December 6, 2025 • 47 mins
If people can’t read your value, they can’t reward it. We sit down with brand strategist Jen Dalton to turn personal branding from a fuzzy idea into a practical plan you can execute, one small step at a time. Our conversation starts with a simple truth—telepathy isn’t a strategy—and builds toward a reputation roadmap that helps you define your strengths, choose the right words, and create monthly evidence that moves you closer to the work you want.
We break down the crucial difference between business branding and personal branding, then focus on what actually builds trust: authenticity, vulnerability, and stories with real lessons. Jen shares how to stop confusing personal branding with bragging and start sharing useful insights, mistakes, and wins that help your audience. We talk about finding your niche, making your reputation visible on LinkedIn and video, and why Gen Z rewards leaders who are genuine and clear. You’ll hear practical tools—DiSC, StrengthsFinder, Enneagram—for surfacing blind spots, plus a simple exercise to pick three strengths, write a mission statement, and align your language so people perceive you the way you intend.
From there, we get tactical. Learn how to build a 12–24 month reputation roadmap, create one proof point each month, and use platforms strategically to show your value without shouting. We discuss leadership branding, aligning actions with words, and building four networks—peers, prospects, giving back, and fun—to stay relevant and resilient. Grant shares his AI Business Accelerator as a live example of building evidence for a future-focused brand, and we explore creative ways to upskill, serve, and stand out without trying to be “an influencer.”
Ready to own your story and make your value visible? Listen, take notes, and then pick one action to ship this week. If this conversation helped you, follow the show, share it with a friend who’s ready for a pivot, and leave a quick review so more builders can find us.
Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Follow The Brand! We hope you enjoyed learning about the latest trends and strategies in Personal Branding, Business and Career Development, Financial Empowerment, Technology Innovation, and Executive Presence. To keep up with the latest insights and updates, visit 5starbdm.com
.
And don’t miss Grant McGaugh’s new book, First Light — a powerful guide to igniting your purpose and building a BRAVE brand that stands out in a changing world. - https://5starbdm.com/brave-masterclass/
See you next time on Follow The Brand!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:02):
Hello, everybody.
Welcome to the Father BrandPodcast.
This is Grant McGall.
I am in the wintry world ofOmaha, Nebraska.
Today, you know, I'm a Floridaboy, and but I've come back
home.
It's been 30 some of my years,and I learned how to drive in
the snow.
Again, it's just like swimming.
It's just riding the bike.
It just comes back to younaturally.
So I'm getting back to thiswintry world.
(00:24):
Yes, I will be in St.
Croix pretty soon as well.
And I'll be in Miami as always.
But today we're going to talkabout one of my favorite
subjects that is personalbranding.
And I couldn't think of anyoneelse to really have this
discussion with.
As we begin to transition out of2025 into 2026, people start
thinking about what am I goingto do different?
What's going on in my career?
(00:44):
What's going on in my business?
What's going on with mepersonally?
We're going to talk aboutpersonal branding with Jen
Dalton.
So, Jen, would you like tointroduce yourself?
SPEAKER_01 (00:53):
Thank you so much for that introduction.
I was actually born in Tampa,Florida.
So I am a Floridian up in DC.
So I went north.
So I like the whole St.
Crumplan you have.
I am thrilled to be here.
I think you're spot on.
The timing is such a greatopportunity for people to step
back and think about who werethey this year?
How do they want to adjust orevolve that going into next
(01:14):
year?
So I'm excited to talk about itwith you.
SPEAKER_00 (01:17):
Yeah, let's unpack that.
A lot of people there personalbranding.
So a lot of times they getconfused a little bit with
business branding, how to brandyour business.
But then personal branding is alittle bit different.
I want to get from you.
How do you define personalbranding from your perspective
and your core value around that?
SPEAKER_01 (01:38):
That's a great question.
I always tell my clients twothings.
I tell them one, telepathy isnot a strategy, right?
If we want people to know who weare, we have to communicate it.
And number two is that personalbranding is not personal
bragging.
So I'm a big believer that wehave to be very clear on how do
(02:00):
we bring value to whether it'sfriends, family, the workplace,
what are our values, what's ourwhy, and really digging deep
into that.
And so my tagline for mycompany, Brand Mirror, is
reflect, stand out.
And it is this idea ofself-reflection to know who you
are, and that can help you standout to the right audiences.
SPEAKER_00 (02:23):
I love that.
I love that.
You're right in time, or I wouldsay aligned in how I look at
personal branding.
I've developed it into aframework I call the brave
framework.
I think you got to be brave, yougotta step out.
It's almost like you know,people think about public
speaking.
You're like, oh my god.
Oh, yes.
You know, no one likes to a lotof people don't like to put you
(02:43):
know speak publicly.
And I think a lot of that isbecause you're just not
prepared.
You know, if you know whatyou're talking about, you can
talk at any point in time.
Like, oh, I love talking aboutthis stuff.
I can't believe you're talkingabout this.
I want to talk about it, right?
But if you start talking aboutsomething you don't know that
much about, you getuncomfortable.
That's that uncomfortablefeeling that you get.
I think when you think aboutpersonal branding, this is my
(03:06):
perspective, is that when youunderstand, and I put into a
framework called Brave, which isyour identity, brand identity,
right?
You gotta get into and do someresearch around what you're
talking about.
Are you authentic in your brand?
Can you make it visible?
And can you execute on that, youknow, repeatedly, whether it's
(03:26):
daily, weekly, monthly, and youknow, along and it has to be a
goal, right?
What is your purpose?
There's gotta be a purpose whenyou're putting it out there,
especially in the in the digitalworld as well as uh uh even in
person.
So, from your perspective, Iwant to know this because I
always say, What's your originstory?
What got Jen interested inpersonal branding?
SPEAKER_01 (03:50):
So I grew up in an entrepreneurial household.
My parents were entrepreneurs,my grandparents were
entrepreneurs, and so although Ispent 10 years in the corporate
space working on branding,marketing, product development,
I really wanted on my 10thanniversary, I also had my
second son.
And I was like, this is a momentwhere I need to pause and think
(04:12):
about what do I want to do nextfor the next 10 years.
And so for me, I was thinkingthat through for myself.
And uh when I went back toGeorgetown to get my executive
MBA, I went back with the solepurpose of I know I want to
start my own venture.
I know I wanted to be brandingbecause I love storytelling.
(04:33):
I love the blend of businessstrategy with brand strategy.
And what I discovered is that myclassmates were so amazing, and
yet we had all just spent a lotof money to go back to grad
school.
We needed to be able to tell ourstory.
And so for a lot of us, we wereworking together on well, what
is our reputation?
(04:53):
How do we monetize that in a waythat feels right, is aligned
with purpose.
Uh, 15% of my class was comingout of the military, going into
either public or private sector.
And so they had to figure outhow to tell their story.
So that's really that momentwhere I started to meet not only
my amazing classmates, but otherentrepreneurs who were starting
(05:16):
businesses and trying to figureout how do they leverage their
personal brand and reputation tolaunch a new venture and to
pivot.
And so for me, that was sort ofthe culmination.
But I've always been a fan of,you know, if we're watching TV,
I want to watch the ads.
I want to see what's theirmessaging, what are they saying?
Who are the influencers?
I mean, Thanksgiving, I went tothe mall to see where are people
(05:39):
shopping, what are they buying,what are consumers' interests?
And so for me, a personal brandis all about knowing your why
and then knowing who's thatspecific audience that really
needs to know you exist.
Because it's not everybody inthe world.
It is where's the nextopportunity for you to make a
big difference in the way thatthat is meaningful for you.
SPEAKER_00 (06:02):
I I'm glad you brought that up.
Most people, when you thinkabout, I think, because I had
this my even my own daughtereven talking about personal
branding, so are you trying tobe a social media uh influencer?
It's like, no, nothing likethat.
I am looking to influence theaudience that I can truly bring
value to, right?
(06:23):
What is the skill set that Ihave that someone else actually
needs to get them, whether it'scareer development, business
development?
So I'm looking to influence avery small niche, more or less,
uh, around that and and and tohelp them.
As I spoke about earlier, youknow, public speaking, things
like that.
They're like, well, how do youbut in our world, really what it
(06:44):
is?
How do I how do I present myselfon the digital platform?
Absolutely.
That's a big thing now, becausesearching social.
If you're gonna hire somebody,Jen, right?
You're gonna hire somebody.
Typically, the first thingyou're gonna do is look them up.
I'm gonna do a search insocials, kind of see like when
you're gonna get on the podcast.
Wow, absolutely.
Let's look this guy up, Grant.
(07:05):
See what oh, okay.
Oh, wow.
You know what?
That's an alignment.
I want to get in touch with him,right?
That's how that works.
But if you don't put yourselfout there, I love how you said
about visibility.
If you're not visible to thatright audience, how are you
gonna get hired?
Who's going to to do businesswith you if you can't tell your
(07:26):
narrative and your story?
You feel that?
SPEAKER_01 (07:31):
Absolutely.
And I think when I said earlier,personal branding is not
personal bragging.
I think that's what gets peoplestuck is they're like, no, I'm
not trying to be famous, or I'mnot trying to brag about myself.
And the reality is we've alllearned things, we've all made
mistakes.
And I think of personal brandingas the more you share about what
(07:54):
you've learned, that can helppeople, right?
When I work with nonprofitleaders about personal branding,
for example, they're like, ohno, no, I need to talk about the
nonprofit.
And I'm like, no, you're leadinga business that happens to be a
nonprofit.
And if you're not talking aboutit and building trust with your
audience and with your donors,that's actually hurting the
(08:16):
organization.
So don't think about it as I'm,you know, beating my chest in
the drums of like, come comesupport this nonprofit.
Share the stories of how youhelp, share the stories of where
donor dollars go, right?
And I think the same is true forCEOs.
40% of millennials look at aCEO's online presence,
specifically LinkedIn, but alsothen it goes to their website,
(08:39):
et cetera, to get a sense of whois this leader that I now am
going to be following.
That is very different than, youknow, whatever generation I am.
When we were growing up, I'm aproud Gen Xer, actually.
Oh, all right.
Um, that's very different frombefore, where it'd be like, oh
my gosh, I got a job.
I like this company, let's gowork there.
Now it's also much more aboutthe personal brand of the
(09:03):
leader.
And I love what you said aboutyour daughter, right?
I think Gen Z, I'm gonna presumeshe's in Gen Z or later
millennial.
Yeah.
Um, because I have a19-year-old, and and I hear
about his perspectives on brandsall the time.
