Personal Brand Studio 🎬 Lesson 1: The Biggest Challenge to Build a Personal Brand

Welcome to the Personal Brand Studio 🎬

I’m super excited to take you on a journey to invest in yourself and your personal brand 🥂

The goal of this course is to:

1. Grow confidence to build in public (mindset)

2. Define a clear vision and content pillars (strategy)

3. Create and implement a content calendar (tactics)

I will share everything I’ve learned to grow a personal brand online (7,000+ on LinkedIn, 5,000+ on Medium), get leads and clients, and build authority online.

Every week, you’ll receive:

• 1 lesson via email

• 1 Personal Studio Brand Thread to answer your questions and engage with the community (25 so far!)

This course is for paid subscribers only.

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Lesson 1: The Biggest Challenge

I have been writing online for almost 2 years and my only regret is that I wish I had started earlier.

Building online has allowed me to accelerate my career as a public speaker, speak on podcasts, sell more books and grow this newsletter faster than the average (just hit 1,600 subscribers today 🎉)

Most people and organizations I talk to agree: investing in your personal brand is a MUST in our digital-first world.

I recently signed a deal with a Top 5 Publisher before writing my new book. Having a personal brand was the deal-maker.

I know dozens of solopreneurs, founders and writers who would LOVE to build their brand online. Yet they don’t.

LinkedIn has 1 billion users, yet only 1% are active users creating content regularly.

What’s holding people back?

What’s the biggest challenge to building a personal brand?

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What’s holding you back?

If you’re serious about building your brand, I challenge you to have a moment of reflection and self-awareness and answer the following question with honesty:

Whatever your answer is, you are not alone. Those are the main objections I hear from people I talk to and coach.

The one thing no one ever tells me is: “I don’t know how to write.”

So it’s not a lack of technical skills (we can all write!): whatever is holding you back, it’s all in your mind:

- I don’t have time = you are not making it a priority

- I’m not an expert = you don’t have to be one to share your experience

- I’m terrified of showing up online = the fear is coming from within

- I’m afraid of being judged = should you really care?

- I’m too old = the second best time to start is today. If not, ask

Zsolt Kohalmi

😉

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Deconstructing objections

If you want this course to work, the first step is to fight your demons and limiting beliefs.

There’s no point in talking about strategy, content pillars and CTAs if you don’t deconstruct the fears and lift your mental anchors.

How?

1. Reflect on what you are afraid of

2. Lay out the worst-case scenario

3. Lay out the best-case scenario

Here is my example based on when I started:

1. Fear: I’m afraid friends, former colleagues and contacts will criticize me for exposing myself online and have a negative perception of me.

2. Worst-case scenario: no one will like my post, people will criticize me.

3. Best-case scenario: people will engage with me and it will give me the confidence and motivation to keep going. I will feel great about starting something new and exploring new opportunities. It will be my first step toward building my community.

Believe me, the worst-case scenario is never as bad as we paint it.

In my first swim race, I came last in my age group. I had a blast and ended up becoming a triathlete and completing over 100 races!

“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself”- Franklin D. Roosevelt