Chasing the Vision

Isaac Mashman2:10

Well personal branding has been around since pretty much the beginning of civilization. There's a reason why there were chieftains in the old ancient days of Babylon that were more feared than some of the other chieftains. There's a reason why monarchs were able to stay in power and pharaohs ran for hundreds of years. But now with social media and this entire concept of influencer and micro influencer, personal branding is who you are. It is what people know you as, but there's a major misconception that comes today and people are starting to be known for what they do rather than for who they are. There's no longevity in that.

So personal branding is vital for the long term success of a business. I saw it as an open market. I saw it as a blue ocean. I saw it as something that had a ton of potential. So you know what, whereas most traditional PR firms focus on corporations, I could focus.

Isaac Mashman3:18

Yeah, 100% mentality is key. I would got involved with business when I was 17. I was still in high school, I was a senior and I was going with the mentality of, hey, I'm going to go to college afterwards. I'm going to graduate. I got accepted to Florida State University of Central Florida said I'm not doing either of those because everybody tells you to go to college but nobody tells you what happens afterwards. So in a very short amount of time within the past four years, it's actually a little bit over four years now, like four years in two, three months. I've been able to try out nearly half a dozen or more business ventures, travel the world a little bit, traveled much of the United States, but what really got me far.

I know that this is your area of what you specialize in, it's the mentality. It's the mindset that really helped me propel myself forward by studying mentors and by finding people who had success and not so much in person, but more so online and meant pivotal, pivotal impact on my business, like massive.

Isaac Mashman4:53

Brandability. You know the interesting thing is I do work with a lot of business owners. I've done work with some course creators or people who are in the stages of getting their course made but overall I work with a bunch of different industries and niches. They all have talent they all have potential but what they lack is the actual imagery online right. You can have all the potential in the world and you can have all of the talent in the world but if nobody knows who you are that talent is virtually useless. It's a thing about like the grandmother who could sing her heart out at church but then nobody heard her right so that potential went down the drain and nobody else could really cherish in her voice and.

So that's what I see with a lot of clients especially for people who are business owners who have a ton of fantastic information they just lack the real imagery to position themselves as an expert and as a person of credibility and as somebody who other people would be willing to pay $1,000 to learn from. That's a massive issue and there are way too many pay-to-win things going on today that really don't even have.

Isaac Mashman6:34

Yeah, well, press is fantastic for your personal brand and for your business. You can send out press releases and, get it syndicated to Yahoo Finance and Ben Ziga and times Union. But that's one sided. A lot of people have this laser focus on press and getting into the media, they fail to realize that there are other avenues of credibility, such as being on podcast. This right here is the perfect example of me pitching myself. You saying, Hey, this guy looks like somebody who I should interview. Then now this is expanding not only my credibility, but your credibility and as well as your numbers. Like these are the secrets right here guys.

Like if you're listening to this or watching this, that this is something you need to be doing for your business or for your personal brand. Even if you're an artist or musician or a model or an actor, an actress, you need to be getting yourself out there and taking an overall aggressive guerrilla warfare approach. Like hitting every single avenue and you know being the person who goes into Barnes & Noble with business cards and dropping them in the business section. Like that's what you need to be doing. Yeah, it is so true. You've got.

Isaac Mashman8:57

Well, I think having a diversified audience is key. Many people have 100,000 followers on Instagram and they don't have any credibility on any other platform and I've seen this with some prospects that I've been talking to lately. To lately. You might have 700k on TikTok and 100,000 on Instagram, but let's say TikTok gets banned in the United States as it was threatened to do a couple years ago. TikTok could have disappeared and you had all these people relying on one place to drive revenue. Well, now with the CEO or an executive officer or anybody who has chief in front of their title, it's important to be across multiple platforms, LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, having a public figure page.

