The Brand ED Podcast

The Brand ED Podcast: EP 58
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Quote. You see them on YouTube or Instagram wearing expensive sneakers, hanging out with celebrities, taking selfies at hip bars and restaurants. Who do you think that quote is referring to? What group of people does that sound like?

[00:00:00] Expensive Shoes, Hip Restuarants, Savage Selfies
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You see them on YouTube or Instagram wearing expensive sneakers, hanging out with celebrities, taking selfies at hip bars and cool restaurants. I think you probably have a guess.

We're talking about the seven deadly dangers of starting a personal brand business.

And we're on number three.

To recap, the first two dangers that we walked through on the previous two episodes.

Danger number one: personal brands have little to no accountability. There is no license you have to go get. There's no board you have to pass. It's just a wide open range. If you want to start one, anyone can start one.

[00:00:41] Recap of Dangers #1 and #2
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Personal brand danger number two: personal brands play on a dangerous field and that field is the internet. For all of its strengths. It's got weaknesses and those are connected to weaknesses of building a personal brand. Fast, far reaching and at times fake.

So that brings us to personal brand danger number three.

Personal brand danger number three is this. The personal brand movement is young. It has not been around real long and it is led by a fair amount of youth. And that can be dangerous.

[00:01:23] Deadly Personal Brand Danger Number 3
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It's young. So we don't know the impacts or the effects yet. And there's lots of youth in personal brands, not exclusively, not only, but there is a certain amount of youth involved.

I say that. That means in their twenties, in their thirties, you see them all over the space.

Now, as we think about this danger just because you're young, that's not inherently dangerous, but with the popularity growing in the personal brand space, as we've talked about from the beginning of this series, personal brands are on the rise.

It's very trendy to want to start your own business as a coach consultant, speaker, author creator, solo-preneur. There's lots of attention now given to personal brands and personal branding. And there are wonderful benefits. I've had one. I run one. I am one. There are many wonderful things.

And the spotlight tends to get drawn to all of the great things about being a personal brand. You don't have to work for anyone else. You're your own boss. You can do what you were put on the planet to do. You can craft the business around your lifestyle. On and on it goes.

Those are great things. Many of those things are true, but that's almost exclusively where the spotlight goes.

It dangles that carrot out there. And part of that's true. We're not saying those things aren't true. All I want us to consider is is that the whole truth? And I don't think it is. I think much of that is true. It's just not the only thing that's true.

Some small attention from some folks... they'll be honest enough to tell you that building a personal brand business is also challenging.

A majority of the attention goes to how great it is. A little bit of attention will sometimes get thrown to the challenges that come with building a personal brand business. But there's very little talk of the inherent dangers with building a personal brand.

That's what we're raising in the series.

So as we come to this third deadly danger of building a personal brand, we need to recognize that the personal brand movement in its current iteration and form, it's still very, very young.

I want you to imagine a mountain guide. Now I've never really been mountain climbing.

[00:04:00] Imagine Following a Mountain Guide
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I haven't been to the summit at any sort of impressive peak. I have read a couple of books about Everest. I've seen some stuff that's fascinating to me. Anyone who even wants to attempt to do that, it just blows my mind. But you can imagine if you're a mountain guide and you've summited Mount Everest, and you're the hero then to a lot of folks who also want to go summit that mountain, who has never been out there. They've never summited the mountain.

So when you come back as a representative, who's summited the mountain, then you've got a pretty big responsibility. And that is analogous sometimes to those that have maybe they're out in front of us, they've launched their personal brand. We want to do the same. And we look up to them as guides or heroes. And we want to learn something from them about what will it look like?

What's it like, what do I need to do? What are my expectations for me? Because I don't want to start a personal brand too. And so we look to those that have drawn attention, had success.

And a mountain guide. They oftentimes, without us really taking full stock, Those folks get to define what a personal brand is.

So sometimes we can be looking at someone who doesn't have a lot of life experience. Honestly, he doesn't have a lot of business experience. They can be highly intelligent. I'm going to give an example here in a second. They can be very successful. They can have experienced rapid growth. There's things that any of us can learn from them regardless of our age.

