“I do not know the secret for success, but I know that the secret for failure is trying to please everybody”

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hat’s what Bill Cosby is attributed to have said. I couldn’t have said it better and succinctly. Look at the hordes of people coming out of our schools these days. What is their focus? Is it to sharpen their brand? There is in fact quite a number who believe that “prison” is over and now they have freedom! For the most part, most of these people are looking for one thing: a job. But the heart breaking thing is that they do not know what they want to do, that’s why they will say they “just want any job”. But that is changing.

Make no mistake. I have no problem with jobs whatsoever. What I discourage though is engaging in an activity without having the needed insight for it. Jobs are good. My mentor Myles Munroe however says that[ictt-tweet-inline] what we do after 5:00 O’clock is the most important thing in our career[/ictt-tweet-inline]—because that is now the time to work and build on our brands.

Day Jobs and Dream Jobs

Having the mindset that you and I were born for a specific purpose, and having answered the most important question in your life, it follows that the most logical thing to do is to daily focus on sharpening your brand.

This can be done even when you have a day job. Our goals however must be that as we endeavor to be faithful to our day jobs, we need to gravitate towards what my fellow author Karry Oberbrummer calls, Dream job.

You will realize that your dream job has very many people that are already excelling in it. If not, you will also realize that there are very many people that espouse the values that you cherish concerning your life purpose that you can study and implement in your own life.

The One Potent Way To Sharpen Your Brand

So [ictt-tweet-inline]One more potent method of sharpening your brand is “Mirroring”[/ictt-tweet-inline]. This simply means that you identify an industry leader in your “Dream Job”, and decide to do what they do incrementally until you are the mirror image of what they are. Now, before you can quote and tell me,

“Be yourself because every other position is already taken”,

before you can unleash another advice saying,

“You were born an original, do not spend your life aping others and die a cheap copy of someone else’s original”,

indulge me for a minute.

• Android phones are more than iPhones world-wide…yet iPhones were the original smartphones. Android technology just mirrored what Apple had already given the world. In the war of smartphones, that of Samsung and Apple has been iconic.
• Nokia decided to be true to themselves and not “ape” the smartphone euphoria. One the most respected brand in Mobile Telephony, they are no longer market leaders for they did not “Mirror”.
• As much as you might be in the same niche with your industry leader, Mirroring him or her does not mean copying their style, their voice and their brand. Mirroring is instead, replicating their structure and systems, because without a system you cannot reach their status.

Why Mirroring is Important.

There are obvious reasons why mirroring is a good way to sharpen your brand in obscurity.

1. Shortcuts

I know I am against shortcuts but I champion of processes and systems. Mirroring however saves you a lot of time in research and trailblazing. Your “Virtual Mentors” are already there and they are already winning with what they are doing. Since it is already proven to work, there is no need to reinvent the wheel.

2. Platform for Innovation

Since you do not need to invent, you now have an excellent opportunity to innovate with what already exists. Like I already said, mirroring is not about copying and pasting in total. It is about customizing and tweaking to suit your “signature”. The raw materials for this customization already exist and that’s why you are mirroring.

4. Benchmark

It is easy to know the steps, processes and efforts to make unlike when you are scrapping around from scratch. The Benchmark is already set. The bad news is that the customers you are targeting will gauge you against the standards that the industry leader has set. The good news is that you can ape those standards and adopt them through mirroring.

Examples of Who I Mirror

Lawrence Namale is a Life Coach, Speaker, Author and Consultant. In my niche as a Coach, there are quite a number of names. In my calling as a purpose trainer, I look up to the late Dr. Myles Munroe. There is no human I know that has spoken as extensively on this subject as Dr. Munroe. Mirroring Dr. Munroe on this subject helps me to grow and get some level of authority in it.

Other people that I mirror are as follows:

1. Mike Murdock (On the subject of Wisdom and Productivity)
2. Jentezen Franklin (On the subject of faith, passion and family)
3. Chris Oyakhilome (On incredible depth and purity in studying Spirituality)
4. Dutch Sheets, Charles Swidoll, Francine Rivers and Malcolm Gladwell on writing incredible best sellers.

A Mirroring Example

As a blogger, I look up to Michael Hyatt. The man has more than 700,000 followers on his blog. He writes on specific topics such as productivity and technology. He has a virtual class called “Platform University”. He writes every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Mirroring him for me would be something of this nature:

1. Get a structure in writing where my audience can expect an article on particular days, or after a particular duration. (Done)
2. Segment all my articles to center around 3 topics: Purpose, Productivity and Resilience (Done)
3. Invite like-minded and passionate leaders to contribute their knowledge with my followers (In progress)
4. Build a mailing list of faithful followers and raving fans. (Pending)
5. Build a Virtual Class on Life on Purpose (Pending)
6. Create a Streaming Podcast Channel on my area of passion (Pending)
7. Build Collaboration with industry leaders by profiling and showcasing them in Interviews on my blog (Pending)

The list can only be populated to the degree that I study Michael Hyatt and internalize the way he is doing his craft.

How To Carry Out Effective Mirroring

1. Use Quarters:

Divide the major areas that you need to work on into 4. For example, as I am mirroring Michael Hyatt, these areas might be: 1) Podcasting 2) Mailing List 3) Virtual Class room and 4)Interviews.

My focus would then be to distribute these areas throughout a 12 month period (regardless of when I start). This means that each major area will have 3 months of focus. In other words, I will not engage in any other area of improvement and focus until one area is done and dusted. Then I move to the next. Finally, in one year, I will have the semblance of the market leader.

2. Positively  Stalk

This means following the leader wherever they are on social media and consuming all their content. This will simply teach you to see how they do their work and before you know it, you have their “spirit” of operation in you. This is what keeps them going. Reply to them, retweet them, customize their content and credit them, quote them and so on. Chances are that they might notice you and probably give you their platform as and when you measure up to their standards

3. Seek them Deliberately

After a while, you might directly seek them out for one of these three things:

• Affiliation: This is where you are an extension of their presence in your part of the world. If people needed his services in your part of the world, they go through you.
• Collaboration: This means that you put up something and you seek them out to be part of it. It is a tall order here, but as long as you are adding value to them and their brand, chances are that you will make it.
• Partnership: This means that your stature has grown to the level of you reaching their level. At this juncture, the two of you are now able to share the same platform. This should be the goal for all of us. It happens with the best of the best. It is not uncommon to see an email from Brian Tracy touting Tony Robbins, or Michael Hyatt touting John Lee Dumas. Can you imagine if I had access to Michael Hyatt’s 700000 people in one mail? Incredible.

It takes just one industry leader to notice you and open the doors for you to other industry leaders. So you better play your mirroring game well and be prepared for your moment. Be ready when it comes.