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Practicing the preaching

"I am connecting Anil with you for he needs some help" was a crisp message from a dear friend.
Anil is a seasoned professional who decided to go on his own after a very rich and long experience in marketing at companies to die for. Anil started his journey a couple of years ago with stars in his eyes trying to solve the marketing problems that are all around us in all scales of businesses.
Anil had a long chat and the basic point was that he is not able to get the kind of scale he envisaged. On exploration it came out that he was shy of going out and talking about his expertise and garner business. He found it was not appropriate to "beg" for business. 
Is Anil managing himself as a brand just like he did to his brands in the role he played as an employee. A few questiones followed -
- Is Anil a well known brand? If not, what has been done to build the brand?
- Has the brand been positioned clearly - what does Anil stand for? What will Anil deliver as a promise to a potential customer? What is the true value of brand Anil - functional and emotional?
- Are brand building tools used in job being used as a new business?
- Is Anil getting the testimonials in support of his brand promise?
How many professionals (especially marketing professionals) treat themselves as a brand/client? It would be very valuable to build own brand right from TODAY.
What is stopping us?
Am I doing it?

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