This week I had the extreme pleasure of talking about Personal Branding for more than 400 Orbitz employees around the globe. It’s a fascinating subject, and one I’m passionate about, but it is the story of how I landed this engagement that I want to share with you now.

Tweet about it here: Is your personal brand sticky? @simasays #cocktailnapkinquote#personalbrands#swayfactor

Personal Branding Flash-back

In 2004 I was still a corporate high tech marketer, and I did a little consulting on the side. A friend of mine who worked at Orbitz recommended me for a freelance assignment, and so it was that I came to write and manage the Orbitz for Business and Orbitz Hotels monthly e-newsletters.

Flash-forward to 2011. I’d been out on my own just three years when I was referred to Orbitz again, this time to speak to their Women’s Leadership Team about personal branding & social networking. And soon after came a third assignment to facilitate a customer meeting at the Ritz-Carlton in Half Moon Bay. { swank! }

Referrals Can Come At Any Time

So when the phone rang earlier this year, and the woman on the other end of the line said she had never met me, but that I was referred to her by someone who heard me speak more than four years ago, I was not one bit surprised.

Practice What You Preach

Because I practice what I preach. Because I work hard to ensure my network knows my current personal brand position, and I use my digital footprint to stay visible in the social stream.

People who have changed careers like to argue with me that their former colleagues are “of no value to them now.” People who sell complex B2B solutions tell me none of their Facebook friends is in a position to buy, so why bother.

It’s simply untrue. Everyone who knows you is a potential brand champion, a dot connector and door opener. Everyone who knows you knows someone who should know you…

Your network will bring you amazing opportunities to do more of what you love if only they knew what that was. The onus is on you to promote who you are now and to remind your network where you’re headed. Get there.