Latest / The Academy Presents podcast / Building Your Personal Brand with John Casmon Part II

Transcript

Building Your Personal Brand with John Casmon Part II · The Academy Presents podcast

• 0:01
  Did you know that 90 % of the world's millionaires
• 0:05
  invest in real estate? Well, I'm Angel with the
• 0:09
  Academy Presents Real Estate Investing Rocks,
• 0:11
  and I'm here to help you if you want to go for
• 0:15
  your piece of that pie. Are you new? Are you
• 0:19
  new to this and you just don't know where to
• 0:20
  start? It's okay. Are you someone that has invested,
• 0:25
  but you feel stuck, you feel like you've lost
• 0:27
  momentum, you don't know where to really head
• 0:30
  from here? Are you a seasoned real estate investor
• 0:33
  who is doing great but maybe you just want to
• 0:35
  hone a few skills here and there? This is the
• 0:38
  place for you. The Academy Presents Real Estate
• 0:41
  Investing Rocks podcast will connect you with
• 0:44
  industry experts so that you can save time, avoid
• 0:48
  costly mistakes, and begin living the life you've
• 0:52
  dreamed of all through real estate investing.
• 0:56
  You're already taking the first step. just by
• 1:00
  joining us here today. Now, and I think the connection
• 1:05
  there and the transferable skills and the transferable
• 1:08
  experiences, I think that makes it easier for
• 1:10
  you to show up and not just show up, but to show
• 1:15
  up as you say you're going to show up and to
• 1:18
  do the things you're going to do. And those are
• 1:20
  parts of your brand. Also, if you become known
• 1:24
  as someone that leaves people at the altar, or
• 1:26
  you become known as someone that says they can
• 1:29
  do this or that and never follows through, that's
• 1:32
  going to follow you. And that's not a good brand.
• 1:36
  You want to be known as the person that if they
• 1:39
  say they're going to do something, they absolutely
• 1:40
  do it. And they show up as they say they're going
• 1:43
  to show up as you expect them to show up every
• 1:46
  time you see them. And that can be difficult.
• 1:50
  Or if you've really allowed it to just be this
• 1:53
  growth of yourself, it becomes really easy. People
• 1:58
  know I'm gonna show up in blue jeans or jeggans
• 2:01
  and a t -shirt because that's what I show up
• 2:04
  in and I showed up at an event one time and a
• 2:06
  friend of mine came up and I'm like, I feel so
• 2:09
  out of place here. Like everybody else is in
• 2:11
  suits or they're in heels and I'm in tennis shoes,
• 2:16
  jeggans and a t -shirt. And my friend was like,
• 2:18
  Angel, if you showed up in anything else, nobody
• 2:20
  would recognize you. And so it made me feel better.
• 2:25
  But then at the same time, I still felt a little
• 2:27
  out of place. But I mean, I don't want to change
• 2:32
  who and what I am to fit an environment because
• 2:34
  then I'm going to be super uncomfortable. So
• 2:39
  it's hard. It's hard to be in your brand and
• 2:44
  be who you are. Who you are and your brand should
• 2:46
  be the same thing, really, in my mind. And if
• 2:50
  you feel uncomfortable, you feel out of place,
• 2:52
  it's really hard to to focus back in on who and
• 2:56
  what you are. And so I want to be comfortable.
• 3:00
  So that's why I chose dragons and T -shirts.
• 3:03
  Yeah. Well, I think part of what you're getting
• 3:05
  at is is, you know. Your brand is your brand,
• 3:11
  but when you show up and in the environment,
• 3:13
  that doesn't match kind of your level of comfort.
• 3:16
  Well, part of the question is, are you in the
• 3:18
  right room? Yeah. you know, because now you're
• 3:21
  having a different conversation. If you're in
• 3:22
  a room where you are not going to be accepted
• 3:25
  because now we're not even talking about a brand,
• 3:26
  right? We're just talking about you and who you
• 3:28
  are at your core. So if you show up and you feel
• 3:31
  like you're not being accepted, that's a different
• 3:34
  kind of conversation because now it's about that
• 3:38
  room. Do you go back to those kind of rooms?
