1
00:00:06,000 --> 00:00:07,960
Speaker 1: Welcome to Fear and Greed Q and A where we

2
00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:11,360
Speaker 1: ask and answer questions about business, investing, economics, politics and more.

3
00:00:11,440 --> 00:00:13,800
Speaker 1: I'm Michael Thompson and good morning Natalie McDonald.

4
00:00:13,880 --> 00:00:14,640
Speaker 2: Good morning Michael.

5
00:00:14,840 --> 00:00:19,919
Speaker 1: Today, do we need a personal brand? You hear about

6
00:00:19,960 --> 00:00:22,319
Speaker 1: it a lot these days that really you need to

7
00:00:22,320 --> 00:00:25,040
Speaker 1: be networking. You need to build up your own personal brand.

8
00:00:25,079 --> 00:00:26,640
Speaker 1: If you're going to get a new job, if you're

9
00:00:26,640 --> 00:00:28,240
Speaker 1: going to get a promotion, all of this. It is

10
00:00:28,280 --> 00:00:30,720
Speaker 1: not just about doing the job anymore. It is about

11
00:00:30,800 --> 00:00:34,760
Speaker 1: establishing yourself as an expert and building that brand. So

12
00:00:34,920 --> 00:00:38,680
Speaker 1: today I'm going to be asking you how to do

13
00:00:38,720 --> 00:00:41,520
Speaker 1: that because you are a business journalist. You've been working

14
00:00:41,520 --> 00:00:43,200
Speaker 1: with us for a few weeks now on Fear and Greed,

15
00:00:43,240 --> 00:00:46,440
Speaker 1: but you've also had seven years working at LinkedIn, so

16
00:00:46,479 --> 00:00:49,960
Speaker 1: you have seen this kind of from the inside and

17
00:00:50,080 --> 00:00:52,880
Speaker 1: from the outside. Now you are working obviously with us

18
00:00:53,080 --> 00:00:54,840
Speaker 1: here at Fear and Greed, but you've also just launched

19
00:00:54,880 --> 00:00:57,240
Speaker 1: your new business, working at It. You can head on

20
00:00:57,320 --> 00:01:02,000
Speaker 1: to working at it dot com dot au. We talked

21
00:01:02,040 --> 00:01:05,160
Speaker 1: a couple of weeks ago about the importance of businesses

22
00:01:05,240 --> 00:01:10,000
Speaker 1: being engaged on LinkedIn. But if you are an individual,

23
00:01:10,319 --> 00:01:14,119
Speaker 1: do you actually need to build a personal brand? Isn't

24
00:01:14,160 --> 00:01:16,720
Speaker 1: it enough just to get in and do your job

25
00:01:16,800 --> 00:01:17,880
Speaker 1: and do your job.

26
00:01:17,959 --> 00:01:21,720
Speaker 2: Well, yes, if you're looking at right now, but you

27
00:01:21,760 --> 00:01:25,840
Speaker 2: want to be investing in yourself for future and also

28
00:01:25,880 --> 00:01:29,120
Speaker 2: needing to look at the fact that businesses and organizations

29
00:01:29,319 --> 00:01:32,400
Speaker 2: see this. I mean just for CEOs alone, there are

30
00:01:32,440 --> 00:01:35,760
Speaker 2: more and more potential consumers, more and more partners that

31
00:01:35,840 --> 00:01:39,520
Speaker 2: are now looking to CEOs and leaders for that executive

32
00:01:39,560 --> 00:01:42,160
Speaker 2: thought leadership, so to be positioning themselves as a leader

33
00:01:42,160 --> 00:01:44,959
Speaker 2: of choice, an individual of choice, and to bring it

34
00:01:45,000 --> 00:01:48,600
Speaker 2: back to a solo professional so perhaps someone who's not

35
00:01:48,600 --> 00:01:50,880
Speaker 2: in an executive position. I'm actually going to use myself

