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- So far pretty basic stuff, pretty basic stuff.
We define it, why it's important,
what affects your personal brand.
Share with me, maybe just a couple of people,
that a-ha moment or the way you look at your brand
or "Geez, my goodness my personal brand
needs a little bit of work."
Like any feedback.
This is highly interactive by the way.
Yes.
- [Audience Member] My aha moment was when you said like
personal image is our personal brand.
- Yes
- [Audience Member] I was thinking
personal brands are the way you dress, the way you speak.
- Yes
- [Audience Member] And we get feedback.
- Yes
- [Audience Member] And the way you conduct yourself.
Except when you said personal brand is
what people think of you in terms of your character,
in terms of your worth, in terms of your value.
- Yes.
- [Audience Member] And it's totally different.
It's more of a deeper sense than a surface level.
- Correct.
When they haven't even met you yet.
- [Audience Member] Yeah.
- And that's where the power comes in.
'Cause let me ask you a question.
Are there moments in your business when someone,
let's say, sends you a referral, okay?
The referrer doesn't know a whole lot about you.
But because it's endorsement from a friend,
they pick up the phone, they call you,
and they just, they're ready to buy.
Requires zero selling.
- [Audience Collectively] Yes.
- Why is that because of the personal brand.
Your reputation.
I'll call that your reputation capital.
Reputation capital.
There's also another concept,
I'm not gonna get into it today.
It's called relational capital.
So reputation capital, relational capital.
Extremely valuable nowadays.
- [Audience Member] I just had one more question.
- Yes.
- [Audience Member] You said that your personal brand
is now your image--
- Who is as well?
- [Audience Collectively] Yes.
- Does he have a sort of personal--
(laughing)
Same guy, but three different personal brands.
So absolutely you can do it.
And you'll notice in your career,
because every few years nowadays,
we all have to reinvent ourselves.
What you do today, you might not do the same thing,
a few years later, yes?
- [Audience Collectively] Yes!
- So knowing that it's a personal brand,
you might have a certain personal brand now,
but you might go from broad to niche,
and then you go broad again.
Or you might spend a few years
building a personal brand as this,
and then you might change to something else.
And here's something I've learned,
very, very, very important,
it's a big mistake that I've made.
You are not your personal brand.
Most even CEO's entrepreneurs,
they believe what they do, it's everything they've got.
That is not true.
Let me give you an example.
One thing I wish I would have done is,
I would have built and promote,
and enhance my personal brand earlier in my career.
Let me tell you why.
When I, the first company, you can say the marketing company
that I set up is called Quick Turn Marketing.
Quick Turn Marketing, don't ask me what it means,
I just came up with it in my early 20s, okay?
(laughing)
I was pretty naive.
Whatever the hell it means.
It's called Quick Turn Marketing.
I thought it would like quickly
turn into profit or something like that.
(laughing)
That's how I came up with the name.
So Quick Turn Marketing, so I am the,
CEO of Quick Turn Marketing, yes?
- [Audience Collectively] Yes.
- So what happens is I notice when I use that,
and you are the CEO, the managing director,
you're the president, of your company, yes?
So when you go out there.
What I notice when you meet with people
and you lead with your company,
it depends on the company.
Now, if your company is Microsoft,
yes you have a little bit of punch.
But for most people, when you lead with your company,
I'm the CEO of ABC company,
okay.
Okay, right?
But what I notice is the last few years,
I sort of built my personal brand.
As my personal brand gets stronger,
my name actually opens way more door for me.
So I could approach someone and
say, "you know what?
"I am the founder of Vancouver Entrepreneur's Group,
that's nice, it adds a little bit of power.
Because of how big the group is, right?
- [Audience Collectively] Yes, yep!
- But I just found that when I used my name,
I'm Dan Lok, I want to set up a meeting with you,
the success rate is much much higher.
'Cause my name carries more weight.
It opens way more doors.
It allows me to do more deals.
Because I lead with my personal brand.
So I notice sometimes people wanna do business with me.
And especially know I'm involved with so many businesses.
What business I'm in, it actually becomes secondary.
Who I am is the key thing.
They only do business with me!
What I do is secondary.
Does that make sense?
I find that if you build your personal brand,
you can change.
Look at Donald Trump.
It's very controversial at the moment.
(laughing)
But let's go back, you know,
go back to the past a little bit.
In a few years rewind, a few years ago.
Before the craziness.
When Trump was doing the Apprentice,
when he was, you know, just a business man, okay?
What business was he in?
Let me ask you a question.
How many will say real estate?
- [Audience Member] I don't even know.
- You don't even know?
No, what seriously.
What business is he in?
- [Audience Member] Entertainment.
- Entertainment.
- [Audience Member] Steaks.
(laughing)
- What? Go again?
- [Audience Member] Steaks.
- Steaks?
- [Audience Member] Like food, vodka.
- Food, vodka, okay.
- [Audience Member] Licensing.
- Licensing.
- [Audience Member] People.
- People, okay.
So, I mean, they look very very simple.
Trump is in the business of Trump.
Write this down, Trump is in the business of Trump.
Being Trump, promoting Trump, marketing Trump.
That's one thing I've learned.
