s just a matter of thinking through what is it that I want to portray? And how do I want to do it?

george grombacher 16:58
What is it that I want to portray? How is it that I want to do it? And you mentioned actually writing that down? I think that that is such a, it’s such something that you need to give a little bit of thought to, because probably we’re not accustomed to oh, this is what I write on my LinkedIn summary. So it’s just usually a throw away. So taking the time to say, Okay, how do you coach people through that, even though you just kind of told me?

Unknown Speaker 17:27
Well, so one of the things I do is, if you have trouble getting started, is ask five people, let them be a variety of people, you know, some from your workplace, some of your personal life, do get a mix. Ask five people when they think of you, what are the first things they think of? And then ask them, if you see me doing something? What is it that you see me doing? You know, that I am great at? What kind of, you know, like, what kind of projects do you see? Or if you’ve worked with me on stuff, and what are some of my best skills that I have? And so, you know, sometimes it’s very interesting to get other people’s perspective on us. We get caught up in our head. And you know, a lot of us have those, you know, those limiting beliefs that said, I’m not good enough. I’m not, you know, I’m not smart enough, or I don’t have enough time, or I’m afraid to put this out there for whatever reason. But sometimes we need that justification from other people to really embrace it and go with it. And when you hear from other people, it is that validation that, oh, yes, I am good at leadership, I am good at being collaborative, I am good at numbers, I am great at social graphics, or you know, all these kinds of things. And then you can start building that story of who you are. And I tell people to stop. And they, you know, think back when you were a kid, what is it that you wanted to do? A lot of us, you know, for me, and I’ll tell this, you know, I tell this to some of my clients is that when I was young, I wanted to be a truck driver. Because there was a TV show that was out there it was BJ in the bear, and I’m dating myself really, really badly now is that he was a truck driver. And he had a pet monkey that was named bear that used to ride around and they were getting all these kinds of misadventures and that kind of stuff. But I thought every truck driver had a pet monkey. And I wanted to do that. And so needless to say, what that led to was me writing stories about misadventures, and by the time I was in seventh grade, I had won a writing contest for the case of the missing sneaker, which was all about a dog stealing somebody’s sneaker, but it took a whole group of kids to figure out it was a dog going around the neighborhood. And so one misadventure led to another which led to another which turned into the journalism career in the PR career. But think about your past and how you got to where you are going and sometimes going back to that original, what did I want to be what inspired me to get where I am now today can be some of the best Just feelings and emotions to get you started to write that summary, so that people can really get a feel of who you are, and why you do what you do. And it matters.

george grombacher 20:10
I love it. That was a that was an awesome tip right there. Hopefully I didn’t just take your difference baking tip because the people are ready for that difference making tip Sally?

Unknown Speaker 20:19
No. So I will say my one difference making tip is that if anybody will remember anything is that no one’s going to pay you what you’re worth, only what they think you’re worth. And you are the person that is responsible for what they think. So it is vital that you get out there and you take control of your brand is your differentiator. It’s what makes you unique. It’s what shows the value that you bring to a team to a business to an organization and be very intentional about putting that together and making it you know, making it a priority as you go to develop your career.

george grombacher 20:55
Well, I think that is great stuff that definitely gets come. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much for coming on. Where can people learn more about you? How can they engage with you? Where can they get the books,

Unknown Speaker 21:05
so books available Amazon and the other place that you get books. My website is a great place. Lots of freebies on there downloads, if you know you’re interested in career building or building out your LinkedIn, you could find all kinds of information there. That’s Celli phillips.com. And of course, you can find me on LinkedIn and any of the other social platforms and I would love to connect.

george grombacher 21:26
Love it. If you enjoyed as much as I did Sure, show your appreciation and share today’s show with a friend who also appreciates good ideas go to Shelly phillips.com. That’s C H E L L I E P H I L L i p s.com. And check out all the great resources we’ve been talking about today. And then find her on LinkedIn as well. And give us the name of the book again surely.

Unknown Speaker 21:49
So there’s two when in doubt, delete it and get noticed get hired.

george grombacher 21:53
Pick up when in doubt, delete it and get noticed. get hired. Thanks. Good, Shelly.

Unknown Speaker 22:00
Thanks so much for having me.

george grombacher 22:01
And until next time, keep fighting the good fight. We’re all in this together. It

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