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The Personal Brand Guide for Entrepreneurs Doing $30M+ — Transcript

by Caleb Ralston · 12,534 words · 1,757 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00I know that you're tired of seeing all
0:03of these less qualified individuals
0:05blowing up online and sharing terrible
0:08advice left and right. Now, I've worked
0:09with some of the biggest personal brands
0:11in business. And what I can promise you
0:13is the majority of personal branding
0:15advice online is not made for a highle
0:18founder like you. It's made for
0:20full-time creators. This video is for
0:23founders doing 30 million or more in
0:25revenue per year. And my goal is to
0:28guide you through how you can stand out,
0:30how you can make content consistently,
0:32and how you can build a personal brand
0:34[music] that you are actually proud of.
0:37You know that massive list that you've
0:39probably had at some point of all the
0:41reasons why you should never build your
0:43personal brand, never make content, I
0:45would make a a bet that a large portion
0:48of the items on that list would fall
0:50under the category of gimmicky [ __ ] And
0:54I felt the same exact way. I felt like I
0:58was going to have to participate in this
1:00gimmick game. I, the guy who has been
1:03behind the scenes of building these
1:04massive personal brands for over 17
1:07years now. I thought that was my barrier
1:09to entry. I thought I was going to have
1:11to play this gimmick game in order to
1:13start building my personal brand. But
1:15then when I looked at all of these
1:18personal brands that I've helped build
1:20these massive brands online, I realized
1:23we never did any of that gimmicky [ __ ]
1:26And it caused me to start wondering why
1:28and how could I avoid doing the same
1:31exact [ __ ] And I figured it out.
1:34But before we go into the solution for
1:37this, we need to make sure that we
1:39understand the principle that I'm about
1:41to share with you. I want you to think
1:42about this in terms of your business.
1:45Maybe when you first launched your first
1:48product, your first offer, maybe it
1:50wasn't the best and it probably didn't
1:52have any reviews or results online, it
1:55probably needed some work. And in order
1:57for you to convert in those early days,
2:00you had to manufacture all of these
2:03proof points for people to buy. You had
2:06to utilize all of the what I would deem
2:08as old school direct response marketing
2:11tactics in order to synthetically create
2:13this desire in the end customer. But as
2:17a result of actually being in the
2:20market, you eventually improve the
2:22product based on feedback, results, etc.
2:25And as that product improved, I would
2:28bet you probably needed to utilize those
2:32direct response tactics less and less
2:35over time. Now, I know this isn't always
2:37the case, but it is what I have observed
2:39more times than not. And why is this?
2:42Well, I believe this comes down to the
2:45fact that the quality of the product
2:48improved and became so good that became
2:51the main persuasion tool. not all the
2:54little hacks and gimmicks that were
2:56surrounding the product in the early
2:58days. And I actually believe that you
3:00should be thinking about your personal
3:02brand in a very similar way. See, these
3:06individuals, and there's nothing wrong
3:07with this, they have to use every tactic
3:10imaginable in order to hack your
3:12attention. But when you've actually done
3:14the thing that your audience wants to
3:15do, you've been to the mountaintop that
3:18they are wanting to ascend themselves,
3:20you don't have to do that because what
3:22you have accomplished is the thing that
3:24draws them in. You just need to improve
3:26your ability to wrap the product, which
3:29is you, so that it sells itself. I'm not
3:32saying that you don't need to pay
3:34attention to proper packaging or good
3:36hooks. What I am saying is those are far
3:40less of a needle mover for you because
3:42the big domino that tips everything else
3:44forward is the fact that you have done
3:47the thing that your audience wants to
3:49accomplish. You're living the life that
3:52they want to live. So rather than
3:54defaulting to all of these hacky tactics
3:57left and right or copying somebody
4:00else's video because it was
4:01pre-validated, I want you to start
4:04leaning into your competitive advantage.
4:07The fact that you have massive
4:09credibility and you don't have to
4:11synthetically manufacture attention.
4:14What I found here is that when someone
4:16of your level feels the need to copy a
4:19video that someone who is less qualified
4:22and has accomplished less in their life
4:23and career and business than you, if you
4:26feel the need to copy them, 9.9 times
4:30out of 10, from my observation, it comes
4:32down to a lack of confidence in what you
4:35have to say. But what I need you to
4:37understand and I need you to know and
4:40it's going to sound so [ __ ] obvious
4:42when it comes out of my mouth. But if
4:43you have been to that place, if you have
4:46accomplished the thing and the person
4:47that you are copying has not
4:50accomplished the thing, do we really
4:52believe that this is a good source for
4:54you to generate your ideas and your
4:58content from? No. You're just
5:00regurgitating their [ __ ] You're wanting
5:02to make decisions based off of data. And
5:04I get that. There's a lot of different
5:07data that we can utilize to pre-validate
5:09ideas more than just copying somebody
5:13else in your nich's video. And I'm going
5:15to go into that a little bit more later.
5:16But I think a really good example of
5:19someone who is doing this so well right
5:22now is Greg Levia and his team. They are
5:25absolute savages. His head of personal
5:28brand, his creative director JJ is a
5:32beast. and we're fortunate enough to be
5:34working with him and his team and we're
5:37putting a lot of best practices into
5:39place, but we're also kind of completely
5:42ignoring some of the best practices or a
5:45lot of the things that your traditional
5:47strategist or guru would push you to do
5:51on maybe your Instagram feed. Now, why
5:53are we able to ignore some of the most
5:57quote unquote critical best practices
5:59that a lot of these individuals are
6:01teaching you online? Well, for one, Greg
6:04has the thing that captures attention
6:07the most in the world. And what is that?
6:09Ding, ding, ding. It is success. Greg
6:12has accomplished some massive things.
6:15He's built a monstrous brand and really
6:18empire with Bloom. He has done the thing
6:21that a lot of people who are following
6:23him want or aspire to eventually do.
6:27This is the biggest domino by far that
6:30you can tip to cause all the other
6:32dominoes to work in your favor. See the
6:35best hacks, the formats, the packaging,
6:38all of that is incredibly important. But
6:41there is not a world where it will ever
6:44beat or overcome the most important
6:47strategy to your personal brand, which
6:49is having done something epic that your
6:52audience also wants to do. Now, an
6:55obvious qualifier that I have to give, I
6:57made sure that it was clear at the
6:59beginning of this video that this video
7:01is for founders doing 30 million or more
7:03in revenue. But I know some of you that
7:05are below that number snuck your way
7:07through and are still watching. And I
7:09want you to get value out of this. But
7:10the thing that I have to call out is you
7:13cannot fake this. If you are not at this
7:16level yet, do not fake the credibility.
7:18Anyone who is legit, anyone who you
7:21aspire to eventually collaborate and
7:22work with or learn from, they will sniff
7:25this out a mile away and they will avoid
7:28you like the plague, which removes all
7:31of the opportunities that gaining
7:34success or a lot of the opportunities
7:36that gaining success provides you. So,
7:38don't do this whole fake it till you
7:41make it [ __ ] It's not the way to
7:44go. Even better than leveraging past
7:47credibility like we just talked about is
7:49leveraging current credibility. A lot of
7:53founders that I speak to in wanting to
7:56build their personal brand have
7:57identified that the reason why they want
7:59to do this is they want to amass an
8:01audience that they can eventually point
8:03to a new direction aka the next
8:06business, the next venture that they're
8:07going to pursue after exiting the
8:10current one. And I love this strategy. I
8:12think it is an incredible way to
8:13approach it and I think it's very
8:15effective. However, if you've ever seen
8:17me talk about personal brand, then you
8:19probably know I'm a big fan of when
8:21everybody is going this direction, I
8:23want to be going this direction. And so
8:25I see a massive opportunity for you
8:30right here, which is instead of waiting
8:32until you've exited the current rocket
8:34ship of a business that you are in, what
8:37if you were to start building your
8:39personal brand right now while you're
8:42gripping on to this rocket ship that is
8:44taking off into space? Because what is
8:46more interesting than hearing past
8:49stories is hearing the stories while you
8:52are in it. Think about the favorite
8:54entrepreneurs that you have. The ones
8:55that you admire. Maybe they're not the
8:57entrepreneurs that are creating content
8:59online. Maybe they're like the more OG
9:01individuals. Steve Jobs is a classic
9:03example that everybody gives. What if we
9:05had more documentation of what it was
9:07like for Steve Jobs as he was building
9:10Apple when he came back to Apple?