I am not in the internet marketing business,
I'm not in econ merch business,
I'm not in the whatever business.
I'm in the business of me.
I'm in the Dan Lok business.
- [Audience Member] So like self promotion.
- Yeah, self promotion when my personal brand
gets bigger, everything gets bigger.
Everything becomes easier.
So you think about it,
Donald Trump, does he develop buildings, yes?
- [Audience Member] Oh yeah.
- So, Trump Tower Vancouver.
Almost done!
Almost done, we should throw a party there when it's done.
(laughing)
Seriously, we should do.
So almost done, so for those of you who know,
the developer Joo Kim Tiah,
we've done in event last year together,
did Donald Trump build that building?
- [Audience Collectively] No.
- [Audience Member] He's giving his name.
- Nope, he's just licensing his name.
When he put his name on the building,
suddenly he can sell for more money.
He gets a piece of that.
So is he in the real estate business?
Or is he in the business of just being Trump.
So think of the election, going back to today.
Truth is, doesn't matter he win,
doesn't matter he lose, it's his personal
brand get bigger now.
- [Audience Collectively] Yes.
- Oh yeah, before you could argue,
maybe he's well known in the States.
Now he is truly well known global brand.
Even he loses, doesn't matter.
He doesn't care anyway, true.
So his brand is already way way way bigger.
So regardless, you attack him,
you talk about him, he's like, "thank you!"
(laughing)
Because you are all the critics,
all the attackers, from my perspective,
it's actually depositing money to his future bank account.
That's awesome.
So there's something to be learned from this.
So you're in the business of being you.
And there's a lot of power in that.
So he's in the velcro business,
he's in the cuff link business,
he's in the shirt business,
all kinds of business.
Water business, hotel, golf courses,
yes.
- [Audience Member] Have you talked about
branding his reputation?
- Yes
- [Audience Member] With this whole Trump thing,
does this have to do with the fact that, you know,
it takes years, decades, to build your reputation,
and maybe one election to tear it down?
(laughing)
- Oh, very good question!
So, yes, Buffet said this,
it takes years to build your reputation,
and only takes minutes to lose it.
Also true.
Very true.
Now in this case, for Trump, I can predict, okay?
It's not gonna hurt his brand.
You might think, no.
The hotel?
After the whole thing, if he wins,
his hotel's gonna be more expensive.
Guaranteed.
Golf course membership, is gonna be more expensive.
After he's done being president,
his stuff is also gonna be more expensive.
That's why, a lot of presidents,
after, like, you know.
It could be Bush, it could be Clinton,
it could be whoever after they retire being president.
Speaking gig, book deal, all of that.
They make a lot of money through that.
A ton of money, right?
Get six figure, to do a speech.
Don't make a whole lot of money as a president.
After president, they make a lot of money, right?
- [Audience Member] You were saying
the strategically positioned,
Trump earlier already established
that he just creates shit.
- Yes.
And most of the shit that he create didn't work.
But some of the products, some of the stuff,
some worked, some didn't work.
But think, as far as he's concerned,
the licensing deal, he's not putting any money up.
You know how a licensing deal works?
Okay, so licensing deal, you get paid up front.
Little bit of money up front.
And you get paid royalty for everything they sell.
So if I get the money up front,
as Trump, your units don't sell,
not my business, I'm not putting up the money.
I gave you my brand already, right?
If give me some money up front,
and you sell more, you give me some more money.
When it's all sold out,
you give me even more some money.
That's how the business works.
He's a smart dude!
(laughing)
What can I say?
So after election, would it hurt him?
Chances are, my prediction is, not gonna hurt him.
Because controversy sells.
He's so controversial, I always talk about it,
you know if you can get half the country to hate you,
you became president.
(laughing)
What's interesting is, as myself,
as my personal brand gets bigger,
as more people know my name,
I notice I get more attacks.
I get more criticisms, I get more hate emails,
I got one this morning,
(laughing)
That's awesome!
It's awesome.
It just tells me, that's what it is.
In a moment I'm gonna talk about personal brand,
if a strong personal brand,
you should attract certain types of people,
and rebels a whole lot of people.
That's what makes your brand magnetic.
If your brand is like you try to include everybody,
you're so vanilla, nobody remembers you.
So sometimes I have people come to VEG,
and they attend once, they never come back,
good!
That means who I am, my message,
my delivery, ain't for them, is that okay?
Absolutely!
It's for some it's not for some.
It's like if I have a restaurant,
and I offer steak.
Well, maybe you don't like my steak,
maybe your vegetarian, that's okay.
Go to some other restaurants.
You want your brand, you want to be,
magnetic, irresistible, to a certain group,
and totally rebellious to some other group.
Does that make sense?
- [Audience Collectively] Yes.
- Yeah, okay.
So let's talk about it.
JC's gotta great quote.
I am not a business man, I am a business man,
(laughing)
I love that quote, I saw it in a magazine one time.
I'm not a business man, I'm a business man.
Is he a business?
- [Audience Collectively] Oh yeah!
- Oh definitely!
And what I'm saying is, you are a business too.
So what you do, what you do today, you might change.
But if you work on your personal brand it doesn't hurt.
Stronger, the more relational capital you have,
the more reputation capital you have,
the more power you have in business.
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