Personal brands, company brands,and 92% of Gen Z care about
(09:24):
authenticity and care aboutreally care about people saying
what something's really about.
They have a 42% distrust ofcompany brand messaging.
SPEAKER_02 (09:38):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (09:39):
So when you think about to your point, that
personal brand versus companybrand, we're in a place where
although we have fivegenerations, more or less,
online, the generation a lot ofpeople are trying to crack or to
get in front of are Gen Z.
And that's really tricky becausethey're video first.
(09:59):
They're not in the normal, youknow, marketing platforms that
people have used.
They're looking at influencers,they're not necessarily looking
at celebrities because again,they want genuine, real people.
And so to me, a personal brandis always about who are you
really?
Tell your story.
I mean, even Brene Brown, right?
(10:20):
The reason her vulnerabilityvideo went viral for TEDx is
because she didn't deliver thetalk she was going to deliver.
She delivered the talk and thenbecame vulnerable and shared her
story, right?
And so I think the more we canjust share what's going on, how
we're walking through it, and ithelps others, and you're
building that know, like, andtrust factor.
(10:41):
To me, I think that's the secretsauce, whatever age you are for
building a presence online.
You do want to plan it and youwant to think about it, and you
want to go execute.
SPEAKER_00 (10:53):
That's it.
That's it.
How do you build a process, getthe program together when you're
intentional about building thatbrand, but you said some things
that I want the artist to reallylean in on.
First, the authenticity uh levelof what that brand really is and
their vulnerability.
People want to hear, if youwould have been on Earth more
(11:14):
than probably two hours, you'dprobably come across some
resistance, you go across somethings, right?
We come to this world, uhcrying, kicking, screaming, that
type of thing, and we kind ofcontinue that in different ways.
SPEAKER_01 (11:27):
I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about.
SPEAKER_00 (11:30):
Exactly.
So, reality, if it's tooperfect, people like, ah, I
don't know.
It's absolutely perfect if weget into the struggle.
Like, what's your struggle?
You you know, you had struggle,and that's why like good
stories.
Yes, whether the leaders is no,I didn't just jump out of bed
(11:53):
and became the CEO of XYZcompany.
I went through my trials, mytribulations, I learned
something, I made mistakes, andand but I learned from a
mistake, but then I got to whereI'm at now, and now I want to
share that story becauseeverybody is in a different
level, they're at differentpoints of the road.
Like, oh, I was off track, and Ifind out I actually am not on
(12:16):
track.
I'm actually kind of on track.
I'm just going through this bendin the road.
Um, but I I need to go off.
So those authentic stories thatyou talk about, like you said,
you love narrative, you love thestory, but then you digitize it,
you make it visible, and youmake that reputation visible.
So if I can get a sense of whoyou are by looking at your
(12:38):
digital presence, your truereality, then I'm gonna like you
because I I talk to MBAstudents, you talk about MBA,
right?
And I and I had I always get infront of um uh different college
students, you know, so at PalmBeats College, or I'm a FIU or
Florida Atlantic, they bring mein and we talk about this
because I think it's it's veryimportant to understand that if
(13:02):
you only lead with your, let'ssay your education, I have an
MBA.
So, well, yeah, but you'recompeting with six million other
people with an MBA, right?
Well, I'm I I've got this guythat said, Yeah, but you're
competing with all those otherpeople that have similar skill
sets to you.
What differentiates you?
No one has your story, no onehas your exact story.
(13:25):
So you need to tell your storyand intertwine it with all those
other aspects of it makes youdifferent when you get in front
of someone that might hire you,right?
SPEAKER_01 (13:34):
Absolutely.
When I I have students andclients who are like, but I'm
results-oriented and I'm aproblem solver, and I'm like, I
hope you are.
Otherwise, you're paradingproblems and you're not getting
results.
So let's come up with real wordsthat tell your real story.
And I think one thing I alsorecommend to people, and I'd be
(13:57):
curious your thoughts too.
Don't do personal branding byyourself, right?
Personal branding is somethingwhere we want to go ask, even if
it's our closest friends orsometimes people we don't get
along with, ask them to describeyou in five words, right?
Start small.
Like, don't wait for yourperformance management review to
get feedback.
Go ask people, be self-aware,and think about hey, how am I
(14:20):
showing up?
Am I exceeding expectations?
Really?
Am I not?
Like, where can I be more ofservice or of value?
And I think for a lot of us,that's hard, right?
Being self-reflective,acknowledging where we might
have weak spots, that'schallenging.
Um, I wrote a book in 2016.
(14:42):
Can't believe that it's gonna be10 years next year, called The
Intentional Entrepreneur.
And so I love the wordintentional.
I feel like I've been using itforever.
Everybody else is caught on, butum, it's all about how do you
take your personal brand andlaunch a business.
And it it's a very like it's myfirst book.
I love it.
However, my second book that Iwrote came out of a political
(15:03):
disagreement I was having withmy husband, and um my mom passed
away.
And so there were lots ofdifficult conversations that I
had to navigate that, although Ithink I'm pretty good at
communicating, really hard,stressful conversations like
that, whether you're taking careof your parents, whether you're
(15:24):
going through really hardthings, which life is messy,
like you said earlier.
It is not, it is not meant to behappy every second.
That would not be a truestatement.
And so I wrote this book calledListen.
And I went out and interviewedall these people on what's the
hardest conversation you've everhad.
Right.
And that book um really capturesone that we do need to listen
(15:48):
first before anything, but it'smuch more of a reflection of who
I am and the experience as Iwent through than say my first
book, where I did real businesscase examples.
But for me, and people are likeJen, why do you write that book?
There's lots of books ondifficult conversations.
And I said, Yeah, and I wantedto write my experience, my
perspective, my framework forhow to navigate that.
(16:11):
And if it helps 20 people or athousand people, I'm happy,
right?
Everybody can add value to aunique audience.
So I think sometimes people alsothink that there's nothing
unique about them, there'ssomebody just like them, right?
And that's not true.
Based on your experiences, likeyou said earlier, we all bring
(16:31):
our own expertise, knowledge,and value.
And so I asked my clients when Iwork with them, and this may be
abuse to listeners, I asked themto pick three areas of
expertise, strengths, differentways you want to describe it,
and write those down, right?
(16:51):
Because we cannot be good ateverything.
And it's just as good andimportant to know what you're
not good at.
Like I don't want to be behind adesk 24-7.
That is not, especially if youmake me work in Excel, right?
I like collaborating withpeople, I like uh being creative
and innovative, I love strategy.
And so for people to reallythink about when are they at
(17:13):
their best, what are thosestrengths that they bring to
bear?
What do people come to them foradvice on that really seems to
work well?
And couple that with I actuallyhave clients do a personal
mission statement and we workthrough what's your purpose
statement.
Right?
What kind of leader are you?
I'm a gutsy leader.
(17:34):
Uh, what's the change you'retrying to drive?
And what are the strengthsyou're going to use to do that?
Which are those first three Iwas talking about.
And so a lot of people don't sitdown and think about why am I on
this earth?
What's my why?
And really ponder that.
And I think it can be reallyhelpful when you're thinking
about even if I could do 10% ofthat more than I am today, or
(17:59):
20%, that's on the right path.
So for me, I also think personalbranding, it's a long game.
SPEAKER_02 (18:07):
Yes.
SPEAKER_01 (18:07):
It's not a one and done post on LinkedIn, right?
So if people are trying tochange their personal brand or
evolve it, I tend to think of itas sort of a what I call a
reputation roadmap.
Look out 12 to 24 months at aminimum and think about where do
I want to be 12 months from now,24 months from now?
(18:28):
And even if you just did onething differently each month,
what would that be?
Maybe the first month, maybethis month in December before
you end the year, it's hey, I'mgonna go ask three people.
What do you think about me?
Where could I be better?
What do you think?
Where what am I good at?
Right.
But I think having that map andjust keeping small baby steps,
(18:49):
because you'll get there.
unknown (18:50):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (18:51):
Personal brand and building a personal brand feels
overwhelming because the peoplewho do it well, they look like
they're doing it great and theyjust got there like in one day.
And it's like, no, no, they'vebeen building that brand for
months and years.
So I think it's important forpeople to give themselves some
grace and to have that plan andjust start, even if it's you
(19:13):
know what, I need to recognizepeople or thank them because
that's how I want to end theyear.
That's a great way to startbuilding your personal brand,
right?
Write recommendations onLinkedIn, write thank you cards.
So I would just say start small,have a plan, but it's okay to
take baby steps and celebratethose wins.
That's how it all starts.
SPEAKER_00 (19:33):
It's everything you said there.
I want again the audience, youneed to lean in, you need to
rewind, go back, start over andreplay that.
Because listen, really,literally listen to what Jen
just said, and you'll come to apoint in a row where certain
things you can do yourself.
There's a DIY approach tocertain things, right?
(19:55):
But then you'll get to thatpoint like, you know what, I
need help, and that's when youneed A professional.
You're going to need somebodythat to truly guide you to where
you want to go.
That's what Jen does.
That's what I do.
And this is important tounderstand when you need that.
Because yes, you can ask yourfriends and peer group to
(20:17):
evaluate or at least give yousome feedback, but they're not
going to tell you.
Usually they're not going togive you the raw truth.
Some people might.
They might.
They might.
They might.
It may be a contentioussituation.
Maybe not.
Maybe you said something tooimportant.
You know, political views,right?
This is your husband, right?
But they were different.
So the truth, like, wow, how dohow do we so you got to how do
(20:40):
we get to the raw truth?
So when you work with someoneelse that's not emotionally
connected to you, you might getsome candid feedback.
Another thing to your point, youhave to do some analysis and
some assessment.
And what are you trying to getto?
And what are the skills that youneed to get to?
I always do, I do a skills gapanalysis with people and I
(21:01):
compare it to people that havealready attained the goal that
they want to get to.
And then that's a great thing.
Like, all right, you want to uhgo out, you want to be like in
my book, you can see behind mefirst line.
In the first line, the the umsee there's there's two people.
So there's the guide and theclient.
So the client has said, hey, Iwant to be president, I want to
(21:21):
be uh the uh section presidentin the in this organization.
That's great, that's a greatgoal.
But how are you gonna get there,right?
Let's take a look at that.
And let's take a look at thepath forward of attaining that
goal.
And you understand, yeah, I cando certain things myself, but
you can't do everythingyourself.
And you're gonna find out, well,I need better, I need maybe it's
(21:43):
situation awareness, maybe it'semotional intelligence, uh, that
you're showing that you havesome deficiencies when compared
to someone else that has alreadydone that.
