How External Validation is Holding You Back

Are you ready to transform your academic journey and build a personal brand that extends beyond the ivory tower? In this episode, we unlock the secrets to empowering your academic branding and mindset, offering invaluable insights for PhDs eager to turn their expertise into financial success. Discover the pivotal role of internal validation in carving a sustainable career path and learn how to overcome subconscious money blocks that might be holding you back. 

Follow Dr. Sheena Howards' socials:
@drsheenahoward | Power Your Research

Chapters

• 0:00 Empowering Academic Branding and Mindset
• 4:29 Developing Your Brand Vision and Assets
• 7:20 Effective Academic Branding for Researchers

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

And because we are primed and trained over and over and over again to rely on external validation, we forget that the most important validation is the internal validation. I don't want my work to be stuck behind an academic paywall. I want to leave a legacy. I want to reach my potential and I want to change lives. This podcast, power your Research, is my attempt to help the smartest people in the world do that very thing. My hope is that you use the lessons I share to make more money than what your higher ed job can ever pay you. I've done it, my clients have done it, and so can you. My hope is that you apply what you learn here and one day join the Power your Research program where you can work. Today we're talking about getting you clarity in your vision and brand. One of the first things that I notice PhDs trying to figure out when they come to me is you know what's my brand? They say things like I do multiple things, I have multiple passions. I can't tell people my brand in like one succinct sentence. And so the first phase of the nine-step power your research program covers mindset, your vision and your brand assets. So the first phase of the power your research program is all about getting the clarity that you need. So you have a strong foundation to build on in terms of getting the visibility and the authority and increasing your speaking engagement rates and consulting and making a lot of money and all of that good stuff. I'm just going to go over a couple of high points of the first phase of the Power your Research program because hopefully it'll help somebody out there to get started on figuring this all out. So the first step in the Power your Research process is mindset. We all have mindset issues. Some of us have common mindset issues. So some of the common mindset issues that I work through with my clients that is really specific in particular to my PhDs and those that have been in the educational system a long time is that we rely on external validation because that's what school is you do the work and you get a grade and someone tells you you did a good job or you didn't do a good job. And because we are primed and trained over and over and over again to rely on external validation, we forget that the most important validation is the internal validation. So, yes, we need other people to enroll in our thing and say that we did a good job and to pay us money because they see that we have a great program, but that's going to take you far, but it's not going to take you to the finish line. It's like somebody telling you that they believe in you but you don't believe in yourself. It's never going to work, and so internal validation is super, super important, and that's one of the common mindset things that we work through at the beginning of this process.

Speaker 1: 3:04

Then we all have some mindset things that we have to work through that are specific to us, and so having a feedback loop which is me because I'm your coach inside the power of your research program, having a feedback loop for someone to be able to identify the mindset issue you're having, help you get over it so that you can have a strong foundation is going to be super important, because the fact of the matter is you can't make a lot of money if you have money issues that are subconscious or conscious, that are going to be preventing you from having the self-esteem or self-value that you need to do things like increase your speaking engagement rate or charge more for consulting or whatever. It is so the first thing you want to work on before even embarking in trying to build your brand and get out there and get your work out. There is mindset, and the beautiful thing is on your entrepreneurship journey, because that's what you're on. If you're trying to build a, you're going to be required to address some of those mindset issues because they'll come up. You'll notice that they are holding you back and you have to figure out a way to blow past them. Hey, everyone, real quick. I don't run any ads on this podcast, so I have to rely on word of mouth. If this podcast has helped you in any way, please share it with a friend and follow me, dr Sheena Howard, on LinkedIn, where I give more free content on building your brand as an academic. If you tell me you came to my LinkedIn from the podcast, I'll make sure I accept your request.

Speaker 1: 4:29

The second step in the Power, your Research program is vision, and this kind of means two things really. So we see big brands out here all the time that are talking about the things that maybe we want to be talking about and we tend to feel like maybe our brand needs to look like that and feel like that and be like that, but that is not the case. You have to be you as I mentioned in a previous video and do it in a way that resonates with you. That doesn't mean you're not going to have to get out your comfort zone, but you have to be building a brand that resonates with who you are, your lifestyle, how your family structure is set up, how your lifestyle is set up, and so you need to get clear on what your future vision of this brand looks like so that you could do the things now to be intentional about that lifestyle that you want to live, the brand that you want to have, looking and feeling the way that you want it to look in the future. So this just requires you to take a few steps back and have someone guide you through documenting your vision, because sometimes you honestly don't know and you need that feedback loop.

Speaker 1: 5:26

For my academics and my clients with master's degrees, a lot of our vision is tied up and wrapped up in academe, especially if you've been on a tenure track, because you've done things solely to get tenure, solely to become a full professor or whatever. It is to the detriment of other things that you probably care about, because you probably care about more things than just your higher ed achievements. And once you get tenure and once you become a full professor, you naturally start thinking like, hmm, what else is next? And so taking a step back to figure out, even down to what you want your life to look like hour by hour, six months from now, a year from now, five years from now is super important. And then having that documented, the third step in the power year research process, which wraps up the first phase, which is the clarity phase your brand assets.

Speaker 1: 6:12

So brand colors, brand logos and all that stuff is really superficial and it tends to be the first thing we think about when it comes to building a brand. In my opinion, the color of your logo doesn't matter. The story you tell matters much more. Understanding who you're targeting and who your audience is and what your promise to that audience is, and connecting the thing that you want to do with what the market actually wants is more important than you spending a year trying to figure out what your colors are. So when I say brand assets, I mean your brand statement, which includes your promise to your audience, your brand adjectives, which includes who you're showing up as when you log on to a video, and your brand archetype, which revolves around the story that you're creating about around your brand that resonates with you and that will resonate with your audience.

Speaker 1: 6:57

So one quick example my brand statement is I create experiences for free thinkers to feel empowered when they're challenging the status quo. In one sentence, you know who I am, what I do and who I do it for. It is clear. It might prompt you to ask more questions, which is good, but it's clear. You automatically know if I'm someone you want to continue talking to and possibly work with or not.

Speaker 1: 7:20

And so my brand statement helps me say yes and no to opportunities, because as you build your brand, as you get more visibility and authority, you're going to attract more opportunities, which is a good thing. But if you don't have the clarity the North star, so to speak you're going to be accepting opportunities that are actually distractions, that are actually taking you farther away from the thing that you want. And so those are kind of the three steps in the Power your Research process and I hope they help some of you out there and I hope to see you on a free call with me 30 minutes. I'll go over the Power your Research process. You can bring a pen and a piece of paper to take notes to get started. If you are an academic with a PhD or a master's degree, come see me. Come share your dreams and goals and what you're trying to do, and I'll help you increase your visibility, authority and income without the expense of a publicist.