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July 1, 2025 • 30 mins

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🎧 Episode 170: Wealthy, Well-Known, and Wildly Intentional — Redefining Success with AJ Vaden (Part 1)

In Part 1 of this two-part series, Sonnie sits down with personal branding powerhouse AJ Vaden—co-founder of Brand Builders Group and co-author of the brand-new book Wealthy and Well-Known (pre-order by July 1 for $350.00 in amazing bonuses!).

AJ shares her incredible story of reinvention after being “super fired,” losing everything she had built—and the unexpected opportunity that followed with Lewis Howes. This episode is a masterclass in redefining success, reclaiming peace, and building a brand rooted in purpose.

We explore:

  • The true meaning of being wealthy (hint: it’s not money or time)
  • Why being well-known is more about alignment than audience size
  • How hustle culture leads to burnout and distraction
  • The core philosophy behind Brand Builders Group: “Diluted focus gets diluted results”
  • The myth of multiple income streams—and the surprising truth about growth
  • How AJ and Rory’s lowest point became the launchpad for their life’s work
  • Why trust and reputation—not followers—are your greatest assets
  • What it really means to be a “mission-driven messenger”

🔑 Key takeaways:

  • Peace is the new profit—and it’s available now
  • You already have a personal brand… but is it the one you want?
  • Focus is a growth strategy—not a limitation
  • Your greatest influence happens offline, in real relationships

đź’ˇ Quotes to remember:

“You don’t have to have a lot of money or time to have peace… but you do have to live in your purpose to find it.”

“Reputation precedes revenue. Value precedes transaction.”


📚 Resources mentioned:

✨ Pre-order Wealthy and Well-Known by July 1st and claim $350 in free bonuses:
https://www.wealthyandwellknown.com/

Learn more about AJ’s work at Brand Builders Group:
 https://www.brandbuildersgroup.com/

AJ's Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/aj_vaden/

A rising tide raises all ships, and I invite you along on this journey to Evoke Greatness!

Check out my website: www.evokegreatness.com

Follow me on:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sonnie-linebarger-899b9a52/

https://www.instagram.com/evoke.greatness/

https://www.tiktok.com/@evoke.greatness

http://www.youtube.com/@evokegreatness








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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Sonnie (00:04):
That very monumental day in my life where our majority
investor walked into an officewhich I thought was a routine
budget meeting and I verypublicly got fired.
I got super fired and overnightwe lost all my income.
I lost all my contacts, I lostmy team, I lost all speaking
engagements, consultingengagements, and two weeks later

(00:25):
my husband resigned.
And then we lost all of oursocial media.
We lost our email list, our CRM, we lost our podcast and all of
our intellectual property andour two previous books was up
for question.
It was gone overnight and thiswas an amazing opportunity for
us to do one of two things crawlin a dark hole and have a giant

(00:45):
pity party, or to go.
Is there a greater reason forthis?
Welcome to Evoke Greatness.
We are officially entering yearthree of this podcast and I am
filled with so much gratitudefor each and every one of you
who've joined me on thisincredible journey of growth and

(01:06):
self-discovery.
I'm Sonnie, your host andfellow traveler on this path of
personal evolution.
This podcast is a sanctuary forthe curious, the ambitious and
the introspective.
It's for those of you who, likeme, are captivated by the
champion mindset and driven byan insatiable hunger for growth
and knowledge.
Whether you're just beginningyour journey or you're well

(01:27):
along your path, you're going tofind stories here that resonate
with your experiences andaspirations.
Over the last two years, we'veshared countless stories of
triumph and challenge, ofresilience and transformation.
We've laughed, we've reflectedand we've grown together.
And as we've evolved, so toohas this podcast.
Remember, no matter whatchapter you're on in your own

(01:49):
story, you belong here.
This community we've builttogether is a place of support,
inspiration and shared growth.
Where intention goes, energyflows, and the energy you bring
to this space elevates us all.
So, whether you're listeningwhile commuting, working out or