Maybe it's educational-wise,maybe there's more experience.
But then it's not so much Idon't have these, but how do I
go out and attain these things,right?
Right?
It's just like in in real life,if you're gonna climb that
(22:04):
mountain and you realize, hey, Ineed mountain climbing boots.
Well, now you have to go out andacquire those, you know, get to
that next level.
Otherwise, you're gonna be stuckup there, right?
So, but you need a professional.
Getting back to why I'm talkinglike this, you're gonna need a
professional to show you sobefore you start to climb, I
don't want to get you up andfind out, hey, where are your
(22:26):
boots?
You're like, what?
You know, I'm gonna be able totell you up front that you're
gonna need some mountainclimbing boots.
So you need to understand theskills you need to acquire and
the skills that you alreadyhave.
One thing that I've learned, andI love this about um when I work
with people, they begin torealize some um skill set that
(22:46):
they have that they didn'trealize that was valuable to
someone else.
SPEAKER_01 (22:49):
Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00 (22:50):
Right?
Right?
And they go through that andit's really eye-opening for
them, like, wow.
Or they realize, oh, I'm notthat far off from you know this
other individual, or it may bethat they attained their goal.
Maybe I just need to apply moretime to your point where you
were saying, like, hey, itwasn't overnight, it was six
months, a year, a year and ahalf, two years.
(23:12):
But are you willing to put inthe work?
You know, that's one thing Ihave found in our society
because everything is it's it'sself-gratification, immediate uh
um you know, uh attainment, likedriving up to the fast food
restaurant, right?
Give me a number one, I justgive them my my money, and there
(23:32):
I've got it.
Well, it's a lot more than that.
You're gonna have to put in thetough grind, you've got to put
in some grit.
I I asked my kids, so where'syour grit?
Like, what did you leave that athome?
SPEAKER_01 (23:41):
Because absolutely.
Well, and I think to your point,it is it is a climb, right?
And I wouldn't go around amarathon or climb a mountain
without the right tools andresources.
Um, and I do think, you know,the some of the tools that I
(24:02):
use, and and listeners might befamiliar with these.
I use the the disk with myclients, I'll use strengths
finders, and I'll also useEnneagram.
And between those three, if Isee someone's different
profiles, I can pretty much tellyou how they will operate and
what might be their blind spots.
And so I do think um asking forthat feedback is important.
(24:25):
I will share, this is probably11 years ago, when I was going
through the personal brandprocess for myself.
Uh, I was driving in my car withmy eight-year-old at the time.
And I asked him, I said, so hey.
And I'm like patting myself onthe shoulder in my mind, like,
you're such a good personalbrand strategist.
I'm like, so hey, can you tellme three things that you like
(24:47):
about me and three things youwant me to work on?
And I'm like looking in therearview mirror at his face, and
he goes, Mom, do you want me toalternate my answers?
And I was like, What?
I'm like in my head, I'm like,oh my God, can I unwind asking
that question?
And I was like, he just offeredme a feedback sandwich and he's
(25:07):
eight.
And maybe I should have thoughtabout this before I asked these
questions.
But I said, No, no, I would loveit.
Right?
And so he told me, he said, Mom,I love that you're an
entrepreneur.
I said, Oh, cool.
He said, and you're stressed allthe time.
I said, Oh he said, You'rereally nice and a sweet person.
(25:32):
And when you're stressed, youget angry sometimes and you
yell.
And I said, Oh, okay.
Good to know.
He said, You're a really gooddriver.
Because I talk about drivinginstead of yelling at people.
Um, and he said, and I wish Icould spend more time with you
if you're not home enough.
(25:53):
And I was like, Okay, so superhelpful, definitely holy smokes
moment, right?
And that led me to change a lotof things, taking more time, not
being so stressed, havingquality time if I couldn't do
the quantity time.
And so, although at that momentI was like, wow, um, that hurt,
(26:17):
and that was helpful.
And you know, adults were alllearning how to parent as we go.
So, you know, good job askingfor feedback.
So, yes, it can be a bit scary.
However, the sooner you get thefeedback, the sooner you can
make improvements.
And I do think, you know, toyour point, if you find
(26:38):
something really easy, don'tassume that that everybody finds
it easy, right?
I think chase your curiosity.
So if you're curious aboutsomething, go dig into that.
Because if you're curious, thatworth ethic or that grid will
kick in.
And acknowledge the things thatcome really easily to you that
(26:58):
you can do differently or betterthan others.
Um, and I think in today'sworld, you have a lot of people
upskilling, trying to figure outhow do I leverage AI, what does
this mean for me?
And so the more you can showthat you're investing in your
knowledge, that you're sharingthat insight, that builds a
(27:21):
reputation in and of itself onplatforms like LinkedIn, or if
you decide you want to do videoon TikTok or Instagram.
Um, but I do think know youraudience, be really clear on
what do they need to hear, andhow do you speak to them in
their words.
I think oftentimes asstorytellers or in branding, we
(27:43):
we use words that we think theaudience needs.
That's not always the words theyactually would use or want to
hear.
So I do think it's a lot ofunderstanding yourself,
understanding your audience, andthen really defining what I can
bring to bear.
Um, lately I've been talking alot about leadership branding.
(28:03):
Because sometimes people, Ithink, say, oh, well, I don't
need a personal brand.
You have one.
SPEAKER_02 (28:08):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (28:09):
You have a personal brand already.
People already have thoughtsabout you, whether they're good,
bad, and different, doesn'tmatter.
But I think an elevated versionof personal brand is leadership
brand.
We all have the opportunity tolead by example, whether you're
a CEO or fresh out of college,new hire.
So, what I challenge folks tothink about is what's your
(28:30):
leadership brand?
How are you leading into 2026,yourself, others?
But just how do you set a goodexample?
Because I think that also buildsyour personal brand in ways that
you may not realize.
But what are people seeing youdo?
Do your words meet your actions?
And even if you just startedthere, that's a great place to
(28:51):
start thinking about am Ishowing up authentically and
adding value.
SPEAKER_00 (28:57):
Wow.
Wow.
I I and it brought me back towhat you just said, especially
about reputation and that youhave a personal brand, but are
you intentional about buildingit and understanding how people
see it?
I work with clients all thetime.
And what I found, especiallywhen they're looking to either
(29:19):
pivot or they're in theircurrent career, I said, Well,
they're not utilizing all myresources, you know.
It's almost like you get in acar, get this new car, but you
only you know utilize 30% ofwhat the car can actually do,
you know, because you just youjust you don't realize it.
But certain people, it's thesame type of thing.
If you're only utilizing 30% ofmy capabilities, that other 70
(29:40):
set 70% is still there, butmaybe you're just not aware of
it.
Your your peers, yourco-workers, the companies,
you're not aware of it.
So you're limiting your value.
And I always look at theanalogy, and everybody loves
this one because it makes sense.
And I'm gonna date uh datemyself because I'm a little
older.
But some some of the gen X of myname, you ever watch the movie
or Shelley's come on calledGilligan's Island, right?
(30:01):
Gilligan, Gilligan's Island werecome on, they were on this
visitor island and they gotstranded.
So John Denver plays Gilligan.
Everybody remembers Gilligan, hewas so silly, he was a lovable
character.
However, when he tried to getother roles in Hollywood, he
found himself to be right, yeah,right.
And all they could see wasGilligan, they couldn't see John
(30:23):
Denver, and it it really uh heldhim back.
Think about your own self.
If someone only sees you or anorganization or even your own
resume only says one thing aboutyou, and yet you have all these
other things that you're good ator you're interested in, then
that's when you start saying,Hey, my personal brand is really
(30:45):
not representing who I am andwhat I am about.
You know, I spent 30 years, 30years business development and
information technology.
So my all my whole resume says,hey, you look at Grant McGov,
he's gonna sell you some kind ofenterprise.
However, as I started buildingmy personal brand and I started
(31:06):
to understand more about myselfas well, people said, No, I
really like the way youcommunicate, I like the way you
you speak.
You have this great voice, youhave this or oration about you,
and and then it started to go inanother world.
But I had to get intentionalabout building that out.
So now people think about oh,Grant McGall, like, oh yeah,
(31:26):
that's that guy.
He has this follow brandpodcast, he's really big in the
media, he knows healthcare,technology, he knows about
finance, and it just expanded mywhole scope.
And why I say this is becausenow my when it comes to how I am
successful from as far as amonetization standpoint, I have
(31:48):
many other revenue that I hadbecause I was just stuck in that
one world.
SPEAKER_01 (31:54):
I love everything you just said.
Uh, it reminds me of twoexamples.
One of my friends who's a seniorexecutive, um, actually at
Capital One, she said one day,she's like, and she reported
into the C-suite.
She's like, you know, I'm goingin for my performance review.
And I got the feedback that Iwasn't strategic enough.
(32:16):
And she's like, Jen, literally,all I do is breathe strategy.
Like I am very good at strategy.
And I said, Well, what did youdo to change people's minds?
She says, You're not gonnabelieve it.
I said, let's let's try it.
She goes, I started using theword strategy in everything I
(32:36):
said.
Because here's what would happenin meetings, because she got the
strategy, she would talk aboutthe tactical implications of
changing the strategy.
So people around her only heardher talk about tactical things.
So she would say, Well, hey,let's step back and think about
what's the strategic implicationof this.
(32:57):
Hey, let's make sure does thisproject align with our strategy?
And so to me, when I think aboutcreating a personal brand, one
is words matter.
People may not have the wordsyou want them to have because
they're using their own words intheir head.
And so, just like she had to usestrategy to be perceived as
(33:17):
strategic, do an inventory andthink about what words am I
using.
Your example about you is greatbecause you're building a
breadcrumb trail to bring peoplealong your personal brand
journey where you started withtechnology and then you start
adding in other breadcrumbs ofpersonal brand and leadership
and blah, blah, blah, and blah,blah.
(33:38):
And all of a sudden, you end upat a place known as a personal
brand thinker, right?
And so and speaker, etc.
But if we don't give people thewords we want them to use or to
think about us in, then wedefinitely will have a
challenge.
So as people are thinking aboutheading into the new year, kind
(34:00):
of do a reflection and audit ofwell, what am I speaking up
about in meetings?
What am I asking about?
What am I offering ideas on?
Does that pigeonhole me like theGilligan Island example?
The other thing I would say, youknow, one of my clients right
now, uh, Madeline James, is islaunched, is launched in early
November.
(34:20):
It's going up against bigcompetitors.
So they have to use oneinfluencer strategy because that
is a big part of their targetmarket.