But we also have to realize that when we're looking to others that have started a personal brand, that we go, Ooh, I want to be like them. I want to look like them. I want to learn from them. I want to model some of my own business after them. We've got to understand like a mountain guide who summited the mountain and then come back down below the clouds.

We're taking it at face value that, "Hey, this is what a personal brand is." So we let these folks, a lot of times define what it is. We slowly absorb and let them define what a personal brand should be for and what it should be against. And we've mentioned this before.

Sometimes it can be like a personal, having your own personal brand is like a little bit for... for the punk rocker who wants to take a stand against the nine to five. He wants to leave the boring cubicle life. Some of that can be true, but over time we start to hear that message and we're like, "Yeah, that's what a personal brand is all about. Sticking it to the man." And so we listened to these voices and then they're, they're defining what a personal brand is.

A guy who summited Mount Everest comes back down below the clouds. We can't even see the top of the mountain because it's covered in clouds and they're defining for us what a personal brand is, what it's for, what it should be against what it's going to take. Just like what it's going to take to summit the mountain.

Hey, I'm, I'm 29 years old. I'm going to tell you what it takes. We're hearing voices and input about who it's for. This is the kind of folks that need to run a personal brand business, or start one.

If you're this, if you're this, if you're this. If you meet these qualifications. Well, obviously the implied between the lines is if you're not any of these things, then don't start one.

Again, those may be true. My point isn't whether or not those things are true or not. My point is, Hey, all of this is very young and relatively new, and a lot of these voices, they also happen to be fairly young and fairly new. So I want us to think for a second about something most of us then would be familiar with.

I want you to consider how much social media-- and think in particular, Facebook-- has changed and transformed in the last 10 to 15 years. Consider how much Facebook and those other platforms have absolutely transformed themselves in the past 10 to 15 years.

[00:08:06] Consider How Rapidly Things Have Changed in 10 Years
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I want to push in one more time on that.

Consider how much Facebook has transformed themselves. We're very, very different than we were 10 to 15 years ago. I bring that up to say we're new in this personal brand space. We're not sure what this looks like when massive groups of people leave nine to five jobs, all in pursuit of personal brand businesses.

I like when there's that kind of attention given to it, that kind of Exodus, and we're all headed almost like leaving the city and heading out to the suburbs. You know, when that was new for folks leaving the city for the suburbs. There wasn't a whole lot of talk about the implications 5, 10, 15, 20 years down the road, a generation later.

We at least need to consider that, as we think about, "Hey, this personal brand business that I'm so excited to go launch. I'm not sure if I've played out all the steps about where this is going to ultimately wind up both for me personally, and my personal brand, which is about all we tend to think about when we're thinking about personal brands.

But beyond that...

What about my family? What about my kids? What about grandkids? What about the impact it has on those around me in the context that I'm in.

So think about Facebook. Who would have thought that what we think of as Facebook and our relationship with it now, regardless of what that is, whether you love it, hate it or indifferent to it.

Think about how quickly things change. As we consider, Hey, this personal brand business, I want to start. This whole thing is still pretty young. It honestly, in some ways it's still in the experiment experimental stage as to what are the ultimate impact, what ultimate impact or effect will it have as more and more folks, go start a personal brand business.

No doubt. Some of those will be great. And some of those may not be so great.

So if you'll remember, Facebook started in February of 2004. By December of 2004. So less than 12 months later, they had already hit 1 million users. And September of 2006, that's when it opened up and anyone could join Facebook, not just students.

[00:10:23] The Rapid Transformation of Facebook in 15 Years
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Fast forward to 2007. They add video for the first time. In 2010, they added Facebook group. It's crazy to think about Facebook without Facebook groups. In April of 2012, Facebook goes out and they acquire Instagram. Fast forward. February, 2014. Facebook goes in acquires What'sApp. In April of 2015-- so we're barely 10 years out-- over 40 million small business pages are on Facebook by April, 2015.

So if you just stop right there and consider for a minute, Facebook was never started. It was started on a Harvard university campus to help connect students. You fast forward, what is that like 10 years, a little over 11 years and there's 40 million small business pages and a little over 10 years.

