Engineering Your Public Perception: How to Pivot a Personal Brand Without Starting Over

What's up, you guys? Welcome back to the podcast. In today's episode, we're talking about engineering your public perception and how to pivot your personal brand without starting over completely. So in this episode, I'm gonna answer some juicy questions about the process of pivoting, as I know it's something that tends to come up for entrepreneurs, creators, anyone who's building anything online. And after having been posting online for over 6 years, earning multiple millions of dollars through digital products and service sales through my content, this is something that inevitably has come up in my own journey. So I'm gonna share what it's looked like, in my business brand and my content and how you can intentionally shift people's perception of you and continue to have people buy from you at every stage when you do this the right way. I've had so many clients who wake up one day and they realize, oh my gosh, I feel like I'm stuck in a version of my business or a version of my content or a version of my brand that no longer feels the most aligned or the most authentic. I want to move into this. I wanna talk more about this. I feel myself being inspired by this, but there's a lot of fear there about what is going to happen. What's going to happen if I start to shift and is my audience going to come with me and is it going to get confusing and do I need to start a new page and how is this going to work and is anyone going to care? And it's almost like we revert back to all of those questions that plagued us at the very, very beginning of our journeys of showing up online, posting content, selling things. So I wanna share and talk about this because I realized the other day when I was having a conversation with someone, I, I actually think I was talking to one of my mentors and she was like, you're so good at pivoting. And I was like, really? I don't think I've ever pivoted. And she's like, Sam, your whole brand and business has completely pivoted because I've worked with this mentor for like over 5 years. And so if you are listening to the podcast and you've been here since the inception of the show back in 2020, like you probably are also screaming at your phone right now. Like, what do you mean you haven't pivoted? Because it's true. Like obviously when I reflect on it now, there's been so many different like iterations and evolutions and there's been a lot of pivots, especially with my business and my products and the services that I sell now. It's so different from when I started. And I actually think the magic of what I'm gonna teach you and share with you in this episode, just through answering some of these questions and kind of talking about it organically, is going to be this idea of like pivoting without pivoting, if that makes sense. Like pivoting without telling yourself that that's what you're doing. I really think that that was one of my biggest advantages was that I was not in the headspace of, oh my gosh, I'm changing this, or it's gonna totally be different. And what are people gonna think or say? I didn't even realize that I was really pivoting. Until I looked back on it literally just the other week when I was having this conversation with my mentor. And I think that's part of the secret sauce, but we're going to unpack a lot of it. So if you're interested in this conversation, stick around and let's dive in. Welcome to the Makeshift Happen podcast. I'm your host, Samantha Daly, entrepreneur, life coach, and your no BS bestie, here to bring you all things mindset, manifestation, and personal development. This podcast is designed to help you expand your mind and upload level your life. So turn the volume up and roll the windows down if you're coming along for the ride. Let's go make shift happen! So when I first started my brand, people would probably describe me or think about me in terms of manifestation, spirituality, personal growth. Those are the things that I would have been known for when I was first starting out online. And the types of content that I was posting was very much in that sort of like spiritual, whimsical realm. My branding and all of my colors were pastels and very like neutral and light. And it was a lot of like love and light energy. I was also in my, you know, yoga era because I had done my yoga teacher training and I got certified as a life coach. And then I did my certification for past life regression. And so of course there were a lot of things that made sense as that being part of the brand. It was a lot about creating your dream life and taking hold of what you could be responsible for in your own journey so that you could build the life that you really wanted. And so in a way, what I'm doing now is still relevant to what I was doing then. It's just that it takes a different shape or form. I was always very no BS. If you guys remember me being like, no BS, bestie, and all of those things. So the personality and I think the conviction and the energy with which I was delivering my message was always really true to me. But of course, my experience of that message evolved. And so while that was authentic to me then, and it was the most important thing, the most revolutionary thing in my entire life, and that's why I was teaching it and obsessed with it and talking about it all the time and making the content about it, naturally, as that started to take effect in my life and I was continuing more and more and more at new and new levels, manifesting my dream life and changing my reality, what I wanted to focus on, and actually the skill sets that I had developed and the depth at which I was able to actually help people do that for themselves also evolved. And so it wasn't so much like, oh, I don't like these topics anymore, or, oh, this isn't passionate for me anymore. It's like by doing so much of that personal development work, the manifestation work, the mindset work, by doing so much of that, I was now living in a whole new reality and I've— it felt like I was playing a whole new video game. And by building a multiple six-figure business, I had developed so many skills. I had learned so much and my clients were naturally asking me about those things. So what ended up happening was I had these clients that I was doing one-on-one coaching with, and they were there for the personal growth and for the life coaching and the transformation. But naturally those sessions kind of started turning into personal brand conversations and they wanted to build something and, ooh, I think I could create this course or what kind of offer. And, and so I