Um, and I think something like62% of marketing efforts in 2026
will be influencer-based.
Like moving from traditionalmarketing to bringing in
(34:42):
personal brand thought leaders.
So people could even think aboutwhat's something I'm passionate
about that maybe is outside ofmy job?
That I can parlay into a futurecareer.
So don't discount this idea thatyou can create a personal brand
around something you'repassionate about that lays that
bridge or the foundation to goto your next opportunity.
(35:04):
If you're in a role that you'relike, no, Jen, I really don't
want to stay here, that's okay.
Then think about how do we buildthat evidence of here are my
skills, here's my knowledge, andhere's where I'm gonna go next.
Because a lot of times when itcomes to building our personal
brand, we have to create theevidence to get us where we want
(35:25):
to go.
It is nobody else's job to buildyour personal brand but you.
And that that's painful becauseyou're like, but wait, but
that's where you can get like alittle personal board of
advisors.
You guys can go have wine andyummy cheeses once a month and
talk about, hey, here's what I'mthinking.
Do you think that would work?
Right.
(35:45):
Or if for me, I was working in arole at Capital One early in my
career as a product and projectmanager.
We weren't really allowed toplay on the money side, on the
finance side.
So I went and joined a nonprofitboard and then got on the
finance committee so I couldlearn about finance, right?
So, to your point, what's yourlearning agenda for next year?
(36:08):
What's that skill assessment andcome up with creative ways to
fill that learning gap?
It may not always be at thecompany you're at.
It might be through having amentor, it might be through
taking certificate programs uhversus going back for a full
degree.
It might be, you know, uhjoining a board or doing
(36:29):
volunteer work.
So I think we have to getcreative.
And sometimes if we feel likeour personal brand is holding us
back or we're not there, we canbe stressed.
And when we're stressed, yourbrain actually cannot innovate.
It is a different part of thebrain or collaborate.
Um, and so for each of us, Ithink carve out some time where
(36:51):
you can step back, take a deepbreath, and think about what
would creating evidence looklike?
What's missing?
What do I need to create?
And again, it's just one thing amonth, one thing a week,
whatever you have bandwidth for.
Because I don't know about you.
At the beginning of the year,I'll be like, I'm gonna lose 40
pounds.
And at the end of the year, I'mlike, I still need to lose the
40 pounds.
So we want to set goals that aremanageable for a personal brand.
(37:14):
Do one thing a week, one thing amonth, be real with yourself,
but just start.
And I think if you have a closefriend or a mentor that can help
you along the way and be asounding board, they can talk
with you, they can talk with me.
I'm happy to chat with anybody.
Um, but I think think about howmuch individually we know, and
(37:35):
if we shared the mistakes we'vemade or shared what we've
learned, how much we can helpother people.
So at the end of the day, andthere's always people are like,
What?
I'm like, 90% of your personalbrand has nothing to do with
you.
It has to do with what are youproviding to people that is
helpful to them.
SPEAKER_00 (37:56):
So, anyways, no, no, all of that what you said is so
true, and it got me to thinkingright now, I'm gonna make a
change in how my process ofdoing my podcast right now,
right now, right as we recordthis.
Meaning, I want to instead of measking you the question, you've
gone through my process, you'vegone, you've looked at some of
(38:16):
my content, you've not gonethrough the Follow the Brand
Podcast interview, the whole,you know, like you were we're at
the end of our show right now.
What question would you like toask me?
SPEAKER_01 (38:29):
I would love to know what's the one thing you want to
develop or learn evidence-wisefor you going into 2026?
Like, what's on your learningagenda for you to stay relevant,
to continue to add value, and toelevate your own personal brand?
SPEAKER_00 (38:45):
That's a thank you for asking that.
Because I do got a lot ofthings, and people ask me that
because you asked me thatearlier, where are you at, Greg?
Where are you in Omaha?
Wow, you know, the Midwest.
And then you're doing thesethings in St.
Croix, you do these things.
How do you how do you tie allthat together?
And because I'm now inenterprise, right?
(39:06):
I have an ecosystem.
So in Miami, I built my personalbrand, I built the
follow-the-brand podcastecosystem, right?
It's a lot of the that there.
And then in St.
Croix, I built out a financialmarketplace, right?
And that's where like I have ashow called The Big Picture.
And in the big picture, we talkabout finance and that type of
(39:27):
thing, and we're developing alot of different opportunities
in St.
Croix.
Then in Omaha, it's like, well,what can I do?
I haven't been there in 30years.
I've got to be able to dosomething.
I'm gonna be more or lessheadquartered there.
What is that going to look like?
And what what I noticed wasbecause I have such uh expertise
in artificial intelligence, buthow do you apply it?
(39:49):
I'm into applied knowledge.
So I how do I apply AI inbusiness development?
How do I apply AI in persondevelopment, personal branding?
So I built out.
A AI business accelerator.
It's going to be a businessaccelerator program.
It's going to be launched as acohort.
And I was able to get itintegrated with the city of
(40:10):
Omaha.
They want to roll this out toall their business because this
is still new, right?
New herb, meaning there's anacquired skill set around it,
but people are kind of likedoing their own thing, they're
at different levels.
Well, how do we really applythis to first of all develop our
sales programs, our marketingprograms, especially a small
business?
You're an entrepreneur.
And I want to say one thingbecause I answered your
(40:31):
question.
I want to say because you saidsomething.
I want people to understandthis.
You really need to get on top ofthis.
All of us are entrepreneurs.
You have a business contractwith your company, your
enterprise.
That's a business contract.
Ask any HR professional to tellyou, like, yeah, you have a
contract with us.
Meaning, and when you are anentrepreneur, you had contracts
(40:52):
with your clients.
It's a contract.
So you have a contract ofservice.
So who in an entrepreneurialworld is responsible for
promoting your brand?
Well, you are.
You're absolutely responsiblefor promoting your brand,
whether you're going throughcareer development, business
development, you aren't thebrand, right?
No matter how you look at it.
(41:14):
But if you if you sit on thatbrand, you don't develop it, and
you don't take it to the nextlevel.
What happens is especially nowtell people, I'm at the other
side.
I'm like 62 years old now,right?
If I didn't start developing mybrand at the end of the day,
where I'm no longer thatvaluable as in business
development, in technology, Istart taking more of a back
(41:36):
seat, but still I have I haveexpenses, I have bills, I have
other things.
Like, well, I've got to nowdevelop this new new revenue
stream.
I can't just sit back and expectthings to just be be how they
were.
So you're developing these newrevenue streams, you've got to
start thinking, and I think it'sa mind shift takes place that
(41:57):
you are in the business ofdeveloping your brand,
developing your business at alltimes.
You are an entrepreneur, whetheryou think about it or not, or a
business owner, you own yourcareer, right?
Any point in time, when theytell you when you you sign that
contract, this this is an atwhat do they call that at risk?
At will, at will at any point intime, I can say your service is
(42:18):
no longer needed.
You gotta think about that,right?
Right?
SPEAKER_01 (42:22):
Absolutely.
I mean, I'm in the DC market, Ihave people reach out to me
often who were federalgovernment employees, seniors in
the federal government, seniorlevels.
And you know, my answer isalways of course I'll help.
And we need to build our brandbefore we need it.
(42:43):
Right?
Even if you're coming out ofcollege, interview people at
your company, learn about theculture, write about what it's
like to start in a new company,write about what's exciting,
don't write about the bad stuffbecause that will get you in
trouble.
Write about here's what I'mlearning, here's what's super
cool and exciting.
Because you can build a brand atany point, and you should.
(43:05):
I mean, in my corporate careerfor 10 years, the one thing I
really didn't do was build mybrand outside of the company
because I was working, you know,60 to 80 hours a week, being a
great employee, getting greatresults for the company, and yet
I did not have a personal brandoutside of the company.
(43:26):
So when I started my business, Ileveraged my brand within the
company, but then I had to gobuild my brand.
I had to network and be a partof groups.
So one other sort of easy taskthat I might that makes it sound
mean.
One idea for 2026 is to look atyour networks.
I I love that you likeframeworks.
(43:47):
I have so many that I could haveshared, but I'm like, no, no,
let's not overwhelm people.
I have four networks, and everyyear I reassess them.
I have a network of my peers whoare peers like me that I want to
build relationships with.
I have networks where I couldfind my clients, CEOs, startups,
etc.
(44:07):
I have a network for givingback.
So I'm part of a women's givingcircle, which is a great way to
meet a lot of people that aren'tin the typical networks I would
find because it's a very diversegroup of people.
And then I have a network forfun.
Right.
And the reason I say that isbecause it's good to have fun.
For me, giving back isimportant.
(44:28):
And it might be for peoplelistening, right?
We can all figure out how wewant to do that.
But I think uh a network of yourpeers and of your future clients
or prospects is important.
So you can stay in touch withwhat's the most forward thinking
happening in my space and whatdo my people need?
What do my clients need orprospects need?
(44:50):
And so if you haven't everthought about networking so far,
and now you're thinking about2026, how do I increase
visibility?
Go visit different groups,right?
Go check it out, try it out, seewhat feels like a good fit.
And then I invest in it for theyear, and then next year I'll
see are these still the rightnetworks for me.
But I think you don't want to beout of sight, out of mind.
(45:12):
And you absolutely want to startbuilding your brand.
Even if it's just known assomeone who um is kind, does
recognition, that's a greatstart.
But you also want to share, evenif it's hey, I grew, I read this
great article on AI and blah,blah, blah, because you want to
transition at some point intousing AI.
Great, put that on LinkedIn,share it in a team meeting,
(45:35):
right?
Like find the places where youcan use your words to define
your brand.
SPEAKER_00 (45:42):
Man, well said, well stated.
I want to thank you again, Jen,for being on the show.
You're gonna end 2025 in such agreat way and begin 2026 with a
plan, which is always good, andhow you're gonna implement that
plan, but stick to it because atthe end of the day, just like
anything else, uh, I thinknature teaches this that when
(46:04):
you make that you plant yourseed, then you nurture it over
time, but then you see it grow,it breaks crumb, and then you
have a harvest.
So that's that's a process uhthat we all have to go through
so you can harvest your personalbrand and make it very, very
good.
I want to thank you again forbeing a show, the brand mirror.
I want you to tell us how tocontact you, right?
(46:29):
And make sure we get in touchwith you, especially in that DC
world.
SPEAKER_01 (46:34):
I would love for people to visit my website,
brand mirror.com.
Feel free, please, connect withme on LinkedIn.
Practice reaching out andconnecting with someone.
If that's new to you, I willaccept.
