Fast and effective personal branding in 20 sentences (ignore everything else)

A personal brand will set you apart in the age of AI and automation.

But most advice on personal branding is overcomplicated nonsense that keeps you stuck in theory instead of building something real.

Here’s what I learned over 15 years of brand-building that actually matters:

1. Your brand is what people remember after they stop reading, not what you say about yourself.

Stop crafting mission statements and bios that sound impressive.

Focus on making one idea stick so that people can’t help but think of you when that topic comes up.

Feeling emotionally connected to an idea beats trying to sound professional.

2. Your struggles are often more valuable than your expertise.

People don’t follow you because you’re perfect.

They follow because you’re a few steps ahead and willing to share what you learned getting there. Your breakdowns, mistakes, and messy figuring-it-out moments are a huge chunk of the content.

That’s what creates connection.

3. People follow you for who you’re becoming, not only what you teach.

Your audience isn’t looking for another guru.

They want to watch someone evolve in real-time and learn from the journey.

Your brand is built on your transformation, not your credentials.

Share the process, not just the results.

4. Writing regularly is more valuable than writing perfectly.

The people with the biggest audiences aren’t necessarily the best communicators, but they are the most consistent.

Top brands are built on a foundation of repeated, familiar awareness of those involved.

Most people struggle simply because no one knows them well enough.

5. Your audience doesn’t grow from great content, but from great distribution.

You can write the best article ever written and get zero readers if nobody sees it.

I’ve shared the same article on one platform that flopped, while it went viral on another.

Distribution matters more than quality.

This means getting your voice across mediums and platforms as much as you can and doing more of what works for you.

6. Your niche is you. It’s your interests, obsessions, and unique perspective combined.

Forget picking a narrow topic and forcing yourself into a box.

Your brand is the intersection of everything you care about.

Write about fitness, philosophy, business, creativity and whatever genuinely interests you.

But your topics need to tie into the overall transformation you are guiding people through.

The throughline is your voice, values, and what brings you to life, not a tiny topic.

7. Your about page should tell the story of your transformation, rather than list your credentials.

Nobody cares where you went to school.

They care about who you were, what changed, and who you became. Your story is the proof that transformation is possible.

Lead with that, not your resume.

8. Personal stories build more trust than any advice ever will.

Sharing a struggle or funny story you’re working through right now is worth ten how-to guides.

Appropriate vulnerability is the fastest path to resonance.

People trust people who are honest about the mess, not just the wins.

9. If you can’t explain your brand in one sentence, you don’t have a brand yet.

Complexity is confusion. Your brand should be clear enough that someone can describe you to a friend in one breath.

If you need three paragraphs, you’re still figuring it out.

Clarity is the entire game.

10. Your best content comes from what you’re genuinely obsessed with right now.

Stop trying to be consistent with topics you’ve lost interest in.

Your audience feels when you’re forcing it.

Write about what’s alive for you today.

Your energy and curiosity are more magnetic than any content strategy.

11. A small, engaged audience beats a large, indifferent one by every measure that matters.

One thousand people who open every email, buy every product, and share your work will change your life.

One hundred thousand followers who scroll past you mean nothing.

Build for depth, not numbers.

12. Every piece of content should have one clear action you want the reader to take.

Subscribe. Buy. Share. Book a call.

If your content doesn’t guide people toward a next step in the transformation, you’re just entertaining them.

Entertainment doesn’t build a business.

Intentional calls to action do.

13. You don’t need a massive audience to make significant money, you need the right audience.

Ten people paying you $10,000 each is $100,000.

You don’t need a million followers.

You need a handful of people who trust you enough to invest.

Focus on serving a small group exceptionally well before trying to reach everyone.

14. Publishing on a schedule trains your audience when to expect you and builds trust through reliability.

Random posting makes it harder for people to trust you and know you exist.

A weekly newsletter or article on the same day (ideally several days) every week builds anticipation.

Your audience should know when you’re going to show up.

15. Strong opinions, clearly stated, attract your people and repel everyone else.

Trying to avoid offending anyone makes your brand invisible.

The people who resonate with you want to know what you actually believe.

Polarisation isn’t a bug, but rather it’s how you build a tribe instead of a crowd of strangers.

16. Your voice matters more than your topic, and there are no original ideas, only original people.

Everything’s been written about.

What hasn’t been written is your specific take, shaped by your experience and perspective.

Stop worrying about originality.

Your personality is the differentiator. Lean into it.

17. Building in public accelerates trust faster than any other strategy.

Share your process, mistakes, and lessons as you go.

Make people feel like they’re on the journey with you, not just watching from a distance.

That participation creates loyalty that nothing else can match.

Document, don’t create.

18. One well-placed testimonial is worth a thousand promotional posts.

People believe others more than they do when it comes from you.

A single quote from someone whose life you changed does more to build credibility than any amount of self-promotion.

Collect testimonials religiously and use them everywhere.

19. The people making the most money from personal brands have something to sell, not just free content.

Attention without monetisation is a hobby.

If you want income, you need an offer —whether that is coaching, courses, books, services, or something else.

Free content builds the audience. Paid offers build the business.

20. Your personal brand isn’t about you. It’s about who your audience becomes as they watch you evolve.

Make your brand about shared transformation.

You’re not the guru on the mountain.

You’re the person slightly ahead, turning around to show others the path.

What do they become by following your journey? That’s the brand.

Need help writing articles that engage 10x more people?

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Even if you use AI to help you write, you need a foundation that clarifies what actually makes your people tick.

Stop wondering why your brilliant ideas fall flat and learn how to make people actually care about what you say.

Learn more about the course here.

Alex