What Is Personal Branding? Read Chapter 1 Free.

Opening Words

What if there was something so powerful that you could get nations to do your bidding, millions of people to follow you, and be able to have a direct impact on the world’s future landscape?

To have the ability to get people to do what you tell them to do, resulting in fame, influence, riches, and power. To be remembered in times well past your life. A concept that can be used both for good and for bad, the definitions of which are up for your interpretation. A concept that can drive a mission forward and bring awareness to a cause, so much so that people are waking up asking what they can do to support it. What if I told you that this concept is not as far-fetched and distant as you might think? If I told you that you too, can tap into the benefits of this concept, would you believe me? Whether you believe me or not, frankly does not matter. It still exists. This concept has been a part of us since the beginning of intelligent man and will forever be ingrained in our nature.

What I am discussing is known as personal branding. Throughout this work, I will do my best to tactfully explain what personal branding is, why you should be building yours, how public figures throughout history have become the people we now study, and the ways in which you can preserve and guide your individual reputation. It is a manual that teaches you how you can pave a path of legitimate fame and influence that parallels that of your idols.

It does not require you to spend millions of dollars on external resources, as what you need, you already possess, nor does it require you to want to become famous or influence millions. It applies to the stay at home parent or student out of middle school as much as it does the next business mogul or international icon.

The largest selling point and competitive advantage made available is YOU.

Your personal brand.

1.1 What Is Personal Branding?

If you asked me to summarize the concept of personal branding in one word, I would simply reply with “You.” In its truest, most holistic form it is you. Who you are, what people know you for, and the distinctive combination of characteristics and personality traits that only you possess. The totality of your life experiences, your hobbies, your interests, your passions, and even your fears. All of your successes and all of your failures. Your lessons and your shortcomings. All of it is compiled under your personal brand.

As someone who has been in the business world for all of my adult life, I have witnessed one misconception being made time and time again. It is the misnomer that a company brand is the same as a personal brand. When you’re launching a business, you have to give it certain traits, decide on its brand colors and their psychological implications, and go out of your way to make it known what your business is and what it offers.

In contrast, one does not give themself a personal brand, as it has already existed. For proper representation, they should determine what they want to be seen as in the public’s eye and make decisions that will have a positive contribution to their overall reputation.

Personal brand and company brand are two separate entities that should be built correlatively. It also applies to other use cases such as authors and their books, podcasters and their podcasts, and movie stars and their movies. They are not their forms of media; their media are extensions of them.

Whether you are leveraging the internet or going out to brunch to network, there must be a firm distinction between this is “me,” and this is my body of work. It applies not only to the business owner but to all other niches. The end goal of making your personal brand attractive enough so that opportunities seek you out, remains the same. To be sought after for a series of publicly vindicated reasons.

Imagine that you have a personal promoter tagging along 24/7. This promoter is talking about how great you are, is sharing your accomplishments, running advertisements, and doing everything in their power to propel you forward. This promoter is your personal brand. You could be sleeping in your bed enjoying the coolness of your bedroom and the comfort of your covers, and people will be contacting you because of who you are!

Your personal brand is not something that you created, rather is what you are continuing to create. Your parents are the initial creators of your personal brand. They determined your name, where you were born, your early schooling, what political affiliation you had, what god you prayed to, and the religion you practiced, if any. They nurtured your structure and influenced how you behaved. As an adult, you can consciously direct your personal brand and change aspects from your childhood that you may no longer agree with or want to be associated with, the same way the natural environment you come from is unlikely to be your current surroundings. Every single person from your past either has a perceptual belief about you of which could very well no longer be accurate, or has forgotten about you entirely. The latter is a consequence that you’re now working to eliminate. Nobody wants to be forgotten as it is against our instinctual behavior and represents a lapse in impact.

You have unknowingly been building your personal brand from the time you had no control over most of the aspects of your life. As a baby, you were contributing to your personal brand. The older you became, the kind of student you were came into play. Were you an easygoing teenager or the problematic class clown? Humorous and radical to think, yet when you break down the implications, you realize that your previous behaviors left impressions on those who once knew you. This alternatively means you have a sense of command over your network as it presently appears. You can reach out to those older acquaintances and associates to ask them to help you build your tomorrow. You may not choose to do so, but the option is there.

