Probably my favorite professional read of 2018 has been Ryan Rhoten’s Career Kred: 4 Simple Steps to Build Your Digital Brand & Boost Credibility In Your Career. This is a well-written primer for people, providing technical information in an easy-to-digest format. Rhoten explains to the reader the importance of having a digital presence, and then proceeds to describe in detail how to create that presence. More importantly, Rhoten points out why just having an online account, such as LinkedIn, is not enough:
“Merely having an account today is like attending a networking event only to stand in the corner and not talk to anyone. Today, if you want to stand out and build your Career Kred, you have to work the digital room.”
Rhoten breaks personal branding down into four parts: Define, Integrate, Create, Engage, or DICE for short. At first, I tried to do each exercise in his book as I came to it. Eventually, I figured out it’s best to read through the whole book first, then download his Career Kred Workbook and do the exercises. Getting a great overview is definitely the way to go.
When I am reading a book for professional development, I usually highlight and take notes. I took pages and pages of notes from this one! I learned new words and phrases, like “relentless giver” and “content curation.” Going in, I thought I had a good handle on LinkedIn, Twitter and website creation. But that’s just scratching the surface of social media, as Rhoten clearly indicated in Career Kred. He does an excellent job of explaining how and why to use Zoom, IFTTT, Zapier, Buffer, BuzzSumo, Quora, Feedly…and more!
This book is a must-read for small businesses, especially for people who aren’t digital natives and need a bit of hand-holding through the process of marketing their product online. Rhoten epitomizes what being a “relentless giver” is all about, as he has given the world an excellent resource. My only caveat: in the Define exercises, don’t spend the $55 for the Fascination Advantage results. I have spent years taking assessments and giving assessments, and this one is not worth it.
Two bonuses:
1) he created a workbook that you can download to do the exercises in his book, and
2) he introduces you to several experts in the field and where you can find them online for more guidance.