4. Why personal branding is the foundation to everythingScaling your personal brand, without ruining your personal life with Kristen Day

It’s not a coincidence. And it’s not something that you have to just let life happen to you. Having a personal brand and being that encompassing that into service, and in the pursuit of improving everyone around you by giving what you’re meant to give. I think that that is the greatest gift we could ever be given. Welcome to the Be you brand podcast.

I am your host, Ati Grinspun. And if you’re looking to build a million dollar personal brand, sell out your services, and do it all while living your best life and fulfilling your purpose. You’ve come to the right place. We no fluff strategy, a tiny bit of a spice attitude, F bombs per days, mindset and energy work, we will grow a life and business that you absolutely love. One episode at a time. Welcome aboard my friend.

Welcome everybody to the Be you brand podcast. I have guests with me today that she is a dear friend. But she’s not here because she’s a dear friend. She’s here because she is brilliant. And like we were actually talking about this outside of camera. And I was like, come on, you’re amazing. She is so good at doing all the backend stuff. And she has changed so much since I met her until today, you really are a testament of like growth and personal growth, like professional growth. So welcome, Kristin, have you read

into it, I promise I will not get choked up on this conversation.

And I have to say, you know, you’re a big part of that. Honestly, you inspire me every day. And I can’t tell you how much I just appreciate having you in my sphere, because it is such a blessing. And truly, it keeps me going. I think almost every day. I actually love that because we’re gonna be talking about scaling your personal brand, without ruining your life, right without like going crazy, working a million hours, all of that. But I think that one of the things you and me we have in common is this, like building relationships, and networking and really, truly following up on our people, right? The people that actually we feel are our people. I couldn’t agree more. It’s it is a cornerstone of our business. But it’s also just a cornerstone of having a really fulfilling and happy life because I get to hang out my friends all day. Well, that but also business is fucking hard. So if we are not like you and me, we have had so many hard conversations this week with all the love, right. And that is what we need as business owners, and to have someone that you can trust in that space. Right, I think like having you to confide in and having you to, like Be honest with me about some changes that I need to make or vice or vice versa.

It is really, you know, to have to have that coming from a place of love, I think is invaluable. I think I think it’s so cool. So I’m gonna actually introduce you formally I’m gonna like read your bio, before we dive into I think super important that like literally, this is something that it’s happening right now in my business you guys so like as you scale and as you get busier like that is just more work right? And having systems which is what Kristin is amazing allowed. It’s really your saving grace. So so I’m gonna introduce you and then we’re gonna go from there. So Kristen de is a back end tech expert who helps service based entrepreneurs is scaled her business to multiple six figures with ease by fixing their funnels and optimizing their systems so that they can stay in their zone of genius to create more influence, impact and income. I love it. It’s so amazing. So Kristin, can can you tell us a little bit about your story because you started your your genius started as a web designer. So can you tell me a little bit of your story and how we get fast forward right to here.

are where you’re helping some huge businesses at this point, like multiple six and seven figures to actually fix their systems fill their funnels. So like, how was your story.

And thank you so much for that invitation to tell it because I do think where we come from, and versus where we are is something very different. But it’s so important to understand the beginnings. So when I started my business, I was just working on web design, I pretty accidentally fell into business, if that’s possible, I was helping a few people here and there. And they basically told me, you should start a business. And so I did.

I wasn’t sure where it was gonna go, I had no idea what I was doing. Like most entrepreneurs, when they first start their business by I had a lot of experience in my corporate career in the back end. So working in email marketing, working in websites, working with ads, or just anything that you could think of on the back end of a business, I had a lot of experience in that you were working at an agency correct, your corporate job was seen, like a marketing agency. That’s right. And I was a kind of a jack of all trades, because my position wasn’t fixed, I essentially was utilized as the helper to all of the departments. So I got a lot of broad expertise, just by having the opportunity to work at that company, which I will always be grateful for. And when I moved into entrepreneurship, I really liked web design. And I thought it was fun. Not a lot of people knew how to do it. And when the differentiator that I had when I was working with my clients as an entrepreneur, was I would teach them everything they needed to know about the backend of their website. And that was very uncommon. But it really was how I was able to build a business was being able to be transparent and not being afraid to give away the answer. Because because you were empowering your clients to actually then take takeover or not if they didn’t want you but you were empowering them, which goes back to what you’re truly doing right now to Yes. 

So as I moved through the years, I think it’s important to say I offered a lot of services. When I first started my business, I offered web design and social media graphics. I had no business being in graphics, by the way, you guys. And I offered strategy, I offered ads I offered SEO, right, like anything that I have learned how to do I offered in my product suite. And it was because I was trying to serve everyone. Yeah, well, and which is crazy. This is like it for the ones that people are watching the video, this is great. But for the people that are listening to the podcast, you see me like because I see these happen, this is usually the beginning right like that you have such a skill set. That doesn’t mean you have to use every single one of your skill sets. That is correct, highly encourage you to try what you try to figure out like which one you enjoy the most. But when I started out for the first several years, actually, I was just offering everything to everyone. And eventually, it really led to a lot of strife for me, because I was overloaded. I was doing too many different things. I have too many different client profiles. I was in, I probably have served I think the last time I counted was 25 different individual industries. Yeah, that’s crazy. So trying to like swap your brain from, you know, a jewelry line to a construction company to it just was too much. Yeah, it’s almost like you’re never even though you are an expert at building the websites, you never get to be an expert at that one thing that you’re doing and I actually explain this to people all the time. But it takes time to actually commit to that narrowing down which is narrowing down your client or your industry wherever not necessarily has to be just the niche. So I don’t want to kind of like put it in those words, but like narrowing down exactly what it is that you want to do and who you want to serve. But like I feel like okay, can you tell me how was that evolution from being like okay, I need to start taking things on my plate. And then it’s how you move from that to what you’re doing right now. We you can even go on it.

