“Human beings, we crave community. It's an essential part of our life and our being,” says Chris Colt, The Challenge Champion. Chris says this as he believes that communities we’re in, physically or not, have a big impact on our growth as individuals, and also as professionals. And this is exactly what Chris shares in this episode, why communities are an essential part of our lives, and how we can build a community.

Chris is also a cyclist, and that’s how he realized the importance of a community - when he’s with his community of riders, very strong riders that could offset his weaknesses and vice versa. And from this, he now is helping other professionals and entrepreneurs, like you, build not just an audience, but a community.

Tune into this week’s episode about what really is a community and how it could help you grow individually and personally, how to build a community with a clear and specific purpose and structure, why he recommends starting with a micro-community with a micro-niche to be referable, and why you should consider moving your community away from a rented land platform, such as LinkedIn.

Quotes:

•  “Being that vulnerable when you're in that community is extremely important, and being a community member when somebody can open up to you and share that vulnerability to support them is key.” (2:26-2:35)
•  “Build a community, not an audience.” (02:37-02:39)
•  "Here's the fact, your business ideas can be copied. My business ideas, Michelle's ideas can be copied, but that community you build around it cannot be copied." (04:25-04:35)
•  “The purpose has to be motivating, it has to be fun, it's got to be an adventure.” (9:15-09:23)
• “Everybody has a different mission that matters." (10:56-10:59)
• “A purpose needs to be very specific. So it's got to be clearly picture of who you're going to serve in this community, what will be done together, and what we'll be mastered together." (8:53-09:03)

Own Your Lane™ - Personal Branding & Marketing For Experts

The podcast for expert-led business owners ready to confidently position, brand, and market themselves to win clients and industy oppotunities.

Hosted by Michelle B. Griffin, speaker, strategist and LinkedIn® visibility expert. As the founder of Brand Leaders and with her Own Your Lane™ Recognition Roadmap, Michelle helps expertise-led business owners become the clear choice in their field.

Learn more at MichelleBGriffin.com/chat

WEBSITE: MichelleBGriffin.com
GET VISIBLE ON LINKEDIN: Free Audio Masterclass
READ: My Personal Branding Books
LISTEN: The LinkedIn Branding Show
CONNECT: With Me on LinkedIn

“I've always wanted to be out on my own, always wanted to make my own path if you will. But until I got into a space where I really could connect with something I was passionate about, then came the confidence," says Steven Arthur George, founder of SAG Advisory Services. In this episode, Steven talks about his journey of finding the thing and space where he connected and felt confident to focus on building his brand and a consultancy firm.

Steven’s journey started in the financial industry then moved to the cannabis space for more than a decade which he landed through LinkedIn. But while being employed, Steven explained that he always had this drive in him - the drive to want to do something more and write his own path.

Tune into this week’s episode about the transition from the corporate world to entrepreneurship and thought leadership, how he found the confidence to go out on his own and write his own path, and how he started building his own personal brand as himself, literally 

Quotes:

•  “I've always wanted to be out on my own, always wanted to make my own path if you will. But until I got into a space where I really could connect with something I was passionate about, then came the confidence” (4:31-4:43)
•  “Start now, right. Start now, and just find something you're passionate about, you want to be known for. And LinkedIn is a place.” (11:00-11:08)
•  "This is much more powerful than just a lead generation tool or a 'find a job' tool, okay. There's a lot more to this platform." (13:39-13:47)
•  “Once I started to show up and realize, I said, ‘Steve, you have more to talk about. And you have more to say. So you're going to have to say it.’ And then I started to talk about more stuff.” (18:43-18:45)
• “I think, "As you build your personal brand, you're developing yourself as an individual. And really focusing on you and trying to give the best of you to the world." (19:01-19:11)
•  “I've always known I had this inside, but for some reason, whether that was childhood, problems, or other different things, I suppressed it, right? But then also, which led to misery, which led to depression, which led to anxiety, which led to not a happy life. And as soon as I stopped suppressing all of that and started believing in myself more and being more of myself, things changed." (28:42-29:07)
• “If you're going to go build a personal brand, and you're going to put yourself out there, you better damn well know who you are. And if you don't, you've got to do that work first, or at least be practicing that work, while you begin this journey." (31:50-32:04)

Own Your Lane™ - Personal Branding & Marketing For Experts

The podcast for expert-led business owners ready to confidently position, brand, and market themselves to win clients and industy oppotunities.

