13 reasons why you should build a personal brand online:

Author

Andy Mewborn
February 20, 2023

Good afternoon to everyone who is forever loyal to that one password they chose at 12 years old ☀️

"#1 Newsletter of the Year" 🏆️ -Andy’s Wife

😱 ANDY REACTS

Amigos, Mark Zuckerberg has announced a new subscription service for Instagram and Facebook that will allow users to purchase blue badges that mark them as verified. That's right, for a small fee, you can now pretend to be famous!

I mean, it's a pretty strange concept, right? Verification used to be about ensuring that a user was who they said they were. But now, it's all about flaunting your social media status. It's like wearing a name tag to a party, except the name tag is blue and costs you money.

And let's be honest, this subscription service is really just a way for Instagram and Facebook to make more money. They're cashing in on people's desire for validation and social media clout. It's like a virtual pyramid scheme, except instead of selling makeup or protein shakes, you're selling the idea that you're more important than you actually are.

But the real question is, what do you get out of being verified? A blue badge might make you feel special, but it doesn't actually change who you are. You're still the same person with the same life experiences, the same flaws, and the same sense of humor. And at the end of the day, those are the things that really matter.

So, if you're feeling left out because you don't have a blue badge, don't worry. You're not alone. Just remember that social media is just a tiny part of who you are, and your worth as a human being is not determined by your follower count or your blue badge status. As for me, well, I'm just a dude named Andy, so I don't really have a say in the matter. But hey, at least I have y’all 😘

☠️ ANDY’S DEADLY DOODLES

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💀 Issue #89 💀

13 reasons why you should build a personal brand online:

Give me 2 minutes, and I’ll teach you 13 reasons why you should build a personal brand online:

1/ Personal branding has always been unappreciated as a mechanism to drive:

• Career growth

• Business growth

• And everything in between

It's a spoken secret to success in the digital age.

Here's why...

2/ Personal branding improves your skills.

And it gives you a platform to:

• Share your thoughts

• Share your ideas

• Share your opinions

• Condense your ideas

• Provide value at scale

Here’s what I mean:

3/ When I started writing online it took me 3 hours to write 1 post.

A few years later I can write 10 pieces of content in 1 hour.

Now here’s where it gets interesting:

4/ Personal branding cascades into other parts of your professional life.

Your ideas can now be clearly communicated:

• On stage

• The boardroom

• When pitching a client

And there’s a hugely important lesson here...

5/ When people think of personal branding they think of it as a popularity contest.

But the reality?

It's a personal development pursuit.

This is the part people don't talk about.

So... what can we learn?

6/ Business is about buying from other people.

You know how the old saying goes:

"People buy from people"

And...

The other psychological factor that's in play with personal branding is the idea of social proofing.

Here's what I mean:

7/ Personal branding allows people to clap for you in the digital world with likes, comments, and shares.

The world and conversation is revolving around YOU.

There's social validation that's reinforcing to the reader that you know what you're talking about.

Let's dig in..

8/ People are wrong to look at personal branding as a popularity contest.

You should be looking at it as:

• A social proofing validation

• A reputation-building exercise

And here's where it gets fun:

9/ Social media platforms have made reputation scalable.

Once upon a time the only platforms to extend your voice were owned by big businesses.

You had to get in the newspaper.

You had to get on radio.

And now we have this democratized media platform.

Here's what I mean...

10/ We are all publishers.

Whether we want to admit it or not.

And every person reading this has a personal brand even if they think they don't.

0 followers ≠ 0 personal brand.

Let's dig in:

11/ Your LinkedIn page is a personal brand.

The way you conduct yourself on Instagram, your Facebook page, on Twitter is all part of your digital reputation.

That's what personal branding is...

Digital Reputation.

And here's the funny part:

12/ If I asked you how important reputation as you would tell me it's incredibly important for:

• Personal relationships

• Business relationships

• Sales

You'd say it was everything because people buy from people.

And there’s a hugely important lesson here:

13/ Personal branding is digital reputation.

One that you have control over.

One that you can curate.

One that you can design.

And...

One that you can scale to millions of people.

Now, you can apply this mindset to any platform.

It doesn't matter if it's Twitter, LinkedIn, or TikTok.

It's all about being able to scale your reputation online.

So from here, it's time to stop reading and start building.

But knowing how to get started can be overwhelming too.

Here's the ONE thing that helped me stay consistent over 2+ years:

👉 GIVE YOURSELF PERMISSION TO CREATE JUNK

Now...

Onward to building my friends!

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That’s a wrap for today amigos. Eat your tacos and see you tomorrow! If you want more, be sure to follow me on Twitter (@andymewborn) or LinkedIn.

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Alright alright alright the doodles are my fav