Claire Bahn: You Can't Hide From Your Personal Brand Anymore

Claire Bahn is a personal brand strategist and the CEO and Co-Founder of Claire Bahn Group. She has been helping high achieving entrepreneurs, investors, founders, and executives create their best personal brand for over 10 years. Today we cover the following topics:

How a great personal brand is a foundation for a successful career.

Why you can't hide from your personal brand anymore.

How entrepreneurs and SMBs can boost revenue by showcasing their subject expertise and leveraging their authority.

Why ignoring your personal brand can negatively affect your ROI.

SHOW NOTES:

Claire Bahn Group

Wondering how your own personal brand looks? Take a quiz to find out your rating!

https://clairebahn.com/

She recently launched a Free Personal Branding Masterclass: https://clairebahn.com/personal-branding-masterclass

Transcript:

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

people, personal brand, linkedin, brand, biggest, literally, claire, clients, business, talking, tok, investor, work, website, instagram, company, michael, content, aaron, year

00:01

Hi everyone, I'm Erin master Pietro joined alongside Michael Benatar. And this is the call me crazy Podcast, where we interview inspiring leaders like today's guest, Claire bond, who is the CEO and co founder of the Claire bond group. She's a personal branding strategist, she has been helping entrepreneurs, investors, like you in our audience for over 10 years help grow their personal brand. And we're really excited to talk about that today. So Claire, welcome to our show. Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to be here. So this is something I've been bringing up to Aaron a lot. I'm trying to work on my personal brand. So I was really excited to have you on because this is something we've been trying to do a little more. We do know, it's important, not always easy. How did you get into this first, and then we can kind of like dive into like me asking you a lot of questions and how to get my personal brand better. Um, well, interestingly, I mean, I have a background in marketing and events, working in New York City. And I decided I really, I always wanted to be an actress, I always had that drive in me. And I said, You know what, I'm in New York, and I need to give it a give it a go. So I did and what I lacked an experience I had in marketing experience. So I knew, especially for commercials and print modeling that I was, would be able to really kind of define my brand, because that's really important. When the casting director gets your headshot, they could say, Oh, this person is great for this role, or whatever. So from there I was, you know, booking national commercials and things like that. I started branding, actors, other actors. And then about 10 years ago, I started a company called online profile pros. And we help people basically brand people for online dating and LinkedIn. So we help people you are looking for a job we can get you, you know, new headshot,

01:48

resume and your LinkedIn profile. If you're online dating, we help you with, again, a profile, your written profile, and your photo. And we also have dating coaching. So that from there I was, you know, I was going out talking about it all the time, I was working on getting funding, I was up in San Francisco, and I was speaking with Jason Calacanis, who's a pretty well known angel investor. Yeah. And essentially on his podcast, he came up with the idea. Literally, that is how clear bond branding and everything he's like, you know what you need to to brand high net worth individuals. Like what he's like, yeah, you need to like up level it. And, and that's what you need to do. Because that's essentially what you're doing on the lower level, but you need to like step up your game. For all of these, you know, executives and people like that. That's essentially how it started. And literally, from that, podcasts, I had people talking to me setting up public consultation, saying, Hey, we want to work with you. And I'm like, I don't even have like a plan in place.

02:51

Bring some insight. It's almost as good as what year what year was that? Because I feel like you were so ahead of your time back in 2010. Because I even then, like online dating wasn't like a, I guess I think it was maybe there but maybe match.com but it wasn't Tinder and everything like that. What year did you and Jason have a conversation where it's like, oh, I that's what is it? Yeah. 20 1920 Okay, so just recently you talked, okay, that's because I was gonna say like, your idea fits so well now. Because now everybody's online and back. Yeah. And it was like, more like nerdy people. I guess. Like I was online, like I Twitter and like, not everybody was there. And now, right? Everybody is online. Right? Well, yeah. I mean, it really just evolved. I mean, back from when we were when I was acting.