Some argue and say the idea of a personal brand is a myth, but let me ask you this, if it were a myth, why is there such a thing as a criminal charge for extreme cases of defamation? Why do public relations firms exist and collectively make billions of dollars every single year preserving the reputations of the corporations and individuals they represent? Personal branding is very real indeed. The moment you come to understand how to utilize this concept, this idea, and this philosophy, your future will forever change. You will act differently and start to view your reputation with the utmost importance. You will find yourself giving additional thought to what you choose to do, what you say, and with whom you associate. This is not only about keeping an image but concerns developing the understanding that every action in your life has a deserved reaction.

Since the beginning of Neanderthal man, personal branding has existed. The other school of thought claims that personal branding is a new concept and is something that globalization and the expansion of the internet and new technologies have invented. The digitization of you, so to speak. Their intentions are pure, but their definitions are misguided and narrow.

It is worth mentioning that the actual term “personal branding” is relatively new, coined by the now retired business management consultant, Mr. Tom Peters in his 1997 article “The Brand Called You” for FastCompany. The name is contemporary, the thing is not.

In Napoleon Hill’s chapter “Organized Planning,” found in Think and Grow Rich, he discusses the idea of developing a portfolio with all of your achievements, successes, and testimonials to land the higher-paying position you privately desire. This is a form of personal branding, as is your résumé, a paper statement of such. In the next subchapter, Historical Personal Branding [ 1.2 ], I provide several concrete examples that demonstrate that this is established with precedent. We actually have thousands of years worth of study to learn from and apply. I cannot hope to dive into every possible example, but the examples I do include will be generally recognizable.

1.2 Historical Personal Branding

Are you familiar with the study of anthropology and the movements of ancient man? It is well known that droves of settlers walked the Beringia Land Bridge during an ice age, which at the time connected present day Russia to Alaska. They made their way into North and South America, and established settlements of their own long before being discovered by the rest of the world hundreds of years later. Those very people collectively had personal brands that modern history still discusses, references, and researches. They gave rise to civilizations such as the Mayans and Aztecs. Does the name Montezuma sound familiar?

If we went to the Fertile Crescent and looked at the Mesopotamian people (Babylon), certain kings were more feared than others. King Hammurabi, known for his disciplinarian code, is one such example. Some were revered as fierce and more dominant, their names spreading throughout the East and the West. In Egypt, pharaohs remained in power for hundreds of years and had tens of thousands of people building pyramids and massive tombs in their honor, i.e, Cleopatra, Ramses and Tutankhamun.

How could so few control so many?

Thousands of years later in the north, the Vikings and Norse had kings of their own, some of whom we recognize today. Leif Erickson and the legendary, although somewhat debated figure of Ragnar Lothbrok, are often portrayed as vicious figures in the historical fiction genre and for lacking full historical accuracy, their names are powerful nonetheless.

The rulers of medieval Europe, like Charlemagne and King James, promoted the ideology that they were of divine right to keep their power, whereas they were in essence, normal and just like their fellow countrymen. Blacksmiths, bakers, and the common peasantry looked at them as powerful figures deserving of admiration and reverence. From Alexander the Great who conquered half the world to Genghis Khan who united the Mongols, our history is full of examples of personal branding.

1.3 The Oldest Form of Branding

Personal branding, by my estimation, is the world's oldest form of branding. What is the first story in the Christian Theology? Adam and Eve. Most religious texts are composed of recounts about people, and if all people have personal brands, that means that we have been studying personal branding all along! I highly doubt you've ever thought about Adam and Eve in this light, but they were the first two people with personal brands. Their sons Cain and Abel, and then the lineage that brought about the tribes of Israel. This is not limited to the Christian body, but to many, if not all of the world's religions. It's improbable to assume that these people were all consciously thinking to themselves “What way can I grow my name [or reputation].” Regardless, their deeds and placement in the historical accounts have left them with legacies lasting thousands and thousands of years. Some figures were driven by the idea of respect, but was Mahatma Gandhi sacrificing himself for vanity or for the greater good?

