Standing Under the Umbrella And Still Getting Wet

Make More Money Making a Name for Yourself

Calling all realtors, financial planners, insurance brokers, 

multi-level & network marketers, and anyone else who 

works in the precarious and often misunderstood position 

of operating under a large company brand umbrella yet 

operating as a separate business unto itself. You may find 

that you're standing under the umbrella and you're still 

getting wet-- not enjoying the unlimited personal and 

financial rewards that business opportunity offers.

Do you have trouble distinguishing yourself from another 

person working under the same umbrella brand? Do you 

feel the sting of this coming from the cubicle right next to 

you?

Do you sometimes feel that you don't get the support that 

you thought you would from the umbrella brand? Or, find 

your requests to the corporate office ignored?

Do you experience the pinch that comes from needing to 

tow the corporate line and the expectation to create your 

financial success as if you were operating your business as 

your own?

You can stop looking around. I'm not in your office. Really. 

You can stop looking around and you need to stop relying 

on the brand umbrella that you thought would provide you so 

much. Staying under there will only cause you more 

discomfort and take you further from fulfilling the dreams 

you had when you first started.

Don't look so dejected all is not lost. There's something you 

can do to turn the entire lose-lose situation around, but you 

have to be committed to being really successful and 

devoted to being truly happy. Not everyone is cut out for that. 

Are you?

Often, I have been hired to distinguish top-performing 

realtors from other realtors --their competition. Ninety-eight 

percent of time, the first thing my job calls for is to open the 

grip they have on their brokerage firm. You read it right, their 

grip on, not the grip the firm has on them. Once their clutch 

is relaxed, I can then successfully guide a real estate 

professional (or any type of broker or salesperson) to 

develop their own business as a brand; all the while 

honoring the larger umbrella brand that provides them the 

credibility and product value they need to cultivate their 

business. Working with an umbrella brand is a blessing, 

but it is not a crutch!

This applies to financial planners and insurance brokers as 

well with added attention given to the sensitive legal 

requirements of the larger institution. While a financial 

planner or insurance broker may drive everyday to an office 

building, park in the garage, walk past a receptionist sitting 

under the big brokerage logo, they eventually walk into their 

office or cubicle, sit at the desk of their own business and 

are responsible for getting their own clients and generating 

their own financial success.

Multi-level marketers and network marketers need to take a 

good step back from the brand they are selling because the 

umbrella brand's grasp is often even tighter. This keeps the 

majority of MLM participants from ever really hitting the 

marks that were promised as possible. The problem is not 

that the promised marks aren't possible. They're just so 

much more difficult to hit coming from the perspective at 

which most MLM salespersons operate.

When it comes to creating the business success you want 

in any of these or similar situations, it's not about distancing 

yourself from the umbrella brand's identity... it's about 

creating one of your own.

You need to take into your awareness that people don't just 

buy a product or service, they buy an experience. They buy 

something they believe in. They buy a feeling they can count 

on-- over and over and over. This is where you actually have 

an edge over the 'umbrella.'

The brand conglomerates find it very difficult to meet the 

experiential and emotional needs of the customers. They 

are just too big. You have the edge because you have what 

they don't; the individual customer and you connect with 

them on a daily basis.

It's what you do with that connection and how you 

communicate it that makes all the difference. This can be 

broken down into four important key factors:

*

Realize that the umbrella brand is not a job, it's a tool that 

you've invested in to assist you in offering a top-quality 

product or service. It's an instrument that both the public and 

yourself recognize as of value in your specific field. If you 

think of it as one of many possible tools, even if you never 

employ another one, you will put your brand umbrella in the 

proper perspective and actually be able to use it more fully.

*

Connect your own power to your business, after all, it is 

YOUR business. You are responsible for getting clients. 

You are responsible for keeping them. At the end of the day, 

you have to answer to your own disappointment or success. 

Remember, the power in any business is not the image of a 

business, it's not even the idea of the business, its the 

connection to the customer. They always will be yours.

*

Establish your own brand voice through all your business 

communications. Design your own look and feel to your 

materials. Don't just rely on what the umbrella brand 

provides you. Everyone else in your situation is doing that. 

Depending solely on the big brand's voice will not only hurt 

you, your customers will find it impossible to separate you 

from your competition.

Note: When developing your own materials, you do need to 

take into consideration the large brand logo, colors and 

even language. After all, not only did you choose that 

umbrella brand for a reason, your brand will need to work 

along side with it.

*

Know that your umbrella brand may be wary of your 

independence but they will most certainly love your financial 

success. They may buck some when you begin to deviate, 

but remember, going along with their plan is probably 

perpetuating your indistinguishable situation in the first 

place. Plain and simple... when you look great they look 

great. When you make money, they make money. When you 

make a lot more, they make a lot more. Period.

It's quite simple. You can make more money and 

experience greater enjoyment doing exactly what you're 

doing and working with the same umbrella brand, if you 

simply change your perspective.

By shifting your understanding from working under to 

working with your umbrella, you will find yourself using the 

'the big brand umbrella' as a tool, staying dry AND basking 

in the bright sunlight of success.

Kim A. Castle, Co-founder BrandU(TM), Co-Author of Why 

BrandU: Big Business Success No Matter Your Size, and 

the BrandU(TM) Bible, the only step-by-step workbook for 

developing your business as a brand.

www.whybrandu.com

© 2004 Castle Montone, Limited Reprinted with 

Permission.

Kim Castle successfully helps hundreds of small business owners grow their businesses and is co-author of the 150+ page BrandU Bible, the only step-by-step workbook that gives entrepreneurs the tools to develop their business as a brand and the upcoming Why BrandU: Big Business Success No Matter Your Size. Kim Castle’s motto is “Whether your market is the globe or your zip code, you have the power to communicate your business as a brand. You just haven’t been shown how… until now.”