finding career zen

How to Build Your Personal Brand at Work

• Pete Newsome • Episode 49

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Have you ever wondered how some professionals seem to rise to the top of their profession so effortlessly? It all comes down to the power of a strong personal brand, and Pete and Ricky are here to guide you through crafting yours to perfection. They kick things off by discussing the importance of personal branding, framing it as more than just a buzzword—it's your reputation, your workplace identity, and your ticket to opportunity.

In this candid discussion, they discuss the potential pitfalls and advantages of your online persona. Pete and Ricky share a story that resonates with many—a young professional's public response to a layoff—and analyze its broader implications for career prospects. Their chat circles back to the core mantra: play to your strengths, project your capabilities, and keep your eye on the long game, where reputation is key.

Tune in for expert insights on building and living your personal brand, one that's as authentic and impactful as you are.

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Blog Articles: https://www.baezco.com/baezco-blog

Pete Newsome:

You're listening to the Finding Zen Career Podcast. I'm Pete Newsome, joined by Ricky Baez today. Ricky, how are you?

Ricky Baez:

I am doing great, Pete. That's it. That's it. It's just great. I'm doing great. Look, I just got back from DC last night and I love that place, Love it. I'm just not a fan of flights. I'm not a fan of airports and everything, but especially any any trip coming into Orlando from anywhere else. There's always a lot of screaming kids and families going to Disney.

Pete Newsome:

Understood, but you're here, you're on the ground and you have your headphones on so you can block all that out.

Ricky Baez:

That's right. Yes sir, yes sir.

Pete Newsome:

Well, today on our podcast, we are talking about something that I believe to be very much a growing trend and important thing for people in the workforce to pay attention to, and that is your personal brand. That's right. How to build your personal brand at work is really what we're going to focus on today. How long, how long has it been since you've you've been hearing that phrase? I? It's relatively new just in the past couple of years, really, I think so For me, I I just didn't hear it much until until recently. I've heard this since college.

Ricky Baez:

Since college. All right, I've been out of the loop.

Ricky Baez:

Yeah, I've heard that you're, you're, you have to work on your personal brand. But here's the thing I've heard about a sense college, but, pete, I don't think people know what that means. I think we should define it right now to see what your personal brand means. So I know a lot of people they at least the people I went to school with they've heard about it, but they think they're working on it, but they're not working on the right things because they can define it properly. So what? What does personal branding mean to you?

Pete Newsome:

Well, I think of it as your reputation, right? What are you known for? Well, two things what are you known for? But then how to be known? And so when I think of working on your personal brand, I think as much as anything of how to become a better recognized for your area of expertise. Right, how to make your mark. There's a lot of different ways to phrase it, so maybe what I've always thought of as protecting your reputation and cultivating that at all costs is is now what we commonly will refer to as your personal brand. Do you think it's the same thing, or is there more to it?

Ricky Baez:

No, actually I'm. I'm right there with you because to me, personal branding is exactly, it's a reflection of you, right? To me, personal branding is what other people? This is going to sound confusing, but it's going to make sense at the same time. This is when what people think, or what people see when you look in the mirror. Okay, when you look in the mirror, what do people see? That's your personal branding For so, for example, at work, at work. If, if you're really good at Excel and you are the best Excel person out there, when somebody mentions Excel, it should be synonymous with your name.

Pete Newsome:

Okay, I like that and that's a great way. It's very simple, straightforward way to look at it. I think what you're known for is is is what we're talking about really. And if you ask yourself that question and say, what do people think of me when I'm not there, Right?

Pete Newsome:

What would they, how would they refer to me, what would to your point, what would they call me for? Or reach out and say, pete, you're the guy who knows X, that X is your brand, right? And how you're thought of by others and, ricky, I think you know, yours is pretty straightforward, right? You've worked hard over a long period of time to be known as someone who has a, a, you know, wide and deep HR knowledge and expertise, and that's how I think of you. I think of you as more than that, of course, but from a professional standpoint, right, you've done a really good job of of making your mark in that space, thank you.

