Are you hard-working, creative, and generally just feeling like you have more to give to the world? A personal brand may be a way out of living an average life.
It’s 2019, and creative people have more opportunities to live a financially and spiritually fruitful life now than ever before… all thanks to the internet.
This article is written for you if you have an undying feeling that they have more to offer the world…
So, that even means you – Doctors, Engineers, Dentists etc…Those that already occupy high-paying roles…
This article is not entirely about finding another revenue stream.
I get it, you guys are slaying it and have been for years…
and most likely diversified your income already…
Your job likely holds a level of status…
You go and get that money, you baller.
So, this begs the question: why will someone with a cushy job work on something on the side and maybe eventually ditch said job?
Well, perhaps you’ve lost your sense of wonder and curiosity and want to seek it through creating something you are passionate about…
Perhaps, life has lost its sense of challenge…
Perhaps you are seeking like-minded people, and beginning to feel like your social interactions at work are becoming a chore.
There’s a lot of excitement in starting a project. It is a call to adventure.
Especially since we will create a passion project that we can become serious about – a project that will change the trajectory of our lives.
What is your reason for starting an online brand? What kind of message will you have for your audience?
Now, let’s say you can communicate well, and are above average in skill in your area of expertise… Why aren’t you taking steps to creating a personal brand already?
Go buy that website name (domain name), start a YouTube channel and shoot a video to share with the existing online communities in your niche!
I know, I know…
But What Do I Talk About?
Content Content Content (Personal Branding)
No matter what niche you have a passion for you can leverage the power of internet to your advantage!
The power of 1-to-many, mass communication, is almost incomprehensibly powerful…
Let me explain this concept to you in an analogy:
Using plumbing as an example (exciting, I know) – have you ever wondered why the owner of the plumbing business gets paid significantly more than the plumbers that go “out in the field” and do the actual plumbing work?
On the surface, it may seem like he does very little of the important work and reaps most of the benefits and rewards. Well, this perception is cynical and certainly a fallacy.
In fact, the most important work was creating the platform in which there could have been any plumbing happening in the first place!
By creating a platform, the owner is able to reach hundreds of people with his vision of providing plumbing services. His services is packaged with a brand, which contains whatever business-values and culture the company holds.
Now here’s another question for you…
Why does a successful stand-up comedian make more money than a plumbing company owner?
Simply looking at the utility of these roles, it doesn’t make sense that someone that literally makes sure that shit gets taken care of gets paid way less than someone that makes people laugh.
The answer in 1 word is: Reach.
A stand-up comedian, or anybody else that excels in entertainment media, has significantly more reach than most people and therefore they can provide value to more people.
Throughout history, media is easily distributed, and has a wider reach than all other businesses.
What happens when the service of your business can reach more people?
Quality of the product being equal or greater, the business that reaches more people, gets more revenue.
Put one way, the internet is an additional opportunity for your value to reach the marketplace, and just like any other marketplace, the cream will rise to the top…
By learning the technical aspects of personal branding online, or hiring someone that can help you, you will exponentially maximize your productive output, reaching more people with your brand of business.
Think about all the money you’re leaving on the table otherwise.
Back to the plumbing business analogy – at any given time there are thousands of people learning the trade of plumbing, or poor souls tackling some DIY project of their own.
These people are all on the internet – the biggest media distribution network ever created. Not a big surprise this day and age. The internet is not only a media distribution network, but also a marketplace…
For example – a marketplace for the best source of information to learn from, thus giving you an opportunity to create a high quality information product for your audience.
And there you have it – a possible revenue stream.
Of course, this is just 1 of the many ways you can create a revenue-generating business online, in 1 of the many niches a personal brand can center around.
Here’s a few personal brands, among many, that make content that I consume…
They are all really hard-working and inspiration for my own business.
Quang
First one is the Quang, who actually lives the same city I live in, Edmonton – and actually kinda within my social circle (like a degree of separation). Unfortunately, I don’t know him personally…
Anyway, he is killing it just eating and cooking and making great content and having a great time.
Obviously, he is incredibly consistent and professional with his business. One can not build anything without doing so.
Sunny
The next example of a successful personal brand belongs to Sunny Lenarduzz…
She has moved on to the “teaching” niche but she created a personal brand by providing value to her audience before making money on teaching digital marketing.
Her channel’s content is more business-oriented instead of artistic, but it’s one that is easily duplicated if you are a natural educator.
