How to Win Projects and Influence Bosses: The CAD
Professional's Guide to Personal Branding
Curt Moreno – Kung Fu Drafter
Marielle Covington - Autodesk
CM2971
Let's face it: These are tough times. It's not enough to be a great CAD professional; you have to stand out in the
crowd. Whether you are trying to land bigger projects as a freelancer or an employee, you must develop your
personal brand.
Learn what a personal brand is and what it can do for your career. Become a known name in your company and not
just a number. Personal branding can lead to work on interesting projects and give you influence on your working
situation at your firm. Learn what "social media" is, how to create a blog, and how they can improve your skills, create
your brand, and give you answers to questions before anyone else. Use your personal brand to help you improve
your job security, create new opportunities, and maybe make finding that next job a bit easier.
Learning Objectives
At the end of this class, we hope that you will be able to:

Understand what brands are and the importance of a personal brand

Begin creating a personal brand

Build industry contacts through social media & blogging

Overcome the fear of attention
About the Speaker
Curt Moreno is the owner and editor of Kung Fu Drafter, a blog that is CAD centric and geek peripheral.
He is an active contributor to Cadalyst and CADspeed, is the AutoCAD Content Manager for AUGIworld
and an Autodesk University speaker. Curt currently lives in Houston where he is the CAD Coordinator for
a Texas-based engineering firm, is a public speaker and trainer, and enjoys spending time with his dog
and horses. Visit his blog at www.kungfudrafter.com, follow him on Twitter at @WKFD, or search for him
on Google+.
Email: kfd@kungfudrafter.com
Marielle Covington has a broad range of experience leading social media strategies for a number of
business-to-business companies. At Autodesk, Marielle is responsible for the design and implementation
of the social media strategies associated with AutoCAD, including the acclaimed AutoCAD Facebook fan
page with over 1.2 million fans. In addition to spearheading AutoCAD social media activities, Marielle
influences the strategic direction of Autodesk-related social properties. Prior to Autodesk she served as
a public relations and digital media consultant to start ups and Fortune 100 B2B and B2C companies in
the technology and travel and hospitality industries. In that role, Marielle ensured that strategies were
aligned with business objectives, goals were measurable and projects were completed on time. Marielle
is a recent MBA graduate of the Thunderbird School of Global Management and a proud University of
Colorado at Boulder alum.
How to Win Projects and Influence Bosses: The CAD Professional's Guide to Personal Branding
Introduction
This course is meant for the freelancer, the sole proprietor and employed CAD professional
alike, who is tired of being a face in the crowd and wants to stand out among their peers and
coworkers. Both new and veteran CAD professionals can benefit from working on their personal
image and transforming it into a personal brand.
Whatever path you chose, whether it be to become recognized in your company, start a blog, or
become a known name on Twitter, the goal of this session is to encourage every CAD
professional to become an outstanding self promoter and to become more than "drafters".
Understanding What Brands Are
" A brand is the set of expectations, memories, stories and relationships that, taken
together, account for a consumer’s decision to choose one product or service over another." Seth Godin
Brands are something that we encounter on a
daily basis. Whether it is a giant Home Depot
logo on the hood of a NASCAR race car or
something as subtle as the distinct Coca-Cola,
brands are everywhere. They have become a
expected part of the world we live in and with
good reason. Brands built by corporations alert
us to aspects and features of products and services we like. This cues us to keep these
products and services at the front of our mind and then seek them out in the future. This form of
marketing is a huge factor in our selective process.
Fortunately personal brands work in much the same way. When a person works to build a
personal brand they are working to create a body of work that relates aspects and features of
our work to others. Just as Seth Godin was quoted above, a personal brand builds a "set of
expectations, memories, stories, and relationships ..." And just like as is the case with a
corporate brand, a personal brand cues the people who buy our services and keeps us at the
front of their mind and causes them to seek us out.
Personal Brands and Your Career
Is a personal brand something that you should consider for your own career? This is an
important question and one that every professional should decide, whether they are freelancers
or employees. Well the good news is that the answer to this question has already been decided
for you. As an individual, with your own personality and nuances, you already have a personal
brand! Surprised? Don't' be.
Take a mental tally and begin to add up these possible access points of your personal brand.
Do you have a LinkedIn account? Do you have a Twitter account? Do you enjoy sending cute
cat photos to old high school friends on Facebook or funny emails to your coworkers? All of
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How to Win Projects and Influence Bosses: The CAD Professional's Guide to Personal Branding
these are planks in your personal foundation. Even if you are a total modern Luddite, you have
a personal brand.
You interactions with your family, friends, and coworkers build
history of behavior that these people come to expect and rely on.
Perhaps you are the person who knows all about gardening.
Perhaps you are a wine expert. Or maybe you just know alot about
movies. Any one of these, or probably several of these, apply to
yourself or someone you know. These could all be elements of
your personal brand.
Being the person who knows every movie starring Kevin Bacon could be pretty great, but it
probably won't get you a promotion. In order for your personal brand to help you in the
workplace you must put forth qualities that create positive expectations with your coworkers.
Being the person in the office who knows all the latest Revit modeling technique can build those
expectations. And those expectations are the foundation of personal brand that can have a
positive impact on your career.
So, What's My Brand?
If some fun and care free personal brands can include movie "Know-it-All" and "GreenThumbed" neighbor, what are some examples of useful personal brands in the office? Well the
list is nearly endless, but it is important to remember that a personal brand is made of more than
just one trait. Therefore a short list of helpful personal brand qualities could include the
following:
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Team motivator
Not being afraid to be honest
Being a subject matter expert
This is just a tiny list of traits that help your personal brand in the workplace.
Example:
Let's assume that you work for a small to medium architecture firm as a project manager.
You've been with the company several years but have yet had the opportunity to work on a
"large" project. Large projects mean high priority and high profile both inside and outside of your
firm, so these are much sought after assignments. Then one day, in comes a request for
qualifications for a high profile commercial project.
When your senior management meets discuss pursuing this high profile project they begin by
naming a project manager, a leader. So they look at the available staff and, as luck would have
it, current workloads have taken several project managers out of the running and placed you in
the race with several other coworkers. Will they choose an employee who is a mid-range project
manager who does moderate work that they have never taken much notice in? Or, will they
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How to Win Projects and Influence Bosses: The CAD Professional's Guide to Personal Branding
choose an up an coming project manager who has been getting smaller jobs done, looking for
bigger challenges, and made it clear that he is ready to step up to the plate?
Will they even remember the name of the mid-range project manager or will they take one look
at this new project and say "I think this is a job that would be perfect for ..."?
You want to be the name at the end of that sentence. You want to have the big project to build a
big career. But in order to be the name at the end of the sentence you must begin with a
personal brand that builds an expectation of ambition, ability, and desire that will keep you at the
foreground of your senior management's mind!
If you are struggling to define what your personal brand is about, consider trying this exercise:




