Package Your Genius Personal Branding Podcast

This past fall, I had the pleasure of working with conscious business and brand strategist Ash Johns in Package Your Genius Academy. Ash has quite the bio; trained in corporate advertising, she's also highly spiritual and intuitive. Her spiritual talents and passion for social equity inform her current business where she works as a psycho-spiritual coach. Before entering PYG Academy, Ash was rightfully hesitant about money. She'd just returned to the U.S. from Bali, and her business wasn't earning enough to sustain her life back in the States. She craved a business where she could lean into her 'woo' and package premium services with her ancestral healing work front and center. But she feared it wasn't realistic to expect to make the same kind of money as a healer as she'd made in her six-figure corporate gig. Ash uncovered during the three months of the academy that she could show up 100% authentically, lead with her spiritual "woo" side, and still make a lot of money. As a matter of fact, once she shi

A common idea keeps many high achievers stuck in analysis paralysis. It's the inability to decide on a focus area because they are admittedly 'multi-passionate.' Every day, talented professionals fail to move their brands forward because they can't pick a direction. I've talked to many people who feel they need a separate website, distinct social media pages and brand identities for each of their passions. Let's face it - that's a lot to keep up. In my opinion, characterizing yourself as multi-passionate is a bad idea. For one, it dilutes your credibility, at least in the beginning. Since your audience can only digest one thing at a time, if they're coming to you for your support, your message needs to be crystal clear. You can hear my four reframes for the multi-passionates in this episode. *** It's that time again. We're putting together the spring cohort of Package Your Genius Academy! If working on your umbrella message or the umbrella program that can contain the multitude of your passions so you

Trying to figure out the next level of your brand? As much as you may think you need to start from zero and do something completely brand new, the key may be to go back to the beginning so you can see how you've always been able to summon success.  Go back.  Back to the early days. Back to those foundational experiences that defined you early on. How have you been always doing what you do? Too many of us are reinventing the wheel, thinking that "building a brand" means forging ahead into the future with no regard for the past. So we're "starting from scratch" when it comes to our audience, our offer, and even our message about who we are. But there's information to be found when we go back to the beginning. Reflect: 1.) Who usually reaches out to you? Who has always reached out to you? What audiences do you have traction with? 2.) Why did those people reach out? Why did they need your help? 3.) What core skills have you been using to help that audience all along? 4.) What feedback did you receive

Activating a project requires a different type of energy than maintaining a project. You won't always have to work as hard to maintain something as you had to work to get it off the ground. If like me, you're a high achiever who's grown accustomed to striving, that may feel unfamiliar to you. But at some point, after you've put in the work, understand that the work will become easy.  The trick here is to remember you've earned the ease. You don't have to tear down what you've built to "make it hard again." Instead, now you can reinvest your time, energy and effort into something else that means a lot to you. Now you can reinvest the energy you previously used to get this dream off the ground and put it into something even bigger. I looked at Dave Ramsey's Debt Snowball Method and applied it to goals, our personal brands, and business projects. But you could take the concept and apply it to almost anything like your relationships, your parenting, or even your health.   *** If you've been looking for

This past weekend, I decided to honor the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by doing a write-a-thon with my kids. We each have a dormant writing project that could use a little intentional time and focus - Connor has a new fiction project, Logan has a fiction/comic book project, and I have another non-fiction project in the works. So we dedicated our weekend to writing. All said we wrote for 6 hours

One of the biggest lessons I've learned from nature is this: the leaves and flowers of any growing plant are not visible all the time. And the same is true for us as ambitious high achievers. Even though we may want to be perpetually "in bloom", that's not realistic. This time of year, it's easy to get swept away in the energy of a new year. Fresh starts. New beginnings. But what happens when your grand ambitions for the year have yet to surface? When your actual life doesn't match the hashtags of your favorite inspirational Instagram influencer? You may be looking for that spring energy - evidenced by sprouting green stems and unfurling baby leaves. But in reality, that may not necessarily be where you are. If you're currently in a growing phase where your progress isn't visible to the outside world, don't worry.  Trees may lose their leaves, but they don't die in winter. There's still a lot going on underground. Some very big and very important things may be taking root. But that's the type of grow

For high achievers, it's common for us to become immune to our accomplishments. Before the triumph of a win has settled in, we're on to the next. After jumping a major hurdle, we've already mentally raised the bar again before our feet even touch the ground. The danger is that doing this creates a diminished and completely false self-image. We're BOSSES in the world, yet when we diminish our accomplishments we begin to mentally see ourselves as ordinary people who have yet to do big things. But in actuality, we've done a lot more than we give ourselves credit for. What would happen if you gave yourself more credit? How would things be different? How might you see yourself? What might you have the courage to do? Who might you have the confidence to approach? What rooms would you be willing to walk into? What clients would you have the gall to pitch? It's taken me years to learn this life-changing lesson: Just because an accomplishment has become your norm, doesn't make it normal. Just because y

