#177: How YOU Can Break Through The Noise In The New Year With Google’s #1 Rebranding Expert David Brier

If we sound like others, we're being cliche. And if we're using cliches in terms of our brand, what ends up happening is we're promoting the category, not our brand. If I sound like all the other XYZs, whatever that category is, it could be coaches, it could be experts, it could be consultants, it could be authors, it could be keynote speakers, it could be whatever. If I sound like the others I have just lumped myself in with, I'm just one more. Whatever that category is. That's the problem.

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Hi and welcome back. I'm so excited for you to meet our guest this week. He's a fast company expert blogger on the subject of numerous articles in Forbes Inc. The New York Times, Adweek, Huffington Post, and Business Insider, David Breyer is the recipient of the Presidential Ambassador for Global Entrepreneurship medallion presented to David by Shark Tank star and New York Times bestseller Damon John, an award winning veteran recipient of over 330 international industry recognitions in branding, rebrands, design and brand strategy. Holy cow. Dav. David has designed and transformed global brands, regional and local brands, and brands for startups and even cities. In addition to writing the new branding bible and Amazon bestseller brand intervention, 33 Steps to Transform the brand you have into the brand you need. With a foreword written by Daymond John of Shark Tank and fubu, David is featured in the new Netflix bestseller written by its CEO alongside Steve Jobs and Richard Branson on innovation. David, thank you so much for being here today.

Well, absolutely. Well, thank you so much for having me.

Well, this is so exciting in a behind the scenes. You have been popping up in my life a lot lately and it's so crazy anytime it's serendipitous the way that we have connected. We were both in this content Creator program in LinkedIn and we were randomly paired up the other night, which I thought was so exciting and fun. And then we were both recognized last week. I think it was for 50 most impactful people on LinkedIn. So I said, oh my gosh, I've got to get with David and learn from him to really just get some insight into this massive success that you've had.

Yeah, well, I mean, I think at this point I'm convinced that you're probably, you're probably the sister that my parents never told me.

I Had.

I think I'm convinced at this point that's what it is.

We are running in the same circles. All right, so David, let's start here because I know for myself, for a long time when I was in corporate America, I never thought about branding ever. Never crossed my mind. Why is branding important?

Well, branding is important for this reason. We live in a world where we are literally one stroke keystroke away. Not stroke as in heart attack, but stroke as in keystroke away from finding. If I were looking for anything, I could be looking for sportswear, I could be looking for sneakers, cars, best restaurant to eat at, camera, gear, tech, whatever. I could be looking for anything. And I'm basically one keystroke away from finding hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of options. How do I, as the potential consumer, sift it down to my short list, right. Without going like nuts. Obviously, for consumer type products, Amazon's made it particularly easy because, okay, you look for blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Then you look for things that have like four stars or five stars so that, that helps us sift. But if we're not there, see, because what's happened, I mean, let's look at it. So 96, the Internet changed everything. Now what used to happen, like if you and I were friends, I'd say, hey, Heather, you know, I'm looking for a good, a good gym to work out at. Where would you recommend? Right, that's how it would normally happen. Well, now we find out all that stuff online. So the entire sales process that used to involve people or discovery process before a sale happened, involve people. Now it's like consumers so informed before they ever hit that shopping cart or speak to a salesperson that does, you know, it's shifted a lot. That's the role of branding. How is a product or a service going to stand out and be different in your eyes or my eyes? And that's why basically one of the things I talk about is that different is better than better. And so that's the role of branding in the world.

So really defining that unique value proposition, what makes you unique, different and special.

That'S part of it. But you've got to have this other part against what's already out there. The reason being, because if we just look at it, there's that, there's that old model of the unique selling proposition, the usp. We've all heard that the problem with that was that tended to be done in an isolated approach. It didn't look at the fact that we're saying, well, we're the best blank, blank, blank. And because we've done blank, blank, blank, blah, blah, blank, we didn't take inventory of what was the noise out there, because there may be 5 or 15 or 35 or 50 companies claiming the same thing. So even if what we're saying is true and factual, if we just sound like everybody else, we've just reminded everybody that we're in the same category and bucket as all these other people. So it has to have that differentiation factor that makes it work. Otherwise, it's kind of like it's up to like, who's the most persuasive salesperson, who's the most compelling individual to pitch it because the company failed to do what it has to do in today's market.

So where is it that you advise brands start? Is it really doing an assessment of the category first?

