T Shirts, Brand Building and Success

Positive personal impact is one of the keys to career success that is part of my Career Success GPS System.  As a career success coach, I help my clients create positive personal impact.  I discuss in several of my books: Straight Talk for Success, Star Power, I Want YOU…To Succeed, Your Success GPS and 42 Rules to Jumpstart Your Professional Success. 

I’m always telling my clients that if they want to create positive personal impact, they need to do three things: 1) create, build and nurture their personal brand; 2) dress for success; and 3) know and follow the basic rules of etiquette.

Today I want to tell you a story about a guy who I know who has built a powerful personal brand from the ground up in about 15 months.  His name is Jason Sadler and his brand is “I Wear Your Shirt.”  In late 2008, Jason decided to cash in on his knowledge of social media.  He created a unique offer.  To help companies promote their products he would wear their T shirt for a day.  He would blog about the company and their products and do a live video feed about them over the course of the day.  He would tweet and do face book posts about the shirt he was wearing that day.

He priced his offering in a unique manner too.  If he wore you shirt on January 1, you paid a dollar.  If he wore it on January 20, you paid $20.  If he wore it on December 31, you paid $365.  In other words, his pricing began at one dollar on January 1 and went up a dollar every day until the last day of the year.

Things took off for Jason.  He sold out every day in 2009 and has only a few days left in 2010.  He added a partner, Evan White in 2010.  So now pricing goes up in two dollar increments.  Companies advertising with Jason and Evan pay $2 on January 1 and $730 on December 31.  If you go to the I Wear Your Shirt Website, and click on the “press” button, you’ll see that Jason has been featured on the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric, ABC News with Charles Gibson, the Boston Globe, the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Wall Street Journal and a whole lot of other big media outlets. 

I bought a day in 2009 and two days in 2010.  Here is a link to all of the things Jason did for me on Friday February 26, the first of my 2010 days; http://tinyurl.com/BuyBudsBook.  I was promoting my book 42 Rules to Jumpstart Your Professional Success. 

Jason has followed the two basic building blocks of any strong personal brand. 

1. Decide how you want people to think of you.
2. Consistently and constantly act in a manner that will cause people to think of you that way.

Jason decided he wanted people to think of him as the guy who promotes businesses by wearing their T shirts.  Then, he consistently and constantly stays on brand.  Every day, he promotes not only the company whose shirt he is wearing, he also promotes the I Wear Your Shirt brand.  This is a win-win for Jason and his advertisers.  There is a certain amount of “cool” associated with having Jason wear your shirt.  I found that out when I saw the number of tweets that mentioned me on the days Jason has worn my shirts. 

Jason and Evan rock.  On Friday, I sold lots of books due to his efforts and I got almost 50 new subscribers to my ezine and daily success quotes.  By the way, if you’re not subscribed, you can do so at my website, www.BudBilanich.com.  This is probably a good time to mention that I am donating all of my royalties from sales of 42 Rules to Jumpstart Your Professional Success to the Be the STAR You Are Foundation, a charity that helps women, families and youth-at-risk through improved literacy and positive media. 

If you would like to help yourself – or one of your kids, or someone you manage, or someone you mentor — become a career success please buy a copy, or several copies to give away.  You can do so at Amazon.com or at www.42Rules.com.   Search for 42 Rules to Jumpstart Your Professional Success at either site, and you’ll be taken to the sales page for the book.   If you decide to buy a copy, go to https://budbilanich.com/42jumpstart/ and let me know that you did.  I will send you the eBook versions of two of my most popular books: Straight Talk for Success and I Want YOU…To Succeed.

The common sense point here is simple.  Successful people create positive personal impact by developing and nurturing their unique personal brands.  Brand building is simple in concept.  First, decide how you want people to think of you.  Then consistently and constantly act in a manner that will cause people to think of you that way.  Jason Sadler and his I Wear Your Shirt brand is a great example of these steps in action.  Jason, more than anyone I know, stays on brand consistently and constantly.  If you check out his website and get on his mailing list, you’ll see what I mean.  Jason is a great example of brand building in action.  Take it from a long time career success coach.  A strong personal brand that you reinforce consistently and constantly is an important step in creating the career success you want – and that you deserve. 

That’s my take on Jason Sadler and personal branding.  What’s yours?  Please take a minute to leave a comment sharing your thoughts with us.  As always, thanks for reading.

Bud