Explain specifically what it is because I don’t know, you know if the listeners or the viewers actually understand at this point yet. Sure. So what I was doing then was basically just offering that really broad service suite to everyone, when I really started to understand that that was not profitable, that was driving my life crazy, I started to narrow down who I was working with, I increased my fees, which actually bumped out a lot of my clients, which was a blessing, and I was able to start cutting out some of the services as well. And when I did that, I realized that there was a very specific set of entrepreneurs that I really enjoyed working with, who really enjoyed working with me too. 

And that I was able to fix very specific problems in their business. And that had to do with my skill set, but it actually had nothing to do with what I was offering, I was offering web design and social media strategy and all of the things that you that you knew how to do, that you want to do, but you are not really offering the things that number one, and you’re gonna you’re gonna name them one, but like, number one are usually the biggest headaches once you actually start making money. And the other one is a skill set that people do not have, somebody can actually kind of wing, no hobby, like, middle of the range website on their own. But when we talk about funnels and like having systems that are repeatable, that are working without you, and they save you so much time, and I actually make you money, right? I don’t know how to that’s why you’re helping me, right? Yeah. So I started to transition, I started to notice that what I was offering, it wasn’t the problem, it wasn’t what I was actually doing, what I was actually doing is I was going into these businesses, and I was seeing the gaps and their funnels, I was fixing those gaps, I was filling them and I was making their structure much more fluid, we were really trying to improve the customer journey or improve the automations inside of their business so that they could stop focusing on manual processes on not having a plan in place when they went to launch or when they needed to follow up with customers. Right? If their freebie sequences a freebie is a free resource that you put your email in, and you receive that free resource into your inbox, right? There’s a there’s a process to that. 

And an example is when you have a free resource that you’re building your business with. But you don’t have a thank you page or something like that, you know, so yes, I was working on the back end. And yes, I was doing web design and social media and all of that stuff, what I was really doing was fixing those funnels and optimizing them and automating them. And that’s how I transitioned into what I do now, which is much more fun. Well, actually, I want to point something out because our audience is pretty broad, right from people that they are just starting their business and people that are actually advanced. And I one of the things that we talk all the time you me, I talk it with my clients, I see it in my own journey is at the beginning, you have one client, but as you evolve and your business evolves, your client evolves with you. So what I’m hearing, as you used to work with some of these beginner clients, right, that they needed help with their social media, they needed help with their website, but then now they grew, or you grew, right. And now you’re working with people that are scaling. That’s literally my journey, right? Because I talked so much about like being scrappy, and don’t don’t need to have all the system to actually launch or go all in. But I’m experiencing this on my business to where there is what brought you here is not going to take you there. Right and that is a moment when these systems actually are needed. And I think this brings us to the actually the crux of what we are going to talk today which is actually scaling your personal brand and your business without ruining your life because there is at some point and I you know me I have zero problem sharing transparency is there is a moment where you have so much on your plate because you’re still doing things manually, or because you don’t even know what other things you could automate or what things you can bring to the plate and how you can bring more leads

How you can serve them in a better way? Automatically, right? So there is this journey where the first few years, you’re fine, like these crappy, do it all on your own. But there is a moment. And if you’re in there, you’re gonna want to hear this really closely. And if you’re not there, you want to prepare yourself for understanding the concept of what brought you here is not going to get you there. So let’s talk a little bit about that scaling your personal brand and business without ruining your personal life, like what does that mean to you? And where that somebody starts with all of that. Something that you and I actually talked about last week that I thought was genius was you said, it’s never too early to start preparing your business for growth? Yeah, that I just got chills like that sentence, it is the truth. If it doesn’t matter where you are in business, right now, you cannot start doing these things too early. So what, what it’s really interesting about that, is because you know, I do a lot of reflecting, and I’ve been actually working with clients that are pretty accurate. So I have my academy, and then I do this VIP that isn’t like the people that come on my VIP days. Usually they’re advanced business owners, that at the beginning, they did kind of the same that me we got crappy, we did this thing. But when when we are in the first few years of business, a lot of the times are like I don’t have the money, we’re coming from a place of scarcity, I can invest, maybe you invest in a coach, but you’re like, I’m not gonna invest in funnels, right. And I get it, because sometimes you’re coming, you know, from job to business. But if I could say something to me five years ago, is invested in the system to actually bring in somebody’s like, Hey, what is your vision? But the thing is, sometimes that vision is not clear either. So, so high, right? But I was just talking to somebody yesterday, she was throwing all these offers out there, because obviously she has to make money. But I’m like, Does this make sense? Long term? Is this truly, what you actually left corporate if she was an executive in corporate to actually do, right? And she’s like, Well, no. And I’m like, then it’s not worth your time. Yeah, what are these systems mean to me, so whether you are a five figure, business owner and six figure business owner, seven figure business owner, you can implement these steps. So I want everyone to hear that right now. But I think it is especially important if you are scaling into and like more into the six figure and multiple six figure space, it means having a clear and understandable process. And I’ll give you an example. So when you are offering a free resource will go back to that example, because it’s a really easy one to understand. Well, I know we teach that inside of our academy. So I’m really curious, my people can totally relate to that. Yeah, when you have a free resource that you are using to build your email list.

You need an understandable process that is repeatable, whether you’re doing it whether a VA is doing it, whether your tech person is doing it, it should be clear. It should be understandable. And it should not be overly complicated, right? Can you give me a sample? Can you give me an example? Yeah, so you have this free resource. And you have the PDF, right? So you’re gonna provide this PDF and I an email, so someone’s gonna visit your website, they’re gonna put in their name and email, that email is going to go on to the your back end and into your email list. And then you should have something that triggers an email to get sent to their inbox and deliver that freebie.

And then there should be a series of things that happen afterwards. A follow up email, absolutely. Anything like that, right? Yeah.

No matter what stage of business you’re in, you need to be able to understand how that happens. Because if you hire someone, and you don’t know how it happens, what happens if you need to change that? What happens if it’s outdated? What happens if it is going to the wrong audience or you know what, whatever right? i Okay, I love these because I personally feel so spoken to you right? Like I build my first business in photography and I had an

email list and we didn’t even have like an email newsletter. But I was building my email list. And then when when I pivoted and my business exploded, there was nothing I had I, when I hire Kayla was my my assistant. We didn’t have anything in place, I literally had to walk her through every single thing, like she was shadowing me. And she didn’t have any reference. And it was so painful. And I was already on the six figures. I was so embarrassed, it took us so much time. And I think one of I would love for you to speak to that concept of because this is all about not ruining your life, right? Because then you get to this bottleneck where you are the bottleneck.

