One of the biggest questions I get is, “Who actually needs a personal brand?”
Most people hear the term personal brand and think of influencers, social media, podcasts, books, courses, or memberships.
And yes, we work with a lot of experts and creators who do those things.
But that’s not how I define personal branding.
What Personal Branding Actually Is (And Why Everyone Has One)
I define personal branding as simply the digitization of your reputation.
That’s it.
People sometimes ask, “Do I need a personal brand?” or “Should I build one?”
And the truth is, you don’t get that choice. Because you already have one.
It’s the same as asking, “Do I need a reputation?”
You have one whether you like it or not.
The only real decision you get to make is whether you’re going to intentionally shape it into what you want.
Your personal brand influences how people feel about you, what they assume about you, and the opinions they form before they ever meet you.
Who Personal Branding Is Really For
This isn’t just for influencers or online entrepreneurs.
Whether you’re:
- An executive inside a company
- An entrepreneur growing a business
- Or an expert looking to monetize your knowledge
You’re trying to generate awareness for something.
You need leads.
You want to get promoted.
You’re trying to become known as a leader in your industry.
Or maybe you’re trying to turn what you know into income.
The principles of personal branding apply universally across all of those paths.
That’s why at Brand Builders Group we work with executives, entrepreneurs, and experts alike.
The fundamentals don’t change.
Fun Fact: Brand Builders Group Didn’t Start with a Business Plan
Brand Builders Group didn’t start with a business plan.
It started with a crisis.
My wife and I had been business partners since 2006.
We built a sales training company from scratch, grew it to an eight-figure business, served over 5,000 clients, and eventually had 200 team members.
Then one day, what we thought was a routine budget meeting turned into something very different.
As the company grew, philosophical differences became impossible to ignore.
The investors and our partners wanted to go one direction.
My wife and I wanted to go another.
And that day, the investors fired her.
They said, “Today will be your last day.
Your services are no longer needed.”
That moment is actually the first line of my new book because that’s where this story really begins.
We had a non-compete in the sales training space.
No backup plan.
No idea what was next.
A few days later, I resigned too.
And then, out of nowhere, everything changed.
An old friend named Lewis Howes called us completely out of the blue.
I hadn’t talked to him in over a year.
He said, “I don’t know why, but I feel like I need to borrow your brain.”
Lewis had been growing fast, but he felt pulled in too many directions.
He didn’t have clarity.
He wanted help thinking through strategy.
So he flew to Nashville, sat in our basement, and for two days we walked through exercises, conversations, and questions.
At the end, he said something I’ll never forget:
“This is the most powerful two days I’ve ever experienced in business.
This is what you guys were born to do.”
We pushed back. Hard.
We had no team.
No technology.
No bank account.
No company.
And Lewis said, “That’s okay.
I have an audience.”
He invited us on his show, told the world what we had done for him, and announced that this was what we did now.
Over a thousand people requested free calls.
And that’s how Brand Builders Group was born.
Not because we planned it, but because someone else believed in our reputation and trusted us to help solve their problem.
Gut Check: Is Your Reputation Working FOR You?
Your personal brand is shaping opportunities right now:
- Who reaches out to you
- What people trust you with
- What they assume you’re best at
The people who win aren’t louder, they’re clearer.
If you want help getting clarity around your message, your positioning, and how to intentionally grow your reputation instead of leaving it to chance, that’s exactly what we do at Brand Builders Group.
Schedule a free brand strategy call with my team and we can give you some pointers.
Your most powerful next step might just be one conversation away.
