- Firstly, this is exactly what I really enjoy; I feel that I do the business I like. Second, when choosing an idea for business it’s necessary to consider those where there is a niche for development in Kazakhstan. Here, in Kazakhstan, self-branding industry is available only to the most advanced in terms of intellectual development audience. The exclusivity of our services provides the space for development. Moreover, for a competitor to appear at the local market it will take time, thus we have an opportunity to save our leadership by providing services to customers at the highest level and hiring the country’s best professionals and do this at appropriate for customers cost.

- What is self-branding notwithstanding the common definitions of this term?

- In most cases, when I explain to customers what self-branding is, I start by telling the following: the success of a company and a person consists of two following components: 1) demand for a good or service, provided by the company or the person, 2) authority of the top manager or the company at the market. If there is at least one competitor at the market, you will agree that specifically your authority will be the determinant factor. Usually at the pre-project research stage when we begin to analyze with a customer his/her strategic and operational plans, we find out that these important for development documents include work and development indicators of the companies only on administrative issues, products range, and marketing plan at best, but almost never there is a plan on decisions and measures for developing self-branding indicators. However, they are very important. The authority of a top manager allows not only to help increase sales, but also to manage staff more effectively, to better build relationships with partners and state bodies. To put it in other words, when a company head exploits self-branding technologies, everyone benefits. Self-branding is knowledge, skills and technologies of expressing, reinforcing and mastering the opportunities of a personality’s authority.

- How did you realize that our citizens need skills and knowledge of making their own brand? It seems that of 10 people in Kazakhstan only 8 have heard about what self-branding is and only two of them, perhaps, think of making self-branding…

- Everything started from our experience. We have worked in business consulting for more than 12 years. Those customers on whose brand we have worked purposely, are now highly competitive, have high volume of sales if we talk about businessmen; if we talk about politicians, the latter offer really necessary for the country’s development programs. During consulting, couching and training sessions on brand creation and development, our customers have learnt firstly to understand themselves, i.e. what they are inspired by, excited about, interested in; and now they do exactly what they feel their predestination in, second, when one realizes his/her predestination, it leads to either profit or a feeling of self-satisfaction, but more often it results in both. They have learnt to express their own true “I” and to become a brand in the area. All of our customers know how to create the concept of their own brand and fully correspond to it; because it is absolutely identical to their inner essence.

- How do you teach that?

- By training. We have a specially developed program, namely «Selfbranding», which includes all brand creation and promotion technologies used by world-level producers. The program sessions start with tools for self-understanding of “Who am I”. Trainees learn to understand their predestination, then obtain technologies on defining their internal and external limitations (scares and stereotypes) and opportunities, as well as methods on squeezing the limitations to minimum. Next they learn to develop the concept of self-brand and to build the strategy to realize their brand. Moreover, the program includes self-organization modules, self-discipline (victory over laziness) training, public presentation skills and organization of environment trainings, PR, GR, event management and fund-raising. The final modules include sessions on assessment, producing and sales of self-brand.

- To master self-branding skills one needs patience…

- Of course. Creation of a person’s brand is very serious work and gives our significant result, i.e. a high value of the person’s brand. That is when your name solely provides you with significant profit, influence and huge opportunities. For busy and impatient customers we provide Self-branding couching service where we together with the customer develop the strategy of his/her self-branding. We organize necessary research and valuation, hire people for studying and developing the strategy in that area in which we together with the customer define his/her predestination.

That’s very interesting work. Since our services are used as I already mentioned by highly intelligent people, then their objectives are always interesting, complex and large. We focus the customer’s energy so that it becomes the source of self-motivation, force of will, inspiration and attraction of supporters for full realization of his/her plans, objectives and dreams. Sometimes, on customer’s request we take part in training PAs of top managers as one of main data sources about their bosses. If a PA does not obtain self-branding technologies, then the employer pays him for nothing; because such person automatically turns into a person who is sent for cigarettes. It is necessary to skillfully organize the surrounding people.

If a customer wants to move further, we offer Self-brand producing. This service also consists of several parts. For instance, organization of necessary acquaintances. Our company cooperates in a single partner network on our parallel projects with international organizations of the Peace Fund. This network has existed in developed countries for more than 50 years, its heads are congressmen, top heads of key bodies of state administration. The head of our company is the acting Chairman of «Peace Fund of Kazakhstan». Upon invitation of our partner organization, congressman Van Gotau, ex-minister for construction of China  and Chairman of China’s Mayors Council visited Kazakhstan this year. He had meetings with K.Kelimbetov, Head of ‘Samruk-Kazyna’ National Welfare Fund, Almaty city mayor and Kazakh Government representatives. We have several delegations of such level every year.

Moreover, our company has realized “Business contacts of Kazakhstan” project club for over 5 years. The participants and speakers of this project are SME owners and executives of large companies, embassy representatives who are responsible for economic and cultural cooperation of their country with Kazakhstan, as well as the elite of achievements in Kazakhstan in science, culture, economy and public administration, i.e. the laureates of “Kazakhstan’s Hall of Fame”, also being one of our projects.

We help to include our customer into regional and international sector programs of state bodies and social organizations, as well as into municipal programs on regional development.

- What is VIP listing?

- This is a listing at international internet resources at www.VIPlisting.biz, www.VIPlisting.org, www.VIPlisting.kz. The users of VIP listing receive continuous promotion as an investment-attractive person informed about to the heads of international corporations worldwide, to departments on business development, HR departments of leading companies and organizations; and of course, the users of VIP listing receive a monthly report on their promotion.

The mission of VIP listing is to become an effective tool for increasing the value of the authority and investment attractiveness of a person, organization, region and state; i.e. being included in this list, one’s name and surname become a brand able to deliver serious profit to the bearer. In Kazakhstan we realize this project at www.VIPlisting.biz . VIP listing is an international project which increases the level, regional scale and the status of attracted investors. The procedure of including data on a person or a company into VIP listing envisages preliminary verification of customer’s data by checking documents, analysis of market and professional area where he/she specializes.

- Doesn’t VIP listing lay claim to formation of social network in business?

- Here there is another technology. A social network is unaccredited product. VIP listing is 100% accredited product. For every word we are responsible to the customers.

Our objective is to create listing environment of self-brands in Kazakhstan. Our aim is to make Kazakhstan visible. As patriots we feel embarrassed that abroad very little is known about our dignified citizens and their achievements. Unless we unveil Kazakhstan with its constellation of self-brands, then the foreigners’ associations about our country will still be based on the authority of our president. The more VIP persons from Kazakhstan there are in the world, the higher will be the rating of our country, the more attracting it will be for investors.

- I agree with you on that. We know better about foreign top managers and their success rather than about our citizens. And the turnover of the companies under their management is beyond the issue …

- The crisis has clearly demonstrated the fact that those companies where self-brand is developed skillfully, have grown. Even if Steve Jobs hadn’t have promised to surprise the world every year with new models, he would have hardly quitted to be associated with Apple and remained that Jobs whom the entire world knows about..

Everyone needs to realize that he/she can manage his/her attractiveness, level of life and the future. There are developments, technologies and entire organization networks which allow him/her to do it at full. Reveal the beauty, career and value of your name.

Aliza Shaikh Deputy General Director for “SHAIKH” Creative Solutions Agency”

Text: Gaziza Zhapparova

Photo: Ivan Melnik

Style: Aynur Ryspekova

Aliza Shaikh: The Beauty and Career of your name// Sovet Direktorov. September 2010 № 8 (51).

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