I help people who spend/enjoy/love _______ or who need ________ .
Who are facing __________
While enabling __________
Compared to __________
After answering the above questions (about your personal abilities) you should have a strong
understanding of what helps you stand out from the crowd.
Creating Your Brand
Setting a Goal
The core of any project or endeavor is a clearly defined goal. Creating a personal brand is no
different than building a bridge.
In the case of a bridge the goals are obvious: 1) to connect to
locations that are currently separated by some obstacle, and
2) to do it safely. In order for a bridge to be functional it has to,
at a minimum achieve the first goal. After all, a bridge that
does not bridge some sort of gap is not much of a bridge, now
is it. Secondly, it is important that this goal be achieved with
the safety of all those involved in mind. If building and using
the bridge is dangerous then the bridge serves no purpose.
Your personal brand is, in many ways, the same as our hypothetical bridge. It serves many
purposes but one is to connect two things that are currently separated, and to do it safely. In the
case of branding, the connection is made between people. That would be you, as the creator of
the brand, the people who you want to sell your brand to. That could be your boss, your client,
or maybe the client you hope is your new boss. The possibilities are endless. However, what we
are certain of is that you want to do this safely.
If you were just going to come in to the office one day and make an overt statement that you are
just working there until something better comes along, well that can be dangerous for your
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How to Win Projects and Influence Bosses: The CAD Professional's Guide to Personal Branding
career now and hopes for the future. However, if you were to build a bridge to get you from
where you are now to new opportunities either inside or outside your firm, then that is a bridge
safe to travel.
What is Your Goal?
You reading this handout and attending this Autodesk University session for reason. Perhaps it
has not fully solidified in your mind yet, but it is there.
Perhaps you have spent years with your head down, working hard but being fairly unnoticed or
even unappreciated. You have put your time in, grown your skills, and gained experience and
now you are ready to cash in on some of that career capital. You want to be noticed so the next
time an interesting project comes in or a promotion is open your name will be on the list!
Perhaps you have decided that there is no room for advancement. There are no interesting
projects and you've reached the glass ceiling. Only it's not smooth and pretty like glass. It is
rough and coarse and irritates you every time you rub against it like sandstone. You want to find
a new job with opportunities for advancement where you work will have some impact!
These would both be perfectly reasonable and common goals. They are definitely goals shared
by millions of people in offices all over the world. But what if you don't really fall in the "want a
better job" category? Are there other reasons for building a brand? Well of course.