And I felt like what what you’re talking about is also it happens such at the beginning in business, but it keeps repeating itself as you have a new system, a new process, a new lead magnet, and you offer whatever it is. Yes. And so what I encourage people to do, there’s several ways to do this. And I’m gonna, I’m going to note some really great free, totally free resources. loom is one free resource love loom. What this system does is it allows you to record videos of what you are doing. And the free version is a little limiting, but it does the job you guys it is fantastic. And then scribe how what is another completely free resource. And what it does is it literally provides step by step instructions based on what you’re doing. If it runs in the background, it is absolutely a game changer when you are bringing on someone who you need to train it. But it also helps you stay focused, I want you to think about if you’re a brand new business owner, or if you’re stealing business owner, how many things do you do in one day? That and how many things you do that maybe you do today that you don’t do again for like, I don’t know, like a month or something? I forget, you just forget because your brain is doing 100 things every hour. And just having that reminder having that ability to reference back to that. If you start doing that now. And keep it organized. It will save you

hours and hours of Tyler’s and I’m going to tell you one of the things that you relied on me was we were talking about the emails right last week for my own business. And it’s it does not need to be complicated. You can do a Google Doc, right? Actually, I talked about this with my coach this morning. She was like I want you to write, it sounds dumb. But like when you are preparing for the podcast today, every single step that you’re doing, so then you have a checklist, right? Even I got in the thing with you. And I was like, oh my god, I’d have to remember all the things right? Like the mic, and we’re going live here and then I’m gonna have to save it over there. I’m like, Okay, let’s write it down. Yes. And write it down. Whether you’re doing let’s say you’re in a launch, I do this, a lot of my clients, I actually go through and as we’re building the funnels, I’m documenting that funnel. So I have a client right now who just went through a challenge for the very first time, they’ve never done it before and no team before. And we literally document it. And for everybody whose eyes just glazed over about the word documentation or SOPs or whatever I want you to think about this, you only do those things every so often. And how many times does one little thing get forgotten? And there’s a slip up or and how that impacts your clients experience? Especially if you’re launching. So if you’re a business that goes through, like quarterly launches, or what have you having when you’re going through the launch, and you just take having checklist that out was life changing? Yeah. And so does not have to be complicated. And I correct. I kind of want to bring it back because to the fact that you guys if you’re starting a business, you’re already in business and you’re making money. You’re going to be an entrepreneur for the rest of your life. You’re going to be running this business, possibly forever right in different iterations of the

his business. And one of the things that like it’s been dawning on me is like, sometimes we don’t want to take four hours to document or things or four hours to figure something out. But then we’re like, agonizing over it for months and months. And Manson, how much is this costing you? Right? Like you. And the reason why I want to I wanted to actually talk about systems is because I was super resistant forever. Guys, I’m an Enneagram, seven, manifesting generator gave me the fan, I just want to talk to people, right? But then Kristen comes is like, let’s look at your systems. 

I’m like, Well, what?

So I get it, I get it. Right. So we talked a lot about that super easy email piece freebie, because honestly, you guys, we are in business, you need to be growing your email list, I want to tell you right now, you don’t on your social media, you do on your like, hello, right from somebody that is on social media all the time. But you need to move people from social media to your email list in case something happens. So this is like early on your journey. I’m talking on the first year, you should start building an email list. Right? What are other systems? Because you talk about funnels? You talk, tell me a little bit about that, like what are what are people in different stages should be looking at in different stages of business? Yeah, I echo the email list. If you’re if you’re in the first year of your business, building your email list, and your community should be number one priority on adding value to your community and being able to really speak to them, even if your offer is going to change even if your message Oh, yeah, gotta change. It’s just putting yourself out there being scrappy, and really kind of going for it. Right. But that email list is absolutely need. It’s called our customer relationship management system CRM. It’s mandatory, it’s non negotiable. But your business, your business, if you want to be a business, you need to be a business. Yeah. So in the in the very beginning stages, that 100% non negotiable. And then as you move into the area where you get to know your remember, when I started in business, I had 100 offers, you know, and then as I grew, I really started to solidify what I really wanted to do and the impact that I could make in the best way. And things that you need in that stage of your business, really are these SOPs, and SOP has a standard operating procedure. And it has to do with that.

Documentation, right? Simple things you guys making sure to have where everything is located. Right? Where is your website located? Where’s your domain located? Where’s your CRM? Where do you have Zapier? Right? Like what are all of the systems that you are using?

Keep them centrally located, so that when you bring on a team member, when you need to find something, you’re not pulling your hair out, you know where it is, and it’s easily accessible, that also allows you to make changes on the fly.

I was gonna say something that, for me was key when we talked about the emails was actually systematizing and having the emails and all that. So kind of like write it like literally on a piece of paper, and then you can put it in a Google Doc, okay, when my client first comes in, we have this email, then we do the intake form, I actually have one client going through beta clients right now. So she can have all the things in place. And I’m like, they don’t need to be complicated. You can do it through Gmail.

But you have like, you can have them email one, email to email three, email four. And then when you actually can afford something like HoneyBook or dubsado, or whatever, then you can automate it. You know, and I’m sure that Gmail actually has the capability somehow of doing that. I just don’t know how to do it. But I’m like, you have you can not be writing every single email. I did it for a while I was when I did photography was from scratch. Everything was done different every single way, every single time. And it was a disaster for me, not for my clients. Yeah. And it just takes so much time. So when when we do it’s called an email sequence. So what that is, is when you’re sending again, you have an onboarding sequence is like more than one or two emails you have a FreeBSD sequence right where they got like tons of messaging, I always recommend this because as your business grows, your systems are gonna grow. And it’s so imperative to keep everything organized so that you can make that pivot when you need to this will save you time as well. Let’s say you start off on a Florida SC or a MailChimp or what have you. And you do have these sequences, write those emails down on a Google Doc. Because what guys, I’m just going through this, and I’ve been I, yeah, I can’t even tell you, this is crazy. What happens is, if you start with these emails on a Google Doc, you’ll have them when you need to change email platforms, and trust me, you will change.