Before you decide to run hundreds of thousands of dollars or even thousands or hundreds of dollars to advertisements, you need to take a step back and make sure that your brand is right because that's how you optimize conversions. Everybody talks about, hey, let me go ahead and sell you this course and swipe up yet you go to their page and their page lacks the information. You're like, I don't even know what this guy does. So why would I want to buy from you? So taking the couple of weeks before you start running advertisements to actually, really develop your brand is essential.

Isaac Mashman13:07

Yeah, 100%. That's a fantastic question. Really quick before we move on to that point, we're actually working on adding news right now. I spent all the time on my personal website adding the articles I've been featured in two dozen since the beginning of this year and haven't paid for any of them, which is amazing. So sides still has some kinks to work out, but for more information, you can also go to my personal site. It's funny that you mention the Matrix because we just watched the trilogy a couple of days ago because Matrix 4 has come out. So not to get too nerdy, but we just binge watched the series.

The mentality though was, when you asked me before about how did you have like this business plan? Did you have all these things on paper? I said, not really, it was all chaotic. Like I would map it out on paper, and I'll share the story really quick by the end of my senior year of high school, I was checked out. I was like, I am ready to go. I had four class periods. The last three were just me sitting outside and going into weightlifting. I was in the computer lounge during lunch, working on my podcast. I just was trying a whole bunch of different things.

I saw some different people like Gary V as much as I don't agree with a lot of what he talks about today. He was pivotal and very important when I first started out because I saw the social media strategy. I saw what he was doing. I remember my senior year, when I was taking my AP literature class. It was an easy class. Like I breezed right through it and I wasn't trying, but my AP exam, I didn't read any of the prompts. I didn't read any of these stories. I'm like, this is a waste of my time. I showed up because I need to show up, because I committed to.

Then I was busy building out the structure for my network marketing company at the time because I was in an MLM company and I was actually in it illegally. I was 17. I wasn't even legally able to sign for anything, but I was mapping out my prospects. I was like, I'm good. Okay, I'm going to build 12 people in this leg, 12 on this leg and then I'm going to have 24 on this. That'll put me at $1,000 a month. That'll put me at $2,000 a month. That was out, that's what I was doing. Now I flunked the AP exam, I got a one out of five, but that is the mentality that I started to develop.

It was like all or nothing all in. What I did is I started putting myself in situations to where you would call me a man man. One way flights over to California, never not knowing where I was staying, having things up in the air. Okay, well this fell through, so I'm going to book another flight. I just was willing to do anything because I knew, hey, at the end of the day, worse comes to worse, I can go ahead and work on the farm. Like I could do something and do odd jobs to feed myself. Then I took a one-way flight to France, the year after, and I just tried.

I tried different things, and I continued studying. I would go on walks, and when I went on walks, I would just listen to audios. I would listen to Earl Nightingale, Bob Proctor, even more of a controversial figure, Kevin Trudeau, because a lot of his information is fantastic. So I just said, I'm going to do everything in my power to be the opposite of my family, to be the opposite of the people that I was raised around, because I was raised with scarcity. I was raised with, if we went to tropical smoothie and got and spent six bucks on a smoothie, that was like a treat.

That was something you would never do because it's expensive. From there, it took a lot of time, but it's been great. There's some other things that I've really dived into. I don't know if you want me to talk about it, but the mindset of the 1%. That's something that I've really started to dive and adopt in my own life.

Isaac Mashman19:22

Well, here's the thing, Charity, really quick is if you were to put me up next to any of these students that graduated in marketing or public relations or any of this other stuff, they're going to be telling you the numbers, they're going to be telling you the concepts, they're going to tell you to split test AB test to this day. I don't know what that means. I test and I use my common sense and it works. There's a reason why I get results. I don't, like, what happens is you have all these students that spend so much time developing their intellects and all this other stuff, yet they graduate and they can't get a job.