9:12Wouldn't that be incredible? I believe
9:14that you actually have the same
9:16opportunity here. And again, knowing
9:19that the majority are doing it one way,
9:21you have a little white space here and
9:24doing it differently. Now, I understand
9:26that your immediate objection and
9:28rightfully so to this is your time that
9:31you have very little of and attention
9:34that you're deploying towards this
9:36massive business that you are building.
9:38And I'm going to get to those two
9:39objections that you have in a second,
9:41but I want to make this a little bit
9:43more crystal clear for you. An
9:45incredible example, and I'm going to use
9:47him again, is Greg Levia. He is actively
9:51building his personal brand and
9:53documenting the journey as he is scaling
9:57Bloom. And that is the unique thing what
9:59we're seeing right now. Greg's not the
10:01only one. There's a lot of other
10:03characters. There's a ton of these
10:04individuals who have decided to build
10:07their personal brand, not after exiting
10:09their first big W, but actually while
10:12they are currently building that thing.
10:14Now, I have no idea if they plan on
10:17exiting or if they plan on staying in
10:18there forever. I don't know. But what I
10:20will tell you is there is a different
10:22advantage and level of insight that they
10:25are able to provide that individuals who
10:28decided to make their personal brand and
10:30build it online. After an exit, they're
10:33not able to share. You and I both know
10:36that memory is a funny thing and we tend
10:40to remember things differently than how
10:42they actually occurred. And so, not only
10:43can it be a competitive advantage, I
10:45actually would argue that you're able to
10:47serve your audience in a more effective
10:48way because you're not giving them
10:50advice that is through rosetinted
10:53glasses. You are actually giving them
10:56the real advice of things that you are
10:58doing that are working and not working
11:00right now. Now, I want to be super clear
11:02here that building after an exit is also
11:05an extremely effective strategy. There
11:07is clear and obvious evidence for
11:10credibility [clears throat] after an
11:11exit. you're able to literally point to,
11:13I built this thing and sold it for X.
11:15Right? That is a very powerful move. A
11:18lot of people are going to have more
11:20trust in what you have to say and are
11:22going to be more likely to want to
11:23listen to you and take action on what
11:25you teach. So, if both strategies are
11:28effective, well, one, I would argue
11:31let's utilize my favorite strategy,
11:33which is, like I said earlier, doing
11:35something different than what the masses
11:37are doing. But I also want you to think
11:39about really critically, are you able to
11:42actually do this? So like I said, we
11:45have the objections, the fear around
11:47your time and attention, and those are
11:49totally valid. I had a gangster of a
11:54founder of a massive company. I'm
11:56actually wearing one of their uh items
11:58right now. I won't tell you which one.
12:00And I was talking with him about
12:02building his personal brand. And I
12:04totally understand how he's like, I I
12:07have so much of my time and attention
12:09that I need to be putting into this
12:12massive business that he has built. But
12:14at the same time, I believe this comes
12:16down to a misunderstanding
12:18of how you can go about building your
12:21personal brand because there's many
12:23different routes and not all routes
12:26require you to dedicate 12 to 20 hours a
12:29week for content. Now what I will say is
12:32if you do this incorrectly and you do
12:35not reverse engineer your time, your
12:37calendar, your constraints and your
12:39attention or ability to put attention
12:41towards this, if you do it incorrectly,
12:44it will be a massive mistake. It will be
12:46very frustrating because again, if you
12:48go into this thinking that you have to
12:50act like a full-time creator and follow
12:52the advice that a lot of people are
12:54giving you on your Instagram feed right
12:56now, well, yeah, you will [ __ ] this up.
12:59It will pull away from the current
13:02business at hand. But there is a
13:05different way to go about this.
13:09It begins by being realistic about your
13:11constraints, not optimistic. And I
13:15believe that optimism is a massive
13:17superpower. I think it's a very
13:18effective thing. But when it comes to
13:20determining a commitment that involves
13:23your time and your attention, I would
13:25recommend removing the optimism hat and
13:29being a little bit more on the practical
13:32side here. And this isn't some massive
13:34exercise that we're going to walk
13:35through. This is you being honest with
13:38yourself and with the team that you
13:41have. And so the question that you need
13:42to answer is how much time are you
13:45actually able to dedicate to making
13:48content every single week? Is it even a
13:52weekly cadence? Is that realistic? Or do
13:54you need to be thinking about this in a
13:56bi-weekly or a monthly sense? The reason
13:59why I'm making this video and why I'm
14:01including this section here for you to
14:03really look at yourself and see what you
14:06are able to commit to is because the
14:08majority of advice that you're seeing on
14:10your Instagram feed is for people who
14:13want to be a full-time creator, not
14:15business operators who are looking to
14:17utilize their personal brand to build
14:20their business. And there is a massive
14:22difference here. If you're able to
14:24allocate 30 hours a week to making
14:28content, you're going to have a
14:29fundamentally different strategy than
14:31you are when maybe you're only able to
14:33dedicate an hour, 2 hours, 3 hours a
14:36week tops. So, if you try to adopt the
14:39strategies and tactics that these
14:41individuals are teaching, you will
14:43break. Your process, your system will
14:45not work. And it's nothing against those
14:47individuals. A lot of what they're
14:49teaching for these full-time creators is
14:51amazing, but it takes no information or
14:54no context of where you, a full-time
14:58business operator and the amount of time
15:01that you have, it takes none of that
15:02into account. And so I would advise you
15:05to ignore the majority of that advice
15:07that you are seeing online. You need to
15:09be very realistic about how much time
15:11you can actually dedicate. The second
15:13thing that we need to do here is we need
15:15to be realistic and honest with how much
15:17of a priority this actually is. Now,
15:19we're going to work through an exercise
15:20here in a little bit that's going to
15:22help you get more clarity on really
15:24truly how much of a priority compared to
15:26all the other things that you have going
15:28in your life, how much of a priority
15:30this actually is. But again, I want you
15:32to be honest with yourself here. And the
15:35reason why I think this is so important
15:38is it actually comes from a story where
15:40I [ __ ] up. I made a mistake in the
15:44beginning of building my business.
15:46Technically, even before I actually
15:47officially launched, I had someone come
15:49to me wanting my help with building
15:52their personal brand. And they told me
15:54how important this was, how critical it
15:56was to the business, and where they were
15:57going, and how it was a number one
16:00priority. They sold me on how hard they
16:03were going to work, and how much effort
16:05they were going to put into building
16:07this personal brand. And I believed
16:09them. Historically, I had only worked
16:11inhouse, like full-time for an
16:15organization. And so, I had never ran
16:17into this as a problem. I had never
16:19encountered it or even realized that it
16:21was a common problem for most people.
16:23So, like I said, I believed him. I took
16:26him at face value. And I did no due
16:28diligence. I did no investigating on how
16:31likely it was that they were going to
16:33actually stick with this commitment, how
16:35likely it was that what they were saying
16:37was going to be backed up by their
16:39actions. And what I will tell you is
16:42within the first month, the signs were
16:44there. By the end of month two, it was
16:46clear that they had committed to
16:48something that they had not actually
16:50prioritized. Hiring us, hiring a media
16:52team, investing in all of this expensive
16:54gear. It's kind of like joining the gym
16:56on January 1st and giving up by January
16:5915th. You thought that you had made a
17:02commitment, but you actually had not
17:03committed to prioritizing this action
17:06that was necessary in order to reach the
17:08goal that you had. And I would encourage
17:10you to not make this same mistake. I
17:13want you to take time to reflect on
17:14whether or not you are actually going to
17:16prioritize this. What are you going to
17:18remove that is currently on your plate
17:21that you can remove to make room for
17:25this new commitment? And if there's
17:27nothing that you can remove, I would
17:29argue you're not going to be able to
17:31prioritize this effectively or to the
17:33level that you need to in order to get
17:36any meaningful result. Now, I don't need
17:38to walk you through how to determine
17:39this, what you're going to remove off
17:41the plate, how you're going to
17:42prioritize, etc. because I know you go
17:44about prioritization differently than
17:46say another founder at your level
17:48watching this video right now. But just
17:50know that it is extremely extremely
17:54important to determine whether or not
17:56this is actually going to be a priority.