Again, okay, let’s actually go back to that. Because what brought you here, so for example, I tell my clients to start with Flo desk. It’s easy, it’s pretty, it’s intuitive. But you’re not going to be there forever. It was great for the last 10 years, but we’re actually going through the change into a big girl, email, like, you know, Active Campaign and stuff like that. And you will change Oh, my God, these

you will change your systems will change. The better you keep track of these things, the easier and less time consuming it will be. Because think about this, instead of clicking into every single email that you’ve sent in these sequences, and copying it from one system to the other, How much easier would it be to have one document pulled off and have a VA or yourself or your assistant or whomever going straight down a list on one word document to one new system? It will It will save you hours of time? Oh my god. Yes. And then I think one thing I would like to note for people who are scaling into that six, like six figure applies, a system that is actually quite often missed is going to be your sales system.

So when you’re scaling into that, that space, normally people have a little bit more of a sales team. And so we often miss we have all of our marketing items systematized because we’re used to that, and we have been selling on our own. However, when you move into that six figure plus area, generally speaking, you have at least one sales member, maybe two, you need to start systematizing them as well, because you’re going to go through different iterations of your sales team. And it’s not just your marketing, that is going to eat up your time, your sales team and their processes are also going to be a training opportunity, right? Every time you bring on a new salesperson. So salespeople need to be on boarded, they need to be familiar with a text stack because that your business has they need to be, you know, they need to be familiar with how you sell into your launches or your affiliates or however your sales process works. Well. One thing that I’m going to add to that even before that one of the things that he was so so so life changing for me, was copying, even reading down, okay? How are people finding me? What is it this is top of the funnel? And this doesn’t even need to be additional funnel? This is like that, right? Like this? Is this is you in your mind, understanding how you’re actually getting your client, where do they go? What do they get? What is their experience, and then when it gets to that consultation, or whatever it is, if you don’t have an automation to sell through email or whatever, okay, what happens? So are us sending them a reminder, right like that those things? Were life changing for me, for people not showing up? Occultations for example, at the beginning of my business, having people would forget people didn’t take it seriously because there was not a professional system. And a lot of the things are free. Yes. And I it’s not there’s no barrier. And that’s why I love what you said and I want to call it back because most people will say all these automations and all of this, like system stuff is so expensive. It’s so hard. 

That is something that we have to change our mindset around to understand that to be and to grow successfully. This type of work doesn’t have to be expensive. It can be time consuming, but the return on investment have that time not only make you more money than you could ever dream of, because you will have a customer experience that creates raving fans. And it just it compounds itself. But at the end of the day, you will go to sleep and you will not worry about having to write individual emails or did my did my payment processor go through or just the mental space that that having a good system in place takes off of your stress levels, it will allow you to stay in your zone of genius to be more energized. So really focus on what you love. I see this all the time with like a social media calendar. People are really resistant to a social media calendar because they’re like, I just want to go with the flow. I know I don’t even get me started.

I kind of want to I want to wrap it up and I want to wrap up like the the idea of none of us got into business to be chain to our freakin business. Now. While yes, it takes freaking work to grow your personal brand to your grow your business. I’m telling you from somebody me that resisted systems for so long, that systems will change your life. And you have to start early, you have to start early, you cannot underestimate the power of really making your life easier from day one. And I just the last thing I want to say here is if it’s possible, I would try to fall in love with that process. And think of it this way, if you’re resistant to systems or you’re like, oh, this just sounds so boring. Sometimes I feel like people more than boring, it’s hard. They don’t, I didn’t even know sometimes you don’t have the vision, I didn’t actually have the actual vision, it was really super hard still is sometimes to actually have the vision of like, I’m gonna do like that. So the documenting part became key, because then I could go through something, do it, document it, break it down, I’m gonna be okay, I just did this thing three times. Okay, I don’t need to do that. But I also I also want to note that, that when you do this, it’s so incredible, because you get to visually see the improvement. You get to witness in real time, the beautiful change that your business goes through. And she says she says that because she loves systems and computers, and I just want you all to work together.

But you will if you do this, I mean, it’s so rare, like you were like, Okay, is

it scary? Like don’t don’t let us for you. It can be it can be really intimidating. But you can do it. Anybody can do these things. But I think part of the scary is when you grew and you don’t have anything in place now you have to document so much. But if you if you start early, early.

So So Kristen, this is so amazing. I want to finish you with one question that I do all of my guests, which is what does it mean to you to be your own brand to be your brand?

Oh, wow.

I didn’t prompt her. She put me on the spot.

I mean, you can always answer later. Yes. No, no, um, what is it? What does it mean? To me? It means I think it means really, I don’t want to say like being given permission, but like giving yourself permission to embrace the gift that you were born to give to the world. Whoa, well, I engage through that growth, right. Yeah. And really, truly accepting that you are here in this time, be for a reason. And it’s not a coincidence. And it’s not something that you have to just let life happen to you were having a personal brand and being that encompassing that into service. Yeah. And in the pursuit of improving everyone around you by giving what you’re meant to give. I think that that is the greatest gift we could ever be get

And, and I love that. I love that that is so I think so many of our listeners are in this journey including us, right of like growth and really allowing ourselves to shine and to, to give and to actually come out thinking, Yes, I have a gift. I am gifted in whatever it is that I am doing and make a difference in the world through our work. So that was amazing. Thank you.

That was so amazing. Cruising anything well, can people find you? Where can people go hang out with you? Where can people see your brilliance? Thank you. And thank you so much for hiring me. I’ve had such a blast. I’ve been looking forward to this all week. So and you get to hang out with me. You can hang out with me on Instagram. My handle is at the home grind. I love coffee. I’m a coffee nut. And then on LinkedIn, I’m always on LinkedIn, you can just search my name Kristen de, and I will be absolutely more than happy to connect with all of you. I would love to see you around. So yeah, thank you so much it and this has been an absolute ball. I just like I absolutely love seeing your beautiful face and hanging out with you and you’re always inspiring. This was amazing. Amazing. Amazing. Thank you so so much.

