Future of Branding: Isaac Mashman

Isaac Mashman0:54

ST, what is going on, man? Great to be here. Thank you for the invitation.

Isaac Mashman1:29

One of the highlights is I recently launched alongside my public relations firm, Mashman Ventures, the Training by Mashman Ventures platform. This is something that has been in my mind's eye for literally years. I finally got down to it, and it was in the plans. So [we're] using that platform for our clients to sell digital products in the future, as well as offering some free resources for people to download. So super excited to have that up, have that completed, have that done, and have several hundred people already on.

Isaac Mashman2:17

I'm working with people to build out their personal brand. So rather than working with, let's say, the company itself, I'd work with the CEO, I'd work with the business owner, or I'd possibly work with an influencer or author to establish their reputation online. So I'm very, very heavy on the organic approach to building out your personal brand, leveraging the algorithms that are already in place, leveraging the unique characteristics of you that people can connect with. So every single interaction and conversation, just like having this podcast right here, is an example of me building out my own personal brand, and that's going to speak volumes. So I help other people do the same, except in their own specific business and their own specific field.

This wasn't my first business. It's my first registered business. But prior to launching Mashman Ventures, I was in network marketing, I did clothing, I did a variety of different tasks and different things, and along the lines, started to learn to understand how you can build a.

Isaac Mashman3:43

Well, I've had Chase the Vision since 2019 and I've actually ended the show. The show already ended earlier this month, in June, and the premise of it was a platform to share my own experiences in life, business, and personal growth. But I felt like I had outgrown that, and I decided to go into a different realm, a different focus, of more so making a statement rather than convincing you to listen to something, stating why you should listen, and just being me. Then my book, which I published last year, to clarify, it's a number one bestseller in public relations, or, it's a top 10 bestseller in public relations.

It was the number one new release in public relations on Amazon, and that was a lot of fun to write, [and] stressful. But it was something that I wanted to get out there to kind of explain the what and why of personal branding: what is personal branding, and why is it important that you build your own. To kind of highlight the experience, to highlight the importance, to highlight really why somebody should take the time to build it. There were a lot of misconceptions that I also covered at the same time.

Isaac Mashman5:11

Yeah, well, it was an undeniable tenacity, a psychotic attitude, and taking a lot of risks. There were multiple moments where I aggressively went after something and I was ruthless about obtaining that goal. It wasn't that I was treading on anybody else to get there. That's not how I do things. But rather, if I wanted to get verified on a platform or I wanted to get opportunities to come to me, I would actually seek out those opportunities and make it to where I couldn't be denied. Then when it comes to myself and developing myself as an individual, as a man, as an entrepreneur, building out personal development and focusing on that was extremely vital to my growth.

I think a lot of people underestimate the power of building up their own knowledge. So for example, I sucked at sales once upon a time, [where I'd] take the time and send out three paragraphs to try to get somebody on a connection call. That was me starting out. Then I was like, you know what, I'm not seeing results. I suck at this. What did I do? I actively sought out ways that I could improve my sales skills. I found mentors, found resources. I'm really going to take that and apply it moving forward, taking all of the knowledge that I've learned in the past half decade and leveraging it. Really, that being the catalyst that gets me the next quantum leap to where I want to be.

Isaac Mashman7:01

Well, personal branding and branding are two separate things. Personal branding speaks to the person, the brand speaks to the company, or to the podcast, to the book, to the work, whatever it might be. But personal branding is the individual behind it. Like I said earlier, whenever I got involved with business, I went through half a dozen different ventures and failed at each and [learned from] each. But I started to become the person in my friend group and the social circles, and they would come to me and say, hey, what can I do to be better? Can you help me improve my social media page? Can you do this?

Can you do that? At that moment, I realized that even when I was younger, I always paid attention to branding and paid attention to how people operated, and also sought to understand celebrities, artists, influencers, and through that, and through just the application of what I knew up to that point, started to realize the areas that I could improve and actively sought out knowledge. So if somebody's listening to this and they want to be an authority, you don't call yourself an authority. You don't call yourself an expert, but you become that expert and you become that authority by other people speaking about you and calling you as such, doing things that will validate your actions.

