The Ins and Outs of Personal Branding with Isaac Mashman

Isaac Mashman0:10

Luke, I'm doing great. Thank you for inviting me.

Isaac Mashman0:27

Yeah, man, there are so many different things that we could talk about in so many different areas of conversation. So I'm going to let you direct that.

Isaac Mashman0:44

Yeah, well, the past couple of years have been [about] building my business. I know that we've been in a pandemic for two years, but my business was actually birthed in April of 2020. Prior to that, I was going through different things and different ideas. I never had an LLC, never had anything. For whatever reason, there was this mental shift in me. I'm thinking to myself, why don't I get the LLC? Let me get the paperwork, let me be official, let me go ahead and treat this like something that I'm building as a million dollar business. So I got the LLC paperwork, and in April 2020 Mashman Ventures was born. I've been building that, which is a public relations firm. So it's been a lot of fun.

Isaac Mashman1:32

Yeah, a lot of content creation. Obviously, the business is named after me. I'm never anticipating selling the business or anything. But creating content is definitely a lifestyle that you have to get into. That's one of the biggest issues that a lot of my clients have. They're like, well, how do I have the time? Maybe they're busy doing speaking, or they're working with clients, or they're working their nine to five. It's like, how do I find the time? The fact of the matter is you could be driving to work, at a red light, recording a video. You could be in the parking lot recording a video, or behind your desk recording a video.

Video is one aspect. There are so many different forms of content, but it's truly something that I've had to embrace, because I used to never want to be in front of the camera, but the ROI is too great to not be putting myself out there.

Isaac Mashman2:48

Yeah. Well, I actually am very chaotic when it comes to my content. It might not seem like it, but I don't have content scheduled out for the next month. Maybe I'm working towards that, but it hasn't been a priority. But I do like this spontaneous nature. What I've noticed is whenever you have that idea that comes across your mind, maybe you're going through something and all of a sudden you think to yourself, this would be a great idea for a piece of content, then right then and there, you take out your notepad and you write it down. I have a list in my phone with nearly 100 ideas for content that I just spent time developing.

That's another thing. If you can't come up with ideas for content, take 30 minutes, literally lock yourself in a room, cut out all distractions, close the blinds, and sit down with a pen and paper, or your phone on your notepad, on DND, and just write out a list of content ideas. But I love the spontaneous nature. Like whenever I'm traveling, I especially love to create content then, because I'm able to give glimpses outside of just the same office background where I'm making calls and producing content every day. It's good because that's how people connect with you.

Isaac Mashman4:55

Well, I say that quantity is extremely important, but so is quality. A lot of times people think that they have to hire a video team or they have to have somebody edit the video. That's not the case, especially when you're starting out. That does not mean you should put out crap, though. That does not mean that what you're putting out should be rough or blurry. So, some dos and don'ts. I know the conversation's been steered a lot towards video, just because video, like YouTube Shorts, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Reels, is literally the number one thing that's triggering algorithms, and I've seen people grow their channel. I myself quadrupled because a couple of YouTube Shorts took off.

Nobody's talking about YouTube Shorts. Everybody's talking about TikTok and Instagram. But when it comes to creating a video, yeah, make sure that it's not blurry. If you're doing a speaking message or something like that, have some professional courtesy and respect for what you've got going on. But at the same time, a lot of my best performing videos have been the ones that have taken 20 seconds, one or two takes. I'm literally just looking into the camera, and I edit the beginning and the end so you don't hear my iPhone camera click. That's it. But from there, those have performed the best, because a piece of content can do three things.

It can educate, it can entertain, or it can inspire and motivate somebody. I put those two in the same category, and if you can do all three of those things with one piece of content, you're doing really damn good.

Isaac Mashman7:24

I mean, influencers are definitely important. One of the chapters in my book, or one of the subtitles rather, is reverse engineering, because that's what I did early on. I reverse engineered every single successful person. That's how I developed the understanding of what works and what doesn't. So somebody could go and see, well, what podcast distribution networks could I go on and get my podcast on? They could reverse engineer The Maverrik Podcast and go through all of these different things and be like, hey, wow, I can get on here. I didn't know that this one existed. That's one of the things that I did, just doing research.