I'm happy to do complimentaryconsults.
If you just want to hop on acall and brainstorm some stuff,
please reach out.
That is a genuine offer.
People ask me, like, really?
I'm like, yeah, because this iswhat I love to do.
(46:56):
So if you feel like you're stuckor you need some help, please
reach out.
Otherwise, you can follow me onInstagram and Facebook and all
of that good stuff.
SPEAKER_00 (47:04):
Excellent, excellent.
Thank you again for being on theshow.
I would encourage your entireaudience to see all the episodes
of Follow Brand at Five StarBDM.
That is the number five.
That is Star, STR, B for brand,D for Development, and for
Masters.com.
You are going to be able,especially if you're interested
in personal branding.
There's 50 episodes right there,so you can learn about these
(47:24):
things, get a good feel for it.
So when you engage with Jen,you're gonna already be at a
higher level and you can reallytake off.
So thank you again for being onthe show.
SPEAKER_01 (47:34):
Thank you so much.
This is so lovely.
I appreciate it.
SPEAKER_00 (47:37):
You're welcome.
Hello, everybody.
Welcome to the Father BrandPodcast.
This is Grant McGall.
I am in the wintry world ofOmaha, Nebraska.
Today, you know, I'm a Floridaboy, and but I've come back
home.
It's been 30 some of my years,and I learned how to drive in
the snow.
Again, it's just like swimming.
It's just riding the bike.
It just comes back to younaturally.
So I'm getting back to thiswintry world.
(00:24):
Yes, I will be in St.
Croix pretty soon as well.
And I'll be in Miami as always.
But today we're going to talkabout one of my favorite
subjects that is personalbranding.
And I couldn't think of anyoneelse to really have this
discussion with.
As we begin to transition out of2025 into 2026, people start
thinking about what am I goingto do different?
What's going on in my career?
(00:44):
What's going on in my business?
What's going on with mepersonally?
We're going to talk aboutpersonal branding with Jen
Dalton.
So, Jen, would you like tointroduce yourself?
SPEAKER_01 (00:53):
Thank you so much for that introduction.
I was actually born in Tampa,Florida.
So I am a Floridian up in DC.
So I went north.
So I like the whole St.
Crumplan you have.
I am thrilled to be here.
I think you're spot on.
The timing is such a greatopportunity for people to step
back and think about who werethey this year?
How do they want to adjust orevolve that going into next
(01:14):
year?
So I'm excited to talk about itwith you.
SPEAKER_00 (01:17):
Yeah, let's unpack that.
A lot of people there personalbranding.
So a lot of times they getconfused a little bit with
business branding, how to brandyour business.
But then personal branding is alittle bit different.
I want to get from you.
How do you define personalbranding from your perspective
and your core value around that?
SPEAKER_01 (01:38):
That's a great question.
I always tell my clients twothings.
I tell them one, telepathy isnot a strategy, right?
If we want people to know who weare, we have to communicate it.
And number two is that personalbranding is not personal
bragging.
So I'm a big believer that wehave to be very clear on how do
(02:00):
we bring value to whether it'sfriends, family, the workplace,
what are our values, what's ourwhy, and really digging deep
into that.
And so my tagline for mycompany, Brand Mirror, is
reflect, stand out.
And it is this idea ofself-reflection to know who you
are, and that can help you standout to the right audiences.
SPEAKER_00 (02:23):
I love that.
I love that.
You're right in time, or I wouldsay aligned in how I look at
personal branding.
I've developed it into aframework I call the brave
framework.
I think you got to be brave, yougotta step out.
It's almost like you know,people think about public
speaking.
You're like, oh my god.
Oh, yes.
You know, no one likes to a lotof people don't like to put you
(02:43):
know speak publicly.
And I think a lot of that isbecause you're just not
prepared.
You know, if you know whatyou're talking about, you can
talk at any point in time.
Like, oh, I love talking aboutthis stuff.
I can't believe you're talkingabout this.
I want to talk about it, right?
But if you start talking aboutsomething you don't know that
much about, you getuncomfortable.
That's that uncomfortablefeeling that you get.
I think when you think aboutpersonal branding, this is my
(03:06):
perspective, is that when youunderstand, and I put into a
framework called Brave, which isyour identity, brand identity,
right?
You gotta get into and do someresearch around what you're
talking about.
Are you authentic in your brand?
Can you make it visible?
And can you execute on that, youknow, repeatedly, whether it's
(03:26):
daily, weekly, monthly, and youknow, along and it has to be a
goal, right?
What is your purpose?
There's gotta be a purpose whenyou're putting it out there,
especially in the in the digitalworld as well as uh uh even in
person.
So, from your perspective, Iwant to know this because I
always say, What's your originstory?
What got Jen interested inpersonal branding?
SPEAKER_01 (03:50):
So I grew up in an entrepreneurial household.
My parents were entrepreneurs,my grandparents were
entrepreneurs, and so although Ispent 10 years in the corporate
space working on branding,marketing, product development,
I really wanted on my 10thanniversary, I also had my
second son.
And I was like, this is a momentwhere I need to pause and think
(04:12):
about what do I want to do nextfor the next 10 years.
And so for me, I was thinkingthat through for myself.
And uh when I went back toGeorgetown to get my executive
MBA, I went back with the solepurpose of I know I want to
start my own venture.
I know I wanted to be brandingbecause I love storytelling.
(04:33):
I love the blend of businessstrategy with brand strategy.
And what I discovered is that myclassmates were so amazing, and
yet we had all just spent a lotof money to go back to grad
school.
We needed to be able to tell ourstory.
And so for a lot of us, we wereworking together on well, what
is our reputation?
(04:53):
How do we monetize that in a waythat feels right, is aligned
with purpose.
Uh, 15% of my class was comingout of the military, going into
either public or private sector.
And so they had to figure outhow to tell their story.
So that's really that momentwhere I started to meet not only
my amazing classmates, but otherentrepreneurs who were starting
(05:16):
businesses and trying to figureout how do they leverage their
personal brand and reputation tolaunch a new venture and to
pivot.
And so for me, that was sort ofthe culmination.
But I've always been a fan of,you know, if we're watching TV,
I want to watch the ads.
I want to see what's theirmessaging, what are they saying?
Who are the influencers?
I mean, Thanksgiving, I went tothe mall to see where are people
(05:39):
shopping, what are they buying,what are consumers' interests?
And so for me, a personal brandis all about knowing your why
and then knowing who's thatspecific audience that really
needs to know you exist.
Because it's not everybody inthe world.
It is where's the nextopportunity for you to make a
big difference in the way thatthat is meaningful for you.
SPEAKER_00 (06:02):
I I'm glad you brought that up.
Most people, when you thinkabout, I think, because I had
this my even my own daughtereven talking about personal
branding, so are you trying tobe a social media uh influencer?
It's like, no, nothing likethat.
I am looking to influence theaudience that I can truly bring
value to, right?
(06:23):
What is the skill set that Ihave that someone else actually
needs to get them, whether it'scareer development, business
development?
So I'm looking to influence avery small niche, more or less,
uh, around that and and and tohelp them.
As I spoke about earlier, youknow, public speaking, things
like that.
They're like, well, how do youbut in our world, really what it
(06:44):
is?
How do I how do I present myselfon the digital platform?
Absolutely.
That's a big thing now, becausesearching social.
If you're gonna hire somebody,Jen, right?
You're gonna hire somebody.
Typically, the first thingyou're gonna do is look them up.
I'm gonna do a search insocials, kind of see like when
you're gonna get on the podcast.
Wow, absolutely.
Let's look this guy up, Grant.
(07:05):
See what oh, okay.
Oh, wow.
You know what?
That's an alignment.
I want to get in touch with him,right?
That's how that works.
But if you don't put yourselfout there, I love how you said
about visibility.
If you're not visible to thatright audience, how are you
gonna get hired?
Who's going to to do businesswith you if you can't tell your
(07:26):
narrative and your story?
You feel that?
SPEAKER_01 (07:31):
Absolutely.
And I think when I said earlier,personal branding is not
personal bragging.
I think that's what gets peoplestuck is they're like, no, I'm
not trying to be famous, or I'mnot trying to brag about myself.
And the reality is we've alllearned things, we've all made
mistakes.
And I think of personal brandingas the more you share about what
(07:54):
you've learned, that can helppeople, right?
When I work with nonprofitleaders about personal branding,
for example, they're like, ohno, no, I need to talk about the
nonprofit.
And I'm like, no, you're leadinga business that happens to be a
nonprofit.
And if you're not talking aboutit and building trust with your
audience and with your donors,that's actually hurting the
(08:16):
organization.
So don't think about it as I'm,you know, beating my chest in
the drums of like, come comesupport this nonprofit.
Share the stories of how youhelp, share the stories of where
donor dollars go, right?
And I think the same is true forCEOs.
40% of millennials look at aCEO's online presence,
specifically LinkedIn, but alsothen it goes to their website,
(08:39):
et cetera, to get a sense of whois this leader that I now am
going to be following.
That is very different than, youknow, whatever generation I am.
When we were growing up, I'm aproud Gen Xer, actually.
Oh, all right.
Um, that's very different frombefore, where it'd be like, oh
my gosh, I got a job.
I like this company, let's gowork there.
Now it's also much more aboutthe personal brand of the
(09:03):
leader.
And I love what you said aboutyour daughter, right?
I think Gen Z, I'm gonna presumeshe's in Gen Z or later
millennial.
Yeah.
Um, because I have a19-year-old, and and I hear
about his perspectives on brandsall the time.
Personal brands, company brands,and 92% of Gen Z care about
(09:24):
authenticity and care aboutreally care about people saying
what something's really about.
They have a 42% distrust ofcompany brand messaging.
SPEAKER_02 (09:38):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (09:39):
So when you think about to your point, that
personal brand versus companybrand, we're in a place where
although we have fivegenerations, more or less,
online, the generation a lot ofpeople are trying to crack or to
get in front of are Gen Z.
And that's really tricky becausethey're video first.
(09:59):
They're not in the normal, youknow, marketing platforms that
people have used.
They're looking at influencers,they're not necessarily looking
at celebrities because again,they want genuine, real people.
And so to me, a personal brandis always about who are you
really?
Tell your story.
I mean, even Brene Brown, right?
(10:20):
The reason her vulnerabilityvideo went viral for TEDx is
because she didn't deliver thetalk she was going to deliver.
She delivered the talk and thenbecame vulnerable and shared her
story, right?
And so I think the more we canjust share what's going on, how
we're walking through it, and ithelps others, and you're
building that know, like, andtrust factor.
