This week’s featured track is FROM THE TRENCHES — in-depth conversations with experienced operators working at the sharp end of PR, media and communications.

Hosted by Trevor Young, this series explores how recognition is earned, how credibility compounds, and how influence is built in today’s reputation economy.

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This episode dives straight into the revolution happening in search and reputation - where discovery, validation, and authority-building are being transformed by GenAI.

Host Trevor Young - along with expert guests Darryl Sparey and Simon Murphy - take listeners into the trenches of PR, communications, and AI, unpacking how leaders, experts and brands can earn their presence in the generative AI landscape.

What’s covered:

• Why traditional SEO strategies aren’t enough, and what “Generative Engine Optimisation” really means.
• The rise of GenAI as the go-to for deep questions, synthesised answers, and (personal) brand credibility.
• Why B2B decision-makers and consumers are moving to GenAI - and what it means for your visibility, reputation, and commercial impact.
• How AI platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Copilot, and Claude have different rules and partnerships that influence what gets surfaced.
• The critical role of earned media, owned media, and structured content - plus, why regularly updating your 'About' page is now mission-critical.
• Actionable advice for leaders, founders, and experts: how to proactively audit, create, and position content that gets recognized and cited by AI.
• The new “authority stack” – structured web content, consistent entity presence (LinkedIn, Wikipedia, directories), and meaningful earned media mentions in both small and big outlets.

Key takeaways:

• Does your brand really exist if GenAI doesn’t recognise it - proactivity is key!
• The right kind of content and citations matter more than ever - depth beats breadth.
• Freshness and consistency trump old-school “set-and-forget” SEO techniques.
• Smaller, niche players can leverage agility to outpace bigger brands in GenAI-driven discovery.

Who should listen?

PR pros, marketers, founders, thought leaders, and anyone serious about reputation and authority in the age of AI.

Connect with the experts:

• Darryl Sparey: hardnumbers.co.uk, LinkedIn
• Simon Murphy: LinkedIn, indigomurphy.com

Ready to earn your right to be discovered? Tune in and set your strategy for the AI-powered future of reputation!

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Connect with Trevor on LinkedIn

Subscribe to Earn the Right Substack

P.S. Don’t forget to subscribe and share if you found this valuable ~ thanks!

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DID YOU KNOW MUCH OF YOUR 'MARKETING' IS ACTUALLY PR?

Marketing vs PR: Let's continue to 'pull this thread'! This is part 2 of this particular topic - see episode 316 for part 1.

As a business owner, if you can get clarity and focus on the things you SHOULD be doing rather than trying to do everything in a mishmash way - you’re going to be way ahead of your competition (not to mention more confident in moving forward!).

When it comes to building marketplace visibility and reputation, the winners are those who see the bigger picture, understand the changing landscape, and take action accordingly. 

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ABOUT EARN THE RIGHT:

EARN THE RIGHT is an audio channel for reputation-based authority building, and turning credibility into real-world recognition and opportunity.

Hosted by Trevor Young, it’s for credible founders, experts, and solo practitioners who’ve earned their stripes and are ready to amplify their voice with integrity.

Across four distinct (but interrelated) tracks -

1. From The Trenches
2. The Pay-off
3. Pocket PR Essentials
4. In The Arena

— you’ll get the ideas, stories, and strategies that help you cut through the noise and build lasting authority.

Subscribe to the EARN THE RIGHT newsletter - EarnTheRight.co

This week’s featured track is FROM THE TRENCHES — in-depth conversations with experienced operators working at the sharp end of PR, media and communications.

We're flipping things this week - instead host Trevor Young doing the interviewing, today he's the one being interviewed.

This episode is a replay of a conversation Trevor had with Tom Schwab on the The Podcast Interview Marketing Show (you can find the original interview here).

Let's get into it!

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EPISODE OVERVIEW:

Forget fireworks, build momentum!

Trevor Young and Tom Schwab, founder of Interview Valet, unpack Trevor's Rolling Thunder Strategy - a blueprint for growing credibility, authority, and a brand that actually lasts.

What you’ll learn:

• Why one big publicity moment isn’t as powerful as consistent, niche exposure
• How to play the long game in branding and earned media
• The crucial difference between earned authority and manufactured influence
• How AI is changing how people find and trust you
• Steps to becoming the go-to expert in your industry

Notable highlights:

• Don’t chase tier one media exposure -start with niche podcasts and industry blogs
• Build trust with the right people, not just big audiences
• AI is now doing your research; credibility online = credibility in its results
• Reputation creators vs indie content creators - focus on impact, not vanity metrics
• Consistent effort creates “Rolling Thunder”: start small, grow big, amplify everything

Action steps:

1. Pick your niche and own your voice
2. Create one owned media channel (blog, newsletter, podcast, or YouTube)
3. Secure guest spots or articles in specialised industry spaces
4. Keep a log of your media, amplify it on socials, build your authority wall
5. Focus on credibility before conversions - earning trust is earning future business

Subscribe & connect:

• Get more wisdom: Earn the Right newsletter on Substack (earntheright.co)
• Follow Trevor Young and Tom Schwab on LinkedIn
• Check out Tom's podcast - The Podcast Interview Marketing Show

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DID YOU KNOW MUCH OF YOUR 'MARKETING' IS ACTUALLY PR?

As we heard in a previous episode (312: POCKET PR ESSENTIALS / Unpacking public relations: Busting myths), PR is largely misunderstood in the business world.

But so too is marketing, which is often equated simply to running ads or any activity that promotes a brand.

There are a few differences between PR and marketing, with no shortage of crossover between the two.

Understanding these differences will give you an edge over those who are perennially confused and thus get caught in the trap of just 'doing stuff' without understanding why.

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ABOUT EARN THE RIGHT:

EARN THE RIGHT is an audio channel for reputation-based authority building, and turning credibility into real-world recognition and opportunity.

Hosted by Trevor Young, it’s for credible founders, experts, and solo practitioners who’ve earned their stripes and are ready to amplify their voice with integrity.

Across four distinct (but interrelated) tracks -

1. From The Trenches
2. The Pay-off
3. Pocket PR Essentials
4. In The Arena

— you’ll get the ideas, stories, and strategies that help you cut through the noise and build lasting authority.

Subscribe to the EARN THE RIGHT newsletter - EarnTheRight.co

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What’s the real difference between your personal brand and your reputation - and why does it matter?

In this solo episode, Trevor cuts through the hype to break down why chasing a flashy personal brand without a foundation of reputation is a recipe for disaster. He unpacks:

• Why some people gain massive online followings but can’t sustain long-term influence
• The crucial distinction between personal brand (the story you tell the world) and reputation (the story others tell about you)
• How over-investing in branding before building credibility leads to “substance signal inversion”
• Why reputation is built on evidence, not spin, and why it always outlasts flashy marketing tricks
• Smart, actionable steps for strengthening your reputation and syncing it with your personal brand
• The power of earned authority and how to leverage third-party validation to amplify your message
• Why longevity, trust, and congruence make up the secret sauce for sustainable success

Whether you’re in the trenches of entrepreneurship or just starting to think strategically about your own professional presence, this episode delivers hard-won wisdom and practical insight on how to mesh brand and reputation for the long game.

Listen now and make sure your personal brand stands on the solid ground of real reputation.

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Connect with Trevor on LinkedIn

Subscribe to Earn the Right Substack

P.S. Don’t forget to subscribe and share if you found this valuable ~ thanks!

This week’s featured track is FROM THE TRENCHES — in-depth conversations with experienced operators working at the sharp end of PR, media and communications.

Hosted by Trevor Young, this series explores how recognition is earned, how credibility compounds, and how influence is built in today’s reputation economy.

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EPISODE OVERVIEW:

Getting media coverage isn’t about clever subject lines or perfectly polished press releases.

It’s about becoming someone journalists trust.

In this episode, Trevor sits down with Hunter Stuart - founder of Big Game PR and former HuffPost journalist - to unpack what really happens inside modern newsrooms, and what it actually takes to move from cold pitch to go-to source.

Drawing on experience from both sides of the journalism–PR divide, Hunter shares grounded insights for founders, solo experts and B2B leaders who want to build authority that lasts.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• What today’s shrinking, time-poor newsrooms mean for founders seeking coverage
• Why most pitches fail before they’re even opened
• How to bridge the “empathy gap” between experts and journalists
• The power of sharp, well-formed opinions in a sea of bland commentary
• Why relationships outperform mass pitching every time
• How to think in angles and trends, not product announcements
• Practical ways to become a trusted, repeat source, even without a PR team
• Where hybrid, niche and industry media create overlooked opportunity

Whether you’re building profile from scratch or looking to strengthen your position in top-tier outlets, this conversation will help you think more strategically about how authority with the media is earned over time.

Connect with Hunter Stuart:

Find him on LinkedIn or at Big Game PR.

Tune in now and start earning your spot in the media!

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Connect with Trevor on LinkedIn

Subscribe to Earn the Right Substack

P.S. Don’t forget to subscribe and share if you found this valuable ~ thanks!

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Forget the flashy, big-ticket PR moments; in this solo episode, Trevor turns his attention to the small, intentional actions that truly move the needle over time.

He calls 'Micro Acts of PR'.

These are the daily habits and generous gestures that deepen relationships, create connection, and build reputational capital over time.

From leaving a thoughtful comment to publicly lifting up peers, every touchpoint counts in the body of work that defines your authority.

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Connect with Trevor on LinkedIn

Subscribe to Earn the Right Substack

P.S. Don’t forget to subscribe and share if you found this valuable ~ thanks!

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UNDERSTANDING PR IS KEY TO DOING IT WELL (AND GETTING RESULTS FOR YOUR BUSINESS)

PR is a weapon, but only if you understand how to harness its power for the benefit of your business (or cause or issue if that's your end game).

In this episode, we get down to tin-tacks, unpacking the concept of public relations, busting myths, and discussing what PR really is (versus what the majority of the business world thinks it is), plus why it's important for entrepreneurs to understand the crucial role it plays in building their brand and their business.

Having a practical understanding of PR will give you an edge in the marketplace. Many (most?) people in business - even those in marketing! - have little understanding of what constitutes PR today; they simply don't recognise or appreciate with any great depth the key role it plays in helping to build and sustain a successful enterprise.

Bottom line: You can't master PR until you understand its nuances, the role it plays in the marketing mix, as well as the value it brings to the table in a more holistic business sense.

Become one of the 1% of entrepreneurs who 'get' PR and thus are able to harness it in a powerful and strategic way for their business!

What you'll learn:

• The true definition of PR (and why most of what you've heard is wrong)
• Why reputation and relationships are the keys to long-term business success
• How to sustainably grow your audience and become your own PR machine
• Busting persistent PR myths and misconceptions
• Actionable tactics to build bridges and amplify positive word of mouth

Whether you're a solopreneur, small business, or just keen to get your story out there, tune in to understand how PR can fuel your growth - minus the spin!

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ABOUT EARN THE RIGHT:

EARN THE RIGHT is an audio channel for reputation-based authority building, and turning credibility into real-world recognition and opportunity.

Hosted by Trevor Young, it’s for credible founders, experts, and solo practitioners who’ve earned their stripes and are ready to amplify their voice with integrity.

Across four distinct (but interrelated) tracks -

• From The Trenches
• The Pay-off
• Pocket PR Essentials
• In The Arena

— you’ll get the ideas, stories, and strategies that help you cut through the noise and build lasting authority.

Subscribe to the EARN THE RIGHT newsletter - EarnTheRight.co

Hosted by Trevor Young, this track shares grounded insights, hard-won lessons, and practical wisdom from those shaping credible marketing communications in the modern reputation economy.

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How do you build an authentic, credible business or personal brand in today’s hyper-competitive, AI-driven, digital-first world—without getting lost in the algorithm trap or shouting into the void?

Host Trevor Young sits down with brand and PR pros Andrés López-Varela (ALV) and Bec Sands, a dynamic husband-wife team, for a lively, honest conversation packed with real-world reputation and authority-building insights.

In this episode:

• The real definition of “PR” today - and why authentic perception and strong communities matter more than ever
• Why performative rage-bait and dancing reels aren’t a shortcut to credibility (and why you shouldn’t let the algorithm erode your identity)
• Personal branding for good: advice for experts, thought leaders, and entrepreneurs who want to share genuine value, not just noise
• The power of owned media (newsletters, podcasts, websites, private communities) and how to strategically select your home base beyond social media
• Sharp debate: Is paid media the new starting point for small businesses? Or can you still grow organically by tapping your existing network?
• Earned media secrets: How to get invited into other people’s rooms, from niche podcasts to industry panels—with practical examples you can start today
• Why building deep connections (not just going viral) should be your top focus
• The compounding value of credibility markers and how social proof works in B2B and B2C
• What’s working for Bec and Andres right now - and their take on the evolving role of AI in marketing strategy

If you’re a consultant, creative, marketer, entrepreneur, or aspiring authority ready to make your reputation matter (without selling your soul to the algorithm gods), this episode is your goldmine.

Find our guests online:

• Bec Sands
• Andrés López-Varela

Tune in, earn the right, and start turning credibility into recognition and opportunity—on your terms!

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Connect with Trevor on LinkedIn

Subscribe to Earn the Right Substack

P.S. Don’t forget to subscribe and share if you found this valuable ~ thanks!

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What does it really take to build authority and a lasting reputation in today's digital-first landscape?

In this solo episode, Trevor breaks down the "Broadway vs. Off-Broadway" approach to personal brand PR and communications, revealing why the most trusted voices are often found on the smallest stages.

Key takeaways:

• Big Stage vs. Small Stage: Why chasing mainstream "Broadway" platforms (LinkedIn, tier 1 media, viral moments etc) gets you visibility, but not always credibility.
• The Power of Off-Broadway: Discover how authority is forged on niche podcasts, in professional associations, newsletters, and boutique conferences - where trust, engagement, and real relationships flourish.
• Going Off Off Broadway: Dive into the hidden world of hyper-niche communities, private masterminds, local grassroots events, and spontaneous opportunities that spark deep, memorable connections.
• Strategy Unlocked: Learn why balancing the big and small stages - visibility AND intimacy - is the secret to building a reputation that lasts.
• Action Question: Where is your personal brand currently playing? Are you leveraging the powerful "hidden stages" where true authority is built?

Tune in to discover the hidden stages where credible voices are made. It's time to take your brand Off-Broadway!

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Connect with Trevor on LinkedIn

Subscribe to Earn the Right Substack

P.S. Don’t forget to subscribe and share if you found this valuable ~ thanks!

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In this episode, Trevor Young dives into the essential challenge for businesses today: standing out in a noisy, digital-first marketplace.

From battling social media algorithms to overspending on ads that don’t cut through, Trevor explains why building and nurturing your own audience is the key to lasting PR and brand impact.

Key Highlights:

• Why relying solely on paid ads isn’t sustainable anymore
• The power of growing and owning your audience for long-term results
• Becoming your own media network -no more renting someone else’s platform
• The importance of a holistic, ongoing strategy (not just quick campaigns!)
• Humanising your brand: moving beyond faceless business communication
• Engaging clients, influencers, and partners for real resonance

Tune in for practical insights to help you build real connections, communicate with purpose, and stay top-of-mind in your industry.

The lesson for today? Start growing an audience you can connect with - and do it as a human, not a logo.

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ABOUT EARN THE RIGHT:

EARN THE RIGHT is an audio channel for reputation-based authority building, and turning credibility into real-world recognition and opportunity.

Hosted by Trevor Young, it’s for credible founders, experts, and solo practitioners who’ve earned their stripes and are ready to amplify their voice with integrity.

Across four distinct (but interrelated) tracks -

• Crank The 3rd
• Pocket PR Essentials
• In The Arena
• From The Trenches

— you’ll get the ideas, stories, and strategies that help you cut through the noise and build lasting authority.

Subscribe to the EARN THE RIGHT newsletter - EarnTheRight.co

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Today's guest is Karen Ansen - founder of Ignite HR and Employment Law, and Ignite Your Purpose.

Join us for a raw, inspiring conversation on weaving compliance, compassion, and personal purpose into a business (and life) you love.

Karen shares her remarkable journey: from two decades in government, to studying law in her 40s while juggling work and motherhood, to boldly launching her own boutique firm at 52.

She gets candid about the fear and tears, the setbacks and breakthroughs, and why sometimes you just have to get out of your own way.

You’ll discover:

• Why Karen left a “safe” government job and took a nine-year journey to become a lawyer
• How she bootstrapped her first business, without a single client lined up
• Why Karen believes you should start with what you have (and worry about the website later)
• The power of niching down, and why complexity can be your business superpower
• How Karen melds legal expertise with leadership coaching and trauma-informed retreats in her Ignite Your Purpose passion project
• Lessons learned scaling up to seven employees, then intentionally downsizing for freedom, balance, and impact
• The impact of AI and remote work in reshaping Karen’s business model for a new era

Plus: Karen’s honest take on motherhood guilt, building a values-led workplace, and crafting a “retirement” of meaning, travel, and giving back.

Are you a multi-skilled professional with passions that don’t fit the usual box?

This episode is packed with practical wisdom for blending your talents, overcoming your doubts, and earning the right to build a fulfilling, purpose-driven business.

Connect with Karen Ansen:

• Ignite HR & Employment Law 
• Karen's LinkedIn

Like what you heard? Please rate and subscribe to EARN THE RIGHT for more inspiring conversations.

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In today’s episode, Trevor dives into the critical difference between being an expert and being recognised as an authority in your field.

Drawing from his own journey and insights, he unpacks why even the most skilled professionals can remain invisible, missing out on opportunities, if they're not seen as leaders in their space.

Trevor covers practical steps for crossing the "perception bridge", from codifying your expertise and owning your point of view, to building a communications platform and showing up in the right rooms.

If you’re ready to move from being the best-kept secret to a sought-after authority, this episode will help get you started!

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ABOUT EARN THE RIGHT:

EARN THE RIGHT is an audio channel for reputation-based authority building, and turning credibility into real-world recognition and opportunity.

Hosted by Trevor Young, it’s for credible founders, experts, and solo practitioners who’ve earned their stripes and are ready to amplify their voice with integrity.

Across four distinct (but interrelated) tracks -

• Crank The 3rd
• Pocket PR Essentials
• In The Arena
• From The Trenches

— you’ll get the ideas, stories, and strategies that help you cut through the noise and build lasting authority.

Subscribe to the EARN THE RIGHT newsletter - EarnTheRight.co

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Today's ever-evolving marketplace presents some serious challenges for business owners.

We live in a digital-first world; today’s social currency is trust (and it’s in short supply!). This in turn presents business owners with a number of challenges when it comes to marketing our brands and communicating with prospective clients and customers.

KEY MESSAGE: We need to be pragmatic — what’s worked in the past probably won’t work now (although there are some truisms that carry through e.g. human stories, helpfulness, thought provocation, openness and transparency etc - these will be themes we touch on throughout this series).

Onwards!

~ Trevor

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ABOUT EARN THE RIGHT:

EARN THE RIGHT is an audio channel for reputation-based authority building, and turning credibility into real-world recognition and opportunity.

Hosted by Trevor Young, it’s for credible founders, experts, and solo practitioners who’ve earned their stripes and are ready to amplify their voice with integrity.

Across four distinct (but interrelated) tracks -

• Crank The 3rd
• Pocket PR Essentials
• In The Arena
• From The Trenches

— you’ll get the ideas, stories, and strategies that help you cut through the noise and build lasting authority.

Subscribe to the EARN THE RIGHT newsletter - EarnTheRight.co

In this encore episode, host Trevor Young sits down with creative director and self-confessed corporate troublemaker, Stanley Johnson, for an inspiring conversation about creativity, curiosity, and the art of staying relevant in today's fast-changing world.

From humble beginnings as the child of factory workers in the UK to leading successful ventures both in agencies and his own consultancy, Stanley shares how his journey through trades, advertising, and entrepreneurship has shaped his approach to work and life.

He offers honest reflections on navigating career pivots, lessons learned from unlikely experiences, and the invaluable returns of long-term professional relationships.

The episode offers a candid look at the importance of curiosity, not just in creative industries, but in all facets of business and personal growth. 

Stanley and Trevor unpack strategies for replenishing your creative toolbox, challenging yourself to explore new perspectives, and resisting the comfort of routine.

They explore the role of pop culture, social media, and technology in keeping ideas fresh and meaningful, touching on topics like echo chambers, algorithmic influence, and the value of serendipity in inspiration.

The discussion is packed with practical insights for anyone seeking to stay sharp and relevant, especially in the “third chapter” of their professional lives.

Hear about Stanley’s day-to-day work at his consultancy, the importance of writing and brevity in sharpening thought, and the routines that keep his creative fires burning.

Whether you’re a seasoned professional, solopreneur, or someone looking to reignite your passion and curiosity, this episode delivers actionable takeaways on how to keep learning, questioning, and making a meaningful impact well into your career journey.

Connect with Stanley on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/branddna/

This is the introductory episode of the POCKET PR ESSENTIALS audio program. Think of it as micro coaching, training and inspiration in your pocket.

Subscribe to EARN THE RIGHT today so you don't miss subsequent micro-coaching episodes as they're published.

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ABOUT EARN THE RIGHT:

EARN THE RIGHT is an audio channel for reputation-based authority building, and turning credibility into real-world recognition and opportunity.

Hosted by Trevor Young, it’s for credible founders, experts, and solo practitioners who’ve earned their stripes and are ready to amplify their voice with integrity.

Across four distinct (but interrelated) tracks -

• Crank The 3rd
• Pocket PR Essentials
• In The Arena
• From The Trenches

— you’ll get the ideas, stories, and strategies that help you cut through the noise and build lasting authority.

Subscribe to the EARN THE RIGHT newsletter - EarnTheRight.co

In this relaunch episode, host Trevor Young lays out why being brilliant at what you do just isn’t enough anymore - you have to earn attention, trust, and the opportunity to make an impact.

This podcast is your guide to building reputation-based authority and turning credibility into real-world recognition.

Discover:

• Why earning the right matters in today’s noisy, digital-first world
• The four signature tracks of the show: Crank the Third, Pocket PR Essentials, In the Arena, and From the Trenches
• How to build trust, recognition, and authority with integrity - no hype, no shortcuts, no chasing the latest fleeting trends
• What makes Earn the Right more than a podcast: it’s a learning platform for credible founders, experts, and solo practitioners

If you’re ready to go deeper, do the work, and amplify your voice with clarity and purpose, this is the show for you!

Ready to earn your seat at the table? Hit subscribe, and let’s get started!

Find the newsletter and more at EarnTheRight.co

In this enlightening episode, Trevor Young sits down with Dr. Jen Frahm, a change leadership expert and global facilitator, to unpack her approach to balancing a thriving career with a fulfilling personal life.

Jen shares her candid response to the oft-asked question, "How do you do it all?" Her answer might surprise you.

With refreshing honesty, she reveals that she doesn't do it all - far from it. Instead, Jen offers a nuanced perspective on productivity, self-care, and professional success that's both inspiring and attainable.

Key insights from the conversation:

• The power of grace and self-compassion in professional life
• Why energy management trumps time management
• The role of AI and automation in creating space for creativity and rest
• The importance of movement and play in maintaining mental agility
• How to navigate work-life balance with wisdom gained from decades of experience

Jen's approach challenges conventional notions of hustle culture, offering a more sustainable path to success.

She emphasises the value of "working out loud" - sharing your journey transparently - and how this practice can build trust and connections in your professional network.

Practical takeaways:

• Strategies for using AI and automation to streamline work processes
• Tips for incorporating movement and creativity into daily routines
• Insights on balancing global work commitments with personal well-being
• The importance of acknowledging and nurturing supportive relationships

Whether you're an entrepreneur, a corporate leader, or someone looking to optimise their professional life, this conversation offers valuable insights on thriving in today's fast-paced world without sacrificing personal well-being.

"Grace removes the grind." - Dr. Jen Frahm

Join us for a thought-provoking discussion that will inspire you to reassess your approach to work, success, and life balance. It's time to embrace a more holistic view of productivity - one that values both professional achievement and personal fulfillment.

In this episode, host Trevor Young sits down with Jet Swain - strategic advisor, speaker, and founder of the Affection Economy.

Jet’s story is anything but linear: from growing up on a sheep farm in rural Australia, studying fine arts, and braving the boisterous world of teaching, to carving out a dynamic career in advertising, innovation, and human-centered design.

Jet opens up about her eclectic journey, filled with zigzags, moments of reinvention, and lessons found in adversity, including her battle with breast cancer and navigating single motherhood. She shares how these experiences fueled her passion for the Affection Economy: a values-led movement that challenges traditional leadership and encourages bringing kindness, courage, and authenticity back to business and daily life.

Together, Trevor and Jet explore why now is the perfect time to dust off old dreams, get back in touch with your true self, and proudly claim your voice and vision - especially if you feel invisible in today’s workforce.

Whether you’re looking to transform your career, reconnect with your personal values, or simply hear an inspiring story of resilience and reinvention, this episode is packed with wisdom, practical insights, and the kind of warmth that only comes with lived experience.

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Key Takeaways from the Episode:

🟢 Embrace the Zigzags

Jet’s unconventional path is proof that paying attention to your instincts and interests can lead you somewhere remarkable, even - especially - if you don’t have a map.

🟢 Find (& Live) Your Values

Jet challenges us to identify our top three values - not buzzwords, but what truly matters and drives you. Kindness, courage, and curiosity are her guiding lights. What are yours?

🟢 Reclaim Your Voice

After years of being told she was “too much” or “too kind,” Jet discovered those were actually her strengths. Speaking up and standing out takes courage. Sometimes, as she puts it, “I am a lot, but I’m not too much.”

🟢 Building a One-Person Movement

From speaking and mentoring to creating practical tools (think: postcards, values cards, and a book), Jet is turning her philosophy into a platform and business - proof that you can design work to fit around your life and beliefs.

🟢 Why Connection (and Community) Matters

Kindness and connection aren’t soft business skills - they’re levers for real change. And sharing your story helps others find the courage to tell theirs.

Thanks for tuning in to CRANK THE 3RD —don’t forget to check out Jet Swain’s work, connect with her online, and keep an eye out for more inspiring stories and practical insights to help you find your voice, reconnect with your values, and keep cranking in your next chapter!

In this episode, host Trevor Young sits down with Andrew "Billy" Baxter - an acclaimed leader whose career is a masterclass in professional reinvention, adaptability, and building a meaningful portfolio life after the corporate grind.

Once a heavy-hitter in Australia’s advertising industry, Billy has transitioned into a diverse and purpose-driven professional world: he chairs and sits on major boards including Australian Pork, and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, all while running his own thriving business consultancy, 24 Hour Business Plan.

Trevor and Billy dive deep into what it takes to successfully pivot after decades in a traditional career path, how to build a board portfolio, and why curiosity and ongoing relevance are crucial in today’s fast-changing business landscape.

Billy opens up about his personal journey -sharing the lessons learned from decades at the top of the marketing world, how he uses his network, why having a clear sense of purpose matters, and his practical tips for anyone looking to craft a more meaningful, flexible professional life.

Whether you’re contemplating your own ‘what’s next’ or simply curious about life beyond the C-suite, this episode is packed with honest insights and actionable advice.

Host Trevor Young sits down with Judy Winslow, founder of Unforgettable Brands, to explore how experienced professionals and entrepreneurs can build a soulful, authentic, and unforgettable personal brand in the so-called “third chapter” of their careers.

Judy shares her powerful personal story - from facing depression and feeling out of place as a young woman, to discovering her purpose through creativity, business, and brand strategy.

Together, Trevor and Judy unpack the importance of embracing your unique twist, reconnecting with your values, and getting comfortable with being a “unicorn”—someone who dares to be different in a world that often rewards blending in.

You’ll get practical tips on how to bring out your individuality, what it means to infuse your brand with real soul, and why your past experiences are the raw material for your finest work.

Judy also pulls back the curtain on her process for helping clients get braver and bolder, whether you’re building a team, scaling your business, or preparing for a big-stage moment like a TEDx talk.

If you’re ready to stop playing small, own your story, and amplify your impact, this conversation is packed with wisdom, humour, and actionable steps.

Let’s get started!

QUOTABLE QUOTE FROM JUDY:

“No one speaks quite like you. No one articulates quite like you. No one sees your industry quite like you, nor do they have the experience. So… just being you—that's so fabulous.”

