Personal Branding is a Lie

13	Sep
	2012

Personal Branding

James Altucher has grown a loyal tribe of hundreds of thousands that read his blog, opened doors to everyone from the super-secretive hedge funder Steven Cohen to Mad Money’s Jim Cramer, and built enduring relationships while reinventing himself and his career in multiple industries. And through it all, he has managed his success on his own terms and in his own way. During his interview for the Social Capitalist series, James talked about what he believes to be the fallacy of the personal brand and what he suggests you do instead.

I want to separate out the word personal from branding. I think a personal brand is the moment when you start to lie. Focus first on the personal and you beat up all the competition instantly. Just being honest, being yourself, doing the work, applying the daily practice for just a few months, and your personal self will come to life more than it ever has before. You'll be honest with the people around you and that automatically beats all the competition because they’re too slick, too dishonest, too focused on their brands. You’re not focused on that anymore. When you come up with honest, sincere ideas for people, and you give rather than expecting to take, then you suddenly have separated yourself out from 99 percent of the competition. You win. And it’s that easy to do it.

For more success tips from Altucher, make sure to read the entire transcript and listen to the MP3 recording from his interview here.