Tanya
A girl that has content more on the artistic side is Tanya, AKA “Street Simmer”. I actually met this girl online dating…
Anyway, her channel is killing it because she makes really well-done videos using the video game Sim City. Like, these stories have real complex characters and plot, I kid you not.
They are quite entertaining. Check them out!
Yousef
Lastly, the “Personal brand” that I want to model is Yousef…
He has pretty good videos on the concept of building personal brands and the phenomenon that it is. Oh, how it’s one of the more wonderful things about the internet…
The internet still mostly sucks though, in my opinion. Although this may be a positive if you are out here making good content, as you’ll stick out above the fray.
There may be an overwhelming amount of garbage online but make sure you are on a productive path when you spend time online.
Get To Work
Right now I sound like I’m a cult leader evangelizing “personal brands”. In fact, say personal brand 10 times in a row and it’ll sound like some cheesy business-opportunity contraption that you’ve seen a million times.
Let me assure you though, this is real and this is something that will change your life if you are someone with a passion and work ethic.
Creating a personal brand in 2019 may very well be a revolutionary career for the entrepreneurial inclined in our society.
Please let me know what your personal brand is about in the comments section 🙂 I’d love to hear about it, and maybe we can work together one day 🙂
Hi Wilson! I like your approach. It’s so different from all the sites I have read up to this point. Yes, we do want to diversify our income, but doing something that’s fulfilling takes our quest to a completely different level.
I really liked your plumbing business analogy. It has made me understand how huge is this opportunity that we have right now. Thank you very much!
Hey Henry!
Thanks for reading. I’m still trying to nail down what my brand is all about so I appreciate the input. It is quite different than a lot of other sites in this niche lol. I’m not sure if it’s too great for affiliate marketing, but it might do the job for consultation business. Which I’m after.
Good luck on your business, Henry. Hope to hear from you again.
I really enjoyed reading this article and it makes a lot of sense. Branding on the internet if done properly can help you get a long way when you want people to know you or follow you.
I have a grandparents raising grandkids website and Facebook page and on both I am known as Grampa Dale
I have thousands of followers so I guess I would be safe to say that Grampa Dale is my brand
Grampa Dale
Thanks, Dale! I mean, Grampa Dale 😉
I appreciate you reading this.
Good job on your brand, by the way. This is a wonderful time to be pursuing a passion and it sounds like you’re growing in that pursuit. Great to hear from you.
Building a personal brand is a good idea for many reasons in my opinion
1. It can be something you care about. I built a website around a topic I love using the expertise that I have, and it’s created a fun experience for me and given me something to look forward to. I always knew that I didn’t want to go about the traditional way of earning money. Waking up doing the same thing everyday for a boss I don’t want to work for. Building a brand for myself has created more freedom for myself, and given me something solid in life to look forward too.
2. It’s YOURS. When you have a brand of your own no one can take it from you, or tell you what to do with it
Go build a personal brand now, you won’t regret it!
I totally agree, Tomas.
There is enough “market space” on the internet for almost every passion. It’s really a revolution in terms of media.
Thanks for the input, Tomas. Hope to hear from you again soon.
I agree branding is really important. Building a brand starts with a name and expands from there. It’s pretty fascinating how the smallest ideas turn into giants. An adventure is exactly right and plumbing is a good example. You can build a brand with pretty much anything out there, which makes it even more of an adventure. YouTube is such a powerful channel to affiliate. I think a brand is very important not to overlook, well done!
Hey! Thanks for reading and commenting. I agree, YouTube is very powerful these days. Video is surely the best way to communicate “digitally”. Good luck on your own business ventures and I look forward to hearing from you again.
Dear Wilson,
Thanks a lot for the informative & insightful post and being a full-time blogger your post means a lot to me.
As Oprah said, we need to follow our passion and it will lead us to our purpose. As you mentioned because of the technology advancement, we can turn our passion into profits & interest into income by creating our personal brand.
The success stories you shared are inspiring and motivating. I am amazed when I looked at the number of subscribers on Quang Tran Channel (14 Million OMG).
Your article certainly made me think more on the subject.
You too are a brand. Whether you know it or not. Whether you like it or not. – Marc Ecko
Much Success!
Paul
Paul,
thanks for reading, sir! Yes, Quang is a beast. This day and age, as long as you have passion and work ethic, you can achieve a full-time occupation of your dreams. Good luck on your journey, and keep me updated on how you’re doing!