Ricky Baez:

And you know it's an and that's the important piece, pete, because it's to me. I think there's two kinds of branding at work. Right, it's what you're known for from a skill set perspective, what you're known for from work ethic, right, yeah, yeah, because it's. You know, if it's I've always used this example right, if you don't know how to do anything at the office, just figure something out that you're an expert in. If you know how to work that copy machine that everybody's mad at, be the one everybody calls. Right. Be the one everybody calls when that copy machine goes down right.

Ricky Baez:

Oh, Ricky knows how to mess with this.

Pete Newsome:

Yeah, there's another way to be known for it or to think of it as part of a team and I coach a lot of youth sports growing up, or when my kids were growing up and now that you know, as my age doubt is, they started getting to high school and college and I was no longer their coach I would say it's very important to know what role you play on the team, and if you can't define your value, no one else is going to be able to.

Pete Newsome:

That's for sure. So as I was coaching kids, I talked to them about that, but from a different perspective. Once my kids had to try out for teams, make a team be a contributing factor on a team that was something that really I focused on a lot with them to say but listen, if you're on a basketball team, are you the tallest Right? That's great, that's what there's value there. Are you the quickest? Are you the best shooter? Are you the best defender? And if you look at all the things that make up what's valuable to a basketball team and what makes a basketball player good, and you can't figure out which one of those things you are, that's a problem.

Ricky Baez:

So that's a great example when it comes to basketball, because for now, this is going to go over the younger generation. But back in the day there was this dude, a basketball player, by the name of Spudweb. I don't know if you remember who he is, Ricky of course I remember Spudweb.

Pete Newsome:

Who did everyone remember Spudweb? Five seven.

Ricky Baez:

I think he was five, seven and he was balling with the rest of them, but he had to make a name for himself because he was five, seven and still dunking like the six, eight, seven, five people, and he was in the.

Pete Newsome:

Not just dunking but in the NBA dunk contest and doing well. I don't know if he won, but he may have, and I think he was only five, six. Was it, yeah, I mean, all I know is like wow, he is really made a name for himself. So you're right. So he overcame his limitation to establish his brand as someone that could outjump everyone else. Right, and there is huge value in that. He was in a great basketball player.

Ricky Baez:

Now you said something really interesting that I just want to bring that back. You said that if you cannot define your value, nobody else will. I got a different take on that and this part is a little bit more dangerous, right, I believe. If you cannot define your value, other people will, and that value mean that be?

Ricky Baez:

the, exactly they, and that may not be the value you want to be seen as Right. So you have to be in charge of Of that value train. That way you communicate Exactly who you are and exactly what you bring to the table.

Pete Newsome:

It's an important discussion and consideration right now, in this point in time where the job market is really tight and A lot of people are struggling to find a role, because there's more supply than demand for a lot of professions right now, and there's a lot of factors in that.

Pete Newsome:

The current state of the economy AI Making some jobs, you know, defunct and not as important as they used to be, as a lot of things happen in the market right now, and so it's very important for people to know what they can do right, or and have it clearly defined for others, what they can do in a bit professionally. And if you're a generalist right now, it's not a great place, it's not a great thing. And so if you don't have, first of all, if you don't know what you want to do and want to be known for, you need to work on that. Yes, right, let's start there, and then you need to work on improving it and building it, but you have to start with the baseline of saying this is who I am and this is what I do.

Ricky Baez:

And you know, and that's just it, right you have. In order for you to get out there and start Broadcasting who you are and what you do, you've got to take some time to self-reflect. What are, what are your strengths, what are your weaknesses? And this is somebody told me. Somebody told me this about 20 years ago. They told me and this is a mistake, by the way they told me, ricky, if you got strength, that's fine, you need to work on your weaknesses. I tried that for about 10 years and then, 10 years into it, I realized no, I need to double down on my strength, because that's what makes my strength, that's what makes me, and about 10 years ago, I decided to go that route. I'm you know what I'm good at speaking. I'm good at what I do. Let me focus on that. You know what I'm not good at Excel.

Pete Newsome:

I'm not gonna focus on that.