17:59Just like every other department in your
18:01business, as you were scaling up, the
18:03unfortunate reality is you very quickly
18:05became the bottleneck. And it's no
18:07different here. Just like you brought in
18:10a CRO, a CMO, a CFO to run these
18:13different departments, you need to bring
18:14in a gangster to run this department for
18:17you. It's not your job to build out the
18:19systems and infrastructure. It's your
18:21job to hire the person who builds out
18:24those systems and infrastructures. But
18:26in doing this, it brings us to this fork
18:28in the road where we have two different
18:31paths that we can choose to go down. The
18:33buy route is basically we're hiring
18:35somebody who has already occupied this
18:38role on another team for somebody else's
18:41personal brand. They've been the head of
18:42personal brand, the content director,
18:44the creative director, the media
18:45director, whatever title they are going
18:47by. You're bringing somebody in who has
18:49been there, done that, and they're going
18:50to come in, as a lot of people like to
18:52say, batteries included. They're ready
18:53to go. Now the build route here is you
18:55hire the number two or the number three
18:58who is on a similar team building a
19:02similar brand to what you are wanting to
19:04accomplish. And what you need to do here
19:06is you have to hire for the 80% you've
19:09defined as missionritical
19:12and then you invest in the learning and
19:15the development for that remaining 20%.
19:19Now there's not necessarily one ring to
19:21rule them all here. There's not one
19:23right or wrong way, okay? Both can be
19:25very effective and I've seen both done
19:28well. However, what I have observed the
19:31majority of the time is that the build
19:34route is a little bit of a longer
19:37journey but leads to better results and
19:40more continuity. Aka that person sticks
19:43with you longer and is less likely to
19:45leave to another team or go build their
19:47own thing. And I have a couple examples
19:49that I can share. I mean Gary Vee,
19:51right? I I talk about him a lot. And
19:54maybe the lesserk known thing here is
19:56the person running his personal brand
19:58team from the beginning and for a very
20:00long time up until I want to say 2021
20:03was Andy Kraak. And when Andy got hired,
20:06he had never ran a media team or ran a
20:09personal brand team. That was not at all
20:12what he had done. In fact, Andy applied
20:15for the job by sending him a tweet
20:17saying, "I'm willing to do whatever.
20:19I'll work for free. Andy was somebody
20:21who came in with the proper skills, as
20:25in the soft skills. He had all the right
20:27attributes in order to be able to learn
20:30and develop and grow into this role. But
20:33he's an example of going the build route
20:36and a really great example, such a great
20:39example of it that Gary ended up naming
20:41him the president of his new company,
20:43VR. Another example of this that a lot
20:45of people talk about, I think this is
20:47probably right now the most commonly
20:49used example of a [snorts] great founder
20:52and great head of personal brand, which
20:54is Dan Martell and Sam Godette. The
20:56amount of times that Sam and I are
20:58texting and we joke about how a lot of
21:00people are like, I need to find my Sam
21:02and Sam's always like,
21:03>> I was just banging my head against the
21:05wall. We were posting videos. We were
21:06posting consistently. We were posting
21:07every week. Full transparency, we
21:09essentially went sideways for 6 years.
21:12to Dan's credit, did an amazing job of
21:16investing in Sam and giving Sam
21:19opportunities to grow into the content
21:23director, creative director, head of
21:24personal brand that he needed to be that
21:27would lead to Dan being one of the most
21:30followed individuals in the entrepreneur
21:32game. But the key to take away from this
21:34is that Dan was investing in Sam's
21:37learning and development and understood
21:40that if he wanted somebody that was
21:42going to be his right-hand character, he
21:45needed to invest in them and be patient
21:48as they developed. Now, another example
21:50of this is actually just looking back at
21:52my last in-house role for the couple
21:54that I worked for. When I was brought in
21:56to build out the personal brand and the
21:58personal brand media team, I had never
22:01actually built out a team from scratch.
22:04I had occupied pretty much every single
22:05role that exists on a media team and I
22:08had been working for the goat of this
22:12whole entrepreneur content world. Okay?
22:15And so I had understanding of what I
22:19liked and wanted to repeat and maybe
22:21some things that I wanted to do slightly
22:22differently if I had the opportunity to
22:25build from scratch. That was my 80%. But
22:27the 20% that was remaining that wasn't
22:31there was the skill of hiring and
22:34leadership which is something that I
22:36grew into and was mentored to do along
22:40the way. aka a third example of built
22:43not bought. And I could go on and on.
22:46There's so many other examples of this.
22:49And the downsides that I have personally
22:51seen when you do the buy method, and
22:54there's several of them. I'm not going
22:55to cover all of them, but I have found
22:57that usually this individual comes in
22:59with some pre-existing biases of how
23:03they built things in the past. Now, this
23:05isn't always the case, but I know a lot
23:07of these individuals. I've worked with a
23:09lot of these individuals. And what I
23:10have observed is they are rightfully so
23:13a little bit less malleable because of
23:15the results and the success that they've
23:17had at least with a certain personal
23:20brand. And us humans, silly little
23:22humans, we're biased to the way that
23:24things have always worked. And so we
23:26have a higher likelihood of trying to
23:28repeat that same way of operating. One
23:31of the best pieces of advice that Gary
23:33Vaynerchuk gave me when I moved on from
23:36Vayner Media to work at a company called
23:38Constellation Brands where I worked on
23:40Prisoner Wine Company, Highway West
23:41Whiskey, a bunch of other brands like
23:43that. One of the best things that he
23:44told me is when you go on, if you
23:47eventually build things like team Gary
23:50for other individuals and you help them
23:51build their personal brand, don't just
23:53replicate what we did here. reverse
23:56engineer the needs, strengths, and
23:58weaknesses of the individual that you
24:00are building this for. And what I see
24:02way too commonly is people are trying to
24:06run the same playbook. In this case,
24:08they're running the playbook they did
24:10for their last boss with you. And a lot
24:13of times I have found this is not
24:15effective. It actually causes you to
24:18begin dreading your personal brand. It
24:20becomes less of a personal brand and it
24:22feels more like a prison. and you're a
24:24prisoner to this thing and these
24:26constraints that this head of personal
24:28brand is putting you into and telling
24:30you that you have to do because it
24:32worked for the last person they worked
24:33for. That is not how I believe that you
24:36you watching this, I don't think that's
24:38how you want to operate. But by going
24:39for a number two or a number three, like
24:41I mentioned earlier, they have a lot of
24:43context on what was working and not
24:45working on the team that they were
24:47previously on. And if you are lucky
24:50enough and you find a true A player, I
24:53mean like an actual A player, not
24:54somebody that self-identifies as that,
24:56but someone that through their actions
24:58you see this in how they operate,
25:00they're going to iterate over and over.
25:03In the beginning, they're going to
25:04iterate on what they had previously been
25:05a part of. But as they build this
25:08operation, this team, this whole
25:09function, this department for you, they
25:12are going to continue to iterate and
25:14improve the process, improve the system,
25:17improve the team over time, not settle
25:19for the way that things have always
25:21been. And I could do a month-long
25:24workshop on architecting and building
25:27out your media team. There's so many
25:29different variables that go into this.
25:31There's so much nuance that changes per
25:33person that I speak to. And so I'm not
25:36able to do that right now, at least on
25:38YouTube. And so I'm saving that for our
25:40101 partnerships. And if you want to
25:42find out if you qualify to be a part of
25:44one of these exclusive 101 partnerships,
25:47you can click the link in the
25:48description below, enter your
25:50information, and we will get back to you
25:51to let you know if you qualify. Now,
25:54regardless of all of that, this is the
25:56hire that you need to make, your head of
25:58personal brand. But once you hire them,
26:01the thing that I want to make sure that
26:02you avoid is the massive mistake that I
26:05see every single founder who hires this
26:07role making right now.