36
00:01:50,920 --> 00:01:54,120
Speaker 2: as an example here because there is nothing more I

37
00:01:54,160 --> 00:01:56,960
Speaker 2: love than talking about myself. But no, you pointed it

38
00:01:56,960 --> 00:01:59,680
Speaker 2: out correctly. I was part of LinkedIn, so part of

39
00:01:59,680 --> 00:02:02,240
Speaker 2: this huge, big social media machine for seven years. I

40
00:02:02,280 --> 00:02:04,360
Speaker 2: did a lot of work that was very public facing,

41
00:02:04,440 --> 00:02:09,120
Speaker 2: so supporting small business, talking about DEI and gender and

42
00:02:09,160 --> 00:02:12,560
Speaker 2: working parents on platform. And so by a time I

43
00:02:12,600 --> 00:02:14,960
Speaker 2: exited LinkedIn, I was part of a round of redundancies.

44
00:02:15,240 --> 00:02:17,920
Speaker 2: I had a newsletter that had one hundred and twenty

45
00:02:17,960 --> 00:02:21,959
Speaker 2: thousand subscribers. I had thirty four thousand followers on LinkedIn,

46
00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:25,119
Speaker 2: which is a significant number because I had grown my platform,

47
00:02:25,160 --> 00:02:27,480
Speaker 2: because people knew that I was a trusted voice in

48
00:02:27,520 --> 00:02:31,399
Speaker 2: certain spaces, which meant that when I was unfortunately made

49
00:02:31,480 --> 00:02:34,480
Speaker 2: redundant just six weeks after returning to work for my

50
00:02:34,480 --> 00:02:40,320
Speaker 2: second parental leave, my comments and my inbox were full

51
00:02:40,760 --> 00:02:43,480
Speaker 2: of beautiful people wanting to sit down and have coffee

52
00:02:43,560 --> 00:02:47,800
Speaker 2: or have advice or I mean, Michael, That's how I've

53
00:02:47,880 --> 00:02:48,679
Speaker 2: ended up being here.

54
00:02:48,919 --> 00:02:52,320
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I suppose so the personal brand it doesn't

55
00:02:52,400 --> 00:02:56,679
Speaker 1: need to be and in fact, it shouldn't be anything fake, right,

56
00:02:57,200 --> 00:03:00,680
Speaker 1: It should be authentic to use one of the kind

57
00:03:00,680 --> 00:03:04,120
Speaker 1: of the social media buzzwords. No, essentially, Yeah, indeed. But

58
00:03:04,440 --> 00:03:08,280
Speaker 1: it should just be about you becoming an expert or

59
00:03:08,360 --> 00:03:11,760
Speaker 1: demonstrating your expertise in something that you know. It is

60
00:03:11,800 --> 00:03:13,840
Speaker 1: not about trying to make yourself out to be something

61
00:03:13,840 --> 00:03:14,120
Speaker 1: you're not.

62
00:03:14,639 --> 00:03:16,840
Speaker 2: Absolutely, So, I really like to look at it in

63
00:03:17,400 --> 00:03:21,680
Speaker 2: four content buckets, as it were. Yes, when you're planning

64
00:03:21,720 --> 00:03:24,079
Speaker 2: out your content, when you're thinking how how do I

65
00:03:24,120 --> 00:03:27,360
Speaker 2: go about this? So you look at educational Here is

66
00:03:27,400 --> 00:03:31,600
Speaker 2: something I can teach you, and that's positioning you as

67
00:03:31,600 --> 00:03:33,560
Speaker 2: an expert in your field. It's saying I have lots

68
00:03:33,560 --> 00:03:36,320
Speaker 2: of knowledge here and I'm willing to share it too.

69
00:03:36,400 --> 00:03:38,600
Speaker 2: You're looking at professional, so it might be a take

70
00:03:38,760 --> 00:03:43,720
Speaker 2: on a news story or a current trend within your industry.

