When we build something worth shouting about, we don’t have to shout at all.
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“99% of entrepreneurs never say a word.”
The 2,000+ people in the audience leaned in. What did he mean?
“I’m not the norm,” he continued. “I’m part of the 1% who actually built businesses, and now I’m finally talking about it.”
He paced the stage.
“But of the 1% of entrepreneurs building their personal brand, 99% of them aren’t really building anything at all.”
Content–yes, even my content–can trap you.
When our first exposure to entrepreneurship is from someone selling entrepreneurship, it’s easy to think that’s all there is.
We might think that we need to be on every social media platform, blogging, podcasting, webinar-ing, buying online courses, creating our own, self-publishing.
All in the name of building your personal brand.
But there’s a problem with all of this. Building your personal brand can be distracting. Limiting, too, especially if your personal brand isn’t your focus.
My story is a perfect example.
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Book after book, blog after blog, course after course. Everyone telling me to build a personal brand was also selling me ways to build my personal brand.
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I caught the content bug during my sophomore year of college.
It started with a book titled The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy. Simple book. Great book. One that I still recommend to anyone just getting started.
In that book, Hardy mentioned the book that acted as a catalyst for him: Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, who many consider the father of the modern self-help industry.
So, I read that too.
On and on it went. Book after book, blog after blog, course after course. Everyone telling me to build a personal brand was also selling me ways to build my personal brand.
At the ripe old age of 21, I decided that I was going to become a coach for other young entrepreneurs. I called it a business, but it wasn’t anything but silly. Borderline unethical, really.
But it was all I knew.
We don’t have to be loud to build something worth talking about.
Many people who are building their personal brand by giving advice often haven’t achieved what they preach.
Most “experts” aren’t experts. Most “gurus” aren’t gurus. And most “coaches” couldn’t play.
Ultimately, most who find success find it quietly.
So you still want to build your personal brand?
Me too.
That’s why I write for the Good Men Project, along with other endeavors.
The approach that feels most genuine for me is to let my personal brand be a by-product of my results, not a precursor.
Some of the best personal brands I’ve seen come from people who have built something worth talking about.
To them, talking about what they were building was a distraction.
When we build something worth shouting about, we don’t have to shout at all.
Others shout for you.
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Photo: Flickr/Drew