26:11If your head of personal brand can write
26:14your content to your level of
26:17experience, knowledge, and expertise on
26:20day one, I would argue you must not be
26:23that much of an expert, which obviously
26:24isn't the case. you have reached a level
26:26of success that 99.99999%
26:29of humans couldn't even dream of. They
26:32couldn't even imagine getting to the
26:34level that you got to. And so my point
26:36is that most people when they hire this
26:39role, they take the very thing that
26:42makes them special and worth listening
26:44to. I'm talking about their specific
26:47stories, their successes, their
26:49failures, the experiences that they've
26:51had, and the lessons that they've
26:52learned from those experiences. and then
26:54they don't share that [ __ ] Instead,
26:57they end up turning to this head of
26:59personal brand and they have them write
27:02all of the content for them on day one.
27:05And I know what you're thinking, Caleb.
27:06I I'll just give them my transcripts. I
27:08have years worth of Zoom recordings and
27:10transcripts that I can give them that
27:11gives them context on my beliefs, my
27:13experiences, my stories, etc. That is
27:16not enough. At least not in the
27:18beginning. The only thing that only you
27:22can talk about is the lessons and
27:25takeaways that come from your specific
27:28experiences. What you have actually
27:30done, the successes and failures, your
27:33insights and lessons that are shared
27:36through the lens of what you have
27:38actually done and accomplished. And the
27:41most effective way that I have found for
27:44us to identify these stories is through
27:48an exercise that my team and I have
27:50developed called the credibility bank.
27:52Essentially, all these are are just the
27:54case studies of your different successes
27:56and failures that you've had in your
27:57business career paired with a lesson or
28:00takeaway that your audience can actually
28:03apply right away. This is an incredibly
28:06important exercise because it not only
28:08helps you identify new things to speak
28:10about in your content. It also helps you
28:12establish credibility while you are
28:14teaching. Furthermore, you're actually
28:17building up a bank of these stories that
28:20in the future your team can withdraw
28:22from in making your content for you. I
28:25wrote everything myself for the first
28:27year, but now I have a copywriter who
28:30actually writes the majority of our
28:32emails based on my credibility bank, the
28:35videos that we have filmed, and voice
28:37notes that I send to them. I never could
28:39have built a personal brand that I was
28:41actually proud of and was in line with
28:44what I believe and what I want to teach,
28:46what I want to share with the world, if
28:48I wouldn't have done the upfront work
28:50and put in the massive effort of writing
28:52all of the content for the first year.
28:55And now, because of all of that effort
28:57and that upfront work of writing the
28:59content for the first year, I'm able to
29:01reap the benefits. I'm able to operate
29:04within what you and I would probably
29:05call a high lever personal brand because
29:08now I'm able to have my team create on
29:12my behalf based on the foundation that I
29:15laid in the very beginning. Now, one
29:17extra little tactical nugget that I'm
29:19going to give you here is in the
29:21beginning, I want you to try and do as
29:26many podcast appearances as humanly
29:28possible. Now, the caveat here is I want
29:31you to do them with the right people.
29:33Okay? You don't want to pair yourself
29:34and show up on a podcast with a personal
29:37brand that is completely antithetical
29:39and the opposite of what you are wanting
29:41to accomplish. If you want to be known
29:43as a trusted individual, you don't want
29:44to go on a podcast with somebody who has
29:46a very poor reputation and is known as
29:48untrustworthy. But by doing these
29:51podcasts, by getting the reps in, I
29:54believe what you are doing is you are
29:55helping refine how you communicate your
29:58ideas, your concepts, there is a massive
30:01fundamental difference between
30:02communicating to your team or speaking
30:04on stage versus actually making content
30:07that is usable, applicable, and
30:09interesting for the public on YouTube,
30:12Instagram, Tik Tok. Name your platform
30:14here. I've also found that it actually
30:16helps you uncover new concepts or new
30:20ways of sharing a previous concept
30:22you've taught because you're in a new
30:24environment and maybe you're asked a
30:26similar question that you've been asked
30:28many times, but the slight tweak that
30:30the host makes to the question prompts
30:32your head and allows you to come up with
30:34a new way of communicating. The other
30:36thing I found is back to this whole
30:38establishing the credibility bank. It
30:40helps you bring out some old stories
30:42that maybe you would have forgotten
30:43about and never would have mentioned in
30:45your content unless you were properly
30:47prompted like you are in a podcast
30:51format. But what about that comment that
30:53I just kind of breezed over earlier,
30:55which was doing podcasts with the right
30:58people? Well, how are you going to be
31:01able to determine beyond just a gut
31:03feeling who the right people are? It
31:07starts by figuring out why we're
31:09building this personal brand in the
31:11first place. Remember earlier when I
31:13mentioned that there was going to be
31:14some work that we would do later that
31:16would help you really understand what
31:18level of priority you're going to assign
31:21to building out this personal brand.
31:24Well, we are now at the point of that
31:26later work. And odds are if you have
31:29watched my content, if you've seen me on
31:31a podcast, you have probably heard me
31:34talk about the brand journey framework.
31:36Do not stop the video, okay? This is
31:39going to be arguably the most crucial
31:43thing that we are going to talk about in
31:44this entire video because it's actually
31:47going to help you define what working
31:50looks like for your personal brand. So
31:52that when I ask you the question of
31:54how's your personal brand going, is it
31:56working? You actually know what working
31:59is and you can answer the question
32:01accordingly. It also gives you direction
32:03on where you should go and where you
32:05maybe shouldn't go. It also informs what
32:08things or people are good for you to
32:12pair yourself with and what things
32:14[snorts] or people you should not pair
32:17yourself with. All of that and so much
32:19more comes from the work that we're
32:20going to do in the brand journey
32:22framework. It's four simple questions,
32:26but these four simple questions provide
32:28more clarity arguably than any other
32:30exercise or thing that I am going to
32:32walk you through in the rest of this
32:33video or have covered previously. And so
32:35these four simple questions goes as
32:37follows. One, we're going to start at
32:39the end what our desired outcome is and
32:42we're going to reverse engineer our way
32:44to today. So, the first question that we
32:46need to answer is what is your desired
32:49outcome? What are you wanting to have
32:51happen off of the back of building this
32:53personal brand? Aka, what makes it a win
32:56for you? What I'm really looking for is
32:58what is your selfish desire or your
33:00selfish outcome that you're looking for?
33:02And it doesn't mean selfish as in a
33:04inherently negative thing. I'm not
33:06saying selfish with a moral claim here.
33:08Do you want to reach different clients?
33:10Are you wanting to get into rooms you
33:12have not previously had access to? Are
33:14you wanting to speak on more stages or
33:16are you planning on writing a book and
33:17releasing it? What is the desired
33:19outcome that you have off the back of
33:22building your personal brand? The second
33:23question that we need to answer here is
33:25what would I need to be known for in
33:28order for this outcome to occur? You and
33:30I both know a lot of good things come to
33:32us in our life, in our career, in our
33:34business because of the reputation that
33:36we have built. Now, some people struggle
33:39with answering this question. So like,
33:42well, what reputation would I need to
33:43have in order to achieve this outcome? I
33:45I don't really know. I haven't been
33:47there yet. This is where I think you and
33:49I can borrow from maybe somebody that
33:51you uh respect and admire, Charlie
33:53Munger. He has his inverse thinking. And
33:55so instead of thinking, what reputation
33:57do I need to build? Why don't you think
34:00of it this way? What reputation would
34:02guarantee that I never achieve the
34:04outcome that I've determined that I
34:05want? And if you identify that, then you
34:08can literally just identify what the
34:10opposite is of that. And that's the
34:12reputation that you need to build and
34:14establish to get the outcome you want.
34:15Question number three starts getting
34:17more tangible. What would you need to do
34:20in order to be known for the thing to
34:23get the outcome you desire? You and I
34:25both know it's not like we build
34:27reputations just by yapping and talking.
34:29We got to actually do [ __ ] We got to
34:31actually accomplish [ __ ] So what do you
34:33need to do to build the reputation to
34:35get the outcome you desire? Now the
34:37fourth and final question it brings us
34:39very tangibly to today. In order to do
34:42the thing to get known for the thing to
34:44get the outcome I want what do you need
34:47to learn under the to-do list is a
34:52massive list of different skills and
34:54things we need to learn in order to do
34:56the thing. If you answer these questions
34:59properly, you are going to have the road
35:00map for how you go from where you are
35:02right now to where you want to be
35:05utilizing the brand journey framework.
