10. Why Going All In On Your Personal Brand?

Ati Grinspun  0:00  

Welcome, welcome. Welcome to the recording of the be brand podcast, I believe this is going to be episode 10. And I’m actually going on a trip this afternoon where I am going to be doing a keynote on the topic that we are going to talk today that is going all in. And I was practicing my talk, and I was practicing my talk, like I got teary eyed, because I really went back into my story. And I felt like this was absolutely an episode for the podcast, because this is the thing people talk about building a personal brand, every body is talking about building a personal brand. And they are talking about building a personal brand in social media. And yes, building a brand in social media is amazing. And it’s gonna make you money, and all the things that we all know and that I preach all the time. But then when it really hit me is the way I think about building your personal brand is truly about the mark that you leave in the world. And I think I’m gonna bring you back in a minute to my story. And what I know is that even when I thought that I was going all in, there was a moment that I wasn’t, but I thought I was going all in. So I kind of want to bring you back a little bit. Before I do that I am going to put this out there because I know people’s attention span is really short November 6 through the 11th. We are hosting a personal branding bootcamp. And this is happening inside a private Facebook group is not happening on the regular Facebook group. And this is going to walk you through a strategy, mindset, client attraction, lead generation, all the things. So if you can be loving the podcast and all the content that I put out there, you love community, and you want to show up authentically, and you want to build a brand that actual you can make money with this bootcamp is for you, I am going to have the links everywhere. Like if you’re an Instagram, they are my LinkedIn bio. They’re on the show notes. But I wanted to put it out there before we keep going. So let’s go back to going all in. So in order to do that, I have to bring you back to 2018 When I first started my business as you know it now, but then I was already building my business as a photographer, and I can niche down to actually baby photography at the time. And I was still bartending now for those of you that don’t know this story, I used to be a world champion, flirt bartender. Those are the bartenders I like flip the battles and speed the fire and I was competing. And what happened was, I really loved my job for the first 10 years of my career, but then, you know, I got pregnant and my priorities change, and that job, that was all amazing. And like, it was fun. What happened is like, it became just that it became a job, right? So I’m building this business on the side, and I’m going in and out, in and out. It wasn’t really working. So I’m like, you know, and I felt like I was there for a couple of years. I was like, Is this ever gonna happen? I didn’t know what I was doing. I thought I didn’t know what I was doing. One day, my friend Heather, and she’s gonna become Facebook famous after I tell this story all the time. But my friend Heather calls me and invites me to these live event. And I remember at the time I was like, why do we need to go to this live event? She was telling me how like, live events are so amazing. You get to meet so many people, you actually get to network, build your your network, and I was like, you know, okay, let’s go and also I’m very adventurous. I never been to Nashville. And I was like, Okay, fuck it. Let’s go to Nashville. We arrived to Nashville. And we go to these events. And you know, we check in and like different speakers started talking, you know, when you go to these events, most speakers are amazing. Okay. But what happens though, is there is usually one speaker that has the message for you, the one that you need to hear, right, like the one that pierces your soul, and this lady was that for me when she gets on stage. And she like, I could never forget this. I could hear her heels. Going into the stage. She was wearing this like beautiful red dress. She started doing her talk and she shares about Kirby and former bartender She immediately got my attention. She starts talking about mission vision. Ripple Effect. Like, making a difference making more money than you ever thought of. I remember thinking like, fuck is she talking about? Because at the time, I love my job, I was making amazing money. I don’t know if you know this story, I think I already like told it on the first episode. So you can always go back there. But I was making great money, I used to work in the Las Vegas Strip. So for us, like $1,000 Night was like, the norm, right? So I was making great money. I loved it for many years. But this is the thing, not for one minute, I ever thought that I was making a difference. I never saw myself as a person making a difference in the world. And I remember this woman talking about all the things and I was like, oh my god, that is what I want to do that, especially that and in a split of a second, I saw myself on stage, I could feel the nerves of like being on stage. I could like feel my feet on it. I could feel the room, I could hear my voice. It was like crazy. Like, literally, I had a vision, right? Just like that to happen immediately. Like, I was back in my seat. And I was back in the room and my brain went to tell me

