Personal Brand? Then You Need a Personal Board of Advisors! |

You know I’ve been advocating for y’all to have a Board of Directors or a Board of Advisors. (The former is for firms that have substantial sales- at least high 8 digits; the rest of us rely on the more informal Board of Advisors.)

Nowadays, many of us are gig employees/employers or solopreneurs. And, many of us are less corporate and more personal. (I kind of cross the line here- my blog is more of a personal brand item, even though it demonstrates my vast knowledge and ability in a wide variety of disciplines and functions. But, my firm, Adjuvancy, is a business/corporate brand that we all promote.)

If you are more of a personal than a corporate brand, than Shanna Hocking has a great brochure explaining why you need- and, more importantly, how you constitute- a personal board of advisors. I will include a few of her tidbits here- but I suggest you log onto her site and get this great this piece for yourselves.

Shanna A. Hocking- Creating Your Personal Board of Advisors

A board of advisors is a group of people who can help you advance your career and develop as a leader . They guide you, give you feedback, and help you reach your full potential- in other words, help you become even more successful.

You need not choose folks who are in your industry- but they should always possess the position to which you aspire to achieve next. They should also have influence and expertise to help your progress. And, this is not a one-shot deal; you should be in contact with them at least quarterly.

Shanna has developed templates to help you determine who would be very useful as your advisor.

Your goal is to share updates about yourself- and don’t forget to ask about them, too. (What are their projects, how are their families, what are their big dreams.) Keep them updated as to what you’ve been up to since you last connected and of what you’re proud.

Make sure you send your advisors notes when they’ve been recognized at their company or in the news. It doesn’t hurt to share a link to an article you think they’d find of interest.

And, as I’m sure your surmised, as you grow, you may need to change your board members. So that you can continually be guided to your next phase- and not be stuck where you are.

Don’t forget to get Shanna’s brochure- and you may want to sign up for her “Be Yourself Boldly” program.