Many common last names, such as Smith or Baker, were derived from professions. If you were a blacksmith, you would assume the last name of Smith and if you baked bread, you would assume the last name of Baker, which comes from the Old English word bæcere which means “to dry by heat.” The public would know you for this.

As the townsfolk talked, we can imagine that they were making statements along the lines of “You need to talk to so-and-so baker.” “They have the best bread in town.” It is not as if a bakery in the 1500s was referred to as a separate business. The professional’s reputation is what drove sales and in this case, is what kept them from starving on the street. Personal branding came first and if it weren’t for industrialization, the market would have never allowed for the creation of massive enterprises.

1.4 New World Examples

Over the past 150 years, radical communist and totalitarian leaders have risen to power and persuaded the entirety of countries to do their bidding. How could a single man’s actions lead to the deaths of millions of people? I am referring to none other than Adolf Hitler. A wretched example, but one that will certainly cause you to stop and think from a critically impartial perspective. The realization that the person or persons in power all had strong personal brands is evident. They had reputations, fame, and influence. People from all over the developing world knew exactly who they were and it is because of their actions, we study them today. Although the things they are remembered for aren't all honorable and in some cases are awful, we still know of them and their lasting impacts. Fame without influence is like fuel and oxygen without heat. A fire needs all three to burn. Other people are the oxygen, the idea that drives them is the fuel, and the person driving the ideas is the heat.

In the United States of America, the elected officials of the democratic republic represent America, and vicariously all Americans, to other countries. Their actions spark fierce debates amongst citizens, cause other cultures to love or hate us more, and prevent wars out of the fear of retaliation. How these officials get elected, however, is done through leveraging their personal brands. Based on their popularity and how many people side with an individual’s “supposed” core belief system, emanates a preferred outcome. Given, popularity doesn't always mean they are supported as it’s much better to be trusted than to simply be known.

Is it the policy itself that elects the politician or is it the politician who can properly convey the policy? Does the average voter take the time to familiarize themselves with the entire context needed to fully understand that policy, the current nuances, and the reasoning, or would they be more likely to simply vote for the politician because of who they are? I'd make the argument that in many cases personality takes precedence over promises. When there are moments of consequential challenges, policy is going to take priority, but in periods of comfort, it's less about logical thinking and more about emotional ballot-casting.

This extends past that of the United States. Every country has its own system and culture. North Korea may have a dictatorship; the United Kingdom a monarchy with a parliament; or Brazil, a democracy. Despite our systemic and cultural differences, people remain front and center. Leaders across every profession have understood that by capitalizing on their personal brand, they are attracting opportunities. The more famous they are, the more attention they garner and the more they can do with it. In their minds, there isn't a downside to building their personal brand outside of having their photos taken by the occasional paparazzi and intrusive bloggers looking in on their children and their lives.

Hollywood celebrities, charting musicians, well-known artists, models, and prominent CEOs are all using their personal brands and the business of “them.”

They are not in the business of their profession nearly as much as they are in the business of promotion and building their personal brand. Their endorsements can sway political campaigns, and whatever else they associate themselves with. In terms of investing and equity deals, the entity will automatically perform better than a fledgling startup simply because there is a backing force like an investor, who rather than (or in addition to) investing dollars, they're investing attention. Public figures can be found in the most remote parts of the world. A famous tattoo artist comes to my mind: Whang-od of Buscalan, Philippines. She is over a hundred years old at the time of writing and has single-handedly created a market for tourism for her village. Tourists visit Buscalan just for the chance to see her perform her craft. Not only that, she has preserved and saved the Kalinga style of tattooing from going extinct and was even featured on the cover of one of the most notable fashion magazines in 2023. Remarkable.

When I started consciously building my personal brand in 2017, I used it as a sort of experiment. I was 100% obscure and no one outside my school and classmates knew me. I had no credibility, no social proof, nothing. In a relatively short amount of time I was able to generate awareness around my name and give it power.

It is because of my accomplishments, I can without a shadow of a doubt, say that it is possible to go from a nobody to somebody. Sure, it requires work and takes time, but the smallest of efforts will all eventually add up and compound.

