How's Your Personal Brand?

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Creating a second act in mid-life and beyond takes reinvention. But our guest today tells us it’s only part of the story. Wendy Marx, author of Thriving at 50+: The 7 Principles to Reinvent & Rebrand Yourself, notes that it’s wise to also update and upgrade your personal brand.

We discuss with Wendy:

The biggest challenges that people 50 + face today
The story behind how her book came about
What it takes to reinvent yourself in a mid-career or second career context
The ways people cultivate the mindset necessary for reinvention
How people find a new purpose
What a personal brand is – and why it’s so important today for those of us who are 50+
Her stories of people’s reinvention and rebranding
Wendy’s personal story of how she reinvented and rebranded yourself
Her advice on how to reinvent yourself

Wendy Marx joins us from Connecticut.

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Bio

Wendy Marx is an award-winning public relations and marketing communications executive who helps B2B companies and executives become well-known brands. Her ability to take SMBs from “Anonymity to the New York Times”™ has driven the growth of Marx Communications.

Her book, “Thriving at 50 Plus” draws on over 30 years of experience, and her own career reinvention (times 5!). She’s helped hundreds of people go from anonymity to influential thought leaders

For the last 20+ years, she has served as president of Marx Communications, which has helped numerous companies become industry icons. Her firms’ PR efforts have directly led to companies inking major partnership deals with Dow Jones, The NASDAQ and other major organizations, and spurred their being acquired.

Among her achievements, Wendy planned and executed the original public relations strategy that helped fuel the spectacular growth of Peppers and Rogers Group, the world’s preeminent customer relationship firm.

Her technology and business articles have appeared in the New York Times, Information Week, and Computerworld and she has written advertorials for Fortune and Forbes on technology subjects. She blogs on public relations and marketing leadership issues for Fast Company. She is a cum laude graduate of Brandeis University, holds an MBA from the University of Michigan and a master’s degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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Wise Quotes

On Reinvention

“Realize that you don’t reinvent yourself by snapping your fingers and going, I’m going to reinvent. It’s actually a time-consuming process. It’s not just a straight upward trajectory. And in the process of writing my book, I interviewed many, many people who had successfully reinvented and rebranded themselves. And based on that, I developed a framework that I call my seven principles. And that includes everything from having a Growth Mindset, to being uncomfortable, a willingness to learn, finding your purpose, storytelling, personal branding, and social media and mentoring. And by following those steps, you can truly have a successful reinvention and rebranding.”

On Why You Shouldn’t Go it Alone

“One is that if you’re stuck like that, it’s often helpful. When I actually did this myself to hire a coach, somebody who can, I like to say, give you a Swift kick on the behind so that you’re able to start checking yourself a little bit and making some changes. If you don’t want to hire a coach, another thing is to be part of a support group where you’re with other people who are contending with some of the same challenges you are, and you can mutually help each other. Also doing some volunteer work. Often times you start doing something and that ends up changing you. What psychologists and researchers have found is that just sitting on the couch and musing about your life and ruminating and wondering What can I do? What did I do wrong? doesn’t get you anywhere. You need to take action.”

On Storytelling

“Storytelling is a powerful tool. If it’s done correctly, it’s another way of getting people to engage with you. If you simply reel off some facts, most of the time, the facts are not interesting. But if you weave together your life story into a story that has a natural arc to it, people are going to want to engage with you. That’s why we love to read books. We love to read especially non-fiction books that are written more like fiction. We love movies because they all have a natural story arc. And in this case, you’re the hero of your story.”

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For More on Wendy Marx

Thriving at 50+

Follow on Twitter: @wendymarx

Contact: wendy@thrivingat50plus.com

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Advice for Successful Career Women Transitioning to Retirement – Helen Dennis

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