Ricky Baez:

The worst thing you can do to me. Put me in an office for eight hours with Excel spreadsheets. I mean I'll come out a crazy guy and I'm a crazy to begin with now, I think what you mean by that.

Pete Newsome:

I want to clarify that when you're talking about weaknesses, you're not talking about things that are big limitations to you with relationships or professionally. For example, if you can never show up on time for anything, that's a weakness You're habitually late, but that's not what we're talking about here. We're talking about Trying to be not be a jack of all trades and in a master of none, but rather You'd be the best you can possibly be at the thing that you want to do and have aptitude to do.

Ricky Baez:

And and and here's an upbeat I can't believe I'm going down this road, and because here's here's why I think a lot of people have an issue With personal branding these days. Because, in my opinion, for you, for you, to make a name for yourself, you have to a be good at something that people can authentically see, tell them, wow, his person's having a good time here. They know what they're talking about. They're really energetic about it. Right, they they're passionate about it.

Ricky Baez:

But what I'm noticing is that a lot of young professionals Don't put themselves in a position where that can happen, and here's what I mean by that. What I mean by that is I'm seeing a lot of people today that when a boss asked him to do something or for a volunteer, they won't do it because they're not gonna get paid extra for it. And what I want to tell people these days is like, look, if you want to be known for things, you have to do things that nobody else is willing to do, and you have to again, you have to bring the energy you got to be passionate about it. But if you go out there and showcase what you can do without expecting any, any other compensation, above and beyond what you're currently getting, the value you're getting, for that is the seed you're planting in your boss's mind For future opportunities.

Pete Newsome:

Right, and I like and I like where you're going with this, because, let's say, you don't have a tangible skill that you can really define and say I'm the best at excel, I'm the best with math, I'm the best with with grammar, whatever it might be. But if you can apply the best work ethic and say I'm going, that's what I'm going to be known for, my, I'm going to build my Brand around out working everyone else that's not necessarily popular thought these days, but boy is that effective and and if you go down the line from employer to employer and say who's the most valuable Right?

Pete Newsome:

it may not be the smartest, it may not be the the best producer, but if it's the one that you can always rely on To be there and to go above and beyond without being asked, that person will always have a role and a valuable one at that.

Pete Newsome:

Now you made me think of something. I don't know if you've seen this yet, but there's I don't want to talk to. I don't want to talk to. I don't want to talk too much about this, because or try to identify who this person is, but there's a young professional who recorded herself being laid off this week and put it on tiktok.

Pete Newsome:

I saw that he saw that, yeah, and you know she was. I think the point she wanted to make is that HR didn't handle this, this, this conversation, as well as they they could have. Now, that's a different debate. We'd have to get into the details of it to to share that. But as I'm watching and of course she, you know no surprise on on LinkedIn, this is being shared a lot right now. It's getting a lot of she's getting a lot of support. Good for her, good for her. Well, maybe it made her feel better in the moment, right, and maybe the the attention she's getting is is is positive to some degree.

Pete Newsome:

But you have to protect your reputation for your future Opportunities and employer, and so what I see is someone who's going to do that is who does that. We'll do it again and do it to their next employer. And if you're going to be the person that records and then publicly tries to embarrass an organization and the individuals there and you documented it, yeah, I don't get that. You know that. That's that's perhaps not the best thing to do. Who, and it's probably limiting to future opportunities now there, who knows it, may it may end up well, for I, I wish just a young person the best. However, yikes right, when we think of protecting your brand, everything you do matters, including, you know, getting attention in the moment and making a point. Yeah, it's great to make someone else look bad, but at what?

Ricky Baez:

risk Correct and I know exactly what you're talking about. I saw that a couple of days ago and, from an HR point of view, because I saw all those things, I saw all the positive Support she got and you know what. Good for her, good for her before. From an HR point of view, I'm like no, and I wasn't gonna post on it because I know I was gonna get eaten up alive. Pete, I was gonna get, you know.

