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165. Building Your Personal Brand: It’s More Than a Logo and a Tagline - Sound Bite Episode · The Life-First Solopreneur

• 0:00
  Carly Ries: What makes you uniquely you? On this week's Soundbite episode, we dive into one of the most powerful tools in your solopreneur toolkit, your personal brand. Now spoiler alert, it is not your logo, your color scheme, or even your tagline. It's you, your story, your personality, your unique way of solving problems. Whether you're channeling your inner stand up comedian like me or embracing your papa bear vibe like Joe or simply being your authentic self, this episode will inspire you to lean into what makes you stand out.
• 0:30
  So don't miss this insightful and fun conversation. Your personal brand will thank you. You're listening to The Aspiring Solopreneur, the podcast for those just taking the bold step or even just thinking about taking that step into the world of solo entrepreneurship. My name is Carly Ries, and my co host Joe Rando and I are your guides to navigating this crazy, but awesome journey as a company of 1. We take pride in being part of LifeStarr, a digital hub dedicated to all aspects of solopreneurship that has empowered and educated countless solopreneurs looking to build a business that resonates with their life's ambitions.
• 1:08
  We help people work to live, not live to work. And if you're looking for a get rich quick scheme, this is not the show for you. So if you're eager to gain valuable insights from industry experts on running a business the right way the first time around, or want to learn from the missteps of solopreneurs who've paved the way before you, then stick around. We've got your back because flying solo in business doesn't mean you're alone. So, Joe, when you are working for a company, you can be yourself and you don't necessarily have to stand behind the company's values, brands.
• 1:40
  I mean, you are your own person. As a solopreneur, your brand and yourself are synonymous. You are a personal brand. You're a one person business that represents your company, and it's important to really lean into that as a way to differentiate yourself from other competitors in your space. And so when you jump into the world of solopreneurship, have in the back of your mind what makes you special, what makes you unique.
• 2:09
  Your personal brand is not your BOGO. It's not your color scheme. It is your unique selling point, and I think it is so important to have that in the back of your mind when you go solo. Joe, what do you think?
• 2:23
  Joe Rando: Well, I agree with everything that you've said, especially the part about not just being a logo or a tagline kind of thing because that's what we think about with branding. Colors and logos and really to me, it's your story. It's about your story.
• 2:39
  And I think that for most people, creating a personal brand a process that is ongoing. Right? You're not the same person you were 10 years ago. You've learned things. You've changed.
• 2:52
  I mean, we, usually don't change completely 180 degrees, but, you grow your brand can grow as well. And, for myself, I mean, I'm coming at this with the perspective of saying, hey, solopreneurship is awesome for the right people. It is something that, people need help with, not platitudes. I see a lot of people posting platitudes, especially on LinkedIn, just, about how important it is to, quit your job and go start a business. Well, yeah, maybe, maybe not.
• 3:24
  But, if you are gonna take that leap, I'd rather be person trying to offer real practical advice and processes to get people through that. And, I think, the gray hair is part of my personal brand at this point. Yeah. been around a while. He's done it for a while.
• 3:40
  And what did you guys say? You said I have a papa bear vibe.
• 3:44
  Carly Ries: Yes. So papa bear. Stacy, who's new title, I keep forgetting it. It's so cool.
• 3:50
  Joe Rando: Chief happiness officer or something.
• 3:52
  Carly Ries: Yes. She is our chief happiness officer, and that is just her, and she's the mama bear. You're the papa bear. you both just give, like, warm hug vibes as your personal brand.
• 4:06
  Joe Rando: Good.
• 4:07
  Carly Ries: I think I'm the bubbly millennial, diggly person.
• 4:15
  Joe Rando: again, I'm the kind of person that's been through starting a bunch of businesses. I failed once, been successful a few times, and I come to it with, You know, I've done this before, and I know what works and what doesn't. You've got the marketing experience, come at it and say, hey, you know, if you have questions about marketing, I can help you.
• 4:34
  And so really kind of, focusing in on those things that we're good at, focusing on certain people, being solopreneurs, those things, are the kinds of ingredients of a personal brand. Right? Who you are and what you do and who you help.