Hosted by Michelle B. Griffin, speaker, strategist and LinkedIn® visibility expert. As the founder of Brand Leaders and with her Own Your Lane™ Recognition Roadmap, Michelle helps expertise-led business owners become the clear choice in their field.

Learn more at MichelleBGriffin.com/chat

WEBSITE: MichelleBGriffin.com
GET VISIBLE ON LINKEDIN: Free Audio Masterclass
READ: My Personal Branding Books
LISTEN: The LinkedIn Branding Show
CONNECT: With Me on LinkedIn

“It's not that you have to have so much experience, or someone amazing promoting you. You just need to know how,” explains Lisa Simone Richards, Visibility Strategist. Lisa works with coaches that are struggling to grow their audiences to get more exposure and visibility for their businesses. She teaches clients how to navigate the three mediums of content consumption, the ABCs of visibility, and the dos and don’ts of podcast pitches. 

Many entrepreneurs mistakenly think that they need a big fancy PR firm or decades of experience for their content to be featured in popular media. But the truth is that with the right networking, anyone can gain access to platforms like magazines, popular websites, podcasts, and even television shows. According to Lisa, it is important to start small and understand that it’s unlikely you’ll be featured on Good Morning America right away. Start with pitching to small local television shows, being interviewed on your friend’s podcast, writing a piece for a smaller blog, then work your way up to larger platforms. When you go back to the basics of creating the ABCs of visibility (awareness, buzz, and credibility) for yourself and your brand, bigger and bigger opportunities will become available to you. 

Tune into this week’s episode about growing your audience and getting more PR for your personal brand business. Learn how to get exposure through written, audio, and visual media and get an understanding of the ABCs of visibility. 

Quotes

• “We need to be focusing on visibility and making sure every single week we see that follower number and email list grow. It is important that we're not just selling to the same few people over and over again, but expanding our audience.” (4:36-4:46)

• “It's not that you have to have so much experience or someone amazing promoting you, you just need to know how. And once you learn how you can do it over and over again.” (7:01-7:11)

• “Your ideal client has their preferred way of consuming content. And through this ladder of publicity, we're going to hit each of the three ways. So no matter how they like to learn, you're able to get in front of them.” (10:13-10:22)

• “Who's someone that’s doing something similar to you, but is three to five steps ahead? Where are they getting featured? That could be a great place to get started. Just come at it from a different perspective.” (19:49-19:58)

• “You can be strategic and intentional with your relationships, but really use them in a genuine way that develops legit friendships.” (29:20-29:28)

Own Your Lane™ - Personal Branding & Marketing For Experts

The podcast for expert-led business owners ready to confidently position, brand, and market themselves to win clients and industy oppotunities.

Hosted by Michelle B. Griffin, speaker, strategist and LinkedIn® visibility expert. As the founder of Brand Leaders and with her Own Your Lane™ Recognition Roadmap, Michelle helps expertise-led business owners become the clear choice in their field.

Learn more at MichelleBGriffin.com/chat

WEBSITE: MichelleBGriffin.com
GET VISIBLE ON LINKEDIN: Free Audio Masterclass
READ: My Personal Branding Books
LISTEN: The LinkedIn Branding Show
CONNECT: With Me on LinkedIn

“You don't grow for the stimuli you've already survived, you grow for the circumstances you have yet to encounter.", emphasizes Mike Phillips, an expert marketer and content creator, and professional weightlifter. In this episode, Mike talks all about growth mindset and #musclemarketing, and the three layers to achieve and apply a growth mindset, not just in marketing or business, but in any aspect of life.

December 2020, during the lockdown, was when it all started for Mike in the marketing and content-creating space, and then it just grew rapidly from there. He started by posting content on his LinkedIn feed daily, observed what works and does not work, and worked his way to be an expert in growth mindset and marketing from the sales and engineering field of work.