This book is written for the individual who wants to see upward mobility accrue with ease. It took me roughly 6 years to see the fruits of my labor payoff. Over those months, I was busy building relationships, getting quoted in the press, and producing what eventually became high-quality content across various social media platforms. My very first podcast was recorded on an outdated smartphone that was gifted to me by a friend. As my breakthroughs grew and as my experiences accrued, I invested back into my personal brand and the surrounding technologies, becoming immensely more efficient. Tied with proficiency, what used to take hours, now takes minutes.

1.5 Fame

Fame is hard to quantify and perhaps even more difficult to define. The best definition I have come to is: “Fame is the result of accumulated attention.” Fame is also relative. You could become famous in your industry or famous to everyone. I'll let you decide what definition you choose to use, respective to size, but generally speaking, the more attention you have the more famous you are. There is a term referred to as a “household name.” A name that is known by virtually every person and is talked about at the dinner table. You could go down the street and knock on your neighbors’ doors and nearly all of them will know who they are, could list some of their accomplishments, and might even be a fan, i.e, a household name.

Being famous by itself is useless. It is purely a measurement of vanity and the deepest desires of a person's longing for social proof. Outside of feeling good about yourself, what is the purpose of becoming famous? Several years ago, I read a story about an influencer who had an audience of millions on one social media platform. She decided to launch an apparel line (a common practice to generate revenue) but to her dismay, she was unable to sell more than four dozen pieces of merchandise.

She is an unfortunate perfect example of somebody who had fame and attention but lacked influence. If she was making any sort of impact, she could have easily sold out. Because she lacked any influence over her supposed “fans,” she was left with a burdened relationship with her distributor, made a farce in the public's eye, and is now being used as an example of what not to do. Every new relationship contributes to your fame. Whether your content goes viral, you go on a news station, meet someone at an orchestra, or get a contract notarized, these interactions are making additions to your pool of fame.

It is also possible to have fame limited to a niche. When I spoke at the Atlantic-Oase Professional Conference in Denver, Colorado, one name kept coming up in my private conversations. This event was specifically for water feature professionals, most of whom were either sellers, distributors, or customers of Atlantic-Oase. For not being in attendance, this gentleman was mentioned by several people and from their stories, appeared to have a dominant personal brand. He is otherwise unknown to anyone outside the water feature industry, but is virtually a household name to those within it.

You could also be famous for the wrong reasons. The crime niche is filled with legions of people who talk about and decipher serial killers and their heinous actions decades after they occurred.

Podcasters tell their stories and outlets cover breakthroughs that are made using DNA technology. For having infamy, they aren’t influential in the traditional context. Jeffrey Dahmer, Billy the Kid, Jack the Ripper. You know who they are but do they have influence over you? Are you duplicating their crimes? I would hope not. Fame is impartial to the cause. What you are looking for is influence.

1.6 Influence

Influence is represented by trust and the ability to get someone to take action or change the way that they think. Influence is the heat to the fire that is your personal brand. Without it, there is no depth to your reputation. Influence is comparable to the silent frequency of thought: it is not tangible yet it is felt. When an influential person walks into the room, everybody's attention gathers toward them. Influence is established with action and service, and is validated through edification.

Let's take the student who is starting fresh out of high school. They want a career but lack any influence outside of their peer group. They decide to go to college and receive a degree in their respective fields; their hope being that it will lead to the person in charge of company hiring decisions to feel more confident about bringing them on board. If you tack on the validation of the university's reputation and extracurriculars, it results in that bright-eyed student potentially landing the better position. Certain universities have more credibility than others, for instance a graduate from Harvard or Stanford may appear more attractive than the student who graduated from a local community college. Additional certifications and professorial recommendations can also help.

A person who has a negative reputation won’t have nearly as much influence as the person who is well regarded. If you are known for being ill-mannered, a scam artist, or have a history of being unreliable, no one will look to you for guidance. Reputation and influence are separate subjects that just so happen to harmonize. Influence is characterized by creating a sense of confidence and trustworthiness. Someone does not have to fully believe in the thing you're talking about or telling them to do if they trust your intentions or expertise. A doctor may recommend a surgery that you don’t see the point in, but decide to move forward with anyway because of their influence over you. The doctor’s credibility gives you faith, despite having initial doubts. The abuse of influence is worth noting as the opioid crisis occurred in large part because of the very thing we just discussed. Biases are a result of influence. Influence itself is impartial, but the aftermath of that influence is not. Being raised in a religious household influences the believer into a way of life.

