Let's Talk About Fame

[MakeItHappen]

I think that a strong personal brand can be very valuable.

People are social being and like to buy from other people, instead of impersonal corporation.

If both a biz with a strong personal brand and a faceless corporation offers the exact same value the biz with the personal brand has an advantage imo.

As automation/AI is getting better and better and more jobs/skills can be done by machines the personal brand becomes even more important in the future to differentiate yourself from the competition.

If your competitors have strong personal brands and you don't have any personal brand imo it can be a disadvantage.

Elon Musk and Tesla comes to mind. If I would be in the market for an electrical car the first company that comes to mind is Tesla and when I think of Tesla I think of Elon Musk and the fact that I like him (his personal brand). I would compare other car companies to Tesla and unless they very clearly provide a lot more value than Tesla I am buying a Tesla.

This might not be true for all industries but as social media keeps growing it become more important and Elon Musk is an example of an entrepreneur with a personal brand in industries that I wouldn't have thought of as industries that could benefit from a personal brand.

 

[wouldntitbenice]

If your competitors have strong personal brands and you don't have any personal brand imo it can be a disadvantage.

Elon Musk and Tesla comes to mind. If I would be in the market for an electrical car the first company that comes to mind is Tesla and when I think of Tesla I think of Elon Musk and the fact that I like him (his personal brand). I would compare other car companies to Tesla and unless they very clearly provide a lot more value than Tesla I am buying a Tesla.

This might not be true for all industries but as social media keeps growing it become more important and Elon Musk is an example of an entrepreneur with a personal brand in industries that I wouldn't have thought of as industries that could benefit from a personal brand.

I personally dislike Elon Musk, at least the side he shares with the public, so personal branding cuts both ways. John DeLorean was very much a personal brand in the auto industry.

I instinctively agreed with your statement that it can be a disadvantage if the competition has a strong personal brand while you don't, but then I thought of the countless plumbing, electrical, and hvac companies marketed as an individual or family business struggling to grow against the large regional players in those professions. All things being equal, I bet personal brand does matter, but things are rarely all equal.

 

[Legacyy]

For me, it would highly depend on how far ´being famous´ reaches. I mean, within my own field or skillset I´d wish to be famous within my target group in order to keep sales up, but no, never nationwide for whatever reason.

And if fame hits, I wish it to be in a legit way, hence deeds and results, not a big mouth.

 

[sparechange]

Won't this require trust which, to a large extent, relies on whether people trust you? Or do you think it's trust for the company in general, not a specific human being? Recently there's been a lot of articles about people connecting with people, not corporations.



A quick Google search shows that it's Jay S. Walker - Wikipedia. Within a few minutes you can learn who his wife is, that he has two children, and where he lives (a small town in Connecticut). You'll also learn how wealthy he is (he's a billionaire). Perhaps media doesn't talk much about him, but it's pretty scary how easily a determined person could find him.

This is true, you can google where people live in Vancouver.

Michael Bublé's 27,000 square-foot Burnaby mansion nears completion (example)

(I know where some wealthy business people live myself) combine that with ill intentions and yeh, you have a recipe for disaster. Shhhh, its just the paranoia talking

West Vancouver police said Wednesday they’ve seen 29 break-and-enters at homes across the district in July — meaning a home was broken into nearly every day this month.

Worse still, police have recorded 108 break-ins so far this year, marking a 65 per cent increase compared to the five-year average.

West Vancouver police say a home was broken into nearly every day in July - BC | Globalnews.ca

Police have recorded 108 break-ins so far this year, marking a 65 per cent increase compared to the five-year average.

globalnews.ca

If you click the link the local police force shows a map of break in's in the area.

For the non Canadians, West Vancouver is basically our version of Hollywood Hills.

I'd imagine break in's work differently in the USA, since at birth your granted the right to bear arms. (It's a long and painfull process to get a weapon in Canada) and believe our AR-15's are capped at a 5 round magazine.

 

[Timmy C]

A few years ago some of the local youngsters were following me on Snapchat. They started learning what I did online. I didn’t feel comfortable wandering round town having youngsters point me out to other youngsters saying “he’s got a YouTube channel and works from home”.

Lmao

 

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[Andy Black]

That could be challenging in today's world of shrinking privacy...

Maybe some fame comes from selling courses where you’re the voiceover? Maybe not though.

