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July 2, 2024 17 mins
In this episode of Local Leaders, Jim Chapman discusses personal branding, highlighting the importance of defining one's purpose, values, and unique value proposition. 
Jim emphasizes crafting a compelling narrative with personal stories and maintaining a strong online presence and stresses the significance of networking, delivering value, and adapting to feedback to enhance one's personal brand authentically and with integrity. 
Through practical tips and insights, He guides listeners and viewers on building a successful personal brand in today's digital age. 
#personalbranding #business #podcast #localleadersthepodcast

Timestamps
01:16 What Is a Personal Brand 
08:05 Establishing Online Presence
09:44 Networking and Engagement
11:35 Delivering Value and Building Credibility
15:52 Live Your Brand 

This episode is sponsored by Level Dumpsters
You can learn more about Level Dumpsters by visiting:
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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hi, this is Lori Johnson withHancock Whitney Bank, and you're listening to
Local Leaders the podcast. Visit LocalLeaders the Podcast dot com for previous episodes
or for information on peering on theshow. Hey everyone, before we get
started today, I want to shoutout Level Dumpsters. They're huge supporters of

(00:21):
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(00:41):
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you get one hundred dollars off ofyour dumpster rental. And hey,
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(01:03):
at two two five three one zerosix six four seven or email them at
info at level dumpsters dot com.They're proud supporders of Local Leaders the podcast.
Now let's get into what we're goingto talk about today, and it's
a little bit different. I'm notinterviewing anybody today I'm doing something else.

(01:25):
I actually spoke at a Livingston ParisChamber commerce luncheon that they had. It's
called Busconnects, where business owners gettogether and just kind of network a little
bit with each other, learn alittle bit more about each other's business.
And I was honored to be thekeynote speaker at that event, and what

(01:46):
I talked about was personal braining.And one thing I figured out after the
event ended is not a lot ofpeople in that room, and there was,
it was packed. Not a lotof those people knew what personal braining
was, and even if if theywere somewhat familiar with it, not a
lot of them knew exactly how toimplement it, what it meant, especially

(02:07):
what it meant to their business.So I thought it'd be a good idea
today just to take a few minutesand explain exactly what personal branding is and
how it can benefit your business.So we're going to jump into it.
What exactly is a personal brand.It's the unique combination of skills, experiences,
and personality traits that define who youare and how you are perceived by

(02:31):
others, be it your clients,your friends, your customers, even your
coworkers. It is essentially how otherpeople see you and how you brand yourself.
And what it means to brand yourselfis you're going to make an intentional
effort to create and influence that publicperception. You're going to go for it.

(02:55):
Once you understand how to personal brandyourself, going to make intentional moves
in order to see to it thatyou're branded properly. So how do you
do that? How do you brandyourself? Well? The first thing you
have to do and probably the mostinfigral thing in the whole process, is

(03:15):
you have to define your purpose.Every strong personal brand starts with a clear
sense of purpose. You want toask yourself what I want to be known
for. Maybe it's the knowledge inyour field. Maybe you want to be
known as an expert, or maybeyou want to be known as the hardest

(03:35):
worker in the room. Maybe youwant to be known as the problem solver,
and maybe you want to be knownas all three. But you got
to figure that out. That's yourfirst step. And also in defining your
purpose, you got to figure outwhat your core values and your passions are.
Maybe you're passionate about your community,or maybe it's a specific nonprofit,

(04:00):
or maybe you're just passionate about football. Whatever it is, you need to
establish it and you need to reallyhammer it down. Figure that out.
Find your passion, because if youdon't know what you're passionate about, or
you don't focus on what you're passionateabout, you will burn out, There's
no doubt about it. Now,once you define that purpose, you want

(04:26):
to do what experts will call findingor identifying your unique value proposition. Now
I call that finding your separator.What sets you apart from other people in
your field, what makes you different, what makes you special, and what

(04:46):
separates you not only from your competitors, but even from people in your own
organization, the people you work with. There's things that make you stand out.
And the good news is you don'thave to figure that out. Your
clients, your customers, those youdo business with, they're going to tell
you. You just need to knowhow to listen. Now, typically you'll

(05:11):
notice that several different people are sayingthe same things about you. And in
a prior industry that I worked infor twenty plus years, I would constantly
hear clients comment on how much theyappreciated my follow up and how accessible I
was when they would call. Iwould answer the phone. They would always
make that comment, no matter whattime of day. It was right.

