Stop Trying to Be a Content Machine: Build a Real Personal Brand

You know, folks, most people think that building a personal brand. Yeah, we're going to hit personal branding today. All right. Most people think that building a personal brand means that becoming a content machine. Right, or acting like an influencer, like, do you really want to be a content machine? Like, how much shit do you want to create today? Like, that's. To me, there's a point where there's an absurdity towards where this has gone, and it's. It's created a lot of the noise that we find on the Internet today because so many people want a personal brand, and they do it and they worried, oh, I have to be an influencer. I have to be like that girl on TikTok doing makeup videos. No, you don't. It doesn't mean that at all. A personal brand is simply the public version of your values, your voice and your expertise. Think about that for a minute. It's the public version of your values, what you believe in, your voice, how you deliver it. Right? And what you're all about, and your expertise, the thing that actually brought you here in the first place, that you couldn't get out the door. Right? I mean, that's. At the end of the day. Everybody I know is pretty much an expert at something at this point. I mean, the circles I keep, like, it's just a room of killers, and some killers know how to get out of the gate, and some killers get stuck behind the gate, is what it is. You don't need to be loud. Ironic coming from me, typically the loudest person in every room, but that's because I have an insufferable calamity where I have a disease that is something I cannot ever have treated, which is called I need to make every single person I meet my new best friend. And I love meeting people, almost like a puppy loves meeting people. It's something for me. Yeah. You know, it's a problem at times, but it's a problem I deal with, and I'd rather be that way. And, yeah, that's just me. So, look, you don't need to be loud. You don't even need to be entertaining. You know, this isn't. You're not doing prank videos. You're not necessarily, you know, selling a new album or trying to, you know, make a video of an unboxing video or whatever the hell other stuff it is out there that people do for the entertainment side of the Internet and of the digital world that we live in now. You also don't need to be viral. Huge misconception. Oh, if I've heard this so many times where people have come to me and said, steve, if I can get just one viral hit, my brand will take off. Will it? Will it really? I don't know. I don't think so. I've seen a lot of people take viral hits and haven't done a damn thing with it. I've seen countless people have these viral moments, and because they weren't prepared for it, they were so worried about the viral moment, they didn't think about planning and executing something behind it that would be of any value to them. And that's about setting up your business properly. I actually wrote a book on that called Plan Execute and Rock. It's coming out in 2026. I think that's the first time. Now, this is episode seven, and this is the first time I even mentioned that I've been writing a book. I've been writing it for the past two years. If I'm going to give full disclosure. Yeah, it's one of those things where it's been something I wanted to do to give back to people. It was probably one of the first moments when I realized I'm going to start putting things back into the universe instead of being somebody who's always been kind of learning from the universe and then hiding behind closed doors and giving that to people only behind closed doors in set environments. And instead now where I'm flipping my own script and putting things back out into the universe to make the universe a better place. And one of the main reasons for why I started writing Plan Execute and Rock was because I felt like too many people that I've worked with over the years get stuck within themselves and they just don't know where to go. Maybe their time with me isn't as long as it could have been for many reasons, whether it was the systems in which I was coaching behind closed doors or they. Sometimes the money runs out. People have a set amount of fundage to do certain things with their business. And a lot of times I wasn't the first one in the door when maybe I should have been. And I was the last one in the door. So they would end up cutting out this part, the marketing part, the growth part, the learning about yourself and how to put yourself out into the universe part. And it's kind of what created Rise. It's kind of what created the effort Switch. And what's really motivated me to start building all this, making unshakable af. I mean, yeah, there's a lot of illusion to cursing and all this but hey, I'm a long haired pirate. You're gonna get what you're gonna get, right? It's like what they tell the kids. Get what you get and don't get upset. So look, you don't need to be viral, but what you need to be is clear. You need to be consistent and you need to be honest. That's it. Like, that's for me, that's literally the guidelines to a perfect personal brand. The personal brand itself becomes powerful when it becomes recognizable. The recognition that's built through repetition. Think of a radio ad, right? Nobody does one radio ad. They buy a bank of radio ads for saturation. Because if you hear, hey, XYZ so and so is brand new. And come by now whatever you know, and you hear that radio ad on the news channel once, you won't even remember the URL. But