Isaac Mashman, Personal Brand Expert and Author

Isaac Mashman2:37

You've had your personal brand from the day you were born. Even prior to that, most likely your mom was going around telling all of her friends, [sipping tea], saying, oh my God, Jesse's being born in a couple of months. So it's like your personal brand actually started before you were born in a lot of cases, but throughout your life, you grow your personal brand. So if you're looking to start a business right now, you need to be building both. You need to really lean in and consciously build out your personal brand as, hey, I am the founder. This is me. This is my personality. Get people to know who you are, you for you and you as the professional, [a] double-sided coin.

Isaac Mashman5:46

I [run] a public relations firm called Mashman Ventures. I specialize in personal branding, however. A lot of PR firms focus on bridging the gap between the consumer and the corporation, and we focus on bridging the gap between the follower and fan and the public figure. I've been in business in some way, shape, or form since 2017, but I just celebrated two years of Mashman Ventures being incorporated. So I'm super excited to be here.

Isaac Mashman6:34

Yeah, 100%. I launched my business backwards, interestingly enough. What I mean by that is I didn't even know that it was a PR firm. I knew that it would be in the field of personal branding, social media, something along the lines of building out people in the digital space, and it's evolved since then. But I knew that getting the paperwork, getting the LLC, as stupid as it might sound, would kind of set a fire underneath my butt. It would say that, hey, now I have something. This is a commitment I made, not to anybody else, but a commitment I made to myself. Then it was about six months later that I defined it as a public relations firm.

The reason I didn't define it prior was I was afraid of commitment. I was afraid of saying, oh, this is a social media company, or this is a PR firm, this is X, Y and Z, because for some reason I felt like it would limit me. It would put me in a box. What I realized is that that was actually a limiting belief and that committing to it was actually the best thing that I could have done. It's not a limit, because I have opportunities to do other businesses and such, and through research and exploration, I realized that it was public relations. That industry as a whole could pretty much define what I was doing.

That's one of the biggest things. Looking back, the first six months sucked because I didn't know what I was doing. As soon as I figured out what I was doing, my vision got clear and things got better.

Isaac Mashman8:34

Yeah, definitely. Over my journey, there have been multiple circumstances and situations where I could have either turned away and done the simple thing, or taken the risk. Taking the risk every single time has been worth it. I'm not saying every single risk that you take is going to be worth it, but from my experience, every one [has been].

Isaac Mashman9:07

Well, that's the other thing. How would you know? There were multiple times, too, even prior to launching Mashman Ventures, that if I didn't take that leap of faith, if I didn't take that jump, I know without literally any hesitancy that I wouldn't be where I'm at today.

Isaac Mashman9:53

Not really, because my perception of failure is that it doesn't exist. The only way, and I oftentimes say that the only way that you could fail at marketing is doing something so egregious that it ruins your reputation. It doesn't matter if you're aware of your reputation, but literally every single form of marketing somehow can lead to a prospect, lead to a new awareness, lead to an interaction. In business, I can't really think of a specific failure, but I can think of things that I could have done better, such as the legal red tape. I think that's something that a lot of people run from whenever they first jump into it.

It's as simple as, and I know that it's not going to be in the podcast, having your guests on a podcast say, hey, I give permission to the podcast host to record this audio and distribute it. That is a form of legal red tape that a lot of people run from because it takes extra time. They don't think it's necessary. Certain things like refund policies, independent contractor agreements, things of that nature are extremely important. Yeah, it might take time or it might cost money to get a lawyer to revise it and review it, but it's something that can save you a lot of heartache, because there are no gray areas. I think having the black and white area sometimes is really, really important.

Isaac Mashman11:28

I've never had any physical mentors. I've had very few of those, or role models, growing up. But when I started in business, I had virtual mentors. Prior to Mashman Ventures, I was in the industry of network marketing. I was in three different companies, four different times, within two years. That was the time that I finally realized that there was something on the other side of poverty or struggle. I always use the example of the Great Value can of beans from Walmart or the Bush's can of beans. From [my] background, it's, let's get the Great Value. Let's get the Great Value mac and cheese instead of the Kraft.

It was through mentorship, the digital mentorship in the space, that those dream-building experiences started to add up, and some of the founders of the company, not the founders, but some of the top earners in the network marketing company, they were essential. Then from there, after I got out of the industry, you have Grant Cardone, you have Ed Mylett, but they're teaching you from afar and they're teaching the masses. They don't know I exist, but I know they exist. I think that that's also a position that you should strive to be in, where you never know who you're going to be impacting. Then later down the road, you have the opportunity where somebody meets you and shakes your hand and goes, hey, I've been learning from you for the past decade.

You're like, seriously? So yeah, nobody too specific, nobody in person, but digital mentors, and I think personal development is essential, because, I mean, going and listening to this podcast is a form of personal development.

Isaac Mashman13:59

Sharing with your audience? Yeah, well, I'm not one of these guys. The industry of PR is really an industry about ego and manipulation, and there are a lot of people that aren't ethical and moral about it. I'm also not one of these guys online that's like, let me go ahead and flash every single positive testimonial and speak about all my client success. But when the topic arises and the time is right, then I'll mention it. One of the clients, and he's actually a friend of mine today, a close friend, started out as a stranger, though. I helped him launch his personal training business. He surpassed me, actually, within a couple of months, because he had the audience and he was able to leverage it by working with me.

