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Personal branding · C-suite and senior leaders

Your service record is known to you, but a hiring panel has never read it.

Personal branding for a veteran moving into civilian leadership is a plain translation of what you ran into the vocabulary a company, a board or a start-up uses.

Tell us what you needor call +91 80958 58589

Scope, fee, reporting and term are agreed in writing after we have read your brief and spoken to you.

Editorial illustration for Personal branding

In one paragraph

Personal branding for a veteran moving into civilian leadership is a plain translation of what you ran into the vocabulary a company, a board or a start-up uses. GullySales writes it with you, in your own voice, and keeps it clear of anything that suggests official standing.

Also written for

Retired defence officer, Armed forces veteran, Ex-serviceman, Retired colonel, Retired naval or air force officer.

For defence veterans and retired officers

Where it usually goes wrong, and what we would do.

  • “Civilian panels do not read service language”

    A posting history, a unit and a rank mean a great deal in uniform and very little to a human resources head or a promoter. What they need is the scale of the people, assets and decisions you carried, said in words they use.

  • “The first role is chosen by one introduction”

    Veterans reach advisory and leadership seats through someone who has already worked with them. A visible, accurate profile is what that person forwards when they are asked who they know.

  • “Rank and unit are not endorsements”

    A retired rank describes a past appointment. Using it, a regiment or a decoration to lend weight to a product, a company or a view is the quickest way to lose the trust you are building, and some uses are restricted by service rules.

  • “Operational detail is not yours to publish”

    Anything touching postings, operations, equipment or colleagues may be covered by the Official Secrets Act or by your own service conditions. Your service headquarters or a lawyer decides what is safe, and everything here is written to stay inside that line.

What we do

What we deliver for defence veterans and retired officers.

Every deliverable, what it covers for you, and the result it is there to produce. Nothing here is an extra.

  1. A profile written for people who have never served

    What you led, in numbers of people and budgets you can state, and the decisions you made under pressure, described without a posting or an operation. Titles are given plainly as retired.

    Result: A hiring head reads one page and understands the size of what you have done.

  2. A translation sheet of your experience

    Logistics becomes supply chain, a staff appointment becomes programme management, a command becomes a business unit. You approve each line, because you know what it was really worth.

    Result: You stop explaining yourself from the beginning in every first meeting.

  3. Articles about leading, not about the service

    Decision-making with partial information, building a team that is rotated every two years, running a training pipeline. Subjects that a corporate reader values and that disclose nothing.

    Result: Evidence of how you think, before anybody offers you a role.

  4. One conversation, then your approval

    A single conversation with you on a question from your own career, drafted into general terms and sent back for your approval before anything goes live. If your current posting or consulting duties leave no time for it, the work should wait.

    Result: Writing that sounds like you rather than like a recruiter's template.

  5. Records that agree with each other

    Your professional profile, any association of veterans you belong to, and your advisory or board biography saying the same thing in the same words.

    Result: A background check finds one consistent person.

  6. A short introduction for those who vouch for you

    A single page the former colleague or the veterans' network member can send when asked about you, with your sector interests and the kind of role you are open to.

    Result: Recommendations that arrive with the argument already made.

How the result is measured

  • Enquiries that name you or came through your profile
  • Searches for your name, from Search Console
  • Profile views and connection requests from your industry
  • Speaking invitations, press enquiries and podcast requests
  • Posts published against posts planned, and what held up the rest

Recorded as a baseline before work starts, so every later report has an honest comparison.

Read the full personal branding page

How it works

How the work runs for defence veterans and retired officers

The work itself, in order. How an engagement starts, from your brief to a written scope, is set out on our method page.

  1. 1

    Work out whether this is even your bottleneck

    The first conversation covers how enquiries reach you today. If the company's own site is the weaker link, that comes first, and we say so.

  2. 2

    Search your own name with you

    We look at what a buyer sees today: every profile, old listing and photograph. Some of it you will want taken down, and some of it only you can take down.