Even racism is manufactured by influence. Somewhere along the way, a person was influenced into a way of thinking that was void of logic. The byproducts of influence are in large part, emotional.

The title of this Manifesto includes “On Fame and Influence” because of their symbiotic nature. Without influence, fame is useless and without a degree of fame, influence has no reach. This is comparable to the idea of having a strong brand, with a lackluster marketing message. If nobody knows about your brand, how can you expect it to grow? Understanding that influence is the X factor in your personal brand's success, consciously start looking for ways that add to your “Concentrated Influence.”

Concentrated Influence allows you to direct banked attention towards achieving a particular goal. As you become an influential public figure, you are empowered to direct your influence to sell more copies of your book, land larger features and interviews in the press, sell prospects, get that job you desire, and whatever else you would like to accomplish.

A positive track record vindicates you of third-party concerns and validates your ambitions and capabilities. Influence can also be exploited by those in positions of authority; we will discuss The Dangers of Influence in subchapter [ 3.8 ] and under Destroying Credibility [ 5.7 ].

1.7 4 Pillar Questions

Over the years, I have had the honor of working with many professionals, and have regularly emphasized that their personal brand is the way that they can amplify the reach of their faculties and skills. Success requires deliverables after all. Whether it is landing a massive spot within the entertainment industry, or using attention to drive revenue for a business, it’s clear that the more people who know who you are, the better.

To guide you as you begin to consciously grow your personal brand, I have included what I refer to as the 4 Pillar Questions. These are questions I ask my clients to enhance their clarity and understanding.

Question 1 Why do you want to build your personal brand?

There must be intention behind building your personal brand. No one does anything without a reason. From my examination, there are three overarching motivations. These reasons are what keeps you moving even when the world comes crashing down and you may be driven by one, a combination of, or all three. Your driving intentions or forces may change and that is okay. When significant shifts do occur, reevaluate where you are and identify how you will need to adapt your strategy.

1. Vanity: This motive is especially prevalent in the entertainment space and stems from the basic human need to be validated. What better way to be validated than through a successful personal brand, supported by thousands, hundreds of thousands, or millions who know your name? Singers go on stage and are met by stadiums full of people shouting their names and singing their songs. Buildings are named after notable figures; from Carnegie Hall to The Rockefeller Center. After a person’s passing what is the point of having buildings named after them if not for vanity?

God told Adam and Eve not to eat from The Forbidden Tree, but it was because of Eve's vanity that the first bite was taken. I would say vanity is ingrained in our nature. It isn't that you want more attention because of what you can do with it. For those motivated by vanity, attention itself is the end goal. I suppose vanity and money go hand in hand, but a famous person when asked may very well choose to remain famous than choose to be rich.

Vanity that is realized, elevates man to the position of a god. Isn’t it strange seeing fans become all consumed with gossip? They care more about who a star is sleeping with than their own circumstances. An entire book could be written on this subject alone as it can, at times, serve as a great motivator. Proving others wrong while proving yourself right is one of the most primal feelings. It’s when it becomes the only driving force that you start to appear as purely egotistical and as someone who lacks purpose.

1. Mission: Successful business people devote their later years and delegate their accumulated resources to causes they care about. Whether their intent is pure I am not here to discuss. A widely known personal brand gives you the overhead to talk about the things you care about, spread awareness, spark and progress movements, and is conducive to doing good with low cost and high efficiency.

Richard Branson, the magnate behind Virgin brands, is known for his passionate and less-than-corporate stunts early in his career. Subsequently, his successes were followed by public announcements and initiatives in support of climate change, creating a clean environment, and nonprofits dedicated to supporting students. Other examples include Bill Gates and his dedication to eradicating disease, or the public speaker who was a victim of abuse who turned it into their greatest power. These are all examples of the mission-driven archetype.