35:07And so that answers what your personal
35:10brand is for, but it doesn't necessarily
35:12provide us the answer on who your
35:15personal brand is for. So next, I want
35:18you to take the answers from your brand
35:21journey framework exercise, and I want
35:23you to use those to inform you of who
35:27your primary and your secondary audience
35:29are. Now, how do we go about determining
35:32this? By looking at it through the lens
35:34of who would my primary audience need to
35:37be or what group of people would I need
35:40to have this strong reputation that
35:42you've identified? What group of people
35:44would I need to have that strong
35:45reputation with to move me closer to
35:49that desired outcome that I outlined in
35:51the brand journey framework? That's the
35:53first one. The second one for your
35:55secondary exercise is maybe there are
35:58two groups of people that you need a
36:00strong reputation for or strong
36:02reputation with in order to achieve the
36:04outcome that you desire. And if so, if
36:06that is the case, who is that second
36:09group? I know for me I have two
36:11different groups that I speak to. My
36:13primary audience is the founder is you.
36:16You are my primary audience. But my
36:18secondary audience is your head of
36:20personal brand, the right-hand character
36:23to the personal brand. Okay? The person
36:25who is actually scaling this initiative
36:28on your behalf. And so I speak to both
36:30of those audiences. But here's the key.
36:33I don't try to speak to both of them in
36:35every piece of content. every piece of
36:37content I pick my primary or my
36:40secondary audience and I optimize the
36:42video accordingly. And when you do these
36:44two exercises, it answers so many of the
36:49downstream questions that are going to
36:50come up as you get deeper and deeper
36:52into building your personal brand. Now,
36:55all of this clarity and understanding is
36:57incredibly important. But the problem
36:59that I see here is if we don't like the
37:02way that we show up on camera, we are
37:04not likely to actually put any of this
37:07into action. And the quickest way to
37:10hate how you show up on camera is to try
37:12and be somebody that you're not. So many
37:15founders, I'm not saying you, but so
37:17many founders that I have worked with
37:19have this belief that they have to
37:21become this character. The moment the
37:24camera turns on, they got to turn on
37:25this character that is different to who
37:27they are, it's not sustainable. And most
37:30of the time, it doesn't actually improve
37:33the performance of your content. It ends
37:35up hurting it. Now, more than likely,
37:36because of all the success that you have
37:38achieved, you probably have a pretty
37:41good ability to persuade people, to get
37:44people to rally around this big vision
37:48or this idea that you have and for them
37:50to actually take action on that big
37:53vision. And that's actually all you are
37:55doing with your personal brand. So, the
37:58best form of delivery isn't trying to be
38:01something. See, it's not about addition
38:04here. This is actually more about
38:06subtraction. Subtracting all of the
38:08things that keep you from actually
38:12showing up and being who you actually
38:15are in your content. Now, what I'm not
38:18saying here is that you need to
38:19overshare all the details of your
38:20personal life. What I'm saying is if you
38:23are dry and sarcastic, you should lean
38:26into being that dry, sarcastic person,
38:30not trying to be what you think the
38:31algorithm needs you to be. On the
38:33contrary, if you're really bubbly and
38:35gregarious, you should lean into it.
38:38What I want you to understand is the
38:41things that have led to what you have
38:43accomplished right now are the things
38:45that are going to lead to a very strong
38:47personal brand, not you sandbagging and
38:50stunting your ability to be who you are.
38:53If you really think that the thing that
38:55brought you to the level that you are at
38:57right now is the thing that is going to
38:58cause you to not be able to build your
39:00personal brand. Like how audacious and
39:02ridiculous does that actually sound when
39:03I say it out loud? Yet I know that you
39:07are thinking that you need to be
39:08somebody different in your content
39:10because you see all of these different
39:12individuals online with their wild,
39:15charismatic personalities. I struggled
39:18with this hardcore before I started
39:20putting out content. I thought I was
39:22going to have to be some sort of
39:24character. But what I will tell you is
39:26one, it gets better over time and you
39:28get better at showing up as who you
39:30actually are. But number two is I would
39:34argue the majority of people who know me
39:36in my personal life, the majority of our
39:38clients that we work with, I think they
39:40would say that a lot of what you see in
39:43this content is a lot of what you get
39:45with me off camera. Now, I'm not perfect
39:47on this and it's something that every
39:49video that we make, I feel like I'm
39:51improving. And so, every video that you
39:52make, you can improve on eliminating the
39:56things that keep you from being you.
39:58Instead of trying to tackle all of those
40:00things and subtract them all on your
40:01first video, do what I did. Instead of
40:03trying to tackle that all at once, it's
40:05like, "Okay, cool. What's this
40:06insecurity that I'm dealing with? And
40:08how can I push past that insecurity so
40:10that I can show who I really am?"
40:12Because a lot of what this boils down to
40:14is a fear that if we show up as we truly
40:17are, people won't take us seriously.
40:18People won't want to hear the
40:19information that we have to say. People
40:21won't look at us the same way that they
40:23did previously. And that is true. But
40:26the reason why they're not looking at
40:28you the same way they were previously is
40:29because now you are different. Different
40:31than the masses. Rather than being a
40:34robotic blendin version of what
40:36everybody else in your niche is doing,
40:38you actually stand out because you are
40:40being you. The only thing, and I mean
40:44the only thing that is truly unique
40:46about your personal brand is you. Not
40:49what you've accomplished, not how you've
40:51accomplished it, but who you are layered
40:55on top of what you have accomplished and
40:57how you accomplished it. Now, if you're
40:59hearing me say all this and you're like,
41:01"Yeah, Caleb, I've I've done a lot of
41:03this and I'm still not proud of my
41:05personal brand. I'm still not proud of
41:07the content that I'm creating." Well,
41:09the next lever that I want you to pull
41:11on is making sure that you're actually
41:14talking about [ __ ] that you're
41:15passionate about, that you're excited
41:16about, that fires you up. The best way
41:18that I have found to show up with this
41:20excitement and conviction to a level
41:22that your audience can actually feel
41:24themselves, I mean, let's take this
41:26video for example. You can feel the
41:28passion and excitement that I have
41:29around this topic. I've been debating
41:31making this video for months now, okay?
41:33And there was one specific uh scenario
41:35that tipped me over the edge on this. my
41:38excitement, my conviction is coming
41:40through in my delivery. And so, the best
41:43way that you can show up with this
41:44excitement and conviction in your
41:46content is to talk about [ __ ] that is
41:48top of mind. What are the problems that
41:50you've been solving lately? What are the
41:52things that you've been working with
41:53your team on? What have you been
41:55coaching your clients on? What big
41:57unlocks happened in a meeting that you
41:59had last week on your calendar that you
42:01could go back to? Identify the nugget
42:04that you unlocked and share it with your
42:07audience. These are going to be the
42:08things that you're more excited to talk
42:10about. And when you're more excited to
42:12talk about it, you're going to come
42:13across as more convicted. It's going to
42:15look like you're actually enjoying what
42:17you're doing rather than you're being a
42:19hostage on camera tortured in talking
42:23about [ __ ] that you don't give a [ __ ]
42:24about. Just like so many companies start
42:27off by selling their product or their
42:30offer to a more narrow audience or a
42:33more narrow group of individuals and
42:35then as they get product market fit,
42:36they begin to broaden. I want you to be
42:39thinking about your personal brand in a
42:41very similar way because I would bet
42:44that you are feeling the temptation, the
42:47draw to jump into the ocean of business,
42:52business content. And I'm not
42:55necessarily telling you that you can't
42:57or that you shouldn't. That's not
42:59something that I can know without us
43:00actually having a conversation together.
43:03But in most cases, what I have found is
43:06that it is more effective to start in a
43:10smaller body of water, gain the
43:13traction, find content market fit, and
43:16then scale up from there. And so here's
43:19how I think about these bodies of water.
