Your Brand. Your Future.

How you change is how you succeed.

If you’re doing the same over and over and expect different results, it’s insanity. Einstein already knew that back then. 

However, with technology changing the way we live, work, act and interact pretty much on a daily, being able to read between the lines, identifying where those drivers of change are taking us and reinvent ourselves based on what’s in demand at that time is how we stay relevant.

This is why it is so important to learn to unlearn how to be successful and detach ourselves from the idea of building a career and focus on building a Brand.

And I’m on a mission to give you the exact steps how you do this so you can pivot into any direction you want quickly and without slowing down your success or progress. 

Welcome to your Brand. Your Future.

I’m not sure about you but my day to day, my business and my life is nothing like it was at the beginning of 2020 and not even like it was at the beginning of 2021.

And that’s a good thing.

If we’re still doing the same we did 1 year, 5 years or 10 years ago it means we haven’t grown and let me tell you – my biggest fear (together with snakes) is standing still, not evolving, finding myself where I’m right now in a year, even in a month from now.

But to do something different means you have to try something new and by definition innovation is inefficient. Look at any R&D departments – their entire purpose is to try, test, gather data, analyse, and tweak whatever they’re doing.

Now when we look at our lives or career – everyone’s so afraid of ‘doing the wrong thing’ that most of us don’t do anything. Or we’re waiting until it’s ‘perfect’ which leads to procrastination which leads to permafrost- again, standing still.

Not taking any risk is the biggest risk you can take – and trust me, I’m not pointing fingers. 

I learnt this the hard way myself:

The first 10 years of my career was all about working hard and always in, never on my career. First in last out, I had more degrees and qualifications than most, put my hand up for projects outside my responsibilities to demonstrate my skills, willingness and with that, my readiness to be promoted again. 

Now don’t get me wrong- I did that because it worked in the first 10 years of my career, then it became my baggage.

Instead of the promotion that I expected when I was called into my manager’s office, I was put on a performance improvement plan because they didn’t see the leadership qualities. Their definition and expectations as to what it takes to get to the next level compared to mine based on my experience were completely different. And that bit me in my backside big times.

I worked long hours, so I didn’t make the time to network outside my company; I didn’t up-skill outside my role, I never put myself out there, didn’t build an online presence. You name it. 

So when I had to quickly respond to this disruption that I didn’t initiate, nor saw coming, it was tough to keep it real.

No one knew me, I also relied too much of my once in demand skill that got me to where I ended up which at that stage however become outdated. From being at the top to quickly being all the way at the bottom of the food chain was a hard pill to swallow.

But – it was also the best lesson that I could learn because from there onwards, everything changed – and yes, spoiler alert: to the better:

I realised that resting on my loreals, taking success for granted once you reach a certain level and thinking learning is over when you hold that desired piece of paper was the certain way to failure.

So my approach to failure dramatically changed since then.

Fail is another word for First Attempt In Learning and if I wouldn’t have been taught the lesson, I wouldn’t have changed.

Let’s be real: changing something, especially if it still kind of works, doesn’t come easy, even for the best of us. We don’t deal with ‘uncertainty’ well. But here’s the thing: everything we haven’t lived through yet is uncertain. Tomorrow is uncertain as we don’t know what happens yet. Whilst we can’t control that, we can control how we respond to it and also what we do in the lead up to it.

Whilst we all see the ‘end goal’ in a career to reach a certain level of seniority or income, there is no ‘arriving’ in personal development and growth. New levels, new devils and the earlier we can get comfortable with exploring something new and focus on the process rather than the end result, the better we do and feel.

This is why I’m now on a mission to teach others early how to build a roof before it rains and do it intentionally and with joy. 

And the best way to do it is by living it and sharing my learnings all the way.

Because this way, I hope you get to see that you can’t fail when you take action. You only gather data points and insights that you can then use to determine your next steps.

One of my biggest strengths but also biggest weaknesses is speed of implementation. I’m very fast with getting an idea up and running. Sometimes a little too fast and I skip a few steps which impacts the end result. Now with that, I fail more times than most even try but that’s the only way to move forward and course correct.

And it brings us back to building a Brand rather than just a career or business because a Brand goes beyond a job title, profession or offer. A Brand is a reputation and is multifaceted. This is what people connect to you.

This is why my new podcast is called: Your Brand. Your Future.

Because depending on what you do today, what you put out, who you connect with today determines your tomorrow. It’s about getting intentional about that and getting in the driver’s seat.

And by taking you with me on my own journey, sharing my learnings and behind the scenes, I hope that you get inspired to do the same; take risks; challenge your own thinking, embrace the suck that comes with everything new. That’s the only way to know for sure what works for you and what doesn’t.

Whilst I’m all for step-by-step everything, it still comes down to the individual. Because what success means to me might be completely different to what it means to you.

And also don’t forget – this definition will even change, depending on where you’re in your life. Every stage has different priorities and part of personal development is the ongoing evolution and growing out of beliefs, habits and priorities. Think of it like clothes you wore in your 20’s. Chances are you’re cringing when you look at photos. Well- at least I do 

But instead of resenting this time, you want to celebrate it and realise that this has brought you to where you’re now. It’s all part of growing up and growing out of situations, careers and beliefs.

With that said- my new podcast – your Brand. Your Future is designed to be with you on your journey and provide insights, resources, journeys and stories that help you navigating through your life.

Here’s a little teaser for you to get excited. Now I hope you will come with me on the journey and subscribe to the new podcast. And to make it a little bit more attractive, I also