The Person To Person Economy: Be F.R.E.S.H.

The TMWK brand arose from iterative work. It came from real action, real outcomes – the TMWK BrandBoard process. It came from working out loud trying to effect change in the workplace, to support people build their reputation and explain their individual advantage.

Retrospectively, I considered the underlying themes of delivering a personal branding program. I identified five ideas that simply described the output / outcome. They happened to create a neat apronym – F.R.E.S.H.

Fun.Revealing.Entertaining.Shareable+Social.Heartfelt.

be F.R.E.S.H.

Now think about how you relate to another person. You meet someone at a party, or a conference, and an outcome is that you connect to them on LinkedIn or friend them on Facebook, or go for a coffee / beer sometime.

What was it that got you there? Was it their product / service offering, or their expensive tie, or their generic nice-to-meet-yous?

Or was it that they were super fun, that they told great stories that you believed and recalled, or that you felt they meant what they said? F.R.E.S.H. More likely, right?

Well, that is the person to person economy played out throughout our lives. It stands in stark contrast with amorphous, corporate-speak industrial-age nonentities that bombard our personal space day in and day out with two-a-penny marketing schticks and lowest common denominator, mass market averageness.

No. In the age of networks, we can find better, more intimate solutions and conversations and friends. It is a beautiful thing, indeed.

The TMWK BrandBoard is even a social object – people can metaphorically reach out and touch you! They can take you with them, they can act as your advocate, they can bring you into new and vital networks, simply by pushing forward your BrandBoard. The BrandBoard is a personal invitation to know me; It lets me show you what I can do.

Indeed, in the TMWK Manifesto I write that your personal brand is a calling card: