You have been lied to.

You have been taken advantage of.

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The sad part about this is, that personal branding gurus, don’t even know they are doing something wrong.

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Heck, even I used to advocate for personal branding.

But the personal branding cult is going in a direction that I definitely don’t like.

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They are probably telling you to do things that won’t yield solid results in the long run either.

I don’t want them to take advantage of you.
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And that’s why in this issue, I’m going to spill the beans about the so-called ‘gurus’ and what can you do to steer clear of their way.
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First, let’s look at the origins of personal branding.

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In 1997, the founder of Skunkworks, Tom Peters wrote an article for FastCompany’s print magazine. The article was called: ‘The Brand Called You’.

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This was probably the first mention of personal branding. And the solution Tom provides is to basically ‘Be different’ from your competitors.

Sure, that might have worked in 1997 and early 2000s. But in 2022 and beyond, there’s way too much noise on the internet. (Try searching for ‘personal branding’ on Instagram and you’ll get a whopping 1.7 million search results!)

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But Areeb, personal branding is a good thing. It allows you to stand out in a sea of noise.

Does it, though?

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Let’s look at 3 major ways personal branding gurus are taking advantage of you:

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1. Gurus make it about metrics and hacks:

If you’ve been on the social for a while. You have seen gurus talking about hacks and vanity metrics.

• ‘How to double your views in 7 days’
• ‘How to make 60 pieces of content from 1 podcast’
• ‘How to triple your followers through your sob story’ (okay I went too far I guess)

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Metrics and tactical stuff are important. But there’s a thin line between creating content for marketing v/s and creating content for the sake of metrics only.

What happened to mastering skills, and getting better at your craft?

Oh hell no! ‘Just document your journey’ and you will be on your way.

What if no one’s learning from your journey?

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It scares me to think that an entire generation is growing up being obsessed with ‘getting attention’ as opposed to creating something worthy of attention.

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2. Gurus have forgotten your struggles:

You might have seen Mega Influencers like GaryVee posting: ‘Culture is Everything’ and getting 20K likes.

I know, it’s crazy. You start thinking: ‘If this can get likes, why am I not getting likes on my content?’

It’s simple.

They already have a massive following. And you don’t.

Also, when 10 people see 19990 likes on a post, it triggers a part of the brain which tells them to just hit the like because why would 19990 people blindly like a post?

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It’s easy for them to say ‘Just be creative’, ‘Hustle’, or ‘Be different’. But, how will you differentiate?

And not just the way your content looks. But how do you differentiate your thoughts and actions?

They rarely talk about the stuff that matters, because they have forgotten what it was like to be a beginner.

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3. Gurus assume you have domain mastery:

A lot of gurus say that Elon Musk has double the followers of Tesla because he’s a personal brand. Similarly, Bill Gates has double the number of followers on Microsoft’s social handles.

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But they obviously forgot that Elon, Bill and many others who are leaders right now, worked hard at their craft.

They solved problems of the world and as a result of that, they have accumulated a massive following.

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Gurus think it’s the other way round. You build a following and they appreciate you for that.

Nope. I believe you work on your craft, solve problems, share solutions on the internet, and you will gain followers as a by-product.

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All right enough with the rant, let’s talk about the real solutions now:

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• Build skills and continuously work at your craft:
  • Yup. You actually need skills to thrive in any career.
  • The likes and follows won’t get you far if you don’t have real skills.
• Get Clarity:
  • Why do you want to create content?
  • Do you want to sell courses?
  • Generate leads?
  • Build an audience?
  • Or do you just want to network?
  • The strategy is going to be different for different goals.
• Focus on one platform:
  • Choose LinkedIn/YouTube/Twitter or Instagram.
  • But choose one and go all in.
  • Give one platform at least 6 months before you decide to diversify.
  • Most of the gurus you know started with one (max 2) platform and later diversified.
• Experiment with different formats:
  • ‘Bro, only reels and shorts are working and they are the future’.
  • Yeah, they are working, but what does your audience want?
  • Maybe they want carousels, maybe they want long-form videos.
  • But you’d never know if you don’t experiment with the formats.
• Take a stand:
  • ‘If you don’t take a stand for something, you will fall for anything’.
  • Do you strongly believe in Crypto? Say it out loud.
  • Do you strongly believe in Mental Health? Say it out loud.
  • Do you strongly believe in dancing on reels? Shut up and unsubscribe asap.
  • Okay but jokes apart, take a stand but also justify your opinion with proof or logic.
  • Notice how I titled this issue (How Personal Branding Gurus Are Taking Advantage Of You) and then explained the logic behind it?

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So, to summarise:

1. Build skills
2. Get Clarity
3. Focus on one platform
4. Experiment
5. Take a stand

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Once you start following these steps, I am confident you will stand out and not just for the sake of it.

But standing out by providing a solution that truly stands out.

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I love reading your emails and I’m trying to improve my newsletter for you.

What’s one thing you would change in today’s issue to make it better?

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I’ll be making a YouTube video (in Hindi this time) here on my channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/areebirshad

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Have a great weekend!

Areeb

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