Package Your Genius Personal Branding Podcast

If you ever find yourself feeling too busy, too overwhelmed, or too burdened with to dos and it's standing in the way of you packaging your genius and making the impact you're meant to make on this world, you need to generate a surplus. And while it seems counterintuitive, much of that surplus can be connected to making more time (I know, I know -  you're already stretched thin) for yourself. But this is a personal experiment I've been conducting in my life, and the results have been priceless. Since implementing a more intentional and daily self balancing routine I have experienced: more clarity on my business challenges clarity on what is standing in my way personally motivation to push through on hard things patience and grace with myself perspective - understanding when I'm assigning too much or too little significance to something a higher tolerance for stress resilience If you're too busy to package your genius, putting yourself back on the calendar is a practice I encourage you to try. Get

We hear a lot about self care - how to get it, why we need more of it, and what does or doesn't constitute it. But lately I've been made aware of the residual effects and payoff of self care - how it benefits me long after I'm in the practice of doing or getting what I need.  And it makes everything related to my ideas, my planning, my long-term thinking crystal clear. If you struggle with overwhelm, anxiety, irritability and lack of focus, I highly recommend you thinking through the self care practice that makes the most sense for you. And check out Dr. Thema Bryant- Davis's episode on the Homecoming Podcast about self care. Very powerful stuff.   *** As our enrollment season comes to a close, I welcome you to apply for the opportunity to work together in Package Your Genius Academy this fall!   Enrollment is closing soon for the personal brand visibility academy and our PR mastermind. Visit www.packageyourgeniusacademy.com to learn more and apply.

I recently discovered a truth about myself I had been unable to see for years. I realized that I had been telling myself a story that simply wasn't true. While the story was rooted in my personal experience. I fail to take into account the fact that my situation has changed.I was holding on to a truth that matched a past version of me. Can you say the same? How many times have you decided who you are and what you can do based on who you've always been and what you've always done?  You can change. You can change your vehicle. You can choose a new, true, story.

Even when we fail the first time, our dreams are worth fighting for. Package Your Genius Academy was a dream of mine that almost didn't happen. I failed launching the program the first time, but have since gone on to work with 7 cohorts - now enrolling my eighth. One of the things I often reflect on is what might have been lost if I hadn't gotten back up and tried again. When I think of the lives that have been impacted directly by the academy, and even more importantly, the people I'll never know but who have been impacted by the students who've gone to the academy. It's a humbling thing to see the ripple effect your work can start! LaShonda Walker is one of our PYGA ripples. She joined in May of 2019 on a quest to find deeper meaning for her work. She used her time in the academy to gain clarity on her purpose, and essentially remember who she'd always been and what she's always loved. It's an honor to see LaShonda ignited and on a new path all her own.   *** I welcome you to apply for the opportunity

Believe it or not, I'm a hardcore introvert.  Networking events are my least favorite thing right after small talk. But I realized at some point that if I wanted my business to grow, I'd have to get in front of new people.  I needed a way to show strangers what I knew and what problems I solve if I ever wanted new clients to hire me. Enter the media. What other way can you get in front of thousands while only interacting with a handful of people to make the interview happen? But most introverts see media as a big overwhelming proposition when in reality, there are a number of ways you can approach it. I came up with a few media exposure personality types. Which one are you? The Thinker - The thinker has ideas to share and recommendations to make. They would rather share those ideas in a long form way by writing. Their dream media placement would be a New York Times op ed or an essay in the Atlantic The Talker - The talker loves to engage. And short snippets just won't do, they prefer to get into it and

From The Spruce.com: Not all plant seeds are ready to sprout as soon as you put them in the soil. Some hard-shelled seeds need a bit more coaxing and some need a temperature change to trigger the end of dormancy. Scarification (cracking the hard outer shell) and stratification (fooling seeds into thinking they've been through winter) are two simple techniques that will save you a lot of frustration when starting seeds. Stratification and scarification occur naturally when seeds stay outdoors through the cold winter. Some seeds have outer shells that are extremely hard and don’t allow water through. This is one way a seed stays dormant in the fall and winter until growing conditions improve.   You may be upset when you look for your efforts to bear fruit and you can't see the evidence above ground. Sometimes the action is not visible, you may be in a dormant phase in preparation for your growing season. Not all seeds are ready to sprout as soon as you put them into the soil. You may look at what other

