My First Marketing Lesson Came From My Father

When I was in college, my friends and I used to party a lot. We were friends with the owner of a private nightclub, this was one of those places where only members could attend, but he gave us free passes to go every weekend.

It just became kind of a routine to go every Friday and Saturday, honestly many times we didn’t even want to but I guess we were living with the FOMO (fear of missing out) so we pushed ourselves to go.

This is when I got one of those talks from my dad, who was a very logical thinker. I am sure in his conversation he probably mentioned data and statistics, after all, he was a chemical engineer and that was how he always evaluated things.

I specifically remember him talking to me about “Personal Brand” as he lectured me that people were so used to see me at the club that I probably should skip a few weekends, here and there and make them miss me. That was my first demand and offer real life conversation too.

Little did he know, back 28 years ago, how much of that conversation I would still remember to this day. Here are some of those key points:

-?????????Believe in your own worth- nobody’s definition of yourself is accurate but yours.

-?????????You don’t have to be or to have the answer to everything.

-?????????It is ok to say no, don’t ever let people push you into doing something.

-?????????Your personal brand is the most important brand and when your day to day “job” or in this case “partying” doesn’t feel right, stop engaging on it.

-?????????Be true to yourself, speak your values but find the right place and audience to do that.

-?????????Know when you are exhausted and allow yourself down time.

Words matter. You never know the impact of your conversations with someone, in this case for me, it was a conversation with my father that I repeat in my head over and over as he has been gone for 12 years but as I coach teams, I like to start from the inside out, listening to their own personal story before getting them to believe in our company culture. Leading from the heart makes a difference indeed!