(10:41):
To me, I think that's the secretsauce, whatever age you are for
building a presence online.
You do want to plan it and youwant to think about it, and you
want to go execute.
SPEAKER_00 (10:53):
That's it.
That's it.
How do you build a process, getthe program together when you're
intentional about building thatbrand, but you said some things
that I want the artist to reallylean in on.
First, the authenticity uh levelof what that brand really is and
their vulnerability.
People want to hear, if youwould have been on Earth more
(11:14):
than probably two hours, you'dprobably come across some
resistance, you go across somethings, right?
We come to this world, uhcrying, kicking, screaming, that
type of thing, and we kind ofcontinue that in different ways.
SPEAKER_01 (11:27):
I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about.
SPEAKER_00 (11:30):
Exactly.
So, reality, if it's tooperfect, people like, ah, I
don't know.
It's absolutely perfect if weget into the struggle.
Like, what's your struggle?
You you know, you had struggle,and that's why like good
stories.
Yes, whether the leaders is no,I didn't just jump out of bed
(11:53):
and became the CEO of XYZcompany.
I went through my trials, mytribulations, I learned
something, I made mistakes, andand but I learned from a
mistake, but then I got to whereI'm at now, and now I want to
share that story becauseeverybody is in a different
level, they're at differentpoints of the road.
Like, oh, I was off track, and Ifind out I actually am not on
(12:16):
track.
I'm actually kind of on track.
I'm just going through this bendin the road.
Um, but I I need to go off.
So those authentic stories thatyou talk about, like you said,
you love narrative, you love thestory, but then you digitize it,
you make it visible, and youmake that reputation visible.
So if I can get a sense of whoyou are by looking at your
(12:38):
digital presence, your truereality, then I'm gonna like you
because I I talk to MBAstudents, you talk about MBA,
right?
And I and I had I always get infront of um uh different college
students, you know, so at PalmBeats College, or I'm a FIU or
Florida Atlantic, they bring mein and we talk about this
because I think it's it's veryimportant to understand that if
(13:02):
you only lead with your, let'ssay your education, I have an
MBA.
So, well, yeah, but you'recompeting with six million other
people with an MBA, right?
Well, I'm I I've got this guythat said, Yeah, but you're
competing with all those otherpeople that have similar skill
sets to you.
What differentiates you?
No one has your story, no onehas your exact story.
(13:25):
So you need to tell your storyand intertwine it with all those
other aspects of it makes youdifferent when you get in front
of someone that might hire you,right?
SPEAKER_01 (13:34):
Absolutely.
When I I have students andclients who are like, but I'm
results-oriented and I'm aproblem solver, and I'm like, I
hope you are.
Otherwise, you're paradingproblems and you're not getting
results.
So let's come up with real wordsthat tell your real story.
And I think one thing I alsorecommend to people, and I'd be
(13:57):
curious your thoughts too.
Don't do personal branding byyourself, right?
Personal branding is somethingwhere we want to go ask, even if
it's our closest friends orsometimes people we don't get
along with, ask them to describeyou in five words, right?
Start small.
Like, don't wait for yourperformance management review to
get feedback.
Go ask people, be self-aware,and think about hey, how am I
(14:20):
showing up?
Am I exceeding expectations?
Really?
Am I not?
Like, where can I be more ofservice or of value?
And I think for a lot of us,that's hard, right?
Being self-reflective,acknowledging where we might
have weak spots, that'schallenging.
Um, I wrote a book in 2016.
(14:42):
Can't believe that it's gonna be10 years next year, called The
Intentional Entrepreneur.
And so I love the wordintentional.
I feel like I've been using itforever.
Everybody else is caught on, butum, it's all about how do you
take your personal brand andlaunch a business.
And it it's a very like it's myfirst book.
I love it.
However, my second book that Iwrote came out of a political
(15:03):
disagreement I was having withmy husband, and um my mom passed
away.
And so there were lots ofdifficult conversations that I
had to navigate that, although Ithink I'm pretty good at
communicating, really hard,stressful conversations like
that, whether you're taking careof your parents, whether you're
(15:24):
going through really hardthings, which life is messy,
like you said earlier.
It is not, it is not meant to behappy every second.
That would not be a truestatement.
And so I wrote this book calledListen.
And I went out and interviewedall these people on what's the
hardest conversation you've everhad.
Right.
And that book um really capturesone that we do need to listen
(15:48):
first before anything, but it'smuch more of a reflection of who
I am and the experience as Iwent through than say my first
book, where I did real businesscase examples.
But for me, and people are likeJen, why do you write that book?
There's lots of books ondifficult conversations.
And I said, Yeah, and I wantedto write my experience, my
perspective, my framework forhow to navigate that.
(16:11):
And if it helps 20 people or athousand people, I'm happy,
right?
Everybody can add value to aunique audience.
So I think sometimes people alsothink that there's nothing
unique about them, there'ssomebody just like them, right?
And that's not true.
Based on your experiences, likeyou said earlier, we all bring
(16:31):
our own expertise, knowledge,and value.
And so I asked my clients when Iwork with them, and this may be
abuse to listeners, I asked themto pick three areas of
expertise, strengths, differentways you want to describe it,
and write those down, right?
(16:51):
Because we cannot be good ateverything.
And it's just as good andimportant to know what you're
not good at.
Like I don't want to be behind adesk 24-7.
That is not, especially if youmake me work in Excel, right?
I like collaborating withpeople, I like uh being creative
and innovative, I love strategy.
And so for people to reallythink about when are they at
(17:13):
their best, what are thosestrengths that they bring to
bear?
What do people come to them foradvice on that really seems to
work well?
And couple that with I actuallyhave clients do a personal
mission statement and we workthrough what's your purpose
statement.
Right?
What kind of leader are you?
I'm a gutsy leader.
(17:34):
Uh, what's the change you'retrying to drive?
And what are the strengthsyou're going to use to do that?
Which are those first three Iwas talking about.
And so a lot of people don't sitdown and think about why am I on
this earth?
What's my why?
And really ponder that.
And I think it can be reallyhelpful when you're thinking
about even if I could do 10% ofthat more than I am today, or
(17:59):
20%, that's on the right path.
So for me, I also think personalbranding, it's a long game.
SPEAKER_02 (18:07):
Yes.
SPEAKER_01 (18:07):
It's not a one and done post on LinkedIn, right?
So if people are trying tochange their personal brand or
evolve it, I tend to think of itas sort of a what I call a
reputation roadmap.
Look out 12 to 24 months at aminimum and think about where do
I want to be 12 months from now,24 months from now?
(18:28):
And even if you just did onething differently each month,
what would that be?
Maybe the first month, maybethis month in December before
you end the year, it's hey, I'mgonna go ask three people.
What do you think about me?
Where could I be better?
What do you think?
Where what am I good at?
Right.
But I think having that map andjust keeping small baby steps,
(18:49):
because you'll get there.
unknown (18:50):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (18:51):
Personal brand and building a personal brand feels
overwhelming because the peoplewho do it well, they look like
they're doing it great and theyjust got there like in one day.
And it's like, no, no, they'vebeen building that brand for
months and years.
So I think it's important forpeople to give themselves some
grace and to have that plan andjust start, even if it's you
(19:13):
know what, I need to recognizepeople or thank them because
that's how I want to end theyear.
That's a great way to startbuilding your personal brand,
right?
Write recommendations onLinkedIn, write thank you cards.
So I would just say start small,have a plan, but it's okay to
take baby steps and celebratethose wins.
That's how it all starts.
SPEAKER_00 (19:33):
It's everything you said there.
I want again the audience, youneed to lean in, you need to
rewind, go back, start over andreplay that.
Because listen, really,literally listen to what Jen
just said, and you'll come to apoint in a row where certain
things you can do yourself.
There's a DIY approach tocertain things, right?
(19:55):
But then you'll get to thatpoint like, you know what, I
need help, and that's when youneed A professional.
You're going to need somebodythat to truly guide you to where
you want to go.
That's what Jen does.
That's what I do.
And this is important tounderstand when you need that.
Because yes, you can ask yourfriends and peer group to
(20:17):
evaluate or at least give yousome feedback, but they're not
going to tell you.
Usually they're not going togive you the raw truth.
Some people might.
They might.
They might.
They might.
It may be a contentioussituation.
Maybe not.
Maybe you said something tooimportant.
You know, political views,right?
This is your husband, right?
But they were different.
So the truth, like, wow, how dohow do we so you got to how do
(20:40):
we get to the raw truth?
So when you work with someoneelse that's not emotionally
connected to you, you might getsome candid feedback.
Another thing to your point, youhave to do some analysis and
some assessment.
And what are you trying to getto?
And what are the skills that youneed to get to?
I always do, I do a skills gapanalysis with people and I
(21:01):
compare it to people that havealready attained the goal that
they want to get to.
And then that's a great thing.
Like, all right, you want to uhgo out, you want to be like in
my book, you can see behind mefirst line.
In the first line, the the umsee there's there's two people.
So there's the guide and theclient.
So the client has said, hey, Iwant to be president, I want to
(21:21):
be uh the uh section presidentin the in this organization.
That's great, that's a greatgoal.
But how are you gonna get there,right?
Let's take a look at that.
And let's take a look at thepath forward of attaining that
goal.
And you understand, yeah, I cando certain things myself, but
you can't do everythingyourself.
And you're gonna find out, well,I need better, I need maybe it's
(21:43):
situation awareness, maybe it'semotional intelligence, uh, that
you're showing that you havesome deficiencies when compared
to someone else that has alreadydone that.
Maybe it's educational-wise,maybe there's more experience.
But then it's not so much Idon't have these, but how do I
go out and attain these things,right?
Right?
It's just like in in real life,if you're gonna climb that
(22:04):
mountain and you realize, hey, Ineed mountain climbing boots.
Well, now you have to go out andacquire those, you know, get to
that next level.
Otherwise, you're gonna be stuckup there, right?
So, but you need a professional.
Getting back to why I'm talkinglike this, you're gonna need a
professional to show you sobefore you start to climb, I
don't want to get you up andfind out, hey, where are your
(22:26):
boots?
You're like, what?
You know, I'm gonna be able totell you up front that you're
gonna need some mountainclimbing boots.
So you need to understand theskills you need to acquire and
the skills that you alreadyhave.
One thing that I've learned, andI love this about um when I work
with people, they begin torealize some um skill set that
(22:46):
they have that they didn'trealize that was valuable to
someone else.
SPEAKER_01 (22:49):
Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00 (22:50):
Right?
Right?
And they go through that andit's really eye-opening for
them, like, wow.
