003. Get Promoted in 6 months: Part 3 - Personal Branding & Networking

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Transcript

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Hello. Welcome. You are listening to the Latinas in Leadership podcast, where we empower Latinas with the guidance, knowledge they need to get promoted into leadership, increase their salary, and step into their purpose. I'm your host, Alejandra Thompson, leadership coach and first gen Latina, on a mission to see more Latinas in leadership. Inside of my one on one coaching program, the Confident Latina Leader. I've helped Latinas increase their salary by 000, and even 40, 000. I've helped them get promoted into director level positions, quit toxic jobs, and change careers without taking a pay cut. In this podcast, you can count on me to share strategies, tools, and knowledge to help you break into the next level of your career. Let's go.

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Welcome back to Latinas in leadership. This is part three of three on a series of getting promoted in six months. I wanted to kick off the podcast with a series on how Latinas can get promoted into leadership. And this is part three. Uh, in part one, we went over self-assessment and goal setting. And part two, we went over the six skills, every aspiring Latina leader needs to develop and self-advocacy. And this step here, we are going to go over personal branding and networking. If you came straight to this episode, I want to encourage you to go back and listen to part one. And part two, they do build off of each other and I'm going to be referencing them. So. Don't be stubborn and go back and listen to episode one and two, if you have not done so already. When it comes to personal branding and networking, I oftentimes see that. We as Latinas are very uncomfortable taking up space. We complete a lot of times talking about our accomplishments with bragging or feeling uncomfortable, especially networking when it is in male dominated spaces and spaces that I've heard my clients and myself referred to as broey. And networking in places that are white dominated as well. And so we can oftentimes feel out of place. I'm going to really address these things, the importance of personal branding and the importance of networking. I'm going to talk about networking and how critical it is. And when I talk about networking, just know that it's coming from. A fellow introvert. I really struggled with networking early on in my career. I hated it. And so I'm going to tell you ways that I have been able to approach networking and help my clients approach networking in a way that it's still authentic and not gross. Okay. So let's get started with personal branding. What does it even mean to have a personal brand? When I talk about a personal brand, what I'm referring to is you and your intentional effort to mold and manage the way you are being perceived by others in your personal and professional life. So you create a unique and authentic identity that is genuine to you, authentic to you. That sets you apart from other people. Your personal brand is essentially your reputation. It's the unique combination of your skills, experiences, values, personality traits, background. The aspects that you want to be known for? So it is intentional. It's what you decide. You're going to put out into the world and doing it in a way that is authentic and unique. Now, why does personal branding matter? Why does it matter for you to have a personal brand? There are three key reasons. Number one, increased visibility and recognition. When you have a brand, that means you are going to be putting out a message about who you are. More people will know who you are and you will be recognized for those things because you will be communicating it. That's number one, number two, it builds an establishes credibility and trust. When you are known in the industry for being the go-to expert in a certain area or being trusting. And reliable to show up on time and cross collaborate and work with senior leaders, et cetera, et cetera. It establishes credibility and trust because people know who you are before they've actually met you. Number three, it amplifies your opportunities and it amplifies your network. A well established personal brand will attract opportunities. It will also attract mentors and sponsors who can provide guidance and advocate for your career advancement. Really important here. I've had people reach out to me and some of them have been women who have very long careers and that I admire. And I'm like, what you want to talk to me? And I have to recognize that it's part of. The fruits of my labor of establishing a personal brand. Those are three key reasons why they are important and will be really important for your growth and your career. Now, how do you actually build your personal brand? Here are going to be four steps to get you started. Number one, I want you to identify how do you desire to be recognized by other people? Your personal brand is about intentionality. It's about how you want to be recognized. How you desire people to perceive you. So you have to identify what that is. How do you desire to be recognized by others? In episode one, you did a self-assessment and you set goals, which means you should know what strengths, skills and talents you currently bring to the table. You also know the gap between where you are and where you want to be in order to break into leadership, because you identified five key areas of growth. This means, you know what you are targeting, right. I told you to look at job postings for the role. Role that you want to break into and to find beams. That means that you should know what you are targeting. Now you get clear on how you desire to be recognized based on your skills and where you desire to go in your career. Here's some examples of personal brands that I've built in my one-on-one coaching container. For example, we may have someone who is