April, 2018 you'll remember Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook has to go testify before Congress because of those concerns over data and privacy breaches. Who would have thought that in 2004? In 2019, in September, Facebook launches there-- this one was new, when I was doing a little research on this-- their Tinder-like dating feature.

I didn't even know that was a thing. But that one's a little ironic if you know the history of Facebook, which technically started off as face mash. You can go look that story up. And then in May of 2020, so a little more than a year ago, Facebook purchases Giphy, the cool little website with all the funny little gifs or "ggifs," depending on how you say it.

Facebook purchases, Giphy for hundreds of millions of dollars. Man how times change fast and the impact of those changes on you personally, me personally, as I think about my family, just the five of us and Facebook. What our lives look like now versus 2003. All of that is just an illustration to say, this is still young.

We're not sure exactly where all of this winds up. So just be aware of that.

The other thing I would mention as we consider personal brands can be something attractive for younger-- it's not just younger folks. But even if you're in your forties, fifties, or sixties, and you're starting a personal brand, oftentimes we're looking to those that are a fair amount younger than us to try to learn from.

And like I said, I'm all for that. I've done the same thing. I've learned plenty. But something reminded me just this week. I am now, as I've mentioned before, I'm 49-and-a-half years old. So a friend from childhood texted me this past week. And he was going through his home office, looking through some books and sent me a picture of a birthday card I'd given him.

Now on the front of the birthday card is just a baby on a blue backdrop. A young infant in diapers. That's all the baby's wearing a funny comical looking look on his, on the baby's face on the front of the card. So that's the front of the car. Doesn't say anything.

Open up to the inside of the card.

And this card is from me to him and it says happy birthday. You can get a drink now, but you'll have to buy me one. And I think I signed my name. That's it? That's the only message. Not particularly heartfelt or heartwarming. Clearly this must've been my friend's 21st birthday. His birthday is about a month and a half before mine.

We've been best friends forever. That's not the most heartfelt gift one friend could give to another friend. The kicker is, and he sends me a third picture. So he sent me the front of the card. And sent me a picture of my message to him. Funny. Don't know if it's all that helpful... was a little funny.

On the left-hand side of the card-- imagine opening up the card-- it clearly has already been written on and given to someone this card had already been given to someone else. I don't even know where I got it. But I X through the message on the left-hand side, that was about halfway written. Somebody had halfway written this, I just draw an X through it in black pen and just wrote a small note under that part of the card and just said, disregard.

Now I look back at that and I go, yes, that's a little funny, but it's also fairly immature for the sake of just trying to be funny and probably didn't do a great job of expressing my appreciation and gratitude for my friend at a pretty big milestone moment. He just turned 21. Now, the reason I share that story is I can look back now and go that's me and all my me-nness, my personality unfiltered and matured, unrefined.

And thankfully through life and other circumstances, there's been a lot of work on that same person, that same personality. I tend to think I'm still fairly funny. Hopefully that runs through some different filters now. And I would stop before I did that now and say, while that's funny that may not be what serves or helps my friend the most and makes them understand how much I appreciate him.

That is a picture oftentimes of the voices we can be listening to as we're so excited to go out here and build this personal brand business.

We're forgetting at times how quickly things change the Facebook example that this whole personal brand movement. Mass Exodus like leaving the city and heading to the suburbs is still fairly young.

And there are lots of young voices injecting their take into the conversation. And for a lot of us, we're listening to them almost like they've submitted the mountaintop. They've come back down to tell us and define for us who should be in, who should be out, what it should look like. What it takes to run one of these.

And I just want us to remember seasoned that with some wisdom. Don't run so, so fast.

I'll leave us on this episode with this. And then I'll ask, I'll give us a couple of questions to reflect on. As we think about this particular danger of building a personal brand business. I want to just let you know, there is a model out there for what this looks like 10, 15, 20 years down the road.

[00:17:20] Conclusion: We Do Have an Example of the Potential Dangers 15-20 Years From Now
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What, what does something like running a personal brand look like after it's been out there for 10, 15, 20 years? There's a model out there for what this looks. Particularly when it goes bad. And I'm just going to tell you the model shows it is not good. It is not good. The effects are very damaging. Now I'll reveal more about what that is.