(02:10):
enjoying your morning coffee,perhaps from one of those
motivational mugs I'm so fond of, know that you're a part of
something special.
Thank you for being here.
Thank you for your curiosity,your openness and your
commitment to personal growth.
As we embark on year three, Iinvite you to lean in, to listen
deeply and to let these storiesresonate with your soul.
I believe that a rising tideraises all ships and I invite

(02:31):
you along in this journey toevoke greatness.
Welcome back to another episodeof Evoke Greatness, where we
don't do mediocre.
We're here for the bold, thecurious and those who lead with

(02:52):
fire and grit.
Today, I am thrilled tointroduce my guest, a woman who
lives and breathes personalbranding AJ Vaden.
As CEO and co-founder of BrandBuilders Group, aj has guided
thousands of mission-drivenmessengers to turn their
reputation into real revenue.
With her husband, rory Vaden,she's co-authored the highly
anticipated, wealthy andWell-Known the playbook unveils

(03:14):
the proven data-driven systemshe's used to help elite voices
names like Lewis Howes, ed Miletand Amy Porterfield to expand
their reach, building compellingthought leadership while
monetizing their impact.
Aj isn't just a strategist.
She's a multi-eight-figureentrepreneur, a top personal
branding speaker and co-host ofthe Influential Personal Brand

(03:35):
podcast, named a Forbes Top 10Business Show.
She's been featured in SuccessMagazine Inc, fast Company and
Good Morning America.
She's also a wife, mom of two,and has lived on four continents
.
Her journey is as inspiring asit is instructive.
Aj, welcome to the show.
Thank you so much.
Sometimes you have like thosereflection moments where you're

(03:57):
like wow, is that my bio?
Like I forgot I'd done some ofthose things you know.
Some of that feels like such alifetime ago, with living on all
these different places indifferent countries.
Now that I'm so stationary withtwo young kids, I'm like wow,
did I actually get to travelthat much before?
I love that and I love thatyou're able to tie all of those
elements into what you do andkind of that contribution to the

(04:22):
population that you work with.
Yeah, I mean honestly, you know,it's one of those things where
I think for a lot of people wedon't realize how connected our
past experience, expertisewhether it's personally or
professionally how connectedthey really are with what we do.
And it's channeling thatthrough a very specific lens and

(04:42):
finding a through line of everysingle thing that we've done in
our life has kind of led us andprepared us to do what we're
doing right now.
Sometimes we can see it,oftentimes we can't.

AJ (04:54):
Yeah, very true.
I am excited to talk about yourupcoming book, Wealthy and
Well-Known.
I also want everybody to knowthat this will be airing on July
1st and if you pre-order thenew book by July 1st, you have
tons of goodies that come withit $350 in free bonuses, as if
there's not a reason to get thebook anyway.
It's always great to getgoodies like that associated

(05:15):
with it.
So timing is important.
So I want to make sureeverybody knows that as they're
driving into work listening tothis episode, make sure, as soon
as you get stationary, that yougo in and pre-order listening
to this episode.

Sonnie (05:24):
Make sure, as soon as you get stationary, that you go
in and pre-order yeah, thank youfor that, and you can go to
wealthyandwellknowncom.
And, as Sunny said, yes,there's $350 of awesome free
bonuses and free resources,masterclasses.
There's so much that we'veadded to this to make it a
no-brainer but, more importantly, so that these bonuses can help
you execute so many of thethings that we're going to talk

(05:45):
about on the show today.

AJ (05:47):
Let's dive into the title itself, right Wealthy and
Well-Known.
I think that challenges us tohold both like income and
influence right.
I'm curious what does wealthytruly mean to you?
And then, as you and Rory, asyour understanding of what the
term well-known, I imagine itevolved through writing this

(06:07):
book, but I would love to know alittle bit more about those two
items I love that you askedthis because, to be honest, when
we selected the title for thisbook, we did not think it would
be as polarizing as it has been.

