RV (00:07): Hey brand builder, Rory Vaden here. Thank you so much for taking the time to check out this interview as always, it’s our honor to provide it to you for free and wanted to let you know there’s no big sales pitch or anything coming at the end. However, if you are someone who is looking to build and monetize your personal brand, we would love to talk to you and get to know you a little bit and hear about some of your dreams and visions and share with you a little bit about what we’re up to to see if we might be a fit. So if you’re interested in a free strategy call with someone from our team, we would love to hear from you. You can do that at brand builders, group.com/pod call brand builders, group.com/pod call. We hope to talk to you soon. AJV (00:54): Hey, all, welcome to the recap episode on my conversation with the lovely Matt Mayberry. I just love my conversations with him. He’s so humble and he’s so helpful. I thought this was a great conversation, and so I’ve broken it down to my three main takeaways and I say three, but they’re kind of like all jumbled into like one main takeaway. So here’s like this kind of like overarching theme that I got from a conversation with Matt. And I don’t know why I had this like interesting aha moment during this conversation. But I loved what he said when he said that his definition of culture is just behavior at scale. And it got me thinking that for a company, we talk a ton about culture, but for an individual, the same goes for reputation. And then I started thinking about this concept of a reputation is to an individual, what culture is to accompany, right? AJV (02:05): Because both of the things are, what do you want people to feel or to think when they experience you? Right? So we’ve all been a part of different customer service experiences where you’re like, man, like that was amazing. We’re like, man, how are you even business? Right? How, how do you operate like this? And you know, it’s like, I’m not gonna say that people haven’t said that about us. Like we’re not perfect, but there is a culture in the way that people treat each other treat leadership, leadership, treats, leadership, leadership treats employees, how we treat our clients that the interactions like that’s a feeling, right? Those aren’t words on a page or pictures that it’s a, it’s a feeling I I’ve walked into offices before buildings before where it’s like, you could feel the culture that was there, right. Walking into a no offense, a holiday in express versus walking into a Rosewood property has a very different feeling and culture that emanates. AJV (03:10): And I don’t just mean due to the element of how nice things are, but it’s, it’s a feeling, right? You get the same thing. If you’re on the phone with somebody like the energy just emanates from them, the same thing happens with you and your reputation, your personal brand, as it does with a company. The difference is as an individual, my reputation, my personal brand is about me and for a company. It’s the culture, right? What we’re trying to do is we’re trying to create this feeling. And this experience that people go through as a part of being a part of this company as a client or as a, a team member, but as a, an individual, a personal brand, we do the same thing and it has to be curated and it has to have intention. And there are countless countless books, classes, seminar coaches, consultant, speakers that could go on and on and on about how to create company culture. AJV (04:16): But where are the books, classes, coaches, seminars, consultant, speakers, about how to create your reputation, right? And that’s what we do at brand builders group. That’s what we’re passionate about. That’s what our uniqueness is. We lived in corporate consulting for 15 years, working with leaders about company culture and employees in retention and performance. And now we work with individuals about how do you do the same thing for yourself, which is your reputation, right? And the intentional creation of your reputation is your personal brand, right? So your personal brand is to an individual, what company culture is to an organization. And that’s how I really want you to think about this. If we go, it’s like, man, as, as, as leaders, we spend tons of time talking about culture and core values. Are we spending the same amount of time of going, what do I want to be known for who do I want to be known by? AJV (05:22): And then how do I become known for those things by those people that is personal branding and it needs, and it requires the same amount of focus and intention as it does to create a culture within an organization. Right? And I just, I just loved that just concept and a parallel of reputation and personal branding is to an individual is what company culture is to an organization. So it’s kind of like the broad overarching takeaway from me and that and then I, I wrote this down and I literally was like, man, that’s really important of just going your culture. Isn’t your core values, these aren’t words and definitions on a website or a flyer that you hand held a new, higher onboarding. But a culture are the daily behaviors that happen when the leader isn’t around. And so if you are a leader, right, and when I say a leader, I mean a parent, I mean a volunteer, I mean an employee, an employer, an entrepreneur, I mean anyone like what are the behaviors that need to happen on a daily basis to create the culture that you want? AJV (06:49): And then for an individual, what are the daily behaviors that need to happen for you to establish the reputation that you want? Have you thought about that? And if not, this is the time to do that. Like literally pause this recap right now, give yourself five minutes and go, what is the reputation I wanna have? What do I want people to think of when they think of me? And in order for that to happen, what are the three to five behaviors that I have to display on a daily basis to create that consistency. So that people associate me with what I want to be associated with and then do the same thing for your company. It’s like, what are the behaviors that need to happen with your executives, with your leaders, with your managers, with your employees in order for this culture to be curated and lived out on a daily basis, culture and reputation are the end result of daily behaviors. AJV (08:02): And we spend a lot of time talking about end results, and we need to talk about what are the daily behaviors that have to happen consistently to give us that end result. And then the last thing that I wrote down and I think again, just paying attention to all the things that I need to do as a leader, as an entrepreneur. But also in my, in my own personal brand is where does your story fit in? And I think that was just a really awesome takeaway from me with this conversation with Matt at the end of the day, your story is your uniqueness. It’s not what you do. It’s who you are. It’s your life experiences. It’s the, the struggles, the failures, the successes the heartbreaks, the setbacks, the wins, the victories. But it’s your story that makes you unique, not your title, not your accolades, not all of your credibility builders, right? We all have those. Everyone has those to what Matt said. And there are way more people who are way more savvy and way more successful than me, but they don’t have my story. It’s mine. And that’s what makes me unique. AJV (09:26): So what’s your story and how are you using that to build your company culture, to build your personal reputation, to build your personal brand. What’s that story that what’s that defining story of your life that it’s like, this is a piece of what made me and here’s what I learned from it. And here’s what you, stranger friend, family member can learn from this. This is how you can apply something that I’ve learned from something that I went through and actually take it and apply it to your own life. Because here’s what I know at the end of the day. If you give me a whole bunch of words and acronyms and steps, I might retain some of it. But if you tell me a story how remember most of it. So what’s that story that makes you so unique that it sets you apart. So again, I would encourage you to pause right now, don’t put this on your to-do list. AJV (10:25): Don’t set a time to do it a month from now, which will never happen right now. Give yourself permission to take three to five minutes and just go, what are the stories that have shaped me? What are the stories that other people can relate to that? By sharing this piece of my story would help someone else that there’s a lesson to be learned from my employees, from my audience, from my clients, from my family. But what is this story that makes you, you y’all such a good interview. Go listen to it, take the time. Do these two quick exercises. I promise you, I took the time before doing this and I did it for myself. It makes a difference, but you’ve gotta have the intention before you actually create the plan. So take the time, create that intention and then go make the plan. We’ll see you next time.