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Visit Judy's website - https://unforgettablebrands.com/

Connect with Trevor on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/trevoryoung

In this episode, Trevor Young is joined by brand and career strategist, Wendy Pavey, for a thought-provoking look at what comes next for experienced professionals over 50.

As Trevor puts it, this one’s for anyone contemplating their “third chapter”, whether you’re an entrepreneur considering scaling back, a business owner looking for more purpose, or a seasoned executive curious about building a flexible and meaningful portfolio career.

Wendy shares her expertise on how to harness decades of hard-earned wisdom and experience, drawing parallels between brand-building for global companies and personal branding for individuals.

Together, they break down the concept of a portfolio career - what it really means, how to tailor it for your strengths and passions, and why it’s a powerful way to blend lifestyle, legacy, and continued professional impact in later life.

From exploring advisory and board roles, consulting, and mentoring, to actionable strategies for staying visible, relevant, and resilient, this episode is packed with actionable tips for designing a work life on your terms.

If you’re ready to take control of your professional future and craft a career that matches your values, flexibility, and ambition - especially after 50 - this conversation will give you both the confidence and ideas to get started.

For more from Wendy, connect with her on LinkedIn or explore her insights through her website - www.yourexecutivebrand.com

In this episode of Crank The 3rd, host Trevor Young sits down with Carmen Sederino, a performance master, speaking strategist, and founder of Illuminated Story.

Carmen shares her journey from being a shy child to a trained actor to now, where she is helping individuals transform high-stakes presentations into unforgettable performances.

Key Discussion Points:

• Carmen’s Background: She talks about her early career in retail leadership and her formal training in acting, which helped her excel in speaking and coaching roles.
• Professional Speaking Landscape: Carmen and Trevor explore the shifting dynamics in professional speaking post-pandemic, emphasising the blend of in-person, virtual, and hybrid events.
• The Role of AI: Carmen discusses how AI can generate speeches but emphasises the irreplaceable nature of human connection and quality in speaking engagements.
• Strategies for Engaging Speaking: - Moving from information-based presentations to creating immersive experiences. - Focusing on authenticity over aspiration, highlighting the importance of genuine connection and vulnerability. - Creating meaning in messages rather than simply conveying matter.
• Illuminated Story Method: Carmen shares her approach to transforming presentations by focusing on both script content and engaging delivery techniques to create a memorable impact.
• Advice for Aspiring Speakers: Reflect on personal experiences, think about the message you want to share, and understand your audience to craft a unique speaking approach.

Practical Tips:

• Utilise sound and video strategically to enhance presentations.
• Engage with audiences through storytelling and interactive elements.
• Rehearse thoroughly to ensure a seamless and impactful delivery.

Carmen's advice? Ditch the PowerPoint, tell a story: "You are so much more interesting than your PowerPoint."

Carmen’s Contact Information:

• Visit Illuminated Story for more insights and access to a masterclass on improving public speaking skills.

Conclusion:

This episode is a deep dive into mastering the art of professional speaking, blending theatrical techniques with authentic storytelling to create lasting impressions.

Paul's podcast sideline focuses on helping midlife men and their partners navigate the challenges of midlife to lead more fulfilling lives.

Throughout their conversation, Paul shares insights into his personal journey of self-discovery and how it led to the creation of his podcast.

He discusses the lack of resources available for men during the midlife transition and how the Middle Man podcast aims to fill that gap by covering topics such as mental health, physical wellness, and modern masculinity.

Trevor and Paul dive into the importance of understanding one's purpose and passion, especially in midlife.

Paul reflects on overcoming depression and the feeling of being directionless, leading him to start the podcast as an experiment.

The episode also touches on how societal changes and the redefinition of masculinity impact men today.

Paul emphasises the importance of building a movement to support midlife men by creating a platform for open dialogue and sharing experiences.

Whether you're exploring a new phase of life or seeking ways to connect with your own passions, this episode provides valuable perspectives and practical advice for anyone navigating midlife transitions.

Tune in to hear more about Paul's journey, the inspiration behind Middle Man, and the lessons he's learned along the way.

Likewise, if you're interested in starting a podcast as a sideline 'passion play', Paul also shares some great tips and insights on this front as well.

CHECK OUT THE MIDDLE MAN PODCAST - https://middlemanpodcast.com/

But what if I told you that the key to standing out and thriving in this AI-driven landscape isn't about competing with machines, but rather embracing our uniquely human qualities?

This is the theme of this fascinating conversation with Mark Schaefer, a marketing strategy consultant, keynote speaker, and author of the newly-released book, Audacious: How Humans Win in an AI Marketing World.

Mark's insights shed light on how we can leverage human connection and creativity to carve out our niche in a rapidly evolving business landscape.

At the heart of Mark's philosophy is the concept of being audacious.

But what does that really mean in the context of our professional lives? It's not about grand gestures or risky stunts. Instead, it's about creating moments of awe in our everyday interactions and work.

Mark defines audacity as "something that creates a moment of awe in your life." It's about doing something that makes people sit up and take notice, something that sparks curiosity and connection.

In a world where AI can churn out competent work at lightning speed, it's these human touches that truly set us apart.

Also touched on during this conversation is Mark's own journey, how he started blogging at age 49 and how it changed his life immeasurably.

Inspiring stuff!

Here are a few quotes from Mark:

• "You can't outsmart AI. You have to out human AI."
• "What's a little thing we can do to add awe to someone's day? To just create that spark of an emotional connection between us."
• "The great mindset today is to do something so interesting, so generous, so unmissable that other people can't wait to talk about it, because those are the great storytellers and that is what is believed."

VISIT MARK'S WEBSITE - https://businessesgrow.com/

If you like what you hear on the podcast, I'd love it if you could rate and review the show via your podcast app (especially if you're on Apple Podcasts) - thank you!

Karen Muldoon's journey from tech executive to functional nutrition practitioner might just be the inspiration you need!

In this episode, I sit down with Karen to explore her transition from a successful 30-year career in the corporate world to launching her own business focused on helping professional women navigate menopause.

We discuss the challenges, triumphs, and valuable lessons learned along the way.

Embracing a new path

Karen shares insights on:

• The moment she realised it was time for a career change
• How her personal health journey sparked a new passion
• The importance of continuous learning and investing in yourself

Building a business from scratch

We delve into:

• The process of choosing the right educational program
• Strategies for launching an online business, including the use of social media advertising
• The power of community and creating a safe space for clients

Overcoming challenges and self-doubt

Karen offers advice on:

• Dealing with the fear of putting yourself 'out there' online
• The importance of perseverance in the face of setbacks
• How to leverage your existing skills in a new industry

Whether you're contemplating a career change or looking to start your own business, this conversation offers valuable insights and practical tips.

Karen's story demonstrates that it's never too late to pursue your passions and make a meaningful impact in the world.

Key takeaways:

• The value of investing in coaching and education when starting a new venture
• How to build an online presence and attract clients through various platforms
• The importance of giving yourself time to grow and evolve in your new role

If you're ready to explore new possibilities and take control of your professional future, this episode is a must-listen.

Karen's journey proves that with passion, determination, and the right support, it's possible to create a fulfilling career change while in your 50s.

Connect with Karen on LinkedIn

You're not alone. Many seasoned entrepreneurs and business leaders find themselves grappling with the "curse of knowledge" - having so much expertise that it becomes challenging to communicate their core offering clearly.

In this episode, I sit down with global credibility expert and executive coach Mitchell Levy to explore the power of clarity and credibility for over-50 entrepreneurs and professionals.

We delve into the importance of honing your message and positioning yourself effectively in today's fast-paced business landscape.

Unlocking the Power of Clarity

Mitchell shares insights on:

• The concept of a Customer Point of Possibilities (CPOP) and how to craft one in under 10 words
• Why casting a wide net in business often backfires, and the benefits of "picking a lane"
• Strategies for aligning your business offerings with your personal brand

Building Credibility in the Digital Age

We also explore:

• The 10 core values of credibility and why integrity is the cornerstone
• How authenticity and vulnerability contribute to your professional reputation
• Practical tips for leveraging LinkedIn to showcase your expertise

Embracing Lifelong Learning

And finally, Mitchell emphasises the importance of continuous growth, sharing:

• His approach to running multiple businesses while staying professionally relevant and up to date
• The value of surrounding yourself with diverse perspectives, including younger generations
• Why attending conferences and pursuing certifications can spark new ideas and opportunities

Whether you're looking to refine your personal brand, boost your credibility, or navigate the next phase of your career, this conversation offers valuable insights for professionals at any stage.

Tune in to gain clarity on your unique value proposition and learn how to communicate it effectively in today's competitive marketplace.

CONNECT WITH MITCHELL - https://mitchelllevy.com/

You're not alone.

As someone with decades of experience under your belt, you've accumulated a wealth of knowledge, skills, and wisdom.

But in a world where technology evolves at breakneck speed and AI is reshaping industries, how do you leverage your expertise while staying current?

___________________

This episode is a little different. The key message is the importance for business owners and professionals aged 50 and over to stay relevant by keeping up with technology, particularly AI.

To bring this idea to life, I've created a recap of a previous interview with Valerie Khoo, who I've dubbed the 'Queen of Reinvention'.

This recap, generated by Google NotebookLM, will really bring home to you the power of AI in action, as it pertains to content creation.

In addition, you get to listen to key take-outs from my chat with Valerie (episode 288 - What successful professional reinvention looks like in practice) - this has been Crank The 3rd's most popular episode thus far.

So, whether you're considering a career pivot, launching a new venture, or simply want to stay relevant in your field, this episode offers valuable insights for professionals at any stage.

Tune in to gain inspiration and practical tips for navigating the exciting road ahead in your business, career, and lifestyle design.

Oh, and don't forget to keep abreast of what's happening in the world of AI - use it to your advantage!

Perhaps you've been running a business for ages but you want to extend your entrepreneurial boundaries and pivot into doing something different, something that is more interesting and meaningful than what you're doing currently?

If so, you're going to love this conversation with Mark Masters, founder of You Are The Media, as we discuss his journey of discovering purpose through continuous effort.

Mark's story is a testament to the power of persistence, as he shares how a side project evolved into a thriving community-driven business.

Mark takes us through his transformation from running a small but traditional marketing and advertising agency to building a fully sustainable marketing learning community called You Are The Media.

He emphasises the importance of finding your voice and choosing yourself, rather than waiting for opportunities to come knocking.

Evolution of a side project

We discuss how Mark's newsletter, which began in 2013, gradually grew into a multifaceted platform including:

• A paid membership space
• Live events across the UK
• Educational initiatives

Mark highlights the challenges and rewards of nurturing a side project into a full-fledged business, stressing the value of patience and persistence.

Building a community-centric business

A key theme of our conversation is the shift from a "me-centric" to a "we-centric" approach in business.

Mark shares insights on:

• Creating opportunities for community members to step up and lead
• Fostering a culture of mutual support and learning
• The importance of trust in delegating responsibilities

Finding purpose and staying relevant

For professionals in their third decade of business, Mark offers valuable advice on:

• Aligning your values with your work
• The power of continuous learning and adaptation
• Embracing new challenges to maintain relevance

We also touch on the loneliness of entrepreneurship and how joining communities can combat isolation and fuel personal growth.

Key takeaways for aspiring community builders

Mark provides practical tips for those looking to start their own communities:

1. Choose a medium you're passionate about and can consistently produce
2. Align your project with your core values
3. Focus on participation and engagement, not just content creation
4. Be patient and prepared for the long haul
5. Join other communities to learn and grow

This conversation is a must-listen for anyone looking to find their purpose, build a community-driven business, or stay relevant in an ever-changing professional landscape.

QUOTABLE QUOTES FROM MARK

"I realized that the strength is when you feel a part of a community with everybody, with everyone else on your side. Community is central to what I do."

"I am an example of how a community became the business and that's really empowering."

"Side projects can be risky, but they can also create the most joy and reward that we've ever stepped into."

"I'm with my heroes now and that's a liberating place to be."

CONNECT WITH MARK

• Website
• LinkedIn

But for Graham White, this leap became an opportunity to reinvent his professional life and create a thriving solo communications consulting practice..

In this episode, Graham shares his journey from being a seasoned PR executive to launching his own business at 53.

He offers valuable insights for professionals considering a similar path, emphasising the importance of self-belief, strategic planning, and leveraging decades of experience.

Key takeaways from Graham's entrepreneurial journey:

• Embrace change: Sometimes, unexpected career shifts can lead to new opportunities for growth and fulfillment.
• Leverage your network: Tap into professional relationships built over the years to find clients and collaborators.
• Start lean: Keep overheads low and focus on delivering value to clients from day one.
• Find your niche: Specialise in areas where you have deep expertise to differentiate yourself in the market.
• Maintain work-life balance: Structure your business to allow for personal time and pursuits outside of work.

Graham also discusses the emotional journey of leaving a long-term corporate role, the importance of having a supportive family, and how to navigate the initial challenges of solo entrepreneurship.

Practical advice for aspiring entrepreneurs:

• Assess market opportunities before making the leap
• Secure a good accountant for financial guidance
• Build a network of fellow entrepreneurs for support and advice
• Be prepared to handle all aspects of the business yourself
• Stay open to collaboration and new opportunities

Whether you're contemplating a career change or simply curious about the realities of starting a business later in life, Graham's story offers both inspiration and practical wisdom for navigating this exciting transition.

CONNECT WITH GRAHAM ON LINKEDIN

Catch you in the next episode!

Valerie has who has successfully navigated careers in accounting, PR, journalism, public speaking, entrepreneurship, and the visual arts.

She’s a published author and the founder of the Australian Writers' Centre, which has trained over 100,000 students worldwide since opening its doors in 2005.

Valerie also hosts the popular podcast - So You Want to be a Writer - which has over three million downloads - and, if that wasn’t enough, she was for several years the curator of Sydney's Lunar Festival, which is one of the city's major arts and cultural events.

Valerie’s creative journey took an unexpected turn when she picked up a paintbrush and discovered her passion for visual art.

If you’re keen to better understand what it takes to reinvent yourself professionally - perhaps you’re keen to get out of corporate and do something new, or take on a different project outside of the business you run - if building a portfolio career is on your radar - then you will love this inspiring conversation with Valerie Khoo!

CONCLUSION:

Valerie's story is a testament to the power of curiosity and adaptability in forging a fulfilling and creative career. Her journey encourages us to explore new avenues, embrace lifelong learning, and challenge conventional career paths for personal and professional growth.

VALERIE'S QUOTABLE QUOTES:

“Always give in to your curiosity because for sure it’s leading you somewhere that you’re actually meant to go.”

“It’s never too late. It’s just never too late.”

“Embracing new things and learning new things is so important for your health.”

“I think mentors are really important, and that was something I discovered way too late in life.”

“You can leap. You don’t have to ladder climb.”

CONNECT WITH VALERIE ON INSTAGRAM - https://www.instagram.com/valeriekhoo

While many of us have, after three decades in the business trenches, experienced a decent amount of professional success, not everyone is fulfilled.

A lot of middle aged people remain stuck in their comfort zone, and are not playing as big a game as they could be.

Or, in the words of this week's guest, they're not living a "10 out of 10 life".

So I invited Richard Sauerman on to the show to deliver a 'kick in the pants', and he delivers!

Richard - aka 'The Brand Guy' - is a thinker and an humanist, with a massive interest in people and 'the human condition'. He has written two books and appears in the media on brand-related issues.

Richard has done the strategic thinking, brand planning and communications for over 200 brands in his career, but he's probably best known these days as a high-voltage motivational speaker (and reality TV contestant!).

Wow! We covered some ground in this episode, with lots of laughs, F-bombs, motivational nuggets and food for thought, all delivered at pace!

Across the course of the conversation, Richard:

• Discusses overcoming fears of mediocrity and societal pressures, urging listeners to challenge limiting beliefs and embrace risks for growth. 
• Emphasises authenticity, particularly for those over 50.
• Explores the link between happiness and service to others, drawing on research in positive psychology.
• Shares insights from Ralph Kelly’s Stay Kind organisation, and James Clear’s “Atomic Habits,” emphasising daily acts of kindness and continuous improvement.
• Addresses the challenge of forming connections, particularly in workplace settings, and how small gestures can improve relationships.

As the oldest contestant on the TV's Married at First Sight (Australia), Richard reflects on his experience of being on the show and the personal growth it prompted, especially after being diagnosed with ADHD at 63.

This revelation, he says, reshaped his understanding of his life, marriage, and career, leading him to advocate for increased awareness of adult ADHD.

Richard plans to write a book to educate others about ADHD and its misconceptions, using writing as a therapeutic outlet.

Strap yourselves in folks, this conversation is high energy!

___________________

QUOTABLE QUOTES FROM RICHARD:

“So if you like waiting for some day or one day to be a 10, you might not get the chance.”

“A lot of people are not fulfilled and happy and satisfied in the way they want to be, despite and in the face of their successes.”

“Don’t delay. Don’t wait for tomorrow. Don’t wait for the next day or next week.”

“Stop trying to be right ... just choose to be happy.”

“You can change the world in your way through those little small acts.”

“Tiny steps, small actions.”

___________________

Jackie emphasises the importance of owning one’s story and voice, overcoming fears of public speaking, and the transformative power of storytelling.

Through her experiences, she illustrates how vulnerability and authenticity can enhance connection and engagement in both personal and professional realms.

Jackie highlights the value of experimentation, risk-taking, and continuous learning in building a successful business and personal brand.

She also embraces change, and discusses the significance of stepping out of comfort zones, trying new things, and adapting to changing circumstances.

QUOTABLE QUOTES:

“If you don’t believe it, the audience won’t believe it either.”- JACKIE

“There is no failure, only feedback.”- JACKIE 

“Done is better than perfect.”- JACKIE

“If you don’t believe what you’re doing, then the audience won’t believe it either.”- JACKIE 

“We are all our own unique selling point, and it’s those stories that make us unique because we all have had a different journey.”- JACKIE

Connect with Jackie on LinkedIn.

Reflecting on his journey from humble beginnings, Stanley highlights the role of creativity and diverse experiences in tackling business challenges.

The conversation explores the evolution of advertising due to the emergence of digital media, with Stanley sharing his changed perception of Twitter and the enduring value of blogging.

He discusses the importance of writing and social media for honing communication skills, the need for creativity and risk-taking in corporate settings, and critiques society’s tendency for snap judgments.

Stanley also touches on his transition from agency work to freelancing, his passion for music, and the challenges of staying relevant later in life, underscoring the significance of cultural engagement and maintaining curiosity.

KEY TIME-STAMPED MOMENTS:

02:06 The role of a creative director

07:11 From weights and measures to creativity

10:11 Curiosity as a key to creativity

14:07 Navigating social media and digital trends

19:00 The impact of blogging

22:14 Staying tech savvy

26:31 Taking risks in creativity

29:30 Judgment without context

31:00 The creative journey: embracing change

32:40 Finding home in the hills

35:01 A day in the life of a creative consultant

44:09 Staying relevant in your third chapter

49:02 The value of experience and risk

ABOUT STANLEY:

Stanley Johnson is a seasoned creative director and co-founder of the creative consultancy stan/lee, based in Melbourne, Australia.

With several decades' experience in the industry, he has led innovative campaigns for major brands, including a transformative role at major tech company, MYOB.

Known for his strategic insight and storytelling prowess, Stanley is also an advocate for nurturing young talent in the creative field.

QUOTABLE QUOTES:

“If I worry about what people are going to think, then I’ll never do anything interesting.”

“You’re as old as you think you are and it’s as simple as that.”

In this episode, I explain what the rebranded show is all about: Who's it for, and what can you expect from future episodes from now on.

About the 'new' podcast:

CRANK THE 3RD is the show for motivated individuals aged around the 50 mark and over - those who have been in the business and professional trenches for some three-plus decades and have the metaphorical ‘scars on the knuckles’ and the ‘scuffs on the knees’ to prove it!

You've seen and done a lot over the journey, and now have reached an age and stage of life where you might be thinking:

“What next?” ...

• Do I continue with, sell, or downsize my business?
• Do I pivot my career so I can focus on doing something more meaningful?
• Do I adopt a portfolio approach to my work and build out numerous streams of income?
• Do I wind back my workload and develop a side-hustle around one of my passions?
• Do I take the plunge and move to another country altogether and work from there?
• Do I write that book I’ve always wanted to do, or start a YouTube channel and become a full-time ‘content creator’?

Bottom line: Those of us in this stage of professional life have oodles of experience under our belts, having racked up years’ worth of practical knowledge and vocational expertise, not to mention we’re a lot more sure of ourselves and confident in our own abilities.

But, we also live in a fast-paced volatile world. Technology is ever-changing, and the AI wave has only just begun. A sense of uncertainty is never far away. We know that if we stand still, we run the risk of losing relevance.

No matter how savvy, experienced and connected we are, certain challenges remain.

But on the upside, the number of opportunities staring us in the face is enormous, and unprecedented!

The goal of CRANK THE 3RD is to inspire energised, forward-thinking 50-somethings to continue to think expansively and creatively about their current situation, and to ponder, plot and plan the exciting road they have ahead of them.

And to help me do that is ANNE SCOTTLIN, who helps thought leaders and experts launch and monetise world class video podcasts and live streaming shows.

Anne has a bulging CV. Apart from being an active podcaster and live streaming host herself, she's also an author, coach and speaker, executive consultant with a number of companies ... and spent 10 years as a working actress in Hollywood!

As we recorded this conversation, Anne had just launched her new show - 'Launch It! The Podcast Maestro!' (CHECK IT OUT ON YOUTUBE HERE)

Apart from covering Anne's wide and varied professional journey - a 'must listen' for anyone who is multi-passionate and not a fan of niching down! - we unpack what's involved in going global with a video podcast or live-streamed show.

Video broadcasting technology today is amazing, which in turn provides experts and thought leaders with the opportunity to scale their brand and their business beyond domestic borders.

Be inspired and learn more from Anne in this episode of the Reputation Revolution show!

LEARN MORE ABOUT ANNE:

• Website
• Twitter
• Youtube show

What is easy to get stuck in the same rut professionally and personally … to become scared to stand out, to change things up - to muck around with a formula that has perhaps worked for you and your business over time, but maybe you feel you’re becoming less and less relevant in a world that’s moving at warp speed.

Today’s topic is large and unwieldy and messy and oh so relevant and important for many of us.

Purpose, passion, principles and profit - we cover the lot in this episode, with a good dollop of health and wellness tips, insights and wisdom from someone who’s been in the trenches for absolutely decades - and is still out there, at age 78, fighting the good fight.!

His name is DR JOHN TICKELL. - he's a medical doctor, an international speaker, bestselling author and television personality, who has spent several decades travelling and studying the health, well-being and longevity patterns of people around the world.

  Dr. John shares his journey from opening Australia's first health resort 40 years ago to researching healthy longevity across 103 countries worldwide.

His diverse experiences range from surviving brain cancer to owning a Melbourne Cup-winning horse.

This fast-paced interview is packed full of wisdom not just about building a strong reputation but also living life fully equipped with purposeful direction guided by sound principles – all while making profitable decisions aligned with one's passion.

I hope you enjoy it!

So says Chris James, this week's featured expert guest.

Chris, from Manchester, is an online business mentor, content strategist and keynote speaker. 

He helps solopreneurs and small business owners generate and convert leads organically on social media.

In this episode, we cover Chris's journey from telemarketing to running his own content consulting business - with heaps of insights, tips and ideas along the way.

Chris's story is not only inspiring but also packed with valuable lessons for anyone looking to make strides in content creation, social media strategy, and entrepreneurship.

Key takeaways :

**Resilience & Adaptation**: Embrace life’s challenges as they shape your professional journey towards success.

**Content Strategy**: Combine short-form (Instagram/TikTok) with long-form content (blogs/podcasts), based on your strengths.

**Personal Branding**: Your unique brand narrative sets you apart—invest time into developing it.

**Strategic Planning Before Execution**: Define clear objectives before diving into tactical content creation.

**Balance Promotional Efforts**: Use campaign cycles for promotional intensity variation while providing consistent value-based content.

Chris also advocates experimenting within different platforms while focusing predominantly on one until mastery is achieved before moving onto others—an approach that ensures quality engagement without spreading oneself too thin.

#ActionOverEverything

CONNECT WITH CHRIS ON LINKEDIN - https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisjamesonline/

Chris's business website - https://www.chris-james.co/

These are great opportunities to share your ideas and your message with a captivated audience, in turn helping to build your professional bona fides and enhance your personal brand in the marketplace.

But what happens if you start getting good at this speaking caper, and the stages become bigger and more prestigious? You’ve honed your speaking chops for free - but you’re now starting to think: I could - and should - get paid for all this work!

Well, if becoming a professional keynote presenter is something that’s been on your radar, stay tuned because my guest today is a true insider of the speaking business.

👇

His name is CARSON WHITE - he’s the founder of Leading Voice, a speaker management company that represents some of Australia’s most respected and experienced presenters, MC’s and facilitators - he’s been in the speaker management trenches for some 25 years and has seen it all when it comes to presenting from the stage. 

HERE IS WHAT'S COVERED IN THIS EPISODE:

1. **Introduction:** Welcome to Reputation Revolution, a podcast focused on leveraging your professional reputation for greater influence and impact.

2. **Guest Introduction:** Meet Carson White, founder of Leading Voice - a speaker management company that represents Australia's top presenters.

3. **Speaker Management Business Model:** Learn about how Leading Voice - a speaker management company - differs from speaker bureaus by serving the needs of a small group of professional presenters (versus simply sourcing any speaker for any occasion, which is the domain of many bureaus).

4. **Impact of Covid-19 on Speaking Industry**: Explore how the pandemic has led to pro speakers diversifying their service offering due to the increased use of online training and events.

5. **Transitioning into Professional Speaking:** Gain insights from Carson's 25 years in the speaking business trenches about what makes an impactful speaker, and key factors needed for success in this competitive industry.

6. **Types of Speakers**: Understand two main types of speakers: thought leaders who provoke insights and ideas, and entertainers who share captivating personal experiences or achievements often involving overcoming adversity.

7. **Shift in Speaker Trends**: Discuss evolving trends over time within the speaking industry – moving from adventure-centered narratives towards more content-rich presentations.

8. **The Art of Stagecraft**: Delve into why stagecraft is crucial for effective presentation skills, focusing less on slides and more on engaging delivery.

9 .**Inspiring Speaker Story**: Hear about Tom O'Toole, a baker with an unconventional but highly successful approach to public speaking.

10 .**Effective Speaking vs Building Business as Speaker**: Uncover why being good at public speaking doesn't necessarily equate to building a profitable business as a paid speaker – it requires strategic thinking around positioning oneself in the market along with strong marketing efforts.

If you're thinking about embarking on a speaking career that pays, this episode is a great place to start!

• Connect with Carson on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/carsonpwhite/

This is the theme of today’s episode, and to help us unpack this important but often confusing task, we have in the virtual studio Cristina Castro and Angela Tsai, founders of Grow Your Brand With Impact, a UK-based consultancy that “helps marketing-fatigued consultants, coaches and business owners implement marketing that gets results”.

Many of Cristina and Angela's clients come from corporate backgrounds with 10-15 years of experience under their belts.

These established professional operators have deep domain expertise but often struggle to recognise the value they bring to the marketplace.

This, in turn, becomes challenging when said experts try to effectively present and market their unique offerings.

This is where Cristina and Angela come in - they help professional solopreneurs turn their products or service into "money magnets" that sell effortlessly.

In this wide-ranging conversation, we touch on:

**Back story**  - Christina and Angela share their journey from corporate backgrounds to running a successful consultancy business.

**Common pain-points**  - Transitioning from corporate life to entrepreneurship and the challenges faced by experts in recognising their own value. Plus the identity shift involved when moving away from predefined roles in corporations to standing alone as an entrepreneur.

**Overcoming challenges** - Strategies for effectively presenting unique offerings and selling oneself in today's market.

**The changing work landscape** - Exploration of factors contributing to more people leaving traditional corporate jobs including Covid-19, remote working opportunities, changing career aspirations among millennials, and midlife self-evaluation trends.

**Understanding 'offer'** - Discussion around misconceptions surrounding 'offer' in business context; how it goes beyond just sales pitches or discounts.

