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This week I welcome my friend and former student Mike Kim to the show. He\u2019s an amazing marketing strategist, consultant, and copywriter. His podcast, \u201cBrand You podcast\u201d is the #1 podcast on personal branding according to Apple.\xa0

Mike worked for years as the CMO of a big-time company before building his personal brand. One of his current marketing clients is none other than John Maxwell.

We\u2019ve prepared a FREE worksheet for this week\u2019s show to help you apply Mike\u2019s suggestions and get started with your own personal brand. You can download it at\xa0RayEdwards.com/388.

Tune in to our off-the-cuff conversation to discover\u2026

• (1:32)\xa0How my well-intentioned yet dismal \u201cflop\u201d of a marketing contest helped get Mike on my radar.\xa0If it hadn\u2019t been for that failure, we might never have met.
• (3:32)\xa0The secret to avoiding super awkward icebreaker conversations with your favorite guru or expert.\xa0It\u2019s the best way to get to know them before you actually meet in real life.
• (4:30)\xa0Mike\u2019s \u201cintrovert\u201d secret to leveraging and mining relationships.\xa0This unique superpower of his is one of the biggest reasons for his remarkable success.
• (6:45)\xa0Which artistic career Mike and I both dreamed about when we were kids.\xa0Mike even got the attention and some helpful tips from one of the most famous practitioners of this art form.
• (10:02)\xa0The \u201cSpider-Man\u201d relationship strategy Mike\u2019s been cultivating since childhood.\xa0How it\u2019s helped him turn online business acquaintances into best friends.
• (14:35)\xa0How falling asleep during church turned into a full-time songwriting career in his early 20s.\xa0The nagging question that took Mike from adolescence to a music ministry, and eventually to a career in marketing.
• (20:06)\xa0How being worn out from life on the road led Mike to become one of the top experts in personal branding in 4 short years. It all started with a simple habit which became the hinge to opening doors all over the industry.
• (23:05)\xa0The huge difference in how people in their 20s and people and 40s define a \u201cpersonal brand.\u201d\xa0Why Mike started to separate and re-categorize \u201cinfluencers\u201d vs \u201cthought leaders.\u201d
• (27:10)\xa0Who should build a personality brand and who should be an influencer.\xa0Mike describes what he calls \u201cthe Holy Trinity of content\u201d and how using them as the 3 legs of the platform stool is the best way to give substance to your brand.
• (32:45)\xa0Why focusing on looking for and finding common ground with people is one of the best ways to build your personality brand.\xa0This works for all types of businesses, even the ones that seem boring or ordinary like the neighborhood furniture store.
• (36:55)\xa0The Wikipedia test Mike uses when consulting hyper-polished, veneered, corporate marketing teams to help them realize why personality brands are so powerful.\xa0I bet this test works on you too. It worked on me!
• (38:30)\xa0How the stocker in all of us contradicts our fear of posting something personal social media because it might be \u201coff brand.\u201d\xa0Mike calls us all out and shows the paradoxical principle of branding we need to learn from our actual online behavior.
• (41:34)\xa0The easiest way to help people make the decision whether or not to follow you online.\xa0It takes courage, but it\u2019s by far the best way to build your personal brand and a loyal tribe of hungry fans and followers.
• (43:40)\xa0Mike\u2019s best up-to-date advice about how to get started with your personal brand.\xa0There\u2019s one crucial practice you must adopt. It\u2019s the biggest hurdle for most people. But it provides an easy way to overcome the challenge and get started today.
• (48:05)\xa0The 11th commandment, coined by Mike, that got him started with the discipline of building his personal brand.\xa0But it\u2019s not a \u201cquick\u201d fix. It\u2019s a year-by-year process he\u2019s been using since 2014 to get where he is now.

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• To learn more about Mike and follow what he\u2019s doing, visit\xa0MikeKim.com.
• To download the FREE worksheet for this week's podcast, go to\xa0RayEdwards.com/388.