1. Money: The beautiful thing that makes the world go round and round. Money. Building your personal brand is a wonderful vehicle for acquiring wealth. Obscurity is the enemy of success and the more attention you have, the more comfortably you can monetize it.

The young investor that would like to land better deals can use their personal brand to get into rooms with decision makers. It comes in the form of the author or entertainer that feels the need to get on major promotional outlets. The influencer that seeks larger endorsements, the consultant who is able to charge higher rates because of their personal brand, and the lawyer that attracts weighty accounts because their name is mentioned in exclusive circles. Intrapreneurs and employees who position their public image in a positive light to represent their professional qualities will open the door to promotions.

The larger your personal brand becomes, the lower the objection rate falls. You will be told “no” less, while the market of opportunity appears to grow. An interesting study could be conducted on the world’s most financially affluent. I would dare say that a large sum of them have used their personal brand to accumulate their wealth.

It’s not necessary to be famous to generate revenue by way of your personal brand.

I’d like to ask you again, why do you want to build your personal brand? No one is there to judge your motivations.

Question 2 What do you want to be known for?

Imagine yourself a few decades from now. What is the foremost thing others know you for? Is there a title you hoped to achieve or an important feat? Is the extent of your reputation limited to your town or state, or are you reaching the nation or world? It is fair to say you may aspire to be acknowledged for multiple undertakings or fields. What are they? Defining your ambition makes reverse engineering other notable figures who are farther down the path of their careers more straightforward. Question 2.1 is, What don’t you want to be known for? Consider the opposite to know what to avoid.

Question 3 Who are you?

Have you taken any time within the last year to sit down and understand who you are? Possessing an awareness of who you are outside your career is a piece of the puzzle that driven individuals often fail to figure out, although it is the one thing that takes no money or external resources to obtain.

All aspects of your being are components of your personal brand.

This includes inimitable characteristics such as the way you look, your body type, your handshake, your interests, your smell, your smile, and your personality. You may be someone who doesn’t speak much, but when you do, everyone stops to listen. You may be the talkative one at the office or in your friend group. You may even have the natural ability to make people feel as if they are the only person who matters at a given moment.

No consultant or therapist will ever know you as well as you know yourself. Open up Pandora’s Box and put your entire being onto paper. It might not be fun, but understanding all sides to you, good and bad, will serve you well in more ways than one.

Question 4 How do you get to where you want to be?

Following the natural order of the previous 3 questions, the Why, What, and Who, we now come to the HOW? It is not wise to receive specific guidance on strategies and steps to help you with your personal brand if you do not take the time to answer the simplest of questions such as: “What do I want my personal brand to be?” and “What benefits do I want to receive because of it?” The answer to the question “How do you get there?” is found throughout this Manifesto.

Every interaction you have is a part of the how. If you would like to become a renowned public speaker, crafting a media kit and speaking at your local Chamber of Commerce is a start. If you’re aiming to open an art gallery, begin with one stroke of paint. If you want to become an author, writing the first sentence is all it takes to set the groundwork. That is what started my entire writing journey.

Define who you want to be, understand your desired outcomes, and reverse engineer the steps to get there. There is a step-by-step guide at the end of this book but I ask that you don’t review it until you finish reading the rest of the chapters first.

1.8 Hierarchy of Personal Branding

To visualize the scale of personal branding, I’ve created what is called the Hierarchy of Personal Branding. This tool is broken down using personal and geographical references but also works by interchanging the words of each level with that of a number range such as 1 to 1,000 or 1,000 to 10,000. If you think about a person’s ambitions for their personal brand, what one may aspire to achieve could be small in the mind of somebody else, while remaining equally huge to another. Earlier I stated that every person should pursue fame, but the truth is not everyone does. Out of those who have this aim, even fewer will find it their reality just like out of the many who pursue wealth, only a handful will ever “catch” it.

I would like you to imagine a pyramid with a total of six levels. The majority of people make up the bottom of this pyramid, and as each level ascends, the number dwindles. As it concerns personal branding, we all start at the bottom, which is known as the Unconscious Incompetent.