He always reminds me, he's like, Isaac, if it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be where I'm at. I'm like, all right, well, just don't speak like that. I mean, I'm not going to take all that credit, but truthfully, he was able to have a $10,000 month within the first three months of launching his personal training business. But I'm not going to just outright mention that on every single tweet like certain people do. So that was big, but it's cool too, because in the industry of personal branding, I work with a lot of people to help launch their business. My realm of services sometimes veers into that business consultant area, where I help them find a good company name, a name that isn't taken, something that is unique, something that has value for the long term. I've had the pleasure of naming literally, I would say, a dozen companies in the past 18 months alone. That's a lot of fun.

Isaac Mashman16:13

Yeah, and I wouldn't give advice that would be too technical on the business side of things. I would actually say that you need to be building out your personal brand simultaneously. So for example, you'd be building out your personal brand as Jesse Blount to work and build any of your other businesses. You're like, I am the founder of X, Y, and Z business, but building out your personal brand is a way to increase the credibility of your company, direct attention, drive sales, because you're able to say, hey, I am associated with this business. I am the representative of my company that is going on an interview and talking about it or sharing my experience.

I would say that not a single business owner can afford not to build out their personal brand right now, because the influencer economy, the creator economy, is worth billions of dollars. It's only going to increase. Personal branding is going to be something that is vastly capitalized on in the next [few years].

Isaac Mashman18:01

Yeah, well, that's a beautiful thing to understand and to note, too, that a logo is a part of a brand. It isn't the brand. The brand itself would be Coca-Cola, and the Coca-Cola logo is an aspect. The name is an aspect. They're all extensions and pieces of the brand as a whole. So let's say we have the company Coca-Cola, and that is the masterpiece of the jigsaw puzzle, and every single different piece kind of comes together. So the brand, and this is the other thing that I would also note before I answer that question, is there are different kinds of brands. There is a personal brand, there is a company brand, the podcast has a separate brand.

If you write a book, your book has a separate brand. But they're all tied together in some fashion. So your personal brand is who you are. It's what people know you as. Now, on a technical side, the company brand is what people know of, what people think of you. When it comes to a company, you see when you have a personal brand, you don't have to create personality traits or characteristics. You don't have to give yourself those traits. But when it comes to creating a company, you have to determine, what is it going to stand for? What is the value proposition? What are the key pillars of what we're about?

What are we trying to accomplish? What is our mission? So the brand is ultimately what it is. Then marketing is the vehicle, the way that you get more people to know about you or about your company. So it's not just a logo. It's not just a name, it's not just some marketing copy. All of it is a part of the brand. That was a super long-winded answer, but it's a complex question, and complex questions oftentimes [need long answers].

Isaac Mashman19:56

Personal brand and company brand. You've had your personal brand from the day you were born. Even prior to that, most likely your mom was going around telling all of her friends, [sipping tea], saying, oh my God, Jesse's being born in a couple of months. So it's like your personal brand actually started before you were born in a lot of cases, but throughout your life, you grow your personal brand. So if you're looking to start a business right now, you need to be building both. You need to really lean in and consciously build out your personal brand as, hey, I am the founder. This is me.

This is my personality. Get people to know who you are, you for you and you as the professional, [a] double-sided coin. Then when it comes to your company brand, you need to be consciously building that, and a lot of people today, especially in the digital space, build out a company brand that is not really an extension of them.

Isaac Mashman20:45

But if you want to actually build something that is going to last, you have to establish and say, hey, this is an entity that is not just me. It's past me. That's how you develop the team. That's how you scale it and get people to where you might not know the specific founder of Walgreens, but Walgreens carries a unique name and a unique feeling to you. You know of Walgreens as that pharmaceutical store. So you need to be building and thinking long term and building out your personal brand and your company brand simultaneously.

Isaac Mashman21:34

Yeah, yeah. It's not how to start, but it's more so how to continue creating it, because it's not something that you're starting per se, it's something that you're continuing to leverage and lean into. So when it comes to building out your personal brand, I would 100% ask yourself, what is the goal of it? What is the purpose behind it? As cliche as it might sound, what are your goals? But seriously, are you wanting to build out your personal brand and be known? Do you want to be famous? Do you want to be well known locally or nationally, internationally for that matter, like a celebrity? Then on top of that, are you wanting to drive business?

If you have a business, are you wanting to leverage your personal brand? Then understand that every single interaction you have is a contributing factor to your personal brand and to what people think of you as. Take yourself seriously and go into it and be on multiple platforms, and keep the term omnipresence in mind. A lot of times omnipresence is [associated with] God, and in the least sacrilegious way possible, you need to be everywhere all the time with your personal brand. You need to be the number one person that somebody thinks of [when] people are having conversations.

Isaac Mashman23:05

Well, we're going to be moving. Personally, I'm going to be changing locations and really sinking my teeth into this new area. I am feeling a $10,000 day very soon. So that's one of the big things. I don't put specific timelines on it when I set my goals. I call them my accomplishments. I act as if they're already there. So it's like, I have had a $10,000 day, rather than I am going to have a $10,000 day.

Isaac Mashman24:09

Ready? Let's go. Man, I love your energy. You can find me on every single platform at Isaac Mashman, I-S-A-A-C, M-A-S-H-M-A-N: Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, TikTok, Quora, Reddit. I'm literally on every single platform. I also have a podcast of my own, but more importantly, I also wrote and published my first book last year in November. It's called "Personal Branding: A Manifesto on Fame and Influence." I talk about the what and why of your personal brand. What is personal branding and why should you be building it? That's available on my website, isaacmashman.com/book, or on Amazon as well. So Jesse, it's been a pleasure, man. Thank you.