Isaac Mashman8:48

Interesting question and actually a really, really great question as well, because age can work to your advantage and it can also work to your disadvantage. For example, if you're older, in your 60s or 50s even, or even, I would say, [late] 40s, people can say, oh, why would you know the first thing about social media? I recently talked to somebody (shoot, she's nearing her 60th birthday, or she might have already crossed it), and she's like, a lot of times people are like, how do you know about social media? You're already old. So that's one way that it can be a disadvantage. But what I've realized is it's actually an advantage, because a lot of times people who are older seek that young blood, seek that young energy, seek that young attention because they know that we were raised in this era.

But what I've [found] is that most people, whenever they come and talk to me, don't know my age. I very rarely lead with my age because of that very reason. But it makes it even more impactful and more powerful whenever somebody finds out my age, because they're like, man, Isaac, I thought you were at least 25 or 28. That to me is actually kind of fun because I'm able to kind of surprise them and turn heads, which gets people to talk. So it's cool.

Isaac Mashman10:34

Well, number one I'd say is when the client doesn't listen, and this is a very fine subject to talk about, because you've got to obviously respect your client, but the client is not always right. That might be ballsy to say, but the truth be told, if the client isn't listening to what you're suggesting, or telling them to do the steps, the homework that you assigned them, how do you expect them to get results? They oftentimes assume that it will just come naturally. So that's one conversation, that's one adversity.

Isaac Mashman12:05

Well, I can go ahead and speak to somebody. It wasn't in business. I don't think he'll have an issue with me mentioning his name, but a good friend of mine now, Logan Mandeville, and he's actually the lead personal trainer on the Mashman Ventures team. We started working together in 2021 as a client relationship. He was a male model, and don't get me wrong, he has a good physique. He's a good looking dude by all means. But people were viewing him just as a sex symbol, but not as a man, not as an individual. So what we ended up doing is I worked with him and helped him launch Mandeville Fitness.

He's seen excellent success with that. His social media following has grown exponentially with the application of strategies. He's been able to move from West Virginia down to Miami. I don't like taking credit, but he's told me on multiple occasions, even though I've told him, I'm not taking credit, he's like, no, Isaac, seriously, if it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be where I'm at. That was really an exciting thing. Another client, out of Canada, who's an author, Christina [Holling], and she's an author. But she was in the corporate world for two decades, and within the first two weeks of listening, I'd say honestly a week and a half of training her, hey, this is how you can pitch yourself, just a supplemental training, because getting into the press is one aspect of public relations.

It's not the entire package, though. She was able to get into her first article. So all of these different things, all of these different small wins, they contribute to your overall personal brand, your credibility, your reputation, and so on and so forth.

Isaac Mashman13:56

Well, it's honestly to play Monopoly in real life. That's something I, have you ever played Hasbro's Monopoly? You sit around with your friends and you go for literally hours on end, just playing Monopoly. It's a highly competitive game that can ruin relationships and friendships. But I want to be able to play Monopoly in real life, not just build successful businesses but take it to a higher level with owning real estate. I bought my first two pieces of property at the beginning of this year, and [I'm] scaling it, scaling the empire into other things. I don't want to be referred to as just an entrepreneur. I want to be referred to as a businessman, as an individual, as a public figure, somebody that people can learn from, laugh at maybe a joke I tell, or feel motivated and aspire to be like.

Everything that I've done to a degree has contributed to that up to this point. Now [I'm] taking it to an infinitely high level. It's all about scale, and scale has been a word that's been on my mind a lot lately.

Isaac Mashman15:03

Interesting, entertainment, honestly. It's [just] one of the industries. Real estate is going to be where I make a lot of my money. Investments will be nice because I'll be able to have more influence in companies and be able to really change the landscape of the world with the solutions that I'm invested in. But I would say entertainment is something that I enjoy because I've always been told that, hey, you have a great speaking voice. You make a great pastor. You make a great this. You make a great that. Entertainment is one thing that most business people fail to do. They fail to entertain their audience because they only come across as that businessman.