03:40

A lot of people weren't on and they realized that they had to, because literally, you were booked on jobs, based on if you were an influencer or not like how many followers you had on Twitter and that kind of thing? And is this all really just kind of gone from there, you know, everybody, especially now, especially starting into, like, really in 2020. We had a lot of people coming to us now like I can't, I used to always do, you know, in person networking events, and I would go to conferences, and I can't do that anymore. Help. Because I have no visibility. Yeah, how bad were some of these profiles that you were taking from maybe higher tier people with a high net worth? Because I can imagine. So for some reason, when I always think of like, big businesses that make a ton of money. The last thing they do is care about their website. It's like, Oh, yeah, make billions of dollars, but I'm gonna have a 1995 windows like looking website. How bad were these when you first got them? It's like, bad.

04:41

It's sometimes like so bad that that you're just going like, God, how do I tell this person that, you know, they have a degree from MIT and MBA from Wharton, like, how do I tell them that like their presentation sucks. How do I that's kind of one of the biggest problems but that's what people come to me

05:00

I always preface it and say, Hey, listen, it is not personal. I, you know, you hired me because you want to step up your game and this is how we're going to step up the game and literally,

05:10

yeah, it's, it's partially about being polished. And I mean, literally during some of this stuff during like, you know, last year we you know, we were just like, Okay, we got to get like someone to come to your house and like cut your hair because we can't do videos with you looking like this, you know? Yeah, literally like clients in LA like my stylist was doing house visit. And I booked him for a couple of my clients. Because I was like mommy until you get a haircut. Because Well, they would start getting really upset. They're like, I can't shoot my videos that we have because we we shoot a kind of like this we on a different platform. But we I basically I have my little control center on my iPad, and I'm controlling how the video is done and we start recording. And they were like I you know, my meal plans were like, I haven't had a haircut in three months. This is insane. I look awful. So yeah, it's Michael, a couple months ago. I grow his hair out. It was the year yeah, it was the quarantine haircut. You know, he just, there was no haircut. But then one day, we woke up and realized that's not

06:12

with all of that. What was kind of what are the people doing right away? What are the quick fixes that people can do? Because Aaron and I just took the scores. Aaron got a 60 I got a 70 we took a quiz. Yeah. Yeah, so there's a Yeah. on your website Claire bond calm you can go there. There's a quick little quiz you can take see where you ranking now? Is LinkedIn, LinkedIn, a big emphasis on it. Because for me, I'm not on LinkedIn. So that was like the one part where I was like, I kind of do like tik tok. I'll go dance a little. Yeah. Well, if you look at really the, the people that I help you, executives, on, you know, entrepreneurs, investors, founders, if you're not on LinkedIn, and that's, you know, like, literally wherever you bet, so yeah, yeah. So So I, you know, we really tailor that my, my co founder has an MBA, so he's like, really good at the IF THEN statements. Yeah, he really defined that whole thing. Um, but yeah, it really, it is it's so important, because that's really where you know, your people are. Yeah, they're, they're sitting there on LinkedIn. So I didn't I ended up fairly recently, last few years, I really put no effort into LinkedIn. Yeah, myself. So I definitely, it just, yeah, it's

07:34

just part of it. You got to do it. Now. When you really do the, you're like, the one of the questions was, have you posted an article on LinkedIn, pulse tv or something versus regular LinkedIn, because I post articles on LinkedIn, but I know there's a right way to do it. And I didn't even I haven't even heard of LinkedIn pulse. Yeah, LinkedIn post is where you can actually, if you don't have like your own blog, or something, you can actually write a blog on LinkedIn, and it can get spidered. LinkedIn can sometimes actually promote it themselves as a really good article. And they've,

08:07

you know, it's been doing really well. So it's like their version of medium. Okay, got it. And is it? Is it SEO friendly? Can people find it when they when they're searching online? Yeah. Okay. That's interesting. So for yourself, what are the things that you're kind of keeping up on to keep your personal brand? Because it's really hard to keep a personal brand? I mean, I'm sure a lot of people out here listening, kind of have a personal brand. And for myself, I know it's hard. It's hard. It's hard writing, it's hard getting on camera? What are you doing? I mean, all of it.