  3. 3

    Agree what you will and will not say

    The subjects you know cold, the ones that belong to your clients, and the lines your regulator or association draws. Written down before anything is published.

  4. 4

    Rebuild the profiles

    The bio page, LinkedIn and the directories that matter in your field, done once and done properly.

  5. 5

    The routine

    Interview, drafts, your approval, publication. The interview is the only part that needs you, and it is the part that cannot be skipped.

  6. 6

    Hand it over

    The subject list, the drafting notes and the calendar are yours. If you would rather keep it running yourself, that is a fair outcome.

Before you hire anyone

The first thing to do yourself.

It costs nothing, and it shows what a buyer sees before they ever call you.

  1. Search your own name and your practice or business name in a private browser window, and list the first ten results.
  2. Open your profile on each major platform and check that the name, photo, description and contact details agree.
  3. Ask two people who recently chose you what they looked up first, and write down their answers.

Judge any provider

What to ask any agency or ghost-writer.

Useful whoever you choose, including us.

  • Who writes my words, and do I approve everything before it goes out?
  • Which of my own details and claims will you need to check with me before publishing?
  • What will you not write because of the rules my profession follows?
  • Whose account do the profiles and the content sit in, and what happens to them if we stop?
  • What do you count as a result, and what will you not promise?

Where this fits

Three pieces of sales work, in this order.

GullySales builds every engagement from three pieces of sales work. This page is not one of them, but the same three steps apply to the business behind it.

  1. Step 1

    Sales audit

    Find where deals are being lost and what to fix first.

    Start here if you cannot say where orders are lost.

  2. Step 2

    Sales process design

    One written way to sell, from first enquiry to repeat order.

    Start here if every salesperson sells differently.

  3. Step 3

    Sales management

    A target, a review routine and someone who owns the number.

    Start here if the team has targets and no routine.

Tell us what you need Your brief is read before we call. Scope, fee and term in writing.

FAQ

Questions owners ask before they call.

Not here? More answers, or ask on WhatsApp.

Tell us what you need
Can I use my rank and regiment on my profile?
Say what you held and that you are retired, factually, and no more than that. We do not use a rank, a unit or a decoration to endorse a product or a business, and we will not write copy that suggests you speak for the services. Check anything uncertain with your service headquarters or your own adviser.
Will this get me a board seat or a leadership job?
No. We do not place people, we hold no database of vacancies and we have no relationship with any recruiter or company. We make the reading that happens when your name is suggested accurate and easy to find. Whether that becomes a role depends on the market and on you.
Is it appropriate for a retired officer to be this visible?
Some veterans feel it is not, and the instinct is a good one. We work to your comfort: factual, modest, and focused on the work you can do now rather than on service stories. If you would rather not appear at all, a short private profile for introductions is enough.
How much does it cost?
There is no price list, because the work differs by business. The fee is scoped after we have read your brief and spoken to you, and put in writing before anything starts, split into our time, your media spend and production.
How long is the contract?
The term is agreed in writing after we have spoken, along with the fee and the reporting. It is never a default twelve months, and renewal is decided on the numbers against the baseline recorded at the start.
How soon will we see results?
It depends on what is being changed and how many of the people who matter see it. After we have read your brief and spoken to you, we say what we would expect to move first and how it will be measured against the baseline. Nothing here is guaranteed.
Who will actually do the work?
The person you speak to before anything starts. We work from one office in Nagarbhavi, Bengaluru, with no account managers in between.
What do you need from us?
Your brief, and a conversation. After that, access to whatever the work touches, such as your profiles, your website or your accounts, and time with the people who can answer our questions.
What if we are not happy with the work?
Tell us and the plan changes. Everything is reported against the baseline, so a number that is not moving is visible to both sides. The term is in your written scope, and the refund and cancellation policy sets out the rest.

C-suite and senior leaders

Personal branding for the rest of the c-suite and senior leaders.

Or start from personal branding.

Your next practical step

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Eight short steps, mostly taps. Skip anything you would rather answer on the call.

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