Early in my entrepreneurial career, I bought into a myth that stunted the growth of my business and limited my opportunities.
That myth was that I didn’t need to build a personal brand.
Now I’m a bit older than some of you, and I started my first business long before the internet was as intertwined in society as it is today. In fact, for a good portion of my career, it didn’t exist in any meaningful way.
Back then, only the titans of their industries had any kind of personal brand. People like Tony Robbins, Oprah Winfrey, and Warren Buffet were well known, both for their businesses and for their thought leadership, within their industry and beyond because they were regularly cited by the media for their expertise. But for the most part, this just wasn’t a thing for the typical entrepreneur.
Then the internet changed everything.
Unfortunately, most entrepreneurs didn’t adapt quickly enough—including myself.
I learned this at the most inopportune time. I had just sold my printing company after accepting a job as the Director of Marketing for one of my clients, which was also one of the fastest growing franchises in America at the time.
Then, I was blindsided.
A coup had been brewing quietly behind the scenes among a group of nineteen of our franchisees, and about a month after I had joined the company, they made their move. They staged a mass exodus, breaking the terms of their franchise agreement, stole countless clients, and tried to file a class action lawsuit which was later dismissed for lack of merit. They even coordinated a massive online smear campaign in an attempt to put us out of business so we couldn’t sue them for breach of contract.
The company was devastated. The false and defamatory claims that showed up online caused us to lose clients and made acquiring new ones close to impossible. Our revenue plummeted from over $3 million to about $300,000, and many of our remaining franchisees began to echo the same sentiment as those who left. Things became so toxic that our CEO was unable to find any common ground with our franchises and he eventually had to step down, which forced me to step into that role.
But there was a problem—I had no experience in the industry, no connections, and no authority. While the franchisees had no particular animosity toward me, they also had no trust in me because I had never run a company in this industry. I was fighting an uphill battle and they pushed back on everything I did.
I knew I had to do something fast if we were going to survive.
So after talking with the company that handled our marketing, we launched a massive PR campaign to build my personal brand and develop the authority status I needed to effectively lead my team, nurture relationships within the industry, and earn new clients. At the same time, I also took over management of the locations from our former franchisees and began working to expand them.
I quickly started getting featured in the media, going on podcasts, and speaking in stages, which gave me a chance to demonstrate my expertise and reach a larger audience. And because of the third party validation that came from all of this publicity, I began being seen as an authority in my industry. As the impact began to multiply, I was soon asked to sit on the board of one of the top trade organizations in my industry and even to lobby Congress on behalf of our industry.
Along the way, the franchise locations I took over began to outperform many of the locations run by our remaining franchisees. We started landing local clients as well as Fortune 500 companies, professional sports organizations, and even government entities.
None of this happened overnight though. It took a few years of consistent work to go from ground zero to a recognized authority in my industry. And it’s not something you can just achieve and then take your foot off the gas because someone is always gunning for your spot. The people already in your industry all want to move up the food chain and there are new competitors entering the field every day, so you need to continuously work to build a more authoritative personal brand.
The bottom line is this—a powerful personal brand can be a game changer that amplifies everything else you’re already doing well in your business. If you put in consistent effort, powered by the right strategy, it can give you a tremendous competitive advantage that helps you attract opportunities, gain market share, and generate more revenue.