Jaimy Weiler Speaks From The Heart On Her Brand

As part of my interview series with "Thought Leaders," consultant , speaker and author, Jaimy Weiler from "One Heart Waking - Business and Executive Consulting" shares her wisdom with us. Jaimy and her company "One Heart Waking" are truly unique in their delivery of effect and balanced work environments.

Ed Roach: Considering the fact that a brand is essentially your reputation and adherence to brand values is critical in maintaining a brand that resonates with customers, what have you found in your consultation with businesses are the biggest barriers to living up to these established brand values?

Jaimy Weiler: Because new business comes to me predominantly through referral, I do strive to keep my brand values consistent as I deliver my services by focusing on “bringing simplicity, integrity and clarity of purpose to business, finance and life”. This is the tag line of One Heart Waking, and living to these values is the very essence of what I deliver.

Ed Roach: I have always believed that a very positive attitude coupled with a desire to lead instead of following is a strategy that will lead to realizing your goals. How much of a role does "attitude" play in reaching goals?

Jaimy Weiler: I believe that attitude is both fundamental and essential. It is the foundation from which our actions spring. My experience, with both myself and my clients, shows me that results follow attitude and action. A positive attitude creates more positive action, which then leads to more positive results. By the same mechanism, negative attitudes most often result in negative results, or, results that come with un-desired side-effects!

Ed Roach: You have a very unique approach in guiding businesses. What would you say is the one thing that makes your clients love you? 

Jaimy Weiler: I would say that my clients sense at a deep level that I am truly ‘for’ them and the highest vision of themselves and their business. And, my confidence in what I do engenders mutual trust and respect In coming to me for traditional business consulting, which they receive, we also find the underlying and often hidden issues which may have for so long held them and/or the business back from its fullest success.

Ed Roach: When you evaluate a prospective client, what things do you watch for that would point to a good fit with your company - "One Heart Waking?"

Jaimy Weiler: The predominant characteristic that I watch for in determining whether I am a good fit for a prospective client, is their sincere and authentic desire for change. Along with this desire must be the openness and energy to implement changes which may go against the grain of past habits.

Ed Roach: What's the nicest thing a client has ever said about you?

Jaimy Weiler: The nicest thing that a client ever said to me was that I helped them to clear away the obstacles and structural problems that had kept their highest business vision in a dream state in the future. And in experiencing the newness of their increased success, were inspired to take themselves and their business colleagues to an even more fulfilling level of service and achievement.

Ed Roach: Finally Jaimy, how would you define success? (For you personally)

Jaimy Weiler: I define success as bringing the best of me forward into my life, more and more every day. Success to me is showing up, present and ready to go, adjusting and growing as life unfolds before me.

Thank you Jaimy.

For more information on Jaimy Weiler visit her website OneHeartWaking.com, and pick up her book, "Light Through The Heart." or email her at Jaimy@OneHeartWaking.com

Panel Networking

Networking is an important part of my marketing activities. Recently I was asked to participate in an experts' panel in the Softech Alliance Network's Dragon's Den Event. The format was that the assembled audience of roughly 250 IT business professionals passed questions forward and the assembled panel of experts answered them. It was a lot of fun.

Following the panel discussion we all mingled and people continued to corner each of us with additional questions. It was a wonderful opportunity to meet new people and generate soft leads. Every one us should do what ever we can to promote ourselves through panel opportunities such as this one and other types of speaking engagements. When I do them, my goal is typically to get as much useful information out there as possible. I don't want it to appear that I'm simply giving a commercial for myself. My brand demands that I give first.

Personally engaging an audience is a very powerful opportunity for you. The audience is often quite appreciative of your time and it's a marketing initiative I embrace.

Guanxi. Branding's Chinese Brother.

Guanxi is a Chinese word that essentially describes a deep relationship between two people usually outside of the family unit. In the business world it has great importance and if you are contemplating doing business in China, you'd be wise to investigate the practice.

