Magic Johnson and Evan Carmichael discuss protecting your brand from damage. Johnson points to Trump's bankruptcy recovery as proof a strong brand survives mistakes. Carmichael says he turns down lucrative deals that don't match what he actually uses, because short-term money kills long-term brand health.
Good morning, Believe Nation! Today's message is keep your brand strong. Over to you, Magic Johnson.
What do I worry about? I worry about brand control. My brand is huge now, right? And one thing I fight with every day, I want to make sure I don't dilute I don't dilute the brand. I don't do anything, make any major mistakes because any mistake will hurt your brand. And so those are the things that keep me up at night, just making sure my brand remains strong. And so that's a good message for all these young men and women watching your show is make sure that your brand is everything and you will always be able to make money if your brand is strong, even if you go bankrupt. If your brand is strong, you'll be able to still make some money. Donald Trump proved that. He bounced right back. Look where he is today. You know, he went through that phase, came right back because he kept the brand strong. And that's important.
For me, it all comes down to authenticity and actually running a business that you are proud of and the products and services that you're creating and putting out there, the things you're promoting, you're proud of, you would use yourself, you'd recommend to your mother, you know, you You love the stuff that you're creating. Because there's always an opportunity to do something in the short term that'll make you faster money, always. But often that comes at the expense of your long-term success. Because you dilute your brand, because you're promoting something that, that is crap, that you wouldn't actually use, that maybe you've never looked at before. I get chances all the time on my YouTube channel from companies who want to work with me and want me to promote their stuff. Meanwhile, I've never used it. It hasn't had an impact on my life or my business, and I don't want to talk about companies that haven't had a meaningful impact on what I do. I don't use their products or services. I wouldn't feel comfortable recommending that to you guys if I don't get value from it myself. And that's integrity to me. And I'm not so much worried about— I don't think of it strategically like, oh, if I do this, then it's going to hurt my brand and I'm going to lose money down the line. It just doesn't feel right. Like those short-term opportunities just don't feel right. To try to sell somebody on something that you've never used before, you can't really get behind, should— you should feel that in the pit of your stomach, like this doesn't feel right to do. And I think as long as you are embracing opportunities that do feel right, that you are passionate about, that you can get behind fully and recommend wholeheartedly, then that's how you preserve the long-term brand of your business. So the question of the day is, I'm curious to find out what short-term opportunity that you jump on that negatively impacted your brand, or one that you thought about taking on that you thought might then negatively impact your brand? Curious to find out. Leave in the comments below and I'll join the discussion. Thank you so much for watching. Have an amazing day. Continue to believe, and I'll see you again tomorrow morning for another shot of espresso.
