Brand You Personal Branding

From the moment you land your first client, you're in the "business life cycle." Recently, my friend Thomas Lee walked me through the 9 stages of the business life cycle over dinner and I knew I had to share it with you on the podcast. It was like getting an MBA in one conversation. In addition to being a small business consultant and executive coach, Tom has also served as the President of Full Line Collection Inc., a high-end distributor of jewelry and accessories in highly competitive garment district in the heart of New York City for 11 years. Tom shares incredibly valuable insight that has kept him at the forefront of the fashion industry, and I know this framework will help you think longer-term about your own business. The 9 Stages of the Business Life Cycle: Birth stage Infancy stage Toddler stage Teenage stage Young adult stage Prime stage Aging stage Institutional stage Death Today's Featured Resource: The 9 Stages of the Business Life Cycle: This free worksheet will help you map out the trajector

No other framework has impacted my marketing, message, and business more than Donald Miller's StoryBrand framework. I first connected with Don in April 2016 when he contacted me to work with him on a book about the StoryBrand framework. That book is out now: Building A StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen (Amazon) Don joins me on this episode of the podcast to walk you through the entire 7-step framework. You'll also get unique insight into how we worked on this book and other key takeaways including: How Don pivoted from being a memoirist to launching StoryBrand and becoming  The important marketing lesson Don learned from sitting next to a man reading his own book on a plane The single biggest shift you need to make in your marketing How the StoryBrand framework works in politics, and why Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton in the election  How to create your very own BrandScript that keeps your marketing message on point The StoryBrand framework provides you with the ultimate competiti

Are you aware of your competitive advantage? Most people don't, and it's because they're not even sure what kind of competitive advantages are out there. In this episode, I unpack 5 competitive distinct advantages: Price Affinity Authority Skill Availability Here are some snippets from today's episode: What I learned about competition during a dinner with the owner of Connecticut's largest moving company. (3:03) The 5 types of competitive advantages you need to be aware of (4:43) The story Ken Davis, founder of SCORRE, told me about why pricing himself so low actually closed doors for his speaking business. (5:59) Why you must set a yearly revenue goal. (7:40) Why you need a "cash-cow" offer. (8:20) How many people really unsubscribe from my email list everytime I send a message. (15:08) How to establish authority even if you don't have clients. (18:50) How being intentional about these 5 things gives you a "marketing grip" that can't be denied. (22:50) Resources Mentioned in This Episode: • Donald Miller

This week I reflect on some thoughts inspired by the terrific business leaders I've met over the past few weeks ... as well as Jiro Ono, widely considered the world's greatest sushi chef and star of the film, Jiro Dreams of Sushi. I also pose three questions for you to consider as you continue your journey in building your business and creating impact with your ideas. Here are some snippets from today's episode: Jiro Ono's thoughts on the secret of success. (4:31) How willing are you to leave others behind so you can grow? (6:00) The group of people that I left behind in order to pursue my dreams. (7:59) As you grow, you must construct your inner circle. (9:07) There are no Cinderella stories. (10:15) Are you playing to win, or playing just to stay in the race? (10:41) My top 5 strengths according to StrengthsFinder (11:07) What is your version of a legend? (13:55) Resources Mentioned in This Episode: • Jiro Dreams of Sushi (documentary) • Get Your Message Heard Podcast with Michael Hudson • Ray Edwards • J

John Nemo helps coaches, consultants, and small business owners generate quality leads, build their client base, and increase revenue using digital marketing platforms and tools like LinkedIn and Webinars.   John is a former Associated Press Reporter, Talk Radio Producer, Award-Winning PR Director and Social Media Consultant based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.   John has personally rewritten LinkedIn profiles for well-known personal brand entrepreneurs like Chris Brogan, John Lee Dumas, Bob Burg, Jairek Robbins, Dan Miller, Ray Edwards and many others.   In addition, John regularly guest blogs for Inc. Magazine and American City Business Journals, and his work has also been featured in The Huffington Post, Business Insider and many other publications online. I Recommend You Get Every One of these Free Resources From John: • Free Best-selling Book: LinkedIn Riches »   • Free Video Training: How To Create a Killer LinkedIn Profile » • Free Webinar: How Business Coaches, Consultants and Entrepreneurs Can Get Qualit