was naturally encouraging them. And then before you know it, I realized that my one-on-one life coaching was actually business coaching because that is what I had just, I had started becoming a master in through the scale of everything that I was learning. Content, marketing, messaging, brand. I had to learn all of that and I was learning it through the game of manifestation, personal growth, like changing my own life. And then that was now the new level that I was at and I wanted to pass that back and I wanted to share that. And that was now the biggest passion in my life. And the thing that I was the most obsessed with and the thing that I was thinking about constantly all the time was the strategy and the marketing and the messaging and all the business stuff. And so I think that when people feel this sense that they are wanting to change their public perception or shift what they're talking about or sharing about online, the mistake that they often make is they make it a really big deal. And instead of looking at it as just this natural part of their evolution of, oh, I'm growing, I'm evolving, I'm playing the game at a new level so I can talk about these things now and I can share more of this, they try to make it so complex and so serious. They're not just having fun with elements of how they're evolving, they're thinking about strategizing it. And oh, is this right or is this wrong? And are people going to like this or not like this? And is this type of content going to hit or not? And then if I do this and I talk about that, what's the perception and what am I going to sell and is that going to make me money? And so they get totally thrown out of just the natural energy that they could be in, which is riding the wave of your own personal evolution and just being so excited about all the new things that are coming into your field. And what are you interested in? What are you obsessed obsessed with and what can you not stop thinking about? And can you just authentically share that and be that and embody that and let that wave take shape and just ride it? Just ride it without overthinking it and going, oh my God, I'm about to pivot. That is the thing that throws people off. It fucks them up so bad when they think, oh my God, everything's changing. I used to be this and now I'm going to be this and maybe I need a new account for it. And it's like, oh my God, no, just evolve. Just just act natural, be chill, just naturally allow yourself to evolve in public. That's what I think about it as. It's not pivoting, it's evolving in public. Now I think that early identity and that early kind of brand that I was building and the energy of it and the, the topics around it and the colors and all that, I think it was authentic to me at the time. But of course we're always influenced by what's popular and what's happening in the zeitgeist. And I do think in 2018, 2019, like, that was very much the thing. And if you guys remember back in the day, like, travel influencers, I think, are a really good example. What was working then in 2016 is so different from how travel influencers are showing up today. And it's not that it's, you know, not authentic to them or whatever. It's like, but that was what was hitting. And if you think about like those photos when the travel influencers were all wearing the big gowns and they would go to Greece and they'd be taking the photos in Mykonos or wherever, like, with the, you know, the huge gown like blowing in the wind, and all these very like stylized aesthetic, like super edited images. That was what was working. And so I think the same thing about, you know, the early days of my own brand is it was authentic to me, but also of course it was influenced by the times and the zeitgeist and what was working and what I was being influenced by and what I was seeing. And so I think as you grow into yourself as a business owner, as a founder, as a creator, you just become more and more of yourself. Because when you're first starting out, hopefully you have a strong sense of self and you know who you are, but also you can know who you are and also not know exactly how you fit in the landscape of social media or building offers. And so you kind of have to like figure that out. And sometimes that takes time and you're gonna grow into it. And eventually you give so many less fucks and you're just way more yourself. And you're like, actually, my energy and my vibe and my colors and my this and my that. Like I've totally evolved and now it's this. And that's the beauty of us evolving as humans. And so I think you just have to allow yourself to go through that process naturally and again, not overthink it. I think some of the pros and like the upsides of that early brand identity that I had as it related more to manifestation and money and mindset and all those things was that it definitely had a higher TAM, like a total addressable market. So there was a lot more availability for there to be like widespread interest from the public. The things that I was talking about. And I've even seen this to be true with things like the podcast. I remember a couple of years ago seeing a negative review on the podcast and was like, this show used to be good, but now it's gotten so businessy. And I was like, it was interesting to me also because this was a couple of years ago and it wasn't even that businessy at the time. You know, of course I'm gonna be talking about success and my journey and a lot of entrepreneurship style things. But to be fair, I think it's gotten even more businessy since then, and that's actually because I've realized that those episodes do better. So I think my audience is just, you know, people stopped listening to the show and then other new people found the show. And I'm not going to make my content to please what I think is the biggest market. I have to be in alignment with myself, my own journey. And to be fair, what are the authentic stories that I'm going to be able to tell if I'm talking about shit that's not relevant to my life anymore, or if I'm trying to fit myself into a content box because that has a higher TAM and that's what's gonna work when really I wanna be talking about that. No, especially for long-form content, for something like my podcast, I have to be passionate and alive and excited about what I'm sharing. And so a lot of that stuff is going to fall under the category of this idea of being a creator or an entrepreneur. And matter of fact, all of the episodes that we do that are about like success or money things in that realm, they do the best. So it makes sense to me now that the audience has naturally also evolved in