By Dan Domsic
In a room full of entrepreneurs of various ages, Matt Hunckler, 26, spoke as part of the Reach Leadership Series sponsored by reachmore, a business coaching franchise.
Hunckler is the founder of Verge, a group for entrepreneurs and tech specialists, and was set to deliver a speech on building a personal brand online. But then he didn’t.
“Personal branding is bull….,” he said. “The term would lead you to believe that it’s all about you.”
Hunckler instead talked about how in business, personal branding should be about the relationships people form with each other.
“You have to care enough to look through the eyes on us,” he said.
Hunckler gave the audience a rundown of his own story in the business world, touching on lessons he learned while lugging around vacuum cleaners door-to-door in Lafayette to make some cash, his first business and coping with upsetting turns of events on his way to a post-college career.
Blurring the line between typical and unorthodox business advice, Hunckler gave the audience tips on engaging others, such as being real when it comes to relationships because a business is more likely to get a reaction or a question answered by a consumer that way.
Hunckler’s speech was capped with an endorsement for the National Alzheimer’s Association, an organization that is important to Hunckler because his grandfather fought the disease. Hunckler plans to participate in the OneAmerica 500 Festival Mini-Marathon or 5k because of it.
“Our goal is to attract the best speakers – both locally or nationally,” CJ McClanahan, reachmore president and Current in Fishers columnist, said via email. “Without paying them large fees for their speaking, we instead decided to support something with which they are passionate.”
Each speaker in the Reach Leadership Series has the opportunity to speak or endorse a charitable cause.
The events take place on the third Thursday of the month. For more information and to sign up for the series, visit reachmore.com.