LET’S GET PERSONAL AND I MEAN REAL PERSONAL

For years, I believed personal branding was about how you present yourself in business as a leader, a creator, an influencer, a speaker.
How you want people to see you.
How you want to be known.

But the more I learned, the more I worked with executives and speakers, the more I realized something important:

That is the wrong question.
And the wrong starting point.

When you ask someone, “How do you want people to see you?” their answer is almost always influenced by the outside world trends, influencers, celebrities, competitors, people they admire, people they want to be like.

Rarely does the answer come from the place it should come from:
deep inside themselves.

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THE OUTSIDE WORLD IS LOUD BUT YOUR TRUTH IS QUIET

We live in a world shaped by social media.
It’s easy to look outward and say:

“I want to be like him.”
“I want to be like her.”
“If I show up like that, I’ll get more attention.”
“If I copy that style, people will like me more.”

That is outside-in branding.
And it never works long-term.

Real personal branding starts with ONE question:
Who am I?

And don’t tell me:
“I’m not interesting.”
“I don’t have a crazy story.”
“I didn’t climb Everest.”
“I didn’t build the next Apple.”
“I’m just running a business.”

No.
I promise you 100 out of 100 times when I meet a leader or a speaker, they are FAR more interesting and powerful than they think.

Real personal branding is about uncovering who you are on the inside…
and THEN taking that truth to the outside world.

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BEING YOURSELF IS NOT A PERFORMANCE

After my 2009 experience, I learned what it really means to be yourself:

Be clear.
Be raw.
Be unafraid.

Not by hiding your weaknesses but by building from them.

When you try to perform, to be “perfect,” you exhaust yourself.
You overthink every word.
You try to deliver a flawless show.

But life is not a performance.
Life is not a movie where the director calls “cut” and lets you redo the scene.

Life is a journey.
Life is more like Broadway you show up, you mess up, you learn, and tomorrow you come back better.

Perfect is a goal.
It’s not a way of living.

And it’s definitely not how you build connection.
Because perfect is not human.

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THE HARDEST LESSON: YOU ARE ONE PERSON, NOT TWO

Some leaders tell me:

“This is how I am at work.”
“And this is how I am at home.”

I used to accept that.
Until I lived through enough life to learn the truth:

You only have ONE voice.
One identity.
One personal brand.
One you.

The hardest part of finding your voice is surrendering fully and realizing there is no “work you” and “home you.” Once you connect those two, you become whole. You become authentic. You become powerful.

I had to hit another wall in my personal life to learn that lesson.
But once I did, everything changed.

Being you real, raw, honest should not depend on the audience.
Just like actors don’t change the script based on who sits in the theater, you don’t change who you are based on who’s watching.

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THE REAL TRANSFORMATION

If you want the full transformation, here is the truth:

You must connect the you at home and the you at work into one.
One voice.
One identity.
One brand.
One life.

And I promise you once you do:

Your leadership will transform.
Your confidence will elevate.
Your influence will expand.
Your life will become happier, calmer, and more aligned.

So don’t just “get personal.”

‍Get REAL personal.