Hello,
I read your post and I totally agree with your approach and your conception of personal branding. I do Believe that personal branding is more important than ever, especially during our Information Age where we are exposed on the Internet. If you want to reach a lot of people, you cannot escape the Internet and when you have an interesting personal brand, more people are following you and what you have to say or sell. Well done!
Thanks for the comment! I’m glad you enjoyed the article.
This day and age is the greatest time ever to build a personal brand. To be able to reach out to thousands of people that vibe with your message is actually a career path. It’s pretty amazing and hard to imagine even 20 years ago.
Good luck on your own journey online! Take care.
Hi Wilson, I like the approach you’ve taken with your post. It is a challenge to all of us who yearn to get out from under the burden of “thinking to much and not doing enough’. Many people just dream and don’t take even the first step to challenge themselves to step out of the rut they are in.
I think establishing a brand is essential given the amount of pages out there on the web. You need a differentiator, something that sets you apart from the masses. Personal branding will accomplish that.
Great post because it inspired me…thank you!
Hey Tim, thanks for reading!
It’s true, I’ve gone through a lot of time procrastinating and not taking action. Personal branding is a new approach to online business I’m taking. Personal branding is my new niche.
Hi WIlson!
Very interesting post! I really enjoyed reading this and now I see things from another perspective. I haven’t read something like your article before, but now I can understand much better, specially thanks to the plumbing business analogy.
Besides that, there are many different topics and niches from where to start your personal brand, and the Internet includes all of them. However, I think many people may not do this, make their personal brand, because it isn’t easy to have a very wide reach, and it needs a lot of time and effort.
Best,
Mariana
Thanks for reading, Mariana!
Content is key for a personal brand. I think that if you’re serving your audience with high quality content, on a consistent basis, an audience will naturally be drawn to you.
Thanks for the comment!
Your article really hit home for me. My wife was getting really popular on YouTube for natural hair for women of color back in 2014. She has thousands of followers. But back then, she told me she didn’t want to be known for that and she wanted to focus on her career. The problem was that she HAD a career with YouTube and didn’t realize it at the time. Now she wants to get back in it which is fine, bit if she stuck with it back then, theres no telling how high she would have soared
Wow, that’s impressive. I’m sure your wife could repeat what she did with her natural hair channel to make it more career orientated.
I think monetizing is the part that stumps a lot of people that build a large channel. Monetization is the bridge between influencer and career. I’m sure you’d be able to help her out with that aspect though!
Thanks for reading! Stay in touch.
After reading this article it made me think about creating my own brand. It does have many advantages and I believe it pertains to most of us here at WA. It gives me something else to think about as I move forward here. I learned something new which is value of its own.
Hey Gregg,
I’m glad I’ve inspired you to start your own brand! Let me know if you want to work together on anything in the future.
Thanks for reading!
I have had my own brand for the last 2 years. I started online marketing in 2016 and I have learned a bunch about the online scene. I was lucky enought to have some good training behind me and now I have a constant income from my online efforts. So I totally agree about leveraging your skills and knowledge and capitalising on that with your own brand. The best part is that I can work from anywhere in the world as a result. I’m pleased to have come across your article and thought I could help to encourage your readers to do the same.
Regards
Rina
Thanks for the comment, Rina!
It seems as though you’re a veteran of this “game”. I started in the beginning of 2018 and was dabbling in everything before finding my groove.
Thanks for the kind words. I appreciate the readership.
As an online business coach, I have realized this principle early in my career. You have to establish your personal brand as a coach and establish yourself online making you distinguishable from other coaches marketing themselves online. Failing to do so means, vanishing from the face of the game. It’s quite tough, but it is necessary. And modeling other successful brand builders may actually help, like those models shared in this article. The channels are worth-checking, they may inject new ideas that will help you in your own personal branding.
Gomer,
Thank you for the comment on this article! Great to hear you’ve already built a personal brand around coaching.
I definitely agree that it is important to make yourself stand-up. Like any business, building a personal brand is quite cut-throat.
Building a brand is very integral to being successful these days. People need to associate one to something and leveraging in the power to reach out to more people definitely gives room for more income. It is amazing the freedom that branding comes with since it can be done out of virtually anything or idea. A small idea can then out big in such a small time but then, it requires seriousness, dedication, and consistency. Great article and besides, I love the plumbing analogy
Thank you for reading 😉
I appreciate the comment and input.