that same direction with me. And so even though there's not It's a much smaller market, right? There's a much smaller pool of people who are— Okay, so I have something I think you're really going to love and your business is going to love it even more. Do you want to steal the strategy I've been using to seduce premium buyers and sell out my offers on Instagram Stories? Chances are you're already posting, you're already making sales, but if your Instagram Stories aren't working as hard as you are, you're leaving money on the table. Sold Out Stories is going to teach you exactly how to change that so that you can sell out any offer at any price point. And even high-caliber coaches miss this because selling on stories isn't about how much you post or how frequently you show up face to camera. It's about psychological sequencing. And the way you're posting right now might be giving the premium buyers in your audience the ick. Documenting your day and hoping it builds trust, posting look-at-me content and calling it authority, sharing client wins as soon as they drop in instead of strategically weaving them into a story selling ones designed to drive demand and convert sales. We both know that you're not here to learn how to show up more. You're here because you know your content could be converting faster and more effectively. Sold Out Stories is going to give you 5 high-converting story selling frameworks built specifically for premium buyer psychology. Inside, you'll get over 6 hours of deep dive video trainings, real IG story breakdowns, and live walkthroughs that show you exactly how to elevate your slides from authority building all the way to offer flow in less than 10 slides. My clients have already been using these frameworks to pull 5-figure sales days while posting less. One client generated 14 premium leads from a single story sequence. Another sold out her event in under 6 hours with just 8 strategic story slides. No sales calls, no paid ads, just the right frameworks. You'll walk away knowing how to sequence for desire, transition into your offer seamlessly, and sell daily without ever feeling salesy. You already know your offer's incredible, so now it's just time for your stories to sell it like it is. Grab Sold Out Stories today and turn 10 slides or less into your highest converting content. Let's make your next story your most profitable one yet. Click the link in the show notes below and I'll see you inside. Female entrepreneurs, content creators, or, or whatever, then just speaking to women and empowering them to grow themselves internally and understand their mindset and manifest like that's a much bigger market. Absolutely. But you also just have to roll with what is most authentic to you and what you're gonna be able to sustain and what you care about. And also something about the, the public podcast, because I've done some, you know, other kind of like secret podcasts behind the scenes, and I'll probably do another one later this year because I wanna dive even deeper into some of the unspoken parts about being a business owner at this level. Things that people are not really having public conversations about, but that actually are happening behind behind the scenes. And these are the types of conversations that I'm probably only realistically having right now with my mentors or my friends who also have big businesses, or my top-tier clients, especially when they come to the immersion. And we really have— we, we go deep into these like candid conversations of like uncovering the shit that's like, okay, hang on, are you guys— is— has anyone noticed this, or have you felt this with these types of people, or what's going on here, or what does it look like, the legal things, the betrayals, like all that kind of stuff because those really aren't conversations that I want to have on the public podcast. And so I do think that my brand when it comes to the podcast, yes, it's evolved and it's come more into this category, but even so, there's still so much on this show that is about like health, wellness, growing yourself in every area, success mindset, money. I love interviewing other entrepreneurs, founders, authors. And so this show still, I think, is very well-rounded, whereas it'll be interesting, probably later this year I'll bring something out where the secret kind of behind the scenes situation where if we wanna go even deeper on like the hidden conversations in the business realm, we can go even deeper. But I don't want anyone to be scared of allowing yourself to evolve in public because that is the key to the longevity of your business, especially when you're building a personal brand. That is the whole point. That's the whole reason why we are the face of our brands because we want to be able to evolve and change and naturally go into different areas and still have people come along in that journey with us. You can build a following probably arguably a lot faster if you are not focused on building a personal brand and you are just going super niche on a specific topic or teaching one specific thing. And you'll see accounts like that. And because the algorithm can understand very, very clearly, there's so much repetition, there's so much niche specificity because the algorithm can understand it perfectly who you are, what you do and what your page is about. It's easier to find the right market to show that content to. And then you keep creating more of that content and it keeps getting pushed out. And so people will grow their accounts pretty quickly when they take that approach. The only problem with that approach is that when you naturally evolve, as you're going to do, you're fucked because then people didn't follow you for you. They followed you for a topic, they followed you for a tip, they followed you for one specific niche thing, not for you. So it is a longer-term game trying to build a personal brand, but I think it allows you more longevity and more sustainability in your business. Because you have that benefit of being able to naturally evolve in public and quote unquote pivot and still have people follow along with you and come on that journey and continue to buy and be fans and support you and engage and all of the things. So like I said at the start, I never really had this fear of like, oh my gosh, my audience isn't gonna like this, or they're not gonna come with me, because I really wasn't thinking about that. I was just like, oh, this is my natural evolution. Why would I not be showcasing it? This is my personal brand. This is my journey that I'm going through. These are the things that I'm learning. This is what I wanna talk