Mike Kim is a three-time bestselling author, speaker, and strategic advisor who helps thought leaders, coaches, and authors turn what they do best into intellectual property that actually scales. He’s generated over $5M in revenue from his expertise, wrote the Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestseller You Are the Brand, and has worked with New York Times bestselling authors and experts featured on PBS, TED, CNN, and Fox. In addition to speaking at events like South by Southwest, Social Media Marketing World, and Podcast Movement, he hosts the top-rated Brand U podcast, giving him a unique vantage point on where personal branding and AI are headed next.

On this episode we talk about:

Shutting down a successful marketing agency to build a lean, lifestyle-friendly business around coaching, communities, and IP

How AI is reshaping creative work and why deep expertise and lived experience still command a premium

The “time, money, or skills” framework for building offers that people will always pay for

Turning one core set of ideas into multiple streams of income by niching your IP into specific industries

Why building an audience now is non‑negotiable, even if you don’t yet know what you’ll sell

Top 3 Takeaways

You can intentionally downsize from an overextended agency into a lean business built on coaching, communities, and IP—and often make more while enjoying life more.

In an AI world, the most defensible asset is your combination of deep expertise, clarity of thinking, and ability to apply principles to specific people and markets.

If you help people make or save time, money, or skills—and you pair that with an owned audience—you’ll always have a path to six or seven figures.

Notable Quotes

“If your business helps people make money, make time, or gain a skill—or saves them from any of those—you will make money no matter what.”

“AI can pull the levers, but it can’t replace years of insight, wisdom, and lived experience in a specific domain.”

“Don’t wait to build an audience until you know what to sell. Build the audience now—future you will know exactly how to serve them.”

Connect with Mike Kim:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikekimtv

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mikekim

X: https://x.com/mikekimtv

Other: https://mikekim.com 

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