Then you always have. You have to look at the amount of noise. People don't need another xyz. They just don't. It's not, you know, if I say, hey, Heather, you know, it's like, I don't know, whatever. Do you need another. Do you need another comfortable chair in the house or do you need another car or a thing or whatever? I mean, whatever things that you might have, do you need just another one? No, you would want. You need one that does XYZ in a way that's different, not like the others. It might simplify, it might accelerate, it might do various things, but it has enough differentiators that makes it compelling to you and me.

So I'll tell you now that I am out on my own and have my own business, and I'm living in this entrepreneurial space. I have noticed how incredibly noisy it is out there. And your point seems very simplistic. However, it's so hard to flipping breakthrough. And I truly believe a lot of businesses don't, especially smaller businesses, just from the time I've spent with them aren't spending a lot of time and or resources against that idea of how do we break through, through that noise. But do you work with those smaller companies and how do you help them to understand how critical this is for revenues?

It's a great question. And I'll tell you. I work, I mean, all of my work, I work with the CEOs and so, I mean, I work with CEOs from startups to $70 million companies. It's this whole spectrum. So it's never a matter of how big the company is or isn't. It's a matter of do they honestly care about Realizing their days are numbered if they're not continuously looking and continuously paying attention to what's going on there. Because there could be shifts culturally, there could be shifts technologically. So you got to pay attention. So here's the normal conversation when I'm first interviewing a company to see whether or not they're going to want to engage me. And if I'm going to take them on as a client, I'll say, tell me why I, as a potential customer, should care about your product or service. And then they normally go down, well, we've done blah and we've done blah. And we're made in America and we're family owned and we're this and we're that and we're the best and da, da, da, and we're state of the art and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I let them finish their little list and I said, okay, thanks for that. So now why do I know? If I went to any of your competitors, I'd pretty much hear the same exact thing. That's when like the, oh, shit, we have a problem. That's when the light starts to go on a little bit and they start going. And I tell them, I said, it's not that anything you said was untrue. It's not that anything you said was not. Couldn't be backed up and proven in a court of law. But it sounds like everyone else. That is a problem. If we sound like others, we're basically kind of being cliche. And if we're using cliches in terms of our brand, what ends up happening is we're promoting the category, not our brand. If I sound like all the other XYZs, whatever that category is, it could be coaches, it could be experts, it could be consultants, it could be authors, it could be keynote speakers, it could be sports companies, it could be whatever. If I sound like the others I have just lumped myself in with, damn, I'm just one more. Whatever that category is, that's the problem.

Okay, to your point that you just made, I agree with you 100%. Right. And some of the brands you work with, Revlon, I mean, some of the largest companies that are out there, right, you have massive credibility. Case studies on your website to back all of this up, however, it just reminded me of an interview I did a couple months ago with Ron Friedman on my show. Wrote a great book. It's called Decoding Greatness. His concept and direction to people is don't go out and start over anew go out and break down what somebody who's at the best of the best in a category is and ultimately reinvent and recreate that through your lens. So it's interesting in that what you're saying is you don't want to promote a category. You don't want to be this cliche. You don't want to just reinvent what everybody else is doing. You got to separate yourself in some way from that noise and that already exist. And that really, that becomes a big conundrum once you're out there.

I mean, here's the thing that I am always amazed by. Probably about. I would say 85% of my clients actually have something that really is a considerable advance. It might be a revolution, but it's not just a little iteration, it's not just a little tweak. It's like a considerable advance. But yet they sound like all this stuff. So one of the questions I ask is, why are you using the language of the old to introduce the new? You see, I mean, why would I do that? That's one factor. The other factor is every industry has baggage. And what I mean by that is, let's say, for example, let's say you and I are meeting for the first time and you say, oh, hi, David, nice to meet you. What is it that you do? And I say this, I say these four words. I am a lawyer. No, I don't say anymore immediately what has happened. You know, I'm probably not the most fun person in the room, you know that I probably take something that could be extremely simple and it'll be really long winded, you know, that I probably will never pick up the check. You know, I'll always look at 15 minute increments in terms of billing and such like that. All of that came because I said four words. I immediately, I brought that baggage of the industry. So if I am not proactively separating myself from my industry, how am I different? How am I distinct? How am I providing you something that isn't just one more of those people over there? In which case means that I always have to compete on price because at that point, I'm a commodity, you see. I mean, these are the, these are the dynamics that come into it.