Sonnie (06:21):
To be honest, we've had so many people in our community
and our audience go I love thetitle, it's perfect and then
we've had just as many friends,clients, colleagues go.
What made you decide on thistitle exactly?
And I think a lot of that kindof stems from there's this many
times this external concept ofwhat is wealth and what does it

(06:42):
mean to be well-known, and Ithink a lot of times what we
experience in today's verymedia-ridden social media
influencer and I say that withbunny ears because I think
that's all relative we getconfused.
What does it mean to bewell-known and what is true
wealth?
What does it really mean to bewealthy?

(07:02):
And I think there is someappeal.
Yes, there is impact in beingwell-known.
There is income that isassociated with being wealthy.
But, to be honest, the reasonthat we selected this title is
because there was a large seasonof our life, my husband and I
where wealthy to us meant moneyand we were figuring out how do
you make more money?

(07:23):
And there's nothing wrong withthat.
There's a season and a time forneeding and wanting to make
more money.
That is not a bad thing, sodon't hear what I'm not saying.
But I think for us we were inthis hustle culture.
We were everything was aboutmore, more, more.
And when we got more, we kindof looked at each other and we

(07:43):
said, well, I thought this wouldfeel different.
And we're still working as manyhours as we were and we're
still doing as many things andwe're still striving the same we
were.
And is it really more moneywe're after?
Is money really the thing?
And then we decided you knowwhat?
We had it wrong.
Wealthy to us wasn't money, itwas more time.
So then we spent the nextseason of our lives, both

(08:06):
personally and professionally,thinking if we just carved out
more white space, if we just hadmore margin, if we just had
less to do, if we just had moretime, we would have more peace,
we would have more freedom, we'dhave more opportunities to do
the things that we weren'tmaking time to do already.
And then we realized thatwasn't it either.
And it was like every singletime we had an opportunity to

(08:29):
have more time, we filled it andthere was this anxious spirit
about us, and it wasn't untilwriting this book that we really
discovered for ourselves andsome may relate to this is that
there is nothing wrong withhaving more money I believe that
that is a gift from God.
And there is nothing wrong withwanting more time and having

(08:50):
lots of free time.
I believe that, too, is a giftfrom God.
But what we really believethrough this whole process is
that what it truly means to bewealthy is to have more peace,
and there's a lot of what wetalk about in this book of we
believe that peace is the newprofit, because we know that
money can't buy peace and moretime can't buy peace, and we

(09:13):
could have had peace in thestriving, we could have had
peace with all of that.
But that's something that wehave to choose, that's something
we have to seek, that'ssomething we have to go after,
and you don't have to have a lotof money to have peace and you
don't have to have a lot of timeto have peace.
But peace is available rightnow and I think for us and what
we talk about in this book is alot of our peace was found and

(09:35):
really tapping into ourGod-giving purpose, identifying
our calling and stepping intothat and we can talk about that
more later.
But our peace wasn't found withmoney and it wasn't found with
extra time.
It was found in living out ourpurpose and that is where we
have.
I wouldn't say we work lesshours a day than we either have,

(09:55):
but we work different.
It's different and notnecessarily less, but it's very
different.
And then the well-known piece.
I think a lot of people getcaught up and we think the idea
of being well-known hassomething to do with huge
audiences or big followings orlarge email lists or lots of
subscribers and downloads andengagement and posts and

(10:17):
comments and shares, and it'sabout how many books were sold
and how many people know you.
And that's just not it either.
And regardless of who'slistening, what I can tell you
right now is that you arealready, as you are, where you
are, perfectly and whollywell-known by your creator.

