My go-to author on personal branding and networking is definitely Dorie Clark. I loved her books Stand Out, Reinventing You and can’t wait to read her latest- Entrepreneurial You!

As her avid fan and a subscriber to her newsletter, I am constantly inspired by the wealth of information and techniques she shares to take charge of our careers and branding. The best two resources definitely are her Recognized Expert Evaluation Toolkit and her 48page Stand Out Self Assessment bonus material. The first helps determine how far along we are in our journey of personal branding. The second one is a questionnaire [139 Qs] to unlock our very own breakthrough ideas.

 

Overview of Recognized Expert Toolkit:

In her book Stand Out, Dorie Clark makes a compelling case for the benefits of carving a niche for our ourselves no matter what our title, area of expertise, experience or job security is. From novice to reigning guru, the necessity of having a USP and actively maintaining it is vital in today’s cut-throat and rapidly disruptive work landscape.

Dorie’s book also guides readers through the steps necessary to launch their own efforts to become [or stay!] a Recognized Expert. This ebook contains her three-pronged approach to become a leading expert. It also contains the toolkit to assess and score our current station and provides measures to progress to the ultimate goal.

The three different elements to becoming a Recognized Expert are:

  • Creating Content
  • Establishing Social Proof
  • Building Your Brand

This toolkit commences with the self evaluation on these three facets. Each answer has different scores and we need to add up our three scores. The total determines which of five categories we fall in. My own outcome [for my professional blog] was ‘On Your Way‘. This is the lowest range. [Sigh!]

The advantage of this toolkit is that it not juts informs but also clearly shows the way forward. From our current position, it details out multiple steps to progress through the five levels to finally materialize the goal fo being a leading authority in our respective fields. Whether you are breaking into a niche or an influencer taking the quiz as a regular check, this guide has precise instructions on how to progress and sustain our momentum.

Final reminders on the investments [time and effort] needed to become and maintain a position of expertise keep this guide practical and realistic.

Steps Ahead:

For anyone reading this blog post, here are a few steps you can take:

  • Subscribe to Dorie’s newsletters. Her emails are short and useful. They also contain information of her upcoming webinars and courses.
  • Read her books. Don’t buy them because I said so. They are available at most libraries in paperback or e-books. But be warned- you might be so impressed, you end up buying it anyway. 🙂
  • Think about your own personal brand and what you can do to refine it.

For me:

As mentioned in the evaluation, I need to pick 1-3 activities to progress on to the next level : ‘Ramping Up‘. I chose one activity from each of the three elements as:

  • create blog posts on my professional blog with more problem solving angles
  • gain 100 more subscribers
  • identify and prioritize contacts for reaching out

Have you read her books? What points impressed you the most? Share your thoughts in the comments below.