Developing your personal brand is an exciting time where your new business vision starts to evolve & you begin to show your intention!
The idea is to capture your passion, skills, & value in a unique way that builds credibility & inspires people to collaborate with you.
If you have not decided on your business vision – read my Ten Steps to Personal Branding below, then apply the steps in your spare time, e.g. 2 hours before work.
“It’s not about the goal. It’s about growing to become the person that can accomplish the goal – Tony Robbins.”
Here are my Top Ten Steps for Personal Branding to help you transform.
1. Create Your Business Vision
To get started write down fours skills & four passions you have, then prioritise your favourites, & put a line between the number one skill & passion. It’s that simple.
Some examples:
- Your best skill is technology, & you love keeping fit & personal training – next you’re building a PT business with a membership website, & training videos;
- Your best skill is storytelling, & you love to write about business – next thing you’re building a Ghost-writing business with a website, blog, & email list;
- Your best skill is cooking, & you love to source foods locally – next thing you’re building a sustainable food business with a recipe lead-magnet, website, & videos;
- Your best skill is graphic design, & you love photography & attending concerts – next thing you’re building a Photobook business, with a shopping cart, & lead-magnet.
“The smaller you get with your dot (niche) the better, as your ideal customer is almost always you from before – Dean Graziosi!”
For example, if your business idea is teaching managers how to become Internet entrepreneurs, & you’re me, that’s perfect.
Think about your deep Why for the business? Why am I being pulled to my future-self? Are you looking to control your own destiny?
Write down 7 reasons for your Why so you can draw on these when facing self-doubt, & naysayers. Write down your new Business Vision (fill in the coma sections):
My name is “Troy Miller”, & I “help managers to become entrepreneurs” with “a high-performance website & marketing system.”
It’s important to ask early, “Is there a market need for my product or service – N Patel?”
If you’re not sure, ask yourself, “Are there many people like me with a similar problem?” That way you’re not in the 42% of startups that fail from no market need (Neil Patel).
2. Identify Who You Are
Are you someone who used to be confident then your mojo started to shrink from people gaslighting you in working environments – until a final event one day & you walk?
By identifying who you are, listing down your goals, values, likes & dislikes, & then self-evaluating, you can learn the types of business visions that match your personality.
“Think about your ambitions & goals, who you want to serve, what skills & habits are needed, & how it fits into your lifestyle.”
If you’re a people person, try coaching, or consulting services, as you have people skills & like serving people. Or if you want to become a people person, start with digital products.
Try creating an alter ego as it can motivate you mentally & create a distance between you & challenges. Kobe Bryant used “The Black Mamba” to boost his performance.
David Goggins, named his alter ego “Goggins” & calls this name out when facing challenges, because he claims “Goggins” is the “Hardest Mother-Fxxxxr on the Planet.”
Kobe would visualise himself stepping into the cage with the Black Mamba to transform into a powerful state, or get back in the cage as punishment for mistakes on court.
Try Positive Stacking, a method taught by Tony Robbins to uplift yourself & release endorphins. Write down all the wins & happy times in your life to revisit good feelings.
Visualise yourself experiencing the wins & good times over & over, then come up with a power move to affirm them, like raised arms & say YES. Try Tony’s Priming Exercise.
Ask yourself what do you want written on your gravestone, & work backwards from there (Ali Abdaal)? Things like good husband, father, teacher, & coach works for me.
3. Identify What You Fear
Fear is like a covert North Star that is pushing you away from where you need to go. But if you lean into it & say “I Must Do This,” then give it a go, you will get better & fear dissolves.
Think of driving a car in city traffic as a new learner driver. We were all sweating bullets the first time we drove there, but after practice, it became automatic.
“Write down three things you’re avoiding or fearing. Did you grow up or work in an environment that supported or discouraged entrepreneurship?”
Stop limiting beliefs, “I can’t be an entrepreneur, I didn’t go to college?” Dean says if you catch yourself being sabotaged, stop giving power to it & use “I must do this” mantra.
I was lucky my parents became small-business people, & they encouraged it, but I also worked in academia where there was disdain for entrepreneurs & small business people.
Tony says, “You’re ready when you step up & make yourself do something.” Just make the decision to get started on the new you – take a leap of faith & do it privately.
“Turn uncertainty into action, allow yourself to feel the fear & what it’s telling you about your limiting beliefs – then free yourself from these beliefs, & take action.”
Do you fear coaching, or consulting, or something else? With the right amount of information, practice, & systems in place you can succeed into any role.
Money is one key to limiting fear – if you can fund your life for 6-12 months from savings, then you’re able to make a clean break from the bad workplace without fear.
For example, you can live on AU $20K for a year in Asia, which is less than half of what Australians spend. Learn more The Top Ten Benefits of Being A Digital Nomad in Asia.
4. Build Your Gap Map
We all have gaps on where we want to be in life, especially aspiring entrepreneurs. When you map it on paper, it helps to identify tasks & remind you how to move forward.
Dean says, “Change doesn’t happen until you’re honest, & if you know you’re meant for more,” write down your vision & examine the skills, education, & training gaps to fill.