(10:39):
And I think a huge part of thisis realizing in this world,
where we can feel less thanthat's because of comparison.
It's because we're looking ateverybody else around us and
what they have and what they'redoing, often in a mirage
environment, through the lens ofsocial media, and we think, wow
, environment through the lensof social media and we think,

(11:00):
wow, like that's not me, am Ivaluable?
Is what I'm doing worthwhile?
Like, am I important?
Does what I do even matter?
And this whole concept ofidentity is what we really
tapped into, unintentionally, inthis book.
But the well-known piece isrealizing that it's more
important for you to bewell-known by the people in your
family by having a relationshipwith your creator, by serving

(11:23):
people right in front of you,than it is chasing strangers on
the internet Love that.

AJ (11:27):
You just walked us through the iterations of how you viewed
it through your lens.
Right, and our lens is made upof our lived experiences and so
we go through these iterationsor these seasons where we may
hold importance of one thing atthis season and then it grows
and it matures and sometimes youshed off the things that are no
longer important.
But I love that what came tomind was like the side of hustle

(11:50):
culture where it's like wealthyand well-known and this
misconception is like make asmuch money as you can, don't
sleep, you know, get, get, get,get, get all of the next things.
And I love that you really wentthrough the process, that you
guys intentionally went throughthe process to say it's based on
our value system and what wefind really important, and

(12:12):
although that can iterate andchange throughout our lives,
then it comes down tonon-negotiables and what you're
willing and unwilling to do, andso it sounds like you guys got
really clear on that.
In that hustle culture, that'swhere there's all the noise, the
distracting noise, and you'llnever, you won't drift to your
big giant goals.
You've got to temper that noiseand get really clear on what

(12:35):
you want to then be able tocreate that path forward, and it
sounds like this is really aplaybook to do that, love that.

Sonnie (12:41):
You mentioned the word distraction, that is the word,
like that is the word, and Ithink hustle happens due to
distraction and it's becausewe're trying to do more, more,
more, more and usually it's, youknow, more ideas, more income
streams, more thoughts, moreaudiences, more platforms and
we're distracted and instead ofbeing phenomenally awesome at

(13:05):
one thing, we become somewhataverage and mediocre because
we're spread too thin.
One of the core philosophiesthat we have in our company we
talk a lot about this in thebook is diluted focus gets
diluted results.
Diluted focus gets dilutedresults.
And no one got to be great atanything with diluted focus,

(13:27):
yeah.

AJ (13:28):
And then that becomes crystal clear.
I love that.
Okay, you've helped build thebrands behind some of today's
most recognized voices, and it'sbeen over a lot of years.
What's something that some ofthose folks that you've worked
with, even through their owniterations, that they still
struggle with in building theirbrand, and how do you help them?

Sonnie (13:50):
Okay, I know that you didn't know my answer to this
question, but this is theperfect segue into what we were
just talking about.
The perfect segue becausehere's what I find is that,
ironically, the more successful,the more you know quote unquote
wealthy and well-known, andthat people become in business

(14:13):
and in life it just it doesn'tmatter.
There is this temptation to domore, to want more, and what we
have found with some of the mostwell-known personal brands that
we have worked with is thattheir number one thing that they
needed help with was focus.
There were so manyopportunities to do other things

(14:35):
that they got diluted right.
One of our most well-knownclients is Lewis Howes, who I
adore and love on so many levels, and when we first worked with
Lewis, he had 17 revenue streams, 17 income streams.
And if you just think aboutthat for a second and do a
reflection on your own business,on your own life and this could

(14:57):
be different product lines,different service offerings it
doesn't have to be completelydifferent entities, but how many
things are you going after?
How many product offerings, howmany packages do you have, how
many you know?
Just even different involvementare you in with different
things that are quote unquoterelated to helping you generate

(15:17):
revenue.
In theory and I think that'sthe thing it's in theory, we
think all these things arehelping us.
I think as well.
My husband shares this sentiment.
It is not shared by many, butwe believe that one of the worst
pieces of advice that there ison the internet today like
single-handedly is that you needto have multiple streams of
income.