Or they realize, oh, I'm notthat far off from you know this
other individual, or it may bethat they attained their goal.
Maybe I just need to apply moretime to your point where you
were saying, like, hey, itwasn't overnight, it was six
months, a year, a year and ahalf, two years.
(23:12):
But are you willing to put inthe work?
You know, that's one thing Ihave found in our society
because everything is it's it'sself-gratification, immediate uh
um you know, uh attainment, likedriving up to the fast food
restaurant, right?
Give me a number one, I justgive them my my money, and there
(23:32):
I've got it.
Well, it's a lot more than that.
You're gonna have to put in thetough grind, you've got to put
in some grit.
I I asked my kids, so where'syour grit?
Like, what did you leave that athome?
SPEAKER_01 (23:41):
Because absolutely.
Well, and I think to your point,it is it is a climb, right?
And I wouldn't go around amarathon or climb a mountain
without the right tools andresources.
Um, and I do think, you know,the some of the tools that I
(24:02):
use, and and listeners might befamiliar with these.
I use the the disk with myclients, I'll use strengths
finders, and I'll also useEnneagram.
And between those three, if Isee someone's different
profiles, I can pretty much tellyou how they will operate and
what might be their blind spots.
And so I do think um asking forthat feedback is important.
(24:25):
I will share, this is probably11 years ago, when I was going
through the personal brandprocess for myself.
Uh, I was driving in my car withmy eight-year-old at the time.
And I asked him, I said, so hey.
And I'm like patting myself onthe shoulder in my mind, like,
you're such a good personalbrand strategist.
I'm like, so hey, can you tellme three things that you like
(24:47):
about me and three things youwant me to work on?
And I'm like looking in therearview mirror at his face, and
he goes, Mom, do you want me toalternate my answers?
And I was like, What?
I'm like in my head, I'm like,oh my God, can I unwind asking
that question?
And I was like, he just offeredme a feedback sandwich and he's
(25:07):
eight.
And maybe I should have thoughtabout this before I asked these
questions.
But I said, No, no, I would loveit.
Right?
And so he told me, he said, Mom,I love that you're an
entrepreneur.
I said, Oh, cool.
He said, and you're stressed allthe time.
I said, Oh he said, You'rereally nice and a sweet person.
(25:32):
And when you're stressed, youget angry sometimes and you
yell.
And I said, Oh, okay.
Good to know.
He said, You're a really gooddriver.
Because I talk about drivinginstead of yelling at people.
Um, and he said, and I wish Icould spend more time with you
if you're not home enough.
(25:53):
And I was like, Okay, so superhelpful, definitely holy smokes
moment, right?
And that led me to change a lotof things, taking more time, not
being so stressed, havingquality time if I couldn't do
the quantity time.
And so, although at that momentI was like, wow, um, that hurt,
(26:17):
and that was helpful.
And you know, adults were alllearning how to parent as we go.
So, you know, good job askingfor feedback.
So, yes, it can be a bit scary.
However, the sooner you get thefeedback, the sooner you can
make improvements.
And I do think, you know, toyour point, if you find
(26:38):
something really easy, don'tassume that that everybody finds
it easy, right?
I think chase your curiosity.
So if you're curious aboutsomething, go dig into that.
Because if you're curious, thatworth ethic or that grid will
kick in.
And acknowledge the things thatcome really easily to you that
(26:58):
you can do differently or betterthan others.
Um, and I think in today'sworld, you have a lot of people
upskilling, trying to figure outhow do I leverage AI, what does
this mean for me?
And so the more you can showthat you're investing in your
knowledge, that you're sharingthat insight, that builds a
(27:21):
reputation in and of itself onplatforms like LinkedIn, or if
you decide you want to do videoon TikTok or Instagram.
Um, but I do think know youraudience, be really clear on
what do they need to hear, andhow do you speak to them in
their words.
I think oftentimes asstorytellers or in branding, we
(27:43):
we use words that we think theaudience needs.
That's not always the words theyactually would use or want to
hear.
So I do think it's a lot ofunderstanding yourself,
understanding your audience, andthen really defining what I can
bring to bear.
Um, lately I've been talking alot about leadership branding.
(28:03):
Because sometimes people, Ithink, say, oh, well, I don't
need a personal brand.
You have one.
SPEAKER_02 (28:08):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (28:09):
You have a personal brand already.
People already have thoughtsabout you, whether they're good,
bad, and different, doesn'tmatter.
But I think an elevated versionof personal brand is leadership
brand.
We all have the opportunity tolead by example, whether you're
a CEO or fresh out of college,new hire.
So, what I challenge folks tothink about is what's your
(28:30):
leadership brand?
How are you leading into 2026,yourself, others?
But just how do you set a goodexample?
Because I think that also buildsyour personal brand in ways that
you may not realize.
But what are people seeing youdo?
Do your words meet your actions?
And even if you just startedthere, that's a great place to
(28:51):
start thinking about am Ishowing up authentically and
adding value.
SPEAKER_00 (28:57):
Wow.
Wow.
I I and it brought me back towhat you just said, especially
about reputation and that youhave a personal brand, but are
you intentional about buildingit and understanding how people
see it?
I work with clients all thetime.
And what I found, especiallywhen they're looking to either
(29:19):
pivot or they're in theircurrent career, I said, Well,
they're not utilizing all myresources, you know.
It's almost like you get in acar, get this new car, but you
only you know utilize 30% ofwhat the car can actually do,
you know, because you just youjust you don't realize it.
But certain people, it's thesame type of thing.
If you're only utilizing 30% ofmy capabilities, that other 70
(29:40):
set 70% is still there, butmaybe you're just not aware of
it.
Your your peers, yourco-workers, the companies,
you're not aware of it.
So you're limiting your value.
And I always look at theanalogy, and everybody loves
this one because it makes sense.
And I'm gonna date uh datemyself because I'm a little
older.
But some some of the gen X of myname, you ever watch the movie
or Shelley's come on calledGilligan's Island, right?
(30:01):
Gilligan, Gilligan's Island werecome on, they were on this
visitor island and they gotstranded.
So John Denver plays Gilligan.
Everybody remembers Gilligan, hewas so silly, he was a lovable
character.
However, when he tried to getother roles in Hollywood, he
found himself to be right, yeah,right.
And all they could see wasGilligan, they couldn't see John
(30:23):
Denver, and it it really uh heldhim back.
Think about your own self.
If someone only sees you or anorganization or even your own
resume only says one thing aboutyou, and yet you have all these
other things that you're good ator you're interested in, then
that's when you start saying,Hey, my personal brand is really
(30:45):
not representing who I am andwhat I am about.
You know, I spent 30 years, 30years business development and
information technology.
So my all my whole resume says,hey, you look at Grant McGov,
he's gonna sell you some kind ofenterprise.
However, as I started buildingmy personal brand and I started
(31:06):
to understand more about myselfas well, people said, No, I
really like the way youcommunicate, I like the way you
you speak.
You have this great voice, youhave this or oration about you,
and and then it started to go inanother world.
But I had to get intentionalabout building that out.
So now people think about oh,Grant McGall, like, oh yeah,
(31:26):
that's that guy.
He has this follow brandpodcast, he's really big in the
media, he knows healthcare,technology, he knows about
finance, and it just expanded mywhole scope.
And why I say this is becausenow my when it comes to how I am
successful from as far as amonetization standpoint, I have
(31:48):
many other revenue that I hadbecause I was just stuck in that
one world.
SPEAKER_01 (31:54):
I love everything you just said.
Uh, it reminds me of twoexamples.
One of my friends who's a seniorexecutive, um, actually at
Capital One, she said one day,she's like, and she reported
into the C-suite.
She's like, you know, I'm goingin for my performance review.
And I got the feedback that Iwasn't strategic enough.
(32:16):
And she's like, Jen, literally,all I do is breathe strategy.
Like I am very good at strategy.
And I said, Well, what did youdo to change people's minds?
She says, You're not gonnabelieve it.
I said, let's let's try it.
She goes, I started using theword strategy in everything I
(32:36):
said.
Because here's what would happenin meetings, because she got the
strategy, she would talk aboutthe tactical implications of
changing the strategy.
So people around her only heardher talk about tactical things.
So she would say, Well, hey,let's step back and think about
what's the strategic implicationof this.
(32:57):
Hey, let's make sure does thisproject align with our strategy?
And so to me, when I think aboutcreating a personal brand, one
is words matter.
People may not have the wordsyou want them to have because
they're using their own words intheir head.
And so, just like she had to usestrategy to be perceived as
(33:17):
strategic, do an inventory andthink about what words am I
using.
Your example about you is greatbecause you're building a
breadcrumb trail to bring peoplealong your personal brand
journey where you started withtechnology and then you start
adding in other breadcrumbs ofpersonal brand and leadership
and blah, blah, blah, and blah,blah.
(33:38):
And all of a sudden, you end upat a place known as a personal
brand thinker, right?
And so and speaker, etc.
But if we don't give people thewords we want them to use or to
think about us in, then wedefinitely will have a
challenge.
So as people are thinking aboutheading into the new year, kind
(34:00):
of do a reflection and audit ofwell, what am I speaking up
about in meetings?
What am I asking about?
What am I offering ideas on?
Does that pigeonhole me like theGilligan Island example?
The other thing I would say, youknow, one of my clients right
now, uh, Madeline James, is islaunched, is launched in early
November.
(34:20):
It's going up against bigcompetitors.
So they have to use oneinfluencer strategy because that
is a big part of their targetmarket.
Um, and I think something like62% of marketing efforts in 2026
will be influencer-based.
Like moving from traditionalmarketing to bringing in
(34:42):
personal brand thought leaders.
So people could even think aboutwhat's something I'm passionate
about that maybe is outside ofmy job?
That I can parlay into a futurecareer.
So don't discount this idea thatyou can create a personal brand
around something you'repassionate about that lays that
bridge or the foundation to goto your next opportunity.
(35:04):
If you're in a role that you'relike, no, Jen, I really don't
want to stay here, that's okay.
Then think about how do we buildthat evidence of here are my
skills, here's my knowledge, andhere's where I'm gonna go next.
Because a lot of times when itcomes to building our personal
brand, we have to create theevidence to get us where we want
(35:25):
to go.
It is nobody else's job to buildyour personal brand but you.
And that that's painful becauseyou're like, but wait, but
that's where you can get like alittle personal board of
advisors.
You guys can go have wine andyummy cheeses once a month and
talk about, hey, here's what I'mthinking.
Do you think that would work?
Right.