So when it comes to my best ideas, honestly, they come in the shower and at night. I literally am one of those kind of guys where I will shower in the dark and literally just have my best ideas. As depressing as [that may sound], it's not [like] I'm crying in there contemplating my life. I can come up with ideas, or reflect over a call, or reflect over something that could have been better. Or at night, when everything is quiet. I'm not one of the early risers. I'm just going to get that out of the way. I'm not one of the guys who like to get up at five o'clock.

I've done that, and I don't like it. I would rather... and I'm more productive at night, when everybody's asleep, the cats are asleep, they're not bothering me. I get to sit down and bang out some content or come up with some good ideas.

Isaac Mashman9:45

Well, it's funny, because a lot of the business that comes in through Mashman Ventures is referral-based. I just closed a great client the other day. That was a great referral, literally three days, and it's like, bam, good, good client work. However, when it comes to creating content and doing offers, it's taken me literally five years since I got started with all this, going through different offers and stuff, to finally consider launching a program, and we're calling it Training by Mashman Ventures. We're not calling it some course or a million dollar mastermind kind of thing, and no disrespect to some of the people who are doing masterminds, but that's just not what I wanted to do.

I wanted to make sure that I had a roster of nearly 100 testimonials, video and written, before I even considered doing a course or a program, because in today's day and age, you hinted at it, everybody does a program, everybody does a course, and they have nothing to back that up. Even then, if I'm putting something out, I want to make sure that it looks great. I want to make sure that it's top tier. I'm not just going to say join my group for 20k, and it's like, cool, you get one meeting with me a year. And even as I get out of reach, and as your business scales, you get farther and farther out of reach.

We're talking about Dean, and you're like, it's lucky if we get one meeting with Dean, because he's busy building the business and being the face of the business and putting out content. There are so many different hats and facets of a business owner. So when it comes to doing something like that, you have to be strategic and make sure that people have a level of respect and authority for you. Because if that doesn't exist and they don't view you as that authority, you're going to spend all this time launching something and nobody's going to buy it, because they don't think of you differently. That's part of where personal branding comes in, kind of positioning yourself as that public figure, because all of these other guys are.

So how are you ever going to break through the noise with them? I'm not saying become a narcissist and super ego-centered. But at the same point, you have to realize that you want the attention; you are seeking the attention. And with that, the perception around you and the noise around you starts to change and evolve.

Isaac Mashman12:28

Yeah, and you should never call yourself an expert. I've done it on very rare occasions. When I was super young, starting with all this, I was like, yeah, I'm an expert. And then looking back, I'm like, Isaac. But as is normal, you go through those iterations and those evolutions as you grow and as you scale. However, the one interesting thing I've noticed is that for not calling myself an expert, other people have started to call me the expert. So now you have that third-party validation, which is essential. That's why [you get] into the press and the media. And really quick, I'm going to say this for everybody listening.

If somebody approaches you trying to get you in Yahoo Finance or Forbes or Entrepreneur, or get you the verified blue check, run the opposite way. Because that's something I've seen a lot of lately. I've seen a lot of people, and this has been going on, it's like, pay me five grand, we'll get you in Forbes. They don't actually tell you that that goes against their terms of use. That can actually hurt your reputation. So build your personal brand to where the press comes to you, or to where you could get into the press without having to pay your way in, because that's what legitimate media does.

Isaac Mashman13:36

That's the thing. It's always expanding. It's evolving. So for me, the vision ties in with what I would consider maybe my purpose, and that's to live up to my potential. So that's always going to be going and hitting a new mark. It's funny that you ask me about that, because by the time this comes out, the podcast is going to have ended. And then we're going to be leading into another podcast. I don't quite know the name of the podcast yet, but again, it's an evolution. It's like, I've done a hundred episodes of that, so let me go ahead and move into something different, more mature, a different level.

Isaac Mashman14:14

Yeah, it's still going to be a similar premise, but less on the... I feel like with Chase the Vision, I was at the store the other day, and somebody's like, what's your podcast name?

Isaac Mashman14:26

Even talking about it anymore. So I feel like it even [treads the line with the change]. So the new podcast is still going to be talking about personal development and education and business, but less of trying to convince you to listen to it. More of, you're naturally going to get it. That's something that a lot of these great podcasts have. I'm not exactly sure what's really hot in the UK right now, but I imagine it's probably similar to a degree to what's going on in America, with certain shows dominating the top. But they all just naturally give you value and naturally talk about business or naturally talk about self-improvement without having to convince you that they're talking about it.