Pete Newsome:

And so, but that's the reality of the world, that we're in right and to some employers look at those things. So we're talking about improving your personal brand I don't on this show but we also need to talk about protecting it, and that was probably a short-sighted Decision, mary, that that is going to I would, I would say, probably do more harm than good to, because recruiters look at social media. Recruiters look at what you've done, because that, what you've done in the past, is the best indication of what you'll do going forward, and and so, whether you think recruiters should do that, whether you think that's fair, just legal, they will yep, absolutely will, and they will hold that against you because that's what they have to go on.

Ricky Baez:

That's right, it's your document to how you respond and for anybody who hasn't seen this video and it's, go ahead and watch it the part that got to me, to be honest, was she didn't even give HR an opportunity to finish Within the first 30 seconds. Let me stop you right there. And she started listening on those things and I'm like, ah, let them finish. Protect you exactly how you, how you sing, repeat, protect your brand. Now Let me tell you this right, everybody, have the listening and this is coming from somebody who's been doing this for 22 years and I have orchestrated Hundreds, if not thousands, of layoffs.

Ricky Baez:

Right, how the conversation first starts to orchestrated layoff is we have to cut 10, 20% and we start looking on who we can let go and who we cannot let go, and in each and every Conversation we always say this we cannot let go to Susan we need her. We cannot let go a mic we need him. We cannot let go a Karen we need her because they have established a value in an organization that if the absence is there, it's gonna be difficult to replicate. You need to create a personal brand or a professional brand when your absence becomes extremely difficult to replace. That's what you need to do whatever that is, whatever that is. Come to my conversation of layoffs. I'm like we cannot. We cannot let go of her.

Pete Newsome:

Yeah, yeah, be the one who's irreplaceable. Yeah, that that should be the goal as an employee. Now I just want to say quickly, and let's move on from this. After that, if you Say you hear that and and say, yeah, but I can, it doesn't matter how hard I work, there's no opportunity to be promoted, there's, it won't do anything for me, then stop what you're doing and make a change, get out of that situation, because if you're not in a role when you feel that your effort will be rewarded, you're in the wrong role. That's right and that is an absolute statement. Full stop on that. So let's, let's move on back to back to the branding. So the the benefits of personal branding tell you establish, establish your relationship and, as we just were talking about, that will present future opportunities to you or limit them With a positive brand, a strong personal brand will.

Ricky Baez:

We'll open doors for you Absolutely. And look it's and I know a lot of people are not going to agree with this, but it's not 100% about skill, neither it's. It's. It really is a perfect balance of skill, charisma, personality. You have to find the perfect balance that works for you. Not the perfect balance, because that does not exist. It's the perfect balance that works for you.

Ricky Baez:

If you lack on a specific skill set that is difficult for you to get, you have to bring up the other parts right. You got to bring up that charisma. You got to bring up that work ethic. You got to bring up that type of of an environment that when somebody thinks, oh man, we got a difficult project coming out, you know what, give it a Francis. She will knock that bad boy out of the park when people think about you immediately. So that's what you need to do. But to ask for the perfect because I don't nobody asked, but in my head I'm asking to see what that perfect balance is it really depends of what kind of skill set whether it is tangible skills, soft skills you have on your arsenal and you just got to have a really good strength, and we all know our strengths as we get into the professional world.

Pete Newsome:

It's hard when you're young to know exactly where you're best apt to thrive. For example, I was an awful public speaker early on. I would have an out of body experience when I would have to stand up in front of a group and I had to walk through the fire, so to speak, to get on the other side of that and then realize it was something I'm very comfortable doing, and so you so you. So some things have to be learned and honed, but once you are at a point where you have a feel for that, lean into it. That's really what we're talking about, and you made a great point on it earlier. So what else can you do to improve and build your brand? You've talked about, you know, making the decision and then and then putting yourself in a position to you know, to build it. Say yes to opportunities, seek out opportunities where you will get to showcase your skills, knowledge, expertise, whatever, whatever it might be.

