A Talk with Personal Branding Strategist Quentin Allums

Lessons from the Personal Branding Joint Rotaract Session

Let me start by saying I am a huge fan of Quentin Allums. The first time I heard of Quentin was when I first joined LinkedIn. I loved what he used to shared and I immediately connected with him and followed him on the platform. Not to flatter him or anything, but he is one of the reasons I enjoyed login on to the platform.

Last Rotary year, before COVID happened and before the Zoom era, I was part of the Professional and Leadership Development Committee for my Rotaract Club and I promised that I would make sure I brought Quentin Allums to speak to us. That didn’t happen as planned because I didn’t know Zoom existed and I wasn’t curious enough to find out but this Rotary year, the first thing I put on my plan as the Professional and Leadership Development Director was to ensure Quentin Allums came to share his knowledge on Personal Branding with us. I am glad Zoom came in handy.

The session started with a bit of technological hitch here and there but stabilized when it did. The normal Rotary formalities took place and then the introduction of the guest speaker Quentin Allums. Quentin Allums, also known as #JustQ, is a LinkedIn Influencer (who has amassed over 10 Million views and was one of the first video creators on the platform). He is a Content Creator, Speaker, Community Builder, and the C.E.O. of Urban Misfit Ventures in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (WI), U.S.A. (a consultancy that deals with personal branding and content strategy for people and companies). He has spoken at events such as TEDx, Inbound, and VidCon. He was named Wisconsin Top 25 Under 25 Entrepreneurs and Innovators. Quentin is an eSports and Culture Podcaster. He hosts a podcast called Strange on Purpose. He is a gamer and hosts a podcast known as Humans that Game.

Quentin briefly talked about himself and his journey on Personal Branding and then spent most of the time answering our questions. He shared his story about how his first speaking gig went terribly bad. At the age of 20, Quentin’s College Track Couch wanted to interview him. He was a bit hesitant, but he figured why not. Sadly, it didn’t turn out very well for him and from that point on, he recorded himself speaking each and every day for about a year so that he could improve his public speaking.

Here are some of the lessons that I learnt from the Personal Branding and Effective Storytelling Joint Rotaract Session that happened on Saturday, 22^nd August 2020 at 7PM EAT:

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• You can’t build a brand if you don’t have clarity on who you are. Understand what value you are bringing. The most important factor in Personal Branding is clarity.
•  When pitching an idea to investors, most investors are investing their time, money and effort to the founder and the team. What have you done? What are you doing right now? What’s your vision? Who’s the team behind you? What’s your and their track record?
• We are all storytellers. If you have that emotion, you are going to win every time. A book you could read on storytelling is Building a Storybrand by Donald Miller.
• Remember your network or connections are real people. The simple things like thanking them for coming to your event go a long way into building a loyal relationship and a fan base. Invest in them and value them.
• Don’t try to master one skill. Try to be the best at a cluster of skills.
• The most important factors in self-confidence are vulnerability and authenticity.

Other than this, Quentin Allums discussed about bootstrapping his business, the books he reads, and the people he looks up to. To watch the whole recording on our Facebook page, go to the following link: https://web.facebook.com/rotaractkitengela/videos/303343150769601

First, to Quentin, thank you for honoring out invite to share your knowledge and advice on our  PLD Meeting. Second, I would like to place our hearty thanks to the partner Rotaract Clubs (Kitengela, Technical University of Kenya (TUK), Lang’ata, Nairobi Central, Karura, Menengai, Bahati, and Dedan Kimathi University of Technology (DeKUT)) for agreeing to partner with us and for the immense support that they gave us into planning this session. Lastly, I want to thank all our attendees on Zoom and on our Facebook Livestream, Rotaractors, Rotarians, and friends across our country Kenya, in our District 9212 more so Ethiopia, and most importantly across the world. This session would not have been a success without your attendance, even with the time difference you were able to plan yourselves accordingly.

Article by ;Catherine Mwangi |rotaractkitengela1@gmail.com

Catherine Mwangi is the Professional and Leadership Development Director of the Rotaract Club of Kitengela. She is the Assistant Rotaract District 9212 Public Image Coordinator and part of the Rotaract District 9212 Training Committee. Catherine is a Creative Designer by profession.