The year was 1983…

The year is 1983 and it was Christmas-time. If you’re old enough, you’ll recall there were lines – no, hordes – of people, waiting, clamoring and paying top dollar for… a doll. A Cabbage Patch Kid, to be exact.As one store manager put it “…people were grabbing at each other, pushing and shoving. It got ugly.” Dolls were nothing new, so what explains the hysteria that exploded during the Cabbage Patch Craze? What happened was a unique combination of viral, word-of-mouth, marketing and scarcity. There were only so many dolls made and a lot more demand than manufacturer Coleco ever expected. Couple that with the Christmas frenzy, and voila!! People were literally begging for dolls. A black market arose – dolls were going for $200 sometimes $300! What do Cabbage Patch Kids have to do with us, here, today? It’s all about demand. It’s about that fairy dust, that magic potion, that elusive “something” that makes people WANT something really really badly. And it doesn’t just apply to dolls. Look around at some of the most successful people you know: Oprah, Donald Trump, Martha Stewart. Love ’em or hate ’em… you have to admit, they have strong brands that keep them in business. Do you think Oprah goes around “looking” for opportunities? Heck no!! Opportunities find Oprah! Why? Because she has a strong brand that draws the right opportunities to her. In this day and age – an age in which Google has been called “the new resume”, having a compelling personal brand, both online and off, is CRUCIAL. What are YOU doing to build your personal brand? If the answer is “not much” then you are already behind – and it’s only getting worse as the pace of technology and innovation accelerate. I’ve recently done a LOT more speaking on this subject, and thought you might be interested in some of that content. Here’s a link to the slideshow from my most recent new speech “Shameless Self-Promotion.” Enjoy!!