• 3:40
  Like, what is the expectation there? And that's
• 3:44
  it happens, right? There are places where There's
• 3:47
  a cold here's how we do it here are the expectations
• 3:50
  and if you don't fit that mold You know, it's
• 3:53
  just this not for you. And yes, you will be the
• 3:55
  outlier and yes, you will feel awkward and some
• 3:57
  of that is I don't want to say it's intentional
• 4:00
  but that is the environment that has been created
• 4:03
  in the expectation of the culture of that event
• 4:06
  or room and I think you've got to just decide,
• 4:10
  you know, do you conform and fit in or do you
• 4:14
  say you know what? I'm gonna stand out and do
• 4:15
  my thing or I'm not going because it just it
• 4:18
  doesn't match my brand because part of that brand
• 4:20
  is you know I want to be comfortable on people
• 4:23
  who are comfortable on being rooms or people
• 4:25
  who are relaxed and easygoing and if it's a corporate
• 4:28
  event and everyone's wearing a suit it's not
• 4:31
  my thing I'm not going like and that's part of
• 4:33
  it too so you know you can play the way I grew
• 4:36
  up in corporate America right as far as my formative
• 4:38
  professional year so I'm great in suit I'm great
• 4:42
  in a button down I could wear a t -shirt I prefer
• 4:45
  to go more business casual. But I'm fairly comfortable
• 4:49
  and adaptable to different environments. But
• 4:51
  that also is a part of my brand, right? It's
• 4:55
  having that business background. I recognize
• 4:57
  there are going to be rooms where people don't
• 4:58
  look like me. There are going to be rooms where
• 5:01
  maybe I wasn't invited or people didn't intentionally
• 5:03
  invite me. But I'm going to show up and I know
• 5:06
  how to navigate that room, right? And I've learned
• 5:08
  how to... you know, get comfortable in very uncomfortable
• 5:12
  situations. So that's kind of my experience.
• 5:16
  And I think for everyone, you have to look at
• 5:19
  it if you're not comfortable in a room. And if
• 5:20
  there are rooms where I'm certainly not comfortable,
• 5:22
  I'm not going to them. It's just that simple.
• 5:24
  Like there's nothing in this room that I can't
• 5:26
  find somewhere else if I'm not comfortable. Because
• 5:29
  again, I've learned how to navigate. you know
• 5:32
  the board rooms of c -suite large fortune 50
• 5:34
  fortune 100 companies so there's not a room where
• 5:38
  you know i'm going to be uncomfortable based
• 5:40
  on you know the dress or the attire or the other
• 5:42
  participants in that room so now it's just a
• 5:45
  matter of you know is there something deliberate
• 5:47
  going on or is it simply not even an effort to
• 5:51
  address some of the concerns that you know i
• 5:53
  may have or folks like me may have so i i just
• 5:56
  think it's really important to get comfortable
• 5:59
  in who you are And part of that comfort is also
• 6:02
  having the power to say, you know what, I choose
• 6:04
  not to be in this room. Well, about this particular
• 6:08
  event, it was my friend saying if I showed up
• 6:11
  any other way, nobody would recognize me. And
• 6:14
  we've kind of got this other thing going on the
• 6:16
  side. So I'm sort of addicted, not even sort
• 6:19
  of, I'm addicted to tick -tock. And so I adopted
• 6:21
  the rebel real estate investor as my, I guess,
• 6:24
  my moniker on tick -tock and I reserved it a
• 6:26
  few other places. And so I kind of embraced that
• 6:29
  too. I was like, okay, so I do look different
• 6:31
  than everybody else here. So how do, how do I
• 6:35
  relate to people who aren't looking like me?
• 6:37
  How do I relate to people that are doing something
• 6:41
  different from what I'm doing? And so then it
• 6:43
  almost becomes a game. But not really a game,
• 6:46
  but it's like, OK, how do I relate to this person?
• 6:49
  And then once I relate to that person, they're
• 6:50
  like, oh, so literally like at this event, at
• 6:56
  the end of it, you know, we're all standing around,
• 6:57
  we're getting drinks and there's this guy there
• 7:00
  turned out he used to work in the closures of
• 7:03
  circuit cities across the nation. He just so
• 7:07
  happened to do the closure of the Wichita Falls
• 7:09
  Circuit City in 2007. Now, here's the funny part
• 7:13
  about that. In 2007, we bought a like a video
• 7:17
  recorder because we were about to have our first
• 7:19
  child. And I remembered the guy we bought it
• 7:22
  from saying, go fast, go fast. The guy's name
• 7:24
  was Turbo. And this guy who had closed down that
• 7:27
  circuit city was like, oh, my God, I haven't
• 7:29
  thought about Turbo in years. Like, right. But
• 7:33
  it was here I am with this guy in a suit who
• 7:36
  is corporate. And he, he does store closures.
