This Week's #KajabiHero Thought Smarter About His Business

Did you know, when you sell your knowledge online with courses, you are already building your personal brand?

It’s true!

Branding happens, intentionally or not, and it sets you apart… or it sets you up as just another copycat.

But the steps to building a brand can feel a little unsteady sometimes. So how do you get intentional? How do you shape and mold your personal brand into a force that stands out and works for your business? (Here’s secret… it takes heart.)

I’ve seen every niche you can imagine thrive with Kajabi. And as unique each Kajabi Hero is from another, their brands are even more diverse.

I’m going to show you exactly how to build your brand from the inside out, just like our newest Kajabi Hero: Christopher Greenwood aka Manafest, a popular Christian rapper.

Manafesting A Brand Out Of 50 Cents

Chris is no stranger to entrepreneurship.

When he married his wife, Melanie, they both quit their jobs to go on tour and build his music career. He took risks, poured his heart out in his music, and had faith that he would make his dreams happen. He could’ve stopped there. But he still had a greater purpose ahead of him.

Browsing a thrift store, Chris stumbled across a book written by Brendon Burchard for $0.50. And as he read the pages, he felt a pull on his heart to share his knowledge with the world.

The thing is, Chris could’ve just ignored it.

He had his music career. His fans. He could’ve left it at that and called it a day.

But he knew in his heart that he could offer people so much more than lyrics.

He could show other musicians how to market and sell their music without relying on a label. He could teach artists how to make a full-time income with their music on their own terms.

In a matter of days, Chris outlined his course, set up a camera in his house, and started teaching.

You’d think with all the worldwide shows, being in the spotlight in front of thousands of people for a living, he’d be confident filming his course.

Seriously. Chris is a published author who literally wrote the book on facing your fears.

But, truth is, Chris’s self-doubt was having a field day. He did not feel confident at all in front of that camera.

But Melanie was there to cheer him on and help him push through his insecurities.

They built his course, and in his very first month, he started making money.

Isn’t that crazy?

And it didn’t stop there either. Melanie was inspired to start her own journey as an entrepreneur and started creating courses too in a completely different niche.

From one book Chris bought for less than a dollar, two thriving businesses were brought into the world. And through that, so many people’s lives have been impacted by their courses.

So how did they pull this off?

Two people under one roof. Two very different brands, both with a heart and soul for sharing valuable knowledge with the world.

Building Your Brand From The Inside Out

When you have a passion you want to share with the world, that little seed of potential is planted inside of you.

You can either grow and cultivate that, or you can keep it locked inside.

Some people have a need to pursue their passion.

So many people are living paycheck to paycheck, and they need a way out. Creating online courses is a good way to do that.

Some people, like Chris and Melanie, don’t need a way out. They already had successful careers, so ignoring that desire to share their knowledge wouldn’t have cost them much.

No matter which side of the coin you fall on, it’s up to you whether you pursue your dream or not.

And sometimes, even if you don’t have anything to lose financially, you can cause others to miss out on something valuable that you can offer them.

The most powerful brands on Kajabi stem from inside of the Heroes who created them. And most of them have one thing in common:

They all felt afraid to put themselves out there.

One of the biggest obstacles to building your brand is fear, self-doubt, and anxiety. So one way to protect yourself from discomfort is to put up walls around yourself. Even if you’ve already launched your course, you can still put up these walls around your business.

What are some ways you put walls around yourself and your business? And how does this hurt your brand?

You don’t even start.

It’s easy to avoid pain when you live life in your comfort zone. So many people fail before they even get going because they never start the journey to begin with. As a result, they don’t have to worry about building a brand.

If this is you… you are missing out on so much that life has to offer outside of your comfort zone.

Yes. It’s uncomfortable. It can feel awkward. Trolls can come out of the woodwork at any moment to try and tear you down. And you will make mistakes.

But the thing is…

When you do branch out of your comfort zone and build your business, all of that is worth it. Living your dreams and helping other people is the reward. But you will never know what that’s like unless you start your journey.

You devalue what you know.

This can show up in so many forms in your business.

You don’t increase your rates and prices and spread yourself too thin in your business.

You back away from topics close to your heart because you think your knowledge wouldn’t be worth very much to other people, to name a few.

This can even show up in your time management when you don’t value yourself enough to prevent burnout.

In any case, you are hurting your business by devaluing yourself.

You never know what someone needs to hear on any given day. It could be a video, a blog post, or even an entire course that you don’t see any worth in, but someone else out there needs that information, encouragement, or help.

If you don’t value your time and knowledge, you are headed straight to the land of entrepreneurial overwhelm. Why would you keep working for less than your worth, when you could just raise your prices, cut your workload down, and have balance in your business?