Bye, you guys.

Thank you for tuning in to the Be You brand podcast. When it comes to building a personal brand. No one size fits all, or mindset is key. And there is a million things to learn from social media making videos and tech to storytelling and writing. So if you found this episode valuable, we would love for you to leave a review and share it share on your socials, your stories and send the link to your friends. So more women can build million dollar brands by being more of who they all ready are not sure where to start on your personal brand journey. Take our profitable personal brand quiz. This quiz was created with a service base and entrepreneur in mind. It will tell you where you are at and even give you a next step for massive action. Go take the quiz and power charts your personal brand and atigrinspun.com/quiz. That is www.atigrinspun.com/quiz. You can also find the link in the shownotes.

Welcome to the Be You brand podcast.

I am your host, Ati Grinspun. And if you’re looking to build a million dollar personal brand, sell out your services, and do it all while living your best life and fulfilling your purpose. You come to the right place, we no fluff strategy, a tiny bit of a spice attitude, F bombs per days, mindset and energy work, we will grow a life and business that you absolutely love. One episode at a time. Welcome aboard my friend. My name is Ati Grinspun. I’m a personal branding coach and photographer and I’m here to help you build a brand that stands out that is doesn’t dilute yourself that you don’t get a scroll over. And that you actually love showing up for okay, I love helping my clients and my followers and my audience to really stand out, build a brand that you love, attract clients that you love working with, because come on you guys who likes to work with clients that we don’t like? None of us. Okay, so, um, to make more money, more of money and a bigger impact in the world. So let’s start talking about what a personal brand is, right? Because if we don’t know what our personal brand is, how are you even going to build one. 

So my belief is that every single one of us already has a personal brand, no matter where you’re at, if you’ve just started your business, you have some sort of reputation that is preceding you, right now, building your personal brand, or what is actually a personal brand, is actually being intentional about that personal brand. So let me get a little bit more into this. I think that all of us start our business, or we have this passion, and we pick what we want to do based on something that we are really passionate about. Maybe you saw not only the opportunity to make money, but you saw the opportunity to help other people doing what you’re doing. Right. So when you start your business, maybe you were a stay at home mom for a long time. Maybe you were incorporated for a long time. Maybe you were a bartender, I was a bartender for 20 years. 

So when I turned around and I became a photographer, people saw me as a bartender right now, there is so many things about my life before as a bartender that I brought into my brand that made me who I am. But the thing is, if I was an intentional about building my new brand at the time, this was like 1012 years ago, as a photographer, people would have kept seeing me as a bartender. So building your personal brand and having a personal brand is all about being intentional about putting information out in the world. And I don’t want to say sure social media, I want you to know that. I believe that you can build a brand on and off social media, and you should be using a combination of both. That’s how we teach it. 

That’s how I love teaching my clients how to do this. But you have to be in the driver’s seat when you’re putting information about who you are what you do, the clients that you serve, it’s your responsibility to actually build these information in the world. And that is how you build your personal brand. 

So what I want to bring with this, it’s like So why then your personal brand is the foundation to everything. So here’s a few questions that I want you to kind of go into when you buy a service. And just so you know, I specialize in service providers. So coaches, realtors, we have real estate, real estate investors, we have mostly service providers on our programs. Because this is where your personal brand becomes most important because people are buying you. So let’s go back to these reflection questions that I want you to have on the back of your mind as we’re going through these right. So number one is how do you buy? How do you buy? How do you actually make this decision that we talked about earlier? Right? Like, how do you decide to go with one person, one coach over another coach? Or how do you decide to maybe you go get a facial, and you keep going to that person or maybe you have seen been seen the same person over and over and over for a few years, I have a really cool story about actually my my hair person, like hair is super important to me, I have a tunnel hair. And for many, many, many years, I’ve seen the same person. But for some reason, when I went to see that person, I always had a headache. And I wasn’t really aligning with her like, and I was constantly in the lookout for another person. 

Now she was amazing at what she did, the way she did my hair was incredible, okay, and I saw this person for a long time. But I was always looking for somebody else that could do that task, the same or even close, I didn’t even care. And then I found somebody that did the blondes and I went to this person. And I really liked her. And yeah, she wasn’t really amazing at what she did. But I stuck with her until I found the person that does my hair now. And this is what happened. This person that does my hair. Now not only she’s amazing at what she does, because I want to tell you this, your personal brand can only carry you so far right? You can have an amazing personal brand and marketing plan. But if you don’t deliver on your services, none of what I’m teaching you is going to work. So you have to be in integrity with the service that you offer. And you have to strive to be the fucking best. So that for me is a given I am assuming that every person in this podcast is really going towards being the best to their ability at the moment of building their personal brand. Now you’re going to grow, you’re going to evolve, you don’t let this stop you. However, you have to constantly be striving and be in integrity with the service that you offer. 

So going back to my hairdresser, when I found this person, not only we are aligning, I like her literally I sit on her chair and we can stop talking. Like we see business in a very similar way. We see life in a very similar way we are both really go getters and the way we’re growing our business is all of that. And for me, and I want to add this, she’s really expensive. Okay? However, for me, she’s worth every freaking Penny, because I am not there. Because she just have my hair. Every time I went to my original person that she was really good at doing hair. It hurt to pay her because I didn’t love her. I didn’t like her. Right? There was there was something that wasn’t there. There was not a connection. Now. When I say I don’t like her actually, I want to bring you back to how do you actually buy? Right? Who do you buy from? I want you to start actually thinking about this on the back of your mind. Because when I asked these to myself to my clients, the answer is always you buy from people you know you like and you trust, right? People that are in alignment with your values with who you are, you have things in common. Now what happens is if you are hiding behind shares your product or a service, what happens is you’re never given the opportunity to people to really get to know you and to actually differentiate yourself in the market and that is when you become unmemorable. 