**Articulating unique value proposition:** - Real-life examples illustrating difficulties businesses face while differentiating themselves from competitors; importance of clarity about one’s unique factors that set them apart.

**Defining offer essence** - How understanding the essence of your offer can make selling easier and attract clients who resonate with your story; includes analogy using a favorite restaurant experience!

If you want to design a product or service offer that hits the mark with your ideal client, this episode is a great place to start!

FOR A DEEPER DIVE INTO THIS INTERVIEW WITH CRISTINA AND ANGELA, MAKE SURE YOU SUBSCRIBE TO THE REPUTATION REVOLUTION NEWSLETTER ON SUBSTACK - https://reputationrevolution.substack.com

• Follow Angela on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/angelatsai1/
• Follow Cristina on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/cristina-castro-reyes/

We delve into the the role automation plays in scaling businesses while freeing up entrepreneurs' time and reducing their workload.

The following topics are covered in this interview:

**Introduction to Guest**: Learn about Alicia’s journey from being an accountant to a profit strategist who helps help six figure entrepreneurs leverage their business to fuel growth without requiring more of their time

**The Power of Automation**: Discover how automation reduces human oversight, streamlines processes, saves time, and increases profitability across various business aspects like marketing efforts or knowledge sharing.

**Profit Generation through Automation**: Understand the concept of creating automatic income streams that ensure consistent revenue inflow (when implemented gradually).

**Examples & Key Areas for Automation**: Get insights on automating administrative tasks and marketing activities to save time and reduce costs without hiring more staff.

**Marketing Focus Points**: Explore key areas -- awareness through amplified content; visibility beyond algorithm restrictions; lead generation (which generates new prospects daily without attending networking events); and growth strategies requiring our constant attention (automated to function every day on a consistent basis).

**Effective Lead Generation Strategies**: Learn about selling low-priced items initially to attract new customers and convert them into loyal ones by demonstrating value over time.

**Content Strategy & Marketing Automation Tips:** Stay active across multiple platforms like blogs, podcasts etc., use paid advertising especially promoting content via Facebook Ads at minimal costs per day to ensure visibility among existing followers while attracting new ones as well.

This episode is packed full of actionable insights and tips for anyone wanting to scale their business without relying on more of their time and attention.

FOR A DEEPER DIVE INTO THIS INTERVIEW WITH ALYCIA, MAKE SURE YOU SUBSCRIBE TO THE REPUTATION REVOLUTION NEWSLETTER ON SUBSTACK - https://reputationrevolution.substack.com

CONNECT WITH ALYCIA:

• Website - https://www.alyciaedgar.com/
• LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/alyciaedgar/
• Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/alycia_edgar/

Now, how are you going to capitalise on all your hard work? You don't want to work for anyone else, but nor do you want to run a large business and employ stacks of people.

What's the answer?

Establish and grow your own one-person service-based business!

The brilliant thing today is it's never been easier to start a business.

And here's the kicker: one-person enterprises need not remain tiny revenue-wise, with the owner/operator eking out a small income. Thanks to technology, support services ecosystems and removal of geographic barriers, many one-person service-based businesses can become wildly profitable despite not having an office and staff.

The key is to design such a business around yourself.

Or, as my guest for this episode likes to say:

"I believe that designing a one-person business around yourself is the answer to finding work that lights you up, lets you reach your earning potential and can be done entirely on your own terms."

London-based Ellen Donnelly runs a coaching business called The Ask, which specialises in helping entrepreneurial professionals turn their expertise into a profitable one person business in five months.

Ellen recently published a 5-step guide on this very topic (access your copy here) - it's designed to help you package up what you know into a marketable service that clients will pay you for, again and again.

In this episode, Ellen walks us through (and elaborates on) the five steps of her guide.

Some key talking points covered in this conversation include:

• Ellen shares her journey from headhunting tech talent in corporate London to running a thriving business coaching practice called 'The Ask.'
• Ellen unpacks what she calls 'Your Unique Contribution: this is the truest expression of the work you were put on this earth to do and is an underrated business- building strategy.
• Defining Uniqueness: Tips on how to define what sets you apart in terms of abilities, personality traits or life experiences which shapes how you conduct business differently than anyone else even within similar industries.
• Articulating uniqueness effectively: Challenges faced while articulating our inherent uniqueness into marketable packages due to overlooking obvious aspects about ourselves thinking they're too simple.
• Personal authenticity and audience resonance: Importance of identifying what resonates with your audience while staying true to yourself is emphasised upon.
• Overcoming comparison trap and indecision: Strategies shared on overcoming comparison with others and focusing on what suits them best when deciding the type of work they want to do based on their insights.
• Promotion platforms and niche selection : Discussion around numerous options available for marketing efforts such as podcasting or other platforms and challenges in niche selection.

This is a deep-dive chat about designing a one-person service-based business around yourself. If this sounds like you, I'm confident you'll find the conversation relevant and illuminating!

CONNECT WITH ELLEN:

• Newsletter
• Website
• LinkedIn

In this episode I have the pleasure of hosting Jackie Goddard, the founder of Power to Speak, based on the south coast of England.

In this insightful discussion, Jackie shares her journey from being an art development officer and drama teacher to becoming a public speaking coach who helps business owners and professionals to get performance ready and excited about stepping in front of an audience to share their message.

Key points covered:

• Jackie's background in fashion design, acting, and working behind the scenes at the Royal Shakespeare Company.
• How teaching drama led her towards coaching adults which inspired her business, Power to Speak.
• The impact of Covid lockdown on Jackie's career path and how it prompted her transition into online platforms.
• The inception story behind Power To Speak, and how Jackie helps individuals confidently express themselves before their audience.
• Importance and challenges around articulating what you do when building a business around your expertise.
• The concept of impostor syndrome – why we undervalue our abilities and how understanding and valuing personal stories can be empowering.

We also delve deeper into Jackie's journey in establishing her business including positioning strategies used along the way, and why she opted to create the Power to Speak brand versus trading solely under her own name.

Jackie also unpacks her sources of revenue, and how she integrates her various programs and offerings under the Power to Speak banner.

If you're in the early stages of building a business around your knowledge and expertise - or you're thinking about doing so in the future, you'll love this interview with Jackie Goddard!

CONNECT WITH JACKIE:

• Instagram
• LinkedIn
• Facebook

There's been a shift in focus on what topics we cover on the show.

You may have noticed we've changed the subtitle of the podcast, from 'The professional personal branding show' to 'The personal brand monetisation show'.

In the past - across 270+ episodes in fact - this podcast has zeroed in on topics associated with professional personal branding, with a view to helping credible individuals build visibility, influence and trust in the marketplace.

The business side of personal branding

However, from Season 8, we're going to be more purposeful about covering topics that focus solely on playing a bigger game and leveraging one’s personal brand assets for commercial gain.

In other words, the business side of personal branding - capitalising on the profile and reputation we've built in the marketplace.

It’s a meaty topic, and we'll be looking at both sides of the ‘creator coin’, with a skew towards the 'reputation creator' and how they can build a high revenue business off the back of their professional personal brand.

But, we'll also be looking at independent content creators, and highlighting what we can learn from them, as they are at the cutting edge of content creation today.

Plus we'll dig deeper into the commercialisation aspect of personal branding, and how we can build a sustainable enterprise off the back of our profile and reputation.

My goal is to ‘build a bridge’ between the Reputation Economy and the Creator Economy - to explore where they meet and intersect, and unpack the commercial opportunities that come with that.

When it comes to topics we've previously covered on the show i.e.

• owned media (content creation in all its various forms),
• social media (including all the platforms),
• media and influencer relations (earned media),
• reputation management,
• community building,
• book publishing,
• networking and public speaking, etc

... I've established a new podcast - BECOME YOUR OWN PR MACHINE - to cover these.

(Become Your Own PR Machine is available now from your podcast app of choice)

So, my two podcasts are essentially bookends:

Become Your Own PR Machine - learn how to harness the power of PR, content and digital communications to build recognition, influence and credibility for your business, organisation or personal brand.

Reputation Revolution - learn how to leverage your reputation to take advantage of commercial opportunities so you can profit from your personal brand in a way that's strategic, sustainable ... and respectful.

I hope you enjoy either - or both shows!

Hit me up on Twitter (@trevoryoung) or Instagram (@theprwarrior) or LinkedIn (/trevoryoung) and let me know what you think of the changes! Thanks :) TY

I’m talking about course creation specifically - this will be of particular interest to listeners who are consultants, coaches, advisors - who currently trade time for money and are looking at ways to maximise their revenue without killing themselves in the process.

Featured expert guest is GREG BURGOYNE from New Zealand.

Greg is the founder of the Course Creators Academy; he helps thought leaders and experts (coaches/consultants) unpack their valuable IP and create an offering in order to scale their impact.

In the conversation, we touch on a number of topics associated with the process of productising one's knowledge for commercial gain, including:

* Cohort-based courses, and the stages involved in launching and delivering them

* Self-paced evergreen courses, with or without a community component, plus the hybrid variations (key message: there are lot of different ways to productise and sell your knowledge today!)

* Delivering online training into enterprise-level organisations

* The different types of delivery platforms e.g. Kajabi, Podia (all-in-one platforms) vs course hosting platforms such as Teachable, and Thinkific; marketplaces like Udemy (the “YouTube of paid courses”); WordPress plugin options, plus online community platforms such as Mighty Networks that house courses and training as well as community forums

Greg says it's important when starting out to begin small, validate your idea, then do it live: "don’t necessarily productise it straight away".

We cover self-sabotage, and people's aversion to the marketing and sales function involved in building a business around course creation.

QUOTABLE QUOTE: “Who is going to thank you on the other side of stepping out of your comfort zone?”

Check out Greg's website, or connect with him on LinkedIn.

Oscar helps leaders and professionals discover the hidden key to better communication. He is passionate about using the gift of listening to bring positive change in homes, workplaces and cultures around the world.

Of note, Oscar is an author, host of the Apple award-winning podcast Deep Listening, and a sought-after keynote speaker.

In this conversation, Oscar tells his personal brand story, including how he left the corporate world and later evolved into the global listening expert he is today.

He shares in detail his content strategy across owned, earned and social media channels.

Oscar touches on a range of topics. He explains:

• how he came to the realisation he was an expert at listening.
• how when he started, there was one clear expert in the space globally, and that he had to educate the market on the importance of listening.
• that the content he produced in the first two years was “absolute rubbish” - he has been focusing on the positive aspects of listening ("It wasn’t getting any traction because I wasn’t talking to their problem, I was talking to my hypothetical solution”
• how podcast guest interviews result in real business benefits

Oscar also unpacks how he generates his income.

QUOTABLE QUOTE: “Create content where they (the audience) are at, and break it down as simply as possible, and express that in multiple ways”

Oscar's story is a good one. If you're wanting to build a sustainable business off the back of your personal brand, then this interview is highly recommended!

CONNECT WITH OSCAR:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter

(Details re Oscar's new book here)

In this special bumper episode, we recap our wonderful guests and play sound-bites of their interviews.

Expect stories, lessons, tips and advice from people who are in the trenches and are out there building, or helping others build, their professional personal brand.

If this is the first episode of the podcast you're listening to, then you're in for a treat as you will get a really good flavour for what we cover here on the show.

If you're a regular listener, get ready to be reminded of some of the highlights of season 7. Maybe you missed some guests and this might prompt you to go back and listen to those episodes for the first time, or perhaps you caught them initially and will be motivated to check back and listen to a particular episode again.

Either/or, this is an all-encompassing episode featuring a lot of insights and ideas in one self-contained package:

I hope you enjoy it. 

*** We'll be taking a short break, and then be back for Season 8 ***

In this special bumper episode, we recap our wonderful guests and play sound-bites of their interviews.

Expect stories, lessons, tips and advice from people who are in the trenches and are out there building, or helping others build, their professional personal brand.

If this is the first episode of the podcast you're listening to, then you're in for a treat as you will get a really good flavour for what we cover here on the show.

If you're a regular listener, get ready to be reminded of some of the highlights of season 7. Maybe you missed some guests and this might prompt you to go back and listen to those episodes for the first time, or perhaps you caught them initially and will be motivated to check back and listen to a particular episode again.

Either/or, this is an all-encompassing episode featuring a lot of insights and ideas in one self-contained package:

I hope you enjoy it. 

P.S. Stay tuned for Part 2 of this special finale episode next week!

Rather than asking the questions as he does week in, week out on the show, Trevor gets grilled by Brendan Keogh about all things public relations.

While Trevor often refers to PR on the show and relates conversations back to the various elements of public relations, this is the first time he has devoted the whole episode to breaking down the PR discipline.

Why is this important?

For starters, PR is incredibly misunderstood, not just in business generally, but also within the marketing and communications industry specifically.

Secondly, Trevor strongly believes that once you understand PR and how the discipline works, then (a) you're going to be able to put it to work for your brand and your business in a strategic way, and (b) you'll put yourself in the position to gain an edge over your competitors and others in the marketplace.

Critically, while certain skills are required to successfully develop and implement PR and communications programs at a high level, it's certainly not something that's beyond any savvy entrepreneur or business professional.

It all comes down to mindset, and the willingness to learn and experiment.

Trevor says he knows of many entrepreneurs who are better at PR than those who specialise in the space! It's because they've listened, learned ... and most importantly, have taken action!

A key part of this conversation is Trevor's marketing communications pyramid, a framework he uses to break down all the elements that make up marcomms generally, so he can then isolate the PR elements and where they sit in the broader picture.

If you're a business owner, or a marketer or PR pro, you'll want to dig deep into this episode as it will provide you with heaps of food for thought!

QUOTABLE QUOTE: "PR does not stand for Press Release!" - Trevor Young

👇

CHECK OUT TREVOR'S 'MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS PYRAMID' DIAGRAM (as discussed on the show) - go to trevoryoung.me/prmachine

How much work, and what are the challenges people in the podcasting trenches are facing currently?

I decided to find out!

In this episode, we get the lowdown from Bea Abalti, founder of Bear Forward Podcast Solutions, which helps small and medium business owners who want to start a podcast, or they already have one and want to grow their audience.

Specifically, I got Bea on the show because she has just finalised a survey of business owners who produce a podcast, and I wanted to chat through the findings with her to get a good picture as to what's happening out there in podcasting land!

So, we chat about the survey and the insights it revealed, plus we get into a broader discussion about podcasting generally, and some of the things to look out for if you're thinking of embarking on a podcast project now or in the future.

Connect with Bea:

• LinkedIn
• Website

While activities such as creating content, being on social media, speaking on stage or in the media can do wonders for our profile and our reputation, sometimes it's the relationships side of what we do that can have the most impact.

Nina knows this all too well, having founded Harmonic Advisory in 2012 with a goal of helping businesses grow and successfully implement key projects by ensuring their leaders foster the right relationships.

Nina has worked with thousands of executives at the highest levels of some of Australia's and the world's leading companies, including PwC, GE, ANZ, Deloitte, and the Victorian Government.

With 25 years experience, she has seen first hand the impact strategic relationships and high value networks have in helping businesses grow, implement major projects and achieve successful business outcomes.

In this episode, Nina discusses the who, what and how of building relationships in a way that's strategic and sustainable. More specifically, she unpacks the cornerstones of her strategic relationships framework, which includes:

1. Define your strategy
2. Create a Strategic Relationship Map
3. Develop Your Visibility Plan
4. Getting Started & Getting Out There

This conversation contains lots of great insights and tips as to how we can all get more from the relationships we build. It might not be as sexy as recording a video for YouTube, but it can play a key role in the personal branding mix!

Connect with Nina on LinkedIn.

In this episode, Trevor Young and Brendan Keogh pick up on the conversation with Adam, reinforcing key points made, including:

• How Adam went from no social media (LinkedIn) presence late last year to 22,000 followers seven months later
• The strategy Adam employed to fast-track his activity on social media (LinkedIn and Twitter)
• Why Adam has doubled down on video, and why he is upping his video game by launching a 'behind-the-scenes' docuseries.

If you run a business and are keen to create more in the way of personal brand influence and impact, you'll find this episode (and the previous one featuring Adam Robinson) motivating!

LEARN MORE ABOUT TREVOR HERE

And to discuss it with me is someone who's actually doing it, and who at this point is currently at the start of their personal branding journey (but making up ground quickly).

His name is Adam Robinson. He's the CEO and founder of a startup business called Retention.com.

Adam believes that building your personal brand as a founder is a simpler and smarter strategy than trying to grow your company’s profile right out of the gate. 

In this interview, Adam reveals why he's doubling down on video content, and how he manages his social media activity day-to-day.

The interviews are featured in the two previous episodes:

• Ep 263: How to leverage your time & resources while building your personal brand - interview with Kris Ward
• Ep 264: [BEHIND-THE-SCENES] How Kris Ward found her voice, scored 400 podcast guest interviews, grew a podcast with 1000 5-star reviews, plus TikTok, YouTube & more!

Brendan and I pick out the gold from each of these interviews - tips, insights and stories from Kris; we unpack the nuggets, delving deeper with our own perspectives.

I hope you enjoy this conversation!

In the last episode, I spoke with Kris Ward, the author of the book, Win The Hour Win The Day, and host of the podcast of the same name.

That conversation centred on how subject matter leaders can leverage their time and resources while building their professional personal brand in the marketplace.

In doing my research for that interview, I was impressed with how well Kris was building her own professional online presence (her face was everywhere!), so I decided to 'keep the tape running' and then delved with Kris into her story.

That's what this episode is all about: Kris's story, from returning to her business after the passing of her husband, through to finding her voice on social media (becoming "bold faced"), growing her podcast (which has over 1000 5-star reviews), writing as book, as well as a behind-the-scenes peek behind her wildly-successful podcast guesting strategy.

Kris walks us through her struggle to sharpen her point of view through her content, and how she became featured on some 400 award-winning podcasts, radio and TV shows throughout the world. Of note, she has been interviewed by one of the original sharks from Shark Tank, Kevin Harrington, and ABC’s The Secret Millionaire – James Malinchak.

The theme of this discussion really is a 'perfect collision' of owned media, earned media and social media - something we talk about often here on the Reputation Revolution. You can see now why I got Kris back on the show for a follow-up episode!

Kris has a blog, plus she has a growing presence on YouTube, TikTok Instagram and LinkedIn! Phewww! She's a dynamo, you're going to love this interview!

Connect with Kris:

• website
• Instagram
• LinkedIn

So how can we make time work for us?

How can we manage our energy to give us the headspace required to come up with original thoughts, to dig deeper into our ideas so we can share them with the world?

How can we become more effective in our work so we can spend more time creating content, do public speaking and interact with our audience, on and offline?

Kris Ward has the answers!

Kris is the author of the book - Win The Hour Win The Day. She also has a podcast of the same name.

Kris has been interviewed by one of the original sharks from Shark Tank, Kevin Harrington, and ABC’s The Secret Millionaire – James Malinchak. She has been featured on award-winning podcasts, radio and TV shows throughout the world.

It's a high energy chat ... let's get into it!

Connect with Kris:

• website
• Instagram
• LinkedIn

For 14 years, Joanna has blazed a trail, not just in the world of independent publishing, but also in the way she's built her personal brand on a global basis.

IN THIS EPISODE, I get together with marketing strategist and podcast producer - Brendan Keogh - to recap my interview with Joanna.

Lots of insights and key takeaways discussed!

Joanna is a New York Times and USA Today best-selling fiction author (as JF Penn), nonfiction author, longtime podcaster, and someone who I think embodies everything we talk about on this show! And when I say everything, I mean everything!

For 14 years, Joanna has blazed a trail, not just in the world of independent publishing, but also in the way she's built her personal brand on a global basis.

That she's managed to continually evolve both professionally and creatively is testament to her mindset and attitude, her commitment to lifelong learning, and her willingness to experiment in public and share the lessons along the way.

Joanna is a genuine credible authority in her field.

She's both a domain expert and bona fide thought leader.

She has built a loyal global audience via her podcast and YouTube channel; she's active on social media, as well as in-demand as a public speaker.

Joanna's story is an inspirational one. Let's hear it now!

I must admit, I get a bit fired up during this conversation:

"It's happening whether you like it or not. Your brand is out there, your reputation is being built. Why wouldn't you want to influence that in a positive way? I don't understand why you wouldn't want to do that if you are running a business, if you're a leader. And even if you're an employee who's on the rise, you know, and you've got aspirations and ambition ... that's when you want to be getting into these things, and, understanding how you can develop that reputation and build strategic visibility. It's not about being everywhere. It's being in the right channels, in front of the right audience, with the right message and story."

**********

Let's connect on Twitter (@trevoryoung) or LinkedIn and continue the conversation!

Trust is the social currency of today's digital-first world, and it's in short supply!

Which is good news if you're a credible mission-driven entrepreneur or professional, someone who has the runs on the board and who is seen, not as someone with something to sell, but as someone with something to teach.

But you need to be intentional about it!

As we talk about here often on the podcast, there are many variables involved in building a genuine thought leader brand in the marketplace.

Let's be clear: People don’t want to be sold something—they want to buy something.

And the best way to get someone to seek out the opportunity to buy from you is to position yourself as the unquestionable authority in your space—someone they would be lucky to have a chance to do business with.

This is what PR agency owner RUSTY SHELTON calls the authority advantage!

Rusty is a Senior Marketing Strategist at Forbes Books, bestselling author and successful entrepreneur. He’s the founder and chairman of Zilker Media, an award-winning agency based in Austin, Texas that builds people-driven brands. 

As a speaker, Rusty uses humour and targeted examples to challenge assumptions about thought leadership, showing leaders how to build authentic personal brands focused on impact, not ego.

He has written three books and spoken around the world to a variety of audiences, from YPO to Harvard Medical to SXSW Interactive.

Rusty's newest book, The Authority Advantage: Building Thought Leadership Focused on Impact, Not Ego (ForbesBooks, 2023), which is co-authored with Adam Witty and features a foreword from David Meerman Scott, demonstrates how leaders can make an impact with their personal brand and build trust in an increasingly skeptical world.

An artist painting their masterpiece in an attic? The writer beavering away on a novel, or a Hollywood film director in charge on the set?

Maybe someone who works as a 'Creative' in an ad agency? A copywriter ... a graphic designer ... or anyone else who works in a so-called creative industry.

Well, that would be a simplistic, one-dimensional view of creativity, but it's a common one, reinforced time and time again by the media.

I've worked alongside countless people over the journey who would consider themselves creative, but I didn't find them that inspiring, or indeed, that creative!

Conversely, some of the most creative people I've met have been entrepreneurs and business professionals who are naturally curious and who always seem to have a wellspring of interesting thoughts and ideas at the ready.

So in other words, you don't have to be working in a creative industry, to be a creative person!

Indeed, to be effective in business today, especially when it comes to PR and marketing, and building our profile and growing sphere of influence in the marketplace -- having a creative edge might just be the advantage you need to cut through with your content, your story and your message ... your brand!

Okay, so what is creativity then?

Creativity is defined as "the use of imagination or original ideas to create something"

What does it mean to be creative, and how can we increase our levels of creativity?

Is being creative something we're born with, or can it be learned, if not developed over time?

To help us come to grips with how we can be more creative in our lives, I'm joined by Dr Marion Piper - founder of Marion Piper Creative and host of the WHAT DOESN'T KILL us podcast.

Marion wears many hats, but they all involve creativity.

Most often she's a copywriter, helping people communicate with confidence and clarity. At other times she's a creativity coach, helping creative entrepreneurs ignite, maintain and execute on their ideas.

Let's hear from her now ...

CONNECT WITH MARION:

• Marion's website
• Marion on Instagram

Sally helps leaders, entrepreneurs and professionals to unleash the magic of their voice.

Initial focus of our chat is all around TikTok, and how the channel is really working for Sally's personal brand.

Sally has been on TikTok for a few years now and has amassed nearly 350,000 followers and 4.4M 'likes' of her videos.

But we broaden the conversation into using voice as an expression of oneself, and how to use it strategically across social media, and the 'virtual stage' generally.

As Sally says: "Nobody ever changed the world by staying quiet!"

So, if you want to know more about TikTok and how it can work for your brand and your business - along with short-form video and voice more broadly - you'll get a lot of value from this episode!

It's a very free-flowing and energetic chat. I hope you enjoy it.

Let's hear from Sally now!

My interview with Richard was all around 'unlocking the LinkedIn algorithm', as we delved into his recently-released, well-researched LINKEDIN ALGORITHM REPORT.

Richard shared so many insights and tips (in episode 254), so it was terrific to sit down with Brendan to dig deeper into topics raised in that interview.

We also riff on another previous episode (#255) all around building your brand on LinkedIn with Michelle B Griffin & Michelle J Raymond.

Lots and lots of LinkedIn gold folks - I hope you enjoy it!

Michelle and Michelle met on LinkedIn through the power of commenting in December 2020.

Together they have supported each other with complimentary yet different strengths to rise up and stand out on LinkedIn with their personal branding and business branding businesses.

Both quickly realized that the “Power of Two” as #MichelleSquared was a force for good that would propel success more than what was possible on their own.

This is a fun and informative chat!

We get the nitty-gritty on why and how Michelle and Michelle wrote the book - plus they dig into topics such as:

• the importance of mindset when building your presence on LinkedIn
• how to start strong by getting your branding foundations right
• what both Michelles learned while writing the book
• the multiplier effect that comes with collaborating with others, and how to find 'power partners' for mutual benefit

... plus we hear Michelle and Michelle's respective stories, and the lessons learned along the way while building their profiles on LinkedIn, and growing their business generally.

If you're interested in expanding your presence on LinkedIn in a way that's going to contribute to your business in a positive way, this episode is definitely worth a listen!

Read more about #MichelleSquared and their new book here

No doubt you are already on the platform ... but are you using it well?

Are you putting in the requisite effort to gain the benefits in terms of building your brand, positioning yourself as a thought leader, developing relationships ... and even generating new business leads?

Whether the answer is "yes" or "no", I think you'll get heaps out of this podcast interview.

LinkedIn has undergone - and continues to undergo - significant change.

It may have been a latecomer to the social media ball in terms of user experience, uptake and usage - the ugly duckling, as it were - but LinkedIn has certainly transformed into something of a social swan!

My guest today comes to us from Valencia in Spain: his name is Richard van der Blom, and he's a world-renowned expert on LinkedIn, and in particular, its algorithm.

Richard runs a LinkedIn and social selling agency called JUST CONNECTING, and he's an absolute gun when it comes to LinkedIn; his content is top notch, and I recommend you follow him to learn more about how to use the platform more effectively.

I got Richard on the show specifically to chat about his recently-released LINKEDIN ALGORITHM REPORT, which has gone viral on the platform, and rightly so. The report is comprehensive and took over 1200 hours of work, with some 10,000 posts analysed in the process.

Plus we cover heaps more! Let's get into it!

[ Check out episode 252: The power of community with best-selling author, Mark Schaefer ]

Mark (Masters) happens to feature in Mark Schaefer's book with his "supportive marketing learning community" You Are The Media (YATM), based on the south coast of England (but operating virtually, globally).

Under the YATM banner, Mark produces a long-running email newsletter, and runs social events, conferences and training days; he recently extended the community on to the Circle platform, giving it an interactive online hub of its own.

Mark also operates a consulting business - called We Are The Media - in tandem with YATM.

This is a fun and informative chat. While Mark and I refer often to Mark Schaefer's book (and the interview I did with him), we also take the topic of 'community' and run wild with it!

I hope you enjoy the convo!

It's pretty damn tough running a business today, getting your name out there and connecting with clients and customers, and the people who influence them - especially if you lack a sizeable budget to do so.

Traditional advertising is rarely effective these days and is out of reach for most small business owners anyway, while many default digital marketing tactics no longer seem to work as well as they used to.

But there is a way through for those entrepreneurs who are willing to explore some new ideas while at the same time be respectful as to how they show up in the marketplace.

At the Reputation Revolution, we're all about building a sustainable base of communications for our professional personal brand which, for many of us, also adds considerable weight to the overall marketing of our businesses. In many cases, we ARE the business.

We look at strategic PR and communications and all that entails, including content creation for our owned media channels, we cover social media of course, as well as earned media such as publicity, media relations, influencer relations and public speaking.