43:21Okay, there's four different bodies of
43:23water. We've got your ocean, that's the
43:25biggest one. We've got your lake, we've
43:26got your pond, and we've got your
43:28puddle. And every time that you move up
43:31these bodies of water, the competition
43:34gets more fierce. When you get to that
43:36ocean level, you're not just competing
43:38with other fish, you're competing with
43:40sharks and whales. And so, I encourage
43:43everybody to think about what is my
43:45ocean and then what is my competitive
43:48advantage below the ocean? Maybe we
43:51start with a lake or I'll actually just
43:53use myself as an example. My ocean would
43:56be brand. Okay, my lake would be
43:59personal brand. But what I chose was to
44:02compete in a pond in the beginning,
44:04which is personal brand for you.
44:06Personal brand for entrepreneurs and
44:08business owners. And so I chose very
44:10strategically to compete in a pond
44:13rather than a lake or ocean starting on
44:16day one. And if you're looking for what
44:18my puddle would be underneath this pond
44:21of personal branding for entrepreneurs,
44:23for business owners, it might look
44:24something like personal branding for
44:27entrepreneurs doing 500,000 to 2 million
44:31a year. So it might be a less advanced
44:33individual and I'm targeting just that
44:36group. And so the puddle is definitely
44:38going to be the most concentrated
44:39version of your pond, lake, ocean. And I
44:43don't plan on just competing in this
44:45pond that I'm currently in forever. I
44:47plan on moving up. I plan on going to
44:50the lake and then eventually the ocean.
44:52But I will only do so when two things
44:55are true. One, my actual experience and
44:58expertise lends me credibility to do so,
45:01as in I've earned the right to compete
45:04in the lake or the ocean. And number
45:07two, I need to also make sure that I've
45:09gotten traction in the current body of
45:10water that I'm in. Just because my
45:12experience and expertise allows me to go
45:14from the pond I'm in to the lake that I
45:16want to be in, that I aspire to be in,
45:18doesn't mean that I should make the jump
45:20immediately. I want to gain traction. I
45:23want to find content market fit, just
45:25like you find product market fit with
45:26your business. I want to find content
45:28market fit within the body of water that
45:31I'm currently in so that I can utilize
45:34that understanding and information to go
45:36compete at the bigger level. The body of
45:40water that you choose to compete in has
45:43a direct correlation and massive impact
45:47on the success that you can have early
45:50on with your personal brand. But with
45:52this new level of focus comes a tradeoff
45:55or something that we need to accept,
45:57which is if you're choosing a smaller
45:59body of water to compete in, you're
46:01choosing a smaller TAM. And usually, not
46:03always, but usually a smaller TAM leads
46:06to less views, which is fine for me
46:09because I'm not optimizing for views.
46:10I'm optimizing for trust. But this is
46:12something that I've seen many, many
46:15founders say they accept. Oh, I'm not
46:18aiming for views. I'm not doing this to
46:20become famous. I'm doing this to have a
46:22real impact on my business. But then the
46:24moment a video underperforms, it doesn't
46:26get a 100,000 or a million views, they
46:29freak out and are questioning their team
46:31on their entire strategy up until this
46:33point. And so the smaller your TAM, the
46:36more that you need to clearly identify
46:39and define what winning looks like on a
46:43per piece of content basis. This is what
46:46Trevor and I are doing constantly with
46:48our videos. For example, this video is a
46:51prime shining example of this. I am not
46:54in any way, shape, or form aiming for
46:56this to get massive viewership. As far
46:58as the YouTube ranking goes, I believe
46:59this is probably going to be an eight or
47:01nine out of 10. Not because it's not a
47:03valuable video, but because the group of
47:05people that I am speaking to is a very
47:07small group. We have a very narrow TAM
47:09here. Why? because I qualify this video
47:12is for entrepreneurs and founders doing
47:16over $30 million in revenue per year.
47:18Now, how many of those characters are
47:20there in the world? I don't know off the
47:21top of my head, but it's not that many.
47:23And so, the way that we measure success
47:25on this video is not even really the
47:28comments because more than likely, if
47:30you got value out of this video, I don't
47:33think you're actually likely to comment
47:34on it. you're more likely to probably DM
47:36me on Instagram, email me, text me if
47:39you have my number, or apply to work
47:41with us on my website. And so that is
47:44how we have determined literally before
47:46we even filmed this video, let alone
47:48before we publish it, what success were
47:51working looks like. That way we can
47:54measure the success or lack of success
47:57properly. If you do not do this, what I
47:59find most people end up falling into is
48:01you maybe know that you're making this
48:03video for a specific outcome, but you
48:05don't make it very clear to you and your
48:07team. And so when the video that was
48:10made for a small TAM gets very few
48:12views, you immediately are discouraged
48:14and never do something like that again
48:16because you were not measuring what was
48:19working correctly because you didn't
48:21define clearly what working looked like.
48:24And because of us being lazy humans, we
48:26always choose the path of least
48:28resistance. We're going to choose the
48:29metric that is easiest to track to
48:31determine success or failure on a video.
48:33But views are not always a great
48:35determiner of success or failure.
48:37Because views don't pay the bills.
48:39Clients do. Instead, I want you to be
48:42very clear about the body of water
48:43you've chosen and then optimize and put
48:46all of your effort into establishing a
48:49deep foundation with that audience. I'd
48:53rather be known in the beginning as
48:55wildly useful and super deep on a very
48:58narrow subject and then over time
49:00broaden what I talk about versus having
49:03the opposite problem where I'm known as
49:05covering a lot of different subject
49:07matters but not to any depth. And what I
49:11see if you take that strategy, if you go
49:13the width play without going any depth
49:16on anything, one, it's very unlikely
49:18that you have many people that are going
49:20to be interested in all the different
49:21wide subjects that you cover. But even
49:23if they're into two or three, they're
49:26not going to have a long-term
49:28relationship with you. Because if you
49:29don't go deep on anything, after they
49:31consume one or two of your videos,
49:33they've gotten all they need from you.
49:34And so they have no reason to be loyal
49:37to your personal brand. And that's why
49:40optimizing for depth rather than width,
49:42especially in the beginning, is 99 out
49:45of a 100 times going to be the right
49:47strategy for you to put into place. I
49:50know it's tempting to go wide. I know
49:52it's tempting because we think we're
49:53going to get a bunch of views, but the
49:54majority of people that start wide, they
49:56don't get a bunch of views. They just
49:58have content that is lacking substance
50:01and attention. And this is how you can
50:04be number one in your niche. Not by
50:07competing with whoever is number one
50:09right now on day one, but by working
50:12your way up there, finding content
50:14market fit, getting traction, and
50:16allowing that traction to snowball into
50:19the ability for you to compete in the
50:23ocean with the number one. But how do we
50:26know if we've actually reached this
50:27thing called content market fit? I
50:31believe that one of the best indicators
50:33that you have reached content market fit
50:36is if your audience could predict how
50:39you would react or respond to a headline
50:43in your industry in your niche. If your
50:46views, your beliefs, your opinions are
50:48so clear and have been said enough times
50:52for your audience to associate it with
50:55your personal brand. and they have that
50:58information to a level where they could
51:00see a headline from a publisher or
51:02another creator in your niche and they
51:05would know or could predict how you
51:08would respond to that. I believe that is
51:11a big telltale sign that you have
51:14reached content market fit. For example,
51:16I believe a good amount of my highly
51:19active and engaged audience would know
51:22how I would react if they saw a headline
51:24from another creator in the personal
51:26branding world saying that going viral
51:28is the only way to build a personal
51:30brand in 2027. I think a lot of people
51:33that are really engaged and active in
51:35our audience would have a very clear
51:38understanding and could probably
51:39honestly quote almost word for word how
51:42I would respond. So if this is a good
51:44way to measure whether we have content
51:46market fit, how do we actually make it
51:49happen so that we have something that we
51:51can measure and we do this by
51:53establishing your contrarian takes and
51:57beliefs. Truly the greatest way in my
52:00opinion that you can stand out, that you
52:02can separate and distance and
52:03differentiate yourself from your
52:05competitors is by sharing what you
52:08believe about your industry, your niche,
52:10about the world that you believe
52:12differently than what the masses are
52:14saying. I've shared my contrarian belief
52:17a couple of times in this video alone of
52:20how I believe that entrepreneurs who are
52:23building their personal brand to have an
52:24impact on their business should optimize
52:26for trust, not virality. And I believe
52:29that is a huge reason why we've had the
52:32success we've had in building my
52:33personal brand. We are standing out in a
52:35world where the majority of people
52:37online are preaching and teaching how to
52:40go viral and how it's a million views or
52:42bust. And then we came onto the scene
52:45making content about how there's another
52:47way. There's an alternative path that
52:50you can take. And that alternative path
52:52actually leads to more business results
52:54and outcomes than the one that the
52:56majority or the masses are teaching. And
52:58the way you go about finding your
53:00contrarian belief is actually way
53:02simpler than maybe you would think by
53:05just grabbing a piece of paper,
53:06literally anything, your notebook,
53:08whatever you have, and I want you to
53:09draw a line down the middle. This
53:10creates two columns. And on the left
53:12side, what I want you to do is I want
53:14you to write out all of the things that
53:16people in your niche, in your industry,
53:19say, preach, and teach as gospel that
53:22you disagree with. What are the things
53:24that when you hear that clip when you're
53:27scrolling through Instagram, it just
53:28gets your blood boiling? It gives you a
53:31visceral reaction. You feel compelled to
53:33say the opposite because it's what you
53:35truly believe. I want you to write all
53:37of those out on the left side. Then on
53:39the right side, all you're going to do
53:40is you're going to write out what your
53:42belief is, what your version of that is.