I don't know about you, but I've never gotten really good at something without a ton of practice. And yet, when we get caught up in our perfectionism, we rob ourselves of the valuable practice that would make whatever we're contemplating, well, perfect. When we don't put ourselves out there, we miss out on the practice of sharing our ideas clearly having sales conversations powerfully articulating our value improving our timing and presence understanding what our audience wants getting comfortable doing uncomfortable things. Best-selling books don't magically appear. They take weeks, months, and sometimes even years of writing, refining and marketing before they reach that status. World-class speakers all typically have a speaking horror story or two in their back pocket. Even when you look at the best podcasters and Youtubers who garner millions of downloads and views, most started with bad lighting, unprofessional audio. But they were up to the task of practicing to become the best version of th

You don't need a perfect blueprint to lay the first stone. And yet, as high achievers, many of us would rather wait until we have the most failproof plans before taking the smallest action. But action, no matter how imperfect, will refine even our best plans. I learned this (again) recently when I decided to make a pivot. I went from hosting a one-day virtual event to hosting a one-month evening intensive after thinking through the needs of my academy alumni. But in this mindful pivot, I uncovered how I could feed two birds with one seed and my new book - The Brand with Purpose Planner - was born! So in this case, taking imperfect action not only led me to a BETTER course of action, but it also created the residual effect of giving me the impetus to produce a book product that has been on my brand vision board list for years! Talk about a serious ROI on taking imperfect action. What have you been smothering with the expectations of perfection?  What ideas have you let simmer and go cold on the back bu

If you're anything like me, you've probably had a zillion ideas that somehow 'magically' dropped into your spirit - things you somehow knew you were supposed to be doing, or chances you new you were supposed to be taking, but you couldn't explain how you knew exactly what you knew. You may call it intuition, your inner knowing, God or the Holy Spirit. Whatever you call it, you know when you've gotten a direct download. But acting on those downloads is another thing all together.  I've received clear downloads for years, but I haven't always been obedient about taking them and acting on them. But last year when I decided to be obedient to one specific download, I realized that all along, my obedience had been the key to unlock a level I didn't even know was there! My obedience produced the missing puzzle piece to a specific goal that had eluded me for years. To experiment with this concept, ask yourself: Have you ever acted on a big goal even though you were terrified, and been surprised by the results?

It's The Fifth and Final Day of the Brand with Purpose Challenge! You can find Day One of the challenge, here and Day Two of the challenge here, and Day Three of the challenge here and Day Four of the challenge here. Today, we're going to take everything we brainstormed and wrote down in the challenge workbook and use it to map out the month by month calendar for next year. I've asked you what you will make it a priority to create next year. If you've decided to write your book or launch your conference, now ask yourself when. When is your launch date? When will the event be? I've asked you what type of visibility you'll go after - from media and podcast interviews to speaking. When will you go after it? I've asked you what program or service it's time for you to launch. When will you launch that new program or double down on the old? The key word of today is WHEN. It's one thing to brainstorm something new to create or launch, but when we don't take the time to decide when exactly it will happen, it's

It's Day Four of the Brand with Purpose Challenge! You can find Day One of the challenge, here and Day Two of the challenge here, and Day Three of the challenge here. Today we're going to think through what we need to launch in the coming year to increase our revenue. What program or service is it time for you to launch? What is your existing audience begging you to bring forth? What have people asked for your help with this year? Does it make sense to create a course or strategy session around it so you can offer it to your wider audience? If you know you want to make an income leap next year, you can definitely wing it and still earn more, but you probably won't hit your goal revenue or income number if you don't plan. What $$$ number do you want to reach? What's your plan to reach it? Whether you're full-time in your business or still report to a 9-5, there are ways to create a revenue stream based on your expertise. You just have to find one that fits your style and schedule.  But when you think

It's Day Three of the Brand with Purpose  Challenge! You can find Day One of the challenge, here and Day Two of the challenge here. Today we're going to focus on what we need to promote in the coming year to increase our visibility. What vehicles are you using to promote yourself next year? What times of the year will you be reaching out to media? What conferences and events will you apply to speak? As you've heard me say before, your expertise is likely more relevant at some parts of the year than others. For people in the coaching and transformation space, the New Year is one of the very best times of year to make a splash in the media, or to get people excited about our content. But for those in the financial space, April around tax time in the U.S. is a strong time to have one's expertise considered for potential speaking engagements and media segments. It's all about understanding your audience and when they'll be most interested hearing from you. When will they most need the ideas and strategies