Ricky Baez:

You know, pete, and and, and I think, if you have the courage to jump into the unknown right, I to me, if I, if, if I have a team right and somebody volunteers for something or or assign something to somebody, that I'm like God, they, they, they may not get the ball across the goal line, but how they try and how they research and how they try to mitigate that screams volumes to me. That to me is valuable because even if you don't get the ball across that goal line, if I'm able to see how you work, I'm able to see how you, how you break things down and how you process it, it does to me, on the certain circumstances, you hitting the goal is not as important as how you work on getting the ball across the line, and to me that's key, yep.

Pete Newsome:

Absolutely, I agree. Another thing that the young employees need to consider is bringing forth ideas. A lot of times, people are hesitant to do that. There's an imposter syndrome that happens, where you think I'm not qualified to share my opinion and you are right, you know everyone. It doesn't. It doesn't take years, it doesn't take a great depth of experience.

Pete Newsome:

It takes being unique and thoughtful and finding solutions, and one of the things that has always been important to me as a business owner, as a manager, is someone who brings solutions to a problem. So I've said over the years, there's a few different types of people. There's those who tell you about the problem. There's people who will tell you about the problem and have a proposed solution, and then there's the people who will tell you that they've solved the problem and then tell you what it was. Now I want that last person to be that person, right?

Pete Newsome:

Talk about a way to build your brand to a significant degree. Be a problem solver. So you don't have to be in a business a long time. A lot of young people have fresh, new ideas that someone who has been in a role or a company or an industry for a long time doesn't see, because they're not looking for it. So a fresh lens, a fresh set of eyes can often be the perfect person to come up with new ideas in ways to solve problems. So don't let your lack of experience or youth hold you back.

Ricky Baez:

So can I explore the opposite side of that corner real quick? Because I agree, if you have a solution for a problem, say it, open your mouth, talk about it, have the backbone to really address it. But if you don't, don't open your mouth just to talk, don't do that, because I've seen people do that as well, because they think, oh, I have to say something even if you have nothing to say. No, if you have nothing to say, sometimes silence increases your value.

Pete Newsome:

That is true. You have to know the company culture or organizational culture that you're part of. Some welcome new ideas, the more the better. Others to the point you just made, they're more conservative in nature. I've worked in both environments. I worked for a very large company Earlier in my career with 16,000 employees. It didn't matter how good the idea was. There was no method by which they could implement change effectively easily. It was an old school mentality. I had a choice, just as every other employee there had a choice. Do you want to be part of that? Do you like that structure? Is that your comfort area or do you need to be in a situation where your ideas and thoughts can be acted on? I chose the latter because that's my nature. One's not better than the other, but you have to read the room.

Ricky Baez:

No, your audience?

Pete Newsome:

yeah, no audience with this. Read the room. Yeah, pick your battles, but find places where there will be opportunities to bring your ideas forward, even if it's not at your employer. There's trade associations, there's conferences. There's lots of different ways you could build your brand. I'll tell you right now. Building your brand personally helps you professionally. What I mean by that is volunteer in areas you're interested in, Be part of groups, organizations there's a huge need for that in every community and align the thing that you're interested in with what can help you professionally so you can be around people that will allow you to build your brand with. I don't think that's done often enough.

Ricky Baez:

It's not because it's again. It's that perfect balance and you just said it earlier, pete. But surround yourself with people that would allow you to do that. If you're in an organization because I've seen this too many times if you're in an organization that just shuts everything down and you have this person that has a really good skill set. They're ambitious, they really want to work hard for the organization, but they just don't get the opportunity to do so, it's not that you're invaluable, you're in the wrong place. Have you seen that meme about the water bottle? Our water bottle is worth 99 cents at Walmart. At a movie theater it's $8. At a theme park it's $15. The same water bottle, but it's a different place right.

Pete Newsome:

How much is that worth in the Sahara Desert?

Ricky Baez:

Oh, my, a kidney. So yeah, it's not that you're not valuable, it's that you're not in the right place and you have to know that. You have to know that if you're not able to really help the organization move forward, now here's the key not help yourself, help the organization move forward. If you're not able to contribute to the bottom line, you have to find somewhere where you can.

