Brand You Personal Branding

Recently I was able to serve and attend the John Maxwell Team’s International Certification Event in Orlando, FL. There were about 3,000 people in attendance, and this was my first opportunity to see and experience what the entire “tribe” of the John Maxwell Team is about. While the stage content is second-to-none, I quickly realized the same can be said of the people. I was privileged to meet incredible people from all sectors of leadership. One thing I often teach when advising brands is to focus on psychographics rather than just demographics. Demographics are statistics: age, income, sex, and so forth. But psychographics are all about mindset and how people think. When it comes to personal development, psychographics trump demographics every time. It was clear in what I saw at this event: there were people from all walks of life, representing over 100 countries, ranging from 11 years old all the way 90 years old. What tied them together? A desire to make the world a better place through positive influence

This episode is a special one. Recently, my friend Jeff Goins came to visit me in Florida for a few days of deep conversations, beach time, and drinking bourbon. We decided to record one of our conversations for the podcast, and it turned out to be pretty ... unique. Jeff is a multiple time best-selling author, and his most recent book is titled Real Artists Don't Starve.  We've spoken at each other's conferences, encouraged each other in our work, and have a genuinely great time whenever we talk about work, relationships, and life. Check Jeff out online here: goinswriter.com The Portfolio Life Podcast

While resources are good, it’s easy to lose sight of being strategic in our choice of investments. How do we know when to invest in a particular resource? In this episode, you'll learn how I approach investing when it comes to courses, coaches, and contractors. Looking To Start A Side-Hustle? Join my Brand You Bootcamp for some of my best training on how to build a personal brand business. mikekim.com/start

Ah, rejection. It's inevitable that we'll face it, yet we'll do anything possible to avoid it. In this episode, I share a little bit about how I deal with rejection (because I get rejected a lot). See, we often take failure as a personal rejection. It's not. If people don't know the real you, it's not possible for them to reject the real you. Whether you're looking to start a side-hustle, grow your own business, or just enter into a new phase of your relationships or career -- rejection is something you can not only deal with, but overcome. Looking to start a side-hustle? Join my Brand You Bootcamp here: This is a FREE 15-day bootcamp to help you START a personal brand business. How to get started as a coach, consultant, speaker, blogger, or podcaster What tools to use when you start, and why you do not need to "spend money to make money" How to position yourself as an authority, even if you're just starting out How to properly identify your ideal buyer with sniper-like accuracy (no, it's not about demograph

We continue our current series on making a career pivot. One of my dreams years ago was to leave my day job and make the leap into running my own business full-time (while still providing for my needs). Perhaps you’ve also wanted to “make the leap”, so here are a few recommendations based on my journey.  1. Set hard-and-fast financial goals. 2. Tap into resourcefulness (not just resources). 3. Experiment with various income streams. 4. Create predictable income for your first 3 months. 5. Get mentored by those that have actually done it. Looking to get started? Join my Brand You Bootcamp here: mikekim.com/start Today's shownotes: mikekim.com/mks22  

There’s a lot of great content out there on making the leap from your day job to start a personal brand business. The one issue I have is that the information shared (at least free, online) is often incomplete, and the one glaring omission involves the most important and pressing question of all: “How much money do I need to make a successful pivot?” In this episode, you'll get my 4-step process -- all from setting the financial goal you want to "leap" from, to how long you should be making money in your side-hustle before you go full time. Want to Start A Personal Brand Business? Join My Brand You Bootcamp, a free 15-day bootcamp. Check out the details here: mikekim.com/start EPISODE CREDITS: If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Danny Ozment. Here’s an article he wrote about the benefits of podcasting: A Few More Podcasting Benefits Check it out and then schedule a FREE strategy call with him at the bottom of that page.

We spend roughly one-third of our lives at work, yet statistics show that an overwhelming number of people are unhappy with their careers. In this episode I interview Celina Lee, host of the Live Your Dream podcast. Celina is a career coach, public speaker, author, and founder of a non-profit called Give One Dream, based in New York City. Celina left a very successful career in investment banking and law to take charge of her life and reinvent herself, and in this episode she shares a bit of her journey along with 3 steps to help you find fulfillment at work. FREE RESOURCE: The 3 Steps to Finding True Career Fulfillment celinalee.co/steps EPISODE CREDITS: If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Danny Ozment. Here’s an article he wrote about the benefits of podcasting: A Few More Podcasting Benefits Check it out and then schedule a FREE strategy call with him at the bottom of that page.