53:44And usually this looks like the opposite
53:46or a more nuanced take on what the
53:48masses are saying. And by doing this,
53:50you now have a list of several different
53:52contrarian takes that you can share and
53:56test in your content. Let's say you
53:59identify three to four. What I want you
54:01to do is I want you to share those three
54:02to four contrarian takes in your content
54:05and over time test and learn what one of
54:09those three to four contrarian takes is
54:12getting the most traction. What one is
54:14your audience resonating with the most?
54:16That is going to be the contrarian take,
54:18the contrarian belief that you are going
54:20to double and triple down on. And by
54:23doubling and tripling down, I mean I
54:25want you to share that contrarian take
54:27over and over and over again. I know
54:30what you're thinking, but won't my
54:31audience get tired of me saying the same
54:33[ __ ] Won't they get bored of hearing me
54:36share that over and over? Well, the
54:37beautiful thing is is you're in the
54:40arena. You can share this contrarian
54:42take through the lens of different
54:43situations, different circumstances,
54:46different stories that you have from
54:49your career where you've seen people do
54:51one thing, you've done another, the
54:53results they got versus the results that
54:55you got. You want to continually pair
54:57yourself with this contrarian take, with
54:59this contrarian belief, so it becomes
55:02something that your audience associates
55:04with your personal brand. Now that we're
55:07building your most valuable asset, your
55:10personal brand, how do we protect it?
55:12How do we ensure that it's always moving
55:15in the right direction, not the wrong
55:17one? It's getting us closer to our
55:18desired outcome, not further. Now, if I
55:20was to go into extreme detail here, this
55:23would be a 24-hour course. There is so
55:27much to protecting your personal brand
55:29that I could cover, but what I want to
55:31do is I want to rapid fire through some
55:33of the most important critical things to
55:36be thinking about in protecting your
55:39personal brand. And the first one is
55:40pairings. Okay, I define branding as a
55:44pairing of things. I define good
55:46branding as an intentional pairing of
55:48relevant things done consistently.
55:52And the byproduct becomes the brand. The
55:56brand is when the audience inherently
55:58associates you with something. If it's a
56:01good brand, they're associating you with
56:02the thing you've intentionally paired
56:04yourself with. That's in the good
56:06direction. But the same is true in the
56:08opposite going in a bad direction. If
56:12you continually pair yourself with
56:14things that are antithetical to what you
56:17are wanting to accomplish, you are
56:19hurting your personal brand. You are
56:22moving yourself further away from your
56:24end goal, not closer. And so, you need
56:27to be incredibly intentional with who
56:30and what you pair yourself with because
56:33what you continually pair yourself with
56:35becomes the lens, the glasses, the
56:38filter that your audience is going to
56:39view you through. Another way to protect
56:42this personal brand, this massive
56:45valuable asset that you are building is
56:47to watch out for [snorts] subject matter
56:51creep. Now, what do I mean by this? It's
56:53not always the case, but a lot of times
56:56someone finds great success maybe in
56:58building a business and then they feel
57:01the need to talk about all these other
57:04areas in their life that they feel
57:06they've gotten success in. Maybe it's
57:09parenting, marriage, health, all these
57:11different things, right? The reality is
57:12is maybe they did become an expert on
57:16that other thing. I'm not arguing about
57:18your credibility to take on a new
57:20subject matter. That's a totally
57:21separate conversation. Let's use uh
57:23marriage as an example. If you decide to
57:26start talking about marriage in your
57:28content, guess what you're inviting your
57:30audience to do? Scrutinize your
57:32marriage. They're going to start grading
57:34not only your business because
57:36previously you were making business
57:37content. Now you're making business
57:39content and marriage advice. Well, they
57:41went from just scrutinizing your
57:43business, which maybe you're totally
57:44fine with, to now scrutinizing your
57:47marriage. And for some people, that's a
57:50fair trade. They're totally good with
57:52that trade. I'm not here telling you
57:54what is right or wrong. What I'm trying
57:56to do is equip you with the
57:57understanding, the context, the
57:58knowledge, the tools to make the
58:00decision for yourself. If you start
58:03talking about parenting, suddenly not
58:06only your parenting style goes under a
58:08microscope, your kids suddenly start to
58:11go under a microscope. And so what I
58:13want you to be thinking about is every
58:16new subject that you're debating
58:18bringing into your personal brand and to
58:20start talking about in your content, I
58:22would just ask yourself the very simple
58:24question, am I proud of being graded
58:28against this thing? Am I into the idea
58:31of having a microscope on this area in
58:34my life? And sometimes the answer is
58:36going to be, yeah, that's fine.
58:37Sometimes the answer is going to be no
58:40[ __ ] way. That would ruin my marriage
58:44or that would take the fun out of my
58:46marriage. And so, if that is the case, I
58:48would encourage you to think twice
58:50before taking on this additional subject
58:53matter. Now, if you're totally fine with
58:55it, by all means, you do you, boo boo.
58:57You are all good. I support you talking
59:00about what you are passionate about and
59:01what you want to provide value on. Just
59:03understand that every new thing you talk
59:05about, you invite criticism to that area
59:08of your life. Now, another thing that we
59:10need to be thinking about in protecting
59:11our personal brand is kind of a reminder
59:13from something we talked about earlier,
59:15but I feel compelled to hit on it a
59:18second time from a slightly different
59:19angle, which is the temptation to go
59:22really wide with your content. There's
59:24nothing necessarily inherently wrong. I
59:26gave you the the breakdown of the wider
59:28you go, the less depth you have. And so
59:30people like your audience can't go very
59:33deep with you. So they have no reason to
59:34continue watching you after they consume
59:36several of your videos. But more than
59:39that, because of the level of success
59:41that you have had, you're a [ __ ]
59:43gangster. If you're at the 30 million or
59:47more a year, you're an absolute savage
59:49in my opinion. And so the question that
59:51I would ask you is if you're going to go
59:53wide, are you okay with being known as
59:56an elementary level business operator?
59:59Because the way the internet actually
1:00:00works is it doesn't deal in reality and
1:00:02nuance. It will only take what you give
1:00:05them. And so if you've built this
1:00:07incredible empire, let's say you're
1:00:09running a $600 million a year revenue
1:00:12business and you're crushing it, you're
1:00:15one of the top 10 in your category, top
1:00:17five maybe even. Are you going to want
1:00:19to be known as an elementary level
1:00:21business operator? Are you going to want
1:00:23to be known for how to start an LLC? Or
1:00:26do you want to be known as a deep
1:00:29practitioner, a gangster level operator?
1:00:32That can help you decide on whether or
1:00:34not you're going to take this width
1:00:36approach or if you're going to do as I
1:00:39advise and you're going to go the depth
1:00:41route for establishing your foundation.
