The Personal Branding Playbook You Can Finally Ignore

Personal Branding Has Become a Copy Paste Nightmare

You know the drill:

• Get a professional headshot (bonus points if you’re slightly smirking)

• Write a bio that makes you sound 10% smarter than you actually are

• Post strong, borderline-controversial opinions to "go viral"

Congratulations, you now have a personal brand… just like everyone else.

Here’s the problem, everyone is following the same formula, which means we’ve built a world of personal brands that aren’t actually personal. J

ust scroll through social media, and you’ll see the same recycled insights, the same content structures, the same attempts to reverse engineer someone else’s success.

And if everyone is doing it, is it really your brand?

The Formulaic Approach

Now, don’t get me wrong. There’s nothing inherently wrong with a good headshot or a well crafted bio. The problem isn’t the tools, it’s the mindset.

Most people build their brand backward. They start with the output (the polished image) instead of the input (an interesting life).

They copy success rather than create something worth following.

A More Refreshing Approach (That Actually Works)

Instead of asking, “How do I build my personal brand?” try asking, “What makes my life interesting?”

Or, better yet: “What could make my life interesting?” or “ What is something interesting I like talking about?”

Because here’s a secret: people don’t follow you because you cracked the branding code. They follow you because your life is worth paying attention to.

How to Build a Brand Without "Building a Brand"

Rather than crafting the perfect social media presence, try actually living in a way that generates stories worth telling. For example:

• Take on a challenge that excites and terrifies you at the same time

• Share behind the scenes moments of something you're deeply passionate about

• Travel to a place you've never been and document the experience

• Build something ridiculous, just to see if it works

Ironically, this approach will grow your audience more than any branding playbook ever could.

Why This Actually Works

My best performing content hasn’t come from “strategy.” It’s come from life, like the time I built a backyard obstacle course just to see if my dog could complete it. Or the moment I realized the power of handwritten letters and started mailing notes to people instead of DMing them.

These posts resonated because they were real. They weren’t calculated. They weren’t optimized. They were just things I found interesting enough to share.

And guess what? People loved them.

Put the “Personal” Back in Personal Branding

So here’s my challenge to you: Stop trying to build a personal brand. Start building a life so interesting that people can’t help but pay attention.

The best brands aren’t studied. They’re lived.

And even if nobody follows you, you’ll have built something even better: a life that excites you. And at the end of the day, isn’t that the real win?

Now go do something worth sharing.

This week in the Dare2Grow Collective?

It was a crazy good week here at dare2Grow as we kicked off two cohorts: Our Newsletter Growth Cohort, which I cannot wait to see the Newsletters that come out of that one and the pitch and Offer Cohort, again entrepreneurs building and refining their messaging, super fun.

This coming week we will be running the largest cohort EVER of the Linkedin Impact Accelerator and it is going to be great. If you have not signed up yet, be sure to as this is one awesome crew to be a part of.

The Linkedin Impact Accelerator: Feb 19th at 12:00 pm PST

I am also working on a secret project. A new Accelerator that many of you in the community are going to be blown away by. When I showed it to my colleague they said they would pay 6-12k for it. And yes, it is going to be included in the community membership for just $300/year. Can’t wait to share it with you all in the coming month or two.

Guarantee: I want everyone in this community to feel they’re getting real value. If you join and realize it’s not the right fit, no problem! You have 7 days to request a full refund—no questions asked, no hard feelings. 😊