Why take on more projects than you can handle when you could spend valuable time focusing on what’s really important?

When you don’t value your knowledge, that bleeds through to your brand. As a result it’s hard for people to take your business seriously when you put up a wall to protect your insecurities.

It’s hard to grow a brand when you don’t value yourself and what you have to offer the world.

You compare yourself to other brands and businesses.

Comparisons is a deadly game to play as an entrepreneur.

Comparing yourself to other businesses is the mortar that holds your wall together.

When you look at other businesses, and measure them up against your own, you are creating validation for your beliefs that hold you back.

Another way you can use this to protect yourself is to imitate the brand you compare yourself too.

And nobody likes a copycat.

Either way, your brand doesn't become what it was meant to be. You limit yourself because you don't think that your business will ever measure up.

Or you become just another cookie-cutter entrepreneur that looks like everyone else.

You don't leverage what's inside of you to its full potential, and you don't stand out from the crowd.

It's time to break down walls around your business. It's time to build your brand as unique and special as you are.

Connection The Secret To Building A Brand With Heart And Soul

You ever get caught up chasing numbers?

I understand it’s so easy to focus on stats when you have to make a living. You need to eat, pay the bills, and survive.

But if you measure your success solely on numbers, people will sniff that out in a heartbeat. Your brand comes across as greedy and uncaring. You lose connections. And your numbers flatline or plummet.

Turn your focus outward.

Think about your audience and all the people who have gained from your knowledge.

Helping other people is a type of success that can’t be accurately measured, counted, or charted. But it is so valuable to your business.

When you define success as how many people you can help; how you can go even further for the people you have already helped; the numbers naturally follow.

Everyone craves connection. And when you connect with people you don’t have to worry about the numbers so much.

When you build your brand with your audience in mind, powerful things can happen. You take the knowledge that's inside of you, and you share it with other people to better their lives. And when you do that you will connect with people to build relationships that will benefit you and your business.

There are several perks to building your brand this way.

• It helps you focus on what's important.
• It gets you out of your head enough to overcome your self-doubt so you can help people. 
• It motivates you to grow your business so you can help more people.
• You'll develop a reputation of going the extra mile for your customers.
• You attract the right types of people to your business.
• Your business will stand out because you actually care about your customers. You aren't just another CEO focused on the bottom line.

You can have the best branding in the world: an expensive website design, videos shot and edited by a professional film crew, a killer logo and color scheme, you name it. But branding is about so much more than that.

If your business doesn’t have heart, it’s like putting pretty wrapping paper on an empty box.

How To Pour Your Heart Out Into Your Business

One of the biggest reasons entrepreneurs hold back in their businesses is because they are afraid to put too much of themselves into their branding.

It’s easier to hold back or copy someone else than it is to open up.

When you build a brand from the inside out, it reflects you on a deeper level. It’s more personal. So when you face criticism, failure, and mistakes in your business it’s like a little piece of you breaks.

Your business has so much of your heart in it, and an attack against it feels like an attack against you as a person.

But despite all of that potential pain, the rewards outweigh that beyond anything you can imagine.

Here are a few tips you can use in your business to build a brand that connects with your audience. (Plus some examples.)

Don’t make every piece of content you create push your audience to buy.

This can be as simple as setting up a Q&A or meet and greet hang out on Facebook live to connect with your audience. Take the time to connect and build relationships without any business motives in mind.

Let your personality show in your business.

Incorporate your favorite colors and graphics into your web design, even if they don’t look like the rest of the websites in your niche.
Share books or songs you like with your audience. (You can even create a reading list of books that have guided your journey. Or create a playlist on Spotify to share with your audience.)

Don’t hold back if it could serve your audience.

If you struggle with depression or anxiety, you can write a blog post on ways you’ve found to live with it and still build your business.
Make a video of the worst mistakes you’ve made in your business and how other entrepreneurs can avoid them.

Take Control of Your Brand

Building a business isn’t easy, but you will never get the rewards if you don’t take the risks.

If you’ve always wanted to start your own business, today is the day to start. And if you’ve already started, then maybe it’s time to invest more of your heart into your brand.

Chris and Melanie have built their brands from the inside out to share their knowledge with the world. And you can too.

Other platforms can limit your branding efforts and make it hard to build your business your way. (Chris and Melanie know this all too well.) But Kajabi is all about giving you the freedom to brand your business your way. With Kajabi you can build your brand from the inside out to share your passion with the people that need it.

You can make an impact and be the next Kajabi Hero!

What steps are you going to take to pour your heart into your brand? Let me know in the comments below.

And if you want to learn more about Chris and Melanie you can check out their websites: Fanbase University, Smart Music Business and Vision City.

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