Unconscious Incompetent

This category is a collection of everyone unaware that they have a personal brand. These are the individuals who exist, drifting and living without purposely directing their personal brand. They do not know what they do not know. They are unaware that by growing their reputations, their networks, and their publicity, they can benefit from compounded results.

By now, you do not fall into this category as you are aware that your personal brand has an indisputable power, irreplaceable to you, and that it is up to you to harness it. It is because of this category, my work is of the utmost importance as so many could be leading more favorable lives if they simply understood the basics of this field of study.

Friends and Family

For many, when they get good at something, their skill sets will only be known by those that are the closest to them. Think about the mechanic that every family member calls when their car needs repairs. The person who can fix computers or the lively friend that makes everybody belly laugh on game night and could very well be a full-time comedian, but is only known to their friend group. As we think about the quantity of people this would rarely exceed 100. It’s not grandiose nor does it lead to something momentous. The person is only known by those that they already have a relationship with. At this stage, they know that they have something that they can build upon, but to take it anywhere else seems far-fetched or too big of a risk.

The Local Hero

Here we have the person who plasters billboards all across the city. The lawyer who is known by people, young and old who run advertisements on afterschool television programs. The realtor who has signs put up in yards all around town. The insurance agent turned politician running for Justice of the Peace. It is the musician who plays local gigs but doesn’t get signed to a record label in Los Angeles. This is The Local Hero. They have a degree of respect and trust within a community. We can further break this example down geographically and using an area's census. Whether it’s a small town or a big city, the point stands the same. This public awareness requires a degree of exertion and conscious direction. It will not be achieved unconsciously. These individuals must go out of their way to become known by their fellow citizens. They might attend events, shake hands, run ads, aim for school board positions, and so on, as long as they can become known. It is at this place in the Hierarchy of Personal Branding that we could replace the title with a number, perhaps 500 or more people will know of the local hero.

The State Representative

As you move up the Hierarchy of Personal Branding pyramid, each category requires more effort than the prior one, usually takes more time and more resources, and is generally more difficult to obtain. The State Representative is composed of well-established authorities or entertainers, who are known in their region. The United States comprises 50 states, and the person who is known in New York, may not be known in Florida or California. In this category, it is more than reasonable to assume over 100,000 people know about this individual.

Although they aren’t A-list figures, they have influence over those who care and share something in common.

They can be an “indie success” that sells more than one or two albums and has merchandise. It could be a literal State Representative or a news anchor or radio host that people listen to first thing in the morning and when they get home from work. Larger opportunities are made available for The State Representative as the person’s accomplishments are public.

The National Personality

If you were to go up to anybody off the street in your respective country and ask them “Who is this person?” while holding up a picture of a notable figure, they would be able to answer you. The National Personality is full of artists, celebrities, corporate executives, experienced leaders, national news anchors, and politicians. Out of every 100,000, maybe 1 is on this level. As you go up the pyramid, the degree of influence does in parallel. These individuals have massive degrees of exposure, are represented by agents, have ghostwriters and big-wig editors, and teams of professionals dedicated to that one person’s achievements. They can hardly walk in public without being recognized. The impact a person has at this level cannot be understated as their smallest words may get picked up and discussed in tabloids and outlets.

The International Icon

By putting yourself into the public’s view, you are positioned in such a way that often one-sided relationships begin to develop. You will potentially have millions of people who know and trust you, but you may not know they exist. International Icons have such fame and influence that they can change the outcome of wars, elections, and in some cases the economy. The niche of an Icon is irrelevant as long as they have global awareness.

This is the world-touring artist that generates billions of dollars in tourism revenue for the city they play in. It is the public billionaire that posts memes for fun or the presidents of nations.

These individuals use a wide range of marketing channels to get their message out to the masses and curate rapport at scale.

Rapport is trust and a person’s connection with another human.

It begins growing or being destroyed the moment a stranger comes in contact with you. When rapport is built, what started as a follower relationship is transmuted into a fan, and then into a loyal supporter. People like feeling that they are a part of something bigger and since celebrities portray the image of an extraordinary life that is out of reach for the normal person, they attract waves of incoming support.

Isolated ecosystems form amongst their fans which to outsiders may come across as cult-like.

International Icons make up less than .01% of the population.