Own your lane
Branding yourself for visibility
By Cynthia Reeves / Photo by Kate Treick Photography
When Michelle B. Griffin was 17 years old, she had a vision “to help people tell their stories.” That vision developed into a desire to open her own public relations company and to help entrepreneurs, particularly women, get noticed, known and chosen for their unique gifts.
Now at 55, Griffin is a TEDx and keynote speaker, an author, podcaster and leadership-branding/communication strategist who does just that. She teaches individuals and professionals, leaders and teams to communicate their value and earn recognition for their ideas and work.
Her latest project is a book series and personal branding tool called “Own Your Lane.” The first book in the three-part series is a workbook: “Position Yourself.” It follows her first publication, “The LinkedIn Branding Book.”
The Pensacola resident quit her corporate job five years ago and now works with clients all over the world. She helps them learn how to step out, brand themselves and pursue bigger opportunities.
Griffin says technology and social media have changed the world; there are fewer gatekeepers to hold us back.
“We can hop on YouTube, we can hop on social media, we can create our own book and self-publish all these things, so the tools of the trade are there, and it’s up to us,” she said.
Griffin understands all too well that it’s scary to put yourself out there — PYOT — but hopes her podcast, books and training will inspire others to take risks. For years, she found herself stalled by the “judgment monster.”
“It’s a self-perpetuating voice inside of us that if we listen to it, we’ll never get ahead,” she said.
She let fear of judgment hold her back until a few podcasts and a little research gave her the courage to fulfill the dreams she had as a teenager.
“I’m not going to be caged by this judgment monster. There are just so many people who die with their gifts inside of them, and I don’t want anyone to do that. We all have gifts. We all have something to contribute to the world,” she said.
Her “Position Yourself” book offers a four-step roadmap to “know, show and grow your personal brand authority.” The four positions are: preparation, positioning, presence and publicity. Using her signature Own Your Lane Recognition Roadmap, she helps women stand out.
LANE is an acronym for:
L: Launch Your Vision
A: Assert Your Difference
N: Navigate Your Presence
E: Elevate Your Authority
Griffin defines personal branding as different from just your good reputation. “Personal brands are crafted around how you strategically differentiate and communicate your unique value to others,” she said.
In her “LinkedIn Branding Book,” she cautions that branding is not about using a hashtag or showing up with personal pictures. “I call this ‘fluff’ personal branding. Instead, it requires a deep dive into who you are, what you stand for and what you believe in.”
For example, Griffin helps clients develop a “spark sound bite” to clearly communicate who they are and what they do, so it is concise and interesting.
“I teach them how to feel comfortable talking about themselves, because we all need that. We’re so close to what we do and it’s just that we can’t see our own brilliance,” she said.
She knows from personal experience that when launching a new idea, women in particular tend to second-guess themselves and wait for permission to move ahead — the old impostor syndrome.
Ultimately, she hopes her books and tools will help all would-be entrepreneurs feel less hidden or hesitant, so their gifts don’t die with them but are shared with the world.
Her next step is to release and complete the second and third books in her “Own Your Lane” series and expand an initiative she calls the “She’s Visible” movement.
Want to Know more?
Books available on Amazon and Kindle:
“The Linkedin Branding Book” by Michelle B. Griffin and Michelle J. Raymond; “
Position Yourself” by Michelle B. Griffin
Podcasts:
“The LinkedIn Branding Show;”
“Own Your Lane”
Website: michellebgriffin.com