You want more challenge in your work
You want more autonomy
You want more clients
You want more acknowledgement or recognition
You want more access to the boss
You want the corner office
You just want to stand out
All of these are viable and great reasons to start shaping your personal brand. But, whatever
your goal it is best to have a goal before you begin!
That is not to say that a personal brand without a goal is useless! Perhaps you are a person
who has a fine job, who likes their boss, and thinks things are just peachy. You are also a
person who has a great deal of knowledge in the area sustainable design. But your current
work, while satisfying, does not take advantage of that. Then what is wrong with letting people
know you have green on the brain? Build a personal brand today as the go-to person in your
office on the topic of sustainability! Perhaps the future will bring you opportunities that you are
not even aware exist, but are fully equipped to take advantage of.
The wonderful thing about knowledge, when combined with a personal brand, is this: It's like the
IBM shares your grandmother gave you when you were 10. They may just sit there now, maybe
even for years. But their value just grows and grows. And one day when the right opportunity
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How to Win Projects and Influence Bosses: The CAD Professional's Guide to Personal Branding
comes along you will be able to use your personal brand just like a shareholder certificate and
cash in on your knowledge thanks to your personal brand!
You, Your Brand, and the Internet
Blogging
Blogging has become such a de facto part of many people's lives. When we meet someone
selling a service, product, or idea we almost naturally assume that they maintain a blog or some
other form of website. But what exactly is blogging and how can it help you build a personal
brand?
"A Web site containing the writer's or group of writers' own experience, observations, opinions,
etc., and often having images and links to other Web sites." - Dictionary.com
Well that is boring. The truth is that "blogging" began a means for people to keep online
journals. These sites were usually very simple one page affairs with text and were referred to, in
the beginning, as "web logs." Well a few years and some work crunching later and "web logs"
became "blogs" and everyone seemed to have one. As the blogging landscape continued to
evolve the sites became more intricate and covered a more diverse topic range than what you
might find in the average "diary."
Now a "blog" is really just another name for a site. On a technical level it is often hard to discern
what is a "blog" and what is a "normal" website, and that is great. The creates a level playing
field on which you, as an individual, can create a presence online, using fairly straight forward
software. While brands like Coca-Cola and Pepsi literally spend millions of dollars on their web
presence you can spend nothing and have a spot on the internet to express yourself, share your
expertise, or tell people about every movie Kevin Bacon has been in.
That's right, you can do it for free. Or you can decide
to pay a few dollars a month and use a turn-key
service that has a few more bells and whistles. Or
you could even decide to just sit down and build a
site from scratch! However you do it, if you put it out
there and you offer sincere help, insight, or other
advice and share your own experience along the
way, you've got a blog! That can be a great thing!
Sure you might be the "go-to" person at the office when the two or three CAD pro's you work
with need help, but isn't there more? What if you could hang your own little shingle on the
internet and share your wealth of experience with other people, people you don't work with?
And what if, in return, you begin to build a network of contacts of the sort of people who might
have an answer to a question you have one day? Doesn't that sound great? And if you can
develop a reputation as the "go-to blogger" for a certain CAD niche, then all the better! You will
have successfully begun building your brand and a network of peers who have positive
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How to Win Projects and Influence Bosses: The CAD Professional's Guide to Personal Branding
expectations of you, your abilities, and your communications skills. And all you had to do was
make that first post.
Now, don't get the idea that one post is all it takes. Because it isn't! No, blogging is work. It can
be difficult to determine where blogging fits into your schedule and life. But finding that fit begins
with opening your blog. So take a look at some of the more popular sites that offer blogging
platforms. One of these could play host to the world's next great CAD blog, yours.