Blogging remains one of the best ways to market your thought leadership business, and today Katie Hornor shares a few strategies she used to monetize her blog ... all the way from Mexico. Years ago, Katie and her family relocated in order to missions and social work. They decided blogging would how they would raise money, and they created their first product: a homeschool curriculum in Spanish. Since then, her blog has generated thousands of dollars in recurring revenue. Listen to the episode to hear Katie's thoughts on: Why it's not wrong to earn income from your blog Her recommendation on the first step to earning income online How to find an audience Her networking strategy for conferences (even when she can't attend) Launch A Blog In Under 7 Minutes If you're intimidated by the "tech" of launching a blog, download my free Do-It-Yourself Blog Guide and my video tutorial, "How to Launch A WordPress Blog In Under 7 Minutes" here: mikekim.com/wordpress » Check out Katie's "Blog Connection" Membership Here K

Success is sequential, not simultaneous. This episode gives you a behind-the-scenes look at the system I am implementing now, step-by-step. I anticipate that implementing this system will skyrocket my reach and revenue because it "touches" all aspects of what I need to grow the online portion of my business: brand awareness, authority, a growing email list, and sales. Gather data Commit to doing more webinars Run social media ads to those webinars Do more video content marketing Create my first low-tier starter product Download Your Copy of the "5-Step Sequential Success Guide" here: Get Your Copy Here Join the Brand You Community on Facebook: Have you checked out this invite-only group? Click here to request access to the Brand You Community Liked this episode? Leave a review on iTunes and I'd love to give you a shout out on the show! Make sure to leave your website so I can link back to it. I'd love to connect on social: Twitter: @MikeKimTV Instagram: @MikeKimTV Facebook: MikeKimTV

This past week I spent 3 days in beautiful Coeur d'Alene, Idaho for an exclusive mastermind with other business owners to share wisdom, ask questions, and connect over great food and amazing scenery. In this episode, I share 5 takeaways from my time with Ray Edwards, John Nemo, Jeff Bullas, Ernie Svenson, Matt and Tara McWilliams, Mark Sieverkropp, Mark and Amy Timm, and Jody Maberry. I have pages filled with wisdom, and I'll share a few things in this episode like: the orbit strategy to building your brand how to out-perform your self-image what people really buy from your personal brand (it's not information) what one of the world's largest internet marketers thinks about podcasts the one thing you really need to talk about to create content of consequence Join the Brand You Community on Facebook: Have you checked out this invite-only group? Click here to request access to the Brand You Community Liked this episode? Leave a review on iTunes and I'd love to give you a shout out on the show! Make sure to le

In this special episode, my friend Jody Maberry flips the lineup and interviews me right after wrapping up Influence & Impact 2017. Tune in for some of my personal biggest takeaways from hosting this conference, including: the "3 little pigs" business strategy and why it works why business success is sequential, not simultaneous how I used a strategic approach year-by-year to fill this conference why "small is the new big" when it comes to personal branding why you must be "bilingual" in business to be successful Side note: Jody and I recorded this episode in my dining room and broadcast the interview on Facebook Live. To watch the session, click on the link below for this episode's shownotes here: mikekim.com/128 Join the Brand You Community on Facebook: Have you checked out this invite-only group?  Click here to request access to the Brand You Community Liked this episode? Leave a review on iTunes and I'd love to give you a shout out on the show! Make sure to leave your website so I can link back to i

Planning and promoting a live event is like starting an entirely new business in itself. In this episode, I give you a "pick my brain" look into how I made certain decisions for my conference, Influence & Impact 2017. Any new product or service I create starts with one simple question, "What is the big problem I'm trying to solve?" The answer to that determines every decision I make thereafter, affecting everything from branding, copywriting, venue, and schedule.   Tune in for an unfiltered look at how I planned this live event. You just might glean some takeaways in planning your own. Mentioned in Today's Episode: Influence & Impact 2017 Join the Brand You Community on Facebook: Have you checked out this invite-only group? Click here to request access to the Brand You Community Liked this episode? Leave a review on iTunes and I'd love to give you a shout out on the show! Make sure to leave your website so I can link back to it. I'd love to connect on social: Twitter: @MikeKimTV Instagram: @MikeKi