about. This is what I wanna share. And it was totally innocent, but it was probably the best thing that could have happened to me. And so I cannot recommend that mindset enough of just, I'm allowing myself to evolve in public. It's not a, you know, hard left turn pivot into this totally new direction. And I think that's what stops a lot of people from evolving their brand is this idea of one, the sunk cost fallacy of, well, I've already spent all this time building this audience or talking about these things. So if I, I start to wean off of that or talk about it less, like, that's going to totally screw me over, so I might as well just stay with this. It's the same reason why people stay in their 9-to-5 jobs, or they don't change their career path when they're in school because they've already spent 3 and a half years going to get this degree, and then they realize they're probably never going to use it or do anything with it, but they're like, yeah, okay, let me do it anyway. And then on top of that, let me go to grad school for it, right? It's the sunk cost fallacy. I think also people get tripped up by the idea of, well, now I have products that I can't sell anymore, or I have services or programs or whatever it may be that aren't really going to be totally in alignment with this new direction. And so what's going to happen with that? And how am I going to make money? Or they're really attached to the outcomes of their content or their views or their engagement, or maybe they're valuing the money that they can make over truly being in alignment with who they are and what they want to share and how they want to show up online. This is the second career death. We do this first with our 9-to-5s. We tell ourselves all these stories. We avoid putting in the work so that we can just start our new lives as entrepreneurs. And then it tends to happen again for people at some point in their entrepreneurial journey where they realize there's some sort of pivot that they're being called towards or pushed towards. If you haven't listened to the calling, it's going to turn into a push, and then it's going to be a shove, and then it's— and then it's going to be you getting hit when whacked over the head with it. That's how we know it goes. And I really think that's like the second career death, is because when you first start out being a creator online, posting, building a business, you don't really know what you're doing. And again, you might have a strong sense of self internally, but you don't know who you are in this space. And also the space is always fucking changing. So even when you figure out, oh, this is who I am and this is what I want to do and this is how I post and this is what I sell, it's like, well, that's not really hitting anymore. People aren't posting like that anymore. People aren't selling those types of products anymore, or this isn't working anymore. And so of course, like, shit's going to blow up in your face and you're going to have these realizations. You're probably going to go through stuff as a human. You're going to go through stuff in your relationships. You might become a mother or have some of these really big identity changes. And then you're like, yeah, naturally as an artist, what I want to talk about and share and write and create and sell is changing. And so you have to understand it when it's coming up for you that the more you try to resist it, the harder it's going to be once you fully decide, okay, now I don't have a choice. The same way that it was for a lot of us with our 9-to-5s. It's like you get the niggle, you get the instinct, you get the intuitive downloads, you receive 1,000 signs and you ignore, you avoid, you push it down. You're too scared. You don't. And then we all know you're like, holy shit, I got fired. Or like something crazy happened because now you have to be pushed off the cliff because you weren't willing to just like start taking the stairway down. The same thing is going to happen with your pivot. If you're feeling that, if it's happening already inside of you, if you're having the inklings, if you're having the intuitive feelings, if new ideas or inspirations are coming forward for you, but you're like, I don't know how this fits with my brand or what I sell or who I am, but I don't know. You better start posting that shit. You better start finding a way to express and allow yourself as an artist to just evolve in public. Because the more you resist it, the more you try to push back and wait and not do it and not listen, the harder that lesson is going to be. And then you're going to be like, oh my God, I fucking hate my business. I need to burn it all the way down. And that's when I think you'll see people do like sabbaticals or they dramatically like leave the internet and they take like a year break. And it's like because they weren't really listening to themselves, they tried so hard to stay in the box that the box imploded and they blew up with it. And then they were like, oh my gosh, I probably need to go to therapy and I need to work on myself a little bit and I need to figure out who I am and, and I got to take a break and I got to take a full step back. So I think if you want sustainability, if you want longevity and you are building a personal brand, you've gotta honor what the truth is for you inside of yourself and always seek to maintain that inner alignment because otherwise it's gonna hit you over the head. Now I wanna talk about this idea of engineering perception and kind of showcase the journey of how that's looked for me. So I think that it was more of a gradual process than like this overnight, again, hard left turn from manifestation, spirituality, personal development into to marketing, messaging, business strategy, et cetera. And so if I really look back and, and walk it back and think, okay, how did this start? Like, when did that, when did the ripple kind of start to, to take place? In 2021 was when I released my very first business and brand building offer. It was called Abundant and Ambitious. And I just recently ran the last live round of it. So that offer has existed for years. We ran it over 9 times. It was an incredible program. So many people started in their businesses. People who have gone through that program now have 6 multi-six-figure businesses because of it. Just such an epic offer. But in 2021, I was a little bit nervous to release that because I had never done a business-specific offer before. But my mentor was like, Sam, you're already running a six-figure business. You know what you're doing. You're undercharging for these clients that are working with you for life coaching