They graduate because the market's too competitive and they're still looking for four years. So now you have this degree, you have to be an intern for a couple of years, and then you have to work a second job in order to go ahead and pay your bills because the internship doesn't pay you. Then now you're five, six, seven, eight, nine years deep. Now you're finally starting to make 60 grand or 70 grand a year. Meanwhile, I, in the next, couple of months, I'm about to hit some months that I never thought I would ever hit. That would take me literally two decades to hit if I was working a traditional job, if that, and I'd have to be an executive management spot, in a company.

So that's the thing with going to college. I saw people close to me with the degrees, working job and going to school full time. They graduated and never applied it. So I'm like, you're telling me to go to college yet you're not even using the degree you have. So I had to be very narcissistic if you wanted to call it that or I had to be selfish and say that I'm not doing that. I'm not going to take that approach.

Isaac Mashman22:07

I say that we're all about maximizing results while minimizing expenses. Because when I first started out, I didn't want to invest anything into anything aside from my personal growth because I didn't think that I would be able to pay the bills next month. So I didn't invest in a calendar software, anything. I found emails that were free. Zoho, ZOHO, it's a free email service. Instead of using G Suite starting out, buy a domain for $20 through GoDaddy that gives you your first year for like a dollar. Then you go to Zoho and you get a forever free plan and I have a corporate email. That's the most, some people will say, oh, I could just use a Gmail.

I could just have, consulting at gmail.com. No, you can't because then you're going to look like every other email that I get in my inbox every day saying we're offering SEO services. I'm like, you're using a Gmail, I'm automatically dismissing your email. That is how personal you have to get. That is how serious and OCD you have to be with building out your personal brand and your company brand.

Isaac Mashman24:08

Yeah, definitely. So we have a couple of different packages whenever we work with someone. We have the one single consultation, which is let's go in, let's get out, let me answer your highest value problem. Or we have the mid tier, which is unrivaled strategy training and that's four consultations over the span of a month or two months depending on how long you want to work and how much homework you need to do. Like how hard do you want to go about your personal brand and then we work with our people for an entire year and the unrivaled year long strategy and training. I'm not here to sell anybody but if you want to work with me, great.

I mean I'm blessed but we start with the foundation. Just like we're building out your personal brand with the foundation of the messaging, what your profiles are, what your social media handles are, your domain, your email. Start with the foundation of you as an individual with the education. Education is vital. Many people misinterpret and misunderstand personal branding and company branding. They think that they're identical and they're not. They're two entirely different things that are tied in with the symbiotic relationship. They work off of one another. No, most people, I get on a call, they're like, what's the difference? So I start with the education, move into the mindset, and that's where I tap into the mindset of the 1%.

If you're walking in the mall, what's your elevator pitch? Are you comfortable coming up to a complete stranger and pitching yourself, getting their socials, giving them your socials and talking about you. We were raised not to talk about ourselves growing up because they labeled us as crazy, like not crazy, but as selfish kids if we wanted to talk about what we had going on. We needed to engage the conversation about other people. Well, flash forward, breaking news here, you need to go ahead and talk about yourself if you want somebody to know about what you got going on. That's how I knew about what you had going on.

You had somebody talking about it, then we talked about it and you told me about what you had going on. I'm like, our values align, so I'm going to work with you, and so it's the same thing. Then from there, we go into the branding basics of the profiles on what sites you need to be on, what your imagery should look like, what colors are associated, more of the aesthetic things, the basic messaging. Then we go into establishing credibility, getting on podcasts, getting into the press for absolutely free and those sort of things because credibility is massive once you get the foundation laid. The follower count only gets you so far.

Isaac Mashman28:06

Here's the thing Charity I have named so many businesses within the past year and especially the past eight months of 2021 nine months now I've lost count like I've named a company out of Austria Koolick digital named a company recently Dick Al projects with a friend of mine Jordan Dick Al I've named other companies Mandeville Fitness with my good fitness influencer friend. He's actually the lead personal trainer from Mashman Ventures, Logan Mandeville. I've worked with all these people because they were looking into all these different directions. I've seen my position more as a mentor than a PR firm at times because I'm trying to give them clarity on what they need to be pursuing for their own life and their own business.