Growing an audience of followers and subscribers is all part of the program: an audience of fans and allies, champions of our personal brand, of what it is we do and stand for - an audience made up of potential advocates, influencers, clients and customers.

But can we go deeper, and build a genuine community around our ideas, or a specific topic or issue?

Community as a concept has been kicking around for a while now, but it's taken on new significance in recent times, for many of the aforementioned reasons.

At best, it's grossly misunderstood, at worst, it's been consigned to the bin of marketing buzzwords!.

But we're about to change that in this episode!

Today's expert guest gives us the rundown on communities from a strategic marketing standpoint.

Indeed, he's just released a book on the topic!

His name is Mark Schaefer, and the book is called BELONGING TO THE BRAND: Why Community is the Last Great Marketing Strategy.

Mark is one of the world's leading marketing futurists and keynote speakers; he's also a best-selling author, a veteran blogger and podcaster, a business consultant and educator of note.

He's a true thought leader, in a world where there are plenty of wannabe's - and he embodies all the things we talk about here on the Reputation Revolution.

Let's meet him, shall we?

You've heard the terms, but what do they all mean? How do they relate to one another?

And, importantly, when it comes to building a professional personal brand - growing your profile and enhancing your reputation in the marketplace: what role can Web3 and the Metaverse play in all of this?

You'll want to tune into this episode because we have a genuine expert in the space to guide us through the Web3 jungle: his name is Mitch Jackson, he's an award-winning litigation lawyer from California who is renowned for being ahead of the pack when it comes to social media and digital marketing ... and now, Web3 and the metaverse.

Mitch also runs a consultancy called ManeuVR, which shows creators, entrepreneurs, and business owners how to leverage web3 and the metaverse to create unique brands, new opportunities, and drive additional lanes of revenue.

He has recently published a book with his son Garrett: The Web3, Metaverse and AI Handbook - check it out on Amazon.

There's a lot happening in this space, and as business owners, professionals, thought leaders and content creators, we need to stay in touch with what's going on, so we can adapt quickly and see opportunities as they arise.

This is a bumper episode folks. Let's get the lowdown from Mitch right now!

To mark the occasion, I invited some past guests of the show to give us a brief answer to an open-ended question:

"From a personal branding or professional marketing perspective, what's the one thing that's really working well for you currently?"

Lots of interesting answers, including some timely reminders for us all! #Gold

It is indeed a bumper episode and a bit longer than usual as we feature 17 contributors all up (in no particular order):

1. Mitch Jackson
2. Nic Hayes
3. Susanna Reay
4. Adam Franklin
5. Tristan White
6. Jane Tabachnick
7. Heath Evans
8. Julian Mather
9. Sarah Mitchell
10. Mark Masters
11. Michelle B. Griffin
12. Alan & Emily Braithwaite
13. Mark Schaefer
14. Dr Jen Frahm
15. John Espirian
16. Myles Harris
17. Michelle J. Raymond

Thank you folks for giving up your time to contribute to this episode, and thank you dear listener for lending us your ears and taking time out of your busy schedule to check out the podcast!

SUBSCRIBE TO THE REPUTATION REVOLUTION NEWSLETTER HERE

In this special bumper episode, we recap our wonderful guests and play sound-bites of their interviews.

Expect stories, lessons, tips and advice from people who are in the trenches and are out there building, or helping others build, their professional personal brand.

If this is the first episode you're listening to, lucky you, you'll get a really good flavour for what we cover here on the show.

If you're a regular listener, get ready to be reminded of some of the highlights of the season; maybe you missed some guests and this might prompt you to go back and listen to those episodes for the first time, or perhaps you caught them initially and will be motivated to check back and listen to a particular episode again.

Either/or, this is an all-encompassing episode featuring a lot of insights and ideas in one self-contained package:

I hope you enjoy it. 

Topics touched on include:

• Personal brand vs business brand
• How to grow your personal brand-based business using paid media & digital ads 
• Grounding yourself in your story and your message
• How to use press releases to increase personal brand visibility & credibility
• How Oscar Trimboli built a global business around his professional personal brand
• Expert vs thought leader: what’s the difference?
• Unlocking & shaping your ideas through deep content
• How to build your personal brand using LinkedIn Company Pages
• Productise your knowledge + scale your impact
• How Joyce Ong uses transparency & fun to cut through the noise
• Exploring the possibilities that come with today’s Reputation Economy
• Developing a digital media mindset & experimenting with short-form video
• Going small to make it BIG with earned media
• How lawyer Alex Martin uses LinkedIn, podcasts and the media to build strategic visibility and trust in the marketplace
• How brand strategist Mark Drager built a YouTube show generating 4M views

If you only listen to one episode of the podcast this year, this is surely it!

Add a bit of meat to it. Theme it. Make it multimedia so people can listen if they prefer that, or watch it on YouTube, or read about it if necessary. Cut it into snippets to share across social media. Give it a name, create a sub-branded media property, as I've been calling it for years now: turn it into a platform with editorial integrity!

It's a destination show for a couple of reasons: (a) people go looking for it, they subscribe to it, they opt-in - it's a regular thing in terms of their content consumption. And (b) with all the bite-sized snippets you're putting out there - micro videos, quote cards, photos and images, pithy lessons learned ... these act as digital breadcrumbs to draw people back to your show, it's the destination, as it were.

It's a doorway into your personal brand orbit. For some people, it's how they find and interact with you.

So if you're an entrepreneur, a professional expert, an emerging thought leaders and you want to take things up a notch or two, creating a show is potentially something you might like to think about.

This is the key theme of today's episode.

My guest is brand strategist and agency owner, Mark Drager.

Mark produces a combination YouTube show and podcast (We Do Hard Things), through which he delivers terrific interviews with big names in their respective fields e.g.

• Lisa Bilyeu (BILLyou), cofounder of billion dollar company Quest Nutrition;
• motivational speaker Les Brown;
• TV presenter, Charley Boorman, who did the Long Way Around series with Ewan McGregor;
• author and podcaster James Altucher;
• Anthony Trucks, a former NFL Athlete, American Ninja Warrior.

Mark's YouTube channel has generated close to 4 million views, and his podcast continues to grow in leaps and bounds.

How does Mark approach the production of such a show, and what motivates him to put himself out there, to play big and be bold?

Our conversation covers a lot of territory, and it zips along at a decent clip.

Mark discusses:

• why being "safe and soft" was the impetus to create his show WE DO HARD THINGS 2 years ago: "It's for dreamers and entrepreneurs who need to hear the stories of people who have the courage to put themselves first and pursue their passions at all costs"
• how he secures high calibre interview guests: entrepreneurs, athletes, professors, authors ... "bad ass people", as he lovingly describes them
• how getting your pitch right can help you stand out
• the differences between the video and audio-only experience (and how that affects how the show is produced)
• the reason why he is going all-in on YouTube: "We are producing a level of assets ... I want this to look and feel like a television show"
• The 'e' storytelling technique, which he's found useful in developing his interview style

We also address the vexed question: Should a lawyer produce a podcast about coffee? (Mark's answer might surprise you).

MARK'S QUOTABLE QUOTES:

• "Eventually, people don't come to you because of the thing you make, they come to you because of how you think." 
• "There's an audience for everything. It's your job to create content that's worth listening to ... to stand out and be different."

It's an inspiring high-energy conversation: I think you'll like it!

CONNECT WITH MARK:

• Website
• YouTube channel

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LEARN HOW TO BECOME A CREDIBLE, INFLUENTIAL VOICE IN YOUR INDUSTRY!

LEARN MORE:  https://bit.ly/CAAPlus2023 (or feel free to drop me a DM here) ... or book in a no-obligation free Zoom call  https://bit.ly/TY_AMAzoom

In this episode, content coach Brendan Keogh and I dissect my conversation with Alex, unpacking key insights and takeaways that we found interesting, informative and relevant.

From pretty much a standing start (publishing the odd post on LinkedIn, but not with any purpose or direction), in 2022 Alex has:

• adhered to a strategic content plan
• regularly produced videos for LinkedIn and YouTube
• co-hosted 23 podcast episodes ('A Lawyer and Financial Advisor Walk into a Bar', alongside Dave Murdoch)
• appeared on national TV (Sky News)
• written articles for business publications
• been interviewed some 20 times on commercial radio about topical issues that showcased his legal expertise

In short, Alex has had a big year in terms of creating content, being in the media and building personal brand visibility.

Brendan and I dig in deep into Alex's case study.

Our discussion (and the previous episode with Alex) will be of particular interest to anyone keen to grow their professional personal brand and in doing so, position themselves as a credible, influential voice in their field.

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Cheers, Trevor

Twelve months ago, Alex's personal branding endeavours largely revolved around in-person networking, but as he says, you can only shake so many hands!

He also published the occasional post on LinkedIn, but not with any purpose or direction.

But Alex is an action-taker. He knew he needed to raise his profile and position himself as an expert in his space if he was to build his professional reputation and that of his legal firm.

So Alex went back to basics, and started following a strategic plan.

Having a plan, he says, "makes a lot more sense and has a lot more impact".

Today, Alex takes an integrated approach to content across owned, earned and media channels.

On LinkedIn, he regularly publishes videos that address the common challenges and pain-points faced by his audience, owners of growing medium-sized businesses.

Plus he uses the platform to share commentary on relevant commercial legal issues that are covered by the media.

But that's just one leg of the three-legged 'media stool'.

While steadily building his presence on LinkedIn was an important first step that has resulted in him more than doubling his following on the platform, Alex has also branched out into the other two legs of the media stool - owned media, and earned media.

He hosts a regular podcast with a financial advisor - A Lawyer and Financial Advisor Walk into a Bar - he also publishes videos to YouTube, writes articles for business magazines, and is a regular expert interview guest on commercial radio and national television. 

Critically, Alex is only 12 months into his personal branding journey, but he's doing it in a way that's both strategic and sustainable. The 'runs on the board' are piling up, and he's starting to really get noticed in legal circles for his commentary and content efforts.

Even one of his clients texted him after he emerged from a broadcast studio after giving an interview to say how he saw him on TV!

In short, Alex has had a big year in terms of creating content, being in the media and building personal brand visibility.

This is an all-encompassing conversation: It's not about doing the one thing and knocking it out of the park, it's about blending many of the key elements that come into play when strategically building one's professional profile and reputation.

Alex has done that, and more: this is his story.

Mark discussed how he has managed to continue to evolve as an author, a speaker, a blogger, and as as a personal brand.

In this episode, content coach Brendan Keogh and I dissect my conversation with Mark, riffing on key insights and takeaways that we found interesting, informative and relevant.

Our discussion will be of interest to anyone keen to grow their professional personal brand and position themselves as a thought leader in their chosen field of endeavour.

No doubt you've seen the marketing advice around picking a niche and staying in it. And there are elements of that school of thought that stand the test of time.

The niche argument is certainly applicable to bona fide experts - those who genuinely have deep domain expertise and who want to establish themselves as go-to authorities in their field of endeavour.

But, many of the people I work with (and follow on social media, and interview here on the podcast) are curious, multifaceted individuals - they're thought leaders who often cross boundaries and cover different territories.

Yes, they're experts as well in certain areas, but they're also big picture thinkers who spark conversation and connect dots. They don't always have the answers, but they're not afraid to ask questions, explore ideas in public, and bring people along for the ride.

This is why we find their content so interesting, and often challenging at the same time. They force us to rethink the status quo; sometimes they can change the way we think about a particular topic or issue with their concepts and ideas.

In turn, they often build large engaged audiences as a result of their content, their speaking and their media appearances.

Which brings us to today's episode: it's a replay of a previously-published interview with world-renowned blogger, best-selling author and keynote speaker Mark Schaefer.

It's actually part two of my interview with Mark. In part one (episode #192 - 'How to build momentum for your ideas'), we discussed Mark's book, Cumulative Advantage, so you might want to check that one out as well as this one if you haven't already done so!

In part two (episode #193 - this particular interview), the conversation heads down the path of thought leadership, and how Mark has managed to continue to evolve as an author, a speaker, a blogger, and as as a personal brand.

This discussion will interest anyone keen to grow their professional personal brand and position themselves as a thought leader in their chosen field of endeavour. Enjoy!

Quotable Quote: "It doesn't matter how hard you work and how well you execute, if the strategy is wrong in the first place."

CONNECT WITH MARK:

• Website
• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• Instagram
• YouTube

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Reputation Revolution is the professional personal branding show for experts, entrepreneurs and emerging thought leaders.

Hosted by the PR Warrior, Trevor Young, the show focuses on helping credible individuals to build visibility, influence and trust in the marketplace, and in doing so, position themselves to take advantage of today's 'reputation economy'.

Reputation Revolution covers the four core pillars of building a successful and respected professional personal brand:

1. ESTABLISH your voice
2. ENHANCE the credibility of that voice
3. EXTEND the reach of your voice
4. EXTRACT value from the profile and reputation you build in the marketplace

Follow Trevor on Twitter and/or subscribe to the Reputation Revolution newsletter

In PR industry speak, this is called 'earned media'. Essentially, it refers to coverage received on independent third-party media outlets - it's not paid for, but it is earned.

A massive opportunity for thought leaders and expert influencers today is to pitch themselves as a potential interview subject to niche podcasts. It's far less intimidating that trying to get up an interview on a major talkback radio station, that's for sure!

Podcasts are part of the growing micro-media trend, that is, those niche online channels that are often run by passionate individuals and/or people running small businesses. We're talking here about YouTube shows, live-streams, blogs and email newsletters, as well as podcasts.

In this episode, content strategist Brendan Keogh and I pull out and discuss the key takeaways from my previous interview with Shelby, as well as riff more generally on the opportunity for personal brands to extend the reach of their voice by being on other people's podcasts.

Plenty of ideas and tips in this show folks!

If you're keen to grow your influence beyond your own personal network of friends and connections, then this episode will be of interest!

DID you know REPUTATION REVOLUTION is also a newsletter? I'd love it if you could check it out and/or subscribe if you get a moment!

In this week's show we zero in on earned media, with particular emphasis on podcasts, or more specifically, being a guest on other people's podcasts.

Earned media is a term often used by PR folks. In essence, it refers to coverage received on independent third-party media outlets - it's not paid for, but it is earned.

Whether you've built your personal brand so well that media outlets are coming to you, or you're putting in the time and effort to pitch your story to the media outlets: it's still earned. 

You've earned the right for that media channel to quote you, to cover your story, to publish an interview with you.

And by media, we're talking about the whole gamut here baby: at the top end, you're looking at Tier 1 media outlets such as national and metro newspapers and magazines, commercial radio and TV.

Then there are what you'd call Tier 2 media - vertical magazine titles, mainstream blogs, industry publications.

And we keep moving down the 'media ladder' until we get to micro-media, that is, those niche online channels that are often run by passionate individuals and/or people running small businesses. We're talking here about podcasts, YouTube shows, live-streams, blogs and email newsletters. 

It's this lower tier of niche media that we dig into in this episode, with a strong focus on podcasts.

We'll allude to the other types of channels, but podcasting is where it's at in this episode: how to extend your reach by becoming a guest on other people's podcasts. 

To help me unpack what it all means, and how you too can build your personal brand by appearing as a guest on other people's podcasts, I'm joined by SHELBY JANNER - Chief Publicity Director at Zilker Media.

Shelby is an expert in pitching podcasts, she has led Zilker Media’s PR team to reach 2.5 million listeners in the past 2 years alone, booking over 100 different podcasts for Zilker Media’s clients.

If you're keen to extend the reach of your voice and grow your influence beyond your own personal network of friends and connections, then this episode will be of interest!

The micro-media channels may be small, but they can be powerful - and there are no shortage of opportunities available for savvy experts and thought leaders!

Let's get into it!

P.S. Visit PodcastGuestInsider.com to get your first month of Zilker Media’s new podcast guesting service free. Podcast Guest Insider isn’t just another podcast database. As a subscriber, you’ll get everything you need to pitch yourself to the right podcasts, delivered straight to your inbox. In your first free month alone you’ll get information on 10 vetted podcasts with contact information for you to start pitching yourself to guest on podcasts immediately. 

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Reputation Revolution is brought to you by the **CREDIBLE AUTHORITY ACADEMY. If you like what we talk about here on the Reputation Revolution, you’ll no doubt be interested in what’s on offer at Credible Authority Academy > go to credible authority.com >

ALSO: did you know REPUTATION REVOLUTION is also a newsletter? I'd love it if you could check it out and/or subscribe at reputationrevolution.substack.com.

The theme for that episode was around 'experimentation', and taking risks on social media.

By ‘taking risks’, we're not talking about doing anything stupid on the socials (we're all trying to build professional reputations after all) but really, just letting loose a bit:: Showing more of our authentic selves. Trying new platforms. Experimenting with new technologies. Developing new skills.

There are a lot of good things that come with that too: in the case of Ben Cusack, it was all about gaining confidence in front of the camera.

I call it adopting a digital media mindset, and it's important for anyone wanting to build a thought leader brand to embrace this philosophy.

In this episode, Brendan and I cut loose on all the key elements of my discussion with Ben, including:

• Tackling TikTok
• Experimenting with short-form video
• Moving to YouTube (and experimenting with 'Shorts')
• Ben's LinkedIn content curation strategy (and how he manages to be 'everywhere' on the platform while not spending much time on it
• Productivity and outsourcing

Ben is a 45-year old government grant specialist and business owner whose TikTok account has generated over 10.5 million ‘likes’, with an audience of over 190,000.

He must be doing something right!

Brendan and I unpack all in this episode, but if you're keen to hear straight from Ben, check out Episode #240 as well.

Let's face it, it takes time, effort and planning to build a professional personal brand that people know, trust and respect.

But sometimes, we over-think things. We get stuck inside our own heads when it comes to creating content and using social media to build our profile and our reputation.

If you’re a business owner or a professional expert with years in the trenches and runs on the board, there’s a good chance you might want to get things 100% perfect before publishing anything to social media.

It’s this pursuit of perfection: this over-thinking things around content creation, that might be holding you back and therefore, stunting your PR and personal branding efforts.

Today’s episode theme is around 'experimentation', and taking risks on social media. BEWARE: It's a wide-ranging conversation!

By ‘taking risks’, I’m not talking about doing anything silly.

Just letting loose a bit. Showing more of your authentic self. Trying new platforms. Experimenting with new technologies. Developing new skills.

There are a lot of good things that come with this: in the case of today’s guest, gaining confidence in front of the camera.

I call it adopting a digital media mindset.

Because, to be really successful with your content on social media, it’s as much about mindset as it is about the words you use.

In this episode, we hear from BEN CUSACK, a 45-year old government grant specialist and business owner whose TikTok account has generated over 10 million ‘likes’, with an audience of over 190,000.

In short, Ben takes chances on social media, and it's terrific to hear his story and how he's gained confidence in front of the (mobile phone) camera simply by doing, by putting himself out there and not taking things too seriously.

Ben and I cover TikTok, YouTube Shorts, turning blog posts into videos using AI, content curation on LinkedIn and increasing personal productivity through outsourcing.

If you tend to over-cook things on social media and have not yet broken out of the mindset that something needs to be perfect in order to be professional, then this episode is for you!

CONNECT WITH BEN:

• TikTok
• Website
• LinkedIn
• YouTube

#LearnByDoing #DigitalMediaMindset #ProgressNotPerfection

________________________

Reputation Revolution is brought to you by the **CREDIBLE AUTHORITY ACADEMY: **GROW YOUR INFLUENCE, CREATE MORE IMPACT! LEARN HOW TO BECOME A CREDIBLE, INFLUENTIAL VOICE IN YOUR INDUSTRY > go to credible authority.com > if you like what we talk about here on the Reputation Revolution, you’ll no doubt be interested in what’s on offer at Credible Authority Academy.

Of course, positioning oneself for personal branding success requires a bit of planning, including an initial focus on clarity and mindset - topics we discussed in that original interview.

In this episode, content strategist and podcast producer, Brendan Keogh, and I recap the Bec Sands interview, pulling out and discussing actionable insights that you can use!

Some of the topics covered include:

• getting out of your comfort zone
• dealing with limiting beliefs
• prioritising - and doing - the work required
• establishing a lifestyle business that enables people to work effectively from anywhere

We also recap Bec's story of how she live-streamed every week on Instagram in order to help her overcome her reticence about appearing on camera.

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Reputation Revolution is brought to you by the **CREDIBLE AUTHORITY ACADEMY: **GROW YOUR INFLUENCE, CREATE MORE IMPACT! LEARN HOW TO BECOME A CREDIBLE, INFLUENTIAL VOICE IN YOUR INDUSTRY > go to credible authority.com > if you like what we talk about here on the Reputation Revolution, you’ll no doubt be interested in what’s on offer at Credible Authority Academy.

We’re all about the individual, here on the Reputation Revolution. We’re talking about the power of the personal brand, folks, and how it’s now the biggest asset we have.

The way I look at it: why wouldn’t you want to put your best foot forward? Why wouldn’t you want to influence the perceptions that people have of you? Not in a slimy and fake way, but with authenticity, by adding value and serving others.

The possibilities for those individuals who understand the power of reputation, and are able to grow their brand in a genuine way: they’re endless. 

But there are roadblocks many of us have. Some people have issues with clarity in how they want to show up in the world. Others have limiting beliefs that hold them back.

We can create a pathway for ourselves: we can take control of our professional lives, and influence in a positive and genuine way how people perceive us. That’s the theme for today’s episode.

My guest today is BEC SANDS, who helps exceptional people build personal brands and stand out as the go-to thought leaders in their fields of expertise.

Bec and I explore the possibilities that come with being a thought leader or recognised expert.

There are roughly two parts to our conversation:

(1) mindset and clarity, and

(2) the opportunities that come with being an active participant in today’s reputation economy.

In terms of mindset, we unpack the various roadblocks and how people can overcome them. These limiting beliefs include an unwillingness to change, imposter syndrome and the pursuit of perfectionism.

We also chat about making the jump from career to running a personal brand-based business with the ability to work from anywhere.

Along the way Bec shares her story how live-streaming every week on Instagram helped her overcome her reticence about appearing on camera.

If you're wanting to take your thought leadership journey more seriously, this episode is for you!

CONNECT WITH BEC:

• Website
• LinkedIn
• Instagram

Reputation Revolution is brought to you by the **CREDIBLE AUTHORITY ACADEMY: **GROW YOUR INFLUENCE, CREATE MORE IMPACT! LEARN HOW TO BECOME A CREDIBLE, INFLUENTIAL VOICE IN YOUR INDUSTRY > go to credible authority.com > if you like what we talk about here on the Reputation Revolution, you’ll no doubt be interested in what’s on offer at Credible Authority Academy.

That episode focused on Joyce's story who, from pretty much scratch, has gone from zero-to-hero in terms of her LinkedIn presence. It’s a great story, and she reveals how she went about it in the chat.

In this episode, content strategist and podcast producer, Brendan Keogh, and I recap the Joyce Ong interview, pulling out and discussing actionable insights that you can use!

Reputation Revolution is brought to you by the **CREDIBLE AUTHORITY ACADEMY: **GROW YOUR INFLUENCE, CREATE MORE IMPACT! LEARN HOW TO BECOME A CREDIBLE, INFLUENTIAL VOICE IN YOUR INDUSTRY > go to credible authority.com > if you like what we talk about here on the Reputation Revolution, you’ll no doubt be interested in what’s on offer at Credible Authority Academy.

How do we stand out on social media - especially LinkedIn, which as we all know, is a ‘professional’ network, where showing up as your real self can be difficult for many people.

Yet, we also know that dropping the veneer, getting out amongst it, taking people behind the scenes of your business or professional life - showing your personality and bringing your whole self to LinkedIn especially: this can work wonders in terms of building a profile and getting people to take notice of who you are, what you do and what you stand for: all hallmarks of professional personal branding. 

In this episode, we hear from Joyce Ong who, from pretty much scratch, has gone from zero-to-hero in terms of her LinkedIn presence. It’s a great story!

Joyce is co-founder of TAX NUGGETS ACADEMY, which produces bite-sized training videos for SME accountants and tax advisors. She describes herself as an entrepreneur, content creator, disruptor, rebel against boring, and saviour from sucky training! 

In this fun and informative conversation, Joyce explains how she lets it all out on LinkedIn - detailing the ups and downs of life as a startup entrepreneur - and how adhering to her policy of radical transparency on the platform has helped her not only stand out from the pack, but also grow her nascent enterprise.

Joyce walks us through her story, from working as a consultant at the Australian Tax Office, to running her own training business.

Along the way, she prioritised showing up as herself on LinkedIn, a process she found liberating, and unpacks the thinking behind her efforts on the social platform.

During the course of the conversation, Joyce touches on:

• The importance of authenticity on LinkedIn, and why taking people behind the scenes of your professional life can really pay dividends in terms of attracting attention, building an audience and generating business
• The concept of radical transparency, and what it looks like in action
• How much time she spends creating content and responding to comments
• Dealing with negative comments on LinkedIn
• Earned media opportunities that come from having a growing profile
• How she juggles personal brand vs business brand 
• The success she’s having with her early efforts with LinkedIn paid ads

Joyce also squeezes in a shout-out for a role she’s got going at Tax Nuggets Academy (digital marketing manager), and asks - and gets - some in-the-moment advice around podcasting!

• Follow Joyce on LinkedIn
• Visit her website - Tax Nuggets Academy

Reputation Revolution is brought to you by the **CREDIBLE AUTHORITY ACADEMY: **GROW YOUR INFLUENCE, CREATE MORE IMPACT! LEARN HOW TO BECOME A CREDIBLE, INFLUENTIAL VOICE IN YOUR INDUSTRY > go to credible authority.com > if you like what we talk about here on the Reputation Revolution, you’ll no doubt be interested in what’s on offer at Credible Authority Academy.

That episode - and this one too - is all about extracting the value from the profile and reputation you build, and is spot-on for knowledge entrepreneurs - speakers, coaches, mentors, teachers, consultants and advisors.

Even if you run a consulting firm or an agency, listen up folks :)

In this episode, content strategist and podcast producer, Brendan Keogh, and I recap the Greg Burgoyne interview, pulling out and discussing actionable insights that you can use!

Greg and I talked about:

* Cohort-based courses, and the stages involved in launching and delivering them

* Self-paced evergreen courses, with or without a community component, plus the hybrid variations (key message: there are lot of different ways to productise and sell your knowledge today!)

* Delivering online training into enterprise-level organisations

* The different types of delivery platforms e.g. Kajabi, Podia (all-in-one platforms) vs course hosting platforms such as Teachable, and Thinkific; marketplaces like Udemy (the “YouTube of paid courses”); WordPress plugin options, plus online community platforms such as Mighty Networks that house courses and training as well as community forums.

In turn, Brendan and I go deeper still, expanding on the points that Greg raised in the original interview.

Some key takeaways include:

• start small
• test and validate your idea
• get feedback and gain insights

... before committing to a the production of a full course.

ALSO: Suck up the marketing function. If you productise your knowledge, you need to also sell what you create!

Bottom line: The opportunities for expanding your knowledge business and scaling your impact are immense!

I’m talking about course creation specifically - this will be of particular interest to listeners who are consultants, coaches, advisors - who currently trade time for money and are looking at ways to maximise their revenue without killing themselves in the process.

My guest today is GREG BURGOYNE from New Zealand.

Greg is the founder of the Course Creators Academy; he helps thought leaders and experts (coaches/consultants) unpack their valuable IP and create an offering in order to scale their impact.

In the conversation, we touch on a number of topics associated with the process of productising one's knowledge for commercial gain, including:

* Cohort-based courses, and the stages involved in launching and delivering them

* Self-paced evergreen courses, with or without a community component, plus the hybrid variations (key message: there are lot of different ways to productise and sell your knowledge today!)

* Delivering online training into enterprise-level organisations

* The different types of delivery platforms e.g. Kajabi, Podia (all-in-one platforms) vs course hosting platforms such as Teachable, and Thinkific; marketplaces like Udemy (the “YouTube of paid courses”); WordPress plugin options, plus online community platforms such as Mighty Networks that house courses and training as well as community forums

Greg says it's important when starting out to begin small, validate your idea, then do it live: "don’t necessarily productise it straight away".

We cover self-sabotage, and people's aversion to the marketing and sales function involved in building a business around course creation.