and you're basically teaching them business and brand anyways. You should just create the offer. And so I kind of ripped the Band-Aid off myself in a sense, it with that. And that was my first major shift into the new direction was in 2021 with the release of Abundant and Ambitious. Then we fast forward a couple of years. Again, I was running that offer the entire time, but in early 2023, I actually retired my past signature program that was all about manifestation and life transformation. It was called From Burnt Out to Badass. That was my very first offer that I ever created as a business owner. It was my very course program, the very first like framework that I brought any type of clients into in my business. And that also ran for many, many years, many, many rounds. I think we did 10 or 11 rounds of From Burnt Out to Badass, helped hundreds of women, like insane results. People changed their lives from that. But in early 2023, I decided this is going to be the last time that I do this live and that I run this program because I could just feel myself, you know, being pulled more into that new identity and that new realm of really wanting to help people with their business, their strategy, their marketing, and changing their reality. And it was still about evolving their lives and becoming the best version of themselves, but with a new skill set that I had adopted and mastered, and I wanted to pass that back. And so it just no longer made so much sense to keep running a program like From Burnout to Badass. And I cried when I decided that we were retiring that offer because that offer built me, not just in the sense that it was my first offer and it was the thing that took me to six figures and got me started in the space and built my reputation and all of those things. But it also built me in the sense that everything that I taught inside of that offer was the reason that I was even able to become the type of person that would post consistently online or have a business or build offers or be able to sell anything. So that truly was such a foundational piece of me and my own evolution, let alone the hundreds of women that went through it and also changed their lives from it. But that was really pivotal when I think about my journey in transitioning my public perception. And around that time in early 2023 was also when I started hitting 6-figure launches and I would have 6-figure months here and there. And the business was just like growing and evolving at a very new pace. And so I was being asked to do new things and I had to accurately prioritize what was making sense for the brand and for my own inner alignment. When we got to the middle of that year in 2023, that is when I created Top Tier Mastermind for the very first round. And this was my high-level business mastermind. It still is to this day. It has evolved a lot since then. It's very different than it was in those initial first couple of rounds today, but that was when it was first birthed. And that is a HighLevel Business Mastermind for 6 and 7-figure women. And yeah, I, I've loved also the evolution of that product, if you will, of that mastermind, of the experience and the type of women that come into that room. And even like the immersions that are attached to it are so different than they, they were when we first started. But that was a huge, that was another huge like major pivotal moment in this journey of shifting the public perception. And then in 2024 is when I really decided on a conscious level that I wanted to become known for my natural skill and gift when it comes to messaging and marketing. I realized through my work and through helping my clients, this is a zone of genius for me. This thing comes so much easier to me than it does for a lot of people, and I'm really good at teaching it, at articulating it, at explaining it, showcasing examples of it, and helping other people get better at it as well. And so I just realized, and I think you do this through doing, not through thinking hard about, oh, what is it going to be? You do it through doing and being in your business and allowing yourself to evolve. Like, oh shit, like that's a shining light for me. Hey, don't forget that every month we are picking a Listener of the Month to win $50 in cash just for showing love to the show. All you have to do is leave an an epic review of the podcast on Apple Podcasts. Screenshot the review before you hit submit and DM that screenshot to us on Instagram @makeshifthappenpodcast. And that's it. I want to thank you for being such a loyal listener and show my appreciation by putting a little extra cash in your pocket. I know it's super easy not to do it, but every single rating and review seriously helps the show rank higher and reach new people, so we appreciate them more than you know. We'll announce the next winner at the end of the month and slide into your DMs if it's you So keep an eye out and good luck. Love you guys, and thanks for supporting Makeshift Happen. That is a high skill for me. That is a zone of genius for me. And then you can go all in on it. And so I started teaching that more actively and making content about it and just being really decisive with the fact that I'm gonna rinse the— these topics and themes on purpose over and over again in my content. Because I want people to associate me with that. I want to be known for that. And nowadays, like, people come into my world and they're like, oh my God, I can't wait for you to tear apart my messaging. Like, I want messaging help from you. And people think that, like, it's their idea that they want me to help them with their messaging. And I'm like, well, that was my idea. Like, I made you think that way. And that's what I mean by engineering the public perception, is when you figure out, ooh, this is my thing that I really want to double down on, or I want to go all in on, or like, I've understood this is a really high skill set for me, or this is a zone of genius for me, you can intentionally rinse and repeat those topics and frameworks and talk about it more and more and more on purpose. And then people will come to you and they will think that it is their idea to have you help them with X topic. And in the back of your mind, you go, I did it. I was the mastermind, right? It's like the song Mastermind by Taylor Swift. It's like all along I was engineering every little domino that fell to make you see me this way and to make you want these products and programs and things from me and to make you see my genius. And then so last year in 2025, I really just like leaned all the way in to this new era, vibe, brand, like identity, whatever we