08:39

I know, I know, I know. But like, what are the key things that you kind of keep in mind daily to remember to do and sometimes it's overwhelming, when you know, you have to post I, I, you know, people hire me to help them with their personal brand. And I have a staff, my staff helps me. So I have a couple people that are that are basically part of the Claire bond branding, and they're part of the machine and they really do help me magnify my voice. So that is that is key. I mean, you can't, when you're when you're starting to really leverage your personal brand and really taking it to the next level. If people see you everywhere. It's likely that that person's not doing it themselves. It's because it's absolutely impossible. I couldn't do anything else. If that's all I was doing. You know, good point. So that's like one of the biggest things. A lot of people aren't willing to admit that I'm willing to admit it.

09:35

I mean, but that's why, you know, obviously, that's why that's why people hire me is because I was already doing it for myself and people were like, what, what are you doing? I need some, I need that for me. So basically, it's it's really about kind of planning we have, you know, my team, we always have strategy meetings. Excuse me. Like, what do we you know, what, what are we going to talk about this week, and a lot

10:00

It is related to like, kind of SEO? And what are people asking? What are the answers people want? And let's figure out, you know, let's create content around them with those answers so that we can be, you know, their solution. That's how a lot of people find me is they do searches, and they find the video or they find a blog or something that I did. So, I mean, ultimately, it's a, you know, the, the most ideal thing, the most ideal thing your personal brand can do for you. It's not only if someone does a Google search on your name, and they find you. It's also when someone's you know, searching for something, and they need this answer. Right now I'm desperate, I need to figure out how to create a personal brand statement. That's actually one of my top blogs, and people find the blog, it is not it is gives you great information, I backed it up with a video, I give you tips on how to do it, I lay it all out. And that's like the biggest thing too, you can't just create content and have it really just not be very good. It's just luck, right? So you can't create fluff, you have to give something some people something meaty, that really helps them and then then they start to kind of like you, they may follow you on social media, they may subscribe to your YouTube channel, they may reach out to, you know, set up a consultation. So that's ultimately what your personal brand can do for you to try to take you to that next level next level. And that's what we do with our clients. And that's me and that can be an executive and investor, founder. Essentially, you just want to show up when people are looking for something that you do.

11:36

You navigate what channels to focus on because it's sometimes it feels like we have to be everywhere. And then sometimes you need to know like, I can only feasibly tackle these one or two channels. Is it industry specific? Or is it just like what your past that? That's really?

11:51

Yeah, okay, well, so somebody might you mentioned Tick tock, so, my people aren't on Tick Tock. They're not on Tick Tock. I do you know, the reels and stuff on Instagram, like, I don't know, like, if I'm gonna really put a lot of effort, I'm not gonna put it there. Because my ideal clients are not hanging out on tik tok. They're not waiting for my next real on Instagram. So I was more focused on Instagram because I used to love Instagram. I used to be I used to do more lifestyle type stuff. Yeah, um, but I have moved moved away from that platform because my people are looking for answers on YouTube, and YouTube, Google and LinkedIn. I also use Twitter for community building. I am on clubhouse I haven't used that one quite as to probably its full advantage because again, it's like oh, it's that one more thing? And that one is literally like on my phone. Yes. And I have to do it and I'm like I just don't have the time I'm funny how clubhouse weaves its way into every

13:00

with with all that because it because I guess I'm because I'm thinking about it as Okay, if I'm an investor. Yeah, of course, you need to be on LinkedIn. And of course you need good SEO. So you pop up. Is there something to that though, like the supplemental content on tik tok? Because I can go viral overnight. And not that, like these kids are whoever's watching me do a dance or review like some awesome website I found. Is there something to that though, because, for me, it feels like it but I don't know if it even like in the end, it might not matter. I don't know what particularly that you, you know, particular thing you're you're talking about, but let's just give an example of like an angel investor because we have angel investors that that work with us. So basically, you know, the companies that they have helped, you know, have helped fund Coinbase lime, the like the scooter like the E bikes. And if you think of like, kind of like those companies, right? Are those companies like the founders and people like that? are they searching for answers on tik tok? Absolutely not. So, you know, I mean, essentially, it's like, they could find you and be like, Oh, look at this funny investor doing a dance on Tick Tock. That's kind of odd. I just don't know how it would help. I mean, sure. I you know, I mean, I don't know maybe the 13 year old would be like mommy look.

14:26

Yeah, I guess.