Pete Newsome:

Well, let me challenge that, because you have to be self-serving, and you should be self-serving. If you are still growing and learning and improving and taking steps that will open doors for you in the future, you may still be in the right place, but you need to have a purpose in being there. So if you feel like your thoughts and ideas aren't contributing to the organization or not being heard, take that into consideration. Everything's a data point, but if the bigger picture is, you're putting invaluable time that will lead to a much better opportunity going forward, and you have to consider that to. That's true.

Pete Newsome:

But you don't have to rely on your employer to build your brand right. You should take ownership of that yourself and build it outside of the employer. That's what we talked about a few minutes ago. In the industry, in your community, in areas that you're interested in, there are plenty of opportunities if you seek them out and don't rely on employer. Look, it's great if you have a manager who takes you under their wing or mentor which you can seek out to help you and guide you along the way. Ultimately, your reputation and your brand is your responsibility to cultivate. That's right.

Ricky Baez:

That's right and and again, you have to know where you are or you're not value. Now Let me tell you, if you don't have that work ethic, if you don't have that, that energy or that motivation to really, to really add value to any organ is, it doesn't matter where you go, you can be invaluable to, to that leader. But, yes, you're right, at the end of the day, you need to work in the to figure out what your personal brand is going to be like and that's going to translate work, especially these days. Hey, we're in twenty twenty four. We don't have flying cars when I have hoverboard scientists. Please hurry up.

Ricky Baez:

We don't have any of those things yet, right, but what we do have is social media. And, and these days, whatever, we just talked about that girl who, who, who, who videotaped her layoff, right, and in the moment it may seem like a good idea, but that's going to haunt her later on. How we just talked about it. Right now, use that same platform to promote what you're good at, whether you're looking for a job or not. Right, that's right, and we've talked about it on this channel, on this platform, for years now the importance of putting your stuff out on LinkedIn and social media, let everybody know exactly who you are, what you do, but to help other people in the process as well, and you will get phone calls, I guarantee it, yeah fine.

Pete Newsome:

Social media is so big right now in prevalent that it's impossible to ignore. If you, if your brand is important to you and your professional growth is important, pick the channel that suits you best. Some people are very comfortable writing, some people are comfortable speaking, some people are comfortable on video. You don't have to be comfortable on all of them, but you have to pick one and go with it. So you have lots of opportunities right now between LinkedIn, as you mentioned, twitter, facebook, tick tock, instagram. There they're all appropriate and applicable, depending on the situation. Learn it, perfect it, but it's also realize not going to happen overnight, and that's something that is a tough part of social media. You and I talk about this. We are active on social media. Some things we do we think will do well and they don't. Others we don't have high expectations for and they do, they do really well. It is. It is a tough nut to crack, that is for sure, but if you stick with it, the success will follow.

Ricky Baez:

And look, I think I think what we're saying here, pete, is folks, at the end of the day, it's that that authenticity needs to be there and you have to be willing to. This is going to suck. I'm going to say you have to be willing to work for free, right. You have to be willing to throw things out there. You know it's. Look, when you go to Olive garden, right, those breast texts are free, they get you in. Right, those cheddar baby biscuits that are at a relative office industry. You have to throw out there things for free.

Ricky Baez:

And whatever money you don't get because of that, you more. You not start up to marketing dollars. If you got an excel spreadsheet and you're trying to figure out right on how much money you're getting for your effort, a lot of that free time gets not stop to marketing dollars. And look this, this event that I was just at over in, it's the reason I went there to do a speaking engagement, because this is a video that I did earlier in the year over in Maryland, and they're like oh my god, come on over, let's have a conversation, put stuff out there, put the bait out there. Sometimes you're gonna get a bite, sometimes you're not gonna get a bite, but the right people are going to respond to you at the right time. You gotta trust the process.

Pete Newsome:

Absolutely right was one more thing I want to talk about before you wrap up, ricky, and that is creating a personal brand statement, and I think this puts a nice bow around what we're talking about In it, and it's an exercise that everyone can go through, and that is to Define yourself in one sentence, define your brand that you want to be known for, and in one sentence maybe two, but let's try to stick with one that people can see and say immediately I know who that person is, I know how they portray themselves anyway, right At the very least. Now, that's hard to do, I don't know if. Do you have one coming?