Tune into this week’s episode on why marketing isn’t something you do for the present but as an investment for the future.

Quotes:

• “Trying to grow as individuals, as personal growth or professional growth, I think it's wise to always look to teachers that do it better than us. Now that could be the creators out there that are absolutely crushing it, but it can also be anything in the world around us. There are plenty of examples in the natural world and in society that engage with these different types of growth, linear, compound, or exponential growth.” (9:01:32-9:23:83)
•  “The first thing you want to train is to train yourself to observe these functions of growth in the world around you” (11:45:16-11:51:55)
•  "So now that's another aspect of growth. We think about the removal of things that are part of the process to encourage growth and things that do matter." (12:17:40-12:42:61)
•  “It's just that growth has seasons. And that we as individuals will also have times of faster and slower growth, but we are still growing.” (13:09:16-13:17:30)
• “You can learn more from exploring that realm between perceived safe failure and actual maximum ability." (25:17:96-25:26:98)
• “What do we do to embrace a relationship with failure that will help us accelerate growth?" (27:34:33-27:40:20)
• “You don't market yourself for something you need today because marketing is a process that takes time. You market yourself for the opportunities you don't know you'll need in the future. You wind up investing and making those deposits in your brand today so that if you do ever need to make a withdrawal, you've already had that down the road.” (34:41:32-34:58:31)
• “You should learn to market yourself so you never have to sell yourself.” (38:26:79-38:29:97)

Own Your Lane™ - Personal Branding & Marketing For Experts

The podcast for expert-led business owners ready to confidently position, brand, and market themselves to win clients and industy oppotunities.

Hosted by Michelle B. Griffin, speaker, strategist and LinkedIn® visibility expert. As the founder of Brand Leaders and with her Own Your Lane™ Recognition Roadmap, Michelle helps expertise-led business owners become the clear choice in their field.

Learn more at MichelleBGriffin.com/chat

WEBSITE: MichelleBGriffin.com
GET VISIBLE ON LINKEDIN: Free Audio Masterclass
READ: My Personal Branding Books
LISTEN: The LinkedIn Branding Show
CONNECT: With Me on LinkedIn

“To me, social selling is a way that you can network, position yourself as an expert, and actually enjoy the process of selling,” explains Dan Mott, a LinkedIn Social Selling Strategist. Dan started his business to prove to entrepreneurs that selling doesn’t have to be a painful part of running a company. With his extensive knowledge of LinkedIn, Dan teaches people a sales process that they can feel good about and actually enjoy. 

Many entrepreneurs hold themselves back during the sales process out of fear of seeming sleazy to potential clients. However, Dan understands that if you actively listen to the needs and wants of your customer base, you will be able to attract the leads you want. By having a genuine conversation with others, you can increase your sales in a strategically non-salesy way.

Tune into this week’s episode about social selling and the difference between outbound and inbound sales, the importance of understanding your customer base, and how to nurture your network to create results.

Quotes

• “Social selling to me is a way that you can connect with people, network, position yourself as an expert, and actually enjoy the process of selling.” (2:49 - 2:59)

• “​​Knowing what your customer base cares about, or what will drive them to make a purchase, is critical to increasing those conversions and moving people from followers to leads, from leads to phone conversations, and from phone conversations into paying customers.” (9:13 - 9:33)

• “I actually track my lead metrics, which I highly recommend everyone do. Because when you know where the bulk of your leads are coming from, you stop wasting your time on efforts that don't convert.” (30:59 - 31:12)

• “Selling doesn't have to suck. Get rid of the notion that sales is this icky thing that you have to do. Don't even call it sales. Call it networking. Just go out, build relationships, and start conversations.” (37:48 - 38:01)

• “The most important thing is you need to have fun. You need to enjoy the sales process because if you don't, you will fail.” (38:51 - 38:56)

Own Your Lane™ - Personal Branding & Marketing For Experts

The podcast for expert-led business owners ready to confidently position, brand, and market themselves to win clients and industy oppotunities.