14:28

That's like the reality of the situation. You may enjoy the talk and do it. Yeah, nothing stopping you from doing it go viral. Who cares if that's what you want to do? And that's what you enjoy doing do it. But remember where your ideal clients are and where your ideal audience is. And that is where you need to be showing up and really giving it your all if you want to do a tick tock dance because that is your like, you know, happy place and you love doing it. Maybe for somebody is like you know, I do have a dance background. I grew up you know, dance.

15:00

And so if that's something I wanted to do in my downtime, then that would be different than me trying to convert those into actual sales for my business. Yeah, like some people can do and can do it. I mean, you know,

15:13

yeah, it just it's, I think it's more kind of

15:17

b2c that kind of works in that space. Not really, to be. Yeah, and I guess that's where we are more like our company is more direct consumer. And that's where I was going towards more. And I guess it was just thinking about, you know, everybody talks about Gary Vee, but he is everywhere. He posts content everywhere. And I'm not saying that his tik tok content is original content. But I think yeah, it's not, it feels like it's something that obviously you took from a YouTube video and clipped it down multiple times to all the platforms. But that to me felt, I don't know, it felt real, but I the LinkedIn thing I need to get started on because I see the value in it, because that is where we want to find more people. And actually, when we were when we were trying to find some VCs to invest in our company, and we were on LinkedIn, we were messaging people talking to people on there all the time. And if we were just popping up in their feed and doing everything like that, I think it would be even more worth it. Because there's so many networks and Facebook is just like, I don't get it. But people love Facebook groups. Yeah, so many Facebook groups. Um, I personally, I know that I've gone also away from I one of the biggest things for me, it was kind of that like, December timeframe, when that latest algorithm for Instagram came out where it was like, I can basically get any bit of information about you all over the world, you know? Yeah. So basically, if I'm on my Wi Fi network, they can get on my computer, any computer that's on the network, like, that was like, well, so literally, we have like a separate network. In our house. It's just that just does anything Facebook related. It doesn't touch our major network, because I'm like, No, I that is creepy. This Exactly, yeah. So it's like stuff like that, that I've gotten kind of like, and LinkedIn doesn't seem to do that kind of thing. Um, Google, I mean, you know, I just

17:09

for me, I want to balance my privacy, my literal privacy.

17:15

And, and my business and I from my clients, that's exactly where they are. They're like, I'm okay with this to a point. But once we start getting into crazy town where my my phone is turning on where they might be dressing, now you've gotten into this whole creepy world, that I want nothing to do it. So that's where I don't know. That's the kind of thing about some of those networks scare me a little bit. Was that update? When did that come out? I was just like, it's just this December.

17:46

A lot of people were talking about it. Um, yeah, I don't know. It's kind of thing. You don't really know

17:54

exactly what the strange language means. Right here like, but it could mean everything. Or it could mean nothing. So, right. Yeah. But it's great for a reason. It's vague. And for a reason. So yeah, I don't know. I would just rather. Yeah. So I've personally stepped back from, from, you know, Facebook and Instagram myself for those reasons. And I've been well, I also find I feel better.

18:27

For sure. Yeah. Like I feel like on LinkedIn, and YouTube and some of those channels like it's just not like a such a brag fest. Yeah, it's very, it's all so different. Now. Like, Instagram feels very polished. And Facebook is just like this weird place for I don't know who's on Facebook anymore. But LinkedIn feels real. And you can really get through to people and messaging people directly. I was so surprised at the positive response that we got and people are so willing to help you and listen and answer. It's good. I think it's really good for the business space for sure. Yeah, definitely. I yeah, I think that there are people doing business on in Facebook groups and things like that. But I your most important home online is definitely should be your website. Because that's what you own that is yours. No one can take it away. The Instagram algorithm Can't you know, start tanking your content.

19:21

You know, LinkedIn can't block you, you know, like, So ultimately, owning your space online and working on your own content is going to be to me I think is the most important thing. So yeah, let's dive into that a little bit. Because for any of the naysayers out there that don't believe they need to have a personal brand.