Whether you’re looking to reinvent yourself or simply step into more fulfillment, the greatest disharmony stems from standing at the crossroads between 1. who you are and 2. who you want to be. You’ll often feel like there’s more than one of you. Well, there is. Introducing The Three You’s: The Present You encompasses who you are right now. You define yourself by the current work you do, the people you interact with, and the activities you engage in. Hello, mirror.   The Public You is closely aligned with The Present You. It’s the version that is understood by and made accessible to the people around you. If you’ve worked your whole life in real estate, it’s fair to assume that your neighbors know you as “the real estate guy or gal.”   The Pending You is the person you’re seeking to grow and develop. This is the person waiting in the wings, itching to make his or her debut. This is the person you scream daily self-success affirmations at in the morning shower, and point at in the mirror and shout, “You w

“Be thankful for what you have.” We’ve all heard that before, but what if being thankful is actually keeping you from what is best? Please allow me to explain. Life works because of tension. Light and dark. Good and evil. Pleasure and pain. I’m all for encouragement and positive reinforcement, but we can’t deny that conflict, tension, and pain are incredible motivators. Without friction between a tire and the road, your car isn’t going anywhere. Tension is necessary to move forward. But how do we navigate that when it comes to making a change as big as our residence, relationships, and especially our vocation? In this episode you’ll learn about the “Sadistic Selfie” -- something I used to navigate the balance between being grateful for the life I had vs. stepping into the life I really wanted. Free Resource: Get your copy of my Brand You Blueprint. This framework is the basis for my upcoming book, but you can use this distilled version right now to help you navigate some of the challenges and steps to creatin

You may have heard of the idea of “practicing gratitude” - but how do you actually do it? One of the keys in recent years for me has been journaling. Why? The starting point to having the courage to be who you are, no matter the context, is being comfortable with yourself. You have to learn to spend time alone, to self-reflect, and to become increasingly self-aware. I’ve journaled for a long time, but in recent years (especially after starting my own business) I realized I needed a system that helped me ask better questions and reflect on my own emotions in a deeper way. Generally, I journal both in the morning and in the evening. In addition to free-writing, I use these two frameworks: Morning Journaling: Write 3 things I’m grateful for. Write 3 things that would make today great (things you can control). Write 3 personal affirmations. To keep things fresh, I use 4 sub-categories when documenting what I’m grateful for: An old relationship or friendship that helped you An opportunity, current or past Somet

Experiencing pain, loss, or grief sucks (that’s an understatement), yet it’s a normal part of life. In this episode I share some hard-learned lessons on moving through pain, loss, and grief.   Pain + Reflection = Progress   One of the most important capabilities you can develop in life is the ability to reflect on pain rather that react or avoid it. Most people can’t reflect on their pain while they are going through it. They focus so much on the pain that they aren’t able to consider what is happening, why they ended up in this situation, or how they are processing the pain.   Once the pain subsides, they simply move onto something else and never really address the core issues. They medicate, or cope, or distract themselves because it’s too painful to go back and address the core issue.   Here are 5 things I’ve learned in the school of hard knocks when it comes to managing and processing pain in order to produce progress:   Go to the pain rather than avoiding it. Write a psalm to God. Just do the next right

In this episode, I share the approach to goal setting that I learned at Tony Robbins’ Date with Destiny seminar in West Palm Beach, FL.Date with Destiny was one of the most powerful and important events I’ve ever attended, and though I can’t do the impact justice through a podcast, I felt one of the best things I could share would be Tony’s approach to goal-setting.If you’re anything like me, goal-setting is a mixed bag. There are a lot of good goal-setting frameworks out there, but they’re also easy to get tired of. I found myself in that boat and was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked this one. The Tony Robbins Guide to Year-End Goal Setting: Set 4 categories: 1. Things & Stuff, 2. Experiences, 3. Treasure, 4. Contributions Write down 1, 3, 5, or 10 next to each goal to represent the years Write down your one-year goals and rank the top 4 Then ask 4 follow up questions for each goal The 4 Follow-Up Questions: Why to you want to accomplish this goal? What is the pain you will feel if you don

It's that special time of the year to look back, reflect on your year, and set your sights towards the next year ahead. I experienced a lot of changes this year: my marriage, major business decisions, and moving for the time being to Florida. Through these many transitions, I've learned: Life is short but the longest thing we’ll ever do. Eat good food, spend more time with loved ones, and never pass up a good adventure. You can influence almost anything, you control almost nothing. The greatest awareness is self-awareness. I connect far more with people over our vulnerabilities and vices than I do our victories. Victories are short lived. The battle over our vices and vulnerabilities rages everyday and this is why it’s so much easier to connect with others. Relationships are for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. My hope is that these takeaways will help you head into the new year with grace, vision, purpose, and energy. If you'd like to help me support Love 146, please go to: mikekim.com/mmi-one. EPISODE C

Josh Pies is a real-world video marketing expert. If you’re ready to learn how to use video to market your business and look good in the process, then you need to stay tuned to this episode.  I've gotten to know Josh over the past year because we're in the same mastermind group, and I asked him to come onto the show to share how you and I -- everyday non-video people! -- can use the tools at our disposal to share better content on social media video. It doesn't matter if you use video for fun or for a business, you'll get some great insight on best-practices for social media video. Some questions I asked Josh: What tools do I need? I feel so behind compared to all these in-home studios that these other creators have. Everyone talks about DSLRs or other high-end cameras. What are your thoughts on that? Where do I even shoot videos in my house? How do I know what to say in my videos? What is the best "roadmap" for video creation? Josh has a suite of resources available here: smbfilmschool.com Josh's recommend