My point is that I don’t want my “sales channel” to be based on a personal brand.

Stuff sells all day every day without being associated with someone’s personal brand.

 

[ChrisV]

If you’re extroverted you’ll love fame; if you’re introverted, you’ll hate it.

 

[GPM]

Here is an example of how much I would love fame. After I had my daughter I found it uncomfortable to go out for something as simple as groceries, as I found the attention I got to be be unpleasant.

People swarm you when you have a new baby, and I hated it. I couldn't imagine actually achieving fame of some sort. I would probably hire doubles as decoys to leave my house before me, and then I would sneak out to my private car/jet to go where I wanted to go.

 

[Andy Black]

Here's the take on personal brands from a guy with a big personal brand in his space:

• Gary Vaynerchuk: How to build a personal brand from nothing

Here's some of my braindump in other threads talking about personal branding:

Read "Built to Sell"

It's alright getting started making sales as "The XYZ Guy".

Later on you might want to make sales as "The XYZ Business".

I agree. You're building a personal brand with every interaction or lack of interaction. You don't even need to say "I'm the XYZ guy", you just talk about XYZ, help people with XYZ, and be seen to help people with XYZ. When people start tagging you when someone asks for help with XYZ then you know you're doing it right.

Personally, I'd rather use my initial personal brand to jumpstart a non-personal brand, rather than try and push my personal brand down everyone's throats on social media platforms.

Personal branding.

Closely aligned with “follow your passion”.

It’s what the masses want to hear... Talk about yourself, and flood the world with selfies and talking head videos. Build an audience, make loads of money living the hammock and laptop lifestyle.

@MTF wrote a great post here:

• RANT - How deep does this "FAKE GURU" market actually go?

 

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[Runum]

It was a very strange experience to be in a store one day and hearing people on the next aisle talking shit about me, my wife, and my race car. It's odd how people will shoot you down and they don't even know you. My wife has been harassed at a college BB game from a fan of Texas Tech. My wife was a JR high girls BB coach and this woman knew who my wife was and began stalking and swearing at her. My wife let the deranged woman say her piece until she ran out of steam. I always wanted to be a blue jean millionaire, no one would know who I am or where I live.

How weird would it be to go to an event and everyone is wearing a t shirt with your face on it?

 

[MattR82]

I’ve thought about this.

We all have personal brands one way or another. I think a (good!) personal brand is useful to jumpstart a new project.

After that I wouldn’t want the strategy to grow the business have to be that I grew my personal brand. I’d want the business to be a producocracy and grow because of R+R (Repeat Business plus Referrals).

I had a YouTube coach but couldn’t follow through on his blueprint. It’s because his blueprint requires that I do a talking head part of each video to introduce it and wrap up.

I don’t have intros or wrap ups to videos in my course.

Everyone’s advice for YouTube seems to be that you should get on camera. It dawned on me that I don’t have to get on camera at all, and I’ve created a couple of new channels where I won’t put my face to them or mention my name.

I don’t want to be famous, but that’s not really why. I want my offerings to stand on their own two feet.


My goto is booking.com. Who owns and runs that? Hotel owners don’t know or care. Neither do consumers.

I dunno Andy, I think it's going to be hard to grow a youtube channel without showing your face.

 

[Andy Black]

I dunno Andy, I think it's going to be hard to grow a youtube channel without showing your face.

Aha! I’m not trying to grow a YouTube channel.

 

[LisaMcdowell8]

Hello, a very interesting question. I think that I would like to be outstanding in my industry, to be in demand, so that there is more profit, more opportunities. I never seriously thought to be famous as a TV star or something, but to be good at what you do and for other people to know about it I would like to.

 

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[Guest6814]

That's a pen name?

If correct, it would answer my longtime question, “What does ‘MJ’ stand for?”

I had no idea it was a pen name!

 

[Guest6814]

The goal is to be successful, not to be famous per se. Fame by itself means nothing of you’re broke and haven’t contributed anything. Provide something of value. If others recognize you for your contribution, very nice. If not, it’s not the end of the world.

 

[SteveO]

If correct, it would answer my longtime question, “What does ‘MJ’ stand for?”

Short for Michael John

 

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[Costa]

If I'm dealing with shit being broke and anonymous, man I can't even imagine being rich, famous or both