Branding on the other hand is much the same. For your brand to be powerful, it too, must have a strong relationship with it's stakeholders. Branding's relationships are broader. My exposure to the concept of Guanxi was in a discussion with a consultant who spends a good deal of her time in mainland China. Her comment that. "...if you don't have Guanxi, you are pushing rope uphill." Without the branding relationship, you are not authentic and thus your brand suffers. Integrity is a cross-cultural value that is coveted by everyone.

Do you have Guanxi with your stakeholders?

How To Make Your CEO Brand A Leader.

What exactly is a CEO anyway? According to best selling author Warren Bennis in his book, "On Becoming A Leader," he sums it up this way:
"All leaders have four essential competencies. First, they are able to engage others by creating shared meaning. Second, all authentic leaders have a distinctive voice.The third quality is that all true leaders have integrity. But the one competence that I now realize is absolutely essential for leaders - the key competence- is adaptive capacity."

A great CEO as a leader - leads. A good many companies make decisions by consensus as if their business were a democracy, which it is not, or at least shouldn't be. If a business takes a consensus among it's stakeholders every time is makes a decision that involves which direction the company adopts to move forward, then chances are greater that the result will be mediocre at best. When it comes to matters of vision, the leader of the company should make the bold moves and inspire the stakeholders to "follow" his lead. The CEO Brand as leader uses their charisma to embolden staff to see their vision and embrace it as their own.

Poor CEO Brands look to the vision of others to help them. They follow the competition - anything rather than making a decision themselves. Great employees would be wise not to tie their wagons to this horse. Poor CEO Brands revel in their self-importance and fail to see the damage they are inflicting on the overall brand. These individuals are one step away from crashing.

A great CEO Brand stands by their convictions and surround themselves with the best talent to see their vision realized. They are true to themselves and the overall brand of the company. Stakeholders love to follow leaders and the marketplace idolizes them, ie: Steve Jobs, Walt Disney, Warren Buffet, Oprah and Donald Trump to name a few.

As a CEO Brand, which are you - a leader or a follower?

The Brand Copycat Podcast

This audio episode of Ed Roach's Two Cents Worth discusses why you should avoid copying the competition.

Group Love On Linkedin

A great place to get questions answered or meet plenty of potential leads and resources is Linkedin..The one frustrating thing though is that the site is deep and complicated. Many of my colleagues continually complain that they don't know how to benefit from it. Two opportunities I'd like to point out are:

ONE- join groups. These are simply groups of people with like interests. Choose groups that your target customer might be interested in. Also choose peer groups. Sometimes who you might otherwise see as competition may in reality be a great contact to team up with to go after new business. If there is a group that you can't find, you can start one yourself. Groups, like blogs allow great conversations back and forth.

TWO- as people connect to you and your connections grow, you can market directly to them. You can do this by saving your connection list out as a VCF file and importing them into your email list. You could even consider putting them into a special list or niche. Knowing they are your Linkedin names, you can fine tune your mail to their interests.

These are just two ways to benefit from Linkedin and there are more for you to enjoy as you slowly walk through it.

Personal Branding Event Strategy

Every business person gets invited repeatedly to events for everything ranging from charity fundraiser, to industry trade show, networking events and organization mixers. Many of you reading this absolutely refuse to attend for any number of good reasons. I'd like to present an option you may have failed to pick up on. That option is "personal branding." Building on the usual networking opportunities, events are perfect for building on your expert profile. Offer your expertise as a public speaker to organizers. What better way to set yourself apart. Following every speaking opportunity, members of the audience invariably ask you more questions off-stage, one-on-one.

Take the opportunity to also introduce people you know with others. This is the simple give before you get tactic. Aligning people expresses a confidence and people in the room see you as influential. To network, you don't have to be constantly spouting your elevator speech. This becomes tiring for both parties, plus it can be seen as too contrived. It is better to be seen as a generous connector. This will lead to joint opportunities and strengthen your personal brand.