19:39

We need to talk about why that's not true anymore. And second question how can what would that look like the website because I took your quiz and I don't have a website I don't have Aaron masterpage or soon to be are in bed and tar calm and how can I weave that in to make sense for what I do day to day like I'm the co founder of a dope dog, a dog treat company but I

20:00

Didn't think I should have my own website. Whereas Michael had a website, Michael benatar.com. From a prior

20:07

career he has.

20:08

I have I've had my website since 1997. He's one of the nerds, but I'm not that. So how do you weave it in? Or how does Michael update his to be relevant to what we're doing now, as entrepreneurs? You should always have your website, it doesn't matter. Just have it, you do. Okay. Just go and buy it. If you if you're just sitting on it doesn't matter. It really I mean, it cost you like, $20 a year or something. It's really just not that much of an expense. Especially when, you know, as you did, Michael, you pivoted, you change what you did? You never know what's gonna happen next year, and you might need it. Yeah. And I probably your name won't change. Well, but Aaron, I would get both. Yeah. Okay. Um, I mean, I have both of my, you know, bond is my maiden name. And, and then I have my married name, as well. And

21:02

yeah, it just, it's it that is your place, and just go own it. I've had mine for many years, I bought it even before I needed it.

21:13

And, you know, my husband's very, very techie. So that was kind of like one of the things.

21:19

And yeah, go and get it. And I think you should definitely go and get your social media handles with your name, whatever name you're really going to use. I mean, I go, I went with my maiden name, because it just, it's mine. It's the one I was born with. I'm happy with it. My husband, you know, has no problem with me for business being you know, Claire bond, because I was that before I met him. Yeah. So you could just straight go, you know, across the board, do your maid name, and then that is you for business, for forever. That's you for business, and then get your married name, just in case. But that, you know, I think it's really important to get to get the stake in the ground, and you can use it or not use it. But that's one of the most important things is to own your name. Okay, that's huge and easy. So doing that, yeah, get off very high pass. Thank you. Yeah. So I know you mentioned the team. I know if people hire you, you know, your whole team helps you out. But for somebody, an individual starting a little smaller, would you recommend hiring like a VA or somebody to help you get all this content out? Because even for us, we have somebody for our company, running social doing a lot for it. And it's, it's full time. I mean, there's so much going on. Yeah, I mean, I like I do coaching. Yeah. And we have like a program that we are relaunching called foundations, where we really set up kind of the foundation for somebody so that if they do want to, you know, if they will have somebody that wants to do this stuff, at least we basically said, Okay, here's your foundation here, you know, because a lot of people don't know how to do the deep dive and the research that you need to do. So you really know your market, because a lot of people don't know who their competitors are, or the people that they actually think are their competitors aren't really their competitors, once you do a deep marketing audit, and, you know, SWOT analysis. So that's what we do and all of our clients and so some people come to us, and they basically are just like, okay, set up my plan for me. So I kind of know what to do. Because the biggest problem that I see is that people don't have a plan. And they never make headway anywhere. Because they're just doing everything. Yeah, they're like, I'm going to comment on that. I'm going to create a blog about this, I'm going to do a video on this. And I'm like, these things have nothing to do with each other. And they're not solidifying you as an expert in anything because they're not related. Yeah, yeah. So a lot of people helpful because they want they're like, I don't know, these are the things that I do help me figure out what my message should be. Because I don't know. I mean, and literally, with the our private clients, a lot of these people. I mean, they have amazing resumes, you know, they're CEOs, they're CMOS, they are investors in, you know, multiple

24:02

venture funds and things like that. So they're very successful people, but they really don't understand how they should market themselves. And that's ultimately what we do for them. And, and that's like, Yeah, one of the biggest things and a lot of times you kind of need to just let the experts really just like figure it out for you because kind of like stepping in there big thing, but what about this, but what about that you're like, we can't do that now. Yeah, solidifying this first. Then we can do these other things. I often find that you know, especially like working moms and stuff, they're always like, but I want to bring this in and this and my mom expertise and things like that. You're like, well, that's saturated. Let's let's get you here, and then we can bring that into into the fold. So I think that that's one of the biggest things to think about. is you know, getting getting your message straight because if you can have a VA that can help that help

