RV (00:06): Welcome to the Influential Personal Brand podcast. This is the place where we help mission-driven messengers, just like you learn how to build and monetize your personal brand. My name is Rory Vaden and I’m the co-founder of Brand Builders Group, a hall of fame speaker, and New York Times bestselling author. And this show is to help experts learn how to become more wealthy and well known. I know you’re gonna love it. Thanks for being here. Let’s get started. There’s RV (00:34): A great irony and personal branding, great irony. And the great irony is that your personal brand is not about you. It’s not about you. And the reason some of you are reluctant to go all in on this and is because you go, ah, I, I don’t wanna be vain. I don’t wanna be braggadocio. I, I don’t wanna try to look like I’m trying to be famous. That’s when you’re thinking about yourself. But you don’t do that when you’re thinking about helping other people. When you think about helping other people, you go, who’s out there that has something to learn from me? Who can I teach? Who can I add value to? See, a great personal brand is not self-centered. A great personal brand is service centered. It’s not about how does my outfit look? What do I look like on camera? Is the audio perfect? RV (01:21): Sure, we wanna work on those things. But is that what it’s about? No freaking way. Not even close. You don’t break through the wall because everything is perfect and pristine. You break through the wall ’cause people trust you. They trust you because they can see that you care about them. They know that you care about them. ’cause you’re doing things to help them. You’re adding value to their life without asking for anything in return. That’s the power of the digitization of your reputation. That’s the power that’s available today more than any other time in human history. It’s easier. We all have access to it. The only thing holding you back is the crap in your own head. And that’s the part we gotta get past. Because you know, and, and I wanna tell you like don’t focus on monetizing everything. Don’t be so focused on like, I gotta make a bazillion dollars for this ’cause I, money is good. We like money, but we say we serve mission driven messengers. We, we care about money, but money is subservient to the mission. We care about revenue, but revenue is subservient to reputation. We care about income, but income is subservient to impact. Because when you are selling, there are wins and losses. When you’re selling, there are wins and losses. But when you are serving, there are only wins. RV (02:36): When you are serving, there are only wins. You cannot lose. You cannot lose. You only win. You only get value. You only get goodness. You only get referrals. You only get trust. And I’m telling you, sooner or later you will get money too. You can throw yourself fully into serving other people. Who should you serve? The person you once were. ’cause you’re most powerfully positioned to serve the person you once were. So the challenge is, or the question is, what challenge have you conquered? What obstacle have you overcome? What setback have you survived? What tragedy have you triumphed over? What problem have you solved? What path have you been down that you can help other people? That is where you win. It’s not followers, it’s not money, it’s not any of the va. How many books do you sell? What promotion you get, what your title is, it’s the service of the other people. RV (03:28): And you can do that for free. You can do that right now. Nobody can stop you. And what’s amazing is something new, shows up your highest self. The payoff is your highest self. Your highest self is to be your highest value to others. And that’s what it takes to break through the wall. It takes passion, it takes concern, it takes care. It takes confidence. It takes somebody going. What breaks your heart? What you off? What makes you sad? What makes you cry? What is the thing you look out in the world and you go, I’m not okay with that. I’m not comfortable with that. I won’t allow that to happen on my watch. ’cause I can do something about that. And I believe that that is God’s divine design of your humanity. That you, the things that break your heart, break your heart for a reason. Because you were created to do something about that problem. You were created to serve that person. The heartbreak that you experienced was the very vehicle preparing you to do the purpose of your life, to be the person that you were created to be. And the only reason you wouldn’t listen to that is because of fear. And there, and there’s only fear one time when you’re thinking about yourself. Fear is such a self-centered concept. But there is no fear when the mission to serve becomes clear. There is no fear. RV (04:55): So find the person, find the problem, create the focus. Go out and serve the person you once were and become every single thing you were meant to be.