Show notes
When I started this podcast, it was because I saw the need to have a personal brand to really have a successful online business. As more and more people flooded. The online space, which we're going to see in a massive way over the next few months, is all of these people at home have time to finally build that business they've been dreaming of. [00:00:20] It's going to be more important than ever. To have a personal brand to set yourself apart from everyone else who isn't doing that. So I definitely think that that's important. But since starting this podcast, I've realized that you don't just need a personal brand. In fact, there are two other critical elements that you absolutely have to have in order to have a thriving business, and I am going to share them with you today in this podcast. [00:00:52] [00:01:07] the reason having a personal brand is so vital to growing a business is because we all connect with other people more deeply than we will ever connect with some random brand. And I use the example of Apple all the time because I am totally an Apple fan girl. I've got the iPhone and iPad, I've got the a MacBook pro. [00:01:28] I love Apple products. I will stick with them because I just, I, I do. I adore them. Been great for me. Making the switch was scary years ago and I have never regretted it despite the fact that they're crazy expensive. So. I love Apple, but I will never ever connect with Apple in the same way that I would connect with you if I got to know you as a person. [00:01:53] And as more and more people come into your market space, your market space, there's a good term, your marketplace or your niche, whatever you want to call it, you get the idea as they come into your industry. And began selling products to the same people that you're trying to sell products to. The easiest way for you to stand apart is to have a personal brand and to really let people get to know who you are as a person and a lot of season one talked about how to do that, how to build those connections, how do you story to do that? [00:02:30] And I absolutely think that's still important. And I have. Even more ideas on that that I will share throughout this season, but it's not the only thing you need. I used to think that that was the big differentiator, but since then, over the last few months, I've realized that there's two other key things that you need to have, including your personal brand is one of them, like along with your personal brand. [00:02:56] That are going to help you have a thriving online business and without these things, it's really going to be hard to grow the business that you really want to have. Like there really isn't a lot of set it and forget it. Passive income stuff anymore. Like, yes, I know some people make a bunch of money with display ads and whatever else. [00:03:16] But it all still takes work. It's not really passive. And so the businesses that I see thriving and what I see working in my own business, at least up until the craziness that's happened and what I, although I do believe that this is going to help me make it through, is that not only do I have the personal brand in my industry, but the second thing I have. [00:03:38] Is a system or a method that is specific to how I teach people, and that is different from what other people are teaching in my industry. So no matter what you wanted to, you know, for me, I teach photographers how to do photo shoots using story because I'm teaching personal brand photography. That's kind of my niche. [00:03:59] And within personal brand photography, we need to be able to capture stories. Your stories. In an image so that people who are your ideal clients see the image stop in their tracks and want to read the description and get to know you more. They see something in that image that they can connect with and say, Oh, that's me. [00:04:20] Like maybe they see a kid crawling all over you as you're working in front of the computer trying to grow your online business, whatever it is. You make that connection in an image and that image tells a story and captures their attention and then you can, it's basically what stops them in their tracks and gets them to pay attention to you. [00:04:41] And attention is everything in marketing. If we can't capture people's attention, our marketing falls flat. And so I teach people how to do that using story. So I have a system, a method called the story session system, and a lot of what I teach in there goes against. What typical photographers have done in the past. [00:04:59] It goes against what a lot of people in my industry had been teaching as best practices. and it, well, the old best practices, they're all outdated anyways. Like if you wanna Mark your images before giving them to a client to use online that you can't, nobody wants to use an image to promote their business with somebody else's watermark on it. [00:05:17] Like your job is to, our job as photographers is to help you grow your business. Not. To use your platform to market ours. Right? So the logo thing, that's, that's one thing, but there's like different crediting issues and like, editing, letting people edit their photos. And there's, there's like five big things that I teach that they can't do anymore that sets me apart. [00:05:38] And then I have this whole step by step system. It's more of a system than a course that helps them implement these things into their business so that they can work with you to help figure out what stories. Actually, we'll connect with your people, which stories we'll build that know, like and trust factor so that people do want to go deeper. [00:05:55] What will stop people in their tracks who are a perfect fit for you so that you can grab their attention and serve them in some way so they want to keep coming back to you. This is what I teach people in my story sessions system, and it is a system. It's literally a step-by-step checklist that people have used in my industry to get results. [00:06:16] So I've got my personal brand number one, and I've got a system that is unique to me and has a name. So, you should have a personal brand. Obviously if you don't have a system and you just giving regular information, you're going to have a really hard time standing out cause there's a lot of free information out there that's not organized into a nice step by step system. [00:06:36] There's something about having a system or a framework or a method or some sort of. Organized structured piece that's named, that's not your name. So like mine's the story session system. So I'm Jamie, I'm Swanson who teaches the story session system, who teaches the story session system. And then the third part of this, so personal brand method or system. [00:07:00] The third part. Is the movement. It's the lifestyle, the thing that they want to have, the thing they inspire to be. Okay. So for me, it's a successful personal brand photographer. Personal brand photography is my movement. The story session system is how I help my people become personal brand photographers and my personal. [00:07:21] Brand is how I connect with people. Now, the beauty of all these things is that they all play together in your entire strategy. So when you're thinking about what you should share on social media, one, I think you should be sharing stories pretty much all the time because I think it's one of the best ways to grow your personal brand, but it should either be helping grow your personal brand or. [00:07:44] Bring awareness to your system and build desire for your system or be building the culture of your movement and helping people know what it means to be. A successful personal brand photographer or whatever it is. So