Enough Of The ‘Not Enough’ Messages

Why You Already Have What You Need To Be Successful…

Building your personal brand can be a lonely journey through the wilderness at times. So, I wanted to give you some encouragement today about persisting with your dream or purpose and creating a influential personal brand.

Maya Angelou once said, “You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.”

In a society, sending an overwhelming number of sales messages that we are not enough, not good enough, don’t have enough, aren’t pretty enough and obviously you aren’t smart enough. Even our internal dialogue is on a rinse and repeat cycle constantly bombarding us with the little sneaky voice, “Who do you think you are? You’re not good enough!”

And today I wanted to say… Enough of the “not enough” messages. And tell you that you are more than enough and that right now you have the very thing you need to be successful.

“Personal branding gives you the power, path and persistence to press on, despite the challenges that will inevitably arise.”

Actually, that what I often say! Hi, I am Rachel Quilty, The Brand Architect and Personal Brand Strategist at Jump the Q Inc. Despite being an author, speaker and trainer, I wasn’t always confident of my abilities. But I did have that special ingredient…and so do you.

The most valuable lesson you can learn is to trust yourself... whether to proceed or not... Trust Your Instincts.

Rachel Quilty

Have you ever felt that crazy mix of fear, adrenaline and well just plain ‘freaking out’ sensation?

We were racing through the waves in a small old, so old banana boat… a storm was coming, and the waves were getting bigger and bigger. My hands were shaking…. My breathing was so fast I was close to hyper-ventilating.

We had a window of opportunity and if we missed it, we missed it. It would never happen again.

It was the 50th anniversary of the sinking of the USS President Coolidge off the coast of Santo in the island nation of Vanuatu in the Pacific Ocean.

For our 5th Wedding anniversary we were going to Vanuatu and one of the main attractions in the area was deep diving. So, in my brilliance, I decided we needed to learn to dive and then do some of the deep dives in Vanuatu. It made perfect sense, until I was on that boat ride, bouncing up and down hanging on for dear life.

Have you ever decided to do something — that sounded great at the time, but the reality was a lot different than expected?

The Dive Master was preparing us, we were going to do a reverse negative buoyancy entry, which basically means we were going to roll backwards off the side of the boat and commence the dive without stopping at the surface because the waves were too rough.

I think at this time, I said a prayer. It was the deepest dive we were doing, 55 meters down to the USS President Coolidge, a luxury liner that had been commandeered by the US Navy during World War II. It had hit a mine, sank and now lay on its side off a small island. Our goal is to see the lady, a statue that remains from her glory days as a luxury liner on her 50th Anniversary.

As we flipped over the edge of the boat my torch is kicked out of my hand, and I need to surface so do several others. It was a moment, when you could panic, my torch is now sinking to 70 meters below us and light for a ship swim through is essential. However, with a sense of determination I remembered I had a smaller spare torch in my pack…

…although shaken I decide this was it. I was doing it scared.

I didn’t do all this work and preparation, travel around the world and pay thousands of dollars in training and accommodation to stop now… this dive was going to happen. Plus there was a group of us… Nothing like peer pressure!

So, I dropped beneath the surface and within a few meters the ocean calms, we are weightless and we descend down and down and down. It’s calm… there’s a sense of peace and wonder. The dive is amazing… it’s effortless and beautiful.

So today, I am reminded of President Calvin Coolidge’s quote:

“Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan Press On! has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race. “ Calvin Coolidge

Within the business community, there’s a lot of discussion about Intent Branding. Intent branding is the concept that you understand the intention of your customer and their buying process. Sounds simple, but the reason most marketing campaigns fail is because there is a message to market mis-match. The wrong message went to the wrong people at the wrong time. Or a variation on this theme.

Before you can market your product and services you must clearly define your brand and your brand audience. I often say your brand has two key drivers, you, as your brand and your brand audience.

Understanding the brand buying cycle of your client and ensuring your customer touch points are present when the client needs information, comparison research information and finally purchasing information is essential.

I remember, being riveted to the re-play of perhaps the most unlikely, unthinkable gold medal in the history of the Olympics, collected by Australian Ice Speed Skater Steven Bradbury. His last-to- first roll to gold at the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Games captured the imagination of millions of people around the world when he won the gold essentially for being the last man standing.

That’s how you win, by staying on your feet… or getting back up.

Confucius said, “It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.”

Skater Steven Bradbury didn’t stop and he won Gold.

So today, I want to encourage you not to stop. Keep going. Press on.

In Malcom Gladwell’s book, Outliers: The Story of Success, Gladwell examines the factors that contribute to high levels of success. And his findings are surprising.

Malcolm Gladwell has an unusual gift for making the complex seem simple and for seeking common-sense explanations for many of the apparent mysteries, coincidences and problems of the everyday, according to one commentator.

According to one dictionary definition, an outlier is ‘something that is situated away from or classed differently from a main or related body’. As such, an outlier is a truly exceptional individual who, in his or her field of expertise, is so superior that he defines his own category of success.

Gladwell reveals that the super success of individuals who are considered outliers such as Bill Gates along with Steve Jobs of Apple, The Beatles and many others is more about opportunity and perseverance than intellect or genius.

Effectively, he illustrates that outliers are not outliers at all, merely individuals who have spend years perfecting a skill, spending hours in practice and preparation and essentially being the last man standing or the only person with the skill set to undertake the task or leverage an opportunity.

So, I sign off with the words of Albert Einstein, “It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.”

Call To Adventure:

In branding, I tell my students about always being the last man standing. The secret ingredient is grit and persistence and I know you have it, just because you’ve read this line…

If you’re in the game for the long haul, and you would like some free resources to assist you with your personal branding and remaining the ‘last man standing’, grab our free Brand Yourself Blueprint — Work Journal and eBook, at and re-new your personal brand journey today.

Join me below the surface where the water is clear, the path is calm, the storm passes overhead without our knowledge and the deep dive is an amazing adventure.