STOP TRYING TO BE TALBOTS WHEN YOU'RE VERSACE, BABY!!
Feb 25, 2025
One of my first professional jobs was marketing for a Hotel. That was my dream, to own hotels... so, I went straight to work in them and soon thereafter discovered they're just really complicated real estate so I eventually got into real estate instead.
But there I was, 20 years old, in charge of Marketing for a Hotel in Boca Raton, Florida. I was the youngest person on the management team and I did not fit in, at all. They called me "Trixie," and I had no idea what that reference meant. I always felt like I was on the outside of an inside joke and the inside joke was me. I was so embarrassed, and tried so hard to fit in. I shopped at Talbots. Talbots. Their target customer is like 65... I wanted so badly to look older since I thought that was the barrier to being taken seriously.
I never did fit in and I eventually quit. I went contract and worked for myself, as a Marketing Consultant for a few boutique hotels on South Beach. It was as fabulous as that sounds.
Here's the deal, the fact that everyone else had so many years on me did not matter. It was the early 2000's, the dawn of online booking for travel and the game completely changed post 9/11. I understood the internet better than anyone else there, *because of my age.* The very thing that felt like my weakness was actually my strength. And once I owned that, I became known as a go-to for doing exactly what I wanted to do alongside legendary people, like the actual Versaces, who celebrated my value.
It was one of my earliest lessons in personal branding. The thing you think is your weakness might actually be your strength but you're just looking it at the wrong way because you're surrounded by people with different values.
YOUR PERSONAL BRANDING WORKS FOR YOU -- EVEN IF YOU WORK FOR SOMEONE ELSE
β Your network is your net worth. You own it independently, not your employer, not your business, so take full ownership of it.
β Opportunities come to those who are visible. A strong personal brand means you attract opportunities instead of constantly hunting for them.
β Jobs change, but your reputation stays. Whether you’re an entrepreneur, executive, or employee, your personal brand is an asset that grows over time.
This topic is so critically important right now, so I teamed up with Vanessa Gonzalez from poWer - Shaw's Network for Women, to present a webinar on it and we created a workbook that we want to share with you, too. It's in your library when you log on to our website: www.womenflooring.com. If you don't already have a login, you can get one and the workbook here.When you enter your email you will get a link to login in your inbox, if you don't have your password just reset it.
π«΅π» Follow poWer on Instagram
π«΅π» Download the Personal Branding Workbook
π«΅π» Always be unapologetically YOU,
Michelle
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