71
00:03:44,560 --> 00:03:48,160
Speaker 2: You're also looking at personal and I'm not saying you know,

72
00:03:48,360 --> 00:03:51,280
Speaker 2: to be cutting yourself open for the sake of like

73
00:03:51,360 --> 00:03:56,160
Speaker 2: an engagement, but there is community in that authenticity and

74
00:03:56,160 --> 00:03:59,080
Speaker 2: in sharing of your experience. So whether that be talking

75
00:03:59,160 --> 00:04:02,960
Speaker 2: about achallenge that you face, something that you've overcome. I

76
00:04:03,320 --> 00:04:06,640
Speaker 2: myself talk a lot about being a working parent. I've

77
00:04:06,680 --> 00:04:09,480
Speaker 2: also spoken about pregnancy loss and mental health on the

78
00:04:09,480 --> 00:04:12,880
Speaker 2: platform as well, because there is that community in sharing

79
00:04:12,960 --> 00:04:16,600
Speaker 2: those stories. And then the last little bucket is the promotional.

80
00:04:17,000 --> 00:04:19,560
Speaker 2: But frankly, if you've done the first three, then the

81
00:04:19,560 --> 00:04:22,640
Speaker 2: promotional comes pretty easy because you've been doing that all along.

82
00:04:22,880 --> 00:04:26,240
Speaker 2: But it is still scary. I recognize that. So somethings

83
00:04:26,360 --> 00:04:30,200
Speaker 2: where to start is just spend fifteen minutes a couple

84
00:04:30,240 --> 00:04:31,960
Speaker 2: of times a week on social media. Just have a

85
00:04:32,000 --> 00:04:34,320
Speaker 2: scroll in the same way that you do scroll Instagram

86
00:04:34,320 --> 00:04:38,039
Speaker 2: at night, and just get comfortable, like something in box

87
00:04:38,080 --> 00:04:41,960
Speaker 2: someone you know, share something with your own personal take

88
00:04:42,040 --> 00:04:43,880
Speaker 2: on it and just get comfortable.

89
00:04:44,320 --> 00:04:46,960
Speaker 1: And it doesn't need to be linked in, does it.

90
00:04:47,240 --> 00:04:49,320
Speaker 1: And especially when we see a lot of people build

91
00:04:49,400 --> 00:04:52,479
Speaker 1: significant followings on say Instagram or on Facebook or on

92
00:04:52,480 --> 00:04:54,520
Speaker 1: other platforms, I just apply.

93
00:04:54,360 --> 00:04:56,799
Speaker 2: This those same principles, so it's exact same.

94
00:04:56,600 --> 00:05:02,600
Speaker 1: Principles educational, professional, personal. And then finally, the smallest one

95
00:05:02,720 --> 00:05:04,680
Speaker 1: is promotional. That is where it is the hard seal.

96
00:05:04,760 --> 00:05:07,160
Speaker 1: It is I am I'm going on this podcast, or

97
00:05:07,240 --> 00:05:09,919
Speaker 1: I'm doing this, or follow this, follow me for this

98
00:05:10,520 --> 00:05:11,320
Speaker 1: the reason you can.

99
00:05:11,240 --> 00:05:15,279
Speaker 2: Still make that action based, you can still make that sharing,

100
00:05:15,560 --> 00:05:18,280
Speaker 2: but it's also got that little sideline of oh well,

101
00:05:18,480 --> 00:05:20,360
Speaker 2: I have shared this advice with you, but actually I

102
00:05:20,360 --> 00:05:22,880
Speaker 2: could share plenty more advice if you want to sit

103
00:05:22,960 --> 00:05:24,520
Speaker 2: down and have a meeting or if you want to

104
00:05:24,560 --> 00:05:25,040
Speaker 2: employ me.