that's the culture piece. That movement is building the culture. So for me, I want a culture of action takers, like I want people to take action because I know successful people take action. [00:08:09] I talked about this a couple podcasts ago. Taking action is key to getting results and being a successful personal brand photographer. I also want a culture of positivity and people who. Don't play the victim card. You know what I'm talking about? You know, you always see those people who are like, Oh, well, that'll never work in my industry, or, Oh, nobody wants that right now. [00:08:33] And they have all of these limiting beliefs and excuses that are there so that they can sit in their fear instead of taking action. Because if they really believe it's not going to work and they never take action and they never try, well then they can't fail, right? So they can just say, Oh, well, but I'm mad, but I don't. [00:08:50] People who can't get over those excuses. People who just live in that fear and that limiting belief and don't try, don't even try something like, they know why it's not going to work for them. We all know those people don't, they just drive you crazy. You try and give them advice and they're like, yeah, but yeah, but yeah, but you know, and so it's those. [00:09:11] Yeah, but people. That's a really funny thing to say. I hope you're laughing at me, but it says, yeah, but people that I don't want to have in my movement because my people are action takers and my people have confidence and hope and positivity and are like, huh. Instead of, yeah, but they're like, how can I do it? [00:09:30] Despite. This like, okay, that's there. Maybe I live in a rural area and it's three hours to the nearest Metro area. How can I grow a profitable personal brand photography business despite the fact that I live three hours away from a Metro area or whatever it is. And so, there's a lot of culture pieces in there. [00:09:50] And we'll talk more about culture and building a movement. I talked about it some last season, but when you start to see these three things and how they play together as a framework, it starts to make your business come alive. Like you can build strategies around this framework. So, you know. Your naming becomes more clear because you've got a personal brand name, you've got a system or a method name, and then you've got a movement name or something that they inspire to be. [00:10:16] And so you've got multiple pieces to your brand and your naming that people can use. You can build hashtags for your culture. that's, you know, where that would fit. You can do swag and merchandise and things for people to like. Where and adopt as part of, you know, the movement piece. People can feel connected to a movement and being part of a movement, you know, without having to know you personally like they can, they can rise up and help grow that movement when you've defined the culture really well. [00:10:46] I know this isn't super clear right now that I'm kind of, I feel like, as I'm describing this, I have a lot of messaging to clarify yet. This is kind of a new thing for me. It was, like I said, just came out like yesterday, maybe the day before as I was talking to my buddy Levi about this. but I really feel like these three pieces are absolutely key. [00:11:05] To growing a successful business. And that when you put them, like when you think about your business in these three facets, that everything is going to start to come together because the culture should know about the system and should build the desire for the system. So like for me, I want the one K weekend challenge to be a massive part of my movement. [00:11:25] In fact, I want any single person coming into my group to have heard about it from somebody else in the group. Or have heard about it before they even join the group and do it. Like I want every single person in my group to have done the one K we can challenge or to tell somebody to do it. Like I don't want anyone coming in who doesn't know about it because it's that ingrained into the culture. [00:11:46] So as I'm thinking about the content I want to create for my group and my movement, I'm thinking about how I can promote the one K we can challenge them. To get people to do it and to want to do that and to feature the people who are doing it, to give them status, to raise them up in the movement and give them a place there and inspire them to be leaders within the movement. [00:12:08] Right. I also am thinking about how I can use that challenge in that, you know, to get people into my story sessions system and to build desire for that because it leads into it very clearly. There's a . ClearPath that I explained back in season one. but yeah, the movement will help. Grow the system and the income, and I get to, as the personal brand be kind of the figurehead that people connect with, that helps build that culture, that helps support that system and promote that system. [00:12:40] And though we all kind of promote each other, you know, like I can, I can promote my system. And when people hear about the system, they learn about who I am, they learn about what the culture is. It's kind of this three way like. Beautiful synergistic system. Gosh, I need better words for this. You guys are getting the raw raw messaging right here. [00:13:02] It needs work. Isn't that funny? I'm sitting here podcasting, just flying off the top of my. Cuff. Dang it. I mix up my metaphors too, off the cuff. That's the metaphor you get in the off the cuff first version of this, but it has helped me clarify how I'm going to be moving forward with my business. It's helped me see, Oh. [00:13:23] Okay. These are how all the moving pieces work and everything else will fit within this framework. And I need all three pieces. If I don't have a system or a method, and I just teach random tactics, well they might as well go to YouTube and learn it there. It's get some free blog posts or something because it doesn't differentiate my system from what everyone else is teaching. [00:13:46] So why wouldn't they just go to someone else? Right. And yeah, they need to know who I am because they connect with me more than they're going to connect with my random system name. And then this personal brand photography movement, it taps into their desires. It's, it's an identity piece. It's who they want to be. [00:14:04] And Oh man, I've got thoughts about identity that will come out. But as you're growing and as you're moving forward and as you are trying to grow your online business and grow your personal brand, think about, okay. What is the system or the method or something that's specific to you that you're teaching some sort of framework. [00:14:24] Stu McLaren calls it a success path. You know, what is that that you can teach that's different that you can give a name to? Because for whatever reason, when we give a name to something, it seems more important or special, right? What can you do that's specific to you that has a system name or method or whatever. [00:14:43] And then how does that help grow your movement? How does that help your people adopt the identity that they really want to have and become the kind of person they want to be? How do they become your ideal avatar, you know, and then how can you be the leader and guide them through this process and into this movement? [00:15:04] And inspire them to take action and become the kind of person that you know they can be. How can you help encourage them and inspire them to take the actions that are going to set them up for the success they want to have? And that's exciting to me. So that's the raw firs…
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