Oh, I love that. Yeah. And so often in business, people are just competing on price because. Because they haven't separated themselves with their brand. Correct?

Yep, that's right. To be really clear, I am not talking about, well, you know what? Every, everyone else's packaging is blue. We're going to go Red. There's our big differentiator. Stop treating differentiation like lipstick. That's what I tell people. You know, it's not like, oh, I like this color. This color goes to my outfit. It's not just a little cosmetic boom. I'm going to do my hair differently or I'm going to put on a different suit. You know, it's not those things. It's actually. It's actually something deeper. And I love it because it's so exciting. I've literally reintroduced brands to their owners who have been babying this little creation for 10 or 20 or 30 or 40 years. And they're like, holy shit. We had no idea what business we were in. I mean, literally, it's that dramatic. But that's the thing that I find fascinating because I'm looking at it with impartial eyes. I'm looking at the whole thing. I'm going, you go down that road, you will lose money. You go down this road right there, you've added 1 million, 2 million, 5 million, 10 million onto your revenue stream just because of the fact that you're going this other route that people will turn and say, what are you talking about?

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Real brand story of how you've done that?

This is not a very very sexy one, but it's but it's one that paints the picture well. I did this earlier in my career so I was approached by a CEO and he sold ice. So I'm like okay we're sitting down, we're talking. I remember him sitting in my office and I said, so tell me, is anything different about your ice? Is there any unique anything? He goes, some people said their ice cools faster. I said, huh? He goes, I've heard that a little bit. But I said, can you go to an independent lab and. And have that verified? He was sure. So does that nine days later speak on the phone? I said, so what did you hear? He goes, our ice does cool faster than traditional ice. And I said, so what? What do we have quantifiable? And so we figured it out and it was actually, it cools 33% faster. The reason was because the shape of his ice actually exposed more ice surface, and as a result, it cooled your drinks faster. So we. So we created a whole brand thing around, stop waiting for your drinks to get cold. And the whole thing was like, it cools 33% faster than traditional ice. We ended up calling it Ice Rounds. And it became the number one. The number one brand of ice in terms of bagged ice. And people asked for it by name. Like, people would literally come in and say, do you have ice rounds? They wouldn't just say, do you have frozen? Do you have bagged ice? It went from that to being by name. So that's one of the. One of the. I mean, I give plenty of examples and plenty of stories I could tell you, but that's one that paints the picture. If I can do that with frozen water, I can pretty much do that with anything. And that's. That's the thing that gets me pumped.

Yeah. So for you, it's like a puzzle that you're putting together from the moment you engage with someone until you bring that final campaign and brand strategy to life. Yeah, one of the. I really like the one on your website. You have a number of different case studies. I like the Nimble case study, the startup that you worked with during the pandemic and took them to 4 million in revenue. Can you walk us through a little bit how that worked?

100% well. See, they. Nimble was previously in its prior incarnation, it was called XP Camper XP being short Expedition, because for those that don't know, there's expedition travel, which basically means you're really going off grid and you have to have a vehicle that can allow you to go off grid. So it can really handle all variety of terrain and it has all of the amenities that you need and such. So it's a real. No compromise situation. It doesn't mean that you're being pampered. Doesn't have like a built in manicurist and pedicurus and stuff like that, but it basically, it has all the. Everything. So I went with them to a trade show and I looked at all the competitors and I was looking at what they were doing and this, that, the other. And what are they doing? What are we doing? One of the things that I found fascinating and you'll appreciate it. You've probably seen this. It was an enormous show in Vegas. I think it was about 200,000 square feet of show, right? It was for everything automotive. And one segment of it was Expedition campers and vehicles. Well, what ended up happening was I started looking around and because again, I have the outside look, I'm looking around, I'm not drunk on the Kool Aid yet. So I'm like, I'm the sober one, right? So I'm looking and I go, all right. And I point out to the guys, I said, dudes, I said, have you noticed one thing? I said, first of all, this whole place is driven by testosterone. They have the very, very shapely and scantily clad women in the various of the booths. So they have that play. And then on top of that, they have probably 65 to 70% of the brands out there were red, black and white. And it was really manly, right? It was like, I mean, I love. I love that voice. It's like, that's right. We're men. You know, it is that kind of thing. And so I pointed out to them, do you know, I said, I pointed out that banner and then that banner and then that big brand and then that international brand. And they start looking around, they go, holy shit. Like being opened their eyes. They never noticed this before, but they're like, holy shit. We guess we're not going to be red, black and white. I said, you're damn right you're not. So that was one thing. And then it was the way that they were all playing and doing the pitch again. They were doing like the manly man, you know, the shots and the dish. And I was like, what's this really about? Because our audience, we know our audience for the company was couples. It wasn't just the dude, but it was like the man, the wife, the couple, living life in their own terms, being independent. So I came up looking at how agile this had to be, et cetera, et cetera. So I developed the name Nimble for the brand, renaming it from XP Camper because they needed to just like, really advance way well beyond where XP Camper had been. And in addition developing the slogan freedom to roam and the language because again, being an outsider, I'm not in the matrix of their world and how they all talk. So I started to introduce narratives that nobody else was introducing. You know, I mean, one of them we just recently did, this is an example and I love this one because it's such a brilliant one. We had a gorgeous shot at night, the camper. You know, campers like set up and they're having their little campfire outside and you see the illumination coming from the camper and it's this stunning backdrop of mountains with like a star filled sky. I wrote the headline, why settle for 5 star lodging when you can have 4722 star logic or something like that. And it was like I actually figured out the math, like how many stars does one see in half of the actual hemisphere, right? So it's like how many do you see? And then how many can you see? So that number was actually based on fact, how many stars you could see. No one's talking that way in the industry. And so it's painting the pictures, the little journeys, little moments.