25:00

You, but if the messaging is off, yeah, how are you going to know? I really do. Yeah, I don't know what you're supposed to do in the first place. Because that is the hardest part. It's like for me, I mean, I'm not on LinkedIn, I'm not anywhere. I'm just posting on Instagram and Facebook occasionally, but in Twitter and Tiktok. But for me, I guess my message was, I'm just finding cool stuff in the retail direct consumer world. And even though that's not, I'm trying to figure it out, and I think, you know, hiring somebody like yourself, it could help me to find the voice. Because I think even recently, a lot of people have been kind of popping up online. And I think they became much clearer of like, what they're doing what like, for instance, chamath in California, he's in SF. He's a guy that is a huge investor. And I started following him. And I like all his stuff on Twitter, because he's talking about investing, talking about, you know, what's going on with the governor here in California. I listened to his podcast with Jason Calacanis. What's it called all in, and I like the brand that he built. And not to say that I'm ever going to be a billionaire investor. But what he's saying is very relatable to a lot of people no matter what you're doing. And I think that's really hard to do by yourself, unless you've been doing it for years and years and years. And obviously, somebody like yourself could know that much faster and quicker than you exploring for 10 years trying to figure out your voice. And it's important, I know how important it is. And I've really tried this year, but I'm not like even having you on for five minutes. But I'm not doing enough. Yeah, there's not I'm not doing enough of it. But sometimes you are lucky that you can just be yourself and be an expert in your own way. And I feel like you are on the right track, Michael, like doing what you do normally, like, someone might actually want to follow you doing that, but I guess polishing it up and understanding what am I actually doing besides just being myself? It will help me get faster, like you were saying, right. And I think that's one of the biggest things that we are constantly evolving. I mean, a lot of the, the, our private clients didn't really understand they're not the value, but their value to the world at large, they really didn't understand it. And I'm like, yeah, there's a lot of people that want to know your expertise, you just need to get your, you know, throw your hat in the ring.

27:24

Yeah, and that's, and that's just basically it. So it's really figuring out what the message is how what your your take on it is how your whole brand is going to be perceived. And it is like his whole cut, there is an element of your brand that is static. And then there is an element of your brand that is ever evolving. And it's this constant motion. So the part of your brand that's kind of like its own thing, and it sits there and it's more static would be like you know, your profile photos, a logo, your branding statements, things like that, like that's kind of like the major kind of thing that people kind of go, Okay, this is my gut feeling on this person. And then then beyond that, it's the content you're creating and everything that's really solidifying Be who you are, and that kind of static brand. But yeah, and that's kind of the whole personal brand.

28:13

That really, it's it's it's ever evolving, ever changing, you have to work on it all the time. You have to be consistent with it. So for it to actually really work and give you that ROI. Yeah, similar to a brand of a company, but also probably different to manage and treating. Yeah, like marketing a company and a product is different.

28:34

Or it's hard, maybe it's harder to market yourself because what feels like, all the time. Yeah, but you're not thinking about yourself as a product that way. But yeah, I think I think that, um, what what is also changing, really, and I think you're kind of seeing this as definitely with like the tech billionaires and some of these people like they're become the cult of personality, right? So many, if you kind of think about the fact that people want to get behind a person, they want to believe in the person they want, they believe their story that they started from zero and they now they're here and that kind of thing. And that's the cult of personality. So that's your personal brand. People are going to get behind people they're not going to get behind a faceless entity. No one's super, I mean people kind of like Tesla, but they really like Ilan and then Tesla, you know and then and then you have SpaceX you have all these like things that go on with it and but they really like Ilan musk and his story you know, and that's an important thing that you can't really the in that's just the thing that a personal brand really creates. Is it different though, for like Ilan and like Steve Jobs or Tim, whoever is behind the bigger companies? Is it more of the media pushing them and then instead of their personal brand cuz I feel like Ilan, obviously I mean, he posts a lot of memes on Twitter, and everything like that. But for somebody normal, how do you get to the point where you can differentiate yourself from what you're doing to what you know you want to do personally because I think

30:00

I mean, I struggle with it, I struggle with that identity of what you want to be and what do you want to show the world? And sometimes you overthink what you want to show people, you know, are you do you just want to say these random things for like a flair on Twitter to get people like, angry or happy to whatever you're saying, it is such a balancing act now. And it's, I don't know, I overthink it. Obviously, I'm just Yeah.

