- It's hard work, but someone's gotta do it.
What's up, socials?
Welcome back to my channel,
today I wanna talk about the biggest myth
when it comes to building a personal brand.
I think there's a very big reason
that this myth I'm gonna talk about exists
and that's because the phrase personal brand,
I think, is being confused with the word influencer.
What does it mean to be an influencer
versus a personal brand?
How are they the same, how are they different?
That's what I wanna talk about
and the myth that is affecting personal branding today.
If you're interested in this kind of stuff,
we talk about it all the time.
Make sure you subscribe to this channel
because I make new videos about it so much
that you're gonna be like,
oh, my gosh, I have everything I need
in order to do this successfully.
What am I doing?
I need to go to action right now.
Let's start with a frequently asked question I get.
Amy, how do you make money?
I talk more about this in a video I did recently
called Making Money Vlogging, so go check that out.
I've made a few about how I make money,
but I think most of the time, people are asking this
because they're confused about the fact that
because I make a video, because I upload a video,
this video, to you right now
that I must be making beaucoup dollars somewhere
because I did it and it must equal something,
because otherwise, why would I be spending my time doing it?
Do I make money from this video?
Sure, I'm gonna get a couple bucks from Google AdSense,
just naturally, because I'm using the YouTube platform
and that's built-in,
so no, that's not paying my rent.
The myth about personal branding seems to be
that recognition equals monetization.
Recognition does build a little bit of influence.
Naturally, we would not be in this scenario,
you would not be watching this video
if I hadn't influenced you in some capacity,
whether short-term, like you read the title of this video
and you jumped in,
or long-term, you've been subscribed,
you've been watching, you trust me, and you keep listening
because I give pretty good advice.
But then there are other influencers
that do kind of get paid for simply recommending things
or simply talking about products or services
or events or brands.
I am not in that camp, but I am able to make money
because of influence I may have,
because of recognition I am getting from you.
The recognition is turning into a little bit of influence,
the recognition is also building my social profile,
building my public profile, my personal brand.
Every time I upload a video doesn't necessarily equate
to a big check, but every time I make a video
I continue to build upon that brand.
So, I think the confusion is coming from,
does somebody just have all the time in the world
in order for them to be able to upload a video
on a regular basis or any type of content?
Anything, blogging, photos on Instagram,
they must have all the time in the world
in order to be able to market themselves,
or they're making a lot of money
every time they do one of those things.
Now, I don't have all the time in the world
and I'm not making money
by simply hitting the Publish button
on every piece of my content.
Every once in a while, sure,
but most of the money that's coming into my business
is based on services, it's based on clients,
is based on speaking engagements,
is based on a lot of things.
A lot of things that would not happen
if I didn't have the personal brand,
and the personal brand is being heavily contributed to
by these videos.
So, I feel the myth is that just
because you have a personal brand means
that you're making money from absolutely anything
that has to do with the content, when in reality,
a personal brand means investing in how you do business
and educating people about how you do that.
This doesn't have to be for owning a business,
this could simply be for going to get a job.
If you were in the market for a new position right now
and you're thinking you wanna leave your position now
or switch industries or something,
building a personal brand is massively important.
Just because you got the degree
and you have some experience doesn't mean
you're gonna beat the next people out on the job,
it's not by default anymore.
It maybe never was by default,
that's a really significant thing to say,
like you would just get a job just
because you had a degree.
Maybe there was a time where that was somewhat true,
it is not true anymore, you have to stand out,
and so, your face really matters
and what you do personally and how you think,
and what you like to do to help people matters,
and being able to communicate that matters,
which is why a personal brand matters.
You always have to keep the funnel full,
no matter if you're happy in your job
or have a great amount of business coming in or not.
You have to keep letting people know
what you do well and why they should care about you
so that if you need to go into it on a regular basis
or in the future, that you can do that,
which is why I try to not miss an upload
here on the YouTube channel.
I always want to show up.
I am here, I am helpful,
and I want people to be able to continue talking about it
because that's a big piece
of my personal brand being successful.
The myth of a personal brand equaling money
in an influential capacity must be gone,
but knowing that a personal brand can move the needle
for you in the long-run however you need it
to is very important.
The biggest thing being understand the model for your life.
Is it getting that next awesome job?
Is it getting more clients for your business?
Is it selling more product?
Knowing how your business model works
will make you a much more effective personal brand.
To those people thinking, is building a personal brand
even worth my time?
I'm so busy working, I don't even see how I'm gonna
be able to do that or have the time to do that.
Get a clear idea of how you grow
and how you're able to pay for things in your life,
getting a paycheck, bringing in business,
and understand how a personal brand can help fuel that.
Once you do, suddenly it's not,
oh, all those vloggers have time
to make videos all the time,
it's, oh, they are dedicated
to their marketing strategy
for their business plan
and that's why the video shows up every time.
Maybe not 'cause they're making a dollar every single time,
but because they know it's gonna equal
many more dollars down the line.
Hopefully that was helpful for you if you're trying
to get clear on what it means to be a personal brand
and how it will help you.
Leave your additional questions about this
in the comments below, let's continue the conversation,
and see where we can take it from here.
That's all for today, socials,
thank you so much for tuning in.
I appreciate it as always,
make sure you subscribe for good vibes.
I make new videos all the time
and I'd love for you to catch the next one,
and remember to keep building that personal brand
so that you can go after the life you want.
Cheers.