(35:45):
Or if for me, I was working in arole at Capital One early in my
career as a product and projectmanager.
We weren't really allowed toplay on the money side, on the
finance side.
So I went and joined a nonprofitboard and then got on the
finance committee so I couldlearn about finance, right?
So, to your point, what's yourlearning agenda for next year?
(36:08):
What's that skill assessment andcome up with creative ways to
fill that learning gap?
It may not always be at thecompany you're at.
It might be through having amentor, it might be through
taking certificate programs uhversus going back for a full
degree.
It might be, you know, uhjoining a board or doing
(36:29):
volunteer work.
So I think we have to getcreative.
And sometimes if we feel likeour personal brand is holding us
back or we're not there, we canbe stressed.
And when we're stressed, yourbrain actually cannot innovate.
It is a different part of thebrain or collaborate.
Um, and so for each of us, Ithink carve out some time where
(36:51):
you can step back, take a deepbreath, and think about what
would creating evidence looklike?
What's missing?
What do I need to create?
And again, it's just one thing amonth, one thing a week,
whatever you have bandwidth for.
Because I don't know about you.
At the beginning of the year,I'll be like, I'm gonna lose 40
pounds.
And at the end of the year, I'mlike, I still need to lose the
40 pounds.
So we want to set goals that aremanageable for a personal brand.
(37:14):
Do one thing a week, one thing amonth, be real with yourself,
but just start.
And I think if you have a closefriend or a mentor that can help
you along the way and be asounding board, they can talk
with you, they can talk with me.
I'm happy to chat with anybody.
Um, but I think think about howmuch individually we know, and
(37:35):
if we shared the mistakes we'vemade or shared what we've
learned, how much we can helpother people.
So at the end of the day, andthere's always people are like,
What?
I'm like, 90% of your personalbrand has nothing to do with
you.
It has to do with what are youproviding to people that is
helpful to them.
SPEAKER_00 (37:56):
So, anyways, no, no, all of that what you said is so
true, and it got me to thinkingright now, I'm gonna make a
change in how my process ofdoing my podcast right now,
right now, right as we recordthis.
Meaning, I want to instead of measking you the question, you've
gone through my process, you'vegone, you've looked at some of
(38:16):
my content, you've not gonethrough the Follow the Brand
Podcast interview, the whole,you know, like you were we're at
the end of our show right now.
What question would you like toask me?
SPEAKER_01 (38:29):
I would love to know what's the one thing you want to
develop or learn evidence-wisefor you going into 2026?
Like, what's on your learningagenda for you to stay relevant,
to continue to add value, and toelevate your own personal brand?
SPEAKER_00 (38:45):
That's a thank you for asking that.
Because I do got a lot ofthings, and people ask me that
because you asked me thatearlier, where are you at, Greg?
Where are you in Omaha?
Wow, you know, the Midwest.
And then you're doing thesethings in St.
Croix, you do these things.
How do you how do you tie allthat together?
And because I'm now inenterprise, right?
(39:06):
I have an ecosystem.
So in Miami, I built my personalbrand, I built the
follow-the-brand podcastecosystem, right?
It's a lot of the that there.
And then in St.
Croix, I built out a financialmarketplace, right?
And that's where like I have ashow called The Big Picture.
And in the big picture, we talkabout finance and that type of
(39:27):
thing, and we're developing alot of different opportunities
in St.
Croix.
Then in Omaha, it's like, well,what can I do?
I haven't been there in 30years.
I've got to be able to dosomething.
I'm gonna be more or lessheadquartered there.
What is that going to look like?
And what what I noticed wasbecause I have such uh expertise
in artificial intelligence, buthow do you apply it?
(39:49):
I'm into applied knowledge.
So I how do I apply AI inbusiness development?
How do I apply AI in persondevelopment, personal branding?
So I built out.
A AI business accelerator.
It's going to be a businessaccelerator program.
It's going to be launched as acohort.
And I was able to get itintegrated with the city of
(40:10):
Omaha.
They want to roll this out toall their business because this
is still new, right?
New herb, meaning there's anacquired skill set around it,
but people are kind of likedoing their own thing, they're
at different levels.
Well, how do we really applythis to first of all develop our
sales programs, our marketingprograms, especially a small
business?
You're an entrepreneur.
And I want to say one thingbecause I answered your
(40:31):
question.
I want to say because you saidsomething.
I want people to understandthis.
You really need to get on top ofthis.
All of us are entrepreneurs.
You have a business contractwith your company, your
enterprise.
That's a business contract.
Ask any HR professional to tellyou, like, yeah, you have a
contract with us.
Meaning, and when you are anentrepreneur, you had contracts
(40:52):
with your clients.
It's a contract.
So you have a contract ofservice.
So who in an entrepreneurialworld is responsible for
promoting your brand?
Well, you are.
You're absolutely responsiblefor promoting your brand,
whether you're going throughcareer development, business
development, you aren't thebrand, right?
No matter how you look at it.
(41:14):
But if you if you sit on thatbrand, you don't develop it, and
you don't take it to the nextlevel.
What happens is especially nowtell people, I'm at the other
side.
I'm like 62 years old now,right?
If I didn't start developing mybrand at the end of the day,
where I'm no longer thatvaluable as in business
development, in technology, Istart taking more of a back
(41:36):
seat, but still I have I haveexpenses, I have bills, I have
other things.
Like, well, I've got to nowdevelop this new new revenue
stream.
I can't just sit back and expectthings to just be be how they
were.
So you're developing these newrevenue streams, you've got to
start thinking, and I think it'sa mind shift takes place that
(41:57):
you are in the business ofdeveloping your brand,
developing your business at alltimes.
You are an entrepreneur, whetheryou think about it or not, or a
business owner, you own yourcareer, right?
Any point in time, when theytell you when you you sign that
contract, this this is an atwhat do they call that at risk?
At will, at will at any point intime, I can say your service is
(42:18):
no longer needed.
You gotta think about that,right?
Right?
SPEAKER_01 (42:22):
Absolutely.
I mean, I'm in the DC market, Ihave people reach out to me
often who were federalgovernment employees, seniors in
the federal government, seniorlevels.
And you know, my answer isalways of course I'll help.
And we need to build our brandbefore we need it.
(42:43):
Right?
Even if you're coming out ofcollege, interview people at
your company, learn about theculture, write about what it's
like to start in a new company,write about what's exciting,
don't write about the bad stuffbecause that will get you in
trouble.
Write about here's what I'mlearning, here's what's super
cool and exciting.
Because you can build a brand atany point, and you should.
(43:05):
I mean, in my corporate careerfor 10 years, the one thing I
really didn't do was build mybrand outside of the company
because I was working, you know,60 to 80 hours a week, being a
great employee, getting greatresults for the company, and yet
I did not have a personal brandoutside of the company.
(43:26):
So when I started my business, Ileveraged my brand within the
company, but then I had to gobuild my brand.
I had to network and be a partof groups.
So one other sort of easy taskthat I might that makes it sound
mean.
One idea for 2026 is to look atyour networks.
I I love that you likeframeworks.
(43:47):
I have so many that I could haveshared, but I'm like, no, no,
let's not overwhelm people.
I have four networks, and everyyear I reassess them.
I have a network of my peers whoare peers like me that I want to
build relationships with.
I have networks where I couldfind my clients, CEOs, startups,
etc.
(44:07):
I have a network for givingback.
So I'm part of a women's givingcircle, which is a great way to
meet a lot of people that aren'tin the typical networks I would
find because it's a very diversegroup of people.
And then I have a network forfun.
Right.
And the reason I say that isbecause it's good to have fun.
For me, giving back isimportant.
(44:28):
And it might be for peoplelistening, right?
We can all figure out how wewant to do that.
But I think uh a network of yourpeers and of your future clients
or prospects is important.
So you can stay in touch withwhat's the most forward thinking
happening in my space and whatdo my people need?
What do my clients need orprospects need?
(44:50):
And so if you haven't everthought about networking so far,
and now you're thinking about2026, how do I increase
visibility?
Go visit different groups,right?
Go check it out, try it out, seewhat feels like a good fit.
And then I invest in it for theyear, and then next year I'll
see are these still the rightnetworks for me.
But I think you don't want to beout of sight, out of mind.
(45:12):
And you absolutely want to startbuilding your brand.
Even if it's just known assomeone who um is kind, does
recognition, that's a greatstart.
But you also want to share, evenif it's hey, I grew, I read this
great article on AI and blah,blah, blah, because you want to
transition at some point intousing AI.
Great, put that on LinkedIn,share it in a team meeting,
(45:35):
right?
Like find the places where youcan use your words to define
your brand.
SPEAKER_00 (45:42):
Man, well said, well stated.
I want to thank you again, Jen,for being on the show.
You're gonna end 2025 in such agreat way and begin 2026 with a
plan, which is always good, andhow you're gonna implement that
plan, but stick to it because atthe end of the day, just like
anything else, uh, I thinknature teaches this that when
(46:04):
you make that you plant yourseed, then you nurture it over
time, but then you see it grow,it breaks crumb, and then you
have a harvest.
So that's that's a process uhthat we all have to go through
so you can harvest your personalbrand and make it very, very
good.
I want to thank you again forbeing a show, the brand mirror.
I want you to tell us how tocontact you, right?
(46:29):
And make sure we get in touchwith you, especially in that DC
world.
SPEAKER_01 (46:34):
I would love for people to visit my website,
brand mirror.com.
Feel free, please, connect withme on LinkedIn.
Practice reaching out andconnecting with someone.
If that's new to you, I willaccept.
I'm happy to do complimentaryconsults.
If you just want to hop on acall and brainstorm some stuff,
please reach out.
That is a genuine offer.
People ask me, like, really?
I'm like, yeah, because this iswhat I love to do.
(46:56):
So if you feel like you're stuckor you need some help, please
reach out.
Otherwise, you can follow me onInstagram and Facebook and all
of that good stuff.
SPEAKER_00 (47:04):
Excellent, excellent.
Thank you again for being on theshow.
I would encourage your entireaudience to see all the episodes
of Follow Brand at Five StarBDM.
That is the number five.
That is Star, STR, B for brand,D for Development, and for
Masters.com.
You are going to be able,especially if you're interested
in personal branding.
There's 50 episodes right there,so you can learn about these
(47:24):
things, get a good feel for it.
So when you engage with Jen,you're gonna already be at a
higher level and you can reallytake off.
So thank you again for being onthe show.
SPEAKER_01 (47:34):
Thank you so much.
This is so lovely.
I appreciate it.
SPEAKER_00 (47:37):
You're welcome.
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