Control

Remember Janet Jackson?

Well I do. I still know the dance moves to ‘Miss you much’, ‘What have you done for me lately’ and ‘Control’ :-).

‘Control‘ was Janet’s way of showing her truest self. Of not doing things the way her family wanted her to do them, but of following her own career path. She did that by showing her authentic self, creating a network of her own (Paula Abdul was her choreographer, remember that?), writing her own songs and basically demanding to be noticed! Personal branding at its best, I tell you!

​​​​​When I found out she was touring again this year, I almost lost my mind, but unfortunately she still hasn’t announced any Dutch dates. So what can we learn from Janet Jackson when it comes to personal branding?

Let me keep it short and sweet this week. For me, Janet was all about creative control. In the past this is something artists had to fight for. Having creative control is the most important thing you can have when building your personal brand. Why? Because it gives you the chance to show the world who you really are. If your (record) company decides what kind of music you can put out or if they want to build an image around you that is not true to who you are, you will always struggle with yourself. I still feel sorry for Rob Pilatus from Milli Vanilli who committed suicide after the whole story came out that it wasn’t them who sang all the songs (Girl you know it’s true… oooh oooh I love you). Believe me there where a lot of artists out there who were not the real singers of their songs.

Luckily things have changed. Like in the music world, companies are looking for people who are authentic and very real. Maybe this is because technology has made it difficult for us to find out what is real and what isn’t real. Just look at Instagram and its influencers. Some of these influencers show fake lives, with fake clothes, fake houses and sometimes fake friends and followers. In the end it all comes out and we realize we have been had.

Let me be clear, authenticity is hard. It requires a vulnerability that is really hard to show, even to yourself. But it is something you should always strive for, because in the end it’s what will keep you content with yourself.

“Got my own mind
I wanna make my own decisions
When it has to do with my life, my life
I wanna be the one in control”

Wanna be in control of your career? Come to the FREE personal branding info day on the 7th of January that I am organizing and start 2018 by focusing on yourself! I am ready girl if you are, so register here!

XOXO,

Nancy