the go-to marketing expert in the financial services space. We may have someone else who is strategic communications for impact driven international organizations, looking to expand their global reach. So there's intersections of skills, but then you can also bring a different angle. And that brings me to number two, identify what is your unique angle? What makes you unique and you are unique. That question I know can be a little bit intimidating sometimes. Like what makes me different? I don't really know, think about it. And here are some things you may want to consider. It could be personality traits. It can be your cultural background. It can be your work experience. Right now, who I'm thinking about is a pastor named Sarah Jake Roberts. part of her brand. I don't know if she knows this, but part of her brand is fashion her the way that she shows up. What she's dressed in. They're very bold colors patterns. Like every time I see her, I'm like, that's a bold thing to wear. That's a part of her brand. You can expect that you can expect. To see a sermon with Sarah Jake Roberts, and she's looking Superfly. Wearing something very bold. That's a part of her brand. So think about different things that you hold in your personality. Maybe it's the creatives. Maybe you're really big into fashion. your cultural background experience. What are the things that are going to intersect to make you and bring you a unique angle? One of my clients, for example, she came from a very marketing heavy background, and we intersected or marketing background with some of the employee engagement background to showcase that she had a very unique angle of being someone who knows how to market something who knows how to communicate a product and take that into corporate communications and being someone really strong in corporate communications and employee engagement. So think about what is your unique angle? Number three, create a consistent online presence. A brand. Is to be known. There needs to be consistency between how you show up and the way you describe yourself. You want to make sure that on LinkedIn? You are showing up as the the brand that you are intentionally setting up in my one-on-ones. I revamped my clients' LinkedIn profiles. This is definitely one of the most intensive, but it's really one of the most gratifying to see the before and afters. Like I've no personal trainer, but it reminds me of those photos where it's like before starting personal training and then afterwards, and you're like, whoa, look at them. Good for them. I feel that way about my LinkedIn profiles. When I revamped my clients' LinkedIn profiles, we do a complete revamp. So that. They can create a consistent online presence so that when someone clicks on their LinkedIn profile, they're like, Ooh, this makes sense. Like, this is, this is good. I like, this is exactly what I'm looking for. You are intentionally setting the tone for how you desire to be recognized. So you want to create a consistent online presence. Number four, you want to craft an elevator pitch that is aligned with your brand because you will be networking. Your elevator pitch should be aligned with your brand, with how you desire to be recognized that showcases your skills that talks about that unique angle. sO those are four steps to help you get started on building your personal brand. You want to get very clear on how you desire to be recognized. You want to identify what your unique angle is, create a consistent online presence and craft an elevator pitch that is aligned. With your brand because you will be networking. And that takes us into networking. Now I told you. If you do not like networking, if it feels icky. I feel you. I am an introvert. I am in inf J in the Myers-Briggs. Personality test. It is very uncomfortable for most of my clients to network. And I felt this way too. When I would go to networking events, I would walk in. In my head start to be like, oh my gosh, don't panic. Don't panic. Everything's okay. Everything's not okay. Everything's not okay. This is really uncomfortable. I think we should leave. I think we should go now. And then sometimes I would leave. So I've come a long way since then, but I really do know the discomfort of going to a networking event. And it's uncomfortable for my clients. It's especially uncomfortable when it's male white dominated spaces. And for me personally, as an introvert, I really don't like going to networking events that are particularly happy hour style, where there is loud music. I find those to actually be the worst because it's loud. I can't really hear people and I don't drink alcohol much. And so. Every it's just not very enjoyable for me to be honest. And so even now I find boundaries around how networking is going to work for me. So trust me, I know the itchiness. I can come up with this and let me give you a few tips that really helped me with networking because you've already heard the saying, it's not what you know, it's who, you know, and I think that can be very black and white thinking. I don't. Subscribe to that a hundred percent. I do believe there's truth in it. I do believe that it is important to expand your network, to have people in different places, to be able to have people that you can reach out to, to ask about certain jobs in certain companies. Those things are going to be really helpful for you. So one reframe here that I want you to make sure you take a note of is. I stopped looking at it as networking. And I started looking at it as building community. Because I find, especially with my Latinas, we are very community people. We love fostering community and building community. And that's part of the reason why networking feels so icky because it's been this thing that almost feels like it's a give and take, like, you give me this and I'll give you that. Or you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours. And it feels very transactional and it feels gross. There's no depth to it. And so I had to reframe