Over the last few years, I’ve watched every man and his dog start an email newsletter.
I’ve seen everyone on Twitter label themselves a “storyteller”. (Who knew?)
I’ve been creeped out by the same grinning headshots on every LinkedIn profile.
Seems everyone wants to start a personal brand.
But here’s what I also noticed:
Everyone’s doing it wrong.
There’s a very simple way to tell if someone’s doing it wrong…
When it looks, feels and smells like every single other personal brand out there… you’re doing it wrong, champ!
For example:
- Same “I help people do XYZ” headline
- Same newsletter design
- Same cute newsletter name
- Same social media platitudes
- Same Canva templates
- Same welcome email
- Same ‘languageing’
- Same basic value proposition (or lack thereof)
You get the idea.
Frankly, my cat could do a better job of standing out.
As the great Ben Settle says:
The easiest way to stand out is to do the direct opposite of everyone else.
Shame these guys didn’t get the memo.
I think people start personal brands out of FOMO.
They see everyone else doing it, and they don’t want to miss the boat.
But they just end up imitating the surface-level stuff they see others doing, and completely miss the foundational stuff that actually makes money.
See…
A personal brand is just a branding technique…
A newsletter is just a means of communication…
An opinion on Twitter is meaningless by itself…
Most of these wannabe personal brands will just fizzle out over time, as their owners get sick of spending hours each week for no tangible benefit.
To build a personal brand that actually makes money, you need to understand:
- Positioning
- Unique value proposition
- “Category of one” differentiation
- Voice
- Offer structure
- Business model scalability
…and build it into your brand from the start.
That’s what I did 2 years ago, when I started the OllyRichards.co personal brand from scratch.
And I generated $175,000 in Year 1.
Now, $175k may not be mega bucks…
But it’s how I did it that’s relevant here:
- I did all this in my spare time
- Alongside running a $10M business
- With zero selling
That’s right…
90% of revenue in Year 1 was 100% inbound – i.e. people cold-emailing me asking to work with me.
This isn’t a personal brand.
It’s a business.
Namaste,
Olly