Apologies for the length of time between posts; we’ve had a very busy and fruitful year here at Flexera. I cannot believe it’s already December and I’m already immersed in planning our 2020 sales kickoff. I wanted to share with you a video conversation I recently had with Larry Murphy, one of our customers and active community users, about how he uses our community to build and maintain his personal brand. Larry believes that consistency and honesty are essential to building his brand, and as a marketer I couldn’t agree more. "Personal branding is super important to me,” he told me. “When I am posting, blogging or whatever I’m doing online, it represents who I am and not who I might be online. Building your brand is important because when you go in front of a lot of people, you're representing that person you are in person and online."  He logs in each day to see if he can be of assistance to the larger community, acting on his belief that the more heads on a problem, the greater the perspective and the better the solution. "I am a firm believer in the community,” Larry said. “When it comes to software support, the more people you have on one problem, the better it will be."  Finally, Larry enjoys the speed and quality of interaction on Flexera’s community. "Flexera has some fast responders,” he noted. “There are a few people that I wonder, how do they get there so fast?!" He’s also a cloud user of our software but loves to see the on-premises insights to see the different use cases and challenges to get perspective on whatever he’s trying to help solve. Overall, Larry’s doing a great job of leveraging our community to develop his personal brand and I’m thankful for his thoughtful and consistent contributions to our community users. Enjoy the video conversation and have a great holiday season and happy new year! ... View more

Recently I had the chance to chat with @mfranz  from Softline about how he makes the best use of the Flexera community for Softline’s customers. I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly he has made use of the insights and information that are easily accessible on the community. The following is a short excerpt of our conversation; it may help you get greater value out of your contributions and use of the community.   What has been most valuable about the community? The overall quality of the information that can be accessed in a timely fashion. The in-depth technical explanations are particularly helpful. These explanations provide me with an efficient way to solve my customers’ problems quickly and accurately. The community provides a place to get to the right information right away.   How much time do you spend on the community? My primary role is assisting Softline customers and ensuring they can be successful with their own technology. I have to be efficient with my day, so the community is an excellent place for me to quickly engage with thoughtful and expert individuals about the challenges my customers face. I generally use the in-between times, like if an appointment ends early, to pop into the community to learn and/or share new insights. I will share webinars and other insights with colleagues that I find will be helpful to them. It’s an excellent way to stay productive.   Can you tell us about a time where you were able to use insights from the community to solve a specific customer problem? Yes, recently I had a customer who wanted to know how he could report on installer instances. I remembered there was a thread in the community with different examples of how others had done this, and I copied the link to the thread and sent it to him directly. I have been impressed by how open and helpful contributors are, even sharing SQL scripts.   How do you learn about activity in the community? I am subscribed to the FlexNet Manager forum, so I get an email alert when new conversations are occurring. I will contribute when I feel like I have a good understanding of the issue and can offer insight from my experience.   What advice would you give to someone just getting started with the community? It is in everyone’s hands to build a quality community. I would recommend asking quality questions in order to get quality answers. ... View more

There are many great brands, but one thing that’s common to them all is that you understand exactly what to expect from them. You know you can reliably order the same skinny latte from any Starbucks in the world, that Patagonia’s products will help you conquer the outdoors, and Apple provides reliable, easy-to-use technology. What’s your brand? What does everyone know about you? When they hear your name, do they think, “She’s insightful—I need her opinion on this project,” or “Hmm—I’m not sure what she does”? Cultivating a consistent personal brand will help ensure the former reflection from your colleagues and professional acquaintances. Standing out in a daily storm of messages Each day, the average adult makes 35,000 decisions and is hit with 4,000 to 10,000 ads. These are in addition to the barrage of emails, text messages, IMs and hallway conversations we each have in a typical day. Creating a compelling personal brand with consistent reinforcement from your behaviors and communication can help you stand out and offer your business colleagues and professional acquaintances an easy way to remember you the next time that cool project, new position or promotion are top of mind. The right brand opens career doors This is critical when you realize that networking and advocating for yourself are important components to garnering that next promotion or opportunity in your organization. And that’s important when you recognize most people will have 12 to 15 jobs in their lifetimes. So how do I get one of these personal brands, you ask. Creating a personal brand takes a bit of soul searching to determine who you are, what makes you different and what you want to accomplish. You need to define your unique attributes and resolve to live by them. Build your brand via the Flexera Community One of the ways you can reinforce your personal brand is by becoming a regular contributor to the Flexera Community. Your colleagues and professional peers will start to recognize and count on your guidance. Regular contributions offer a concrete way of showing your unique perspective. They can also help you network with like-minded individuals. In addition to contributing to the Flexera Community, make sure your LinkedIn profile is up to date and highlights the unique attributes you offer. Develop a three-second introductory statement and have it ready for when you go to professional events or trade shows. Think critically about the words you choose and make sure you don’t rely on over-used buzzwords. Make sure your introductory statement uniquely defines you. When engaging new people or existing connections, be consistent with your behavior and language in order to create the expectation you want to illustrate who you are. Get started today Now that you understand how becoming a contributor to the Flexera Community can help you share your expertise and unique perspective, I urge you to take full advantage of the opportunity to build your brand and advance personally and professionally.     ... View more