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When your content helps people solve their problems, you earn trust. When your content shows who you are as a human, you earn loyalty. Even though I know the importance of emphasizing the person [music] in personal brand, I'm still terrified of putting out the real me. I fear that sharing my weird quirks, hobbies, and passions will cause people to not take me seriously [music] or even worse, reject who I am entirely. This whole making content and building your personal brand online, it takes a very private fear and it puts it on [music] a public stage so that everybody can see. Because of this, we have so many reasons to hide who we really are in [music] our content. This road trip is all about why I am done hiding who I am. >> [music] >>
I know I'm not alone in this one. Most people building their personal brand make the same mistake that I almost made. >> Okay, appreciate it. Have a >> Thank you. Have a good one. >> You as well. >> They end up flattening who they are. They remove the humor, hide the interests, and soften the personality. They become a one-dimensional personal brand. And clearly I get it. I've been battling with the fear of rejection my entire life. So when I decided to start putting out content after building other people's personal brands for over 16 years, I too felt the trap or the temptation to show up one-dimensional. >> [music] >>
I was concerned that sharing my love for Harleys and metal and all things trash TV would actually just alienate. >> [music] >> I thought showing my weird quirks and isms would cause [music] people to not hear the truth in what I was sharing. And so the safe move here actually felt like just keeping it [music] strictly business or in my context strictly personal branding. Only showing up to share my expertise and nothing else. But the problem [music] here is what that approach produces. Sure, the content might be correct. It's probably really good and valuable and useful. But it's also completely interchangeable with everyone else in your space who's sharing and teaching the exact same things. In a world where really anyone can steal your frameworks, information is now a commodity and AI can generate answers that are good enough on demand. Mhm. The only thing that can't be replicated is you. >> [sighs] >> Your expertise earns you trust, but your humanity, that is what earns you loyalty. >> [music] >>
I want you to think about the relationships that you have in your own life. People that you would label as an acquaintance are typically people who you have just one thing in common with. Maybe you work together or maybe you just like going to the same bar. Maybe you have the same hobby in common. [music] Let's call it Pilates. But because you only have one thing in common, that is going to make you an acquaintance. And now I want you to think about your closest friends, the really close ones in your life. You probably share a lot more in common with them. Hobbies, values, or interests, or maybe it's an inside joke that has nothing to do with how you originally met. The more of these things that you stack in common, the deeper the relationship gets. >> And actually, it works the exact same way in building an audience online. If all they know about you is your niche, [music] your expertise, and your frameworks, then your personal brand stays in the shallow end of the pool. >> They might be watching your content, but they're one [music] algorithm change or one new competitor away from leaving. >> [music] >> The more of who you are that you share, I'm talking about those crazy obsessions, the values, the hobbies, the interests, the more at bats [music] you end up giving your audience to connect with you on a deeper level. >> I think people more than ever before [music] want to connect with a face, a human. And I think as AI scales and becomes way more rampant, being [music] as human as humanly possible during this era is going to be the most important thing. >>
Joe Rogan, whether you love him or hate him, is arguably one of the most influential people on the planet. Not because he's leaned into just comedy [music] or just MMA. It's because he talks about many different things that he's actually passionate about and genuinely interested in. And we're talking human optimization, conspiracy theories, politics, comedy, MMA, the list goes on and on. If you're into one of those things, you might like Joe's podcast. If you're into three or more of those things, you might be a super fan. >> [music] >> This is what I call interest stacking. The more interests and values that you stack in common with your audience, the more loyal they'll become. >> [music] >>
Most people view content creation [music] as a chore. Just another item on their dreaded to-do list. One more thing adding to our stress and anxiety. And that checks out. If you're showing up online as only a tenth of who you actually are, it's going to feel more like a prison than a personal brand. But when you flip that and you start showing up as the real you, [music] integrating your passions, hobbies, and interests, you start the process of rebranding content creation. You no longer are dreading this thing on the calendar. It's [music] something that you actually look forward to. This entire trip I'm on is an incredible example of this. I could have flown to Pennsylvania, done the talk, hop on a flight to New York City, and then fly home. Instead, I chose to drive over 2,500 miles one way, stopping whenever I wanted, so that I could ride my motorcycle through a city that used to be home. All while filming this video. >> [music] >> The content creation didn't interrupt the trip. It actually added to it. The trip didn't ruin the content creation. It actually made it more fun. See, this is the goal. You want to build your process around who you are and what you love. Then content isn't something that you avoid. It's actually something that you look forward to. >> [music] >>
The craziest thing is that you can show your passions and interests while sharing your expertise. See, I'm not saying that you need to make separate content about your hobbies. You don't need a motorcycle channel or a cooking series. You don't need to pivot. Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> It's simpler than that. It's actually the environments that you choose to film in. It's the language that you stop cutting out. It's the reference to something that you love that isn't in your niche. >> [music] >> I lived here in Brooklyn for a couple of years early in my career, right up there, off of Broadway in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn. That is where I was living when I got the shot working for Gary Vaynerchuk. I'm not filming here because it's the most efficient location. I'm filming here because I missed the New York energy. >> [music] >> And that choice to come back to a place that means a lot to me makes this video better than any set or studio ever could. And that's how your human element show up, not in a separate video, but inside the one you were already going to make. This is my buddy Dylan. Our friendship is an example of how interest stacking works in the real world. Dylan and I met at a metal show. We were [music] both drinking Budweiser. I noticed that you had two phones on you. And I asked him if he was in marketing, and he was. And we've been homies ever since. >> [music] >> And that would be interest stacking. The next thing that we need to do though is we need to build [music] a world that makes our audience want to stay and not leave. Click here to watch my video on world building for your personal brand.