On Friday nights, I often catch up with friends in Alphabet City, a neighborhood in the East Village of New York City. One of our favorite spots is a bar called Fat Buddha. We’re regulars, so we’ve gotten to know the bartenders. One night I got I in early before the night crowd strolled in. The crew was still getting setup and I noticed Shannon, one of bartenders, put out a tip jar … then add her own money to it. Ever the marketer, I asked Shannon why she did that. She said it was to “salt” the jar — to give people the impression that tipping with folded bills is proper behavior at their fine establishment. This is the third law of influence: social proof. Mentioned in Today's Episode: Influence & Impact 2017 Join the Brand You Community on Facebook: Have you checked out this invite-only group? Click here to request access to the Brand You Community Liked this episode? Leave a review on iTunes and I'd love to give you a shout out on the show! Make sure to leave your website so I can link back to it. I'd

Years ago, a study showed that just after placing a bet, people felt much more confident about their horse’s chance of winning than they did just prior to making the bet. Obviously, their bet doesn't actually change the chances of that horse winning. The jockey, horse, track, weather ... none of it is impacted at all… So why the spike in confidence? It has to do with commitment & consistency, which is the second law of influence that we cover in this episode of the podcast. Mentioned in Today's Episode: Influence & Impact 2017 Join the Brand You Community on Facebook: Have you checked out this invite-only group? Click here to request access to the Brand You Community Liked this episode? Leave a review on iTunes and I'd love to give you a shout out on the show! Make sure to leave your website so I can link back to it. I'd love to connect on social: Twitter: @MikeKimTV Instagram: @MikeKimTV Facebook: MikeKimTV

Influence has been the magic ingredient to my success - both in business and in life. Today, I kick off a series on the topic of influence. Each episode will contain some practical tips for your marketing, and a story or two from my own life where I've seen these factors at play. In this episode, I cover the topic of reciprocity. Human beings hate being in a state of obligation, which is precisely why reciprocity is such a powerful tool. Tune in and you'll hear about how groups ranging from the Hare Krishna Society to my next door neighbor's kids use this powerful force. Mentioned in Today's Episode: Influence & Impact 2017 Join the Brand You Community on Facebook: Have you checked out this invite-only group? Click here to request access to the Brand You Community Liked this episode? Leave a review on iTunes and I'd love to give you a shout out on the show! Make sure to leave your website so I can link back to it. I'd love to connect on social: Twitter: @MikeKimTV Instagram: @MikeKimTV Facebook: MikeKi

Times of transition are strenuous, but I love them. They're an opportunity to purge, rethink priorities, and be intentional about new habits. We can make our new normal any way we want. In this episode, I share 3 things do whenever my business goes through a transition: Accept that success = change. Re-evaluate who I spend time with, and who spends time with me. Re-evaluate what I spend most of my time doing. Make sure you stay subscribed to the podcast. Next week, I'll be starting a new series on "influence" and give you an inside look at how I am planning my upcoming conference, Influence and Impact. Join the Brand You Community on Facebook: Have you checked out this invite-only group? Click here to request access to the Brand You Community Liked this episode? Leave a review on iTunes and I'd love to give you a shout out on the show! Make sure to leave your website so I can link back to it. I'd love to connect on social: Twitter: @MikeKimTV Instagram: @MikeKimTV Facebook: MikeKimTV

In this episode you'll get a behind-the-scenes look at my recent speaking / coaching trip to Franklin, TN. Tune in and you'll learn: The story behind losing my wallet on the plane, and having Dan Miller and Jody Maberry help me focus on "What does this make possible?" How answering the question, "What is the ONE THING I need to do next that will make everything else easier?" The "5 balls of life" (work, family, friends, healthy, and integrity) and how I shared this with the people at my "Epic Breakfast" in downtown Franklin, TN Mentioned On This Episode: Influence and Impact, my 3-day workshop in New Jersey The One Thing (book) My 7-Step Brand You Blueprint (podcast) Join the Brand You Community on Facebook: Have you checked out this invite-only group? Click here to request access to the Brand You Community Liked this episode? Leave a review on iTunes and I'd love to give you a shout out on the show! Make sure to leave your website so I can link back to it. I'd love to connect on social: Twitter: @MikeKi

