It’s amusing to me how things tend to fall into place sometimes. You can write a script all you want, and things never seem to turn out the way you plan them in your head (please tell me I’m not the only one who deals with this). Then when you least expect it somehow the stars all align and everything fits together perfectly.

In a world where it seems everyone strives to make a name for themselves, most of us can relate to the feeling of trying to force things to work. As the only girl in a family with four children, I’ve somehow managed to pick up the stubborn gene to go with my over-achiever personality. I know I tend to get stuck in a rut where I’m determined to make something work, just so I don’t have to deal with the feeling of “giving up”. The thing I never seem to remember is that so often while I’m trying to fit that square peg into the round hole, there’s a perfect circle waiting just down another road.

If you asked me six weeks ago if I’d be going by any name other than ScanSnapKim right now, I would have laughed…I mean, it wasn’t just my Twitter handle, this is what people called me in person. I was at least a wee bit committed to that identity. But here I am, digging into a new role with XCM – not to mention building a new name for myself and proudly representing the company I serve. It’s at a time or crossroad such as this where I tend to take a step back & look at things with a different perspective. As I did just that, I realized that while “ScanSnapKim” is (was) definitely a big part of who I am in the industry, it wasn’t (isn’t) necessarily what will leave a lasting impression.

I was recently given the opportunity to present at an Ignite! session during the Spring ITA meeting. When I pondered as to what my topic should be for my six-minute talk on something I’m passionate about, it really wasn’t too hard to decide: Business Development and Personal Branding. Now I know what you’re thinking, but rest assured that my 2^nd slide that day was comprised of one word, that has come to be my personal brand: SHOES. As that slide flashed on the screen while I was presenting, I was completely overwhelmed by the audience’s reaction…I had to really concentrate on continuing on (you only have 15 seconds per slide, I couldn’t let cheers from the group get me off track!)…

There’s no one person I can blame for my love affair with fancy footwear, although some of you (you know who you are, Dub-Dot) sure don’t help the cause. I assure you I never imagined (honestly, I didn’t) it would spiral this far out of control…but of course, had I written that into my master plan, perhaps it never would have happened. What started as a mere need to add a little color into my trade show wardrobe (and you too know who you are, Mr. Publicist), fast turned into my trademark  – what people have come to expect from me, and have come to associate me with both in and outside of work. It dawned on me at that moment that this is what will leave that lasting mark, regardless of what my Twitter handle says. So while I didn’t plan it, or script it out – why argue?

A few people have asked me what my purpose is with this blog – who is my target audience, what am I trying to tell people, etc. While my first reaction is to come up with some type of “workish” response, that sounds very premeditated & thoroughly thought out, in reality, It’s a lot like the whole shoe situation – something that just sort of came about all of a sudden, but why not run with it? I figure there are plenty of blogs out there (in addition to the mainstream media sites) where we can all go to get a Ron Baker headache, so I do promise we’ll never get that deep here. I also promise not to inundate you with endless photos and banter about Mr. Louboutin’s upcoming Fall line (ok, yes, there might me some shoe talk & even a few photos). Bottom line, I think every now & then we all need a light-hearted reality check, so at least for now, that’s what I’m doing here. In so many words, I guess I figured it would only be fitting to take my ignite presentation one step (pun intended) further and share some of my random thoughts, glorious travel experiences, personal victories, and professional lessons (some already learned and others still around the next corner) with everyone. So as I said in my first entry, I hope you’ll follow along with me as I give a glimpse into my world as I use my personal brand to make a difference every day…and hopefully one day leave a stiletto print in this industry.