wanna call it. And I restructured my entire client journey and offer flow to really match the skills that I've built along the way and what I'm wanting to double down on and stay in deeper alignment with what I'm obsessed with at the moment, what I'm passionate and what I could be talking about for days and days and days easily, which is the business stuff. So I love this question. When you made this pivot, did you change the topics, the tone, the language, or all three? And I would say it's definitely a mix of all three. So when you think about like topics, I intentionally chose what I call mastery markers. These are your content pillars, Hotter Big Sister, the top tier girlies know we talk about this a lot. I'm also gonna be teaching this inside of Become Uncopyable, which is a new 21-day intensive that I'm running. It's gonna be be so amazing. If you want to get better at yapping style videos on camera, building a cult-like brand, engineering more demand in your audience so that you have raving fan type followers that want to buy everything that you sell and buy quickly, and learning how to do all of that through your content, your expression, your polarization, then definitely get inside Become Uncopyable. I'll leave the link for it below in the show notes for you guys. We're going to talk about the mastery markers a lot more there. My top tier girlies already know this, but that's exactly what I was talking about about before of like, I made the conscious decision of these are the mastery markers. I'm gonna talk about them over and over again. This is how it's gonna work. And I'm gonna totally change the way that my audience and the public perception, what the public perception is of me. So that's kind of where I see, yes, the topics definitely changed. Tone, I think I just became more unapologetic and really intentionally polarizing. So I've been talking about this more recently, this idea of like being strategically polarizing, because I think people think, oh, anything that I have to say that could be polarizing is worth saying. Not necessarily. I think you want to be strategically polarizing so that you can build a cult-like brand, and there's a way to do that, and there's specific principles of cult-like brands that you want to be following. It's not just randomly trying to be controversial. Now, with the language, I would say that I definitely altered the language that I was using, mostly by like pulling from the principles that I teach inside of Million Dollar Messaging. So if you've gone through that messaging offer or you're in top tier, again, you will know this, or inside of the room, you guys also get access to it. But inside of Million Dollar Messaging, we talk a lot about how to really understand the words that you're using and the idea that the right words make you money, point blank period. If you know the right words to say, you can engineer demand and sales, and that's what it's all about. So if you are pivoting your public perception And with that is going to come wanting to sell new types of things or offers. Then you're going to want to be very conscientious about the language that you're using and dial in the messaging so that you know how to really speak directly to the person's, what I call primal desires, because that is going to be the thing that gets them ultimately to buy. And so if this is something that's really relevant for you right now, we are going to be going through all of this inside of Become Uncopyable. So definitely check it out. But we're going to talk about like defining your mastery markers so that you can become become not just anyone on the internet, but really known for something, and also start to be referenced by other people in your space for that something specific that you've defined as your mastery marker. We're also going to talk about yapping style videos and making more talking head content and ways to do that. And I'm going to challenge you to do this in ways that kind of signals your authority or shows your personality, positions you as a thought leader, and also leveraging that strategic polarization that I talked about and the principles of a cult-like following so that you can create this magnetic energy where there's just demand for people wanting to work with you and buy from you. So if you're interested, click the link below. We're gonna cover all of that inside of Become Uncopyable. Now, when you want people to associate you with something new, repetition is possibly the most important element. It's one of the most important things that you can consciously focus on and do is rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat. Like you need to repeat yourself over and over and over again. You have to do it with the right things. You're not just doing random topics or, or random things, but like intentional repetition of very specific topics or themes is going to be the way that you start to actually move and change people's perception of you. But it's going to take that repetition. If you think about how you create a new neural pathway in the brain, how do you change a mindset? How do you rewire something? Well, it has to be repeated over and over and over again until it also almost becomes this like auto pilot thing. And so we know that with ourselves and working on our own mindsets and personal growth. And so if you are trying to create mind control for other people, AKA engineering the way that they think about you and what that automatic neural pathway is in their brain when they think about you or they think about your brand, then you're going to have to put a lot of repetition out there so that it starts to change and shift the way that people see you and perceive your brand. Okay. So how long did it take before I started noticing people actually describing me differently? Or seeing me differently? I think honestly, I'd have to say at least a year. So about a year from the point of consciously deciding like, this is what I'm going to be about now, these are my mastery markers, this is the vibe, this is the direction, this is where we're going, and choosing to engineer a new public perception. After a year of doing that, I really started to see, oh shit, like it worked. It really worked because that's what people think of me now. As were there moments where the old perception still followed you? You know, I think that it's always going to be there, especially for the OGs. And I kind of love that. Like, if you've listened to this show since 2020 or you've followed me online since 2019, or you're one of my, like, earlier clients, like, there's just something really special about the people who