Hosted by Michelle B. Griffin, speaker, strategist and LinkedIn® visibility expert. As the founder of Brand Leaders and with her Own Your Lane™ Recognition Roadmap, Michelle helps expertise-led business owners become the clear choice in their field.

Learn more at MichelleBGriffin.com/chat

WEBSITE: MichelleBGriffin.com
GET VISIBLE ON LINKEDIN: Free Audio Masterclass
READ: My Personal Branding Books
LISTEN: The LinkedIn Branding Show
CONNECT: With Me on LinkedIn

“I think that personal branding has given me an avenue to spread the word and create awareness for what I'm doing,” explains Stacey Danheiser, founder of Shake Marketing Group.  In today’s episode, Michelle and Stacey talk about how to go from being a successful corporate leader to building a successful personal brand based on your expertise. 

Stacey spent years working in marketing for both B2C and B2B companies for years before making the transition to entrepreneurship. Realizing her extensive experience in marketing, Stacey decided to build her personal brand based on her expertise. Shifting into the personal branding space has increased opportunities for Stacey she never would have imagined. Since starting her brand, Stacey has had the opportunity to expand her network, appear on podcasts, and speak at events. By promoting her business and her personal brand separately, Stacey has been able to double her marketing reach.

Tune into this week’s episode for a conversation with host Michelle Griffin and special guest Stacey Danheiser about the transition from the corporate world to entrepreneurship. Learn more about how to capitalize on your expertise to build a profitable personal brand business. 

Quotes with Stacey Danheiser: 

• “I got to the point where I questioned what I was doing. I realized that I was selling every single day. And I decided that since I was selling this much internally, I might as well just start my own thing. And that's what I did. That was the impetus for starting my thing.” (4:16-4:32)

• “What I realized on this journey is that I needed a company brand and I needed a personal brand.” (6:17-6:30)

• “I know that that's really the next stage. For me, that's really the breakthrough piece of the business you have, how do you start talking about your internal struggles, and your external struggles, and that's what connects people because they're like, ``Oh, they're human, they go through all this stuff.” (14:11-14:26)

• “My mantra is to always be open to learning. When I think of learning, it's not just consuming information and knowledge, but being able to act on that and experiment. The only way we continue to grow is to realize learning does not stop when school ends. It is a lifelong journey.” (33:32-33:55)

• “I think personal branding has given me an avenue to spread the word and create awareness for what I'm doing.” (20:26-20:32)

Own Your Lane™ - Personal Branding & Marketing For Experts

The podcast for expert-led business owners ready to confidently position, brand, and market themselves to win clients and industy oppotunities.

Hosted by Michelle B. Griffin, speaker, strategist and LinkedIn® visibility expert. As the founder of Brand Leaders and with her Own Your Lane™ Recognition Roadmap, Michelle helps expertise-led business owners become the clear choice in their field.

Learn more at MichelleBGriffin.com/chat

WEBSITE: MichelleBGriffin.com
GET VISIBLE ON LINKEDIN: Free Audio Masterclass
READ: My Personal Branding Books
LISTEN: The LinkedIn Branding Show
CONNECT: With Me on LinkedIn

“LinkedIn has created all of these amazing things that I would never have thought would have been possible,” shares Nick Bennett, Director of Evangelism & Customer Marketing @ Alyce In today’s episode Michelle and Nick talk about how to build your personal and employee brand through LinkedIn. 

Nick unexpectedly began his LinkedIn journey after being given a challenge by his boss. Each employee was instructed to post relevant content on LinkedIn regarding something they were passionate about. Even though many of his co-workers quickly dropped out, Nick stuck with it and posted consistently on a daily basis. For the challenge, Nick chose to dive into the topic of field marketing for two reasons. One, it was his passion, and two, it wasn’t being talked about. His persistence unknowingly opened the doors to several opportunities for Nick to build his personal brand and business that he would have never done otherwise. 

Tune into this week’s episode for a conversation with host Michelle Griffin and special guest Nick Bennett about how to use LinkedIn to build your personal and employee brand. Learn more about how to leverage your passion to become an expert in your field. 

