The Currency Of Clout
[Applause]
sometimes a tornado would tear through
your life
not to destroy things but to clear a
path
as a junior in high school i was told
that i had the credits of a freshman
which essentially means that i failed
all my classes
needless to say i essentially flunked
out
at the age of 19 i was incarcerated
facing a 20-year sentence for an armed
robbery charge
i’ve had more jobs than i can remember
i sold vacuums door-to-door worked at
rite aid serving ice cream
worked at warehouses sweeping a floor i
even worked at quiznos making sandwiches
it’s my personal opinion that people
only ask what you do for a living
to determine how much you make so they
can know
how to treat you i want you to look at
me and
analyze me like really look at me i’m
dripping right
no i’m joking but i want you to really
look at me
and i want you to look at my crazy
haircut with the parts in it
my piercings my grill my chains on
and tell me what’s your perception to be
what do you think i do for a living
what if i were to tell you that i’ve
been to 46 countries
i have degrees from howard georgetown
and i’m currently working on my phd
that i’m verified across all social
media platforms
that i own a multi-million dollar
marketing firm and i work with fortune
500 companies
would you believe me well you should
because it’s all true if you google me
you’ll find that out simply
i’m here today to talk about the
currency of clout
to have clout is to have power
fame or influence it could also be to
have opportunities that other people
don’t have simply because of your
reputation who in here knows what a
cloud chaser is
raise your hand who in here is a clout
chaser you know
if your hands still up i need you to do
me a favor if you could
stand up please gather all your things
and
exit stage left um
no but seriously clout chasing the clout
chaser
is a derogatory term as it should be
a cloud chaser is someone who leverages
the brand of another person
in order to benefit themselves all while
never contributing to that person’s
brand
the benefit could be for financial gain
or for more opportunities
they often times try and surround
themselves with
high status people and they even
sometimes make controversies
just for recognition or popularity
a clout maker a cloud maker is someone
who
works extremely hard to achieve their
goals
they find creative ways to build their
portfolio and display
their accomplishments their experiences
and their skills
has recognition a voice
and some level of integrity i own a
conceptual marketing firm
that utilizes the principles of
psychology to determine
how people derive perceptions of certain
products
brands we then take that information and
use that to determine
what type of environment be it physical
or digital
needs to be present in order to make
people buy into that product or brand
clout making not to be confused with
cloud chasing but when you think about
it
it all really makes a lot of sense clout
determines so many things in
so many different aspects of our life it
determines
the car we drive the house we have
the opportunities that we get it
determines the respect we get
and the reason i say that is because we
generally tend to respect people
who are already widely respected a lot
of people get opportunities because
not because they qualify you know or
they deserve it but because of who they
know
people get cars houses
these type of things because they have
good credit all these things are
different forms of reputation
which is clout and clout
is currency clout making is becoming
more
and more important due to the fact that
business cards and resumes are quickly
becoming a thing of the past
with the advancements in technology
what’s the first thing
that someone says to you when you meet
them
what’s your instagram what’s your
twitter you on facebook do you have a
they’re gonna follow you right there on
the spot and we all know it’s bad
etiquette to
scroll through somebody’s profile while
you’re in front of them so you wait till
they walk away
and the moment they walk away you’re
scrolling and you’re judging
it’s sad but it’s true this is why i
feel as though you should use your
social media as a resume
you need to make sure that your digital
footprint is representing you accurately
i’ve outlined a few steps that you can
take to start building your digital
footprint and to start utilizing cloud
building techniques
the first thing you can do is define
your brand
so you need to think to yourself what do
i want people to think
once they come to my social media
profiles what
what message do i want them to go away
with how do i want them to perceive me
if you’re having trouble defining your
brand then you should look up other
people in your industry
or your field you should see
how they define their brand now that
doesn’t mean
copy somebody else’s brand but you can
definitely look at their
digital footprint and you can take
pointers and regurgitate those things
for yourself
secondly you should only post your
highlights
so you should be removing all noise
noise is
anything that doesn’t align with the
brand that you’re trying to portray
so if you run a business and this is the
instagram that you’re giving the people
for your business then you shouldn’t
have
family pics on there you shouldn’t have
what you have for dinner last night
you shouldn’t repost memes because all
these things are noise
and the average person’s attention span
is eight seconds
so that means they’re gonna essentially
look at your first eight
pictures and they’re gonna form a
perception of you so if you have noise
then it’s gonna distract them and
they’re gonna scroll off off of your
page
for me a simple rule of thumb is do not
post it
unless it makes someone want to hire you
want to get to know you or want to
research you more
i guarantee you that if you follow these
steps
your opportunities will double and just
remember
don’t be a cloud chaser be a clout
maker