QUOTABLE QUOTE: “Who is going to thank you on the other side of stepping out of your comfort zone?”

Check out Greg's website, or connect with him on LinkedIn.

In this episode, content strategist and podcast producer, Brendan Keogh, and I recap the Michelle interview, pulling out and discussing actionable insights that you can use!

So much gold coming from my chat with Michelle. Topics we covered in the conversation (and largely further discussed with Brendan):

👍 Why it’s worth looking at Company Pages with “a fresh set of eyes”

👍 Why you should think of your LinkedIn Company Page as a "greatest hits album"

👍 Tips to grow your LinkedIn Company Page

👍 Producing LinkedIn Lives: personal profile, or Company Page?

THIS EPISODE IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY CREDIBLE AUTHORITY ACADEMY: It's your turn to profit from your ideas, your wisdom, and your experience.

You might not be as strategically active as you could be (that’s a story for another day!), but you at least have a personal profile and probably are publishing content on a regular/semi-regular basis.

If you’re running a business - even if you’re a solopreneur and the business is YOU! - LinkedIn becomes perhaps even more important, so you want to be able to get the most out of the platform.

If this sounds like you, keep reading (or just start listening to this episode!).

So, you have your personal profile buttoned down, but have you thought about setting up a LinkedIn COMPANY PAGE (aka LinkedIn Page, and LinkedIn Business Page)?

Wait … whaaat?

Like many of us, you’re no doubt busy enough without adding what is effectively another social channel!

Hear me out. It might sound counter-intuitive, creating a Company Page if you run a personal brand-based business. I mean, shouldn’t the personal profile be your focus?

Well, yes ... and, no.

My guest for this episode - Michelle J. Raymond - puts forth a solid case as to why having a LinkedIn Company Page, alongside your personal profile, is a savvy marketing move.

Michelle is a B2B social selling consultant and LinkedIn strategist and trainer. She is founder of Good Trading Company, co-author of the book “Business Gold: Build Awareness, Authority and Advantage with LinkedIn Company Pages." - and host of the GOOD FOR BUSINESS show.

Indeed, Michelle is such a huge advocate for LinkedIn Company Pages that she operates three of them, along with her personal profile!

Want to know how she makes them all worth together? Check out this episode!

Topics covered in this conversation:

• Why it’s worth looking at Company Pages with “a fresh set of eyes”
• Why you should think of your LinkedIn Company Page as a "greatest hits album"
• Tips to grow your LinkedIn Company Page
• Producing LinkedIn Lives: personal profile, or Company Page?
• Michelle’s approach to LinkedIn (generally) and how much time she spends on the platform

We also touch on LinkedIn audio events and LinkedIn newsletter functionality

[ QUOTABLE QUOTE ] “Stop collecting Page followers, it’s not inspiring to anybody … start building your B2B community, start being the go-to source for your industry.” - Michelle J. Raymond

Connect with Michelle on LinkedIn

Follow Good Trading Co on LinkedIn

THIS EPISODE IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY CREDIBLE AUTHORITY ACADEMY: It's your turn to profit from your ideas, your wisdom, and your experience.

In this episode, content strategist and podcast producer, Brendan Keogh, and I  recap the Sonja interview, to go, ahem, deeper into the concept of 'deep content'.

Bottom line: Ideas that matter. Caring about what you do: the content you publish, matters!

If you're an aspiring thought leader wanting to explore ideas in public and build reputation for your thinking, then you'll really get a lot out of this conversation, plus the previous episode, my interview with Sonja.

One way to do this is by producing 'deep content' that sparks conversation and attracts an audience.

Sonja Nisson is an independent brand strategist and content coach from Bristol in the UK.

In this episode, Sonja and I get philosophical about creating content that matters.

Sonja calls it 'deep content'.

Deep content positions you, unequivocally, as the expert in your field, she says.

• It shows your commitment to your specialist subject.
• Going above and beyond - not many people will do this, you have the edge.
• You learn so much by doing it.: your expertise deepens. 
• It leads to other things. Never underestimate the serendipity factor of releasing deep content into the world, Sonja says.

Sonja touches on the power of intimacy and vulnerability in your writing, and shares the concept behind producing 'stock and flow' content.

Sonja and I also discuss the different examples of deep content, and explain how it can come in many forms.

FURTHER READING: Beyond blogging: deep content to change your business and your life

CHECK OUT SONJA'S BUSINESS - School of Valuable Content

Follow Sonja on Twitter

In this episode I sit down with content strategist and ghostwriter Brendan Keogh to recap the Ashley interview, to go deeper into the ‘expert vs thought leader’ debate, and pull out what we think are the important distinctions.

Here are some of the sub-topics we riff on:

• Why humility is a hallmark of a genuine thought leader (and what does this look like in action)
• Self-awareness: what kind of impact do you want to have in the world?
• Why it’s important to evolve as a professional (whether expert or thought leader)
• The commoditization of expertise, and why experts need to be strategic in how they differentiate themselves (because the ‘expert world’ is pretty crowded!) - from a personal branding perspective, this includes your personality, your values and principles, and your philosophy
• The merged expert/thought leader e.g. Joanna Penn aka ‘The Creative Penn’ (she's an authority on becoming an 'authorpreneur' and building a sustainable enterprise around your writing)
• Utility content (useful, helpful, how-to) vs leadership content (more visceral and thought provoking)
• Just because you publish a book doesn’t make you a thought leader: “there’s a higher bar than that,” says Brendan
• Do you have aspirations to become a thought leader: Are you prepared to put in the work to make that a reality? Are you prepared to publicly challenge the status quo, which is a hallmark of a thought leader?
• Why thought leaders need purpose and direction, but not necessarily be locked down to a narrow niche (“give yourself permission to grow and evolve”)

We also refer to Ashley’s riff on why experts shouldn’t attempt a TED Talk (and why thought leaders shouldn’t be in customer support!)

Ashley has developed a framework that she calls the Four Pillars of Thought Leadership - you can check it out here.

*** Reputation Revolution: Brought to you by the Credible Authority Academy ***

In this episode, we tackle an equally common question: What’s the difference between subject matter experts and thought leaders?

To help me dig deeper into this topic, I am joined by Director of Integrated Product Marketing at Atlassian, Ashley Faus.

This is a subject dear to Ashley’s heart, and she has some strong views on it!

Ashley has developed a framework that she calls the Four Pillars of Thought Leadership - you can check it out here.

She unpacks the framework and its four pillars:

1. Credibility
2. Profile
3. Prolific
4. Depth of Ideas

Semantics, or not?

While the whole ‘ expert vs thought leader’ debate might sound like semantics, both Ashley and I agree that understanding the key differences between the two really does matter.

Talking points include:

• Old school thought leader vs the ‘new’ thought leader
• How some businesses approach thought leadership (badly) - looking at you SaaS companies!
• Why experts shouldn’t attempt a TED Talk (and why thought leaders shouldn’t be in customer support!)
• What value do you provide to the audience? It matters! Why thought leaders and experts need to keep updating their knowledge.
• The concept of 'Expertville vs Visionary Town'

We also have a sidebar conversation about LinkedIn, and why it's important to be intentional with the content we post on the site, plus we wade into the ‘professional content’ vs 'personal content' debate!

Name-checked in this episode:

• Joanna Penn
• Andrew Davis
• Mark Schaefer
• David Meerman Scott
• Andy Crestodina

It's a fun and energetic discussion, I hope you enjoy it!

CONNECT WITH ASHLEY ON LINKEDIN

*** Reputation Revolution: Brought to you by the Credible Authority Academy ***

In this episode, I get together with content strategist Brendan Keogh to dissect that interview, and unpack various key aspects of what Oscar shared (and he shared a lot of gold!).

If you listened to Oscar's story and found what he had to say interesting, I think you'll find this particular episode informative as Brendan and I recount our top takeaways.

Oscar's story is a good one. If you're wanting to build a personal brand-based enterprise, episode #226 is required listening!

>>>

DID YOU KNOW I PUBLISH AN EMAIL NEWSLETTER, ALSO CALLED REPUTATION REVOLUTION? You can check it out (and subscribe) here!

If you listen to this podcast, even if it's only every now and then, I bet you're probably interested in how you can build your personal brand in a sustainable way so you can take advantage of the myriad opportunities that come with being an active participant in today's 'Reputation Economy'.

My guest today has done exactly this and is indeed an active participant in today's 'Reputation Economy'! He has, over time, built a global profile and reputation as one of the world's leading listening experts.

His name is Oscar Trimboli, he lives in Sydney, and this is his story.

Oscar helps leaders and professionals discover the hidden key to better communication. He is passionate about using the gift of listening to bring positive change in homes, workplaces and cultures around the world.

Of note, Oscar is an author, host of the Apple award-winning podcast Deep Listening, and a sought-after keynote speaker.

In this conversation, Oscar tells his personal brand story, including how he left the corporate world and later evolved into the global listening expert he is today.

He shares in detail his content strategy across owned, earned and social media channels.

Oscar touches on a range of topics. He explains:

• how he came to the realisation he was an expert at listening.
• how when he started, there was one clear expert in the space globally, and that he had to educate the market on the importance of listening.
• that the content he produced in the first two years was “absolute rubbish” - he has been focusing on the positive aspects of listening ("It wasn’t getting any traction because I wasn’t talking to their problem, I was talking to my hypothetical solution”
• how podcast guest interviews result in real business benefits

Oscar also unpacks how he generates his income.

QUOTABLE QUOTE: “Create content where they (the audience) are at, and break it down as simply as possible, and express that in multiple ways”

On the Reputation Revolution podcast, we cover the four core pillars of building a successful and respected professional personal brand:

1. ESTABLISH your voice
2. ENHANCE the credibility of that voice
3. EXTEND the reach of your voice
4. EXTRACT value from the profile and reputation you build in the marketplace

Oscar ticks all of these boxes!

His story is a good one. If you're wanting to build a personal brand-based enterprise, this episode is required listening!

CONNECT WITH OSCAR:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter

(Details re Oscar's new book here)

Generating editorial exposure in traditional media outlets such as newspapers, magazines, radio and television can do wonders for your personal profile and reputation.

But it can be a tough gig. It needs to be approached strategically, and requires a fair bit of unrelenting 'grunt' work.

As a general rule, for entrepreneurs, experts and thought leaders - the best way to go is pitching your story idea to a specific (and relevant) journalist, editor or broadcast producer. Pitch, by pitch ... by pitch. Quality over quantity.

Having a publicist or media relations representative doing it on your behalf can help, but it costs money to do it properly, given the amount of man-hours required to do the job properly.

But there is another method you can employ.

Press releases.

To be more specific: press release distribution at scale.

Now, coming from the PR world, the press release has its fair share of critics.

Indeed, some even claim that the press release is dead!

Personally, I have a love-hate relationship with it (to be fair, as a tool, the release is okay and serves a purpose, the issue is more around the mindless blasting of irrelevant unprofessional-looking press releases to hundreds of journalists in one hit - we call it 'spray and pray' in the industry).

Maybe we shouldn't be so hasty in writing off the humble press release. There appears to be life in the old dog yet!

Enter Mickie Kennedy ...

In this episode, Mickie explains how press releases distributed en masse via an email or wire service can turbo-charge your visibility and credibility (and generate real business revenue as well).

Mickie is an expert at helping small businesses, authors, and startups increase their visibility and credibility. He founded eReleases 22 years ago after realising small businesses needed a press release service they could afford.

Today, eReleases provides entrepreneurs and thought leaders with real-time access to the media and to a national newswire – all with a personal touch.

In this chat, Mickie and I cover a range of topics associated with press release writing and distribution, including:

• the distinction between wire services and email distribution
• what makes for an effective press release
• the importance of including a compelling quote/s in your press release
• creating headlines (and why you shouldn't get too cute when doing so)
• the strategic use of press releases: what that looks like, and what sort of results you can generate if you do it properly
• How one eReleases client generated 150 articles using press release wire distribution, resulting in $10M in business revenue
• Why the art of newsjacking is difficult to sustain (and if you go down this path, then having a contrarian view can help you cut through the noise)

Says Mickie: "A journalist is a gatekeeper and they are deciding what is really relevant and compelling they can share with their audience."

Get access to Mickie's free masterclass: How to build a PR campaign designed to get massive media coverage.

“According to most studies, people's number one fear is public speaking. Number two is death. Death is number two. Does that sound right? This means to the average person, if you go to a funeral, you're better off in the casket than doing the eulogy.”

We are always presenting ourselves, our story and our ideas, whether we’re speaking on-stage or at a meet-up, in boardroom meetings, in our video content, and podcast interviews.

But for many of us, it's not something we like doing, while others don't mind speaking in public, but they make a hash of it because they're not prepared, and they don't necessarily take their audience into consideration.

Let's cut to the chase: Building a thought leader brand often will require you to communicate your message from multiple platforms. Not only is it a powerful proposition, but it's also a privilege to be able to present to an audience, whether virtually, in-person on-stage, or via our content (webinars, videos, podcasts, etc).

This is the topic we chat about in this episode of the Reputation Revolution, and to help us do just that is JACKIE GODDARD, founder of Power to Speak.

Jackie is a creative producer, acting, voice and presentation coach who helps entrepreneurs, leaders and speakers get excited about sharing their business ideas!

In this episode, she shares how she works with her clients so they can step up and communicate confidently and powerfully on any platform.

Jackie explains the importance of knowing why you’re there (on the virtual or physical stage), and what the value is that you’re sharing.

Your story is your bedrock, she says, and you should be able to adapt it to different platforms.

Jackie discusses:

• The power of gaining insights on what people think about you ( she refers to the “criticism sandwich” - good point, bad point, good point)
• Why creating a bank of personal examples and stories can give you the communications edge ("start a story journal" and collect anecdotes and stories, Jackie recommends)
• The importance of having a solid understanding of your audience. "You want to inform, interest, entertain your audience": What stories can you tell that will benefit? What do you want your audience to feel? What do you want them to go away and do? What action do you want them to take?
• Imposter syndrome, and why many people - as per Jerry Seinfeld's quote - are averse to speaking in public. "We have more knowledge on our subject than we think!" Jackie says.

Whether you participate in podcasts, panels, meetups, boardroom presentations, workshops, Zoom presentations, or are asked to deliver keynote presentations, you'll find this chat with Jackie helpful and inspiring!

When it comes to running a personal brand-based enterprise, organic content and social media efforts will build your marketing communications base and might be sufficient in generating leads and sales for your business ... or you might want to supercharge things through paid advertising.

Paid media takes many guises in the digital world.

To help us unpack what can be a somewhat complex area to many people, we've put together three experts in the virtual room to provide their take on what's happening currently in the world of digital marketing.

They are:

1. Melinda Samson, founder of Click-Winning Content
2. Kym Wallis, founder of the Higher Ranking digital agency
3. Myles Harris, independent Facebook ads and social media advertising specialist.

It's a full-throttle conversation, which takes in many aspects of the paid digital arena, including:

• Facebook/Instagram (Meta) advertising
• Google ads/paid search
• YouTube ads

We also cover SEO and LinkedIn lead generation, as well as last touch attribution and remarketing.

Phewww!

It's rare to get so much knowledge and in-the-trenches experience packed into the one episode!

An example of one terrific tip:

If you have one takeaway from this episode, it's this - never accept anything AI-generated from Google (and Facebook) that suggests you take a certain action with your advertising. It might be fine, but make sure you understand first what it means before committing.

#GOLD

Thanks for listening!

"Should you focus on building your personal brand, or business brand?"

It follows on from the previous episode (#221) in which brand strategist, Sam Osborn, content coach, Brendan Keogh, and I discussed this topic, albeit in quite broad terms.

However, I felt there was unfinished business.

I subsequently blogged about the topic and had conversations with people on LinkedIn and Twitter. I put my thinking cap on. I went for long walks to gain additional clarity around the subject.

Here I was: I'd been neck-deep in the PR and marketing arena for many years now; I'd advised countless individuals – entrepreneurs, professional experts and thought leaders – on both their personal and business brands,

But I felt I hadn't sufficiently come to any real concrete conclusions to this common issue.

It had always been, in my instance anyway, a case by case proposition, depending on who I was talking to at the time, and what their particular circumstances were.

Until now.

I decided the best way to help people better understand this branding conundrum and thus have greater clarity as to which strategy would work best for them - 'personal brand vs business brand' - was to provide real-life examples of people who had already gone a fair way down the path, and then unpack their respective situation.

Which is what I have done in this episode.

I hope you get value from it!

REPUTATION REVOLUTION is brought to you by Credible Authority Academy.

In this episode we tackle the much-debated topic - Business brand vs personal brand: Which one should you focus on?

It's a question I get asked a lot, and one to which there is no definitive answer, as a number of variables will often come into play.

But ... it's definitely worth digging into if you're in business, because as we know: when it comes to all things PR, marketing and communications (including content and social media) - clarity is king!

To help me tackle the 'business brand vs personal brand' debate, I've co-opted two experienced pros to provide their ideas, insights and opinions on the topic.

They are:

1. SAM OSBORN - a leading brand strategist who helps businesses drive stronger revenue, branded communication and customer love
2. BRENDAN KEOGH - a marketer and coach who helps thought leaders clarify their message and create cut-through content that gets results

Sam, Brendan and I provide our respective takes on the 'business brand vs personal brand' theme.

Along the way, we also discuss:

• the concept of branding, and the critical role it plays
• the importance of values, personality and consistency in building trust
• examples of personal brands who have also built significantly-sized businesses
• The role reputation plays in personal branding
• Leaders of practice areas within a larger firm: how should they approach personal branding?
• Brand architecture, and when to build a 'house of brands'

If you're building a business enterprise around your personal brand but are wondering whether or not you need to put a bit of effort into marketing an associated business entity, then have a listen to this episode for further insights and ideas on the topic.

*** REPUTATION REVOLUTION: Brought to you by the Credible Authority Academy ***

Trevor outlines what he calls the Credible Authority Method, a professional personal branding framework he's been developing for some time now and something he expects will be the topic of his next book.

Trevor also chats about some forthcoming plans for the podcast, including a potential change in format, and he wants your feedback (you can email him at trevor.young@prwarrior.com).

All this and more!

__________________________

In this encore episode of the podcast, we chat with Pat Mannix, a partner in the Melbourne-based accounting firm, Paris Financial.

Pat is known as the Small Business Tax Champion.

He uses video to share ideas, insights and value with his target audience, the small business community.

Pat's videos demystify legislation, unpack complex issues around all things tax, and provide savvy business tips and advice. Plus he doesn't mind delivering the occasional rant against multinational companies that don't pay their fair share of tax!

But most importantly, Pat's content is the real deal.

Yes, it's valuable content for the intended audience - small business owners - but it's how he presents it that really resonates. With Pat, what you see is what you get - he's a funny guy, and his personality really shines through in his videos. This is very welcome, given a lot of the subject matter is on the dry side!

In this this interview, Pat breaks down how he produces his videos, including the production schedule he adheres to and the technology used. He explains the need to inject personality on-camera and why the key to content success is consistency.

Pat also discusses how creating content has given him (and his firm) visibility within small business circles, and how this has led to new business opportunities.

Pat has done some 150 videos now, so he's got it down to a fine art. But nothing would have happened had he not turned on the camera and had a go!

If you've been 'umming and aahing' as to whether you should be creating content but are starting to maybe over-think things to the point where nothing is getting done, you'll be inspired by this chat with Pat Mannix.

CONNECT WITH PAT:

• Paris Financial website
• YouTube channel
• LinkedIn profile

__________________________

In this encore episode of the podcast, we chat with Andy Crestodina, Co-Founder and Chief Marketing Officer of Orbit Media Studios and a world-renowned digital marketing guru.

Andy has been in the web design and interactive marketing space for 21 years. In that time, he’s helped thousands of people do a better job getting results online. He’s a true evangelist for content marketing and ethical digital marketing.

Andy and host Trevor Young discuss:

• The building blocks of thought leadership marketing
• The differences between a content marketer and a thought leader
• Blogging as a powerful thought leadership marketing tool in 2021
• Andy's suggestions on optimising SEO for personal branding, including how to outrank negative media
• PLUS ... Andy unpacks the state of blogging, and lets us in on some of the interesting findings of his 7th Annual Blogging Survey,

If you've ever thought about what thought leadership is, how to extend your personal brand reach as a thought leader, or whether you simply love following thought leaders and get value from their content, you'll find this conversation super interesting!

CONNECT WITH ANDY:

Website

Twitter

Instagram

LinkedIn

__________________________

In this encore episode of the podcast, author of Content DNA, John Espirian, unpacks his personal branding journey, explaining how he went from an unknown B2B technology writer to a high-profile LinkedIn expert who has successfully managed to differentiate himself from his competitors in the marketplace.

{N.B. After we listen to John's story, John and host Trevor Young shift gears and discuss LinkedIn tips and strategies}

John's the real deal. He's a genuine, humble guy. He's not flashy, but he's credible.

This makes him the antithesis of many of the self-proclaimed 'thought leaders' we see out there on the web who are good at scoring airtime, but scratch beneath the surface and there's not a lot there.

In this wide-ranging chat with Trevor Young, John discusses:

• why he chose to build his personal brand in the first place
• his book Content DNA, and why he wrote it
• the concept of creating personal brand building blocks, and how they helped him establish a unique tone of voice
• the importance of showing up and relentlessly delivering value time and time again
• making public promises and staying true to them
• the 90/10 rule - spending 90% of time on a primary social channel, and 10% on a second one.

John also covers blogging, writing styles, and building an email list.

In part 2 of the interview, John and Trevor take a deep dive into LinkedIn.

John touches on:

• LinkedIn's algorithm and the potential of organic visibility on the platform versus Facebook
• the type of content that performs best for John on LinkedIn
• tips for increasing views of your LinkedIn posts
• why LinkedIn values 'dwell time'

John Espirian quotes:

👉 "Your brand identity is like a hook of a great song: get it right and people will echo it back to you."

👉 "I've found that people who find me through LinkedIn are willing to pay up to 30 percent more than the people who find me through Google."

👉 "You've got to turn up, you've got to do the reps in the gym kind of thing. And eventually you will become known. But you've got to stick at it for long enough for it to happen." 

CONNECT WITH JOHN:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• Website
• YouTube

Who were the expert guests featured, and what were the various topics and talking points discussed?

It's a great (quick) way to see what you missed (if you did indeed miss some shows), and a reminder of some of the great conversations we had on the podcast.

Keep an ear out for season 6, coming your way soon!

And 'content repurposing' also often gets regularly mentioned in dispatches, because it too plays a key role in personal branding.

But we haven't dedicated an entire episode to content repurposing ... until now!

In this episode, Trevor Young and expert guest, Sally A. Curtis, go deep into all things content repurposing, covering:

• What it is
• Why it is so important
• How to do it strategically

But it's not just a theoretical session! Trevor and Sally provide heaps of practical examples of what content repurposing looks like, when done well.

Sally is a content repurposing specialist who works with speakers, authors, thought leaders, coaches, consultants and entrepreneurs.

She also hosts the Success Secrets Exposed podcast and video show

Sally talks about her content repurposing framework ("amplification, transformation, and productisation"), plus we hear about her method for dissecting her clients' content to identify nuggets of gold - inspiring quotes, bite-sized rants and teachable moments.

Visibility & revenue

Content repurposing can help entrepreneurs, professional experts and thought leaders to not only raise their visibility ("strategic omnipresence" as Trevor calls it), but also generate additional revenue.

Sally reveals how she and her clients are creating additional sales by turning their old content into training programs and information products.

QUOTABLE QUOTE: "Let's educate your audience. Let's inspire your audience. Let's inform the audience, let's help them make sense of their world," says Sally.

CONNECT WITH SALLY:

• Website
• LinkedIn
• Twitter

The topic is a bit different from what we usually cover on the podcast, but it's critically important for entrepreneurs and thought leaders who are keen to fast-track their public profile and professional reputation.

If we can't get our mindset right and get on top of roadblocks and issues caused by self-sabotage - i.e. imposter syndrome etc - we can never effectively put ourselves out there online and build a personal brand that is truly representative of our professional selves.

How can we create powerful, thought-provoking content if we're constantly second-guessing ourselves?

How can we provide useful tips and ideas on social media if we don't deem ourselves worth enough to do so?

To unpack all of this is The Happiness Hunter, Fiona Redding, a mindset coach and motivational speaker who helps female founders upgrade their vision, mindset and wellbeing to create a purposeful, profitable life and business.

Specifically, Fiona outlines the five ways we self-sabotage, and explains how we can fix it.

(FURTHER READING: The five ways you self-sabotage (and how to fix it)

CONNECT WITH FIONA:

• The Happiness Hunter website
• LinkedIn
• Facebook

👇

{ EP 211- How to build a national media profile as the go-to expert in your space: Case study with Jake Moore; EP 212 - How owned media can lead to editorial exposure > Content Marketing for PR audiobook chapter }

In this episode, we stay with the earned media theme, but go deeper into the process of how to deal with journalists and producers in order to generate editorial exposure for our brand. Of course, what we're wanting to achieve through the media is to increase our reach, grow our influence and continue to strengthen our professional bona fides.

Today's guest is Chenoa Parr, a seasoned PR and media relations specialist from Liverpool.

Chenoa and host Trevor Young (aka 'The PR Warrior') dissect what it takes to grow a media profile. They cover a variety of topics and key points, including:

• The importance of having your story and message clear in your mind before you start approaching the media
• Being able to articulate what it is you do and stand for (as well as what your key areas of expertise are) - do you have a particular philosophy or viewpoint around key trends/topics/issues in your industry?
• The power of strong story hooks and angles for the media - how to do this strategically, on an ongoing basis, in order to get maximum results for your efforts?
• What makes a good story hook? What are the types of stories that journalists and broadcast producers are looking for?
• Tier 1 media vs tier 2 media - plus the opportunities around guest blogging and guesting on other people's podcasts.
• Journalists are all over Twitter - if you’re serious about media relations, you need to be on the platform.
• How can you help journalists? Share their content on social media, build relationships with them before pitching your story idea.
• Opportunities in radio for leaders and experts with a good story to tell and expertise to share.
• The danger of being too focused on yourself, your business and products - look outwards: why it's important to develop a story hook or ange that connects with a wider topic, issue or trend.
• Become a student of the media - do your homework before pitching!

Several big lessons spring from this discussion: (a) while a PR professional can be a terrific asset in helping you build your media profile, you can still play the media game effectively without one, and (b) media exposure can do wonders for your profile - Chenoa tells the story of the UK yoga instructor whose Facebook Live videos caught the attention of BBC London, which then ran story on her; down the track, a celebrity found the instructor via the story on Google. Terrific yarn!

Chenoa also reiterates during the interview: It's important, when pitching the media, to know about wider societal and business trends and issues generally, as well as those pertaining to your industry - this is critical if you want to be topical with your pitches, she says.

CONNECT WITH CHENOA:

• Website
• Twitter
• LinkedIn

DID YOU KNOW THAT REPUTATION REVOLUTION IS ALSO A NEWSLETTER? SUBSCRIBE ON SUBSTACK.

The chapter in question focuses on how owned media can lead to editorial exposure.

If you're wanting to leverage the media to build your profile and reputation, this episode will be of interest.

Want to get your own FREE audio version of the Content Marketing for PR book?

CLICK THIS LINK to gain immediate access to the full audiobook (all 29 chapters).

HERE IS THE BOOK BLURB:

Are you struggling to cut through the noise and convey your message to the marketplace?

Become your own media channel and tell your stories like a PR pro!

We live in a fast-paced, digital-first world cluttered with brands and individuals telling the world how great they are. It’s no wonder consumers are so cynical and distrustful.

They resent being interrupted with meaningless ads, pitches and promotional messages. They simply don’t care about you or your business—because you haven’t given them a reason to.

Meanwhile, marketers and PR pros are beginning to accept that many of the methods they’ve been using to reach potential customers and influencers simply don’t work anymore.

Bottom line: Standing out, getting noticed and resonating in the marketplace is a growing challenge for businesses and organisations, large and small. Trust and reputation have never been more important in business.

Learn how to harness the power of both public relations and content marketing to build recognition, influence and credibility for your business, organisation or personal brand.