"Well, what model are you talking about?" I'll reveal more about what that is in the later part of this series. But for now just know, in fact, the model I'm thinking of is what spawned the whole series to begin with. So we'll get back to that. It relates to the quote I shared at the very opening of this episode.

So stick with me, stay tuned. And I'll tell you more about that as we get to the latter part of this series.

I want to leave us with a few questions to think about .Again, that's the point of this series. It's not a doomsday series. It's just, let's take into account, there are some inherent dangers with building a personal brand business.

[00:18:29] Questions for You to Consider
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And there's crickets out there about some of these inherent dangers. We would be wise to just keep them on our radar. My goal really for you would be, as we walk through these seven altogether, it's that at least one of these would really resonate with you and make you, if you're listening to these while you drive, it would make you pull the car over and go, whoa, I need to look out for that.

Cause that could be. Really just one of these seven that might really resonate with you and make you go, man, I need to be aware of that and make some adjustments accordingly.

If you're listening, while you shop, you pull the shopping cart over on one of these episodes. If you're working out, you put the weights down and you stop just for a second and you sit down on the bench and go, "whoa, that's me. I need to give some more thought and consideration to that."

That's my ultimate goal for the series.

All right. So here's some questions for you to reflect on for this episode.

What are you doing or pursuing right now that will lead to unwanted ends, if it continues for five or 10 or 15 years?

[00:19:36] Question 1
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Maybe that's your schedule you're currently keeping. Maybe that's the priorities that you're currently organizing your personal brand business around. Maybe that's some habits that you have let come about that, that have formed or not formed. That could be habits around your schedule. You're eating like you have a habit of just skipping lunch because you get busy. Play that out over 5, 10, 15 years.

Go back to the Facebook example. Think about how quickly things changed. That's never the direction they were originally set was massive data breach and testifying in front of Congress. But you play some of those things out. And yeah, that, that kind of danger is inevitable.

Question number two, who are you looking to and listening to, to help you build your personal brand? And it at least just ask... I'm not putting any requirements. I'm not suggesting a certain requirement. But also ask how old they are. And with that's just part of it, how mature they are. And that's part of a struggle with the personal brands. Hard to know when you're looking from a distance. But at least think about who you're listening to to help you build your own personal brand business.

[00:20:26] Question 2
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How old are they? How much life do they have under their belt? How mature are they?

Question number three, take stock of your current life stage compared to those that you're looking to, or looking up to that also have a personal brand business. Just please pay attention to life stage. Most of the folks we look up to may or may not remind you that they're in a different life stage than you.

[00:20:56] Question 3
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Think about that opening quote, I'm bouncing around and I'm cool spots. That's what I'm showing on my social media. In my current life stage my life can't look like that. If I had, if I were around the clock and I had my little kids, it certainly wouldn't look like that. And those are just the subtle voices that a lot of us are listening to. So just be aware of the life stage.

Last question. Are you enamored with starting a personal brand? "Like, I really feel like this is for me and I'm excited to start a personal brand." Or is that really just a means to an end? The end is the lifestyle and kind of the promise that a personal brand dangles out there in front of you. Particularly if the promise is coming through the lens, like I said, if someone younger someone in a different life stage than you. Just be aware of that. Like, is this really about the personal brand or do I just want to be able to work from a beach whenever I want?

[00:21:35] Question 4
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Okay. So those are some questions for reflection.

Thanks for joining me on this episode. Like I mentioned, last time I'm recording this before I head to the podcast movement conference in Nashville.

I also wanted to mention there's a new resource.

It's called _The Seven Simple Secrets Behind Personal Brand Websites that Get Results_. That's a PDF. I'll put a link to that in the show notes. I'm really condensing over 20 years of web design experience. And I'm giving you the shortcut to making an unmistakably clear, attractive, and strategic first impression with your personal brand website.

[00:22:25] Free Resource For You (New!)
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So go grab that resource. If you haven't already, you can grab that on the homepage of my website, Robbyf.com.

I would love for your help getting the word out about this podcast. You can either share this with somebody you know. If this has gotten you thinking, stirred you up a little bit, just click the little share button at the top of your phone. Share this episode. And go leave a rating or a review on Apple podcasts. That really helps get the word out more than anything else.

Until next time, go and build a life giving brand.