Logan came to me and said, I love the kid and he wouldn't mind me sharing this but he's like, I'm thinking about doing a social media agency and I'm like, why? He's like, I don't know because money? I'm like, yeah, yes, you can make money, but I'm like Logan, you have a six pack, you're in better shape than 99% of America. Why don't you go and pursue personal training? Now he's hit some massive months and he's helped a ton of different people get into better shape, including the people on my team, because now he has a concept and he's able to grow with that concept.

The foundation, if you lack that foundation and you don't know what you're growing, you're just going to be running around chasing after a bunch of different things. That's where I found myself before too. It's.

Isaac Mashman30:41

Yes, if they want it to. What I mean by that is if somebody comes to me and they don't do what I'm telling them to do for their homework, how can you expect to get results? So you buy the course and you don't go through the program. I've done that before when I was in MLM. I bought the program and I didn't go through the program. I'm like, I'm not even using the product. That affected my sales. So it's the same exact thing. But whenever somebody comes to me and I work with them, I go and take them through everything the step-by-step process. I will not hang up the phone.

I will not end the Zoom meeting until we have things figured out. That can take time. These consultations, I'm not like a lawyer, I'm in at 121, I'm going to up your right rates. Like I'd sell them. I'm like average consultations last for an hour and a half to two and a half hours. You better be sitting down. I've had some calls. My Austrian client, fantastic guys are hot. It took us three and a half hours on two separate occasions to get his stuff figured out. He's gotten results and he's listened to what I told him. So yes, now I'm not saying to overthink yourself into this hold where you never progress.

Like don't overthink it. But you definitely need to take a couple of weeks to get some things figured out before you really start putting yourself and don't be one of the people who, all of a sudden you're starting a course. You're trying to sell it for a thousand dollars and you've ruined your reputation because your course isn't worth a thousand dollars in information. That's what I see a lot of people trying to do not personally, but extended circles and by watching people online and how they operate.

Isaac Mashman33:37

To come. Yeah definitely well thank you again Charity and it's been an honor and before I jump into that and do any CTA call to action I want to make sure that somebody understands that if you can't afford working with an expert right now as of today I know for a fact I didn't you know I took my first paycheck from a barbecue joint. I put it into my company right the MLM company that I was was a part of back then. Like I was like, again, going all in with that, you need to go ahead and dive into the content that's online for free.

Verify the results with mentors, verify the results online and see how long has this guy been been in business? How is the reputation and do your research and then dive deep. Don't find 25 different mentors, find a couple of people you can study. Then the entire point of having content is to help somebody get to the point to where they can work with you, to where you are impacting them, even if they're not qualified because face it, we can't do pro bono work 24 seven. We can't spend our time working with somebody for absolutely free when our normal rates a couple thousand dollars. That's just the truth.

But a little bit about the podcast. I know that charity on the screen is pulling up the podcast from a business. But that right there is actually something that we're working on for quarter four of this year and moving into quarter one of 2022, where my podcast really thrives is Chase the Vision with Isaac Mashman. That's the podcast that I've had since 2019, over 80 episodes in by the time this drops, maybe 85 or 80, 80, 80, I don't know, more than that, I've interviewed a lot of fantastic people and the premise of the podcast is helping people become a more capable individual through chasing after their vision.

Through the means of personal development, I use it as a platform to share my experiences and knowledge and therefore propel somebody for it. It's on every single platform. I've interviewed Matt Devine of Cameo, which recently reached a billion dollar valuation, some people from entrepreneur Media. If I can leave you with anything, it would be a quote, at the center of all success is personal growth, that the center of all achievement is personal growth. That right there is what I live by because I think that you need to go ahead and reinvest your money and your cash flow back in yourself, and that's how you make more money at the end of the day.