105
00:05:25,240 --> 00:05:28,039
Speaker 1: Yeah, So why why why do we do this? What

106
00:05:28,160 --> 00:05:30,680
Speaker 1: is the end goal? What's the benefit of it of

107
00:05:30,760 --> 00:05:35,320
Speaker 1: building this essentially follow because it's not just accumulating followers

108
00:05:35,360 --> 00:05:38,240
Speaker 1: for the sake of having people follow you. What's the

109
00:05:38,279 --> 00:05:40,080
Speaker 1: benefit of doing this and doing it right?

110
00:05:40,600 --> 00:05:43,680
Speaker 2: You're investing in yourself. You So often we are so

111
00:05:43,880 --> 00:05:47,359
Speaker 2: focused on simply the nine to five and it's really

112
00:05:47,400 --> 00:05:50,320
Speaker 2: really difficult to stand back, look up and actually look

113
00:05:50,360 --> 00:05:53,039
Speaker 2: at what your career perspectives are. And that might be

114
00:05:53,120 --> 00:05:57,239
Speaker 2: looking at exploring an industry change, that might be wanting

115
00:05:57,320 --> 00:06:01,280
Speaker 2: a promotion, that might be looking to be a side hustle,

116
00:06:01,560 --> 00:06:06,040
Speaker 2: but it is future proofing yourself for in periods of

117
00:06:06,080 --> 00:06:09,479
Speaker 2: economic tightness or downturn. You know, things happen that we

118
00:06:09,520 --> 00:06:12,279
Speaker 2: don't anticipate, and you want to make sure that you

119
00:06:12,320 --> 00:06:15,000
Speaker 2: have options. And I will just particularly add that this

120
00:06:15,160 --> 00:06:20,520
Speaker 2: is even more prudent for women and for caregivers because

121
00:06:20,520 --> 00:06:23,320
Speaker 2: we are the last people to be investing in ourselves,

122
00:06:23,560 --> 00:06:28,240
Speaker 2: and unfortunately, in periods of economic tightness, it is women

123
00:06:28,440 --> 00:06:30,839
Speaker 2: and caregivers that are disproportionately impacted.

124
00:06:30,960 --> 00:06:34,159
Speaker 1: Okay, And so if you're building that platform, building that following,

125
00:06:34,200 --> 00:06:36,920
Speaker 1: building that profile, it gives you options then for your

126
00:06:36,960 --> 00:06:39,000
Speaker 1: future depending on what you want to do. And especially

127
00:06:39,000 --> 00:06:41,039
Speaker 1: that we are seeing kind of the rise of the

128
00:06:41,040 --> 00:06:43,960
Speaker 1: gig economy and side hustles and things, it makes sense

129
00:06:44,040 --> 00:06:46,960
Speaker 1: to have a platform that you can actually use to

130
00:06:47,240 --> 00:06:49,480
Speaker 1: help launch something and help kind of secure your own

131
00:06:49,520 --> 00:06:50,320
Speaker 1: financial future.

132
00:06:50,560 --> 00:06:53,560
Speaker 3: Exactly exactly that. All right, Natalie, thank you very much,

133
00:06:53,600 --> 00:06:56,240
Speaker 3: Thank you so much, Michael. That was Natalie McDonald, co

134
00:06:56,320 --> 00:06:58,920
Speaker 3: host here on Fear and Greed, but also the owner

135
00:06:59,040 --> 00:07:01,599
Speaker 3: of Working at It headlong to working at It dot

136
00:07:01,640 --> 00:07:05,359
Speaker 3: com dot au, which basically helps people do exactly what

137
00:07:05,360 --> 00:07:07,440
Speaker 3: we've just talked about. If you've got something that you'd

138
00:07:07,520 --> 00:07:11,200
Speaker 3: like to know, then please send me your question on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook,

139
00:07:11,280 --> 00:07:12,680
Speaker 3: or at Fearandgreed dot com dot au.

140
00:07:12,760 --> 00:07:14,600
Speaker 1: I'm Michael Thompson and this is Fear and Greed Q

141
00:07:14,800 --> 00:07:14,920
Speaker 1: and A