• 7:41
  He helps with bank. He helps with bankruptcies
• 7:42
  of these different corporations and companies.
• 7:45
  And he was helping with that particular store,
• 7:46
  their closed down. And I remember people that
• 7:48
  worked there. And so I was able to relate to
• 7:51
  him like that. So here I am in my Jaguars and
• 7:53
  my t -shirt with my purple hair. And I was able
• 7:56
  to pull that memory out of him. And we were able
• 7:58
  to have that memory together because this guy
• 7:59
  was turbo because He was turbo, like he needs
• 8:03
  to be medicated or something. It was like super
• 8:06
  out there, but we got to take that memory and
• 8:09
  it was cool. And all of a sudden we related.
• 8:13
  And so when I say it's a game, it's not so much
• 8:14
  that it's a game so much as figuring out how
• 8:17
  you can relate to the people in the room that
• 8:20
  you didn't think you could relate to. Well, and
• 8:22
  I think that's your point, right? Is that sometimes
• 8:26
  we get in our own heads about us standing out.
• 8:29
  and I think there's power in flipping that and
• 8:32
  say you know what I've given people an easy opening
• 8:35
  to come and talk to me and figure out how they
• 8:37
  can connect with me because if you walk in a
• 8:39
  room and let's say 90 % of the people look similar
• 8:45
  you know straight white male in a suit nine percent
• 8:51
  of room like they can connect with each other
• 8:55
  but if you walk in their room with your purple
• 8:57
  hair I walk in that room already stand up. You
• 8:59
  already stand up. So I don't necessarily need
• 9:02
  to go and find a way to connect, right? Like
• 9:05
  I have an easy opening to connect with people,
• 9:08
  to talk to them. They have an easy way to come
• 9:10
  and talk to you. They have an opening to talk
• 9:12
  to you. So now it becomes more of a natural conversation.
• 9:15
  And to me, I don't say that in a way that means
• 9:19
  we have to go above and beyond and stand out
• 9:22
  and justify our existence. What I'm saying is
• 9:25
  that you belong because you belong. Period. You
• 9:28
  wouldn't be in the room if you didn't belong.
• 9:30
  So the connection, it's a human level. You're
• 9:33
  going to connect with people based on your interests,
• 9:36
  your experiences, what are you hoping to get
• 9:38
  out of this event, you know, those kinds of things.
• 9:41
  And it's just easier for people to want to connect
• 9:43
  and reach out to the person who looks a little
• 9:44
  bit different than the other 90 % of the room
• 9:46
  than, you know, again, those individuals. And
• 9:50
  I think that's a, it could be a strength or it
• 9:54
  can be, you know, a disadvantage, but that goes
• 9:56
  back to know why and some people call them like
• 9:58
  a piece of flair right so it's something that
• 10:01
  stands out you might wear a pin on your lapel
• 10:04
  right might be a little lapel pin it might be
• 10:06
  you know some really bright glasses bright hair
• 10:08
  some shoes colorful socks like a lot of times
• 10:11
  people wear something that just makes it easy
• 10:13
  for someone to come up and begin an interaction
• 10:16
  hey man i like your socks hey i like that you
• 10:18
  know that pin you got going love your bright
• 10:21
  purple hair it's a way for people to start that
• 10:24
  engagement and have a conversation with you.
• 10:26
  So that's going to be easier and it shows a little
• 10:28
  bit of personality that there's somebody who
• 10:30
  clearly has enough self -awareness to wear something
• 10:37
  that will allow them to stand out and be personable.
• 10:41
  I want to talk to that person, right? If you
• 10:43
  have the choice of the person who looks like
• 10:45
  a cookie cutter, empty suit, or the person who's
• 10:49
  got some flair going on, who you want to spend
• 10:51
  your time talking to, right? I want to talk to
• 10:54
  the person who looks a little interesting. What's
• 10:55
  their story? What's going on with you, right?
• 10:57
  And that's what we're talking about is how do
• 11:00
  you stand out in a crowd? And some people have
• 11:03
  an advantage because of how they look or, you
• 11:06
  know, sex, race, whatever. But if you don't,
• 11:10
  all you have to do is find a little way to stand
• 11:11
  out to be against something simple like socks
• 11:13
  or a pin or something else that you can do, but
• 11:16
  make it easy for people to want to connect with
• 11:18
  you. and have a conversation and it's much easier
• 11:21
  to grow. I'll tell you a quick story though.