So that's something that the new show is going to have, and a little bit more about my life and more about my experiences, more personal, and a little bit more entertaining, to be frank. I'm sick of the whole content, it just has to be value, has to be value kind of thing. It's like, people also want to be entertained.

Isaac Mashman16:12

Next two years: scaling Mashman Ventures, buying property, because Mashman Ventures is my vehicle. But I also have other companies that I'm going to be working on building as well, Mashman Investments and Properties. I incorporated both of those companies earlier this year. So buying more land, which is nice, especially with the state of the economy currently in the United States. I think worldwide a similar thing is going on. There's a lot of tension right now. I want assets that... a lot of people are focused on the metaverse and NFTs and stuff. I'm like, all right, I see some value based off of the project. But I would rather own a physical asset where I could go ahead and put a shovel in the dirt and say, this is my dirt, because you're never making more of that.

Definitely more investment, scaling Mashman Ventures, and also scaling my personal brand. I have a feeling that over the next couple of years, I'll probably do a second edition of my book, which I've never mentioned before to anybody outside of my very close circle, and just a few other things that are really going to kind of propel me forward credibility-wise in the space. [Being in] the top 10 personal branding experts to follow, I feel like that's very, very close.

Isaac Mashman17:33

Just like I went through half a dozen business ideas, I went through half a dozen ideas, if not more, for my book. I wanted to do something that... I tried to write an autobiography, and I'm like, I'm too young for this. This isn't here yet. I can understand it, I can position myself, but this isn't it. Something about personal branding: the moment that I started working with people on their personal brands, it just felt natural to me. Because I was always great at conversing. For being someone wanting to run away from the camera, I never had a problem talking to people. But I realized that personal branding is a space where there's such a misconception going on right now.

People think that they have to create a new personal brand every single time they pivot. That's not the case. You've had your personal brand from the moment you were born, even when you were in the womb and your mom was telling everybody, baby Luke's coming. It's funny, I can't get over how the background here, and I don't know if this is on video, has the blue. It's like, I keep thinking about Luke Skywalker and the blue lights here, man. But I wanted to write it, and I wanted to talk about philosophies and not strategies that would work today and be gone tomorrow. I've picked up some books before, and they talked about what worked on Facebook a couple years ago, and it just doesn't work.

I'm like, how does that stand the test of time? How is there shelf life there? So I wanted to talk about something that was... I called it a manifesto, and I think about Thomas Paine's Common Sense over here in America. I'm like, all of these great things were manifestos in a sense. They're a declaration of beliefs. So it's still technically a book, but it's more of a [workbook] than anything.

Isaac Mashman20:37

That's all you need to do, really. It's also taking those relationships that you have offline, online. This is something very few people do properly or at all. A lot of times, and I'm building my business primarily online, 98% of my clients come from online. Honestly, I'd say it's more like 99.9%, but truthfully, those face-to-face interactions that you have with your coffee barista at Starbucks or whatever, that is somebody who can follow you. That doesn't mean they might be able to work with you, but they might know somebody who can, or they might support you, or they might be able to buy your book, or they might be able to like your content and share the content.

So I've had some of the best people that have been continuously supporting me be people that I [went to] high school with. I've maintained contact with them. I wasn't even friends with them back then. They didn't know I existed, but now they're like, hey, we went to the same school. So that's a level of rapport, and rapport is trust. If you build trust, you get to know a little bit more about them, and you connect with them on something that gives them all the more reason to continue supporting you. That works both ways. So I would encourage you to reach out to some of those old friends or old business partners or clients that you met face to face, whose hands you shook.

Actually get them to follow you online. And then from there, that's how word around town locally begins to spread too, because there are levels to this. You can become well-known locally, nationally, or internationally. I would highly suggest everybody just skip the local part and go straight to international, but it's going to drip down to where, hey, now you're known nationally, now you're known locally. That's how you can do events and do speaking events, now that the world's starting to open up to a degree, and be able to actually go out and have trainings in person, do speaking engagements that you can actually film for your credibility and positioning online.

You're doing all these things offline to help propel you forward online, which changes and shifts the perception people have of you whenever they're coming across your page and getting that first impression.

Isaac Mashman23:59

Luke, it's been an honor, man. I've loved it.