“The skills & training gap from where you are now to where you want to be is the pathway to success with clear actionable steps – put it on paper!”
Time moves fast – you might be stuck in the corporate world looking for an exit, but with a gap map on where you want to be in 12-months, all you do is keep taking steps.
Dean says, “Get disturbed with inaction,” then take the right action & enjoy the journey.
Here’s some examples of actionable tasks for an online entrepreneur:
- Identify your Business Vision;
- Identify your Deep Why, go seven levels;
- Create your Personal Brand & resources, e.g. logo, images & graphics;
- Create your Story, to attract similar people, build credibility & trust;
- Create your Online Resources, e.g. website, social media (X, LI, FB, IG, YT);
- Create your Lead-Magnet & offers for your products/services;
- Build your Marketing System, e.g. MBS email marketing;
- Build your Business System, e.g. MBS products & invoices;
- Build your Story Video, e.g. the best tool for attraction;
- Build you Online Portfolio, e.g. offer services (free or good value).
Draw an ascending timeline on paper, from where you are now (at bottom), to where you want to be (at top), then add in the tasks, education & training.
Once it’s on paper, it becomes easier to visualise, & you can get to work on the tasks.
5. Identify Your Target Market
Here’s a secret from Dean & it makes perfect sense – people like you, with your painful problem from a few years ago, will be comfortable dealing with you & your solution!
“For new entrepreneurs, the target market is almost always YOU from before.”
“Don’t think a ton of traffic to your website will work. It’s more beneficial to attract a smaller number of ideal people – Neil Patel.”
Having a small niche is a good way to differentiate yourself from the competitors, & to build thought leadership for yourself to a smaller group.
Try creating a fictional persona for your target audience, what’s their name, gender, occupation, lifestyle, interests & problems, e.g. mine is “Manager Mark.”
Mike Place explains it well, “Go a mile deep & an inch wide, not the other way around.”
Starting narrow helps with locating your audience – ask where do my people hang-out? It will assist you to find similar people & to develop advantage & connections.
Being niche will help you generate referrals as you become known for your expertise.
Message Troy, if you’re a frustrated manager – he will guide you into entrepreneurship!
Your small dot will help you find opportunities for collaboration with the right groups.
6. Identify Your Offer
An offer might be the results you’ve achieved personally or professionally, then divided into a series of smaller offers like a bridge, & bundled into a complete package.
Ask what is your unique value proposition? I was fortunate to have skills & experience with websites & automated marketing systems that can generate leads & sales.
“Coming up with core offers can be simple with the right mindset – ask what is the client’s main outcome & how do I simplify it?”
Start by developing low-ticket (LT) & high-ticket (HT) items, that work for the main outcome. Promote the LT items first, as they will start cash flowing into a new business.
Low-ticket times are travel/health guides ($19), Notion/article templates ($19), introductory courses ($49-99), free workshops with upsells ($49 recording), first consultations ($49-99), or group membership ($49/mth).
High-ticket items are consultation calls ($199-299), intermediate courses ($299-499), workshops & masterclasses ($299-499), group memberships ($249-499), retreats ($499-999), & masterminds ($999-4999).
Create subscription products early to stabilise your business income. This might be a $29-49 monthly support group membership with Q&As, or a workshop on Zoom.
Your end goal is Dean’s Value Ladder with offers across the range of LT & HT prices, for people in different stages – in beginning, or messy middle, or advanced (advocates).
The Value Ladder you create over time is how you’re able to scale your business & be profitable doing a range of LT (high-sales) & HT (low-sales) offerings.
Consider Reforge’s four customer stages, Sign-up (newsletter/LM), Set-up (LT $1 sale/trial), Aha (LT or HT sale), & Habit (recurring subscription) when your site’s live.
I was introduced to Reforge by my Braze trainer in Lotteries, & impressed with their four customer stages & growth loops being the new funnels for Internet businesses.
7. Develop Your Personal Story
People are drawn to stories – whether it’s inviting them on a journey with you as you become an entrepreneur, or how you escaped from the uncivil boss & system.
Stoke it with the pain & challenges you overcame in a difficult environment. Add in the catalyst event where you said that’s it, I’m out, & the lessons learned.
Your story will help your ideal clients to not make the same mistakes & get results faster.
“Ask yourself what is the power in your purpose, why are you here, what kind of people will you serve, & what learning experiences come from your story?”
Try Justin Welsh’s 6-Steps (PASTOR) To Persuasive Writing: 1. Problem (pain points & challenges), 2. Amplify (inaction consequences), 3. Story (Illustrate problem), 4. Transformation (solution), 5. Offer (transformation key), 6. Response (CTA).
If you’re unfulfilled in the corporate or NFP worlds like I was, working on someone else’s goals with uncivil people, & being undervalued – then you’re in the right place.
My time working in corporate, academia, & NFPs has gone full circle a few times.
I’ve had marketing contracts start & end outside my control like the universe was saying “Troy, do your own thing so you can serve good people.”
The moral of my story is GET OUT, while you have the energy to go all in on a new business – as working for others is like holding a poison chalice, surviving on mercy.