It's Day Two of the Brand with Purpose challenge! If you missed Day One of the challenge, listen to that episode here. Today we're going to focus on what we need to create in the coming year to optimize our personal brand platforms. What you are going to add to your platform? What can you evolve?  To give you some examples from my own brand platform, in 2016 I launched the first iteration of Package Your Genius Academy group program, and it has become an anchor program in my business. But in 2014, I launched an information product called The Branding Box that paved the way for Package Your Genius Academy and formed the basis of the curriculum I would eventually teach. More recently, in 2018 I published the book Package Your Genius: 5 Steps to Build Your Most Powerful Personal Brand. The book has also become a pivotal piece of my brand platform as it has helped me reach new students for the academy, and attracted new paid speaking invitations. The point is, you don't want to create for creation's sake:

I’ve done some fun daily challenges on my podcast this year - in June and October I podcasted every day of the month.   As we approach a new year and decade, I wanted to do another daily challenge, but I wanted to do it with you.  For this podcast challenge, I’ve carved out time for us to work together over 5 days to accomplish one big goal: map out our plan for 2020. Welcome to the 5 day Brand With Purpose Challenge! Eek!  I’m so excited! The mission of Brand with Purpose is simple: it’s a chance to be intentional about how we approach our platform, visibility and revenue in 2020.  No more winging it and hoping for the best.   Here’s a little preview of what’s in store over the next five days: Day One: We're kicking off the challenge by looking back. Where have you been winning in 2019? Where can you build on that momentum in the coming year? Day Two: Next, we’ll put a heightened focus on what you are going to do to add to or evolve your brand platform. Is it time to launch a program or write your

There is a simple mistake I see often with my personal branding clients, and those who are setting out to package their genius. I've even made this mistake myself. When it's time to finally get paid from our genius, we often start with the question "what can I sell?" instead of thinking in terms of what our potential customers need from us. While so many people start the brainstorming process here, there's a far more customer-centric way to begin brainstorming products and services that will sell easily. This simple shift is an easy fix, let me know if you're asking this question when you begin to brainstorm your next program.

During a series of enrollment calls with potential students for my most recent cohort of Package Your Genius Academy, I heard a refrain I hear so often when speaking with people who are considering making the investment of time and financial resources.  "Maybe this can wait..." For reasons that differ for everyone, putting ourselves first is often the last thing we think to do. Putting our own needs and pursuit of our own personal fulfillment comes in dead last after immediate work obligations, the needs of our family members, and for some, the demands of church and community.  But time waits for no man. And while I think most of us grasp the fact that no one has "all the time in the world..." we often forget that our prime won't last forever. We won't always have the energy, the network, the health, the free time, the money....the list goes on and on, to do what we want to do now. So how are you taking advantage of your current season? If there's something you've been meaning to do, and you have the ti

This is a replay of my personal branding MasterClass Becoming KNOWN - The 5 Essential Shifts to Unlock Your Personal Brand Authority. When it comes to building your personal brand, at a certain point it becomes less about your skills and talents, and more about your comfort with putting them out there. If you've worked in your industry for a decade or more, you're likely skilled beyond question.  You need a new set of skills to shift how others perceive you. You need a new strategy to step into your worth, and communicate that confidently to others.  You need to step into your BRAND AUTHORITY. And this doesn't come naturally to everyone. If you... have been perpetually on the fence about starting a side hustle or otherwise earning extra income from your skills know you aren't earning all you could at your current level of experience and expertise have spent your career in the background and struggle stepping into the spotlight have had several brilliant ideas for businesses, books, non-profits or cr

When it comes to building your personal brand, at a certain point it becomes less about your skills and talents, and more about your comfort with putting them out there. If you've worked in your industry for a decade or more, you're likely skilled beyond question.  You need a new set of skills to shift how others perceive you. You need a new strategy to step into your worth, and communicate that confidently to others.  You need to step into your BRAND AUTHORITY. And this doesn't come naturally to everyone. If you... have been perpetually on the fence about starting a side hustle or otherwise earning extra income from your skills know you aren't earning all you could at your current level of experience and expertise have spent your career in the background and struggle stepping into the spotlight have had several brilliant ideas for businesses, books, non-profits or creative projects in the past but haven't brought yourself to pull the trigger would like to step into your power and to rise to the sta

Today marks the official end of my September podcast every day during the month challenge.  And can I tell you a secret? I failed...spectacularly! I missed six full days of the challenge, and since this is my second daily challenge for the year, I technically failed in comparison to the challenge I completed in June.  But even though I missed six days of the challenge, I still came out ahead in terms of listener engagement, downloads and growth as a podcast host. Score! Which made me think about the way we sometimes label our efforts a failure if we aren't able to meet a very specific goal. But if we set a big goal that we plan to reach over time, if we move toward that goal but don't reach the goal we set, we still likely made significant process, and there's no reason to give up the goal all together. Progress is winning. If you have big goals for this year, the final quarter of the year is upon us! It's the final week to submit your application for the fall cohort of Package Your Genius Academy. Ou