30:26

I'm a personal brand is really, I mean, like, on Tuesday, I was actually interviewed about kind of like how your personal brand can help you kind of future proof your career. Um, so your personal brand can really be used to do so many things. But it really just depends on who you are, and what you're what you're doing. So say you're like a freelancer or someone like that, obviously showcasing your work and how great you are. So you can get that next gig. If you are looking to get hired for a job or get a promotion, again, solidifying your expertise in that you are amazing, and you have a lot of wealth of knowledge. And it could also help especially good executive or something like that can help you get press, because you come up as an, you know, an expert on this particular piece, you know, industry or area or whatever. So when you're talking about getting press and things like that, it happens because a lot of people have solidified their personal brand, and they're able to get that press. It's hard in the world to get anyone to take any notice of you any journalist or anything. There's nothing about you that shows that you're special that you know anything that you're an expertise, you're an expert in anything. So that's going to be done by your personal brand. So I think thinking about it, especially looking at like, you know, Ilan now and a lot of these people now, it was really always kind of this work. Behind the scenes, that's kind of like what a lot of the personal branding is. It's behind the scenes. It's kind of like the non sexy work. It's like working on the SEO and how we're going to keyword and what we're going to be ranking for and and what is our strategy behind what we're going to tweet about instead of just being like, Oh, you know what, I had tortilla soup today, which did go to the moon. Yeah.

32:16

So instead of it being kind of like random, I feel like once you're a celebrity, and once you're known, people like that randomness, but when you're not creative, you can be random, when you're famous, don't be random, when you start out. So I think that that's one of the biggest things you need to know what you what you want to get from your career, from your business, whatever it is, and that is what your personal brand can do for you. And again, it can totally change. I mean, you know, it's changed for me, my Claire bond calm originally was more lifestyle, I did a lot of lifestyle stuff. And so I've pivoted to make this again, all about personal branding. Yeah. Because people wanted to get behind me as the one that personally brands them into the business because we had a business name for a long time. And that was not resonating with people.

33:06

It was me that was resonating with people. People want to work with me, not the brand name. So and that's just ultimately, it. I mean, a lot of the stuff that that I talk about, and everything is kind of I've actually done it and things have failed. I mean, that's that's how we've all learned. I you know, I don't just I'm not just sitting here and just be like, Ooh, this will work and it's perfect every time. Yeah, I mean, we were trying everything with our clients. I mean, I'm usually the guinea pig. I'm the one trying everything before I make them before I make them jump into anything. I was, you know, one of the first ones because we're talking about clubhouse, I jumped into clubhouse and then then I actually invited some of my clients cuz I'm like, you need to be in here. This will help you. So yeah, I'm the one that usually is testing everything to figure out what works and what doesn't. So it's an always an ever evolving thing. Yeah, that's like that. I mean, that's kind of the hard answer. There's not there is no magic bullet there is no secret sauce. It's literally you have to find out why you're essentially why you're special why someone should care what's your special thing that your personal brand should be about? And with the free masterclass on your website, what does that kind of go through after you finish? Is it kind of all encompassing what you should the steps you should do? Just it's Yeah, it really outlines kind of like the the basics um, you know, and and like owning your name is one of them and I kind of give you tips on how to do that. Um, and yeah, it's really just outlining the basics of getting your personal brand done and it's surprising I I've literally, I've never met anybody that had a great personal brand when they started with me. I really have not well that's what they are pretty good. Yeah.

35:00

They have things that are like pretty good. And I'm like, well, your messaging should definitely be much more focused. And I think this is where you know, you're going to actually be able to go with it. But yeah, it's that's what I think one of the most surprising things is it? You know? Yeah, I feel like, you know, kind of beating yourself up like, Oh, I'm not doing this perfectly and I should have known I should have been in and LinkedIn. You know what? You don't know what you don't know. Exactly. Now. Yeah. There's nothing stopping you from doing that. And all of the people that you look at that you may say, Oh, my God, I love the things that they're doing. They started somewhere, they started from something, they didn't just end up here right now. They didn't start like yesterday, and now they're perfect. And now they're making billions of dollars. Like it's just, it started from something. And that's the thing that really think about it's this, you know, I mean, like, we've all seen those kind of like things where, like, you know, your path is not like this, it's like this, this?