It doesn’t matter who tapped you, if you got pushed out by a nemesis, or you jumped to leave the gaslighting, all that matters is going all in on a new business.
Be grateful for the past – I am for my time with The Franchise Centre & Prof. Lorelle Frazer learning about event marketing, lead generation & email campaigns.
And for my time in Griffith Business School with Prof. Andrew O’Neil writing research articles, & with Prof. Brad Jackson in the Policy Innovation Hub.
8. Build Your Digital Foundation
One of the key assets you’re going to need as an entrepreneur is a website to house your online resources from legals, to services, articles, videos, & offers.
WordPress is perfect for this with over 60% of the CMS market. You build pages, posts, & custom post types with a little practice, & then optimise with SEO, email, & automation.
“The time is perfect to leverage mar-tech in an Internet Business with a high-performance website & automated marketing system.”
I can help you expedite your new website using the “Fantastic Four” system (WP, Bricks, ACSS & Frames) that gives you the power to build a custom website with pro-tools.
If you can use MS Office – you can use Bricks builder for the heavy lifting (HTML, PHP, CSS), Frames for page sections & components, & ACSS for styling.
My stepping-stone pricing means blueprints, wireframes, & websites, are affordably priced for all with flexibility to choose your starting point.
When you buy the “Fantastic Four” system with me, I will guide you on how to use it, & show you how to use AI (Copilot/GG) & Google to generate content ideas.
You’ll also need an email automation system with the ability to create funnels & landing pages for your lead-magnet & offers, that workflow into a product payment system.
I use Mastermind Business System (& the Hub) for this, as it’s one of the most affordable, intuitive, & complete systems available, designed for beginners.
MBS/MBH was created by Tony & Dean to help new entrepreneurs with education & an all-in-one business & marketing automation system.
Compared to other automation systems & like HubSpot & Braze (AU $20K+), MBH does business & marketing with it’s own templates, which means you never start from zero.
9. Compound With Writing
Writing may seem hard, but it gets easier as you publish.
Think of compounding interest, your articles become snippets for your newsletters, videos, & coaching/consulting calls.
When I worked in academia, I went from writing event & course emails, to writing 28 long-form research project articles for the Business School in two years.
“Writing is about expressing your worldview, so add in your unique thoughts, experiences, & perspectives to attract people like you.”
As an entrepreneur you will be writing all kinds of content, so you may as well add in your personality & some energy into your landing pages & articles!
Build strategic topics using Pillar pages, & the Hub & Spoke method.
For example, if you’re building authority for website marketing (the hub), add your wheel spokes, e.g. content on web-tech systems, email marketing & automation.
This method by HubSpot improves your search performance from having related & interlinked content that builds authority around the Hub or Pillar pages.
I experienced this in academia contributing to an 800+ page website with a lot of visitors.
“95% of your copy success is in the headline or hook – Tim Denning.” This is critical, as the same goes for SEO, the primary keyword informs SERPs on your topic & intent.
Learn Nicholas Cole’s writing & simple topic method, “List all the problems you’ve solved & topics in the last 2 years & group them in 3 buckets. Then start on the standouts.”
Try Cole’s 4A’s – Actionable (tips, hacks, guides), Aspirational (lessons, mistakes, reflections), Anthropological (fears, failures, struggles), & Analytical (numbers & analysis).
You don’t have to be the world’s leading expert on a subject to help people – you can be paid to show people how to solve problems.
If you like writing after ten articles, look for online communities where you can blog (LinkedIn), guest post, & answer questions with your target audience to build trust.
Use platforms like Medium & Substack for building audiences – Substack optimises a newsletter with a blog & payment system.
10. Build Your Community
If you want to coach or consult & serve people in 2025, start building a community of engaged people interested in your area of expertise on social media.
Write your Community Mission Statement:
“Creating More Internet Entrepreneurs with high-performance websites & automated marketing systems.”
Building a community goes beyond creating your social media profiles on the right channels, posting & replying to audience comments.
Entrepreneurs like Tim Denning, Justin Welsh, & Christian LeBlanc have built loyal communities with their online products, teaching course, & live events.
Encourage discussion with members, & reward members who help others.
Tim says, “If there’s no shared goal in a community it feels weird for members to talk.” Try to create groups of people to engage with a shared goal, challenge, or course.
Use private Facebook groups & Telegram channels for events, challenges & attendees.
Christian’s Lost Creator Academy channel on Messenger has 4.3K members who have either taken his course, attended an event, or joined his mastermind.
The goal is to funnel your leads, audience & subscribers into an App, to facilitate ongoing bi-directional communication so they become advocates.
Apps like Slack or Telegram, can do this with user email addresses or phone numbers.
You might create a Slack channel for subscribers, then sub-channels for each event.
What are your thoughts on my Ten Steps For Personal Branding For Entrepreneurs?
Identifying WHO YOU ARE and WHAT YOU FEAR are important aspects, then you can start working on your skills GAP MAP to move towards entrepreneurship.
Mindset is another key aspect that can either accelerate or hold you back. Try creating a powerful alter ego like Kobe’s Black Mamba to help you break through.
Let me know what helped you get into entrepreneurship in the comments below.