So you outline on this case study on your website how to make your brand a glimpse of the future. You note the story that you're telling, the hope that you're instilling in your audience and the dream that you resurrect. Was it or resuscitate?

Well, you're going to tap into that dream. It's got to be an aspiration. Look at the last purchase that you made of anything. What's the transformation? It's either going to be a big one or a little one. But it's going to be big enough for you or big enough for me that I go, bam. That's the aspiration. Might make things simpler, might make things faster, might make things more comfortable, might make things less complicated, might make things prettier or whatever. Right? There's that aspiration. So it's got we, we have to connect to that.

I love when I was reading that and I really that just the whole brand story resonated with me and the strategy that you took, I thought it made so much sense. And even looking at personal brands online, I was relating that story back to some of the things that I see on. What are your thoughts on personal branding and the importance of personal branding?

I find for myself and I think in what I've observed, we connect to brands that have humanity connected with them. It may be humanity in the way of just like a really, really down to earth and real values. Not a big corporate corporation playing on well, let's be purpose driven and let's donate a percent. Not that's a transparently ugly spin and that I don't appreciate, but the real authentic. But even more to the point, Apple had Steve Jobs, Virgin has Richard Branson, Tesla has Elon Musk. We connect to those organizations and companies that has a person that we can connect with. They're more real, they're more tangible. Yeah, you can always put Samsung against Apple and say where's the technologies whose camera's better? And even Google's products. It's like, yeah, they've got things and some of them are going to be head to head. Some of them might be, but they're, they're going to not going to be far from one another. But Apple still has the human aspect with regard to technology and Samsung is still a faceless corporation. What is it if they just added one per person and it's got to be a person that's real. It can't just be a spokesperson, it can't be Flo. I mean even though Flo is cute on Progressive, right? I mean she's cute, she's funny, the State Farm dude, he's like a commercial dude. But it's nice when you've got a person and you go, oh, there's that person. I can relate to them. They had the same frustrations and same things. And even Nike when I grew up, we had Keds, we had Converse, we had Puma and Adidas. And then Nike comes around and they come around with adding that human element, that Jordan in the air with those close ups and the quality of the photography and it humanized. So to me the human component has the potential. I say have this potential because if someone just shows up without naming names, you and I can easily rattle off. Right now we could probably rattle off 20 people who are showing up but the stuff that's coming out of their mouth, it's not well thought of. It's not disruptive. It's a regurgitation of what we all heard before. I don't need to see somebody regurgitating, right. It's just I have better time, better the use of my time than seeing.

Someone regurgitating and it's happening everywhere. So for the people listening right now that are saying that sounds great and yes, Steve Jobs did a great job of humanizing and Elon Musk has a story to tell. I don't. How do you advise people start with a personal brand?