In this book, veteran public relations practitioner and marketing speaker Trevor Young—aka “The PR Warrior”—shows you how to strategically use content marketing for PR to:

● Humanise your company or organisation

● Deepen the connection your brand has with consumers

● Grow your influence within the industry you operate 

● Build familiarity and trust in the marketplace

● Connect with the people who influence your clients and customers

● Increase new business leads and sales

● Reduce the customer’s buying cycle

● Make paid-for advertising work harder

Written for entrepreneurs, change agents, business leaders, marketers and PR practitioners, Content Marketing for PR is your essential guide to building a visible brand that’s recognised, respected and relevant in today’s noisy social world.

CLICK THIS LINK to gain immediate access to the full audio version of Content Marketing for PR.

Well, that’s what Jake Moore has been able to do across 2020 and 2021.

And not just any media coverage: we’re talking tier 1 editorial exposure.

That is, coverage in the top media outlets such as BBC Radio, ITV News, CNBC, Sky News, Forbes, The Times, The Daily Mail, The Independent, Wired, Forbes and Al Jazeera. And that’s just a small portion of what he’s been able to achieve!

Jake is a cybersecurity specialist with ESET, a global software company that provides security solutions to businesses and consumers in more than 200 countries and territories.

In the space of a few short years, he’s stamped himself as a genuine go-to resource for all things cyber-security in the UK.

While earned media takes in speaking gigs at conferences and guest blogging and people saying nice things about you on social media - the guts of earned media is about getting mentioned in mainstream and trade press, and broadcast media. This is what’s going to boost not only your reach of your personal (and business) brand, but also your credibility and perceived authority in the marketplace (there’s a reason why we see so many “As seen in …” media logos featured on the homepages of personal brand websites).

But what’s involved in actually doing this? What’s required of the expert to make this happen: not once or twice, but over and over again on a consistent basis?

In this episode, Jake walks us through his media journey, covering topics such as:

• The role relationships play when dealing with the media (hence, in the PR world this practice is called ‘media relations’)
• The role Twitter plays in real-time connection with journalists
• Jake’s daily practice of ensuring he’s prepared with story angles and ideas
• The importance of timeliness in responding to media calls
• Outbound pitching of story ideas versus managing inbound media requests
• How to prepare for a media interview, including on-air Zoom calls
• Balancing personal brand vs employer brand when talking with the media
• The role ESET UK’s PR agency plays in generating media coverage
• Blogging, and the power of creating headlines that hook readers (and the media)
• Do you need a personal brand website if you're working for a company?
• How YouTube helped prepare Jake for TV interviews with major media outlets

While ESET UK’s PR agency plays a crucial role in helping Jake generate exposure in the media, the key message here is preparation: doing what’s required to build relationships with journalists, editors and radio/TV producers.

Jake’s tips and lessons are relevant, even if you’re just starting out on your media relations journey, with no outside help.

If you're interested in extended your reach by leveraging third-party media, you won't want to miss this interview with Jake Moore!

CONNECT WITH JAKE:

• WEBSITE
• TWITTER
• LINKEDIN

In other words, how can they monetise the content they create on their podcast, blog, online video show, or email newsletter.

Taking centre stage alongside host Trevor Young is YANN ILUNGA, a lead generation and podcasting consultant, international speaker, and podcaster (with over 400 episodes published).

Yann and Trevor cover a range of topics to do with content marketing, with emphasis on podcasting and online video.

Plus Yann breaks down the system he uses to help his clients engage and convert prospective customers through the use of content.

Other topics covered include:

• content repurposing and the importance of formatting for different channels
• the rise of the Creator Economy (and what thought leaders can learn from independent content creators)
• the different ways to productise your services in order to scale
• the danger of tunnel vision when it comes to client acquisition
• automation and the 'connective tissue' that is email marketing
• how to leverage podcast guest appearances to build your business

If you're building a strong professional brand and reputation and are wanting to take things up a notch and turbo-charge your business through content, then this is the episode for you!

About Yann

Yann lives in Finland and helps consultants and coaches create and leverage systems to generate a consistent stream of organic leads and appointments (without having to spend a single cent in paid ads).

Additionally, he is the founder of Podcast Success Summit – the world's largest virtual summit for podcasters – and host of the "360 Entrepreneur Podcast", a show that features inspiring conversations with top entrepreneurs, marketers and best–selling authors like Pat Flynn, Kim Garst, John Lee Dumas, Jay Baer and Natalie Sisson.

Dubbed "Unicorn-Level Digital Marketer" by Inc. and "Podcasting Advocate" by Forbes, Yann is a polyglot who speaks five languages.

Connect on LinkedIn

Follow on Twitter

Visit Yann's website (Content Profits page)

Belinda describes Fierce Girl Finance as a passion project. She's been at it for five years, and her persistence has paid off as she is now regarded as a genuine expert in the (crowded) area of personal finance education.

Belinda unpacks all this in this chat with the PR Warrior, Trevor Young.

Specifically, she covers a range of topics including:

• Building a platform around your passion
• Finding your voice through blogging
• The importance of having a vision and mission from the outset
• Capitalising on media opportunities that come with having an increased profile in the marketplace
• Doing your homework before pitching a story idea to journalists
• Juggling blogging with a full-time gig

Belinda also discusses how not having a monetisation strategy frees her up to blog on topics she's interested in, versus having to satisfy advertisers and sponsors, as well as pandering to the Google machine!

This freedom, she says, brings her joy and helps sustain her interest in maintaining the Fierce Girl Finance blog.

>>> Check out Fierce Girl Finance here!

Pssst! Did you know that REPUTATION REVOLUTION is now also an email newsletter? If you like the podcast, you'll love the newsletter :) You can subscribe here if you're interested.

What’s the relevance to thought leaders and professional experts?

Simple. It’s where all the content ‘heat’ is at the moment.

According to Mark Stenberg from Medialyte:

"The creator economy consists of individuals with unique skill sets using platforms to monetize their craft.”

Bona fide content creators (or ‘content entrepreneurs’, as Joe Pulizzi likes to call them) are busy building their media channel, growing an engaged audience (and considerable influence), and then creating products and services to serve that audience.

Many thought leaders and personal brand enterprises, however, tend to already have their business model in train. They are creating content and building an audience often as a way to attract people to their ideas and to build subject matter authority. The ultimate goal, of course, is to build profile and reputation that in turn helps generate more leads and sales for their business, or whatever 'commercial' outcome they seek.

In this solo episode, Trevor Young aka the PR Warrior, dissects the Creator Economy and explains why it's important for thought leaders to get a handle on where things are headed in this space.

Trevor's advice? Don’t follow your competitors (and end up looking like them).

Instead, check out - and seek inspiration from - the new wave of independent content creators who are making a big splash globally in their respective niches.

They’re at the cutting edge of what’s happening currently in the world of content marketing and social media, he says.

"Go to where the real action is and absorb ideas and insights, and start putting them to work in your business!"

QUICK PLUG: Did you know that Reputation Revolution is now a newsletter as well as a podcast?

Subscribe today for our free weekly newsletter jam-packed with stories, tips and ideas to help you become a credible, influential voice in your industry >>> here's the link.

Our expert guest Julian Mather has an incredibly varied background, having gone from being trained to shoot people with a rifle (army sniper) to shooting people with a camera.

Along the way, he became a Director of Photography at ABC-TV, as well as a professional magician, a period during which he established a successful Youtube channel generating 30 million video views and 140,000+ subscribers.

Today, Julian helps busy 40-60yr olds build trust and authority using smartphone video.

Julian's goal is to change how people think and feel about video, and he does it with unique content, storytelling, humour, practical tips ... and a bit of magic!

Julian encourages people to shrug off their insecurities when it comes to being in front of the camera.

He says:

"Anybody can learn this. So if you're out there listening to this and thinking, I just have so much trouble (doing video) ... I'm worried I'll forget what to say, I'm worried about what people will think of me. I've spent my whole career building a level of status, I don't want to be on video and make mistakes and have that go on the record and damage me: you're thinking in a 20th century mindset."

Julian and host Trevor Young discuss a range of video-related topics, including:

• The power of authenticity ("You can't be a little bit authentic," says Julian. "You're either authentic or you're not authentic.") 
• The smartphone advantage ("If you can make {a video} and get that to market faster than your competitors, you have a smartphone advantage.")
• The perfection myth ("We think if we get on {camera} and we mess something up ... we don't want to do it because we think, oh, we'll mess up and people will talk about us. And the honest truth is - and you have to accept this - if you think that, you're conceited. I was conceited for those early years because I stopped myself getting on {camera} and just being authentic and being willing to make mistakes, because I thought people were going to talk about me.")
• New rules, new tools ("... you need a new set of rules and you need a new set of tools, and within those new set of tools, I advocate using smartphones.") Julian also discusses cheap but effective ways to improve lighting and audio quality.

CONNECT WITH JULIAN

• Website
• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• YouTube

Ian studied as a vet, got expelled, and became a corporate AV technician. He claims he has been "exposed to radioactive megadoses of corporate motivator shtick", before realising they’re generally 99% showbiz and 1% business experience.

More importantly, for the purposes of today’s episode –

Ian is a blogger and published author, with a new book out now via Penguin Random House: UNDISRUPTABLE: Timeless Business Truths for Thriving in a World of Non-Stop Change.

(High profile Australian entrepreneur Zoë Foster Blake described UNDISRUPTABLE as "witty, clever and extremely relevant in these godforsaken Zoom times.")

In this wide-ranging chat with host Trevor Young, Ian touches on:

• How he snagged a book deal with a major publisher
• The importance of telling real-life stories
• The power of blogging (and the role it played in landing him a book deal)
• The use of humour in storytelling
• Finding and honing your public voice
• Writing is thinking - it's valuable to clarify what you stand for and what you do.

Ian also discusses developing a point of view and why it's sometimes good to have a "straw man enemy" to go up against. In Ian's case, he preaches doing the opposite to what an MBA-trained consultant would tell you to do (the original title of Ian's book was 'Kill All MBAs!').

Connect with Ian:

• Twitter
• Blog

Mark is a repeat guest - this is his third appearance on the show - providing Trevor with the opportunity to walk Mark through the progress he's made (and the lessons he's learned) over eight years of You Are The Media (YATM).

YATM essentially kicked off when Mark started producing his weekly newsletter, which he continues to publish to this day.

The newsletter paved the way for a book called Content Revolution, which built Mark's credibility not only in his home town in Dorset on the southern coast of England, but also internationally (leading to speaking gigs in the US and South America).

In 2016, Mark started running events under the YATM banner, a practice that continues today with a suite of learning events, both online and offline, including conferences and workshops, interspersed with social gatherings and learning programs.

Mark added a podcast in 2017 and then later moved into video content.

You Are The Media stems from Mark's passion for helping fellow business owners become trusted voices in their industry.

At the heart of it all is a genuine sense of community, one that's fuelled by valuable content and an environment where everyone learns from one another.

Discussion points:

• Consistency of message and the power of showing up regularly and delivering value (without the expectation of getting anything in return)
• Master one owned media channel first before moving on to a new one
• Experiment with different mediums (Mark's latest event was a truly online/offline hybrid effort)
• Build an online 'space' (a channel and an audience) before you need it
• Creating a multi-channel newsletter experience
• Web 3.0: build a community where everyone can take something from it (i.e. learning, business opportunities etc) - it drives itself and people enjoy being a part of it
• 'Soft selling' your business services (vs incessant pitching)
• "Don't be the best - be the only" (Kevin Kelly) | "Don't be the best - be their favourite" (Jay Acunzo)
• Having a following on social media does not a community make.

It's all about connection folks ...

... creating content, building a sense of kinship, delivering value (ongoing) and playing the long game!

Connect with Mark:

• Twitter
• You Are The Media
• We Are The Media

In this brief episode, Trevor Young aka The PR Warrior walks us through what to expect from forthcoming episodes of the podcast.

Host Trevor Young takes a look back at the first half of episodes from season 4, including interview snippets from the likes of:

• Author and LinkedIn expert, John Espirian
• Leadership communications coach, Sarah Makris
• Business book coach, Kath Walters
• B2B influencer expert and social media pioneer, Gavin Heaton
• Launch strategist and design expert, Jenna Soard
• Digital marketing guru, Andy Crestodina
• Author and video storytelling expert, Jonathan Creek
• Leading podcast strategist, Kellie Riordan
• FOMO marketing pioneer, May King Tsang
• Thought leadership content expert, Lacy Boggs

Keep an ear out for season 5!

Indeed, there is no shortage of research to back this up.

We've discussed the case for 'social leadership' a number of times on the podcast, most recently with Damian Corbet, author of the book, The Social CEO.

In this episode, host Trevor Young chats with Roger Christie, the founder and managing director of Propel Group, an award-winning Australian social media consultancy that specialises in helping leaders and organisations harness the potential of social media for the business.

More specifically, the pair unpack purposeful digital branding for leaders: what's involved, and what can leaders do to build the capability in this space.

According to Roger: "The reason I talk about digital brand ... because I think that's where the biggest gaps are. I think people understand the need for that physical (brand) or in a traditional reputation work. Perhaps what they haven't realized is just how important our digital brand is in influencing all that hard work you've done over the years, to feel that traditional reputation can be undone in seconds."

CONNECT WITH ROGER:

• Website
• LinkedIn
• Twitter

Building and communicating with a growing audience often requires a strategic, multi-channel approach: one that's creative, authentic and consistent.

Today's guest is Jane Tabachnick, a content strategist, publicity mentor, publishing expert and Alexa flash briefing consultant.

Jane helps brands and experts magnify their message through various means, including digital content marketing, media publicity, book publishing, and via Alexa flash briefings.

All this sounds like an eclectic mix, but the reality is to be successful in your communications today, you've got to become good at channel planning and integration. 

In this episode, Jane and show host, Trevor Young, delve into the myriad communications options available to entrepreneurs and leaders wanting to build personal brand visibility and influence.

THINK: Owned media, social media, earned media (i.e. media and influencer relations), book publishing, and Alexa flash briefings.

It's a far-reaching discussion as Jane and Trevor 'join the dots' of personal brand communications.

If you're keen to magnify your message in the marketplace, this episode will definitely resonate!

CONNECT WITH JANE:

• Website
• LinkedIn
• Twitter

The legendary actor Al Pacino once said: "You’re only as good as the chances you take."

It's a great quote, and one that characterises this week's guest - Steve Vallas, CEO of Blockchain Australia.

Steve originally came on the show back in October, 2018. That episode - titled 'Relentless slowburn: How Steve Vallas builds visibility, influence and trust one event at a time' - has been, by a fair stretch too, our most popular show in terms of download numbers.

To commemorate the 200th episode, we thought we'd get Steve back on to see how the investment in time and effort he made in building professional trust and reputation in the industry has paid off.

(SPOILER ALERT: It has paid off!)

Part one of this episode is a replay of that original interview with Steve. It runs for 29 minutes, and it's a ripper (see original show notes below).

This is followed by a newly recorded interview with Steve.

In this second interview (which kicks in at the 33-minute mark), Steve explains how the groundwork he put in building his bona fides in the Blockchain space has led to him to the position he holds today, helming Australia's peak Blockchain industry body.

Plus we hear how he is harnessing the power of connection and conversation to further the Blockchain cause in Australia.

It's a terrific yarn, incorporating heaps of great lessons and truth bombs, many of which are quite 'contrarian' in nature.

If you want to make a dent in your chosen industry and are willing to put in the hard yards required, you will definitely benefit from listening to Steve's professional journey.

SHOW NOTES: 128 Relentless slowburn: How Steve Vallas builds visibility, influence and trust one event at a time

👇

Steve Vallas is quietly but surely making his mark in the Blockchain technology space.

A qualified lawyer with a background in business strategy and digital marketing, Steve is fast developing a reputation as the Blockchain go-to guy in Australia.

He has done this through relentless self-education, as well as proactively building connections and facilitating conversations with like-minded people interested in the space.

In the wide-ranging interview, Steve discusses how he's gone from being unknown in the Blockchain sector in Australia, to someone with a growing profile and reputation.

Along the way, he has:

• staged Blockchain APAC 2018, the biggest event of its kind for enterprise in Australia (taking it from idea to fully-blown conference with 45 speakers, in just 10 weeks)
• been invited by Austrade to attend a major international Blockchain event in Shanghai
• appeared on Australia's new Your Money TV channel

One of the keys to Steve's ongoing success in this nascent sector is his willingness to attend Blockchain events, no matter how small they may be. From professionally run conferences and seminars right through to informal meetups, over the course of a year, Steve has attended well over 100 events, on average of 2-3 per week.

He says showing up to so many events and having genuine conversations with people builds familiarity and trust. 

Key takeaways:

• Take the slow but steady route - Steve eschewed 'making a splash', preferring to bide his time, build his knowledge and expertise over a one-and-a-half to two-year period.
• If the idea is a good one, back yourself in - organising a major conference from go-to-whoa in 10 weeks is a massive, if somewhat crazy, undertaking. But Steve could see the potential, and the risk paid off: running such an event has elevated Steve's standing within Blockchain circles.
• Build your community before you need it - Steve has been building his online/offline community for years, always adding value, helping people and rarely asking for much in return.

Connect with Steve on Twitter.

But how do you make the most of these opportunities? This is precisely what our guest today, Susanna Reay, helps business owners, leaders and entrepreneurs do.

Susanna is a UK-based online business strategist, introvert coach, colour expert and artist. She combines formal design and business qualifications with over 25 years of experience working with small startups and solo entrepreneurs to help multi-passionate introverts sell their group programs, extract value from their voice and build their credibility online.

This conversation will be of interest to anyone who knows their stuff but struggles with getting their message right and getting it out to those who could benefit from hearing it. Some of the topics host Trevor Young and Susanna cover are:

• The popular ways go-to experts and thought leaders are generating revenue and creating new income streams
• The importance of getting your message right, particularly in today's noisy world
• Dispelling some myths and getting clarity on what introversion is and isn't, and the ways in which these types can excel
• How introverts can extract the value from their voice
• The 'one thing' - clarifying exactly what you want to get known for
• Susanna's favourite ways to commercialise your expertise
• Making sure your message is crystal clear before, during and after the duration or lifecycle of an online course or product
• How and when a mastermind group can add value, if they are set up and nurtured well
• When to consider creating a community through membership programs.

CONNECT WITH SUSANNA:

• Website
• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• Instagram
• You Tube

But it ain't easy! Something this week's expert guest, Darren Slade knows only too well!

It takes a lot of work and smarts to generate positive editorial exposure - just banging out a written press release is not going to cut it anymore, despite what you might see in the movies!

Darren is the group business editor are the Bournemouth Echo, the Southern Daily Echo and the Dorset Echo. He focuses on stories about the business community and entrepreneurs in Dorset and Hampshire in the UK. He's been a journalist since 1990, so he knows a fair bit about this caper.

In this interview with host Trevor Young, Darren has plenty of gold to share from his wealth of experience, including:

• The best ways to get editorial exposure, including how, and when, to best reach journalists
• Getting your pitch right, up front
• When a formal press release will work - and how to get it noticed
• Being 'vivid' - why small businesses and entrepreneurs can sometimes have the edge over their more corporate counterparts
• Preparing for a media interview
• Why the best story is not always the most obvious one
• Where you need to show up to get the attention of the media.

Plus Darren shares his thoughts regarding the future of media.

If you want to learn how to get your story ideas accepted by a journalist or an editor, or just get a better handle on how to deal with media people, you'll find this episode immensely helpful.

CONNECT WITH DARREN:

LinkedIn

Twitter

Today's guest Jane Evans has had a stunning career in advertising. She gave Cate Blanchett her first job, created Australia's first craft beer and ran her own multi-million dollar agency with clients like Revlon and Maserati. Today, Jane is the founder of Uninvisibility, a global media initiative dedicated to "unleashing the power of midlife women".

The Uninvisibility mantra?

"Midlife women still have half a life to live with zero f**ks left to give. We are no longer prepared to operate in a world where only female youth and beauty is celebrated.  We’re here to show you what we’re made of."

In this energetic and motivating conversation, Jane and host Trevor Young cover a lot of ground, including:

• Jane's personal story of discovering a need for a platform that helps midlife women step into the spotlight.
• The journey to a project launch that resulted in two million hashtag views in the first two weeks
•  How the movement provided the foundation for a new communications agency for female creators as well as a training course for midlife women in media and advertising
• How providing a solution can be far more powerful than engaging in 'cancel culture'
• Finding your early adopters and giving them a great story to tell
• A movement-building social media strategy
• The deep-diving and storytelling required to change the narrative about a cause or issue
• Jane's new book - Invisible to Invaluable: Unleashing the Power of Midlife Women

If there is an issue or cause you care about and you want to create a movement for change, this episode will inspire you into action!

CONNECT WITH JANE:

Website

Twitter

Facebook

Instagram

Whether you are blogging on your own website or a platform such as Medium or LinkedIn, writing articles and opinion pieces for third-party news outlets., or writing ebooks, reports and whitepapers - these all fall under the category of “written content”.

As a founder at Typeset Content Sarah loves helping her clients convert their content initiatives into long-term business assets.

In this episode, she and host Trevor Young talk about:

• The true value of being able to get your point across concisely and with clarity
• Key findings from Typeset's recently-released State of Writing 2021 research report
• How individuals and businesses can get a better return on the investment that they're making in writing
• How to know when you need help clarifying your message, and how much time, energy and money that help will save you
• The most effective forms of written content to focus on right now
• Demonstrating your thought leadership through your written content, and how a great quality piece will keep paying for itself over time

This episode will remind you that despite the perceived 'sexiness' of live streaming, video and podcasting, there's still plenty of room for the written word!

Get the State of Writing 2021 report

CONNECT WITH SARAH:

Website

Twitter

LinkedIn

Damian founded the The Social C-Suite, to help leaders use this essential leadership tool to adapt, thrive and build trust as a leader and in their organisation.

He is also the author of book The Social CEO, which includes contributions from more than 30 writers including industry-recognised experts in social business and practicing ‘social CEOs’.

Damian joins Trevor Young for this episode of Reputation Revolution to talk all about how leaders and senior executives can - and should - embrace the social age,

They discuss some great examples of social leadership from Damian's book.

Other key points covered include:

• What social leadership is and why it's important
• How Damian's social media journey started, as the in house social expert for a multinational organisation with 30,000 employees
• The differences between social media marketing and social leadership
• How a leader's social media presence can demonstrate to potential customers or talent what the organisation stands for
• How making just a little time in your schedule to become a social CEO pays for itself in highly impactful and valuable ways for your organisation.

Whether you're an aspiring social leader or an employee hoping to inspire leaders in your organisation to 'go social', this episode will deliver!

CONNECT WITH DAMIAN:

Website

Twitter

Facebook

LinkedIn

A highly experienced business advisor and trouble-shooter, he is the founder and Managing Partner of Wadds Inc., a UK-based professional advisory firm, working with agencies and communication teams.

Stephen has authored, co-authored or edited several books, and he is a visiting professor of PR and communications at Newcastle University,

In this episode, Stephen and host Trevor Young unpack Stephen's personal branding journey and the many elements that have contributed to him becoming a thought leader in his space.

In this wide-ranging interview, Trevor and Stephen talk about:

• How being involved in professional industry organisations contributed to the growth of Stephen's personal brand and his professional network
• Building credibility by consistently showing up and adding value over time
• Stephen's Manifesto for Better Business
• Contributing to a body of work as an editor, co-author or curator
• The role social media has played in Stephen building a professional community
• Favourite platforms for curating, writing and sharing quality content.

... and more.

If you're at all interested how to build a reputable, sustainable and professional personal brand, this episode will really resonate!

CONNECT WITH STEPHEN:

Website

LinkedIn

Twitter

In part one, Trevor and Mark talked all about Mark's new book, Cumulative Advantage, so you might want to check that one out as well as this one if you haven't already done so!

In part two, the conversation heads down the path of thought leadership, and how Mark has managed to continue to evolve as an author, a speaker, a blogger, and as as a personal brand.

This discussion will interest anyone keen to grow their professional personal brand and position themselves as a thought leader in their chosen field of endeavour. Enjoy!

Quotable Quote: 'It doesn't matter how hard you work and how well you execute, if the strategy is wrong in the first place.' 

CONNECT WITH MARK:

• Website
• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• Instagram
• YouTube

Mark Schaefer, featured guest on this special episode of the Reputation Revolution podcast, poses the question: How can we rise above the din of infinite options to create sustainable meaning with an audience or group of customers?

He says following the old rules of digital engagement is not enough … not nearly enough. Even being “great” is insufficient in the face of overwhelming competition redefining the limits of excellence every day.

Mark is a world-renowned blogger, best-selling author and keynote speaker .

His long-running blog {grow} is regarded as one of the top marketing blogs in the world, plus he has written nine books, including his latest best-seller, Cumulative Advantage: How to Build Momentum for Your Ideas, Business and Life. 

In this conversation with host Trevor Young, Mark talks at length about the premise behind his new book and the journey that led him to write it.

He also unpacks how businesses and individuals can tap into the concepts behind Cumulative Advantage to build momentum for their own ideas.

Mark covers:

• The 5 steps of Cumulative Advantage
• Best practices to stay the course once momentum has begun to build
• The clarity Mark got for the next steps in his life and business after contracting COVID-19
• The ‘sonic boom’ concept and how to use it to leverage your idea.

... plus Tim Ferriss and Oprah get a decent look-in as well!

Mark's Quotable quote: “It’s not the idea that changes your life, it’s the curiosity to pursue it”.

NOTE: Stay tuned for the next episode - part two of this interview - in which Mark discusses how he has evolved his personal brand over the years, along with other marketing gold!

CONNECT WITH MARK:

• Website
• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• Instagram
• You Tube

In this episode of Reputation Revolution, Lacy and host Trevor Young discuss the concept of thought leadership marketing, and why it's important for business leaders to make the time and space to do the deep work - to think things through - to actually tease out good ideas out and bring them to life in the real world.

In this conversation, Trevor and Lacy cover:

• the power of long-form content,
• how it can help business leaders become better known and more trusted in the marketplace
• how business leaders can use thought leadership marketing to influence the conversation within their industry
• Being strategic about what leaders can outsource vs the 'big ideas' that can only come through them if they want to be valued as a thought leader.

If you want to improve your leadership marketing and increase your value as a thought leader in your industry, start with making the time to listen to this conversation.

CONNECT WITH LACY:

Website

Facebook

Instagram

Twitter

May King's specialty is to bridge the gap between social media and PR by helping to sell out conferences, workshops, festivals, launches, speaking gigs and summits by creating excitement beyond the four walls.

She works for conference organisers, but also keynote speakers and thought leaders who need to generate extra buzz from their appearances.

In this interview with Trevor Young you will discover:

• What FOMO marketing is
• May King's personal branding journey - transitioning from tea influencer and a 'tea note speaker' to FOMO marketing expert
• All about converting 'lurkers' to 'buyers'
• How to create FOMO for your personal brand every time you the attend an event
• What you're creating every time you respond to a question or comment in the socials
• The value of having a social media correspondent on board for your next event.

This is a high-energy conversation between Trevor and May King - you really don't want to miss out on this one!

CONNECT WITH MAY KING:

Twitter

Instagram

YouTube

Website

Kellie is the founding producer of Australia’s most downloaded podcast, Conversations; as the creative lead of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s podcast team, she oversaw the creation of more than 30 of the country’s best-known shows.

Today, Kellie is the founder of Deadset Studios, a consultancy specialising in audio strategy, podcast production, and branded storytelling.

Kelie joins Trevor Young for this conversation about podcasting strategy, and how great storytelling works in this intimate medium.

Some of the topics discussed include:

• Kellie's experiences in the early days of podcasting
• The steps for a solid foundation you should take before starting a podcast
• The different formats podcasters are using
• 'Podcasting 3.0' - innovations for creating and sharing audio content today
• Podcasting strategies for engaging listeners quickly and producing a great show
• Respecting your audience's time by creating something that's worth their time and full attention
• Other ways to leverage your audio content.

If you need help making a great podcast or devising an audio strategy, you'll get a lot of value from this episode!

CONNECT WITH KELLIE:

Website

Twitter

LinkedIn

Jonathan is an award winning investigative journalist turned viral video expert, author of the recently released book Like, Comment, Share, Buy - The beginner's guide to marketing your business with video storytelling and founder of digital marketing agency Virable.