when you hear it five times a day for 50 days, like a typical radio ad or more, hell, it's a lot more. At times it starts to beat it into your head and you start to recognize, oh, okay, yeah, that's, that's XYZ company And they do this and that and they might have different versions of the ad with the same, you know, call to action at the end. That's all good. That's them doing their branding, right? So to get recognition built through reputation, using the Rise framework is a great way to help ensure your brand stays grounded in authenticity instead of performance. Because we want to be real. We want a personal brand that actually matters. You know, this riff for this episode is going to be real simple. And this one I'm going to tell you right now, I literally wrote something else down. And then this came into my head while talking through this episode. I do these all in one take and it came into my head while talking. And I'm trying to remember it as I talk, right? So here it goes. Your brand isn't what you post. It's what people say when you're not in a room. Think about it for a minute, like, how do people think of you? How do people think of your brand? I know a lot of people where I could tell you in one sentence exactly what they are and who they are and what they're all about. And you could take enough of an understanding from that to say, yeah, I know exactly who that person is. For me, I'm unshakable, right? That's just me. Like I could go through anything and just kind of stay the same crazy human being I always am. And I don't, you know, I lose focus like anybody does from time to time. But I can't be rattled. So there's a difference for me there. Like losing the focus for a moment and then stepping back and regaining that clarity, that's all right. But I can't be shaken off my spot for anything. There's just nothing that will do it. There never has been and there never will be. And people that know me will say, that dude just, he's legit. He delivers it. And he delivers what he delivers in a way that he cares. It matters. And the results of other people matter to him. At least I hope that's what people say about me. People might also say I'm a jerk off and I'm a loudmouth and I'm too loud in the room and I talk too fast and I'm from New York, so because I'm a New Yorker, I inherently suck. And you know, hey, I just say that's just sad. People that don't like the Knicks and I move on and. Right. That's just. You have to find your ways around the crazies of the world. But your brand isn't what you post. It's what people say when you're not in a room. Think about how that applies to you. Think about what people say when you're not in a room. How does somebody that doesn't. How does somebody that kind of knows you describes you don't even worry about the ones that love you, Right? We all got our fans, we all got some amazing people in our networks that will like and comment on every post and always be a cheerleader for you. And I try to be like that for hundreds of other people every day. So it's an exhausting thing and sometimes it's a thankless thing. And a lot of times you do it because you just know it's the right thing to do. I click, like on every positive, uplifting post I see. I try to comment on all of them, try to help lift other people. Right? Rising Tide lifts all ships. But what do people say about you when you're not in a room? That's where your personal brand really comes in, right? That's where you know whether or not that the public version of your values, your voice and your expertise were seen and heard. And if they're not and you're missing the mark, well, then we need to go back to the beginning of this conversation and talk about why people think building the personal brand is going to mean they become a content machine or why it means they have to act like an influencer and go viral and get big and yada yada. No, no, you just need to consistently be you and let your values and your way of the world be known to people. That repetition breeds recognition through consistency and clarity. So look, show up as who you are, not who you think the algorithm wants. That's the brand. People trust you. So be more you stop being some, you know, modified version of yourself that's not really there and that nobody actually ever experiences. And you're only using to get a lead because you know, it's the worst thing in the world is to pull in a new client. They meet you for that first big meeting and you're completely different than they expected. They're going to be rushing the door to get the hell away from you, I can promise you that. So listen, as always, thank you. Gratitude, the end of every single one of these. Thank you so much for listening. I hope this helps you in some kind of way. It sure is helping me knowing that I'm putting it out to the world to help people with things that look, these are 5 and 10 minute clips of things that maybe our multi hour conversations, half day conversations with people. Right. And trying to break it down into something really bite sized just to help you motivate your day. So if you want more of it, join the community, go to stevelichtman.com you can join my community. It's free. Click. Become unshakable in the top corner and join up. I welcome you there. I will literally personally welcome you when you come in. So don't forget to post an intro message and I will personally be there to say thank you and to welcome you into my universe. Yeah, this has been unfiltered and unshakable with Steve Lichtman. Have a wonderful day.