3 Stages to Build a Personal Brand That Thrives in an AI-Driven World 🚀🤖

Step by Step Guide on Progressing the Stages

Mike Thomson

Dec 28, 2024

📉 800 Million—This is the number of jobs predicted to be replaced by AI in the next 5 years.

📈 This has led to significant growth in the number of content creators over the last few years.

💡 Today, the total number of content creators is 200 Million+.

❌ The Problem:

🚫 85% of content creators do not make any money.

In this article, I will share the 3 stages of starting an online business 💻✨.

which makes money.

No matter what you do,

You fit in either of these 3 stages as a personal brand.

👤 You - The Personal “Brand”

I used to be the type of person who was introverted in school:

🚫 No parties
🚫 No groups

My daily routine looked like this:
📚 Go to school → Study → Come back home.

At that point in time, if you had asked me:
“Do you have a personal brand?”

I would have said:
❌ Of course not!

But, here’s the thing:
Even back then, I unknowingly established a brand for myself:

💡 “A person who prefers to stay to himself and doesn’t mingle much.”

The Reality:

Whether you want it or not,
Whether you like it or not,

👉 You will create a personal brand.

The real question is:
“Do you create it consciously or subconsciously?” 🤔

🌟 If you choose to create your brand consciously, here are 3 types:

1️⃣ Executer
2️⃣ Expert
3️⃣ Equity Brand

💰 The Earning Potential:

Lowest in Executer
Highest in Equity Brand

🛠️ The Skills Required:

Lowest in Executer
Highest in Equity Brand

Let’s dive deeper to understand these 3 types of personal brands and how you can adapt them:

1️⃣ Executer

Positioning:
👉 “I will do X for you and provide my services in exchange for money.”

Platforms:
🖥️ Fiverr, Upwork

Prospect:
This is perfect for solopreneurs just starting out.

It allows you to work,
Learn more in your area of interest, and
Build connections in your niche.

Skills Required:
🛠️ Marketing, Technical Skills, Customer Relations

🚀 To Start as an Executer

Step 1:

🧭 The first step is to define your interest area.

💡 A good idea is to start by identifying your “IKIGAI”—the sweet spot where:

Your interests align with,
What people are willing to pay for. 💰

Step 2:

🔧 Define Your Service

Identify what services you can offer that people will pay for.

🤔 How can you offer your service?

💼 Is it a freelance service?
🏢 Is it an agency service?
📱 Is it a content generation service?

Step 3:

🎯 Create a Value Proposition

The best way I used to approach this is by thinking of myself as my ideal client and asking, "What type of service would I accept?"

Here’s how I offer my services:

💎 Give Away the Gold for Free

Approach clients by doing something for them first.

When I used to offer freelancing services, I would audit my clients' websites and say,
🚨 "These are the broken backlinks, and I can fix them."

🤑 Make an Offer So Good That People Will Feel Stupid Saying 'No'

Picture this:
You are a social media manager offering content creation services and want to sell your services.

Instead of saying:
“I can do this for you, and the cost is X,”

Try saying:
“I’ll charge no upfront money, but I’ll charge a commission based on the number of leads I generate from my content.”

If you think about it, there’s no risk for the client in the second case, and you can still make money. 💸

🧑‍🏫 Expert

Positioning:
👉 “I have done this in the past, and I can coach/consult you on how to do it the right way.”

Platforms:
📱 Social media, 1:1 consulting

Prospect:
I will help others do something that I’ve already done successfully.

Now that you’ve learned a skill by doing it yourself and built a service business, the next step is:

🔧 Building systems
🤝 Leverage people, technology, and money
👨‍🏫 Coach your 3-year younger self

Let me explain more about each of these.

🔧 Building Systems

Let me tell you my story:

When I was running my digital marketing agency, offering services like Facebook Ads, SEO, and SEM, I hired a team of 3 people to handle the activities for me.

But the problem was that my team wasn’t very experienced, and the quality of my services dropped.

So, I created a 3-step process for every order we received:

Train
Transfer
Trial

Train

I cut down my services to focus only on SEO services in the Health Niche and eliminated Ads and SEM.

This allowed me to concentrate on just one area.

I then learned about my team's past experience and created a training plan for them.

Transfer

I recorded videos using Loom while doing the SEO for health-related businesses.

This helped my team learn how I performed SEO for these businesses and how to apply it to their websites.

Trial

I discussed 1:1 with my team about their understanding of SEO to ensure they knew what and how to execute the projects correctly.

This is an example of a basic system I developed for training my team.

⚙️ Now, I Have Systems for Everything:

✍️ Writing content
📱 Managing social media
💼 Running my business

It’s amazing how little I have to do to keep things growing if I have good systems in place.