Joseph Bojang’s kids would say he’s the best dancer in the world, but he says his best moves are creating PPC and Facebook ad campaigns that actually help businesses make money.  Joseph and I spent a few months in a mastermind group together, and I just knew that one day the time would come when he and I would work together. That time is now. Recently I took on a very large client contract and needed someone to steer the ship right when it came to Facebook and Google advertising. Joseph was my guy, and the results have been nothing short of amazing: a 90% decrease in spend for leads, way higher opt-in rates, and a happier client. I had to bring Joseph onto the podcast to track this journey I’m on with him in real-time. You may not do a lot of online advertising yet, but this episode is here to help you get some initial insight on how these platforms work. A few questions I asked Joseph in this interview: “How can a business or brand know whether Google Adwords or Facebook Ads is best for them?” “What are the

Liz Pineda helps online entrepreneurs transform their knowledge into recurring revenue by helping them building sales funnels and other high-performing lead generation systems.   I first met Liz in 2017 and contracted her to build evergreen funnels around some old products and the results were absolutely amazing. She was able to take a course I created years ago in a niche market and setup a Facebook evergreen funnel from A to Z -- to the tune of $7,000 in sales in the first 45 days.   In short, Liz made me a believer in this kind of marketing and I’m so excited to share this interview with you. I can’t say enough about her. Here are a few questions I asked Liz:   "How to know if your funnel will be profitable before you launch it?" “Where do I even start when building a sales funnel?” "What are the typical lead magnets that are most successful in putting a funnel together?" "When can you expect to make your money back from a funnel?" “Are there any secret ‘hacks’ that people use when building sales funnels?

Transitions can be some of the most crazy, awkward, and hurtful things in life. It doesn’t matter if you’re the transitioner, transitionee, or the bystanders; transitions can hurt. How can we do them better? First, we have to make sure we understand what kind of people we're dealing with during transitions. In his book Necessary Endings, Henry Cloud outlines three types of people: wise, foolish, and evil. We must understand that each of these people must be addressed differently: Wise people: use words Foolish people: use limits and consequences (words only make it worse) Evil people: to quote a country song, "guns, money, and lawyers." When it comes to transitions, there are always seem to be too many divorces and not enough weddings. I've always tried to model my transitions following a “wedding” paradigm so I could do it with honor. I’m going to speak from a guy’s point of view since well, I’m a guy. Here goes: Son = person wanting to transition Dad = boss, or current role Bride = new job, role, positio

Social Media has the potential to foster real relationships and make a lasting impact in the world, or it has the potential to manufacture superficial relationships and do real damage in the world. But where do we start? How do we do this intentionally, and how do we show consistency in our social posts so we’re “on brand”?   Sean Pritzkau is here to help. Sean provides simple, practical steps to help cause-driven organizations and advocacy groups get clear, communicate with confidence, and make a real impact using social media. He has handled social accounts for incredibly large yet agile organizations -- and the key to consistency is to have a calendar and strategy.   Here is a sneak preview of the topics we cover with Sean:   3 mindset shifts do we need to make to be really successful with our social media Clarity, consistency, and content: the 3 pillars of social media strategy The question you should ask yourself before posting anything on social media   FREE RESOURCE: For tuning in, Sean is givi

When Lauren Davis isn’t organizing live release shows at her record store in Rockford, IL she’s obsessed with empowering her clients through social media to help them boost sales, increase exposure, and impact their communities.   Lauren is an all-around marketing pro but for this episode I've asked her to share her best practices with my favorite social media network, Instagram.   Lauren recently ran my Instagram account at a speaking engagement and I was absolutely blown away by how much a difference it made. Here are a few concepts we cover in this interview: The biggest mistake that most people make with their new Instagram account The #1 practice in using Instagram intentionally to grow your brand footprint The top strategy Lauren recommends to get your first couple hundred followers FAST? How does Instagram algorithm works, and what the science is behind it. Follow Lauren on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ldaviscreative/   Lauren's website: https://laurendaviscreative.com/ FREE GIFT: Marketing M

  Many people want to “reinvent” themselves career-wise but they’re just not sure where to start. One of the keys to reinventing yourself successfully is already in your hands: social media. If you use any kind of social media right now, you’re already engaged in what I call “personal branding”. In this episode, I share two strategies to use social media intentionally to take control of the conversation people are having about you. The first pathway: Start with your favorite social media app, the one you use most. Document your day - don’t worry about “creating” Write something on your post that adds value by giving context to your post You’ll also learn a key strategy you can leverage for Facebook or LinkedIn to shape your personal brand if you’re looking to start a side-hustle or launch a new business. A few notable quotes from this episode: If you're wondering, “Is this off-brand?” it probably is. When it comes to personal branding, you are what you share. If you’d like to connect elsewhere o