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Blogger (www.blogger.com) - Owned and operated by Google
SquareSpace (www.squarespace.com) - An easy to use, affordable service with lots of
features
Typepad - (www.typepad.com) - Widely used blogging platform
Wordpress - (wordpress.org)Arguably the world's more used blogging platform
Needless to say, there are an unimaginable number of blog platforms, hosts, and services. So
much so that it can be quite overwhelming. Just remember, the key to starting is to start. Do not
fret the format, address, or service. Just pick one. No matter what service you choose, hundreds
of thousands of bloggers can't be wrong. They all have something good to offer!
All you need to do is write that first post. Then the second. Then the third. Then just keep at it.
Before you know it you will have a nice body of work to reference, an audience that reads your
posts, and the reassurance that maybe you do know what you are doing!
Social Networks
Fortunately there are as many methods to create a personal brand as there are possible
aspects to a personal brand. These, of course, include online as well as offline methods. So
let's begin looking at some.
No discussion on brand building would be complete without a
look at the phenomenon of social media. It is probably best to
begin a discussion of social media by establishing a definition
of what it is.
"Social media employ web- and mobile-based technologies to
support interactive dialogue and 'introduce substantial and
pervasive changes to communication between organizations,
communities, and individuals.'" - Wikipedia
So what does that mean? Basically social media boils down to
a mechanism by which people can easily communicate,
exchange ideas, and build dialogs. That is what makes it a
fantastic tool for use in building your personal brand.
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How to Win Projects and Influence Bosses: The CAD Professional's Guide to Personal Branding
Facebook
Today, when people speak about an online presence, the first thing that comes to mind is the
popular social site Facebook. And with good reason. With millions of users from around the
world the possibility to reach a vast number of people is within everyone's reach. For these
reasons Facebook has become a major player for both corporate and personal brands.
Take a look at some of the brands making a home on Facebook:
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Coca-Cola
Ford
Disney
Autodesk
AutoCAD
Over the past several years Facebook has made some major changes to the platform allowing
both individuals and companies to leverage the platform to reach their relevant audiences. The
settings and control that the Facebook platform provides gives every individual the ability to not
only filter the content that their audience sees but also extend the life of that content through
advertising on the site.
Whether you are new to Facebook or have been using it for years, there is always more to
learn. Rather than detailing all of the latest Facebook features here, we recommend you check
out Mashable’s Facebook Guidebook which includes how to manage your own profile as well as
a company fan page, leveraging Facebook applications and engaging with your fan base.
http://mashable.com/guidebook/facebook/
Twitter
There are very few avenues that have not been touched by Twitter's reach in the past few
years. From citizen journalists tweeting reports of protests and natural events to celebrities
raising awareness, Twitter's reach is wide and diverse. Again, the number of users and diverse
discussions being held make Twitter an ideal brand building tool.
Twitter is much like Facebook in that there are millions of daily users and the product evolves at
a very fast pace. See Mashable’s Guide to Twitter for tips, tricks and best practices for getting
the most out of the this real-time social network. http://mashable.com/guidebook/twitter/
Other Social Networks
But there are more social networks than just Facebook and Twitter. Depending on your
particular position and employer the number of sites offering socializing components are nearly
countless. It can certainly be said that no matter what your interests, industry, or goals there is a
social network that is appropriate for you. Just look at this short list:


AUGI (www.augi.com) - A community of CAD professionals using Autodesk products
DeviantART (www.deviantart.com) - A community of artists of all sorts
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How to Win Projects and Influence Bosses: The CAD Professional's Guide to Personal Branding