• 11:23
  There's a guy who I saw him at a conference in
• 11:27
  San Francisco and it was a big crowd. I mean
• 11:31
  it's like like I don't know 20 people all around
• 11:34
  me and I saw this guy maybe I don't know 10 feet
• 11:37
  away from me 15 feet away from me and we made
• 11:40
  eye contact and this guy's face just lit up.
• 11:43
  I mean just the the brightest smile and I was
• 11:46
  like good lord this man has a magnetic smile.
• 11:49
  I'm like, who is this guy? I just, I floated
• 11:52
  towards him. You know, it's just weird. I don't
• 11:54
  think my feet were moving. I just started floating
• 11:56
  towards him. And then next thing you know, we're
• 11:58
  shaking hands. And you know who the guy was?
• 12:03
  Vinny Chopra. What's his nickname? Mr. Smiles.
• 12:07
  Mr. Smiles, right? And he said that and I was
• 12:10
  like, okay, I'm like, okay, so this is... This
• 12:14
  isn't just me. You have some, literally like
• 12:16
  some sort of magnetic force with your smile.
• 12:19
  And he wasn't wearing anything flare wise, but
• 12:22
  he had this smile that was, it literally, you
• 12:25
  could see it from across the room and it pulled
• 12:27
  me in. And it just goes to show that that's the
• 12:30
  other thing. You know, again, sometimes it's
• 12:32
  just a smile. It's a friendly face. And those
• 12:35
  things go a long way. And then building a person
• 12:36
  brand, this guy calls himself, his nickname is
• 12:39
  Mr. Smiles. So he's in there. I mean, he's grinning
• 12:42
  like Chester the cat. He's happy. He's kind of
• 12:45
  looking for someone to talk to. Like I said,
• 12:48
  our eyes kind of made contact. But I'm like,
• 12:50
  I got to at least go say hello to this guy, right?
• 12:52
  And that's another thing, right? You never overestimate
• 12:55
  the power of just a friendly smile and a warm,
• 12:59
  inviting sense of personality. No, absolutely.
• 13:01
  And a smile is so easy. It's easy to have positive
• 13:06
  energy. You may think that it's a lot of work
• 13:11
  to be positive, but simply smiling at people
• 13:14
  and then smiling back makes you happier. It just
• 13:18
  makes you happier and it makes you want to smile
• 13:20
  more and then you're laughing and people are
• 13:23
  drawn to that. People want to be around happy
• 13:25
  people. We don't want to be around emotional
• 13:27
  vampires. Because they suck the life right out
• 13:29
  of you literally. That's it. That's it. Yeah.
• 13:33
  And go with that personal brand. I mean, that's
• 13:34
  not a personal brand you want to build. No, no,
• 13:37
  no, no. No, I, I can't imagine trying to have
• 13:41
  a brand that is very serious because I'm not
• 13:44
  a real serious person. Like I can be serious
• 13:47
  if I need to be, but I'd rather just smile and
• 13:50
  be happy and meet people and hug and shake hands
• 13:53
  and be happy. Yeah. I think that's way more drawing
• 13:59
  and, you know, I've talked to other people too,
• 14:03
  and even Chandr and I were talking, he said that,
• 14:06
  you know, it's also really important to guard
• 14:09
  your energy and guard the people that are being
• 14:13
  pulled into you, because with your positive energy,
• 14:16
  people are going to be drawn to you. And that's
• 14:19
  anybody out there that has, anytime you've got
• 14:21
  positive energy, people can be drawn into that.
• 14:23
  And so you just need to be aware of who's coming
• 14:26
  around you. And are those people that you really
• 14:29
  want to be associated with? And so this one's
• 14:32
  kind of weird, too, because you don't want to
• 14:33
  push people away. But at the same time, you have
• 14:36
  to protect your brand and you have to protect
• 14:39
  you. And so you need to be constantly auditing
• 14:41
  your circle and auditing the people around you.
• 14:43
  And I'm not saying like be meaning like literally
• 14:46
  kick somebody in the pants or something like,
• 14:48
  but just be aware, be aware of be aware of who's
• 14:52
  trying to come in on you, because that can rub
• 14:54
  off and become like. a piece of your brand without
• 14:57
  you realizing it and that was just advice that
• 15:00
  was given to me from Chandler and so I've just
• 15:02
  kind of held on to that ever since.