(05:33):
Well, that told me two things. First, it told me that apparently
there was an issue in my industry, would follow up and maybe my competition
was struggling with that, so Ican use that to my advantage. But
second, it validated that I wasgood at it. And once you figure

(05:55):
out what your separator is, youcan really start moving on your personal brand
because you want to make that afocus of why people should do business with
you. Then you move to thenext step, which is to craft your
narrative. Now, this step righthere, I believe this wholeheartedly, deep

(06:19):
down into my core. I mean, I make a career now of helping
other businesses do it. Remember this, your personal brand is not just about
what you do. It's also thestory behind why you do it. Share

(06:40):
your journey, challenges you've overcome,achievements that highlight your strengths. Authenticity matters.
People connect with real stories from realpeople. My entire premise on this

(07:00):
podcast, Local Leaders is based onthe belief that once people know why you
do what you do, they aremany times more likely to do business with
you. The why always leads tothe buy and make no mistake about it.
When I was fifteen years old,I read a book called See You
at the Top by Zig Ziggler,and let me tell you a classic.

(07:25):
If you hadn't read it and you'rein the business field, especially if you're
a younger business person, go checkit out. Trust me. In that
book, Zig said something that madesuch an impression on me that now,
thirty five years later, it sumsup exactly why I do what I do.

(07:47):
Zig said, people don't care howmuch you know until they know how
much you care. It's a fact, and it's exactly why crafting your narrative
is so important. Now. Onceyou've crafted your narrative, you want to

(08:09):
establish your online presence. Now todayeverything is going digital. You can get
your news online, people order foodonline, people even find their spouses online.
It's true. But most important forthis discussion is the vast majority of

(08:31):
people make buying decisions online. Overseventy percent of people today say they are
more likely to do business with someonewith a strong personal brand and presence online
than someone without it. That's straightup facts. I'll also say this is
the step that most people struggle with, the establishment of a business page on

(08:56):
Facebook, for example, that's easyfive minutes. It's the promotion of themselves
that people most struggle with. Theyjust feel funny mentioning they won that award
or talking about how good they arewhatever business it is they do. Now,
there are ways of verbalizing things whereyou don't come off arrogant, but

(09:22):
you need to get comfortable with tellingpeople the facts of what you bring to
the table if you're trying to buildyour following and thus your personal brand.
So if you engage in business andyou don't have a business presence on Facebook
and LinkedIn, at a minimum,there's many others, but at a minimum

(09:43):
those two you're missing a major vote. So I'm gonna move on to my
fifth tip for building your personal brand, and that's network and engage. Attend
business related events, in age inonline forms, be active in your community.
People need to know who you are, what you do, what your

(10:07):
belief system is, and how youcan help them at all times. If
you're supporting nonprofits, go to nonprofitevents and support them and let people know
it speaks to who you are.It may be a difference maker. My

(10:28):
sixth tip, deliver value and buildyour credibility, whether through your work,
content you share, or interactions inperson with other people always aim to add
value. You want to position yourselfas the trusted resource in whatever your field
is. That builds credibility and itwill also reinforce your personal brand over time.