You Nobody really remembers you like, because you’re just like everybody else, there is nothing to remember. So let me give you an example. If you are a hairdresser, or you are a realtor, and all you do is talk about being a realtor, the reality is that some million realtors out there, right, where people can go and have them show, show them houses, it doesn’t even matter. But the reason why people go to you over somebody else is because of who you are, and your expertise, we’re gonna get into these in a second. So what I see a lot in the market is brilliant, amazing women, amazing at what they do riding, right? Because they can bring themselves into talking about the things that are important to them into talking about what makes them be friends into talking about why they care about helping their clients. So I’m going to actually give you very specific things for you to actually do after this podcast and like to think about, so you can actually start putting these things together. So in order for you to put yourself out there and be the person that somebody will pay more for their products or that they will come back to you, no matter what there is no, like doubt in their mind that you are their their go to person every single time for what you do. You have to talk about the things you have to talk about the things that make you different, you have to talk about the things that are important to you, you have to talk about the things that actually are not your product and service. Maybe you talk about why you deliver your product or service in the way you do because that is a personal touch. Right? But that is how you actually build your personal brand. And why is the foundation because the problem is that if all you do is like, here’s my product, here’s where you can buy it, here’s how much it cost, why am I buying your product? Or why am I buying from you over somebody else. So these things that differentiate you do not need to be hard.

So for example, I always I like to describe like this, right and I’m actually I’m gonna move my chair,I want you to think of you putting your flag in the in the your stake in the ground. And this is your way. And this is the reason why you do it this way. And you are so convicted, you’re you have such a huge conviction on the way you do things and the service that you offer. And why your way is the way that people can subscribe to your vision, people can just subscribe to why you deliver what it is that you do the way you do. So for example, for me, that is be you, I know that when I started my business, the biggest thing was I kept looking outside. And I kept looking at what other people were doing. And I wasn’t really truly looking at who I was what I brought to the table, how I was different, how my own experiences, were shaping how I was helping others, not just how I was showing up, but how I was helping others and be you is at the forefront of everything I do that is why I’m actually going through a life coaching certification now, not because I’m going to become a life coach. Because I know that many of you the reason you’re not doing what I’m actually talking about, which is putting your personal touch, talking about your life, talking about the things that are important to you is because you do not believe at some point that your voice matters, or you don’t believe that there is something so special about you. And the truth is that that is the truth is every single one of us has something special or different. 

That doesn’t need to be that complicated. Doesn’t need to be that story of like life and death situation, however, is relatable to the people that we want to help is relatable to the people that we are working with. It’s relatable because we are two steps ahead. Okay. So how do you get started right so now you know your personal brand is your reputation is what do you want to be known for? Right? Your personal brand is what do you want to be known for? And it takes a little bit of commitment. Because there is a ton of people out there talking about being multi passionate. I’m going to tell you guys, I am super multi passionate, right? I love sports. I got started on the health and wellness side of coaching. I was on network marketing, like but the thing is that our mission and it’s always at the top right why Do you want to be known for? When you can describe that first, then you can say, Okay, from here, I can get started. If you don’t know what you want to be known for, how do you expect people to remember you? Because I want to tell you this, this is a phrase that I use all the time is, repetition is the mother of reputation. Repetition is the mother of reputation. If you want people to remember you for something in particular, the only way for you to do that is to repeat yourself over and over and over. And I don’t mean this by you having a product I’m have this DVR here money is this and being Wow, look at my stevia, buy my stevia that is not what repetition is about. It’s about talking, why things are important to you why you do what you do. And I’m gonna give you a framework, okay? So the way you get started, is you take the time to get clear on what your personal brand is, okay? You take the time to actually do these things. I don’t want to get too technical here on the podcast, because he’s not truly a training, right. 

But I this is what I see a ton of the times, when it comes to building your personal brand. I teach it as you have your personal brand strategy that is three phases, personal brand, strategy, your visuals, which are your photos, your logo, your colors, your fonts, and then you have your brand marketing, and in your marketing, you are going to is where your social media is your blog is you’re speaking maybe you have in a book, maybe you put together an event, maybe you don’t know you create a networking group, those are all our marketing strategies. Okay. Now, what are you even marketing, if you haven’t sat down to figure out what your brand actually is. And this is where most women get stuck. Now you start your social media, which is a marketing strategy. And now you’re like, Okay, I gotta post, well, I don’t know what to post, I don’t know what to say. But the problem is no, you and the problem is not your marketing, the problem is that you never sat down to actually truly get clear on what your personal brand is. Okay? So that is two reasons why you want to get absolutely clear about your personal brand. And is number one is going to give you clarity is going to give you a path for you to follow. And to get less in your head. Because you’re gonna have a guideline, you’re gonna literally literally is a piece of paper or a document where your whole brand leaves that you can use that in order to create content in order to make decisions in order to maybe you get offer something to do on you’re like, Okay, that’s this truly fit my brand and what I stand for, and what I want to do, right, on the other side of the brand, clarity is your ideal client is your audience is your people is the people that are receiving you on the other end, either reading you listening, whatever it is that your medium is, if is not clear what you do, and how you’re different. And you’re putting all the things out in the open, people are not going to buy it from you. 

Because we already established that people buy from people that know, like, and trust people buy from people they feel aligned with people buy from people they understand people buy from people that when they listen to them, they’re like, this person gets me this person is speaking to my heart. So I asked you how many of you are on this confusion path where like, you don’t know what to post, your business is not growing, you have an offer. And you you’re confused. You’re constantly in this confusion and you’re putting content out there. Maybe you’re posting. But the truth is that that’s your only plan. You don’t have a true brand identity that people can fall in love with. Okay, which by the way, that is how you create raving fans. That is how people follow you no matter what that is how when you put anything on the market people want to buy from you because they trust that what you’re putting out there is what they need, right? So, without getting so frigging technical, I want to give you four things for you to think about that are going to help you to get this clarity. 