In this conversation, Jonathan and host Trevor Young explore:

• Which is better: long form or short form videos? (The answer might be different to what you think)
• The formula for creating shareable videos that people connect with
• The 'spread factor' - why videos go viral
• Jonathan's favourite storytelling framework
• Why corporate videos are boring (from someone who makes them!)
• Expert tips for creating video content that gets attention and creates connection.

This is a jam-packed conversation on how to use video more effectively to build your personal brand and develop a thought leadership position in the marketplace,

CONNECT WITH JONATHAN:

Website

Buy the Book

Facebook

Instagram

Andy has been in the web design and interactive marketing space for 21 years. In that time, he’s helped thousands of people do a better job getting results online. He’s a true evangelist for content marketing and ethical digital marketing.

In this far-reaching conversation for Reputation Revolution, Andy chats with Trevor Young about:

• The building blocks of thought leadership marketing
• The differences between a content marketer and a thought leader
• Blogging as a powerful thought leadership marketing tool in 2021
• Andy's suggestions on optimising SEO for personal branding, including how to outrank negative media
• PLUS ... Andy unpacks the state of blogging, and lets us in on some of the interesting findings of his 7th Annual Blogging Survey,

If you've ever thought about what thought leadership is, how to extend your personal brand reach as a thought leader, or whether you simply love following thought leaders and get value from their content, you'll find this conversation super interesting!

CONNECT WITH ANDY:

Website

Twitter

Instagram

LinkedIn

Jenna is the founder of You Can Launch, a five-part system that teaches creatives, consultants, coaches, and aspiring course creators how to launch their very first course, membership or group coaching program, and sell it with Facebook and Instagram Ads.

In this interview with Trevor Young for Reputation Revolution, Trevor and Jenna talk about:

• Jenna's journey from senior graphic designer at Nike to full-time course creation and branding expert
• The essential questions to ask when considering whether it's time to launch an online course
• How to create a win/win environment where your ideal client is telling you exactly what they need throughout the course creation process
• How to avoid course creation analysis paralysis
• Busting the myths that hold people back from creating an online course, program or membership

Quotable quote from Jenna: "... if somebody is not teaching in the field that you're trying to do, if somebody is not solving the problem that you're trying to solve, the problem isn't big enough".

CONNECT WITH JENNA:

Website

Instagram

Facebook

Known as 'Servant of Chaos', Gavin is the founder of the new B2B influencer marketplace, Influencer Active.

In this episode of Reputation Revolution, Gavin chats with Trevor Young about all things personal brand influence.

They discuss:

• What is means to be a genuine business-to-business (B2B) influencer
• How a small, engaged audience can be more influential than a large, unengaged one
• Determining how an influencer can best benefit your business, and what type of influencer
• Content: Curation or Creation?
• Playing to your strengths as a B2B influencer
• Actions you can take if you want to be a genuine B2B influencer

CONNECT WITH GAVIN:

Twitter

LinkedIn

Influencer Active

Having built a career writing for publications like Australia's pre-eminent and influential magazine Business Review Weekly, Kath left traditional media 8 years ago to head down the content marketing path.

She is now the author of two books, and is a 'book coach' - helping her thought leader clients write and release a book in 90 days.

In this episode, Kath and host Trevor Young explore the steps of this journey.

The topics Kath and Trevor touch on in this conversation include:

• Why writing a book is a powerful content marketing tool
• The 5 steps of Kath's brain to book process
• Getting started, and maintaining momentum
• Some great success stories about what clients have been able to achieve and attract as a result of getting their ideas on the page and out into the world.

Whether you've just started thinking about writing a book to support your brand or you've been thinking about it for a while, listening to this episode could be just what you need to get cracking!

CONNECT WITH KATH:

Website

LinkedIn

Facebook

Twitter

Having built up an impressive track record in the corporate sector, Sarah now helps senior executives and entrepreneurs build their public profile, develop their online presence and fast-track their career and business.

In this episode, Sarah and host Trevor Young discuss the importance of having a professional personal brand today, and why it's important to know where do you want to go: What is your goal?

Then, the question is: Where are you today? Set a benchmark: How are you perceived in the marketplace?

Sarah and Trevor cover a range of topics during the course of the conversation, including:

• The two reasons why leaders and professionals don't create and publish original content
• Pointless posting ("pointless posting is just posting anything for the sake of it," says Sarah). 
• Adding value through content curation ... but have a point of view!
• Utility vs leadership content
• Finding your voice through writing, and why you shouldn't expect perfection straight away (Sarah once ran a fashion blog: "I remember reading the first post that I wrote ... (it) was just so bad," she says)
• The importance of voice coaching in building personal confidence ("the stage is everywhere," says Trevor)
• The power of 'behind-the-scenes' content', while at the same time being true to your brand
• Eliminating jargon and corporate speak when communications - "let's pretend that we are explaining this to your grandma and she has no idea," says Sarah.

QUOTABLE QUOTE: “Create your own personal brand. Don’t leave it to others to decide who you are” - Sarah Makris,

CONNECT WITH SARAH:

• website
• LinkedIn

{ N.B. After we listen to John's story, John and host Trevor Young shift gears and discuss LinkedIn tips and strategies }

John's the real deal. He's a genuine, humble guy. He's not flashy, but he's credible.

This makes him the antithesis of many of the self-proclaimed 'thought leaders' we see out there on the web who are good at scoring airtime, but scratch beneath the surface and there's not a lot there.

In this wide-ranging chat with Trevor Young, John discusses:

• why he chose to build his personal brand in the first place
• his book Content DNA, and why he wrote it
• the concept of creating personal brand building blocks, and how they helped him establish a unique tone of voice
• the importance of showing up and relentlessly delivering value time and time again
• making public promises and staying true to them
• the 90/10 rule - spending 90% of time on a primary social channel, and 10% on a second one.

John also covers blogging, writing styles, and building an email list.

In part 2 of the interview, John and Trevor take a deep dive into LinkedIn.

John touches on:

• LinkedIn's algorithm and the potential of organic visibility on the platform versus Facebook
• the type of content that performs best for John on LinkedIn
• tips for increasing views of your LinkedIn posts
• why LinkedIn values 'dwell time'

John Espirian quotes:

👉 "Your brand identity is like a hook of a great song: get it right and people will echo it back to you."

👉 "I've found that people who find me through LinkedIn are willing to pay up to 30 percent more than the people who find me through Google."

👉 "You've got to turn up, you've got to do the reps in the gym kind of thing. And eventually you will become known. But you've got to stick at it for long enough for it to happen." 

CONNECT WITH JOHN:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• Website
• YouTube

This episode is designed to set the scene for the year ahead.

Trevor places emphasis on the power of consistency when it comes to building a strong professional personal brand: consistency of the message you convey, consistency of the quality of the content you produce, consistency in the way you show up, and consistency in your tone of voice.

Consistency builds trust, he says.

Trevor also stresses the importance of being professionally curious.

Look at other thought leaders - not just those in your particular professional domain either - and check them out in detail: follow them on LinkedIn or Twitter, check out their articles, subscribe to their newsletter, listen to their podcasts, watch their videos, buy their book if they have one.

Digest your findings: Does their story and message resonate with you, and why? What is it about them that appeals to you emotionally, or intellectually? Are they consistent in their approach, across multitude of channels?

Set a benchmark in your own mind what constitutes a credible thought leader, and then apply this rigour to your own situation.

Influence & IMPACT

Trevor also mentions Influence & IMPACT his fortnightly email letter full of useful tips, interesting stories, thought-provoking ideas and links to cool stuff, all related to building a visible and trusted personal brand in a way that’s respectful and sustainable.

Subscribe to Influence &IMPACT here.

This is an expansive and informative chat between Trevor Young and marketing strategist (among other things!), Matt Desmier, founder of Wise Old Uncle Ltd.

If you're a multi-faceted professional who often grapples with personal brand direction and messaging, not to mention the myriad work opportunities that come your way (what to accept, and what to knock back) - you will get heaps of value and inspiration from this episode!

SHOW NOTES:

Matt Desmier describes himself as a "branding chap", "competent conference and event speaker", "connector of dots" and "consummate networker". 

Many moons ago Matt trained as a designer, spending five years at one of the world’s best specialist art schools where he learned how to be curious.

It was this curiosity that has informed every aspect of Matt's professional career ever since. He's been an innovation advisor, a design management consultant and a branding strategist. He's run incubation centres, European-funded programmes and workshops, led big teams, small teams and no teams; he's staged big events, small conferences and parties.

But at the heart of everything, Matt's a marketer who sees the world a little differently.

As founder of the Silicon Beach conference event in Bournemouth in the UK, Matt has had a big hand in establishing the seaside town's reputation as a buzzing hub for all things digital and creative. 

Silicon Beach is a two-day flagship conference featuring some of the world's most influential speakers contributing to a themeless event with no published agenda. It is this originality that has helped the event attract a global audience.

In today's noisy information-overloaded world, we're constantly told we need to stand for something, we need to hone our message and be focused in getting our story out in the world in a consistent way.

On the surface, that makes a whole lotta sense. But does it really?

Matt Desmier runs counter to that argument. You simply can't box him in to any one thing. This is both his strength and key differentiator in the marketplace.

So how then does he cut through with a cohesive message and maintain his personal brand? How does Matt build his business?

The answer is a multi-faceted one.

Matt explains that sometimes, it's what you don't do that is more important for your personal brand than what you do do.

Having principles are also critical. We've surpassed the need for having a purpose, and moved on to the importance of principles, he says.

But ultimately, it all comes down to assets, people and networks.

This is an enjoyable wide-ranging interview that will get you thinking about the way we approach our professional lives.

CONNECT WITH MATT:

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

Twitter: https://twitter.com/mattdesmier

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mdesmier

Business coach and marketing consultant, Anne Miles, is a big believer in taking a stance on issues that affect the industry in which she operates.

Anne is the founder of International Creative Services (now Suits&Sneakers), a global collective of pre-approved marketing and advertising talent, based out of Australia.

Anne regularly publishes thought-provoking articles on a range of topics relevant to her industry, including ageism, gender equality, diversity and anonymous blogging, as well as issues associated with outdated business models used by ad agencies.

Anne is not being controversial for controversy's sake, but rather, she is guided by her personal philosophy and values.

"When I started to feel ... things weren't right, I put my hand up and said it." 

It's this a stance that has made the Australian marketing industry sit up and take notice of Anne.

LinkedIn articles

Anne has built a solid body of content, the bulk of which has been a series of articles on her LinkedIn page.

One such article, titled 'The Ad Agency Model Is Broken - Here's Why', sparked enormous interest within industry circles. For Anne, it was life changing, professionally. 

Within 24 hours of the post going up, she received 1000 LinkedIn requests to connect. Industry trade press jumped on it and wanted to share it too. In Australia, the industry trade journal AdNews republished the story in its entirety, re-igniting discussion around the issue.

Trade press

Anne's profile within marketing circles continues to rise.

Her articles regularly appear in the trade press, and she gets invitations to speak at industry events. New business continues to roll in thanks to her profile, and her business has been named a Westpac 2018 Businesses of Tomorrow winner.

Importantly, Anne continues to write articles for LinkedIn. 

While many business owners would be satisfied with hitting it big with one viral article, Anne understands it’s her overall body of work that underpins ongoing success in terms of industry awareness, influence and credibility. 

Connect with Anne

• LinkedIn
• Twitter

Plus he explains the importance of creating a team to support your personal branding efforts, particularly around content and social media.

Leaders & social media

In part 2 of the episode, Trevor chats with Tino Ho, the chief commercial officer at thesocialrevolution.co, formerly known as Binary M, about the importance of entrepreneurs and business leaders being active on social media.

Trevor puts it to Tino: Why aren't there more CEOs on social media, and what are the reasons for this, does he think?

Tino and Trevor unpack the benefits of leaders participating on social channels, while Tino also shares some findings from research his firm has undertaken into the subject.

Big show folks, thanks for tuning in!

CONNECT WITH TINO:

• LinkedIn
• The Social Revolution website

Pat is the Small Business Tax Champion.

He uses video to share value with his target audience, the small business community.

Pat's videos demystify legislation, unpack complex issues around all things tax, and provide savvy business tips and advice. Plus he doesn't mind delivering the occasional rant against multinational companies that don't pay their fair share of tax!

But most importantly, Pat's content is the real deal.

Yes, it's valuable content for the intended audience - small business owners - but it's how he presents it that really resonates. With Pat, what you see is what you get - he's a funny guy, and his personality really shines through in his videos. This is very welcome, given a lot of the subject matter is on the dry side!

In this this interview, Pat breaks down how he produces his videos, including the production schedule he adheres to and the technology used. He explains the need to inject personality on-camera and why the key to content success is consistency.

Pat also discusses how creating content has given him (and his firm) visibility within small business circles, and how this has led to new business opportunities.

Pat has done some 150 videos now, so he's got it down to a fine art. But nothing would have happened had he not turned on the camera and had a go!

If you've been 'umming and aahing' as to whether you should be creating content but are starting to maybe over-think things to the point where nothing is getting done, you'll be inspired by this chat with Pat Mannix.

CONNECT WITH PAT:

• Paris Financial website
• YouTube channel
• LinkedIn profile

Jen left her career as a journalist and editor to work full-time on her blog. While she had no design qualifications, she was passionate about all things décor and homewares, plus an ability to write and bring other people’s stories to life.

Eight years later, Interiors Addict attracts 150,000 monthly readers, and Jen is a recognised influencer and brand ambassador.

Some of the key points you don’t want to miss from this episode:

• A very inspiring story of how a personal hobby blog grew into a successful brand and business
• Jen's advice on what she would do differently if she was starting a blog today
• How true influence is earned
• Building credibility and becoming a sought-after brand ambassador
• It's okay to be choosy about who you work with if it means protecting your brand and keeping it real for your audience
• Jen's Instagram strategy - you might find it surprising!

This episode is a case study of someone who left their job, followed their passion and has used content, social media and personal branding to carve out a very successful niche.

CONNECT WITH JEN:

Website

Facebook

Instagram

Pinterest

These dots, or elements, flow from what I refer to as the four pillars of personal branding for professional people. They are:

(1) ESTABLISH your voice

(2) ENHANCE the credibility of your voice

(3) EXTEND the reach of your voice

(4) EXTRACT value from your voice.

Here on the Reputation Revolution, each episode builds on at least one pillar.

For example, in episodes 150 and 174, I chat with Mark Masters and Eli Trier respectively about the power of building one's community of like-minded people.

Creating video content, including video live streaming, is all about enhancing the the credibility of your voice. In short, if you want to build a credible profile and trusted reputation in the marketplace, video should definitely be on your content creation radar.

We've had some terrific guests in season 3 sharing their ideas and expertise around all things video - Julian Mather, live streaming guru Ian Anderson Gray, and Tristan White, a successful entrepreneur who runs one of Australia’s largest physiotherapy practices.

We've also covered other elements of the Personal Branding Universe in season 3 - for example, writing a book to build profile and enhance your professional credibility.

Writing productivity geek Bec Evans told us in episode 158 that there are various internal and external roadblocks authors often encounter when writing their book.

Suzy Jacobs, founder of Activator Academy, took is through the importance of values in episode 155.

Most critical in personal branding is to stand for something. So says Steve Sammartino, a leading futurist, best-selling author, media commentator and keynote speaker.

In episode 166, Hillary Weiss introduced us to a concept she calls the ’statement piece’ brand - an antidote to the “sea of sameness on the internet”.

And what of social media? It's such a critical aspect of building a personal brand, particularly one underpinned by a credible thought leadership positioning in the marketplace.

Just ask California trial lawyer, Mitch Jackson, author of the book The Ultimate Guide to Social Media For Business Owners, Professionals and Entrepreneurs.

I've long referred to Twitter the 'influence channel', and that's how Dr Emma Beckett sees it too. A key outcome of Emma's social efforts, particularly on Twitter, is interest from mainstream media, resulting in editorial coverage, including interviews on radio and national television.

If you want to build a successful authentic personal brand, it's critical to show your human side - this is particularly the case for leaders, entrepreneurs and professional experts who are in the public eye and front people for a business, organisation or social enterprise.

Want to see what this looks like? Look no further than Alan and Emily Braithwaite, founders of several UK-based businesses, including online visibility agency Yellow Tuxedo.

If you want to feel inspired about the value of showing up consistently, get loads of ideas about how to maximise your SEO and repurpose your content, and learn how to wrap it all up in a very human way, you'll love listening to this one - episode 169 of the Reputation Revolution podcast.

Eli Trier is a quiet revolutionary and introvert who teaches other entrepreneurs how to use collaborative community to grow their businesses.

There are many powerful ideas you''ll take away from this thoughtful conversation, including:

• The importance of connection, community and personal touch in building a business
• Eli's concept of a 'Community Project Model' (and why it's the antithesis of many of today's online marketing tactics)
• Shining a light on members of your community (and letting them tell their story)
• How to use email marketing to kickstart conversations
• 'Rehumanising' business relationships and investing in transparency, kindness and connection
• How facilitating community projects can help you reach important business goals and build your audience.

If community and connection are important to you, you'll love this conversation with Eli.

CONNECT WITH ELI:

Website

Instagram

Ian helps entrepreneurs level up their impact, authority and profits by using live video confidently.

Some of the many need-to-knows covered in this lively conversation are: .

• Why thought leaders and entrepreneurs should get into live streaming
• Using live video to overcome the 'curse' of perfectionism
• How continuing to show up live and getting over his fear has changed Ian's life
• Some super simple tips to overcome barriers to getting started
• Ian's favourite 'multi-streaming' tools and microphones
• What to do before and after you go live, for optimal engagement

If you've been putting off using live video as part of your business and engagement strategy, this episode will definitely inspire and motivate you to get going!

CONNECT WITH IAN:

CONFIDENT LIVE MARKETING PODCAST

Website

Instagram

You Tube

Twitter

Facebook

LinkedIn

Pinterest

Visibility Co helps businesses, individuals, entrepreneurs, executive teams, impact-focused organisations and movement makers combine self-aware and visionary leadership with authentic, strategic communications.

This conversation delves into the whole notion of personal brand visibility, but with a deeper philosophical skew.

Just some of what this episode covers:

• Visibility Co's three pillars of visibility
• Their formula for strategic influence
• How high value visibility is often not about being on the 'main stage' or having a high profile in all the usual places
• Choosing your own authentic pathway.

CONNECT WITH JULIA OR SARAH:

Website

Julia May LinkedIn

Sarah Anderson LinkedIn

Brook and Trevor dive into a range of topics, including how she generates business, why a blog is important, word-of-mouth and relationships, being brave, and focusing on a niche.

If you're a thought leader who wants to build a business around your personal brand, you'll get a lot from this episode!

Just some of the highlights:

• Brook’s take on how businesses grow at the speed of relationships
• The power of Google for generating business
• Making boldness your business strategy
• Having a niche - with flexibility

CONNECT WITH BROOK:

Website

Facebook

He's on a multitude of channels, including TikTok; 'in-the-moment' live-streaming is his jam!

The bits not to be missed in this episode:

• The importance of personal relationships in building a presence on social media
• Creative and efficient ways to create content that resonates when you're a busy professional
• How a sixty-three year old lawyer uses TikTok, and what's involved in doing the 'digital dance'
• Putting customer/client needs first
• Walking the line between being social while remaining professional
• Understanding that what you're doing on social is just the beginning

"Digital platforms will come and go, but good relationships will last forever," says Mitch.

If you're a business professional who is keen to embrace social media but haven't as yet committed fully to the digital world, you'll get a lot out of this interview!

GET MITCH'S BOOK

CONNECT WITH MITCH

Website

LinkedIn

Facebook

TikTok

You Tube

Alan and Emily help individuals and businesses stand out from the crowd, but they do it in a way that's genuine and human, ... and it works.

This conversation covers a broad range of topics including:

• The five principles Yellow Tuxedo works with to help their clients stand out
• What being professional means in 2020, and how it has changed
• The importance of businesses building a PR legacy that lasts
• The story of why everything Yellow Tuxedo is, well, yellow
• Why Alan and Emily believe macro content is king
• How their '100 days straight' vlog was born out of the need for structure during lockdown
• The podcast that was named in a top ten list of podcasts to listen to in its niche

If you want to feel inspired about the value of showing up consistently, get loads of ideas about how to maximise your SEO and repurpose your content, and learn how to wrap it all up in a very human way, you'll love listening to this one.

CONNECT WITH ALAN AND EMILY:

• Website
• Facebook
• Instagram
• LinkedIn
• You Tube

Join the Digital Circus HERE

Amber is the CEO of Amber Hurdle Consulting, a multi-award- winning talent optimization firm that pioneers using both science and marketing principles to strengthen customers’ brands from the inside out.

She sharpens personal brands using her ‘velvet machete’ strategy - cutting to the chase and wrapping their marketing message in a way that feels good to the intended audience.

This chat with Trevor Young will walk you through:

• Amber's Velvet Machete brand strategy
• The importance of tailoring your message for each audience you're talking to
• Amber's journey from creating her 'Bombshell Business Bootcamp' to becoming a podcaster and author
• Adapting your business, messaging and content when the landscape changes unexpectedly

If you want to know a bit more about you, you can complete Amber's free Predictive Index assessment HERE

CONNECT WITH AMBER:

• Website
• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• Instagram
• Facebook

Yishan currently works in Change and Communications for one of the big 4 banks in Australia, and was recently named a finalist in the Rising Star category of the Women in Banking and Finance Awards 2020.

She also hosts a podcast called Build Your Talent Stack, where she shares stories about creative ways to learn, network and own your career.

Yishan and Trevor cover a range of topics, including:

• Yishan's brand beginnings as an early influencer
• How she balances her internet presence to align her personal brand with her corporate career
• Standing out for what you stand for, not for the last thing you did
• How she collaborates with her organisation when creating content

If you operate within the four walls of a corporation but are still interested in personal branding, you will find this episode motivating and inspiring on many levels.

CONNECT WITH YISHAN:

• LinkedIn
• Podcast
• Twitter

In this high-energy chat with Trevor Young, Hillary introduces a concept she calls the ’statement piece’ brand - an antidote to the “sea of sameness on the internet”.

Hillary works with business leaders and creative entrepreneurs to develop their unique statement piece - "that idea, that concept, that point of view that makes leaders and experts radically different to their perfect people and does the talking for them”.

In this interview, Hillary:

• stresses the importance of having a clear message and a point of view
• explains that good branding is getting you in front of those people who need your message and are going to resonate with it
• unpacks her brand and how she has managed to come up with an idea that she can share verbally, visually and viscerally

Fonts, colours, conversations and experiences all crack a mention!

If you’re ready to 'crush the copycat culture’ on the internet, you’ll find this episode fascinating!

Check out Hillary’s website (and while you’re there, grab your FREE Statement Piece Framework).

Connect with Hillary on social media:

• Instagram
• Twitter
• Facebook
• LinkedIn

Kelly has a very pragmatic view when it comes to experts writing books.

In this chat with host Trevor Young, she unpacks the REAL reasons why an expert (entrepreneur/thought leader) should write a book, and outlines a realistic path towards preparing for your book should you decide to write one.

Kelly explains the 4 types of writers:

1. The deep thinker
2. The storyteller
3. The entrepreneur
4. The mastermind

(Which one are you?)

Kelly also touches on:

• how to know when you're ready to write a book
• writing a book is a thinking process: it's about learning to communicate who you are and what you do
• how are you going to use the book in your business?
• building a body of work that becomes a book
• writing a book starts with blogging, publishing articles, sharing content ... working up to whitepapers
• tension points in the writing process
• grappling with the 'curse of knowledge'
• the importance of "critical, valid, honest feedback" during the writing process
• a book is a product of your business, it's more than a calling card with "thud value"
• book length and the simplification of ideas

Lots of gold here from Kelly. If you've been considering writing a book but still have questions around the process and whether it's something you should be doing, you will definitely find this episode enlightening.

CONNECT WITH KELLY:

• Website
• Instagram
• Facebook
• LinkedIn

Special guest is Tom Schwab, founder of pioneering podcast interview marketing agency, Interview Valet, that conducted the research.

Tom and host Trevor Young dissect the research, highlighting what the findings mean for individuals wanting to secure podcast interviews as part of their personal brand marketing activity.

The discussion covers a range of ideas, insights and topics, including:

• the most common platforms to conduct podcast interviews - which ones are most popular, and what are the trends?
• the most common days for podcast interviews, and the time it takes from invitation to recording to publishing of the interview
• how podcasters prefer to record their interviews, and how flexible are they when it comes to fitting in with guests' schedules
• what percentage of interviews include video, and how popular live-streaming is becoming

Exposure brings opportunity

Tom explains why podcast interviews are an effective way to build your brand and generate leads for your business.

Plus he shares his tips as to what it takes to become a compelling podcast interview guest.

Whether you’re a podcaster or someone keen to be interviewed on podcasts, there is lots of gold in this interview.

Connect with Tom:

• Website
• Twitter
• LinkedIn

DOWNLOAD THE INTERVIEW VALET RESEARCH REPORT

@jenfrahm - Twitterz - thoughts on who has done a good job of being associated w multiple brands? eg portfolio of biz? I have Dr Jen Frahm, Agile Change Leadership Institute, Busting Silos & about to add another - curious who manages the brand side well? Does visual coherence matter?

Jen's tweet resonated with Trevor Young, the host and publisher of Reputation Revolution.

As someone who writes about, and works closely with, professionals who have built businesses off the back of their personal brand, Trevor has seen first-hand the dilemmas that come with commercialising one's reputation, for example:

• Personal brand vs business brand - which should receive more priority?
• Should I be developing a series of products as sub-brands, or not?
• And what about building bona fide sideline businesses instead of products - will this detract from my personal brand?

So many questions, and no right or wrong answer, of course. A lot depends on your personal circumstances and your goals.

So Trevor thought it would be a good idea to get Jen on the podcast - along with her friend and colleague, branding specialist, Kate Ware, from BuzzPop Brands.

The idea was: "Let's just have a chat about this and share our thoughts and ideas on the podcast."

So that's what this episode is about: an informal 'roundtable conversation' between Trev, Jen and Kate, in which they dissect the pros and cons of collaborative sideline businesses, sub-branded ventures and product ecosystems, and what's the most effective way to build out the business behind one's personal brand.

CONNECT WITH JEN:

• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• Website

CONNECT WITH KATE:

• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• Website

Susan is a world-recognised leader in the area of cybersafety and young people.

She was the first Victoria Police Officer appointed to a position involving cyber safety; she has dozens of certifications, and has spoken at over 1,000 schools all around Australia.

Thought leader journey

In this wide-ranging podcast chat with Trevor Young, Susan discusses her journey from police officer to thought leader, touching on a range of topics including:

• the importance of standing your ground on issues you believe in
• building a profile through the media
• working with journalists and producers
• how to use Twitter to expand one's influence
• the differences between Twitter and Facebook
• working with partners to reach a broader audience.

Susan also unpacks the commercial side of her personal brand, explaining the various strands, or arms, of her business.

Plus she tells the story of being caught up in the Barcelona terrorist attack several years back, and how using Twitter on that day resulted in her participating in over 87 interviews with media outlets from around the world.

If you want to better understand what's required to build your professional profile and grow a business around your personal brand, you'll love this real-life example of Susan McLean!

CONNECT WITH SUSAN:

• Website
• Twitter
• Facebook
• LinkedIn

Subscribe to Trevor's Influence &IMPACT email letter full of useful tips, interesting stories, thought-provoking ideas and links to cool stuff.

Our featured expert guest is author, social media speaker and LinkedIn marketing coach, Adam Franklin.

Adam, who's CEO of Bluewire Media, helps consultants win new clients and grow their pipeline on LinkedIn.

In his discussion with show host Trevor Young , Adam walks us through the same process he takes his clients through in order to generate meaningful business leads using the social media platform in just 20 minutes a day.