I Tell them that they're liars. I mean that's bullshit. Someone doesn't have a story. And you know, you know how I'd rip that apart? I'd say, good, tell me, tell me how you don't have a story. Well, I lived in a blah blah blah with a blah blah, blah, blah, blah blah blah blah blah. I never did anything exciting. You just told me a story. What story don't you have? If you find the story boring or you're going to put it in the box of it's boring and dull, here's a certificate. You are right, it will be boring and dull because you've already decided it's going to be boring and dull. Let's look at the people of today. Oh, and Gary Vee with VaynerMedia, there's another example of a person, right? So David Ogilvy with Ogilvy Advertising. So I mean you have people we could connect to, people, people who actually dared to think, dare to have a viewpoint, stand for something. There are people that we all are aware of. There are some that have amazing platforms but they don't do anything with those platforms. And then there are those that have amazing stories and they just lean into it as much as they need to and want to lean into it and they take us on the journey. Take me on the journey. If someone is stupid enough to challenge me and say I'm boring and I don't actually have a story and I'm not worthwhile, I will say, first of all, you're a freaking liar and we're going to handle that right now. And trust me, you will lose this battle because you do have a story to tell. It may be one that you think is very uninteresting, but that can be corrected too. So I don't buy it. I never let anybody get away with that because I think it's a crock. And sometimes it'll be, they'll, I can tell. In fact, there's one person just completed my master class. He was like this, he was kind of like self demeaning and, and it was going well, blah, blah, blah blah. You know, I said, dude, are you trying to wake me up and put me asleep? I put him in the driver's seat. He was so used to being the kind of, well, aw shucks, dude, I took time out of my schedule to spend time with you. Are you going to spend time boring me to death or are you going to spend time actually engaging here? No one has predetermined the outcome of this conversation unless You've decided that you're going to be a boring human equivalent of NyQuil. Is that what you're going to be? So I force people into taking ownership of what they need to take ownership of. That's the thing. Because I forever believe that people are remarkable. I refuse to buy someone trying to close me on the fact that they're dull or they're uninspired or this or that. The other. And if they're really convinced on it, I say, look, here's the deal. You and I are playing different games. Congratulations. You won by losing. I wish you the best of luck.

Two things. One, oftentimes people have a story, but they're afraid to share what that real story is. That's scary to them to put that out there. And the second thing is that some of these smaller stories are the ones that are most relatable because everybody's felt that way or gone through that challenging situation. It's about letting people know that seeing that story through your lens and your experience is what makes you unique and different.

100%. 100%. I would also add this one other component. There's an ability to be able to see the macro and the micro. The micro is your story. The micro is my story. The micro is each person's story. But I never look at my story as an isolated thing that it is inherently relevant and valuable. What I do. And I know that you do it because the fact that you keynote. Any good keynote speaker has this ability. You got to be able to look into the room. You got to be able to look into the room. You're looking into the room and you're going. Because this is resonating. You're not doing it as a. As a soliloquy. You're not doing as a monologue just for yourself. You're doing it to impact this group in front of you. That's the macrocosm. So it's kind of like that dual awareness. It's like, okay, what's going to cause a ripple here? I go wherever I need to go. I mean, if I need to walk out into a room and if I feel there are a bunch of pompous assholes, I'll say, okay, I have late breaking news. You all suck. I'll let it hang in the air there for the five seconds it needs to. For it to land, Then they go, who the hell invited this dick to actually speak in front of us? But, you know, but the bang. I will have their attention. And now we can actually have a conversation because you can't have a conversation if you and I can't be talking if I'm not looking at you and listening to you and you're not, you know, it's. We've got to be paying attention. So it's that dual capability that. That really makes a difference.

That's a. What you just described is a real big breakthrough moment. I remember going through this as a speaker where I become great at telling my story, but I was making it more about me than I was about the audience and making it about them. And you actually, you have a free ebook, a branding eBook, the 10 Golden Rules of Branding. And it just came to my mind that it. One of them is. Your brand is not about you. It's about me.

