Your Personal Brand Is Your Key To Financial Freedom.

The Solopreneurship Buzz!

Solopreneurship is the new buzzword that everyone on the interwebs is obsessing about. But what exactly is it? It is a new movement where people are ditching the traditional way of running a business for a more simplified approach where the business is run by one person upon which the day-to-day rests. Think about the most popular companies and businesses we know today, the large corporations with thousands of employees. Solopreneurship is the opposite of that. One person, one product.

Below is the trend report for solopreneurship over the last five years — 2021 was a breakout year and it’s only been on the rise since then.

The importance of a personal brand in the online space.

But in order to succeed online as a solopreneur and to earn a considerable amount of money online, you’ll need one thing — a strong personal brand. You can’t can’t just show up one day and expect people to buy whatever you’re peddling.

Your personal brand endears people to you, it builds trust between you and your audience. It’s what separates Tesla from Ford — The Elon Musk effect. Of course, Tesla is a great brand, they’re at the cutting edge of modern technology, but a lot of people buy Tesla because they want to be associated with Elon Musk. I mean the guy is spending his evenings bantering with people on X (formerly Twitter). They know him, they like him, they trust him. That is the power of personal brand.

How can you earn through a personal brand?

Take a guy like Justin Welsh for example. Justin used to work in corporate America, leading teams and living the dream in the corporate world. Justin burned out and decided to build his personal brand online. Through writing online on Twitter and LinkedIn, he has been able to amass a following of almost 1M.

His content gets seen millions of times a month, he grew his email list to over 175k at the time of writing this and has made over $3 million since 2021.

These numbers are insane when you think about it. What’s even more insane is that he was able to achieve all of these as a one-person business — a solopreneur.

The real business of brand identity building

Step 1: Define Your Brand Identity

It is important to have a clear and unique brand identity. This is what people think about when your name comes up. For example, when I think about Elon Musk, I think about Technology, Space, Autonomous driving, and Mars. When I think about Justin Welsh, what comes to mind is solopreneurship, online monetization, finding your voice, and writing online. These are the things that they’ve infused into their identity, things that differentiate them from everybody else.

I talk about building a brand online and monetizing through digital products — similar to what Justin Welsh does, but I also love Table Tennis, I was a national champion in 2013, and my favorite soccer team is Manchester United, I like to talk about travel, I listen to country music and I’m a Christian. These are the little pieces of information that make me ME.

Your brand identity is going to be different from everybody else’s. That’s what you need to figure out, put it front and center of everything you do, say and wherever you show up online.

Defining your brand values

Defining your brand starts with looking inwards and having a deep understanding of your core values, they are the fundamental beliefs and principles that drive and guide your actions on a day-to-day basis. They are your behaviors and decisions.

Your values are the essence of your brand’s identity, they serve as a compass that keeps your brand consistent, authentic, and aligned to the true north of what it stands for. It is important to identify and articulate your values as clearly as possible, as they will inform every aspect of your brand, from your content and how you interact online to your products and services, ensuring alignment with what you believe in and stand for.

Reflect on what matters most to you, what you are passionate about, and what you want your brand to represent, and let these reflections shape your brand values.

Quick Brand Identity Exercise:

Identify Core Values:

Quickly write down 3 values that are most important to you in your work and life, e.g., creativity, integrity, community.

Create a Mission Statement:

Answer briefly: What do you do, for whom, and why? Combine these to form a concise mission statement reflecting your purpose and value.

Develop a Vision Statement:

Visualize and note down: What long-term impact do you want to make? Synthesize this into a compelling, brief vision statement.

Refine:

Review and refine your values, mission, and vision to be clear and aligned, ensuring they accurately represent your brand’s essence.

Outcome:

You’ll have a succinct set of core values, a clear mission, and an inspiring vision to guide your brand. Keep them handy and use them as your brand’s compass.

Step 2: Create Consistent and Valuable Content

Show up consistently

Consistency is the backbone of any resilient brand online. You can’t just show up whenever you like. The internet is like land and the content is the house or building you build on top of it. You need to build a solid foundation and then add the other components that make a solid structure. You can’t add a floor today and then wait another week or month to attach the windows then the doors, then the roof. It will fall apart. You need to commit to showing up daily and creating the best content possible for the longest time.

This is your life now, this is your job, treat it like one.

By showing up consistently, you’re saying to your audience that they can rely on you, that they can count on you, that you are a person of your word and that you follow through on whatever you say you will do. This in turn earns you trust, and loyalty and helps you build a tribe of fans who will show up for you whenever you need them to.

Create value through your content

Your content is your number one priority, and it’s one thing to show up consistently, another important thing is to create valuable content that helps your audience solve their problems. you don’t need to come up with a million how-to videos, no, that’s not the point, every one of your content should have a purpose. Before you put it out, ask yourself, what does this do for my audience?

A book I recommend to everyone is Show Your Work by Austin Kleon. In this book, Austin talks about the importance of documenting your work. Documenting is the thousands of processes between nothing and the finished product. There is Painting the Noun and Painting Verb. Your audience is interested in your process as much as your finished product. bring them behind the scenes. Inspire them.

A lot of people are stuck in limbo because they think they have to show up as an expert. you don’t have to. You only need to be one step ahead of your audience on their journey to bring value to them.

Step 3: Engage and Build Relationships with Your Audience

When you’re just starting out, you’re creating for no one. This lack of feedback can be a dangerous place to be in. You want people to engage with your stuff but you’re engaging with anyone. That’s selfish.

Go on other people’s pages and leave a thoughtful comment. if you receive one comment, don’t let it rot there, respond to it. You give what you get. The universe will reward you according to what you give. Don’t scorn at your 5 views or 2 likes. It’s okay if nobody is seeing your content now. If it’s good enough and you stick around long enough, they will eventually.

The most important advice here is not to quit too early.

Step 4: Monetize Your Brand

There are countless ways to monetize your brand online. The 3 major ways are — products, services, and sponsorships.

You can choose to sell digital or physical products, but as an online solopreneur, digital products are the easiest way to capitalize on your brand value. Packaging some knowledge that you have into a digital product is a good way to start. Start by solving your own problems then share your solutions publicly with the world.

You can sell online courses or if you prefer to deliver information in a group setting, then creating a membership community will be the right monetization strategy.

For example, I launched a private membership community — Digital Mastery — to help any aspiring online entrepreneur make their first $1,000 online by building a brand online and monetizing it. This works for me because I believe my message is best passed across in a group setting.

Choose what works for you and don’t look back. You can always change your strategy in the future.

Final thoughts.

For anyone who aspires to create an income source online, building a strong brand is the most assured way to do it. Show up every day, be yourself, deliver value, share your process and if you do it long enough, you will build an army of raving fans who will buy from you.

The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The next best time is now. Start defining your brand identity and exploring monetization opportunities online starting today.

If you enjoyed this post, then you’ll enjoy the other ones I've written about the same subject of brand building and online monetization.

Please engage in the comments. I'd like to hear your thoughts and feedback.

Daniel.