🤝 Leverage

Leverage is one of the few superpowers that we all have.

There are mainly 3 types of leverage:

⏳ Leverage of Time
👥 Leverage of People/Money
💻 Leverage of Technology

⏳ Leverage of Time

18 years ago, when I started my job,
I didn’t have a lot of money to start a business, but I had a lot of free time after my 9-5 job hours. 🕒

If you find yourself having time, it’s a good idea to invest that time to learn something new 📚 and, subsequently, start a business. 🚀

Often, free time is considered as a big block of time.

For example:
❌ “You might tell yourself, ‘I don’t have 3-4 hours a day because I’m working full-time.’”
✅ But remember, we all have 10-15 minute breaks 🛑 throughout the day that can compound into a lot of extra time. ⏰

If you don’t have a plan for how you’re going to use this time, you’ll end up consuming social media. 📱💻

Again, if you think you don’t have any free time, check your screen time 📱 on social media.
That’s the time you need to use more productively. 🔄💡

👥 Leverage of People/Money

If you have some money 💰 or have built a service business yourself, the next step is to leverage people.

My team consists of knowledgeable, sincere people working from India 🇮🇳👩‍💻👨‍💻

For them, earning $500 is a good income, and for me, it’s an investment I’m happy to make for my time. 💸

So, outsourcing tasks you don’t want to do or have no expertise in is the 2nd superpower. 💪⚡

💻 Leverage of Technology

AI is everywhere nowadays. 🤖🌐

A solopreneur today is not really a solopreneur because they have an army of technology 🦾 working for them 24/7 with 100% accuracy.

Let me share an interesting case on how I use technology:

Earlier, to offer my services to leads, I would go to their LinkedIn profile 🔍, search for the right people (the decision-makers), and send them emails 📧 offering my services.

Now, this entire process is automated by leveraging AI. 🤖✨

I don’t have to do anything in this process. 🕹️

I use Relevance.ai to do this for me, which saves me at least 1 hour a day 🕒 and is more efficient than if I did it manually. ⚡

🏢 Brand

In this step, you need to detach yourself from your business and hire a COS (Chief of Staff) 👔 who is responsible for managing your day-to-day operations without compromising on quality.

This person is the barrier 🛡️ between you and the daily operations.

Because you don’t have to manage the day-to-day work, what do you do?

Your role is to be the Key Person of Influence (KPI) 🎯.

🌐 Key Person of Influence (KPI)

Your role as KPI is to:

Build a Network 🌍
Productize your service 🎁
Work on new business ideas 💡

Build Network

In this step, your goal is to be visible. 👀

You can increase visibility by:

🎥 Educating people on YouTube/Blogs,
🎙️ Educating people by attending podcasts,
📚 Educating people by selling your courses.

You may witness successful people:

🎤 Being guests on podcasts
🎥 Creating YouTube videos
💸 Selling courses because they’re experts in something

And it helps if you’re in this stage because it:

Expands your network 🌍
Establishes you as an authority in your niche 🏆

Productize Your Service

This involves productizing your service and selling it as a package. 🎁

For example, if you’re a video editor 🎬, you could productize your service by offering:
“I will edit 10 reels for you in a month, and the package will cost $500.”

This helps establish recurring revenue 💰 and positions you as an expert in a specific part of your niche. 🌟

Expand to New Business

This is the last step in the cycle. 🔄

Here, you try out new ideas because you have the time 🕒 to experiment, knowing that even if you fail, it won’t impact you since you have a full-time business running on autopilot. 🤖💼

🌍 Types of Integration

The new business is most beneficial if it’s:

Horizontal Integration ➡️
Vertical Integration ⬆️

Horizontal Integration

Horizontal integration is when you expand and repurpose your content/services in multiple niches. 🎨💡

This helps you tap into new niches 🌱.

Vertical Integration

Vertical integration is when you expand into upstream or downstream services. 🏭

For example, if you offer video editing services 🎬 for social media and then start offering social media marketing📈, you’re expanding into a new business field. 🌍

Conclusion

In a world rapidly shifting under the influence of AI, your personal brand can be your shield and your sword. Whether you're just starting as an executor, leveling up to an expert, or aiming for an equity brand, the key lies in making deliberate choices and leveraging the resources at your disposal—be it time, technology, or people.

Remember, success isn’t about doing everything at once; it’s about building systems, creating value, and staying consistent.

Your personal brand isn’t just a professional asset—it’s a reflection of your story, skills, and aspirations. As you navigate these three stages, keep one thing in mind: the brand you build today will define the opportunities you attract tomorrow.

So, which stage will you conquer next? The journey begins with one conscious step.