What do you do if you market a product or service that people HAVE to buy, rather than WANT to buy? In this episode I interview Vince Parry of the Parry Branding Group. Vince is one of most recognized experts in the field of healthcare branding and has worked on many of the most iconic health and wellness brands over the last 30 years, including Lipitor, Colgate Total, Botox, Prozac, Dove, Advil and Vioxx. The insights Vince shares will expand your understanding of marketing and branding because in healthcare, most people are purchasing products to recover from loss rather than step into some greater aspirational gain. Tune in and you'll learn: How your customer's identity can change because of unforeseen circumstances (such as illness) How that psychology affects people's purchasing decisions and brand loyalty How the healthcare industry brands super-villains: sickness, symptoms, disease How the healthcare industry (controversially) names diseases to take the power back from disease The branding secrets beh

In this episode, I interview Neal Samudre of EssentialHustle.com on how he builds evergreen funnels that sell online courses 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This is the same approach he has used for his private clients to help them generate five and even six-figures a MONTH with these funnels. ​Record an evergreen webinar Automate your webinar recording Write your email copy Automate your email delivery Create your upsell Establish your follow-up system There is a lot of info on this episode, so if you want all the links and tools mentioned, make sure to visit Neal's blog post here. Mentioned On This Episode The Epic 8,000 Word Guide To Creating An Evergreen Funnel That Sells Your Course 24/7 Ray Edwards' Copywriting Academy Live in Franklin, TN Follow Neal on Twitter @NealSamudre Join the Brand You Community on Facebook: Have you checked out this invite-only group? Click here to request access to the Brand You Community Liked this episode? Leave a review on iTunes and I'd love to give you a shoutout on th

I, Mike Kim, am an opportunity junkie. While leveraging opportunities has contributed greatly to my success, it's become really apparent that I need a different approach to business and life. These 7 principles from Greg McKeown's book Essentialism have helped me make difficult decisions in the past few weeks: 1. We can make one-time decisions that make a thousand future decisions so we don’t exhaust ourselves asking the same questions again and again. 2. Be aware of decision fatigue: the more choices we are forced to make, the more the quality of our decisions deteriorates. 3. Priority is singular. The word priority came into the English language in the 1400s. It meant the very first or prior thing. Only in the 1900s did we pluralize the term and start talking about priorities. Somehow we would now be able to have multiple “first” things 4. To eliminate nonessentials means saying no to someone, often. It means pushing against social expectations. Eliminating the nonessentials isn’t just about mental discipli

The key to delivering a successful speech or workshop involves more than just content. Presentation is vital. But any professional communicator knows there are a myriad of external factors that affect you and the audience's ability to engage with you: lighting, room layout, ambient noise, time of day, and more. In today's episode, I outline 5 things I do to manage these external factors so I can serve my audience in the best way possible: Survey the room Sit in the worst seat in the room Optimize my slides Set the rules of engagement Wear the right clothes You can also see a real-world walkthrough of how I did this before speaking at Ernie Svenson's Small Firm Bootcamp in New Orleans: https://youtu.be/zYeGmlN9Tds Join the Brand You Community on Facebook: Have you checked out this invite-only group? Click here to request access to the Brand You Community Liked this episode? Leave a review on iTunes and I'd love to give you a shoutout on the show! Make sure to leave your website so I can link back to it. I'd

The key to clarity lies in asking the right questions. In today's episode, I share 4 questions that I learned from Michael Hudson on a recent consulting trip. Michael uses these questions when journaling every morning, and he recommended I try them out. In the days since I started asking (and answering) these questions, my clarity and focus have sharpened like never before. Michael is a well-respected consultant who also helps experts create impact with their ideas and get their message heard. I highly recommend his podcast, Get Your Message Heard. It's terrific. Mentioned In Today's Episode Get Your Message Heard Podcast with Michael Hudson michaelhudson.com jodymaberry.com Donald Miller and StoryBrand Join the Brand You Community on Facebook: Have you checked out this invite-only group?  Click here to request access to the Brand You Community Liked this episode? Leave a review on iTunes and I'd love to give you a shoutout on the show! Make sure to leave your website so I can link back to it. I'd love to