Using Your Personal Brand to Build the Life You Want

Isaac Mashman, In Denver, Colorado, 2024, at the Atlantic-Oase Professional Conference

Outside of your business and day-to-day shuffle, what does your dream life look like? Are you traveling every month, week, or even day for speaking engagements? Maybe it looks like doing interviews for massive publications in the morning, grabbing lunch with a client, and then having an exclusive mixer in the evening. 2017 marks the beginning, albeit a fledgling start, of my professional career; it so happens to also be my senior year of high school. I had yet to discover my knack and love for personal branding, my first podcast was being produced on my secondhand iPhone 6 that a friend gifted me, and I was promoting a drop-shipped apparel line. I was planning to hit it big! 

It was during these early years that the general idea of what my dream life could look like began to form. On social media, I consumed content from mentors who were years ahead of me, traveling the world and catching more flights in one week than my family had in their entire lives. More importantly, they had reasons behind their travels. Whether it was to give a seminar, speak at a conference, or promote their business, this idea stuck with me. Not only did it sound exhilarating, it sounded fun.

As I was graduating from high school, several opportunities presented themselves. My first was to attend an event in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to see the Vice President of my company speak, which deserves an article in itself. The second was getting flown out to Los Angeles by Facebook as a creator to attend Vidcon 2019. I gratefully recall feeling on top of the world, being in rooms with the very celebrities and influencers my old friends would have been watching. These early experiences helped nurture my ambition. They were, as some would call, dream-building exercises.

What if this could be the life I lived, not by chance, but by intention?

My Breakthrough

From 2019 to 2024, my focus was on the development of my professional aptitude, determining what business I wanted to build for years to come, and understanding my newfound freedom away from family, friends, and my comfort zone. I pivoted businesses more than once, launched a few podcasts, was interviewed on others, got into the press, wrote my first book, and found myself bit by bit, with more clarity. Strenuous and stressful would aptly describe these years, but they were equally as important. What originated as youthful dreaming evolved into a strategic path. 

Around April 2024, I virtually connected and was interviewed by my now good friend, Eric Triplett. He was a well-known figure within the Water-Feature Industry and hosted a podcast called “The Pond Digger.” I was unaware of the industry influence he had until months later, when he mentioned the President of one of North America’s largest players in the space was interested in having me speak at their annual conference in Denver, Colorado. A phone call later, flights were booked, and one of my biggest gigs was marked on my calendar.

Fast forward to the day of my flight in October 2024, I woke up earlier than usual. I’m not sure how I would have survived without coffee, but I had a radio interview scheduled and I had to show up my best self. It was a panel conversation with 88.7 Radio Hofstra out of New York discussing the upcoming Presidential Election. I logged into Zoom, did my part, and discussed the impact influencer marketing would have on the results of the election. You can listen to the full segment here. It was because of a previous pitch for which I wasn't selected, I was later invited to speak as a subject matter expert. A few hours later, I was on my flight from Little Rock, Arkansas, to Denver.

Isaac Mashman after his keynote at the Atlantic-Oase Professional Conference

My session wasn't until the second day of the Atlantic-Oase Professional Conference, so I spent my first hours at the hotel networking and better understanding the audience I would be speaking to. The following afternoon, I delivered my keynote on how contractors could use their personal brands to attract more business, followed by a complimentary in-person book signing for everyone who attended my class — a massive thanks to Atlantic-Oase for covering these expenses. Soon after, I retired to my room for a previously scheduled podcast interview, knowing it would be during my trip.

The conversation, as I recall, was on public relations and social media. It was also in this interview that I happily realized I was now living the life that younger me had dreamed of. I woke up for a radio interview, flew out for an all-expenses-paid speaking event, was filming a vlog, and had another interview all going on at the same time. This left me wondering what I would need to do to increase the frequency of similar experiences.

Isaac Mashman at his book signing, courtesy of Wiechman Media

Reverse Engineering Success

None of this would have been possible without a few things: 

1. The decision that I would consciously build my personal brand and be positioned as a public figure

2. My willingness to push myself

3. My ability to take risks

4. Actively seeking opportunities

5. Being open to opportunities

   
   

It took several years into my professional career to experience this, but the validation it gave me was undeniably worth the time cost. Whether you are trying to become the next Tony Robbins as a best-selling motivational speaker, a Local Hero who plasters billboards in your city, or a celebrity touring the world, it is one decision and a series of action steps away. You can leverage your personal brand to build the life you have always dreamed about. 

There is a strategic process to making your goals your reality. In my case, I reverse-engineered other public figures and followed in their footsteps. I eventually developed my own methodology and my professional prowess; my awareness, and my community grew in intentional parallel. 

If I could go from a nobody to a somebody, so can you.

If you would like to learn about how I can help you in a professional capacity through my Personal Brand Consultancy, Mashman Consulting Group, and our custom-tailored consulting, please directly reach out to me on social media @isaacmashman or by using my website.