(15:38):
It's the worst advice in theworld for most people Because
really, what we need to breakthrough to become known, to
actually have the success thatwe want to make the impact that
we have is focus.
We don't need more ideas,business models, revenue streams
, audiences, platforms we don't.

(15:58):
We already can hardly handlewhat we're doing.
What we need is to go.
Where am I most aligned?
Where do I have the deepestcalling?
Where do I feel like I canserve people in the deepest and
most meaningful way, ie where Ican have the greatest impact and
where does that audience liveand what do they need from me?

(16:20):
What can I provide to them thatno one else on the planet can,
and how do I want to do that ina way that makes it not feel
like work, it's like how could Ido something that feels like
passion, not a burden, right,and I think that's a big deal,
because how many things are manyof us doing that we don't even

(16:41):
like, that we don't even wannado, and we're doing it for the
sake of what money?
I think that's a thing that weneed to reflect on.
I think that's a problem that wehear a lot is, you know, it's
diversified revenue streams,have multiple streams of income,
have this side hustle, as youmentioned earlier, and I just
believe that some of the worstadvice we can get and it's the

(17:04):
number one thing that some ofour biggest brands struggled
with, because there is so muchtemptation, there is so much
opportunity and they do have theresources, and what happens is
that the main thing starts toget diluted and it gets a little
less focus, it gets a littleless attention, and then you
look around and you're like whyisn't this working anymore?

(17:25):
I can't tell you the number ofpeople who come to work with us
at Brand Builders Group becausetheir business has what they
call plateaued.
They're like we're stagnant,we're not growing anymore, and I
bet 90% of the time it'sbecause their attention got
divided.
They started adding inadditional offerings, additional

(17:48):
products, additional platforms,new funnels.
They started trying a bunch ofnew stuff and the main thing
wasn't the main thing anymore.
And then they think the marketis at fault, the economy is at
fault, their avatar has changed,the buying behavior has changed
and they don't recognize.
No, you changed your businessand it no longer has your full,

(18:13):
undivided attention.
That is what changed.
And if we cut the clutter and wego back to the basics and we go
back to the main thing and thatmight be a different main thing
right, it might be somethingnew, but it's just not multiple
things.
We can do all the things.
We just can't do them all atonce.
And I think that's what a lotof us struggle with is we're

(18:35):
trying to do all the things atthe same time and not doing any
of them exceptionally well.
And so what we really helppeople with is clarifying what
is the main thing.
What is the top, primary focusand your singular business model
.
What problem do you solve?
How do you uniquely solve it?
Who do you solve it for?

(18:56):
How do you make money solvingit?
And then, how do we reach thosepeople at a greater scale?

AJ (19:01):
But that's not multiple things, that's one thing that,
too, the questions and answersare just like perfectly in a
dance with one another.
You mentioned that in the bookthat reputation precedes revenue
, and that's a lot of what youwere just saying.
Right, because that reputationyou build, that that can easily
get cloudy as well when you'refocused or distracted on a

(19:22):
number of different things.
But I do, coming back to thatreputation piece, I would love
to know in your journey, haveyou had a moment where your
reputation showed up for youprior to the bank account side?

Sonnie (19:39):
prior to the revenue side, where your reputation
really showed up for you in amonumental way, yes, and it was
in a very humbling way, sohumbling and monumental at the
same time.
In fact, for those of you whodo get a copy of the book, first
of all, thank you if you'd bewilling to do that.
But we opened the book andchapter one, my husband and I,
divide chapters.
My husband and I little knownfact we're business partners

(20:00):
before we fell in love and gotmarried, so we've been in
business longer than we've beenmarried, so we split chapters,
and chapter one is my chapterand the opening line starts with
May 4th 2018.
Your services are no longerneeded here, and that was a very
pivotal moment in my personallife because for the prior 13

(20:23):
years leading up to May 4th 2018, my husband and I, as I
mentioned, were businesspartners.
We had two other businesspartners and a majority investor
, and I had given every ounce ofmy being, every hour of my day,
every minute of my hour andevery piece of my personal life
to growing this business.
And there's a little bit ofguilt and shame in admitting
that, because I willinglyforegoed all birthday parties,