ride with you through those different seasons and they know you on a deeper level because because they've seen the evolution and they've known all of the different iterations and versions of you. So yeah, I think that, you know, the old— is the old perception going to follow me? Of course. Like, for the people who knew those versions of me, they are always going to remember that. And I think there's something beautiful about that. Like, I don't think it's a bad thing at all. Do you think people's perception is shaped more by what you say or what you consistently demonstrate? I have to say both, because you have to rinse and repeat what you're saying, but you also have to live it. You also have to be the embodiment of it. Like a lot of times people who are struggling to make money on the internet is because they're trying to sell something that they're actually not that good at, or they're not that embodied in. And oh my gosh, it's infuriating. Actually, at my bachelorette, we were having funny conversations about this because everyone there was a female entrepreneur of some kind. And we were talking about like people that we've seen or known or worked with or whatever, where it's like the public perception is this, and, and this is what they talk about and this is what their content is. Is. And I think that they, they do genuinely think that they're doing it, that they're the embodiment of it. But when you have a closer look at it, or you know them in some way, or you have a personal experience with them, you're like, oh, you're not really embodied in that, are you? Like, you're still— like, this will happen a lot with like fitness. That was a huge one that I had seen. A lot of clients come to me after they built fitness businesses and pivoting into something else because hello, like fitness was the first thing that inspired them, but then they evolved in public and they grew and they cared about more shit and then they were good at something else and they, they wanted to do something different. But I will say, I think fitness is one of the hard ones to pivot away from because most people that grow in fitness, like I talked about before, they grow by talking about a very specific topic. They don't actually grow the personal brand. They usually lack like the lifestyle pillar and the reality TV effect. And it's not really about them. It's about the value and the workouts and the food and how to do this. And, and so people follow them for the topic, and then once they move away from that topic, it's like, well, those people aren't interested anymore. But anyways, I've had a lot of clients talk to me about the fitness space where it's like, you see these people that are promoting, you know, weight loss or being fit or gym lifestyle or whatever, and it looks like it's all hunky-dory. But I've seen these people in person, or I know them, and you're like, and I found out they have orthorexia, or they have some sort of eating disorder, or they are so like completely deranged in their mind still about body image and body fat and all these things. And I think I think that's really disheartening for a lot of people in that space, and then they end up wanting to, to get out of it and to, to teach other things. And so yeah, I think if you're wanting to shift the public perception, it's important what you say and that you rinse and repeat a very specific message and that you have that messaging dialed in and it's serving a purpose and you understand what the mastery markers are. But you also have to live that message and you also have to be embodied in it, and it actually has to be your truth, and you actually have to be good at it. Because if you're not actually good at something,, you might be able to sell things here and there, but you're not gonna have any longevity with your clients. Like, the lifetime value is gonna be so low because you don't have retention, because people don't repeat, because the product kind of sucks, because you're trying to sell something that you're interested in and you like, but you're not that good at. You're not really the full embodiment of it yet. Why do you think some people stay chronically misunderstood online? Oh God, probably because they don't understand themselves or what they're trying to do. You know, they're not working backwards from a clear outcome that they know that they want. They're just doing shit and hoping something works. Works. I think if you genuinely are having this experience where you're like, people don't get me, they don't understand what I do— like, you don't understand what you do, girl. Like, that's just what it is. It's like, oh, it's so hard to explain. Like, is it? Or like, you don't know how to explain it? Because if you knew exactly what you did and what you stood for and what your values were and what the point of your brand was and what the mastery markers were and what you were doing and the specific messaging that you needed to use and you were rinsing and repeating it, like, then would it be confusing for people? Would it be hard for them to understand? Or is it hard hard for you to understand because you're not fully clear. So I think if you're feeling like you're chronically misunderstood online, it's probably because you don't fully understand the mission or the end goal, or what are we working backwards from, what are we working towards, what do we want to be known for. And so yeah, it's really important to get clear on those things. And it's not to say that you can't be building or, you know, throwing things at the wall or being messy. I actually do think that's part of the way. That is the way. Like I mentioned, a lot of times what you want to be known for is not just going to randomly fall into your lap. You have to be doing things. So you have to be already putting yourself out there, taking messy action, posting without knowing, without having any of the clarity of where the fuck it's meant to bring you or what it's supposed to do. Like, that is the way. So it's not that that's wrong, but I think some people don't understand, they're not willing to admit or have the self-awareness to go, oh, I'm really misunderstood online because I'm still not fully clear. And it's okay if you're still not fully clear, but it's like when people try to pretend that that's not the case and blame it on other things when it's like, okay, well, let's just be honest, right? Let's just be real about like the phase that we're in, and then we can own it and go from there. But when you go victim mentality and you're like, oh, it's so hard because I'm so complex and I have all— and no one understands. Like, okay, well then