When it comes to working the land - especially in the Southern region of the United States, this time of year is an exciting time because it marks the season of harvest. But it can be a potentially dangerous time for the farmers who aren't quick enough to get their year's work out of the ground. It's essentially a race against time to harvest before the winter rains when anything you've left out in the field will be rendered useless. Unpicked fruit will be left to rot. A fortuitous conversation with my grandmother revealed this wisdom that's native to Southerners, and I had to share it with you. The similarity between our gifts and a farmer's crops were too stark to miss. So many people have allowed their gifts - their expertise, skills, and wisdom - to ripen for years, but have yet pick their own fruit. Let this comparison to nature be your own cautionary tale: there comes a point when you're not growing anymore. But it may not be because you've simply reached a plateau, instead you're fully ripe and i

High achievers typically do such great work that they're often recruited for opportunities, courted by associates, even pursued by friends.  Instead of being the aggressor, it's not uncommon for them - despite all of their success - to find themselves in the passive role of waiting to be chosen. It's what they're used to after all. If this resonates with you, and you're not in the field you want to be in, on the career track you want to be in, or in a relationship that serves you because you were chosen but did not choose, let me be the first to tell you things can be different. You can choose to choose. Don't settle for what falls into your lap. Decide what you want in every area of your life, and go after it.

Every living thing has its own set of base level requirements for survival.  Every living thing also has its own set of factors that would make it hard to grow. Last but not least, every living thing has certain factors that would take it to the next level and cause it to thrive, regenerate, multiply. The same is true for us. Each of us has our own set of must-haves, deal breakers and multipliers. A part of radical self discovery is paying attention to all three in order to get the clearest picture of ourselves and our personal recipe for success.   *** Package Your Genius: 5 Steps to Build Your Most Powerful Personal Brand has officially been in the world for a full year! Thank you to all of you who purchased the book (or the companion workbook), left a thoughtful review, bought the book for a friend and shared this life-changing content.  I am so grateful!

I was reflecting back on a few of my incredible clients and the reflection reminded me what it is I do that matters, and more importantly, WHY I do this work.   As I was thinking about the simplest way to describe what I do, I realized that at the core of my work I help people remember who they are -- even if you've never truly been able to articulate your understanding of yourself, or if you knew it very clearly at another point in your life but somehow drifted away from yourself and forgot, I help you put a framework around yourself so you understand who you are, what makes you tick, what energizes you and what drains you.   In some ways there is nothing more important than this.   Once you get a clear understanding of who you are, you can not only make better decisions, but you can make the BEST decisions for you because you will immediately understand why something doesn't feel right.   Once you get a clear understanding of who you are, you will know immediately what you have to do in order to get yoursel

As you are on the road to package your genius, and you're a high achiever who is used to always being the best, I want you to remember: No matter where you place sometimes just finishing the race is a form of winning when you're doing something new.   *** If you know you have valuable gifts inside you, but you are unclear which race you're running and where's the lane for your gifts and talents, I welcome you to apply for the opportunity to get that clarity during our visibility academy where we can work on it together.   If you've been doing great work and getting results in your industry, but you want to expand your exposure, learn more about our PR mastermind and apply.   Enrollment is open now for the academy and our PR mastermind. Visit www.packageyourgeniusacademy.com to learn more and apply.

Sometimes limits are in our heads, telling us we can't go any further when we have just a little bit of gas left in the take. Other times limits are deeper, and our exhaustion is our body/mind/spirit's way of telling us we need to rest. But the beautiful thing about life is, for most things, we get another day to try again. If you had to put down a work project, take a day off from cooking dinner for the family, or skipped a workout - you can get back on track.  Don't beat yourself up if you drop the ball. Just pick it back up tomorrow.   *** Here are all the ways you can work with me:   Join our free Facebook community where you can meet other podcast listeners and engage directly with me. Join here.   Check out the book Package Your Genius: 5 Steps to Build Your Most Powerful Personal Brand if you haven't read it yet. Pick up the companion workbook - a tool I made to help you think through the questions that can help you get closer.   If you need help remembering how to answer the call, I'd be honored

My mom retired a few years ago, and in the time since, she's been living her best life. She had a goal to see all the states in the lower 48 of USA and as of today, she's officially done it.   She left for a road trip for her birthday early last week, headed with her bestie from Tennessee to New England.   When she initially told me about the trip, I remember catching myself getting wistful. "I sure wish I could take off for ten days at my own pace to see the sights," I thought to myself. "And I sure wish I could spend that kind of quality time with my mom..."   I can't do that because of the kids, I immediately told myself. For the last decade plus, that has been my default reason whenever I get too excited about doing something or going somewhere that will take me away from the DC area. Because the kids have to get to and from school, my husband travels a lot for work so I need to make sure my calendar is clear.   But is that true, really?   At this point, my kids know how to catch public transportation, ma

We've been talking a lot about purpose, but I want to change the conversation and switch gears back to visibility because it's one of the reasons you're here. In this two-part episode on op-ed writing, I share 5 questions to ask yourself to get closer to the op-ed you want to write. In part two, we'll talk to a journalist who will share how we can reach millions of people with our words.    