Adam and Trevor cover the following topics:

• General update on LinkedIn: what's working today on the platform (and what's not) - social interaction, organic reach, video views, new features such as documents and live-streaming
• Why Adam has decided to double-down on LinkedIn
• How to identify people to connect with using the platform
• The nurturing process of taking people from "stranger" to "high-value client" using LinkedIn
• Why automating invitations to connect is a big no-no
• Posting schedule, and the life of content on LinkedIn
• The importance of interacting with others on the platform

Adam also provides his view on LinkedIn 'lurkers', and the important role they play:

"The fact is that because there's a lot of lurkers, it's not like they're not paying attention, they are paying attention. And it's amazing how often my clients and I experience somebody who they've never heard from, never met, never had any engagement with, who will actually then pick up the phone or call them or send them a direct message and saying, I need to work with you.

"And it's like, well, who are you? They have actually been paying attention for months or years and you just never realize it."

Content, community, conversation and conversion using LinkedIn - we cover the lot on Reputation Revolution.

We hope you enjoy the show, and don't forget to subscribe via your podcast app of choice and never miss an episode!

CONNECT WITH ADAM:

• Website
• Free marketing templates
• LinkedIn
• Twitter

As CEO of JG Entertainment, Jonathan George has spent the past 20 years creating rockstar brands for celebrities, entrepreneurs, and influencers with over 150 million online followers.

Known as “The Human Hitmaker”, Jonathan's strength is to identify and extract people’s greatest untapped assets and brand it into rockstar status for their highest potential of authority, impact, and success.

In this conversation with Trevor Young, Jonathan touches on a range of topics and ideas, including:

• his origin story, going from the depths of "I'm not good enough" to becoming "The Human Hitmaker" and helping to create rockstar personal brands with over 150 million online followers
• identifying your character strengths
• exposing (and embracing) your flaws
• his personal branding framework - headspace (the who, how and the what), the heart (your why), the body (the content you put out) and foot (the action, the marketing, the push)
• Success is 20% talent. The other 80% is how you brand that talent to shine.

Plus Jonathan gives examples of some of his clients and how he worked with them to develop their 'rockstar' personal brand.

If you want to learn how to overcome average with personal branding, you'll love this interview with Jonathan George.

• Website
• Instagram
• Facebook
• YouTube

This is a broad-ranging conversation that touches on topics such as:

• self-confidence and the various roadblocks involved in putting oneself "out there"
• understanding what you want to be known for
• the importance of publishing original content that does justice to your personal brand
• why LinkedIn is a critical platform for aspiring B2B leaders (and let's not forget the role that Twitter can play also)
• leaving the employ of a well-known brand (but continuing to make that business part of your personal brand identity)
• batch-production of content: getting knowledge and expertise out of your head to share with the marketplace
• utility content vs leadership content
• which media formats should you concentrate on?
• getting some early wins on the marketing board and building from there

Lots of bases covered folks!

If you operate in the business-to-business space (or even if you're don't) - and you're keen to build a market-leading personal brand, then you won't want to miss this episode.

CONNECT WITH LAUREN:

• Website
• Twitter
• LinkedIn

As a co-founder of Prolifiko, Bec and her husband Chris help writers become more productive so they can focus on finishing the book they've started.

Prolifiko provides 1-on-1 productivity coaching for writers as well as online coaching courses and plans for groups and individuals.

Now, we know that writing a book can do wonders for leaders, academics and professional experts in terms of boosting their authority in the marketplace. And with all the various self-publishing tools, services and online marketplaces available to authors, there has never been a better time to publish a book.

But getting one written and 'out the door' can still be challenging, especially for busy professionals. Sometimes, the biggest enemy facing the author is the author themself!

In this chat with Trevor Young, Bec covers the various internal and external roadblocks authors often encounter when writing their book.

These can include:

• procrastination
• imposter syndrome
• lack of confidence/anxiety/self-sabotage
• dealing with distractions ... and
• simply getting stuck with the writing process itself.

Bec says you can start analysing these roadblocks from the same place, especially the internal ones.

Other topics covered:

• the importance of integrating the marketing of your book while you're still writing it
• the role blogging plays in the book writing process
• book length and the right format for your book
• prototyping your book
• the power of deadlines and the role of writing buddies
• types of writers: are you a planner or a pantser?

It's an expansive conversation on how aspiring authors should approach the book writing process, and definitely a must-listen episode if you've got a book inside of you that you want to get out into the world!

CONNECT WITH BEC:

• Personal website
• Prolifiko website
• Twitter
• Instagram
• 'How to Have a Happy Hustle' book

Welcome to world of Leanne Woff, founder of Audacious Empires, a company that provides "badass business management for empire builders".

In this broad-ranging conversation, Leanne and host Trevor Young dig into multiple topics associated with building a personal brand-based business, including:

• engaging with people on social media
• repurposing content for maximum results
• extracting the value from your public voice - managing and marketing your speaker brand; online courses and coaching programs; mastermind groups and paid membership communities.

CONNECT WITH LEANNE:

• Website
• Instagram
• Facebook

Emma's mission is to empower people to make their own decisions around food and nutrition, whether those be healthier decisions or happier decisions.

Interestingly, a key outcome of her social efforts, particularly on Twitter, is interest from mainstream media, resulting in editorial coverage, including interviews on radio and national television.

Emma says: "... sometimes it comes from ... I do a little rant on Twitter and a producer will send me a message saying instead of a Twitter rant, that could be a nice little piece on my show."

We discuss how Emma injects her personality into her micro-content, blending nutrition tips with food-inspired dresses and earrings to reinforce her message. 

Emma's catch-cry? "Come for the fashion, stay for the science!"

In this wide-ranging chat, Trevor and Emma touch on:

• the importance of being human on social media
• how having a unique twist in your content can be a great way to cut through the clutter and get noticed
• how Twitter can be an effective way to connect with journalists, editors and broadcast producers
• why having the same social media 'handle' across different channels can help build a consistent brand presence

If you're interested in using social media to convey a message and grow your sphere of influence, this is one episode you won't want to miss!

CONNECT WITH EMMA:

• Twitter
• Instagram
• Facebook

When you begin your personal brand journey, it’s important to get the foundations right. Your values form a core part of those foundations.

Suzy’s message is an important one, let’s hear it now.

CONNECT WITH SUZY:

• Website
• Activator Academy
• Twitter
• LinkedIn

Welcome to Reputation Revolution.

This is the podcast where we help individuals like you to establish your voice in the marketplace, enhance the credibility of that voice, extend the reach of your story and your message and, finally, extract value from your efforts in building a meaningful personal brand that's both recognised and respected. Now, on with the show.

During the course of the last two episodes, we looked at the need for emerging thought leaders to put themselves out there - to stand up, have an opinion, establish our voice - and the need to create content to reinforce and amplify that voice.

We looked at live streaming and public speaking; in this episode, we focus on producing video using the smartphone.

Video is a powerful tool in enhancing the credibility of your voice and extending the reach of your story and your message.

In short, if you want to build a credible profile and trusted reputation in the marketplace, video should definitely be on your content creation radar.

Host Trevor Young, aka 'The PR Warrior',  walks us through the types of videos that can help build thought leadership for one's personal brand.

Then it's over to this week's expert guest - smartphone video evangelist, Julian Mather.

Julian says the world is "hungry for truth" and explains how "authentic, agile and inexpensive videos" can be used to spark conversation and build trust with viewers.

The problem is, Julian says, "we've all got this aversion to being on camera".

The interview includes references to:

*** one of the best introductory bios you'll ever hear!

*** how Julian is inciting a business video rebellion

*** why your smartphone is like an "anti-invisibility machine for your business"

*** how to overcome fear of being on-camera by using Julian's "head, heart and hands" approach to video-making

*** get someone to critique your videos, but not anyone from your family! "Your family are your worst critics," says Julian.

*** "Fail quickly, fail quietly ... rinse and repeat, and just keep trying."

You can't win this new game if you're playing by the old rules, says Julian.

Connect with Julian:

• WEBSITE
• FACEBOOK
• TWITTER

In this episode, we extend that theme, with emphasis on public speaking.

According to Psychology Today - our fear of standing up in front of a group and talking is so great that we fear it more than death, at least according to some surveys.

Yowzer!

But public speaking also provides professional experts and aspiring thought leaders with a tremendous opportunity to build personal brand visibility, influence and trust.

Indeed, if you're any good at it, speaking can become a solid source of revenue.

In short, public speaking is an important cog in a business leader's reputation marketing arsenal. Many of us might not like getting up on stage to present to an audience, but there is no doubt it's a powerful medium to grow your influence and create more impact for your personal brand.

In this episode, host Trevor Young, aka 'The PR Warrior', unpacks his journey from "I hate public speaking" to professional keynote speaker with national and international speaking gigs under his belt.

Today, Trevor enjoys speaking from the stage, but that was not always the case!

Then leading Australian speaker YVONNE ADELE pops into the Reputation Revolution house to share valuable tips and advice as to how aspiring thought leaders can overcome their speaking nerves and take to the stage with confidence.

Yvonne says of speakers: "You are the vehicle for the message".

She also shares her thoughts on whether or not you should seek the services of a speaker's agent, and gives her tips for better on-stage performance.

Connect with Yvonne:

WEBSITE - https://www.yvonneadele.com/

TWITTER - https://twitter.com/yvonne_adele

INSTAGRAM - https://www.instagram.com/yvonneadele/

In this episode, host Trevor Young - AKA 'The PR Warrior' - focuses on the importance of content and the role it plays in building a personal brand of substance and meaning.

Specifically, if you want to build a personal brand that’s known, liked and trusted - that’s front of mind with your target audience and talked about in a positive way in the marketplace or community in which you operate - if you want more recognition, influence and impact in your professional life - you need to try new things, as well as put yourself out there by publishing original content.

In the live-streaming trenches with Tristan White

After setting the scene, Trevor is joined by TRISTAN WHITE, a successful entrepreneur who runs one of Australia’s largest physiotherapy practices, The Physio Co, which has been listed as one Australia’s 50 Best Places to Work for 11 consecutive years from 2009-2019.

Tristan is the author of the book CULTURE IS EVERYTHING, and is currently writing his second book.

His podcast is called THINK BIG ACT SMALL, where he chats to successful entrepreneurs and business leaders about all things workplace culture and personal leadership.

Tristan is neck-deep into live-streaming at the moment, and discusses the ups and downs of using such a format to engage with his audience.

Check out Tristan's live-streams here.

Yes, creating original content and publishing it on the web is crucial.

Yes, being on social networks and connecting with like-minded people from your city, your country, and around the world – that’s important too.

But most of all – the most critical thing – is to stand for something.

What do you stand for?

*** PLUS ***

Steve Sammartino is in the Reputation Revolution house.

Steve is a leading futurist, best-selling author, media commentator and keynote speaker, having presented to over 200,000 people around the globe.

His background is very eclectic. Some of his projects have earned over 20 million video plays on YouTube. He has sent a Lego space shuttle into the stratosphere and helped create a Lego car that runs on air. As you do!

In this chat with host Trevor Young, Steve explains the importance of listening to your audience.

"They know more about you than you know about yourself," he says.

Other Sammartino gems dropped in this episode include:

• “Have an opinion. Something for everyone is something for no one."
• "Know what you believe in and put your beliefs out there.”
• “You've got to think live. You've got to think out on the web."
• “Publish as much as you can, put your thoughts out there.”
• "the fringe-dwellers are the people who invent tomorrow's front line and … get on the fringe!"

LINKS:

• WEBSITE
• TWITTER
• LINKEDIN

YATM started as a weekly newsletter in 2013 and has developed significantly since, growing to include a monthly lunch club event, a blog and podcast combo, an active Facebook Group, plus an annual conference and associated workshops.

A constant theme of YATM has been a philosophy Mark has developed around what he calls an 'owned media mindset'.

According to Mark, everything he stands for is to help businesses take ownership of the spaces that are theirs. Once a business has complete control, they can build an audience and then monetise, he says.

In this episode, Mark and host Trevor Young explore the theme of community, and what it takes to build one over time.

Mark walks us through the YATM story, breaking down lessons learned along the way, finishing up with a few tips on how people can build a community around their personal brand.

Links:

• FOLLOW MARK ON TWITTER
• VISIT YOU ARE THE MEDIA WEBSITE

Seasoned PR and communications practitioner - author, speaker and social broadcaster - Trevor Young aka 'The PR Warrior' - walks us through his Personal Branding Universe.

These are the elements that flow from the four pillars of personal branding for professional people:

(1) ESTABLISH your voice

(2) ENHANCE the credibility of your voice

(3) EXTEND the reach of your voice

(4) EXTRACT value from your voice.

Connecting the many dots of building a sustainable personal brand - welcome, to the Reputation Revolution - 2020 style!

If you want to grow your INFLUENCE and create more IMPACT in the marketplace, this is the podcast for you!

As we draw closer to the 150th episode of the Reputation Revolution podcast, we thought we'd take this opportunity to dig into the vaults and bring to you some fantastic guests from our first one hundred shows.

This episode comes in three parts:

PART 1 - Unleashing the power of purpose

PART 2 - Capitalising on the myriad opportunities to build and connect with an audience

PART 3 - Hand-picked tips from global experts

I told you, bumper, right?

So we've dusted off some professional experts and thought leaders just for you, including:

• Richard Sauerman
• Lucy Whittington
• Karen Gunton
• Lisa Petrilli
• Darren Rowse
• Donna Papacosta
• David M. Hobson
• Simon Mossman
• Loren Bartley
• Joe Pulizzi
• Ann Handley
• Joanna Penn

Richard, Lucy, Karen and Lisa share their thoughts, ideas and stories around authenticity in personal branding and the importance of thought leaders being aligned to their purpose.

Darren, Donna, David, Simon and Loren cover blogging, podcasting, LinkedIn, media relations and Facebook.

And in the run home, Joe talks about the importance of focus, consistency and the power of "going all in"; Ann discusses the benefits of giving away your knowledge, and the importance of video in your content creation efforts; and Joanna chats about finding your voice, leaving digital breadcrumbs online, and the importance of having a book if you're a public speaker. 

Monster episode with lots of gold! Hope you enjoy it!

We are currently transitioning from the industrial age to the social age, where technology is getting more advanced by the day, both augmenting and, in some cases, replacing humans.

According to global credibility expert MITCHELL LEVY, this shift can either boost you and your business or cause you to disappear.

What will it take for you to succeed?

What can you do to be seen and be heard?

Being recognized as an expert or a thought leader is a key factor for success, Mitchell says.

The Internet has given everyone a microphone, and there's a lot of noise out there. With so many choices, you need to be recognised as someone who can help others with their pain points.

Mitchell says you do this through thought leadership.

Thought leaders are recognised experts in their field. No matter which industry you’re in, if you’re a thought leader, others will look to you to solve their problem, he says.

In this episode of REPUTATION REVOLUTION, Mitchell and Trevor riff on the topic of thought leadership and why it's important today to be recognised for your knowledge, skills, experience and expertise.

They discuss how thought leaders can build visibility by repurposing their content across multiple channels.

Mitchell also chats about how he packages what he calls THiNKaha books, slim and handy publications that contain 140 well-thought-out "aha" messages.

According to Mitchell, THiNKaha makes it easy to create compelling content that helps turn corporate experts into recognized thought leaders.

About Mitchell Levy

Mitchell Levy aka The AHA Guy is a TEDx speaker, podcaster (host of Thought Leader Life) and international bestselling author of over 60 books.

As The AHA Guy at AHAthat, Mitchell helps to extract the genius from people's heads in a two-three hour interview so that his team can ghostwrite your book, publish it, distribute it, and make you an Amazon bestselling author in four months or less.

Mitchell is an experienced entrepreneur who has created 20 businesses in Silicon Valley including four publishing companies that have published over 800 books.

He has provided strategic consulting to over one hundred companies, and has been chairman of the board of a NASDAQ-listed company. .

Connect with Mitchell:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mitchelllevy
• Twitter: @HappyAbout

Writing and publishing a book is a goal for many aspiring thought leaders, but it requires plenty of planning to ensure you get the most value from your efforts.

In this 'from the vault' episode, Trevor Young chats with Jaqui Lane, who is a corporate storyteller, business historian, biographer and experienced book coach.

Jaqui runs the Book Adviser, an 8-step, 12 month program for planning, writing, publishing and selling your business book for non-executive directors, business owners and consultants.

Asking questions

Writing a business book involves a lot of research, interviewing and exploring, reading, taking notes, listening and asking questions.

Quite frankly, Jaqui says, there’s not a lot of writing that goes on in the initial stage of writing a business book. In particular, there are some key questions you need to ask before you start putting words on paper.

Trevor and Jaqui also spend a bit of time discussing about the importance of marketing your book, before and after it's released.

Connect with Jaqui:

• Website
• Twitter
• LinkedIn

He had a dream to work in a job that inspired him. He didn’t find that job, so he created it. In 2004, The Physio Co (TPC) was born with one team member: Tristan White.

In the thirteen years since, TPC has become a remarkable healthcare success story based upon fast growth and a thriving, systemized company culture.

Tristan’s obsession with creating an inspiring place to work for himself and others has resulted in more than a decade of learning, testing and refining. 

Engaged community

Today, as well as helming the 150-employee The Physio Co business, Tristan is a speaker and an author who is steadily building an engaged community via his blog, podcast, weekly newsletter and social media.

In this interview with Trevor Young, Tristan discusses how has evolved his story and message since publishing a book two years ago, and how surveying his audience uncovered some interesting insights that have changed the way he thinks about content creation and distribution.

Connect with Tristan:

• Website
• LinkedIn
• Podcast
• Subscribe to Tristan's newsletter

With video expected to form 98 per cent of all global internet traffic by 2020 - and Facebook predicting that 96 per cent of its feed will be video by the same year - the message is clear: neglect video at your peril.

In this episode, Jeremy discusses how professional experts and thought leaders can leverage the power of video to build recognition and authority for their personal brand.

Jeremy's chat with host Trevor Young covers such things as: 

• why video needs to entertain, educate and engage
• when do you need a 'signature' video for your personal brand
• cutting through with video that's raw and authentic
• using video to build a personal brand story
• leveraging the power of video for social media
• save time and money by producing short videos in batches
• tips for better on-camera performance
• topic and format ideas for thought leaders using video

If you don't throw it up there, you don't know what you're going to get back, says Jeremy.

"Feedback's always good," he says.

The key message: Get out there and give it a go! Not all video needs to be highly polished to be effective: the goal is to experiment with different formats, take note of feedback, and continue to evolve.

CONNECT WITH JEREMY:

• LinkedIn
• Visual Domain website

In this wide-ranging chat on all things social media, Kate and host Trevor Young cover such points as:

• The best social channels for thought leaders
• Why Twitter is complementary to LinkedIn
• The rise of private online communities
• Robust discussions a sign you're on the right social media path
• How Twitter has cleaned up its act & is now more user-friendly
• How to effectively use Twitter lists
• Why LinkedIn is the most exciting platform for thought leaders
• Maximising LinkedIn for all of its features
• Why direct messaging is the most powerful function of LinkedIn
• The power of micro-stories & raw 'in the now' video on LinkedIn
• The opportunity that comes with responding to comments on social media
• Don't be afraid to have a point of view, especially around topical issues relevant to your business
• How batch production of micro-content allows thought leaders to build their narrative efficiently on social channels
• Should you be on Instagram?

If you want to raise your profile but are a bit confused when it comes to the current state of social media, this episode is worth a listen!

CONNECT WITH KATE:

• Website
• LinkedIn
• Twitter

Part of her role is to help people manage their 'inner critic' and overcome what's known as 'Impostor Syndrome'

Trisha describes Impostor syndrome as an irrational and pervasive feeling of self-doubt. A sense that you are getting away with it - you are a fraud and you will be found out soon! Putting success down to luck rather than your skills. Comparing yourself to others and having a sense that everyone else has got it together - and they will realise that you haven't.

Imposter Syndrome is very common amongst professional experts, emerging thought leaders, speakers, authors and entrepreneurs.

Indeed, it's a major barrier that often stops smart and passionate people from publishing their own content, sharing their stories and ideas in public, getting up on stage and speaking, and positioning themselves as a go-to informational resource on a particular topic.

As Trisha says: Don’t spend too long inside the cage of Impostor Syndrome - unleash your potential!

CONNECT WITH TRISHA:

• Website
• LinkedIn
• Twitter

Check out Trisha's Imposter Syndrome video playlist on YouTube

Subscribe to Trisha's YouTube channel.

More specifically, through his business Eccountability, he helps people create global online virtual mastermind groups.

Part of Ronan's process is to people how to find their niche 'white space', drawing out and amplifying their hidden genius, and then packaging it up so they can automate the process and achieve a predictable income.

In this chat with Trevor Young, Ronan provides his definition of a thought leader.

"It's not enough to be a subject matter expert," he says.

Ronan also unpacks masterminds, a concept that has its genesis in Napoleon Hill's 1937 classic book, Think and Grow Rich.

A mastermind group is designed to help people overcome challenges with help from the collective expertise and skill-sets of others. A group might meet monthly, weekly, or even daily to receive support, provide advice, share resources, and tackle problems together.

According to Ronan, successful mastermind meetings always have some sort of an agenda and someone in moderator role, ensuring conversations stay on track.

Other points of discussion include:

• the optimum number of participants for a successful mastermind
• how long masterminds should run for
• how much successful mastermind facilitators are charging
• the difference between group coaching and mastermind groups

A key takeaway from Ronan is that subject matter experts should teach to the problem: "You want to teach what people want to learn, not what you want to teach," he says.

CONNECT WITH RONAN:

• Website - Eccountability.io
• Twitter - https://twitter.com/Eccountability
• LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronan-leonard/

In this solo riff, Trevor says simply telling people you’re a thought leader doesn’t necessarily make you one. That said, there’s certainly nothing wrong with aspiring to become a thought leader in your industry, profession, discipline or community.

Trevor says that to become a thought leader today, you don’t need to rely on the gatekeepers e.g. the media, or book publishers:

"You can become your own media channel, and you can publish your own books and distribute them globally," he says

She helps coaches, consultants, business owners and corporate executives define their personal brand and convert their expertise into a business solution that solves a complex problem.

In this wide-ranging chat with Trevor Young, Mary 

• Building a personal brand that can be commercialised
• Content is not IP; it needs to be turned into a methodology
• The importance of mastering one craft to position ourselves as an authority in that particular space
• Why you need to understand your 'end-goal'
• Having an agile mindset is "absolutely critical"
• Content is king, "but volume content is a whole new level"

Mary's LinkedIn video strategy

Mary also unpacks her LinkedIn content strategy, which is really starting to pay dividends for her profile and her business.

Video is her go-to media format, and she breaks them down into themed series

She started with daily videos: "The engagement has been fantastic ... some posts reach 5000 views, ten, twenty, forty, even 50,000". 

Mary is now experimenting with posting on LinkedIn three times a day, two of which are videos.

Most of Mary's videos are pretty "raw", although if she's targeting them at the C-suite, she will record them in in her home studio.

And here's the kicker: Mary reveals that it took at least six months of producing content daily on LinkedIn to effectively position herself as an authority in the personal branding space. By month nine, now the leads are starting to flow in from all over the world.

But wait, there's more! Perceived credibility brings business benefits.

Mary says the third part to all of this is once you establish your 'go-to' status, people start perceiving you to be the top of your field and understand you're not going to be "the $299 (per hour) coach".

"They already know that," she says.

So in essence, according to Mary, the "six-to-nine month mark is where it's the game-changer".

But, she reiterates, content is fundamental.

Connect with Mary 

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/6figureexpert/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/6figureexpert 
• Website: http://www.maryhendersoncoaching.com/

Often times they're making the jump from the corporate cubicle into full-blown entrepreneurship. And it can be scary!

In this episode, Trevor Young chats with Steve Glaveski who is the author of the newly-released book, Employee to Entrepreneur, and host of the long-running podcast, Future Squared.

In this wide-ranging chat, Steve chats about:

• the importance of playing 'offence'
• avoid 'analysis paralysis' by experimenting quickly
• persistence and patience will trump everything: not taking 'no' for an answer
• the importance of getting 1% better every day
• productivity, and why we're 5 times more effective when we're 'in flow' (optimal state aka 'deep work')
• the process of writing his new book Employee to Entrepreneur (50,000 words in 10 days!)
• what it takes to get an article published in Harvard Business Review (after 18 months of trying!)
• how to use content to differentiate yourself from the also-rans
• leveraging partners' connections with journalists to get into the media
• luck plays a role in entrepreneurial success, but you still need to do the work!

Discover more about Steve: https://www.steveglaveski.com/

Many moons ago Matt trained as a designer, spending five years at one of the world’s best specialist art schools where he learned how to be curious.

It was this curiosity that has informed every aspect of Matt's professional career ever since. He's been an innovation advisor, a design management consultant and a branding strategist. He's run incubation centres, European-funded programmes and workshops, led big teams, small teams and no teams; he's staged big events, small conferences and parties.

But at the heart of everything, Matt's a marketer who sees the world a little differently.

He and his team have worked with a range of impressive organisations, including the UK’s largest crowdfunding platform, the UK’s most respected insurance company and a global leader in mapping technology, helping them discover their voice, grow their audience and develop products and services fit for the 21st century.

As founder of the Silicon Beach conference event in Bournemouth in the UK, Matt has had a big hand in establishing the seaside town's reputation as a buzzing hub for all things digital and creative. 

Silicon Beach is a two-day flagship conference featuring some of the world's most influential speakers contributing to a themeless event with no published agenda. It is this originality that has helped the event attract a global audience.

In today's noisy information-overloaded world, we're constantly told we need to stand for something, we need to hone our message and be focused in getting our story out in the world in a consistent way.

On the surface, that makes a whole lotta sense. But does it really?

Matt Desmier runs counter to that argument. You simply can't box him in to any one thing. This is both his strength and key differentiator in the marketplace.

So how then does he cut through with a cohesive message and maintain his personal brand? How does Matt build his business?

The answer is a multi-faceted one.

Matt explains that sometimes, it's what you don't do that is more important for your personal brand than what you do do.

Having principles are also critical. We've surpassed the need for having a purpose, and moved on to the importance of principles, he says.

But ultimately, it all comes down to assets, people and networks.

This is an enjoyable wide-ranging interview that will get you thinking about the way we approach our professional lives.

CONNECT WITH MATT:

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

Twitter: https://twitter.com/mattdesmier

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mdesmier

He's also a coach at Seth Godin's altMBA, and co-founder of one of Australia's leading providers of personalised sports trading cards, Future Talent.

With a background in PR, marketing and entrepreneurship across sectors such as nonprofit and elite sport, Heath has built up a truckload of experience for someone who is still young and in the early stages of their professional life. 

Seth Godin's altMBA

In this episode, Heath tells how he was selected as one of 100 people worldwide to participate in the 13th in-take of altMBA (altmba.com), a 4-week online workshop designed by Seth Godin for managers, leaders and high-performing individuals who want to level up, lead, and become effective agents of change. 

At the completion of the course, Heath was awarded the Abernathy Award for his cohort.

The altMBA awards are given to one student in each cohort, someone that their fellow cohort peers nominated based on the individual’s generosity in helping others.

Heath is now an altMBA coach, recently flying to New York from hometown Melbourne to attend an altMBA Coaches Summit ‪where he was, in his words, "surrounded by some of the most inspiring people I’ve ever met".‬

If you're a professional expert or leader looking to gain an edge in the reputation-building stakes in 2019, this episode is for you!

She helps professionals build their digital skills, capabilities and networks so they stay up to date in their field, industry or profession especially when the world and our workplaces are changing around us.

Helen says her "unique super power" is that she practises what she preaches when it comes to social media for networked learning.

A self-confessed introvert, Helen explains how she experiments with social media and digital tools as a way of staying professionally relevant, even though putting herself out there on the web gives her the "heeby jeebies".

In this conversation with Trevor Young, Helen touches on a variety of topics, including:

• the early days of blogging and Twitter
• Snapchat, vlogging and learning through experimentation
• showing and sharing the process of your work, and the opportunities that come from that, including exposure to new thinking and connections made with like-minded people around the world
• documenting your professional journey: "the purpose will come out somehow"
• meta-learning: "learning how to learn"
• capturing a body of work: how Helen archives her daily Snapchat videos so she can "understand what I'm doing"
• sideline projects: balancing the personal and the professional

Helen also takes us behind-the-scenes of her social media alter-ego, Shazza Breaknews, Foreign Correspondent for fake news channel, CNT News. 

CONNECT WITH HELEN:

• Website
• Twitter
• YouTube
• CNT News Channel