Okay. Number one is your expertise, your expertise when you we said okay, what do you want to be known for? work that is a little broader, right? That is not just your expertise or your product, like for me, I know, I want to be known as the personal branding Coach and Personal Branding photographer. Number one, I want to to be known as the best in order to be known as the best, I have to become the best, I have to constantly be educating myself, I have to constantly be ahead of the trends, I have to understand my client, I have to there is so many layers, right? To be in the best. But what do you want to be known for is not your expertise. Now for me, my expertise is personal branding, social media, personal branding, photography, and mindset. Because I know that many of you are going to listen to these four steps I’m going to tell you right now, and you’re gonna say, well, I already knew that, well, you’re still not doing it. The reason why you’re not doing it is because there is some limiting beliefs, that is something that is stopping you, that is doubt there is fear, there is all the things. So for me, it’s very important to be known as the person that can help women overcome those obstacles. So then they can actually put these strategies in place, right, because a lot of people that come to me, they already work with other coaches, they’ve already done courses on social media, all the thing, and they’re still not doing anything, right, or they’re still not seeing the results. So number one is your expertise. And your expertise is like, I’m gonna keep using the realtor example. Because it’s so it’s so easy, and everybody can understanding.

 So your expertise, you can be a realtor, and you can be all things to all people with, it’s pretty much impossible to be all things to all people. Or you can pick a niche. Now, I don’t want to necessarily talk about niching down, I’m gonna do a whole episode on niching down and one my point of view is on that you can also pick a mission, you can, it’s something to anchor you on. And I always tell people pick something and that all the other little things can fall into place underneath. So for example, under personal branding, personal personal branding, photography is how I started coaching on personal branding, right? So I mixed them up all the time. So for you What is that expertise? What are you an expert, and you don’t No need to be an expert at a ton of things. You can pick one to anchor yourself in, okay. And then all the other things can feed into there. So for example, I talked my mindset I talk about discipline. I talk about journaling, I talk about video, I talk about speaking, I talk about books, I talk about podcasting, all of those are under building a personal brand. I talk about visibility, I teach visibility, right. But that is not what I’m telling people. I’m an expert. I chose something at the top that personal branding umbrella. 

What is your expertise now for you, if you’re a realtor, this could be the senior market, right? These could be first time buyers, these could be people that are selling and buying at the same time. Because they are downsizing because they are empty nesters. So this could be let me give you another example. So because I don’t want it to be just about realtors, for example. I have actually this one client, she is a real estate investor, right? And her whole thing. It’s about private mortgage lending. And she educates people around these why? Because even though her business is all about flipping, right, and she does all some will die family, she is raising private capital. So don’t quote me on in on the private mortgage lending. I might have butcher the name of that. But what I’m saying is now she could have say, Oh, I flip homes, but what she’s looking for is people that want to invest with her. Right like she wants people that can actually help her close more deals. She’s looking for partners, right? So do you see how like she took one thing and she’s going with that one anchor? One more example. So you can actually envision these for yourself is for my hairdresser. For example for my hairstylist, even though I go to court for color, her thing and extensions. She is known as the indisputable best in my town for extensions. And she has she talks about color because you have to put color on the slide Insurance. 

But she talks especially about that. That is her specialty. That is what she is growing in. She even did other people how to do the same. So I hope this helps one way for you to right now, like as you’re listening, have this idea of what your expertise is, I would ask yourself, what are three things that you can talk about right now? What are the three things that you could pitch yourself to go do a training in from our own front of other people? What can you turn on your camera on your phone right now and talk about that is your expertise, and then you start building around that expertise. So that’s number one. Number two is your story. This is the guys this is like a complete episode that I’m going to do because your brand’s story, is the reason you do what you do. So I am sure that you heard before. And if not, you can go and get Simon Synnex What is your why I believe that’s the name of the book. People don’t buy what you do. This goes back to the example of if you are a hairdresser, people are not buying shares, you’re doing their hair, they’re buying the whole thing they’re buying you people are not buying shares me being their personal branding, because they’re buying me they’re buying me helping them through it. 

The People tell me all the time, it’s your energy is your energy, and that you cannot pinpoint the same is going to happen to you when you start putting these four steps in place. So your story, your brand story is the reason you do what you do over something else. You could have done anything for a business, however, you’re doing what you’re doing, I invite you to start thinking, Okay, what is the reason I started this over something else? What happened in my life that actually inspired inspire me to do this over something else. This is so important. Usually, this story is so much deeper than you think it is. However, I also invite you to not get too much on your head. And think that this story needs to be life of that situation. I love it. If you heard Episode One, I think or the trailer. For the podcast, I told the story of the first year that I went full time in business was so dark. And these things that I’m teaching you were the things that I need it like I didn’t have any direction, I keep literally putting just like photos up there and waiting for people to hire me. I wasn’t putting value, I wasn’t talking about how I was different. 

On the mindset side, it was very dark, because when you start a business, there is an identity shift. And my identity shift from being a world champion, flair bartender, to being a personal branding photographer at the time was so vast and different, right? So I want you to start thinking, what are the things that made me do what I do that are actually my ideal client, possibly is going through the same thing. That is how you put your brand story together. Okay. And literally, when you think about it, every product that I offer everything that I’m doing my my event coming up, right like the brand, like it’s all about community, I felt so lonely when I first started my business. So everything falls, under my values under the things that I know, that is other women going through the same thing. So I want you to think what are these things for you your brand story? And are you actually telling this story? Are you going on social media and maybe doing a post about this? And saying, Hey, this is the reason I love doing what I do. And you repeat it all the time. 

And it’s part of when you introduce yourself at a speaking event, or you introduce yourself at a podcast or you go to a networking event, right? You talk to somebody in your life when they ask you why do you do what you do? Oh my god, this is my story. Right? So without this story, that is nothing you’re selling something that has no soul, your brand, your personal brand. Is your soul. Okay? Number three is your conviction. This is like you heard me a few minutes ago say is your flag in the floor. And you’re like, This is the way I know you guys than many of you are going to listen to these podcasts and you’ll be like, Oh, that was so inspiring. And you’re never going to do this work. You’re going to continue to be confused, you’re going to continue to have products that don’t make sense that they sell a little bit, right, but not the success that you truly want to have the difference that you want to make in the world, like impacting more people impacting with at different depths, that happens on your conviction. I hear from women all the time that they feel like they are chasing, or that they have to kind of like hunt for clients.

