One of the concepts I work from with MarketDone’s Tallahassee clients is  recognizing that you are your product, and therefore responsible for your product’s public relations, your sales and marketing, your accounting, your business development, your legal details, your productivity, your relationship building, in short, everything one would do if selling a commercially produced widget or service for others. You ARE what you are offering to the world.

Are you pleased with your public face? how you answer the phone? how you handle conflict? how you advertise and educate people about how great the “YOU” product is?

My first ‘AHA’ moment was a few years ago when I read the book, CEO of Me. What a radical, freeing thought for someone who’d spend their whole life working for someone else! The imagery and principles stuck and I can honestly say its one of the compelling factors for starting my own business. Hope you get as much out of it as I did – I hold this vision of successfully becoming the CEO of You for you!

“Consider making the mental shift from working FOR someone to working for YOURSELF at someone else’s company. You become CEO of you and run your own marketing, finance, accounting, legal, and advertising departments. You decide how you should market yourself. What are your personal points of differentiation? Do you get the job done faster? Are you especially intuitive and handle clients with aplomb? Are you detailed oriented and thorough or especially creative and driven to innovate? Are you happier being a supportive Indian or are you driven to be the Chief?

You may decide that you need your own strategic direction, mission and vision statement. You are in charge of your own company training program. You decide what certifications you should have and when to engage in “self study.” You decide whether to do it yourself or contract out. Just because you are the only one in your company should not prevent you from embracing this idea – Bigger is Not Better. Better is Better.

The bottom line is that you make an incredible powerful shift when you stop looking at yourself as someone who works for company “A,” but instead a company who currently has company “A” as a client.

Some CEO of Me Revelations:

- If a department seems to be completely missing, it should probably move to the top of your list of things to work on.

- You’ll find that you need either to have a broad range or specialization or rely on many other people for help. (You may have been finance major in college but you still need to figure out how to market yourself).

- It’s very normal to figure things out as you go along – nobody has it all figured out and we are all piecing it together – at various degrees – everyday.

- Realize that everyone you meet can teach you something, from the barista at your favorite re-fuel stop to a high-level executive who you find slightly intimidating.

- Keep your eyes wide open for possibilities and opportunities for stretching, for friend making, for networking, for idea expansion, for becoming a better and bigger version of you everyday.

Guest Blog, courtesy of Brenda A. Lautsch, author of CEO of YOU