35:58

Yeah, that's our path. So you just have to kind of figure out your thing, but there's no time like the present like Aaron like ask

36:06

right now.

36:09

Do you So do we have to be a billionaire to work with you? What Can anybody sign up?

36:15

I mean, I have I have kind of, like different being held out for I like private coaching. And then we have our programs, the kind of the boutique programs that we offer, which are kind of the that's the concierge program where I we do everything for you that one is definitely a much higher priced thing. So you know, it's not for the faint of heart, but we do everything for you. And we you know, basically Gary Vee you essentially,

36:44

but then, you know, I have the foundation's where people kind of hire me to say, hey, lay it lay down the foundation, and then I can at least have some somewhere to go. So those are kind of our two programs that we offer. But then I also have, you know, coaching and things like that, if you kind of like need a little bit of help a little bit of guidance. Cool. Well, I'm definitely gonna hire you because I want to get my personal brand. So everybody go to clear bond.com do you want to ask the question? Well, I knew I wanted to make sure you got all your questions. Yes, I had a lot ram but now we're probably gonna work with Claire. So great.

37:16

seem to have it all figured out. But you're on the call me crazy podcast. So we need to hear your call me crazy story. When did you you know, make a choice in business or life where you people kind of took a second look at generally. Are you crazy? Claire? Ah, I mean, I definitely I mean, I think isn't any entrepreneur crazy? Pretty much. Yeah. Yeah. And I think that's that's been like one of the biggest things is that, yeah, people have called me crazy for that.

37:43

Because there is no safety net. Yeah, that's true. And I think that that's been like one of the biggest things and and it's actually interesting, and it's kind of a thankless thing. And a lot of times, you know, you're kind of like me, I wish I had some recognition for the hard work. And I actually had my aunt. And she's like, you know what she's like, I'm so proud of you. Like she's like, I've seen this like long slog that you have been going through, and I'm just wanting you to know that I'm so proud. I'm so proud that you've been able to call accomplish these things that you've been asked to speak at these things. And so that's just yeah, that's been one of the crazy things is paying freakin entrepreneur, people think it's easy, because they're like, Oh, they look at the billionaires, and they look at some of these people that started companies and you're like, how many fail? Yeah, 90 something percent, so many fail. And then that's definitely not gonna unicorns. So you can't get into this until you unless you are crazy. And you eat, sleep and breathe, you know your own thing. It's not, it's not for people that really need if you need a safety net, this is not your spot at all. And that's why we called the podcast Call me crazy, I started a business because it is crazy. starting a business, you don't know where it's gonna go, you don't know if it's going to be successful. And you know, you know what the next thing is going to be if you sell it or you move on or what's next. And it's terrifying. And I don't, I think the people that are working nine to five jobs, don't realize that as much. And I think it's really hard to not have a conversation with them about it, but they don't understand what you're doing all the time. When it's 24 hours. It's like this is my when it's just you. Yeah, or like the two of you, you essentially have to be everyone that your corporation was? Yeah, you have to see the marketer, the PR person, the accountant. I mean, the tech person dealing with tech stuff. I mean, yeah, you have to be everything until a point where you can be able to you can start hiring experts, and be like, Oh, thank God, I can offload that because I am not an expert in that. Yeah. Um, and that's like one of the biggest things people think that it's a lot easier than it is.

39:49

And, you know, I mean, yeah, there's, there's, I mean, and I have a co founder that literally like his strong suits are not mine and vice versa. So we really call them

40:00

And each other in the fact that we can really be a corporation with the two of us because we have such like he's like techie and he's, you know, accountant, he's an MBA, like that kind of thing. And I'm more creative and all these kind of things and we go together and we're just like, here's our business. But that's essentially if you're doing it by yourself, you for a while you literally will have to be everything. And that's what's really hard and people don't understand. They think it's easy and it's not. Yeah, it's wild. Thank you so much for coming on Claire bond. And then the free master classes up there, right just on the you can just click free masterclass and get that. Yep. Cool. I love it. Thank you so much for coming on. Thank you so much for having me. Thanks.