(20:48):
weddings, anniversaries, babyshowers, personal events, all
for the sake of the company.
It was all for the sake ofcompany first revenue, profit,
ambition, ego, title.
And I could have said I wasdoing it for a lot of other
reasons, but in my core, if Iwas really honest with myself, I

(21:08):
was doing it because it made mefeel important and that's how I
spent the first 13 years of myprofessional career building our
first company, which was asales coaching business, and we
grew it.
It was very successful.
We grew it to eight figures,had almost 200 coaches.
On that very monumental day inmy life where our majority
investor walked into an officewhich I thought was a routine

(21:29):
budget meeting and I verypublicly got fired, I got super
fired and overnight we lost allmy income.
I lost all my contacts, I lostmy team, I lost all speaking
engagements, consultingengagements and two weeks later
my husband resigned.
And then we lost all of oursocial media.
We lost our email list, our CRM, we lost our podcast and all of

(21:54):
our intellectual property andour two previous books was up
for question.
It was gone overnight.
And this was an amazingopportunity for us to do one of
two things Crawl in a dark holeand have a giant pity party or
to go.
Is there a greater reason forthis giant pity party or to go?

(22:16):
Is there a greater reason forthis?
And I can't tell you that thatwas an automatic thought.
That happened in those twoweeks.
There was a lot of uncertainty,there was a lot of anger, there
was a lot of humiliation, therewas a lot of embarrassment,
there was a lot of really hardmoments, and that went on for a
couple of years, to be honest.
But in the middle of all that,the reason that we said, god,
this has to be you, this has tobe you, god, there's no other

(22:40):
explanation Is that in themiddle of that, two days after I
got fired on May 6th, we got avery unexpected call from
someone who at the time, wasreally just an acquaintance and
I've already mentioned his nameand it's why he's mentioned so
often in the book and LewisHowes reached out to Rory, my

(23:01):
husband, unexpectedly out of theblue.
We had not heard from him in twoyears and then, two days after
I got so super fired, he callsRory and said you know what?
Guys?
I don't know why, but for thelast couple of months I've just
been getting this prompting thatI'm supposed to call you guys.
I'm feeling a little distractedin my business.

(23:22):
The business is growing, thepodcast is doing well, but I
feel diluted.
I feel stretched too thin and Idon't know why.
I just felt like I was supposedto call you.
Now just pause for a second andrewind.
10 years earlier Rory and Lewishad met when my husband's very
first book, take the Stairs,came out and was number two on

(23:42):
the New York Times list.
Rory was cold-pitched to be onLewis's podcast.
It was a very casual, veryacquaintance-level relationship.
But there was a fewinteractions over the years
where we helped support to himwith some ideas with his first
book.
Not a formal client, not a paidengagement, just people helping
people.
And then he called us two daysafter we were fired, not because

(24:06):
we had a business, not becausewe had some big social media
following, not because he evenknew this is what we were doing.
He called us because there wasa pre-established reputation of
know that you guys know whatyou're doing and I know that
you've helped me before.
Would you be willing to spend acouple of days with me?
So he flew to Nashville,tennessee, two weeks later not

(24:30):
even two weeks later, probably aweek later spent two days with
us in our basement you heard mein our basement and at the end
of those two days, it was Lewisthat said guys, this is your new
business, personal brandstrategy and helping people
clarify their message and theproblem they solve and building
their personal brand, leveragingtheir reputation.

(24:52):
This is why this happened.
This is what you're meant to do.
And Rory and I looked at eachother and we said to us this is
not our business.
I just got fired.
Rory just quit.
No, this is not what we do.
And he said but it is what youdo.
It didn't have to be a businessfor someone else to see.
This is what we did.