We've all been in a room where we felt smaller. We went in that room and that person we were speaking with, we kind of felt. We shrunk. We felt smaller. That was a horrible feeling to me. That's a real red flag if I feel smaller and I didn't feel smaller prior to that. I was me. I was in my own space. I had my own place and position in the world. And now I walk in and I feel smaller. Whoa, that's a fricking red flag. You know, that person, that's where we're feeling smaller. In front of that person, obviously, they're the most important person. They've got the altitude, they've got this, they've got the that. Well, screw you, you son of a bitch. I'm sorry. That shit is bullshit. Because anybody that's trying to play that game is actually exceedingly small. And they're just feeding off of whatever implication. And I had to learn that in business. I mean, I, you know, I think anybody in the beginning of their career would have run into that and either was smart smart or quick. I wasn't smart quick. I probably took me about 12 years to learn how to navigate through that and hold my own position. And again, like we. Like we were talking about before we started this, be willing to walk out the room. You've got to always be willing to walk away and say, look, with no hard feelings, too. You know, it's not. You don't have to be like, hey, buddy, you're an asshole. I wish you. I wish you nothing but hell and death and like, and being locked in an elevator where you've just eaten, you know, beans for lunch just five minutes before, and you are. That's it, you know, Right? We don't need to go there. Right? We don't have to have that malice. It could just be, you know what? You have a different philosophy. I have a different philosophy. I wish you the best of luck. This isn't the journey I'm taking. I'm out of here.

That is a powerful illustration, but an excellent, excellent, excellent point, David. Okay, so one of the things that you talk about is the importance of rebranding and to forever be rebranding. That sounds a little intimidating to some people, I would imagine. And how do you suggest people do that and companies do that?

I'm going to answer that with a little scenario and a question back at you. I personally don't consider it hard work. I consider it harder work. Here's the hard work. I've done a rebrand, whether it's for yourself or whether it's for your company or whatever, we've done a rebrand. Now, you make that rebrand your master. No, that's the. That's like mistake number, like, 1. The rebrand isn't your master. You were the master of the rebrand. You brought it into existence. It's what I tell people when literally what I tell people. I mean, and this will partially answer your question. At the beginning of every masterclass that I run, I say, I know that you're here to handle your brand, but I'm here to tell you you don't need a brand. Your brand needs you. And I'm here to give you back to you so that you can empower your brand. So the thing is, is that the rebrand that we create doesn't define us. We defined it. And by just continuing to pay attention, we can have it do the little shifts and growth and little growth movements that needs to do to continue to be relevant. And also one other little side note, a proper rebrand is going to be built on values. It's not going to be built on a thing. A thing is transient. I think you and I can become outdated tomorrow if we built our brand on a thing. If you built your brand, I don't know, on, you know, pick, whatever. But if it was instead built on values, and two examples that we all know, Nike. What is it? Just do it. Does it say better sneakers, cooler synthetic rubbers? No. Right. They didn't build it on the thing. They built it on. That's a value. That's something we can connect to. Apple, when Steve Jobs came back, did he say cooler operating system, niftier design? No, that was part of their other messaging. But what did they build around? Think different. That was set of values. So the more we Build it on values, which is timeless, which connects to you as an individual, connects to me as an individual. We're not just relying on that color, that technology, that, that design thing, blah, blah, blah, blah.

So actually made me think of the mistakes that I've made. When I was still in corporate America, I launched a personal brand around starting from the bottom and making it to the C suite. That was, you know, my, the whole mission behind it and being a C suite executive. Then I got fired and wrote a book and I rebranded as Confidence Creator, which was really the thing. It was the book. Right. So then I just kept, you know, leaning into Confidence Creator, which is black, red and white, which is funny to your point earlier around colors, which I wasn't thinking of that. So then I'm leaning into the thing. To the thing, the thing. And then people started losing. No one knew I was a C suite executive. No one knew I had 20 plus years in sales leadership in this whole career because I focused so much on the thing that it lost who I was and who my brand really was. So I started leaning back into and I guess these are all kind of mini rebrands I started leaning back into. You know, I'm the former C suite executive that was fired and has created different methods and ways to go from rejected to redirected and can help you do the same. So it doesn't matter if it's a keynote or a book or the first book or the second book or the podcast. It doesn't matter the thing, it's more around getting back to who that brand and who I really am.

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Perfect. The continuous rebrand thing. You are doing it. You're paying attention. It's so much easier to be paying attention than to be going oh, I got blinders on. I don't want to know. That's living in a state of cautiousness, fear, denial. The world isn't staying stagnant if you're not attentive to the changes and the shifts that are going on. Your days are numbered if you're going to take that approach. It's always been the truth.

And for people looking at 20, 22 and trends and what should they be leaning into or leveraging? What's some of the advice that you can Give around branding for the time that we're in.