Ricky Baez:

I don't know if you have a spot here. No, no, I'm smiling because I do have one. I don't necessarily advertise it right Out only then, but at the end of every session that I do, I always tell them this. My goal here is to help you find your aha moment in a way that you just love coming to work and you don't have that pain in the stomach on Sunday nights. That's what I tell people, because HR is boring, employer relations is boring, fmla is boring, and I love to bring it to the forefront in a way people can understand and have fun along the way. So I love to bring the aha moment to people. That's mine, that's great. What's yours? I want to hear yours.

Pete Newsome:

Well, it's an interesting question. I should have thought about this before bringing it up, knowing what would come next, but I have two at this point.

Ricky Baez:

I have a new one that I'm trying.

Pete Newsome:

I have something new, that I'm trying to build a brand around, and so this is a work in progress for me too. But historically, being a staffing company owner, what I've wanted to be known for is delivering effective and consistent staffing solutions for a very inconsistent world. The world is a crazy place. It's insane now more than ever. But we want to be reliable, we want to be consistent in what we do, and so the world can go crazy around us, but I want to be known for the calm in the storm, if you will.

Pete Newsome:

But now I'm trying to do something different, which is why this podcast exists and we talk so much about the career advice that's needed out there, which is to help students and young professionals on the path to career enlightenment. That's what Zengig is all about, and so I don't have a reputation in that space. We don't have a brand. Zengig is a brand, is a new brand. It's only a year and a half old, so we have a big ramp up curve. So all these things we're talking about I'm trying to put into practice every day right now, so I'm learning along the way too.

Ricky Baez:

You've been doing it for 17 years for four corner resource. It's just not young professionals, it's just professionals in general.

Pete Newsome:

Well, that's the point, right, we don't have the Zengig brand, is not known widely in that community and we want it to be. That's the goal. So we have to take all these steps. We have to think about the message that we're giving the where we're giving it, the channels that we're using to deliver it. We have to think of our audience and we, of course, as we have talked about so much over the last 45 minutes talk about what we want to be known for and thought of. Those are big things to start from scratch with. After, to your point, 18 years as a staffing company owner. Now I'm thinking all right, I have to take an entirely different approach than what I've been used to doing.

Ricky Baez:

Then, pete, let's end with this. Let me tell you I just want everybody out there to know Google, a guy by the name of Seth Godin. He is a marketing guru. A couple of weeks ago I saw a YouTube video of him and he made a great point about marketing and he says when you see the Nike logo, do you think sneakers?

Ricky Baez:

And the audience like I mean kind of, but no, no, if you see the Nike logo, you see triumph, you see winning, you see a warrior, you see you achieving your goals. It's a shoe company, right, but that logo, that organization, has done a great job and making sure that logo represents that. So they're not selling shoes, they're selling equipment to help you reach your goal. Whatever, that is right and they did a great job with it. Find out what your Nike logo is, find out what that is and look, it's hard to do. There's going to be some trial and error. Some things are going to work, some things are not going to work right and things may get worse before they get better, but as long as you take that first step, you're going to be all right. People who finish the marathon, they have to take a first step and this is what you got to do.

Pete Newsome:

I love it All right, that's a great way to finish, sir. Just do it, that's right?

Ricky Baez:

Oh, we might get dinged, we might get sued, but you know what? Send us a cease and desist letter.

Pete Newsome:

That means we're making an impact it sounds to me like we're giving Nike free advertising. Maybe they should be thinking us.

Ricky Baez:

We should send them a bill, send us a commission.

Pete Newsome:

We save them. But, ricky, this is great. So homework again. If you don't have your personal statement, if you don't know what your brand really is, and work on that. It's for your own benefit. Don't expect anyone else to do it for you. Thanks for listening today. We would love suggestions, topics, new ideas and, of course, if you rate us a five star, we would love that the most. But send us comments and suggestions, questions at Zengig. com. We look forward to hearing from you, ricky. Have a great weekend. Thanks, as always. Thank you, have a good one, folks. Good night.