I never want to just come across as that. So if I ever have the opportunity of getting on a TV show or getting into Hollywood or getting into a certain thing, it's like I'm definitely going to jump on that, because I think that the point of getting into business and such isn't for freedom. We already have freedom. The thing that we want is options. We want to be able to go to that higher option. It's just like when you're at a store, you have buying decisions. You can go with one product or you can go with the most expensive product. I want to be able to take that and have the option to do what I want, and if I want to get into entertainment, I can.

Isaac Mashman16:39

It's something that's done naturally. Influencer is actually a derogatory term. I don't take it personally, but I think being referred to as an influencer is actually kind of derogatory, because influencers don't have longevity. This is what I really emphasize whenever I'm working with clients. You don't want to be an influencer, you want to be a celebrity. Now I might not outright say my goal is to be a celebrity in a podcast, but if you break it down and read between the lines, that's exactly what I'm saying. But the thing is that influence can be directed for good and it can be directed for bad. Then we can get into the conversation of ethics and business and working for something that's not just self-centered, but something that's also good for the rest of the world.

But we live in a society, ST, where, I think you probably would agree with me, everybody throws around these buzz words and makes it about the other person: be humble, sit down, do this, ta-da-da. In actuality, we fail to realize that by focusing on ourselves, not in an egomaniac way or in a narcissistic way, it's like saying, hey, if this airplane is going down, I'm putting on my oxygen mask first so I can help the person next to me. That's what you need to do in life. You focus on yourself, and by focusing on yourself, you're naturally helping other people if you're like that as a person. That's kind of one of the mantras that I live by.

Isaac Mashman18:22

Well, I don't see any challenge that I'm being faced with coming from external parties. Obviously you have front-facing challenges, for example, if I get into real estate: supply chain issues, or those different things, local government issues, laws, policies, et cetera. But the biggest issue that I see I'm being faced with, if I can be [personal], is the issues within self, because that's the one thing. We always focus on external issues, but we fail to focus on internal issues. Yes, some of that is naturally overcome through personal development, but the imposter syndrome is something that many people face, especially when they're put up against this big dream that they have in their minds.

The thing is, the way that you conquer the imposter syndrome is by doing more. By doing more, you don't have time to think about, am I good enough? Then you'll eventually have more of those validating moments. But it's really just going to require me being consistent with what I'm doing and overcoming those, making those good decisions on a day to day basis that will lead up and stack up over time.

Isaac Mashman20:06

Well, I would say ideally you need to be building out your personal brand as the face of a company. That's something that can be uncomfortable because it's easy to say, oh, I'm an introvert. Are you really an introvert or are you just telling yourself that you are? It's a conversation of nature versus nurture. But I would definitely suggest that anybody who's building a business become the face of the business. You talk to every single person you know about the business. You talk, even if you're not involved with entrepreneurship. You could be in your career, you could be in business, not business, but in a business as an entrepreneur.

You should still be leveraging your personal brand. My podcast was previously Chase the Vision. In my book, Personal Branding: A Manifesto on Fame and Influence, my final chapter is called Chase the Vision because there's always going to be something that you're chasing, that you're pursuing, that you're adding, that you're working towards, that you're never really going to achieve. You achieve one aspect of it and you set a bigger goal. You set a bigger one or a bigger accomplishment, as I like to refer to them. So I'd say, and this goes to the internal challenges of not being comfortable, not getting too, I guess you could say, just easygoing.

All right. Saying, oh, I'm here. I'm already there. Why do I need to keep going? I think at that moment is when you start to die a little bit inside. That's why mortality rates skyrocket once people retire. They stop moving, they take it easy, and then they die a couple years later. That's not how you live life.

Isaac Mashman24:28

Yeah, well, first and foremost, ST, thank you for inviting me on, man. Great to be the person who helps you launch off the first episode. I'm excited for this to come out. Everybody can find me online at Isaac Mashman, [I-S-A-A-C], just like you're seeing in the interview title. You can also go to isaacmashman.com, and if you want a public relations firm to work with and help you build out your personal brands, you can follow the company everywhere at Mashman Ventures.