Build your brand around something that can survive anything. No one knew in March 2020, that was the beginning of the shitstorm, right? All we knew is there's this thing, right? You know, then like, you know, April, May, ah, you know, everyone's holding onto their cash, they don't know what's going on. So the thing is, is that it parallels a little bit with like diversify, but build yourself up in a way that, and that was one of the things that I did. So yes, I've been doing branding for, in 2022, 42 years. And that service could be vulnerable to economic trends, different things of that nature and all that kind of stuff. Yes. So some years ago I wrote this that was like great for people who didn't yet know me. They were kind of like, they loved it. They was like, it's boom, it's big. It's. They love the big type. That's what, that's what cracked me up. I loved showing it to my daughter because she goes, oh, you finally get me. I mean, that's the size of the type in the book, right?

It's large for any, for anyone who is only hearing this on audio, that's brand Intervention Book, David's best selling book on Amazon.

Yeah, it's a lot of fun, it's very visual. But the thing about it is like, so I put that. So that was like, so that was another little way that people could avail themselves to me. And then I, in 2020, I was like, wow, this is pretty nuts. So I started looking at some other ways to have other layers of being able to engage with me. That's where I created my masterclass mentorship program. And so that's, that's a different tier of investment as opposed to working with me. So, or not even as opposed to, but just in addition to. That's another layer depending on where you're at. And so that's an example of what I would recommend to people. It's like, okay, how many layers can you do if you are an experienced individual, I know you could speak to this because of your book. I know I can speak this because of my book. The ultimate calling card is a book. If you have insight and you can go, you know what? No one's tackled this before. No one's given it this vantage point, this insight. Freaking write a book. And if that's too daunting, then go ahead and maybe start putting together micro content in other areas. But show up, you've got to show up. If your listeners are listening and they get nothing else from this, this they could take to the bank. We are way too prone in today's hyperspeed sense of business to want to put stuff on autopilot. Oh, good. Oh, that'll be. Let me put, Let me do it. Let me do a drip campaign. Let me do a, let me do a thing. Let me, let me do an email sequence. Let me do a funnel. Let me do this. If you're listening to this and you do that, you are sucking the life out of your brand by putting too many things on autopilot that should be tended to by you. And it doesn't mean that you can't delegate in different things, but it's just be deliberate. And the perfect example that everyone can relate to, it's the moron coos who put these things. Hey, we've got customer service calls that are coming in and how come. Why don't we put a menu tree? So that way by the time that they've gone through a menu tree and we've called up and we've gone, oh, hi, we see that you're calling from this number. Is that right? I'm sorry, I can't understand your response. Is that right? Dah, dah, dah. I can't understand. How about we try it this way? And then you go one layer, two layers, three layers, four layers. By the time you get, you get a person, you're ready to kill them. What does that do for your company's brand in terms of efficiency, in terms of customer relations, in terms of being relevant? I am blown away. Are there places that you call, you call them and you actually get a person?

Well, it's very rare, very rare. My BMW payment the other day and I couldn't get to someone to help me make my payment. It was crazy.

The ones that do, and I'm not talking like a little small local business, but I'm talking about like an actual decent sized company. No, it doesn't blow your mind.

American Express. Every single time they get me to a person faster than any other company and they separate their selves and their brand. I would never leave that credit card.

There you go. Perfect little micro example. We are too prone to putting stuff automated. Oh, automate this, automate that, automate that, automate that, automate, and you will die a premature death. Because you're putting things in place of showing up when you or someone part of your team should be showing up. People are freaked out. People are like, hey, you know what? I'D like to apply to do your masterclass. They're shocked when I'm on the zoom. I'm right there, like, like, oh, my God, it's you. They're kind of like, start. It cracks me up. It always cracks me up. And they're kind of a little starstruck. Or this, that I've been following you for years. I didn't expect you. They're, like, blown away. They're shocked, but I care. And at the same time, I don't know anybody else who can look through my eyes and see, is this a good candidate or is it not a good candidate? Because not everybody gets through. Right.

But I also think people need to know that you've made some strategic decisions that allow you to show up. And because I've noticed you on social media, you show up all the time. But then today, you taught me. Because you've said no to having your own podcast, because you said no to putting email on your phone so that you don't disrupt these different times during the day. You've made choices and you've foregone different options.

Yeah.

Well, David, it is such a pleasure having you on the show. You are welcome to come back anytime you want. Please let everybody know. How do they find out more about your masterclass and where can they pick up your book?