(10:58):
You want everyone you come as toknow that you're an expert in that
field. You want to help them, you don't want to sell them.
That's the perception that you want toput out. And number seven except criticism.
Creating a personal brand, y'all,it's an ongoing process. Be open

(11:20):
to constructive criticism and be willing toadapt and improve your personal brand based off
of that. Maybe you're doing amail chump and you're bombarding people too much
with too many emails, Well,you can fix that. Or maybe you're
not doing enough Facebook post you canfix that. Or maybe you breathe too

(11:45):
much, believe it or not.I had a friend of mine several years
ago tell me that I breathed toomuch on my podcast and it made the
podcast hard for them to listen to. Well, I went back and I
listened to several of my podcasts andthat person was right. I breathe too

(12:07):
much. So I'm proud to saythat now I breathe much less than I
did before, but I had toaccept that criticism to figure that out,
and my numbers did increase after that, so who knows, maybe it was
a deal. And my last tipfor today, live your brand. Your

(12:33):
personal brand is not just a personayou adopt professionally for business. It should
align with your actions and your behaviorsat all aspects of your life. Be
true to your values and maintain yourintegrity in everything you do, whether in
your business life or your personal life, because one will affect the other.

(12:58):
And I want to lead you withthis. It's a post that I personally
put on Facebook just about a weekago, but I think it's a good
reflection of my personal brand and Ititled it someone needs to hear this.
When I left one career to reinventmyself and follow my heart and where I

(13:18):
felt God was pushing me. Intwenty twenty, I have one podcast on
my roster, my flagship podcast,Local Leaders. Shortly after, I had
a literal dream and when I wokeup, I wrote down everything I could
remember that I envisioned from that dream. I even named my production company in

(13:39):
Vision in honor of that dream.I put my faith in God and educated
myself on everything I could learn aboutthe production side of podcasting with the hopes
that if I built it, theywould come. And did they ever.
Fast forward until today and I ameither executive, managing editor, engineer,

(14:01):
host or co host on all ofthe above podcast and I had a picture
of fourteen different podcasts that I dothat for. Two of these podcasts are
in the top one hundred worldwide,five of these podcasts are in the top
two fifty worldwide. All of thesepodcasts are homegrown right here in Livingston Parish.

(14:26):
And that's what I'm most proud of. So what if I learned that
could apply to anyone looking to bettertheir business in any field. I have
learned so much over the past fouryears. Yes, I now have more
certifications than I can count. Butone thing I learned is that following what
works for others and implementing it thatis what is more valuable. Don't reinvent

(14:54):
the wheel, add to it.Always remember where you came from, stay
humble, keep your ego in check, and give back where you can.
Just be genuine. But lastly,and in my mind most important, never
listen to the naysayers when you gofor something that can knots in life will

(15:18):
come out of the woodwork. Firstthey'll try to destroy your vision, then
your reputation, and finally your dream. They'll get jealous of you, blame
and simple. Those who are trulyhappy to see you succeed are rare,
and when you find them, clingto them and make sure they know how

(15:39):
much you appreciate them. Push throughthe noise and know who you are at
all times. The cream will alwaysrise to the top. I'm so honored
to play a role in the successof all the podcasts you see pictured here.
They try to my company and myself, and I do not take that

(16:03):
lightly. If you have not listenedto these fine folks, please check them
out. And I hope that thispost helps at least one person not only
envision what they're capable of, butbelieve in themselves enough to go for it.
And that, y'all is who Iam. That is my personal brand.

(16:30):
So I just wanted to bring thatto you today. I hope it
helped. I hope you can implementsome of those tips. They work for
me, some of them may workfor you. I appreciate everybody that listens
to local leaders and everything else thatI do or am involved in it.
Truly is an honor to be ableto bring you some entertainment, maybe some

(16:55):
knowledge. Hopefully you get something outof all of the things out of it.
I do want to thank level dumpsters. Without them, what we do
would not be possible. And ifyou're interested in sponsoring local leaders of the
podcasts, reach out to me jimatlocalleaders ofthepodcast dot com. We love to

(17:18):
promote our local businesses. So ifyou're in Livingston Parish, Baton Rouge,
Prairieville area pretty much a fifty squaremile radius around Livingston Parish, so Hammond
will be included in that, maybeas far as the sly L area,
shoot me an email and we'll talkabout it. Until next time, I'm

(17:44):
Jim Chapman reminding you love your community, support local business, and keep leading.
Thank you very much,
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