you are a bartender, you have an accent, your English sucks. All these

ideas, even want to tell me like I remember vividly. Like, you have been building this business on the side now for how long? And this shed ain’t happening. I feel so small. I felt so small. I almost felt embarrassed of like having even the thought, right, I come back from that event. And I promised myself I’m going to go all in consciously, I am going all in. And I’m thinking like, Okay, I’m gonna do all the things. I’m gonna go on social media, I’m gonna go networking, I’m gonna tell everybody about my business. Now, a few months go by, and my business wasn’t growing. And this is the whole idea of this podcast, right? Like, I looked around. And I realized that my business class and growing, and I will say why what is really, truly happening. And I started assessing everything that I was doing. And I remember thinking, the reason why things weren’t working, is even though I was telling everybody I was a photographer, people still saw me as a bartender. If you would have Googled me at the time, videos of flair, or me bartending would have showed up on YouTube everywhere online, right? Like, you could have looked my name. And that’s what you would see, if you went to my social media, you could see that I took photos. But it was unclear, right? Like I was a photographer, I was an expert at what I was I was doing. So I realized at the time that my personal brand was that of a bartender, I wasn’t really showing up in my full power with this new Truly identity from the inside. And I want to emphasize that because people will teach you and I teach these guys like we talk about social media going to speak going to do all the things, but I wasn’t truly stepping into the power of my personal brand, which is our uniqueness. So as I’m having all the fonts, and I’m like, Okay, what truly needs to happen for me to embody these, because people will tell you, and sometimes I share this concept too, that your personal brand, is what people think of you what they know of you, right? This space you occupy in their mind that this is the thing, are you actually embodying that, I truly believe all of that, and that your personal brand is also Who are you being your personal brand is the mark that you are trailing as you go, this is your purpose. Because if people get stuck on the product or the service that they offer today, this is a thing when you embrace the power of your personal brand. You can do one product today, one service today. But tomorrow, you can pivot. And it’s always based on your purpose. It’s always based on the difference that you want to make in the world. As I’m realizing this, what I really saw and again, right Fast forward five years where I’m at today, I’m coaching women, I have a business. I’m a speaker, I have the podcast, all the things. When I look back, and I look at the hundreds of women that I have coached so far, there is four areas that I know you need to jump all in, in order to really own this. And number one, it’s actually before number one actually is really assessing where you’re at. And what do you truly want be known for, right? Like, what is the difference that you want to make in the world and go all in on that now that can be both right that can change at different moments in your life, you can be focused on different things. But what do you want to be known for? And make an assessment? Google yourself, ask people, How do they see you? What do they know about you? And then really ask yourself? Are we showing up as that person every single time? Am I showing up as the person in my work? In my personal relationships? Am I showing up as that person on the things that I put out there? So not just the content, right? But are you hosting events? Are you volunteering? How are you showing up at your kids school? When people ask you what you do? Are you owning it? Or are you just saying, Oh, I just x, y, and z, these are the four areas that I want you to kind of rate yourself, right, because it’s about restaurant passion. Like I don’t want these to be just about a strategy. This is about really leaning in. And going all in, in these areas. So number one, is your expertise. So many of us deal with impostor syndrome. I do, do we all do. Somebody told me this one time, and it’s stuck with me, and I’m gonna pass it along. And is, you’re always in the middle, always, always, always in the middle. What does that mean? There is always going to be somebody that knows more than you. And there is always going to be somebody that knows less than you, that is two steps behind. Now, there is always going to be somebody that knows more than you. It doesn’t matter how many certifications you get, how many titles you have, how much you study, how better you get how much you read, there is always going to be somebody that knows more than you. Always the same happens with there is always going to be somebody that is two steps behind why is this important is because you need to own the expertise from today, in order for you to keep evolving. Now, this doesn’t mean that you want to get stuck. But what it means is that you’re going to evolve with time, but you need to lean in own in I’m going to lean on your expertise right now. Because at the end of the day, you guys, people buy from people they know they like and they trust. And in order for you to make your mark in the world. And to put your message out there. You need to be selling, right you need to be selling whatever it is that you’re doing. If you’re a speaker, you need to be speaking, if you’re a coach, you need to be coaching, if you do any kind of service, you cannot change lives. If you are not out there doing the thing. Second one is your brand story. It took me so long to actually own the fact that a lot of my brilliance came from bartending, right. It came from the years I spent behind the bar from reading people from having the soft skills of being able to look at a person and understand and having emotional intelligence. So it took me so long for me to own that story. And this is a crazy thing. Once I did people actually love that. But I didn’t think that I had a story. And a lot of you don’t think that you have a story that this is what the part of your story that is important. Why do you do what you do, as opposed to doing something else? And I’m actually gonna, like, bring you full circle towards the end, because I’m gonna tell you a story of how everything have pivoted for me, from photography, regular photography to personal branding photography, to then coaching, why is my perspective so different when it comes to coaching, personal branding and adding that portion of mindset and energetics and all of that your expertise, your brand story really owning it and stepping on it? And why do you do what you do as opposed to doing something else? That is a reason. So write yourself, how much are you going all in? Are you actually going all in? Because I remember coming back from the trip and doing all the things. And then I realized that I wasn’t right. I thought I was going all in. But once I actually sat down and read it myself, I was like, oh, maybe I’m not. Right. So number three is your opinions. Are you actually validating what you think about your industry? What you think about what you truly think your thought leadership? Most of us we are trying to be very vanilla. We don’t want to offend anybody. We don’t want to like go against the grain. Now this is not about talking shit about other people. But the This is about you owning your thought leadership. Me coming here and telling you this is owning my thought leadership is what I have observed through my journey up until this point where women actually hold themselves back. And they play really, really small. And they don’t go all in, right. So your opinions are what separates you at the beginning, I told you, you need to own your expertise, right. And one way of doing that is actually teaching, teaching on social media, teaching educational content, teaching workshops, really putting yourself out there as the expert, right? Teaching is like that universal way that you show your expertise. Now, this is the thing. Everyone and their mother, including myself, and every coach, every person on Instagram, LinkedIn, tick tock, YouTube, whatever is sharing educational content, what separates you from the educational content? Is your opinion, why you do it the way you do it? What do you bring to the table, right? That is different than how somebody else is doing it, that it’s already going to align with the values of the person that you are talking to. And most women, they actually keep that like, very private, because we were told, you are too loud, You’re too sweet.