• 4:48
  Carly Ries: I'm so happy you said that I'm the marketing person because I've never used that as my brand. as my unique selling point. because marketers, the guy next door is a marketer. The guy over there is a marketer. Everybody is a marketer. I hear this with coaches, consultants.
• 5:05
  It's like there are so many people doing what you're doing or for a lot of people, there's a lot of competition. And so I always say it's more the working with me. you'll get somebody to well, hopefully, enjoy working with. But just the quality of work, all of that as my unique selling as opposed to I'm the best SEO expert. And by the way, if anybody ever says expert, tread lightly be cautious because they may think they know everything and aren't open to changing. Joe, you and I just talked about that yesterday,
• 5:37
  I think it's good for people to say, like, yeah. I'm really good at marketing, but I also have a lot to learn with it too, and I'm open to learning more about it.
• 5:45
  Joe Rando: I think what you wanna do is you want people to perceive you as an expert, but don't go saying you're an expert. It's one of those things where if you need to say it, it probably isn't true. Right? And just being helpful, by going out and focusing in on what you do, your personal brand, and going out there and consistently telling, your story and giving your insights and your ideas, people will start to perceive you as an expert, and also they'll trust you. And that's part of the process here of this personal brand is is building trust.
• 6:19
  You know, we look at the people that we see on social media we really like and trust. I mean, I can't tell you that those people are actually good human beings that, you know, have my best interest at heart. I believe it. I can't prove it. I mean, I've met some of them never, but they've managed to make me understand what they're about.
• 6:41
  And trust them and I trust their advice. And, the best you can hope for with social media these days.
• 6:50
  Carly Ries: The great thing about building your own personal brand is like, somebody used Jay Schwedelson as an example for a personal brand. He is the email marketing guru, I'll say. But while he gives good email advice, we pay attention to him because of his personality,
• 7:10
  Joe Rando: That's a high bar you're setting for people, though.
• 7:13
  Carly Ries: Oh, such a high bar, but I don't follow him for his email marketing tips, which is what he's known for. I follow him because of his brand and who he is. So how do you make yourself stand out in a crowded market?
• 7:27
  He's just a good example of a personal brand.
• 7:29
  Joe Rando: Yeah. I mean, some people, if you've got a great personality, you definitely wanna play into that. somebody like me, that's not gonna be my strategies, like, playing into my amazing personality. I'm better off just trying to be nice and helpful and occasionally snarky.
• 7:50
  Carly Ries: Papa bear.
• 7:52
  Joe Rando: But it's just, with somebody Jay who's got this big personality, sure. You know, do it. He has a following. He's probably got people interested in email marketing that weren't interested before because they just liked his jokes.
• 8:07
  He's also interestingly self effacing, which usually doesn't work that well business and personal branding, but he has somehow worked that in. But do that. I wouldn't try to copy Jay Schwedelson because think 99% of everybody would fail miserably if they tried to use his strategy. But there are other people, in another example Tamsen Webster. You know, it's the red thread.
• 8:35
  And she's built a personal brand just around being insightful just this kind of calm, expert in this field of kind of telling your story in a way that gets noticed. And that's something that a lot of people can be good at is just focusing in on what good at and talking about that explaining it to people in a way that they understand. So I would definitely think that somebody like Tamsen Webster would be a better person try to be inspired by than Jay Schwedelson unless you happen to be a stand up comedian by nature, which you are, so maybe you can do it.
• 9:16
  Carly Ries: Maybe that's why I'm drawn to him. Well, fair point, Joe. But moral of the story, find out what makes you you and let that shine and let that be your personal brand. What makes you you? What are you good at?
• 9:28
  What can you share with the world, and how can you help others and turn that into a brand? And you'll be set. So that's what we have this week. Thank you so much for tuning in. As always, we would love that 5 star review.
• 9:39
  Please subscribe on your favorite podcast platform, including YouTube, and we'll see you next time on The Aspiring Solopreneur. You may be going solo in business, but that doesn't mean you're alone. In fact, millions of people are in your shoes, running a one person business and figuring it out as they go. So why not connect with them and learn from each other's successes and failures? At Lifestarr, we're creating a one person business community where you can go to meet and get advice from other solopreneurs.
• 10:07
  Be sure to join in on the conversations at community.lifestarr.com.