Humble Bragging Can Help You Grow Your Personal and Business Brand

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Welcome to Jon Michail’s Personal Branding Masterclass. Jon is the founder and CEO of image group international and award-winning image consulting and personal branding pioneer established in 1989. This podcast will bring you old-school wisdom, inspiring ideas, strategies, and hacks for the new tech world. Here you will learn everything about personal branding: the system, the techniques, and the right mindset to have a successful personal brand, image, and reputation.

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Hello, welcome. Today we'll talk about humble bragging, and how it can help you grow your personal and business brand. We know many people struggle with promoting themselves. So let's discuss why it's important to move past any potential discomfort about this. I see humble bragging, really, as a time's a marketing term that we use to virtually soften up the concept of promoting yourself. The reality is how you promote yourself, humbly or not, is an essential component in getting your name out there. And a good way to do that is by putting yourself out there, we'll also help you deal with the discomfort, it's a bit like if you're fearful of something, the way you deal with that and you transform yourself with that is by facing the fear directly and then doing it anyway. You know, and so that this is an opportunity for you to practice that, you know, by creating some content in all different ways, including written, verbal, etc. And an opportunity to share it with your audience. Because that what that will do is, especially if you're uncomfortable, is starting to build some confidence, you know, because it's going to put you on the front foot in building your thought leadership and people will start to notice, what's important about this, is don't worry too much about making this perfect. Okay, you're not at university trying to get 99.9 marks. It's this is the real world. And at times, you know, you will make some mistakes. And the most important thing about all of this is people will like you more when you just do this authentically, as opposed to just a scripted, tick the box exercise that sort of, you know, is designed to have the right image, but at times is inauthentic. 

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Humble bragging helps people learn more about you, also, and what makes you distinctive. It helps people see that you have interests and desires. In other words, it humanizes you. You know, and the key about this is if you study some of the most successful brands out there, including Elon Musk, of course, Richard Branson, and others, Oprah Winfrey is another good example. They always talk about aspects of their personal lives, that specifically has a link, you know, to making a more personable and more real. And of course, through humble bragging, you can do that as well. It's up to you how deep you go, and how much you want to share. But it opens up an opportunity for people to get to know more about you, you know, and that's why a lot of celebrities, a lot of well known renowned people, authorities utilize even family at times in a way that's designed to make them look more humble, more relaxed, and at the same time more real. So certainly, it's something that you can do as well because people are looking to buy real conversations, real people in a world full of fakes and certainly misinformation.

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You can't assume that other people are going to actively promote your personal brand unless you've hired them to do so. People can promote whatever products or services you offer. But it won't be that with a wall if people don't see what makes your work so special, especially for them. So the concept here is, you know, in sharing how you can help people so what I'm doing today as an example, through this podcast, is sharing with you that by putting yourself out there and making yourself known, heard, respected etc. is how you're going to build authority, certainly authentic authority, considering the only power you have that cannot be taken Going away from you is your personal power, as opposed to your positional power, your positional power being, you know, your job, your title, your money, okay? etc, your personal power is what's what we would call is God, given, no one could ever take that away from you. So that's what makes you special. And that's what also gets people to buy from you, because they know that's what's unique about you, that's your differentiation. So, you know, promoting your personal brand is an essential component here, especially if you haven't got a whole team doing it for you. And, you know, again, I reiterate, what makes it so special for other people to buy from you, is because of your authenticity, you know, and that's what's gonna make people buy you remember, this is personal power, you're promoting, not positional power, positional power is another conversation, to follow through. 

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In large part, from what I've just mentioned a moment ago, humble bragging is a better authentic brand building. And in the process also helps you learn a little bit more about yourself. Why? Because vulnerability is part of the transformation, you'll notice that people that are not vulnerable there, keep everything within eventually, other than potentially, you know, exploding in a massive crisis. What also does is create definitely little report. And since there's no report, it's very hard to build trust. So this is the key here, it's very important to, you know if you want to build trust if you want to build likability if you want to build credibility, and of course, authentic authority, it's important, you get that you're authentic. Now, you might be thinking, Oh, John, you know, that politician out there as an example, he's got a lot of power, and he's a big brand. But you know, he's not there authentic, or she's not that authentic? Well, that's not what I'm talking about, you know, I can do a whole session on political branding. And you'll discover that it's a different conversation. And they do things differently to you and me, and certainly entrepreneurs. But definitely, they also follow a lot of the same rules having worked in politics, also, over the last 30 years. So definitely, you know, what you get to learn, the more you the more you're willing to have the courage to make a difference out there and put yourself out there certainly a little bit, or whatever part you want to bring out that what whatever level, that's totally up to you, that will certainly help you also learn so much more about yourself. So again, don't be afraid to have a go. This, this is not about becoming, you know, perfect, but it's certainly about you owning that it's okay to occasionally talk about yourself from you know, from the great work that you do and the great service that you offer. I have some tips now on how you can start humble bragging effectively. We've already mentioned the authenticity element. So what we say is to show authentic testimonials on your website, or social media. And of course, you know, your LinkedIn profile. This is very important. Because again, it builds likability builds trust, it builds credibility. So your authority will be based on authentic authority. And by authentic testimonials, I mean, specifically real people not made up. If you did that today. It's so easy to check if what you've put up there, or what you know because people do this if they have fakes. And certainly, if you know, mentioned any testimonials, as well, you know, some of the great results that you've got not that example, John is a nice guy. That doesn't mean anything that's a motherhood statement. That really is a waste of time, you're better off mentioning Exactly. For instance, John did this specific work for me that returned, for instance, 65% greater return, you know, it could be financial could be reputational, if that can be measured, etc. But be very specific around that. Okay, the more specific you are, the more factual you are, the more power you.