You’re too I don’t know, you’re too shy. You’re too introvert, you’re too these, you’re too bad. And then we’re wondering why nothing is happening and why you don’t stand out online or in the real world. Right? So there one is really only in your opinions. And fourth one is really going all in on your self discovery, you my friend, or the secret sauce, you are the only thing that is different in your business, there is a million personal branding coaches, a million personal branding photographers, a million realtors, a million insurance agents, a million, or whatever you want to call it, okay? Now, when people tell me the market is so saturated, I’m going to tell you, it’s not because there is only one of you. And this work, and when people talk about authenticity, which is such a bastardize word, when it comes to the online world, it all comes back to your self discovery to you peeling the onion, of who you are, what is this message that you bring into the world? What is this thing that you have to offer? Right? As I’m sitting here, these are the four things that I truly believe you need to rate yourself and ask, Are you going all in on this? Are you truly embodying the work and the message that you want to bring into the world? And earlier I said, Why going all in with your personal brand. And yes, your personal brand is what is going to make you money, it bridges the know like and trust factor, it will help you to truly be able to pivot anytime you want, right, because you already have an audience. So building your personal brand has all of that when it comes to the business world. But also, this is the thing the world needs you. The world needs new ideas, the world needs your message and your message and your message. Because all together, we make the collective. And I don’t know if you notice, but the world is falling apart out there. Okay. And there is nothing we can do about that. We can not go and fix that. But we can fix the message that we are giving every single day, every single day, one post at a time, one client at a time, one talk at a time, we can make the world a better place. And I think that there is such this belief around the fact that every single one of us can make a difference. And I know that a lot of us know that we have a message. We just don’t know what that is. And we are not going on lean to discover it. I remember talking about this topic with the host of this event that I’m going to speak at this weekend. And one of the things that we talked about is when you have a pool and when you have a vision, right in my case was that vision I came back from that event and I was fired up from listening to the speaker. And that vision really pulled me but then there is so many more visions that are going to come your your business, your vision, your life is not made just from that one vision that maybe you had when you start your business. Visions will keep coming. The question is are you going to go all in? Or are you going to pursue every single one of those visions? And going all in is not about going all in one day or one week is going on in every single time that you had the opportunity? I remember in 2010 Only when the world shut down. And women needed guidance, I took the opportunity, right? I wasn’t very sure. I was also not in a place where it was super only my expertise, but I took it. And I knew that they were women to step behind me. I remember 2021 It was the first time I went to this event that I’m heading this weekend, and I invested I invested in myself, I invested in a program that was $20,000. Like, literally, I call my customer and I was like I want to do this program is $20,000. He was like, Okay, if you think this is for you, and I went online, and I pay cash, actually not enough cash, I paid in full, because that was such a push for me. And I went all in and this was a PR program. We wrote a book, and then I became a best selling author. Was I ready? No. Did I think that I was ready at the time? No, I went all in, I lean into what it felt absolutely hard and difficult and out of reach. Right? in 2022. It was the first time that I actually got asked to speak on stage. And I remember thinking, oh my god, I’m gonna share my event, right? Literally, I said yes, immediately, because I knew if I didn’t, I was gonna back out. And I knew that was the vision, the vision was becoming true. I need from my first vision. So you get to go Alene every single day, you don’t get to go all in for five minutes. And you’re like, oh, that didn’t work. You get to go in, go all in every single day. Because that is how you spread the word. That’s how you spread the message. And yes, that is how you build a business. And that’s how you build an audience. And that is how you build that ecosystem that they wants to buy from you. But when they are buying from you what happens, you’re changing the world, one person at a time, through your message. So I wanted to record this because I’m heading to this event this weekend. And this is very raw and real. And so alive in me right now, I know that my personality is about jumping. I go all in all the time and I make the decision and I go all in and things are not necessarily easy ever. Even though people sometimes he’s like, but they look so easy for you. They’re not building a business, I’m building a personal brand, there is a lot of fear. There is a lot of doubt, there is a lot of like, oh my god, what people are gonna think of me. There is a lot of like, is this gonna even resonate with people? Like right now, before I even sat down here? I was like, Is this even gonna resonate with people, but this is the thing. You will never resonate with anybody. If you don’t get started. You won’t ever resonate with everybody. If you don’t practice. You won’t ever sell the product. If people don’t know you, you will never make that difference if people don’t know what you’re all about. So when I said Why go along with your personal brand, yes, we all want to make money, but also that is how you truly change the world. So I hope that this episode really inspire you whatever going all in means to you. Go all in. I love you, and I’ll see you next time.