this from networking to building communities so that my perspective could be, you know what, I'm not going to be fake. This isn't about being fake. This isn't about using. People it's about being genuine and being strategic. That is not mutually exclusive, being genuine and being strategic are not mutually exclusive. And sometimes we really feel like that is true. So as an example, my client, she really admired this particular senior leader on a different team. And when I asked about it, I was like, why don't you reach out for a virtual chat? That would be a great person for you to be. Connected to, and for that person to know more about who you are and your career goals and how you work and things like that. And she got super nervous and she was like, I don't want to bother him. You know, he's probably really busy. And I was like, girl, come on. Let's go. So we did some coaching on it and recognizing. We struggle sometimes to take up space. We struggle sometimes with asking for a virtual coffee chat, because maybe like me growing up. You couldn't even interrupt mom when she was having a conversation or else you were being incredibly rude. So I learned very early on that if I like insert myself into something, or if I ask about something that I may be being rude or taking up too much space. We have to address the ways that our cultural upbringings can impact us in the workplace. Now, my client has a strong relationship with this person and how he advocates for her in the workplace. He has pushed for her to get a promotion. This was a genuine and strategic approach to building community, to networking strategic doesn't mean you're bad. It doesn't mean you're a fake and it doesn't mean you're a user. It means that you are actually thinking about the people that you want to connect to and foster community with. That will also support your career. Growth. That is not a bad thing. Some other things for networking tips. Number one when you are networking, have a clear message. That's why I told you to create an elevator pitch that you share about who you are and practicing it over and over and over again. This is a little thing that I tell my clients. I'm going to let you in on a secret, okay. Especially for my career changers, but for anyone here. When I ask my clients, what's the purpose of networking? Sometimes they'll give me different answers. Like, oh, well maybe they'll have an opportunity for me. Or it's just a great way for me to expand my network. They'll tell me something like that. And I'll tell them. What if networking is really about you fostering community. And getting more comfortable talking about who you are. What if that was a reason you went to go networking. Because many of you, especially if you're listening to this, maybe you struggle with. Talking about what you do talking about who you are. Talking about your accomplishments. Like that feels uncomfortable. And I've had many of my clients who are very uncomfortable talking about themselves, but they are the number one cheerleader when it comes to talking about other people they can go on and on and on talking about other person. And this person does this and this person's great at that, but the moment you ask them, oh, what do you do? They clam up. So when you go networking, have a clear elevator pitch about who you are and use it as practice to practice talking about who you are, not in an arrogant way, not in a bragging way, simply the truth about who you are and what you're looking for, and really establishing that brand about who you are. The more that you practicing your elevator pitch, the more you practice talking about what you do, the easier and easier it gets. Number two, go to networking events, check events that are industry specific Latina specific women's specific roles. Specific. These can be online and in-person, but you want to attend networking events and you want to go in there and think about quality over quantity. As an introvert myself, one of the early things I learned, I was like, you know what? I'm not going to go in there and try to get everyone's card and try to talk to a bunch of people. I'm going to go in there and I'm gonna do what I do best, which is small groups. One to two people. And I am a great listener. I ask amazing questions and I love fostering a safe space, even in a short amount of time. I know that those are strengths that I have. So I'm going to leverage them when I go networking. I'm not going to try and go to meet a bunch of people. If I leave a networking event and I met one person that I'm like, that was a dope person. I loved hanging out with them again. I see that as a success. I'm like, that's awesome. And then I actually follow up with them. Now there have been people I've met at networking events that I've never talked to them again. However, I do make an effort. I'll follow up. I'll connect with them on LinkedIn. At the very least I will connect with them on LinkedIn. So you want to go to networking events? You want to focus on quality over quantity? And you want to ask too, thinking about this again, fostering community. So ask how can you support someone? How can you help someone? What are they looking for? Are they happy at their job? Are they looking for another job? Are they looking to break into a leadership position? When you are networking. You can also ask how you can support someone else. And that is a great way for you to foster community to foster trust. Sometimes people feel uncomfortable. Uh, asking how they can support. Because you don't feel like you have anything to offer. Like how can you actually help someone? And I want to tell you, there is a hundred percent something that you have to offer someone, always, even if it's a listening ear, you always have something to offer someone else. And you never know. Maybe you do know someone who is in a position that could support this person, but you'll never know if you ask. So when you think about networking as fostering community, it helps you