(25:13):
This was already innately apart of our calling and our
purpose and our passion.
And so I see this is what wedid.
This was already innately apart of our calling and our
purpose and our passion, and soI think this is what I really
want everyone to kind of like.
I want you to hold this in yourhands.
And when I tell you this, whenwe launched Brand Builders Group
on July 27th 2018, okay, nowthat I was fired May 4th we

(25:33):
formally launched this businesson July 27th with no business
plan, no social media, nowebsite, no email list, no
podcast, no book, no funnels, nomarketing strategy.
We launched our business onLewis's podcast because he said
let me help you.
I know that if you helped me,you can help other people the

(25:57):
same way and I want to help you.
So he launched our business onhis podcast.
All we had time and money forwas to create an unstylized
landing page with a picture ofme and my husband with an orange
button that said request a callhere.
Pause and remember we are apersonal brand strategy firm.

(26:19):
We had no personal brand, butwhat we did have was a trusted
offline relationship, a trustedreputation with Lewis, and what
he had was a very intimatelytrusted relationship that he had
built for years with hispodcast audience.
And on that one podcastinterview and him saying I

(26:42):
worked with these guys, I'mintroducing them to you with the
most awfully designed,uncompelling no coffee, no
creative, awful orange button1,000 people requested a call.
Trust is built offline andonline and trust happens through
actually providing value, notbecause we have a bunch of

(27:06):
social media posts.
It's because there is richcontent that provides value in
someone's life and it doesn'talways have to be online.
We didn't do this with Louisonline.
We did it with him offline in areal human-to-human
relationship, on phone calls, ina basement, building
relationships way before we everneeded them.

(27:26):
And so this concept ofreputation, right.
Reputation precedes revenue.
Well, value precedestransactions, and I think those
are both really importantconcepts of like.
Most of us have a reputation,whether or not you've
intentionally spent time puttingit together or not.
Ie, all of us have a personalbrand.

(27:49):
I often get asked the questionhey, aj, like why do you think I
need a personal brand?
Had asked the question hey, aj,like, why do you think I need a
personal brand?
My response is always the sameI don't think you need a
personal brand.
I know you already have apersonal brand, it's just is it
the one that you want?
And the same thing goes for ourreputation, because reputation
and personal brand aresynonymous.

(28:10):
We all have one Like.
If we all just took a secondright now and we said what would
I do or who would I call if Iwanted to go to the hottest new
restaurant in town?
Most of us, if you thought of awho right, that means that you
already have a subconsciousconnection with someone who

(28:31):
loves restaurants, loves food,loves trying new things is
always on the up and up inwhatever's happening in your
city.
They have an intentional, bydefault reputation with you,
even if they didn't mean to.
The act of personal branding isjust putting intentionality
behind a reputation.
Reputations are things that wealready have.

(28:54):
The art of personal branding isformalizing, digitizing and
monetizing that reputation thatyou want.

AJ (29:02):
Okay, you know how it works.
This is where I hit the pausebutton.
I hope you enjoyed this episode.
Wealthy, well-known and wildlyintentional with AJ Vaden.
After getting super fired upand losing everything overnight,
aj based a choice hide orrebuild with purpose.
In part two, she shares how herreputation showed up before
revenue, how Brand BuildersGroup was born in a basement and

(29:26):
why.
Wealthy and well-known is aroadmap for rising from rock
bottom with clarity, focus andpeace.
Make sure to check back nextweek for part two.
Bottom with clarity, focus andpeace.
Make sure to check back nextweek for part two.
If today's episode challengedyou, moved you or lit a fire in
your soul, don't keep it toyourself.
Share it with somebody who'sready to rise.
Could I ask you to take 30seconds to leave a review?

(29:53):
It's the best way to say thankyou and help this show reach
more bold leaders like you,because this isn't just a
podcast, it's a movement.
We're not here to play small.
We're here to lead loud, onebold and unapologetic step at a
time.
Until next time, stay bold,stay grounded and make moves
that make mediocre uncomfortable.
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