Multitalented and Confused? Try This.

One of the challenges of Personal Brands is choosing an area of focus, especially when a lot is going on.

You can write. You can sing. You can act. You can design clothes. You can heal the sick [ I didn't mean to add that last bit ] One sunny day, you happen to run into the richest man on earth in an elevator going to floor 7. This is your chance to sell yourself. He asks 'may I meet you' and you say ' I'm Winnie the Pooh, a renowned writer, singer, actor and recently a fashion designer going to change the world'

Ping! The elevator has reached its destination and you have to say your goodbyes.

The Elevator test is a very popular exercise in major business schools but it's really a discourse of Personal Branding.

Your greatest talent is the one that gives you your AOI. That is, your Area of Influence. Every Personal Brand, no matter how talented they are, has their AOI. It's simply your talent that has a community built around it. Or the potential to have a budding community. Communities are different from Customers.  You may be a singer but you may not have a throne in Singing. You are no less than a singer, it's just that it's not your AOI. There can only be one Ruler on a throne at a particular place and time. Social communities are built around common needs but more than you think, they are built around certain influencer at a time. That Influencer is a talent that commands much more respect in that community without trying too hard.

I once had a music album. Don't laugh. I really can sing if I want to sing. Just that I have a few off keys. And I remember hawking my music from door to door but I knew I could offer my world much more than that.

I then happened upon my own AOI one day by chance. Sooner, I realised why music is one of my talents. Today, people don't have to gamble through life finding their AOI. Using stories and experiences of key influencers of our world today, Orange Academy has filtered down to some basic pointers that can guide your choice; learning how to really focus on what really matters.

How do you find your AOI?  Join us at the next Workshop of Personal Branding in Lagos. Reservations can be made through Ms Esther Ilori as follows:

RSVP: Call Ilori Esther on +234-8060213455, +234-7028342631