Do you remember your favorite teacher from when you were in school? Or a teacher who could make a subject you usually didn't like come alive? Or better yet, a teacher who could break down a subject in a way that could make you understand even when others couldn't?   And they may have been saying the exact same thing or reading from the exact same textbook as all the other teachers who taught that subject, but for whatever reason you could just hear it better from them?   Well someone out there is thinking the exact same thing about you.   Someone out there needs to hear your area of expertise, but they need to hear it from you.   Even though there are already people who are saying some version of what you're saying, or doing some version of what you're doing, there are still people out there who still need to get the goods from you.   Why is that?   I can't explain it. Just like you can't explain how two cooks can follow the same recipe but turn out completely different dishes. Even though both taste good, on

I recently attended an organizational effectiveness training retreat for an organization I'm a member of. One of the most powerful things I learned was how easily an organization's culture can get off track, and how possible it is to get things BACK on track.   So think about an organization you're a part of, or even a relationship you have with someone to make it easier to imagine. If you have one bad interaction with someone, you may say "Oh we had a tiff," or "we didn't see eye to eye..." and you chalk it up to a misunderstanding, but the relationship isn't over.   If you have two or three bad encounters, internally you go on alert. You may start to rethink the relationship and even say "We're not in a good place..." But once you get into the four-five range with negative encounters, you're in the red zone. In the training, our facilitator said that 5x is a DECISION that this is how we will deal with each other. This is our culture.   But what I find fascinating is the same way you can make a decision to n

Harlem BY LANGSTON HUGHES     What happens to a dream deferred?         Does it dry up       like a raisin in the sun?       Or fester like a sore—       And then run?       Does it stink like rotten meat?       Or crust and sugar over—       like a syrupy sweet?         Maybe it just sags       like a heavy load.         Or does it explode?    

How do you show up when you come to win?   For some reason, we all know how to prioritize our work assignments, our money, our kids, even our health - but when we think of our gifts we go blank.   We get ourselves out of bed and out of the house every day, but suddenly can't figure out how to motivate ourselves to get started.   We multitask, manage multiple calendars and juggle conflicting schedules for our teams and families, but we can't figure out how to find the time to make our dreams happen.   We put together scrum boards and complex project flowcharts, but when it comes to our gifts, we can't figure out the first step to take.   But we need to attack our gifts with the same energy we bring to the places we already excel.   Look at what you're doing well, where you're winning, what you're getting right.   What are your typical patterns?   How do you show up when you're ready to win?   For example, one of the things I feel like I am getting right is cultivating my children. So when I look at how I move

Why does it even matter whether or not you package your genius?   Who cares if you explore what you're meant to do?   What difference does it make if you don't share your genius with others?   Those are the questions I want to explore with you today. Because before I can make the case that you should package your genius, you should first understand what's at stake if you don't.   I believe the mandate of being human - what's written in our genetic code or whatever makes us homo sapiens vs some other species - is to find what we were put on this Earth to do. Your mandate as a human is to fulfill the assignment and complete the mission for your specific journey, your specific life.   That is what I whole-heartedly believe.   But if we're honest with ourselves, our life missions have likely been evident since childhood or adolescence. We've heard the call. But how many of us answered and chose to walk down the path our calling was leading us to?   I can remember being a student in middle school and then again in

If I handed you the deed to the land that contained a diamond mine, how would you feel? Maybe you'd feel excited thinking about your good fortune and your riches, but after you thought about it, would you know what to do with it? Would not knowing overwhelm you? Would it make you walk away?   No way.   You'd do some research, call an expert, and figure out what one does with a valuable diamond mine. You'd figure out who has the equipment to extract the diamond, which people had the expertise to get it out, what the process is to get it up to commercial standards, and who the best buyers are for your specific type of diamond.   You wouldn't throw up your hands and walk away just because you don't have the technical know-how to get these diamonds out of the ground, when you know they're valuable and people want them.   But that's exactly what most of us are doing with our gifts.   We've all got raw materials, but the problem is we don't know how to refine what we have, we don't have the equipment to extract it,