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The next one is to elevate your authority by giving interviews. This is fairly frightening for a lot of people, especially if they've never done it before. But the way you've got to look at this is this way, but the way you look at this is from this perspective. Media, in the case of mainstream media, are looking for spokespeople. They are looking for people that have got something to contribute, they are desperate for great news. And of course, if you've noticed, you know, at times where you get such a repetition of always the same faces is because, at times, so many people are afraid to put their hand up and say, Hey, I have something great to share with you. This is great authority building, as a media, you know, publications, of course, social media influences if they are the right ones, for your industry in space. And also podcast, you know, Joe Rogan, for instance, in his podcast, you know, that, of course, was, you know, promoted by a while is promoted by Spotify, and, you know, gain him at least $100 million return is one great example of that, you know, and his audience on that podcast is around, you know, four times more than some of the leading media commentators in the US. So as you can see, this is not a joke, it actually builds your authority. Now, the other thing is, you know, in given interviews, bottom line is, it's going to get you exposure. And if you haven't got people, at least, you know, listening to your conversation at some level, if it's written, or, you know, verbal, from the point of view, of auditory, and so on, even television for that narrow or visual, then of course, if people aren't giving you that sort of attention, then you won't get known. So it's important to put yourself out there, and let people know, you know, that become aware of your gifts.

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Another way to do that is to do the interviewing, and I mentioned podcasts before, certainly, you can launch your own podcast, interview your clients or other experts. You know, and as I mentioned before, I think podcasting and podcasting is one of the hottest personal brand builders on the planet today, because it's your opportunity to sit have authentic dialogues, you know, by inviting guest speakers, and like we do on our podcasts and growing your niche audience in an intimate setting. And remember, you know, the word is intimate here. And of course, at the same time, it's a niche audience. So this is, you know, depending on what your subject matter would be niches the way to go, and even micro-niche if you want to really carve an audience for yourself as opposed to mass. Because as we know, anything, maths means big numbers, and big numbers, is a different conversation to creating niche campaigns. And finally, for today's session, you might want to get involved also with a charity or community organization. In today's world, this is a central suffer, for instance, a great example is, you know, mental health right now, there are definitely many organizations out there that are focusing on this particular area as advocates for the whole concept of mental health. In a time where it's in crisis, young people, all people, you know, middle-aged people are going through, you know, many moments, an existential crisis. So definitely you can get involved with that if you're passionate about that. That's something certainly that we've been involved with, you know, but it could be something else, it could be animal rights, it could be the climate, it could be whatever works for you, and there are so many causes out there. Now, the key with all of that is, of course, you're better off aligning with something that sort of fits in with your values, okay, because this way, you'll get the best value for the charity or the organization that's going to be involved but also of course, for your spirit, your personal well being. So finally, remember that you know, humble bragging can make a positive impact on all the work and at the same time help you get noticed. If it works also for the world's top brands and personalities. It can certainly work for you.

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We're close to the end of the show. I want to thank you for listening. You can find me on social media. you can follow me on Twitter at Jon_Michail on LinkedIn as Jon Michail and on Facebook as Image Group International. If you need my help to help you elevate your personal brand please email me and I will be happy to work with you. The email is on the description of the episode. I thank you all I look forward to chatting again next week. Cheers!

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Jon Michail’s Personal Branding Masterclass" Podcast is sponsored by Image Group International, a global team of practical, digitally savvy personal brand and image strategists, based in Australia, committed to maximizing your impact, influence and authority in the business world.   To learn more and apply for your personal coaching, seminars and group workshops please visit imagegroup.com.au or call 1800 631 311.