How Anyone Can Build A $1,000,000+ Personal Brand
A Simple 5-Step Framework
Hey team,
Callum here.
Hope you’re crushing 2025.
The term “personal brand” gets thrown around a lot today.
But what does it actually mean?
I asked Ash Jones, founder of Great Influence.
He worked with Steven Bartlett in the early days.
Now he runs one of the world's top personal branding agencies.
He says:
A lot of people think it means Linkedin hooks, copywriting hacks, or one-liner tweets.
But personal brand ≠ social media tactics.
Real personal brand goes so much deeper.
It’s your reputation.
Your unique story.
The trust and connection you build with others.
So where do we start?
He broke down his 5-step framework for building an authentic, impactful presence.
1/ Define your "why" 🎯
Before anything else, define your objectives.
Get crystal clear on what you want to achieve with your personal brand.
Is it establishing expertise?
Attracting opportunities?
Inspiring others?
Knowing your end goal is crucial.
Everything else stems from that.
2/ Uncover your unique story 🦸♂️
Dive deep to find what sets you apart.
What experiences shaped you?
What do you stand for?
Ash's team asks tons of questions to pinpoint the bits that will resonate.
The key is authenticity.
No faking or forcing things.
Take his client, the famous footballer Gary Neville.
He wants to let the world know about his business ventures for the next stage of his career.
He’s more than just an ex footballer.
That doesn’t mean we abandon football when creating content.
That’s actually where some of the best stories happen.
He used to fly home from European Cup games whilst working on deals to buy properties in Manchester.
These are unique stories that will capture the public’s imagination.
3/ Identify your key audiences 👥
Who needs to know about you to hit your "why"?
Map out your primary audience (the one that directly opens doors or buys).
Then consider a wider audience to build social proof.
For example:
An aspiring speaker's primary audience is event organisers.
But that doesn’t mean we should make content for them.
We need to target a bigger secondary audience of professionals who will establish credibility and create social proof of interest in our message.
Very often, we need to go wide to capture our target.
4/ Craft your content pillars 📝
Zero in on 3-5 main topic buckets to build authority around.
For a SaaS founder, it might be:
Scaling sales
Building software
Navigating funding
Mental health for leaders
The sweet spot?
Is the intersection of your story, your audience, their needs & goals.
5/ Choose your medium & format 🎥
Will you write?
Record videos?
Speak on stages?
Post photos?
Look at where your audience is and what feels natural to you.
Experiment.
See what strikes a chord.
For Gary Neville, it's writing about building his businesses on LinkedIn.
For Steven Bartlett, it's interviewing people he’s interested in and turning them into books, stage shows and podcasts.
Start with 1 format.
Then branch out.
The keys to making it all work?
Consistency & pushing outside your comfort zone.
A little vulnerability goes a long way in building real connection.
Ok, that’s Ash’s 5-step framework.
Want to go deeper?
Catch my full conversation with Ash on the latest episode of Creator Playbooks:
Drop me a comment if you enjoy!
I read every one.
Speak soon.
Callum
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When I read a post like this, I think, Why the hell is this not taught in schools? It's not that complicated, and yet it's fundamental to a young person's chances of success as an adult.
Politicians should stop banging on about illegal immigrants and focus on the way we teach our kids, because that's the best way to achieving growth, and generally picking up the lousy morale of the UK.