1:00:46Another thing we want to be looking out
1:00:47for or we want to be strategic with in
1:00:51protecting our personal brand is we need
1:00:53to understand that our employees are a
1:00:57multiplier of our personal brand both in
1:01:01the positive direction and the negative
1:01:04direction. Now, you've heard plenty of
1:01:07people, maybe you've talked about it
1:01:08yourself, uh talk about how important it
1:01:11is to have a really healthy and strong
1:01:14company culture, to have an environment
1:01:16of psychological safety and [snorts] all
1:01:18of these different things. You need to
1:01:19invest in your team. And it's all been
1:01:21shared through the lens really of like
1:01:23optimizing around employee retention and
1:01:27having a strong culture. And I do have a
1:01:31fairly decent track record for teams
1:01:32that I've ran uh of having a very low
1:01:35churn rate, having very few people
1:01:37voluntarily leave. But that's not what
1:01:39I'm going to be sharing. That is not my
1:01:41true expertise. I'm going to be sharing
1:01:43this through the lens of your personal
1:01:44brand and the impact that your employees
1:01:47have on it. See, if you have a bunch of
1:01:50employees that are maybe past employees
1:01:54or even present employees, usually a mix
1:01:56of both, that have had an incredible
1:01:58experience working for your
1:02:00organization. They not only felt like
1:02:02the culture empowered them to show up as
1:02:04their best self, but also like the
1:02:06company actually cared about them,
1:02:08right? And didn't just view them as a a
1:02:10number or a name on a sheet that could
1:02:13easily be scratched out if needed. If
1:02:15they felt like they had a really good
1:02:17experience, that can be a massive
1:02:19multiplier in a positive direction for
1:02:21your personal brand, they can go out
1:02:23into the world and champion the fact
1:02:25that you have a great environment and
1:02:27you're a great place to work for. And
1:02:29now and now the way that technology has
1:02:31evolved and you know this whole crazy
1:02:33thing called social media, it's not only
1:02:35just like one for one word of mouth
1:02:37where people are going and telling their
1:02:38friends. They're able to speak about
1:02:41their experience, their amazing positive
1:02:43experience of working for you on social
1:02:46media. They can go to their Instagram or
1:02:48Tik Tok and talk about how awesome it
1:02:50was of an experience working for you. I
1:02:52mean, you've probably seen a lot of
1:02:53times in my content, I talk about how
1:02:55awesome it was working for Gary
1:02:57Vaynerchuk. Like it was one of the most
1:02:59challenging times in my career, but it's
1:03:01also one of the things that I look back
1:03:02at with the greatest fondness. And I got
1:03:05so much out of that time. I mean, I got
1:03:07[ __ ] paid to be there, but I arguably
1:03:10would have I would have been fine paying
1:03:12to be in that position. It was an
1:03:14amazing opportunity, an amazing
1:03:16experience for me. And I go around and I
1:03:19champion the fact that I believe that it
1:03:21was a great organization to work for
1:03:24given what I was wanting to accomplish
1:03:26and what I was willing to sacrifice in
1:03:28order to accomplish that. But in the
1:03:30same way that this can be a massive
1:03:32multiplier in a positive direction, it
1:03:35can also be a massive multiplier in the
1:03:39negative direction. Now, more than any
1:03:43other time in human history, your
1:03:45employees have a voice. Now, they've
1:03:48always had a voice, but they never had
1:03:50an audience in the past. The only way
1:03:52they could get an audience or make any
1:03:55sort of impact or change is by rallying
1:03:57together. There were these things, and
1:04:00they still happen called strikes or
1:04:02things of that nature. And that's how
1:04:03the employee was able to vocalize their
1:04:06discontent with the environment or with
1:04:09the conditions. But now it's not just
1:04:11the collective that has a voice. The
1:04:13individual now has a voice with an
1:04:17audience ready to hear what they have to
1:04:20share. Because any one of your employees
1:04:22who have had just like the ones who have
1:04:24had a positive experience can do this.
1:04:26The ones who have had a very negative
1:04:28experience have every ability to grab
1:04:32their phone and film a video for
1:04:34Instagram or Tik Tok and talk about the
1:04:36negative experience that they had
1:04:37working for you. And in what world do
1:04:39you think that that is going to be
1:04:41additive to your personal brand? In what
1:04:44world do you think, especially if it
1:04:46gains traction, that is going to cause
1:04:48other people to want to work for your
1:04:50organization? Sure, there might be a few
1:04:51people that don't give a [ __ ] or what or
1:04:53think they don't give a [ __ ] but in all
1:04:55likelihood, this is going to impact not
1:04:58only how your personal brand is viewed
1:05:00by your audience. It's also probably
1:05:02going to impact the level of talent that
1:05:04you are able to actually get access to.
1:05:07Real gangsters know that they have a lot
1:05:10of different opportunities. So why would
1:05:12they not choose an opportunity in a
1:05:14company that is going to empower them to
1:05:15be their best version and invest in them
1:05:17and support them versus a company that
1:05:19is trying to milk them for all they're
1:05:21worth and then kicking them to the curb
1:05:22when they're done with them. I promise
1:05:24you that this is a much bigger deal than
1:05:2899.9%
1:05:30of founders are actually realizing. If
1:05:33you're not doing it for being a good
1:05:34human, do it for the selfish reason of
1:05:36protecting your personal brand. Another
1:05:38one that I want you to be very careful
1:05:40of is inflation, but not the financial
1:05:43inflation, the inflation of your
1:05:45stories, of your numbers, of what you've
1:05:48accomplished. What I'm going to say
1:05:49might sound a little insane. When I was
1:05:51behind the scenes and I was working for
1:05:53other people, I wasn't making my own
1:05:55content. I was I was private. I used to
1:05:58think this was absolutely ludicrous and
1:05:59I never understood it at all. And I want
1:06:02to be very honest and vulnerable with
1:06:03you. I get it now. I make content and I
1:06:06understand if you have 58 and a half,000
1:06:10subscribers rounding up to 60,000. But
1:06:12where this goes really wrong is when you
1:06:14lie. Shocker. As insane as this sounds,
1:06:18I have to say it because so many people
1:06:20are lying. And what this looks like is
1:06:23rounding up your numbers or saying
1:06:26things like determining what the
1:06:28valuation of your company is, but
1:06:30sharing that number like it's your
1:06:32[ __ ] yearly revenue. These are little
1:06:34areas that in the beginning feel like h
1:06:38it's not that big of a deal. But the
1:06:39thing is is once you start hitting a
1:06:41certain size of your audience, you're
1:06:43not only going to be attracting people
1:06:45that want the best for you and are
1:06:47rooting for you, you're going to bring
1:06:48critics. And now more than ever, these
1:06:50critics have the ability to sleuth you
1:06:53out and investigate. Have you ever heard
1:06:55of a channel called Coffeezilla? He's
1:06:56doing this all the time. This is like a
1:06:58full-time job for people. And so if you
1:07:02build a massive personal brand off the
1:07:04back of mistruths or inflating your
1:07:09numbers, inflating your stories, I
1:07:11promise you that will come back to bite
1:07:13you. It's not a matter of if, it's just
1:07:16a matter of when. So, if you don't want
1:07:18to deal with the nightmare that is
1:07:19retracting previous statements that
1:07:21you've made, previous numbers that
1:07:23you've attributed to your company that
1:07:24are not true, well, just tell the truth
1:07:26in the beginning. And if you don't feel
1:07:28like the truth is compelling enough for
1:07:31you to accomplish what you want to
1:07:32accomplish, then you have the greatest
1:07:34challenge of all, which is you need to
1:07:36go make the truth better. Not by lying
1:07:38about it, but by doing bigger [ __ ]
1:07:40accomplishing stuff that is more
1:07:42meaningful to the audience that you are
1:07:44trying to build. aka what I am leaving
1:07:46you here with is the greatest personal
1:07:48branding strategy in the world is just
1:07:51simply telling the truth. If watching
1:07:54this video has caused you to realize
1:07:56that you need to build your personal
1:07:57brand or take your personal brand that
1:07:59you already have more seriously, we are
1:08:02here for you. If you want to see if you
1:08:03qualify to work with my team and I, go
1:08:05to caleb rston.com, hit the explore a
1:08:07partnership button and we will let you
1:08:09know if you're a good fit for partnering
1:08:11with Rston.

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