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

Flickr (www.flickr.com) - A community of photographers
Foursquare (foursquare.com) - A location based social network
GetGlue (getglue.com) - A community of entertainment focused users and
commentators
Pinterest (pinterest.com) – A content sharing service that allows members to "pin"
images, videos and other objects to their pinboard.
Any number of these social networks could be fantastic tool in helping to promote your personal
brand. Perhaps you choose to build a portfolio on DeviantART to let people know how deep and
creative your artistic side is. Or perhaps you choose to joint AUGI and take an active role in
helping others on the forums to build a reputation as a problem solver and "go-to" person.
Whatever combination you choose, or in what genre, social networks are powerful online tools
with communities focused on specific (or general) topics that can be fantastic platforms for your
personal brand. However, there are also some old-fashioned, offline methods you can employ.
Building Your Brand Offline
Getting to Know Your Coworker
Before there were social networks on the Internet, and even before there was an Internet,
people have been developing personal brands for decades. The concept of "personal branding"
may be relatively new, but the old-fashioned art of conversation is timeless. And when it comes
to building a personal brand in a non-tech way, conversation is where it is at.
"But I'm not a very good conversationalist," is a common protest, but it isn't as bad as all that.
The hardest part of taking full advantage of conversation is just saying something. And let's face
it, technical people can often be on the shy side. But in order to be a great self-promoter, you
eventually have to take it offline. The great thing is that you can start as small as the person at
the next desk!
Personal branding in the office begins with something as simple as offering an answer when a
coworker is stuck on a problem. This is the beginning to building your brand as the go-to-person
with the answers to the hard questions. The wonderful flip side of this is that helping people you
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How to Win Projects and Influence Bosses: The CAD Professional's Guide to Personal Branding
work with exposes you to the most difficult aspects of your own work. This sort of exposure
helps to stretch your own skill set and that leads you to having even more answers. Before you
know it, you are the go-to-person.
Being the go-to-person is a very good step towards becoming a known name in your company.
Building these skills and positioning yourself this way is what author Cal Newport refers to as
"Career capital" in his book "So Good They Can't Ignore You." All of this is an important phase
towards elevating your status and puts you in a position to take on bigger challenges and move
into more responsible positions.
Of course, offline branding happens in more places than just the office. Events like user group
meetings, conventions, and industry gatherings are all great opportunities to spread your new
brand as a knowledgeable person in your industry. Carrying your willingness to help others to
these sorts of gatherings and events will lay a solid foundation for you to build a professional
network of people in your industry that you have met face to face. While you can, and should,
build your online brand in much the same way, there is something more "real" and "genuine"
about meeting someone face to face.
Following this strategy of helping others, stretching your technical skills, and building your
network are all solid steps to creating your personal brand offline. This strategy, if sustained, will
see your skills leap frog over those of your coworkers and competitors. Greater skills will allow
you to help more people and that will directly enhance the reach of your network. That reach will
bring you in contact with people in your industry who already have a positive expectation of you
and can open new doors. These can be doors to speaking, writing, and employment
opportunities.
All you have to do is start by saying something.
Overcoming the Fear of Attention
Many Names, One Truth
There are plenty of reasons that people feel are good "reasons" for not creating a personal
brand. This is especially true when it comes to building a brand offline and in person. Whether
you believe that it is because you "do not have anything worth teaching" or "are shy" it is much
simpler than that. All of these excuses, and many more, are covers for the truth that you are
actually afraid of attention, the attention of your equals.
It's not at all uncommon. In fact we are all shy at one point or another. This can be especially
true when we plan to place our skill set on display for people we suspect may be smarter than
ourselves. While this is a common issue, there is a one thing that you must realize that could be
the key to unlocking your future as a great self-promoter is this: No one knows absolutely
everything.
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How to Win Projects and Influence Bosses: The CAD Professional's Guide to Personal Branding
It's true. No matter who you are there is something that
someone can teach you and that you can teach someone
else. Equally important is the fact that regardless of how long
you have been working in your industry as a CAD
professional there is someone, somewhere who has just
begun. That means that you can always rest assured that
there will be someone who will be grateful when you take the
time to share your knowledge. This basic fact invalidates the
fear of attention.
So do not be afraid of the attention that your well-developed skill set may bring. Do not be afraid
of the attention you create by promoting your personal brand. But most of all, do not be afraid of
the attention you get when new opportunities open up to you through your people who have
positive expectations of you!
In Conclusion
In this day and age of ubiquitous communication and the mainstream acceptance of social
networks there is simply no reason to not use these tools to create and propagate your own
personal brand. In fact, with your competition using the same technologies to become more
skilled, more polished, and to create their own brands, not creating a personal brand closes off
opportunities to you. These are opportunities that you can be sure someone else will capitalize
on.
In order to succeed in this economic climate you must not be afraid of attention or the success
that your personal brand will bring.
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