When you start getting really clear about what your conviction is, that it starts changing, and it starts turning around, and I’m gonna tell you why. Because people buy from people they know, okay, so you’re talking about yourself, you’re talking about your expertise, you’re talking about your story. Now they get to know you. They like you, they either like you or not. And this is where many of you, you think that you need to be likeable to everybody. You don’t. That is people that no matter what you do, you’re not they’re not going to like you. That’s okay. 

They’re not your audience. They’re not there to buy from you. But the people that do like you, which this is a hint for the next step is people like you, like you. Okay, I’m gonna repeat that. People like you, like you. That is why you telling your story is so freakin important. That is why you talking about yourself and who you are and how you got here. And why you’re doing what you do over something else is so freakin important. Okay, so your conviction is what is going to separate you. So when we talked about your expertise, there is many people that are going to have the same expertise than you. Nobody can have your same story, and live it the way you live in. And most likely, nobody’s going to have the same conviction that you so you have to start writing down. What are the things that you see in your industry that are bullshit? What are the things in your industry that you’re like, you know what, this is fucking bullshit. For me, for the longest time is like social media is the only way to grow your personal brand. 

Guys, social media is the glue for another episode. But I want you to know, social media is only just one tool, right is not the only tool, you can be on social media all over the place, and not have these things as being part of your content strategy. And you will never work because you’re just spamming people, we like buy this, buy that save 10% Call me for a quote, I can be whatever, right? Because if you’re selling on price, you’re not selling yourself. Okay? So your conviction, the way you’re going to do that, I want you to ask yourself, what are things that you see in your industry that you do different that you think about them, the friend that maybe you have experience with and now you have an opinion, and start talking about your opinions, go forward with those and attract the people that are all ready, feel align with those values and those opinions, and you will never be chasing a day in your life? Okay. And the last one but not least, is you who are you what things are important to you? While What are like the things that you do on the every day, right? That for me, my business is like 80% of my life, right? And I’m always in business, but I also do things for fun. I also have a kid, like I volunteer with a given circle. Those are all things that are important to me. Now my business for me, it’s not just the products that I offer.

 My business my brand, which is me is how I show up in the world. How am I like showing up to inspire others to go after their own dreams, how I support others to feel like they’re worthy to achieving all those dreams. So for me, sometimes I show up on a weekend. I’m not working. I’m literally speaking from my heart like today’s Labor Day weekend as I record this podcast, and I woke up and I’m like, I can’t wait to record this, right? Because I know that somebody needs to hear this message. So what parts of you can you bring? But also if you want to make it even more strategic. Maybe there is things that you’re doing in your life right example. Let’s always lead with a story. I have a client again, she’s a real I don’t work just to read reauthorizations happens. I have a lot of realtor stories, because I feel like everybody understands them. But this is the thing. For the longest time she was looking for her niche her niche She carnation now, she loves helping first time buyers and she also loves helping people, investors and she loves. However, the one thing in her life that she absolutely loves doing is running. Okay. So what we did is we branded her around that, and she does a lot of videos in different areas of the city. And she reviews how that you where you can run, is it safe? Is it noisy? Is the pavement is it trail, all these different things right around running? And a lot of the relationships that she develops around running groups. Why? Because that’s hard. That’s what she loves doing. She wants to be around people she likes. 

Do you think these people will trust her when they’re like, Hey, I am looking for a house. But I guess I do run every single day. And I don’t want to be driving in order to be able to run in a safe neighborhood or having a trail or having whatever it is. So do you think that people aren’t like her, they like her because they are like her, okay, so I want you to start thinking about all the things and I want you to start writing them down and weave them into your content with them. When you go to a networking event. And you talk to people with them. When you’re telling a story with them. When you maybe you’re doing a training, right? Start telling stories around these four things, your expertise, your story, your conviction, why you’re doing what you’re doing, the way you’re doing it, and who you truly are, at your core, and how you became that person. So I hope that this episode really inspire you. 

And this is a thing, we started the episode talking about why your personal brand is the foundation to everything. And yes, people buy from people they know they like and they trust. And that is probably how you’re making decisions without realizing like, now you have reflection, time to actually think about it. But this is the thing, we all evolve. And maybe at some point, you want to pivot or maybe at some point, you want to go really big. And when you are growing your personal brand, with who you are with your values with your conviction, you give yourself also a space to pivot in space to where it’s not just about your product, right is not just about the one thing that you’re selling, then with time you can add other products, you can add other lines, you cannot let me let me give you an example. So for me, I have the view brand Academy, and I have a photography membership. 

And now we’re looking at adding video courses because a lot of our people are asking for it right? And I do videos all the time. They’re like, hey, how do you do that so easy. And I’m like, Ah, okay, this is a need in my market. Because I’m doing it. I haven’t even positioned myself like that, like a video coach, right? So I want you to think of your brand as the mark that you’re going to leave behind in the world. Okay, as the as the mark that you’re leaving behind in the world, and your products, and your services all fall under that I gave you a ton of stuff to think about. I hope you’re inspired. And I want to leave you with one more thing. Because I think that it’s we have to say we all want to make more money, right? We all want to grow. We all want to have abundance in our life. When you truly grow a personal brand and you become this person that people know like and trust. People truly are open to paying premium prices to work with the go to person to work with a person that is speaking to their heart. Okay, so not only you get to demand higher prices, you also get to do it in a way that is fulfilling, that is in alignment. And that truly changes the world. I hope you enjoy this episode, and I’ll see you next time.

Thank you for tuning in to the Be You brand podcast. When it comes to building a personal brand. No one size fits all, or mindset is key. And there is a million things to learn from social media making videos and tech to storytelling and writing. So if you found this episode valuable, we would love for you to leave a review and share it share on your socials, your stories and send the link to your friends. So more women can build million dollar brands by being more of who they all ready are not sure where to start on your personal brand journey. Take our profitable personal brand quiz. This quiz was created with a service base and entrepreneur in mind. It will tell you where you are at and even give you a next step for massive action. Go take the quiz and power charts your personal brand and atigrinspun.com/quiz. That is www.atigrinspun.com/quiz.