Quotes

• “I’m going to put out a challenge to my team of just creating and posting content on LinkedIn. Find something that you're passionate about, and just go for it. And so there were a few of us that actually did it for a couple of months. And then people just kind of fell off. And I just kind of stayed with it.” (5:18-5:35)

• “I didn't have any traction for the first six months, it was literally crickets. I thought maybe I should quit. And then I decided to stick with it because it's fun.” (5:59-6:08)

• “Once six months hit, all of a sudden, I felt like things flip-flopped. I was getting a little bit of engagement and people were starting to see. Then I was starting to get invited to some podcasts and talk about field marketing. And in 2021, it just started to blow up and I never looked back from there.” (6:24-6:48)

• “LinkedIn created all of these amazing things that I would never have thought would have been possible. But if I quit, I would never have realized the full potential.” (6:48-7:05)

• “I would much rather not focus on making a perfect piece of content but engaging with the community that I've built to be able to form relationships. Because in reality, relationships run everything.” (11:25-11:40)

Own Your Lane™ - Personal Branding & Marketing For Experts

The podcast for expert-led business owners ready to confidently position, brand, and market themselves to win clients and industy oppotunities.

Hosted by Michelle B. Griffin, speaker, strategist and LinkedIn® visibility expert. As the founder of Brand Leaders and with her Own Your Lane™ Recognition Roadmap, Michelle helps expertise-led business owners become the clear choice in their field.

Learn more at MichelleBGriffin.com/chat

WEBSITE: MichelleBGriffin.com
GET VISIBLE ON LINKEDIN: Free Audio Masterclass
READ: My Personal Branding Books
LISTEN: The LinkedIn Branding Show
CONNECT: With Me on LinkedIn

“After 20 some years of not finding myself, I learned how to find myself again,” shares Lisa Richer, founder of Journey2Bloom. In today’s episode, Michelle and Lisa talk about the necessary components needed to successfully launch a personal brand business.

After years of struggling to ask for help, Lisa experienced career-ending burnout. Being the matriarch of her family, Lisa always felt obligated to remain strong for her family and friends, no matter how it affected her. It wasn’t until she gave herself the necessary space, that Lisa was able to gain the clarity she needed to make better decisions for herself. By listening to her intuition, Lisa decided to take the leap and change her career path. Today, Lisa has been able to launch a successful personal brand centered around her passion for helping neurodivergent children. 

Tune into this week’s episode for a conversation with host Michelle Griffin and special guest Lisa Richer to learn how to leverage your passion to find clarity, confidence, and courage so you can build the personal brand of your dreams. 

Quotes 

• “I came to realize that your mindset drives your energy. Your energy drives your clarity. And your clarity drives your focus, your progress, and your success.” (2:51-3:03)

• “I burnt out first and then I woke up and realized I have to follow my heart. So when I transitioned into career coaching, it wasn't just about the journey for the clients, it was about a journey for me.” (6:09-6:36)

• “Trust your gut and trust your heart. If something is screaming at you, stop and reflect on it, acknowledge it, and then give yourself permission to move through it. Don’t push it away because if you push it away, it's just going to come back.” (18:05-18:22)

• “My biggest guidance is go as fast or as slow as you feel like you can to get to where you want and deserve to be. Don't ever think that because you have a really busy job you can't take one hour a day to focus on getting clarity because that is the most crucial piece of this.” (33:45-34:21)

Own Your Lane™ - Personal Branding & Marketing For Experts

The podcast for expert-led business owners ready to confidently position, brand, and market themselves to win clients and industy oppotunities.

Hosted by Michelle B. Griffin, speaker, strategist and LinkedIn® visibility expert. As the founder of Brand Leaders and with her Own Your Lane™ Recognition Roadmap, Michelle helps expertise-led business owners become the clear choice in their field.

Learn more at MichelleBGriffin.com/chat

WEBSITE: MichelleBGriffin.com
GET VISIBLE ON LINKEDIN: Free Audio Masterclass
READ: My Personal Branding Books
LISTEN: The LinkedIn Branding Show
CONNECT: With Me on LinkedIn

“The more you build relationships within your network, the more great things can happen,” says Wendy Maynard, online business and marketing strategist. In today’s episode, Michelle and Wendy sit down to discuss how to efficiently leverage a small following on LinkedIn. 