to approach these things in a different manner. I talked about smart goals. Go ahead and set some smart goals when it comes to networking as well. This will be a season in your life. You're not always going to be actively networking. You know, there's some people who are always doing networking. I don't necessarily think that has to be you. I think there's going to be seasons in life. Where you aren't going to be networking more than others. I think it's incredibly important for you to network and think about the future, have the future in mind. That way, you're not the person that gets laid off. And then all of a sudden you have to start networking. That's when it especially feels like you are being a user, like you're being fake. Like you have to use people in order to land a job. But if you network in a season where it's not necessarily, like I have to network right now in order to get a job, then by the time, if something happens and you are laid off or you are looking to apply to a company role, and you realize that someone you're connected with is there. It is in such a great time because it's not out of the blue, it's someone that you've already met. It's someone that you've already connected with. So you want to network in this season of your life, as you begin to. See, okay, where do I want to go in the future? How do I want, what position do I want to be in, in the future and who are the people that could support me getting there? Let's say you want to go into a director level position at your company. You want to think about who are the people in positions that could help you do that. And you want to start connecting with them right now that may be other director level positions that are in the team that you're looking at. That may be director level people that are in different teams that could support you as well. That could be people at a higher level. That higher for the director level. So you want to start strategically thinking about who are the people that I want to connect with right now, so that when it comes time to really talk about getting promoted, this isn't brand new I've fostered community here, I fostered trust and connection, and it's genuine. And it's strategic. I really will say that over and over again. Those are not mutually exclusive. And a lot of my clients think that just because something becomes strategic, that all of a sudden it's fake now, and that's not true. You decide whether it's fake or not. If there's someone that you truly do not want to connect with, you don't have to, but if there is someone who is, and they can support you in landing into a role that you really want, then be strategic about it. Those are the two things, personal branding and networking. When you build a personal brand and network, you will increase your visibility. You will get recognized for the work that you're doing. You will build an established credibility and trust. You're going to amplify opportunities. You will find it easier to find another role when you are looking. The personal branding piece, is probably the most. Under utilized skill. And I think that it has to do with the fact that it requires us to take up space. It requires us to put ourselves out there and that's very, very uncomfortable, especially for my perfectionist, especially for the people that fear, failure that fear of failure paralyzes you. So you can't put yourself out there. Personal branding is one of the hardest ones for me to get through to my clients. I'm not even going to fake with you. It's one of the hardest ones, because it requires you to put yourself out there and that is scary, but it has one of the biggest rewards is you get recognized for who you are in the way that you decided. You will have opportunities knocking on your door that you never even imagined.. I speak on this only from experience. I didn't develop my own personal brand until I started my own business. And it's something that I look back and I was like, yo, if I did this, when I was in a career, if I did this in a nine to five, I would have been crushing it. I would have been crushing it. And so that's why I'm telling you ladies right now. Uh, personal brand, if it makes you uncomfortable, just know that it's very normal. It's one of the most underutilized skills that I see across the board. And it will give you a harvest that you can't even imagine. When you're willing to put yourself out there. Okay. This wraps up. Our three part series on getting promoted. Part one, we talked about self assessment and goal setting. Part two, we talked about skills and self-advocacy and this part, we talked about personal branding and networking. I hope you take the time to go through each of these, take your time, relisten to it. Actually do the little assignments and the little nuggets that I gave you in here and practice them. This isn't something that you have to listen to just once. And be done. You can relisten to it. And if there's an amiga that you have that needs to listen to this, share it with them. I know what these can do for you if you implement them, because I have done these over and over again with my coaching clients and my one-on-one space. And I have seen. Then break into their first manager level role. I've seen them break into their first director level role. So know that this is available to you. It's going to take some practice. It's going to take some failures, some mistakes. And all of that is a part of the journey. Thank you for tuning in. And I'll talk to you soon. Bye.

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If you are ready to get promoted into leadership and get the salary you deserve, I invite you to book a sales call with me. This is a one hour call where I will assess your career, your obstacles, your goals. I will tell you exactly the way that I can help you. And we can talk about whether the confident Latina leader program is the best fit for you. The link to book your sales call is in the show notes. Talk to you soon. Ciao.