Ecko - Unlabel : selling you without selling out

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To my wife, Allison

You are the center of all that is good and beautiful in my world. I love you. You have always helped me build a canvas to create all I can imagine. Despite life sometimes being a little messy and rough around the edges, in the end we make it plenty tidy.

For Sage, Alex, and Ella!

Heres the one textbook I wish they were selling when I was in school. Though its unlikely to be something Mommy reads to you before bedtime (forgive me for all the cussing), Im hopeful that you eventually discover a useful key in here that may help you crack some of those stubborn problems you are sure to encounter in your life.

This book breaks down the anatomy of a personal brand as demonstrated by the Authenticity Formula:

Authenticity1 is equal to your unique voice,2 multiplied by truthfulness,3 plus your capacity for change,4 multiplied by range of emotional impact,5 raised to the power of imagination.6

I am a brand, but I am not a label. My brand is Marc Eck. You too are a brand. Whether you know it or not. Whether you like it or not. A brand is not skin-deep. Labels are skin-deep, but a branda true, authentic brandis made of blood and bones, skin and organs. A brand has a heartbeat.

The anatomy of a brand, in turn, is defined by its authenticity. And just like a doctor cant describe the wonders of the human body in a pithy one-line description, a brands authenticity cant be clearly defined in a Twitteresque 140 characters.

Hard work is required to understand, grow, and nurture the anatomy of a brand. You cant do it on the surface. You cant slap on a Brand Band-Aid. You have to dig deep and poke around with a scalpel.

To understand the anatomy of the human body, doctors use tools. They use stethoscopes, exams, and a mountain of knowledge that dates back to Henry Grey and Hippocrates. I, too, have a tool. Its a formula. To understand the anatomy of a brand, I created a formula that explains the nervous system, the heartbeat, the spine, and the core of a brands authenticity. Its not straightforward. Its not a tidy 1, 2, 3.

This is a book that explores the anatomy of a brand. And it uses this formulathe Authenticity Formulato explain the cross sections of that anatomy. Each chapter peels back a layer and dissects a variable of the formula. And just as doctors use a body as an example for their students, it just so happens, coincidentally, that I have an example that we can use for our anatomy lesson: me.

My brand started in my parents garage in Lakewood, New Jersey, where I spray-painted T-shirts and sold them for $10 a pop. I grew that brand to the tune of a billion-dollar retail business. Ive built skate brands, hip-hop brands, magazine and video game brands. Ive built brands that people literally tattoo on their bodies, which is branding in the truest sense. But the most important brand that I built was me, the personal brand thats from my guts to the skin.

My philosophy is simple: unlabel.

Not un as in the nihilist or negative sense of the prefix, but in the refuse sense of the meaning. Refuse to be labeled.

Fight their labels.

Ignore their labels.

Peel off their labels.

Create your label.

Un label.

This takes work. In the same way that you do push-ups to exercise your body, you need to challenge yourself to shake free of the herd, find your own unique voice, and create your personal authentic brand.

Find your swoosh, your Apple, your Rhino.

Youre labeled in hundreds of ways by thousands of people. But how much of this have you consciously controlled? How much have you consciously created? How much of whats known about you is authentic to you, and how much is merely the perception of others?

When you unlabel, you can be an artist without being a starving artist. You can sell without selling out. To do this, you need to create an authentic personal brand that transcends the gatekeepers (the critics, the haters) who want to put a label on you and gets right to the goalkeepers (the ones who vote, the folks with the shopping carts). The goalkeepers are the only judges who matter.

How people see you, feel you, understand you, and make assumptions about you when you are not in the room are pieces of your personal brand, and this is true whether youre the president of the United States, a priest, or a plumber. Whatever your product or service, you are essentially selling you. Deal with it.

T HIS BOOK IS the story of how I unlabeled myself, defying classifications so that I could grow both creatively and commercially. Its a personal story, a business story, and a prescriptive course for anyone who wants to grow a brand.

Im a brand, but Im also a creator. Im both an artist and an instigator.

Brand. Create. Not mutually exclusive.

Brands are often thought of negatively as the domain of advertising, but a personal brand can be a powerful tool. In times of success, it keeps you grounded. In times of crisis, it keeps you confident. In heightened moments of critical decision making, it hones your improvisational skills. But it doesnt come easy. It takes real effort, imagination, and follow-through to create your authentic personal brand.