we can't really help you because you don't want to help yourself because you're not willing to recognize that like you're just in a phase of your growth journey where you're still trying to figure shit out. How important is conviction in shaping how people perceive you? This is major, like such a phenomenal question. Conviction is everything. And when I talk about messaging, I often talk about this idea of like messaging being double-sided. It's like double-sided tape and the one One side is the words that you're saying, but the other side is the frequency underneath it. It's the energy that you're carrying. This is also part of the reason why when people are posting certain types of content online, it's just not hitting and not landing because they might be saying something really valuable or useful or good, objectively good, but the energy is flat. The conviction isn't there. You're not activating people. There's not enough personality, there's not enough pizzazz. And so I do think that, yeah, energy over strategy, but when you combine them, that is the synergy that you need. Communication is really, really important in shaping perception, in building demand, in getting people to buy, in all of it. Why do you think people with smaller audiences sometimes have stronger authority than people with massive followings? I think the, the bigger that your following gets, the more idiots there are in your audience. Like, that's just the honest truth. And it's harder to herd or direct people towards action when they have lower EQ, when they have lower self-awareness, when they have more perceived limitations, or when they have an overall worse mindset, like those people are not going to be as likely to take action and do the things that you want them to do. Then when you have a small audience that's highly curated and it's a very specific type of woman, let's say, that's in your audience and she's not at the beginning of her personal growth journey and she already understands a lot of these things, like that woman is going to be way easier to move into action and progress and forward momentum than someone who's still walking about the earth in autopilot mode, or is like a Karen on the internet. And, and everything that you post that has any sort of level of like polarization, or is you trying to showcase what's possible, they're going to take it as like bragging or unrealistic or privileged or whatever the fucking excuse is going to be. So I mean, that's my honest take on that. I think that the reason a lot of times there is more authority and even more demand in like smaller audiences than bigger ones is because the bigger the audience gets, the more idiots there are. Like, that's just what it is. Like, the quality of people in an audience where someone has 5 million followers is on the fucking floor compared to what the quality of your audience is when you have 10,000 followers. And that's just facts. So if you are someone who is feeling the nudge to let yourself evolve in public, this is your survival strategy. First, you need to decide how you want people to see you. You want to hone in on those mastery markers. You want to rinse and repeat the same 2 to 3 themes in your content over and over and over again. You want to share the results that your clients are getting. You need to be showcasing your skills, and you're gonna do this by sharing the results and client case studies to help strengthen your authority in that new direction that you're pivoting into. You wanna learn from experts and get in rooms with people who are better than you at doing the thing that you are trying to do, that are already in that kind of new avenue. And don't wait too long and then have to pivot abruptly because you need to burn your whole business down because you fucking hate it and you can't even stand it for one more minute. When you start to feel the nudge, allow yourself to gradually evolve your positioning and your offers. It will be so much less painful. It will be so much easier. People are more likely to follow along because it will be this natural evolution and not this abrupt like change overnight. And do not, whatever you do, do Do not start a new page or make some weird-ass announcement like, my content is now gonna be dedicated to X, and if you don't like that on this page, then you can feel free to unfollow. Ah, do not do that. Do not. It makes you seem wobbly. It makes you seem uncertain rather than just naturally evolving in public and not giving an F about what the perception is. The people who are there for you, who are actually there for the personal brand, they will stay. They wanna see what you're doing. They wanna see your evolution. I wanna keep learning from you and they're going to love it. Okay? So if I could summarize the biggest lesson from this journey in just one sentence, I would just say, or maybe it's a couple of sentences. Basically, I would say this, follow your natural evolution. Do not overthink it and be chill, act natural, lean back, just let it flow. Hopefully this was somewhat helpful and not entirely useless. I know that last statement, you're probably like, easy for you to say, but truly like that That is the key. That is the key. Follow your natural evolution. Don't overthink it. Act natural, be chill, lean back, let it flow. That is the formula to successfully pivoting in public without blowing up your business or starting over, engineering a new public perception of yourself and inserting brand new topics or offers that you wanna bring forward to your audiences with ease. You've gotta do it as soon as the nudge comes in, allow it to be natural, and I promise it's gonna be a way better journey for you. All right, you guys, I hope you loved this episode. If you found it helpful, please take a screenshot, share it to your Instagram stories, share it with your community, or copy the link, send it to a friend. If you have not subscribed, please take a look right now wherever you're listening to the show, whether it's on Spotify, Apple, YouTube. If you are not subscribed or following to the show, please do me a favor, take 2 seconds, go ahead and hit that subscribe or follow button. It helps us so, so much. I love you guys, and we'll see you next week. Bye! If you loved this episode, make sure to check out the show notes where I've linked a few similar episodes I know you're also going to love. You'll find them under the similar episodes section in the description down below with direct links so you can dive in and start listening right away, or add them to your queue for later. Binge away for even more growth, expansion, abundance, and fire motivation.