Bisoso’s Packaging

Dear lovely people,

Bisoso’s dressing that morning was more than horrifying. An extra-long pinkish tie to go with an oversized green suit and yellow shoes. His late arrival in the meeting room, got a cross-section of his potential investors eying each other. The obvious unanswered questions were written on ever facial expression in the room: what does he take us for? Can he be trusted? Can such a person manage an investment of this magnitude? A dismal dressing coupled with lack of time consciousness seems a plausible to write him off.

Bisoso’s case reminded me of Peterson’s story in a previous article dressed dreams wherein, he actually went for a job interview for a mechanic position dressed like a wretched dungeon cleaner.

Here is the fact! Self-packaging comprises more than just your dressing. It encompasses everything about you, from how you interact with people to how much confidence you carry yourself with. A well packaged person is comparable to an extremely luxurious and expensive product at first glance on the shelf of a shop. You don’t even check its price. An unpackaged person on the other hand, looks like a cheap and substandard product that you do not give it a second look.

Be it Bisoso, Peterson or any other person, you are just like a product on sale irrespective of your domain. If you get your packaging wrong even in the most subtle of ways, it could mean disaster to your work, and an untimely gave to your social life. Just think for a moment about how you have packaged yourself and whether it really represents who you are and what you aspire to be in life.

If you mean business about going places with your life and remaining true to yourself at all times, you might want to revisit how your packaging affects your life and you might gain clues on how to start upgrading or downgrading, as you deem suitable for your circumstances. In my case, quickly learned the contours of self-packaging when I started attending job interviews in the early days of my career. During interviews, the usual questions about skills and qualifications are explored and as I started aiming for senior positions, I found that I was increasingly being taken out for luncheon interviews during which my opinion on a broad range of subjects was sought.

It occurred to me much later that this worldwide method was used to determine how much I was really worth. For instance, most of the times I stated that I had worked in many countries, they asked me which countries I had worked in. I quickly learned that to be paid what I dreamed of, I had no alternative but to package myself accordingly.

As a senior development consultant, I have found that some young consultants sometimes tend to overprice themselves out of the market. Some of the signs that you have overpriced yourself could be that your suit costs $20, 000 when your salary is $60, 000. It also means that you live in a very expensive neighborhood while struggling for food and fuel and have no savings. Summarily, it means you are living largely above your means.

You are a young entrepreneur who is actually living a very rich life, which makes you look extremely high-maintenance. All this time only you know it is a hand-to-mouth existence. You are trying too hard to keep up appearances by spending a lot on your packaging. Such that at a glance everything about you screams “luxury”. Could it be time for you to downgrade?

On the other side of the equation you have men and women alike who live far below their means and could do some better packaging in a bid to meet their maximum potential. This could just be the time for a commensurate upgrading.

At the bottom line, you should always aim to achieve the right balance by getting the best you can afford without breaking the bank.