Totally. Well, the book, Amazon, Barnes and Noble online, they can get it for books, A million online, any of those. And get the hardcover. Why do I say get the hardcover? Well, first of all, it's best production values, and someone is seeing that in your home or office will want to borrow it. And if you're kind of like, if you have, like, boundaries, you're like, did I say you could touch my book? See, and then when, then when, then when you slap them, if you slap them with a paperback, they're not. They're going to know your heart's not in it. You hit them with a hardcover, they're going to go, whoa. They're serious. So that's the first thing. The other thing, the other thing is my site, for sure. Risingabovethenoise.com R A S I N G risingabovethenoise.com you could find out all about whatever you need to know. The masterclass, you could find all about that. And you know what I got? I have to send this to you, Heather. I have to send this to you because you'll appreciate this. I did my first speaking, live speaking gig in, like, I think it was 18 months in June, right? And it was in Montana. And I wanted to make it really memorable because it was a nice, small, intimate group. It was like about 35 entrepreneurs in beautiful Montana, the hills and all. It was great. Well, what happened was I was like, how do I make a lasting impression? I made this coin, and it's like. It's the largest coin. It's like it's cast. It's cast out of. Out of bronze. And it's just. It's a whole thing. And so what you have to do, you have to. I'm going to send you one for you to have. Heather, this sucker has heft to it. And so you can hurt somebody with this kind of thing. So I know you're not going to hurt anybody with this, but I want you to have one just as my. As my expression of appreciation.

Give me some. Before we hang up, and you are hysterical. Before we hang up, let me know the numbers in regards to revenue generation on the masterclass that you quoted me a little bit of information on the success that masterclass has had.

We put 63 entrepreneurs through the program from Australia, Dubai, Malta, Venezuela, India, Hawaii, America, and Canada. Those are the various places that I can remember offhand. And so 63 of them since they've completed the program, they have generated in excess of 71 million in sales since completing the program. And so what's interesting about it, I hated what I'd seen out there. I didn't like the programs I see out there because they were kind of like throwing a lot of different crap at you. And here's what I found. I consider myself smart. Not like academically smart, but, like, I'm a hard worker. I will study, I will lean into stuff. I'm observant. And so why am I feeling from the beginning of the program to the end of the program that I'm as clueless at the end as I was in the beginning? The only difference now is I have their whole educational souvenir kit, you know, that. You know, I have all their swipe files and their formulas and all this junk. But why do I feel dumb? And so I didn't want to create something that basically was like, hey, do what I say, follow what I do, so you can be a blind David Breyer puppet. I didn't want that. I want people to think for themselves. If I know why something works, I can construct it, deconstruct it, put it back together, make it work. That's the way it was built. And so the way it's done is it actually somehow finds the weakest link in Each person's what's undermining their brand. And it's fascinating because for some people it might be how they sell. For some people, like how they negotiate. Some people, how they frame their story. For others, it's like all the bits and pieces. We even had a fitness instructor out of the Hamptons who did it. Had her own fitness studio and of course 2020 obliterated fitness studios as far as business. So she went from a seven person fitness studio to just being her own solo practitioner. And so when she heard my program was available, she did. It didn't change. She tweaked some different key things. Well, what happened was by the time she was done, she now had a completely full roster. She was servicing more customers to capacity than she actually had. When she had seven people, her profit margin went through the roof. She increased her prices and she has people on waiting lists and are referring them elsewhere. And that's just as a result. So for each person, whether they're solo or other people, we had five people from a $3.5 billion lighting company, the largest lighting company in the world, and their earnings the next quarter were just so. It impacts wherever anyone is to change their trajectory because they're no longer the passenger, they're actually in the driver's seat of their brand. They have the ownership. Because I'm very, very well known for threatening to break people's kneecaps if they actually say something. If they are really very, very stubborn about. No, no, no, I really can't do this. I'm like, bullshit. You really can. So that's the kind of pathway and journey that happens.

Oh my gosh. Well, you are clearly the branding expert. I'm so grateful to be in your circle. I'm going to have to ch and for everyone else, go to rising above the noise calm. I will link to the book, to the class, to the website, in the show notes. Definitely check it out. David, until I see you soon on LinkedIn, thank you so much for being here 100%.

You are awesome. And make sure send, send me. I got your. I got your name on this, so send me your info and I'll send it to you.

Done and done. As I would say in my true brand words. Until next week, everyone, keep creating your confidence. You know I will be change that dynamic. I couldn't be more excited for what you're going to hear. Start learning and growing. Inevitably something will happen. No one succeeds alone.

You don't stop and look around once in a while.

You could miss it.

Come on.

This journey with me.