According to Wendy, you do not need a massive following on LinkedIn to start selling. In fact, as long as you believe in yourself and the value of your service or product, there is no limit to how much you can sell. At the end of the day, the key to success is to be your own cheerleader. 

Tune into this week’s episode for a conversation on how to attract clients through LinkedIn...no matter the size of your following!

Quotes

• “You can actually sell anything at any price as long as you have enough belief in it.” (20:28-20:33) 

• “I learned business through falling and scraping my face against the pavement. I learned things the hard way but I just had to figure it out.” (21:27-21:37)

• “You’ve gotta believe in yourself and your offer first or no one else will.” (23:31-23:35)

• “You’re not coming to the table as an order taker. You’re coming to the table as a problem solver.” (24:55-25:02)

• “The more you build your network and the more you build relationships within the network, the more great things can happen.” (31:25-31:31)

• “Figure out how you can increase your belief in yourself. Tell yourself good job because we have a tendency to beat ourselves up.” (35:20-35:35)

Own Your Lane™ - Personal Branding & Marketing For Experts

The podcast for expert-led business owners ready to confidently position, brand, and market themselves to win clients and industy oppotunities.

Hosted by Michelle B. Griffin, speaker, strategist and LinkedIn® visibility expert. As the founder of Brand Leaders and with her Own Your Lane™ Recognition Roadmap, Michelle helps expertise-led business owners become the clear choice in their field.

Learn more at MichelleBGriffin.com/chat

WEBSITE: MichelleBGriffin.com
GET VISIBLE ON LINKEDIN: Free Audio Masterclass
READ: My Personal Branding Books
LISTEN: The LinkedIn Branding Show
CONNECT: With Me on LinkedIn

“Personal brands should have podcasts because it’s one of the easiest ways to grow your brand,” explains Ash Borland, Podcaster, Content Creator, and Consultant. In today’s episode, Ash discusses the steps required to start a podcast for your personal brand business. 

Now is the perfect time to get into podcasting. It is a rapidly growing medium that can help you to become an authority in your industry, grow your network, and build your business. Before starting your podcast, nail down your concept and format. Don’t worry about equipment right away, but instead focus on your goal for your show and what you want to gain from your intended audience. Once you’ve settled on a concept and format, then build up a batch of episodes so that you can maintain consistency even when life throws you a curveball. 

Tune into this week’s episode for a conversation about the best steps to take when starting a podcast for your personal brand business.  

Quotes

• “Personal brands should have podcasts because it’s one of the easiest ways to grow your brand, grow your network. It’s got the least friction. It’s got the least amount of saturation.” (9:05-9:17) 

• “The very first thing that podcasters should do is look at their format and their concept. The concept is the idea. What do you actually want to do? What is the goal of this show?” (15:38-16:05)

• “If you’re gonna do it, batch 5 to 8 weeks before you launch. A little bit of extra time upfront will save you a world of time later on. Just be smart with your time.” (37:15-38:00)

• “Make sure that you have enough runway to be able to if busy life comes up or you get sick or something happens. Consistency is very important. If you drop out or you go away for a month, bear in mind that podcasts are, we’re habitual creatures. If your show doesn’t turn up that week, they’ll go and look for another show and if that show is better than yours, they won’t come back.” (39:21-40:06) 

• “It only comes by you actually going after it and doing it.” (45:12-45:16)

Own Your Lane™ - Personal Branding & Marketing For Experts

The podcast for expert-led business owners ready to confidently position, brand, and market themselves to win clients and industy oppotunities.

Hosted by Michelle B. Griffin, speaker, strategist and LinkedIn® visibility expert. As the founder of Brand Leaders and with her Own Your Lane™ Recognition Roadmap, Michelle helps expertise-led business owners become the clear choice in their field.

Learn more at MichelleBGriffin.com/chat

WEBSITE: MichelleBGriffin.com
GET VISIBLE ON LINKEDIN: Free Audio Masterclass
READ: My Personal Branding Books
LISTEN: The LinkedIn Branding Show
CONNECT: With Me on LinkedIn