Workshop
Stop following the rules meant to keep you small. Step into your Big Deal Energy™
2.5 hours, in-person | Price: $249 per person.
Group pricing available for teams of 3 or more.
Highlight from this morning’s sessions: Learning from Kim Bode how to create your own personal brand based on your quirks in a very short attention span friendly workshop.
— Abigail Fabian, Strategic Lead for Technology Teaming and Transitions, Raytheon
Big Deal Energy™(n.): The confidence of knowing exactly who you are, owning your QUIRKS™, and communicating your authentic self unapologetically.
Big Deal Energy™ is named for Leslie Knope, who has no idea she’s supposed to be timid or reserved, knows exactly what she brings to the table, and has never apologized for her ambition. That is the energy the Big Deal Energy™ personal branding workshop cultivates — the confidence that comes from knowing who you are, owning your quirks, and communicating your authentic self unapologetically.
Over 2.5, very entertaining hours, you’ll work through the QUIRKS™ framework to develop your personal brand and become the unforgettable force you were born to be. It starts with questioning the “norms” or rules meant to keep you small, uncovering your Big Hairy Audacious Goal, identifying what makes you weird and remarkable, reframing your story to be unforgettable, knowing your value, and showing up as yourself consistently and authentically.
You’ll walk away with a plan, confidence and group of people cheering you on.
As professionals, we are frequently eager to fit in, making ourselves part of the scenery. Kim reminded me that my quirks make me who I am. Being me, my authentic voice is what sets me apart and is my greatest strength. — Gail Miller, Executive Leader, Former DHS SES
Professionals and leaders who want to stand out but don’t know how to articulate what makes them different; founders and executives who are the face of their company but have never formalized their personal brand; leaders who want their team to represent the company with confidence and consistency; and anyone who has been told they need a “personal brand” and has no idea where to start.
Attend on your own, or bring a group.
The Big Deal Energy™ Workshop uses the QUIRKS™ methodology, which Kim built to replace the outdated four-stage personal branding model (discover, create, communicate, maintain) with something that accounts for the real psychological and emotional work required to own your authentic self (and unwind all that trauma).
Duration: 2.5 hours | Format: Interactive, in-person | This is not a lecture. This is doing.
Kim Bode, you were the perfectly timed nudge that I needed to get out of my own way! Thanks for your support. — Fiona McPherson Grant, Principal, FMG Data Works, LLC
Question the rules made to keep you small. Question the norms, the status quo, and how you’ve been told to show up. Most of the rules you’ve been following were designed to keep you small. We’re gonna challenge that.
Uncover your Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG). You have to know what your personal brand is working towards or how you want your big deal energy to show up in 10 years, five years or next week.
Identify your weird and remarkable. Get real about who you are. Your quirks, your weirdness, your skills, your passions. The things you’ve been told to hide? Those are the parts that make you memorable.
Reframe your narrative. Highlight your quirks, life experience, skills, passions, achievements, and your BHAG. This is who you are, it’s your weird, uniques, and what makes you unforgettable.
Know your story. Be unapologetically you. Your story matters, and when you fully own it, you will show and grow into your BHAG.
Show up as yourself, consistently and authentically. Once you know who you are and what you stand for, you have to show it. You have to be visible. If you won’t do it for you, do it for the young woman who needs to see somebody in a career she aspires to.
Kim Bode is the founder and CEO of 8THIRTYFOUR, a communications and learning company, and the creator of Big Deal Energy™ and the QUIRKS™ personal branding framework. She has spent more than two decades working in communications, storytelling, and leadership development.
She created QUIRKS™ because the four-stage personal branding model doesn’t go deep enough, and she created Big Deal Energy™ because the world needs people to stop apologizing for their ambition, goals, and tenacity.
Personal branding is the reputation, recognition, and recall you build as an individual — the consistent way people understand who you are, what you do, and what you stand for, whether or not you’re in the room.
Big Deal Energy™ is a proprietary personal branding methodology created by Kim Bode, founder of 8THIRTYFOUR. It was developed out of nearly 20 years of agency experience building brands for companies and coaching the humans behind them.
QUIRKS™ is the six-step framework that powers Big Deal Energy™: Question the norms, Uncover your quirks, Identify your BHAG, Reframe your narrative, Know yourself, Show up consistently.
Are you standing out or blending in?
BHAG stands for Big Hairy Audacious Goal — a term coined by Jim Collins and Jerry Porras in Built to Last. In Big Deal Energy™, your BHAG is a specific, detailed, ten-year vision that your personal brand is built to move you toward.
Traditional personal branding models (discover, create, communicate, maintain) focus on positioning and presentation. QUIRKS™ starts with internal work — questioning norms, identifying what makes you distinct, and defining a long-term goal — before moving to how you communicate externally.
This workshop is built around the QUIRKS™ framework and produces specific deliverables: a ten-year BHAG, a Quirks Inventory, a completed 3×3, a reframed brand statement, and a 30-day action plan. Did we mention it’s fun?
Entrepreneurs, business owners, executives, emerging leaders, and any professional who is sick of hiding their story. Time to own what makes you spectacular.
Attendance is capped to keep the group small and interactive. Past rooms have included entrepreneurs, executives, nonprofit leaders, consultants, and young professionals.
“Kim Bode is a force to ALL — she is Big Deal Energy. She speaks her truth and then reminds others that their work not only matters but is necessary for a world that is kind and committed to the values we hold dear.”
— Michelle Letcher, Brigadier General (Retired)
The workshop is 2.5 hours in person. All materials are provided.
Yes. Big Deal Energy™ can be delivered as a private workshop for organizations, leadership teams, and sales teams. Contact 8THIRTYFOUR for details.
