I remember sitting in my doctor’s office, tears streaming down my face, begging her to put me back on anti-anxiety medication.

This was 3 years ago, when I hit business rock bottom growing a content agency.

I was completely burnt out, sleeping only a few hours a night and feeling more lonely than I had ever been despite having more employees and clients than I had ever had.

At that point, she looked at me and said, “I know this feels incredibly hard to do, but you built this business, and you can rebuild it. What made you excited in the beginning? Can you return to that?”

I let out a deep exhale as I stared back at her.

What the hell excited me in the beginning?

I was seven years in at this point. Did I even remember?

I left the office with her words echoing in my mind: “What made you excited in the beginning? Can you return to that?”

After a few good nights of sleep and a few days away from the business, I remembered.

I loved learning about personal branding and teaching others how to do it for themselves to generate high income.

It was then that I realized it wasn’t too late to return to teaching.

​

The Passion-Growth Paradox of Personal Branding

I heard Jay Clouse of Creator Science share that one of the 3 biggest issues creators and personal brands face is that, over time, they lose passion and interest in the subject area they select.

The problem for most people building their personal brand is that they wrongfully ascribe this to “burnout.” You think you’re doing too much. That is true to a degree, but the more accurate statement would be:

Think about it. At the beginning of a business (or a relationship), we’re almost maniacally obsessed with spending time in it. It consumes our waking hours, and we are practically overflowing with excitement and creativity. We find it hard to sleep. Very few people in the honeymoon stage of their business would say they are “burning themselves out.” Quite the opposite, they are kindling and growing their fire despite working countless hours.

But over time, passion can dwindle, leading to what I call the “passion-growth” paradox:

Building something truly great and rewarding often takes years to build and perfect. Concurrently, our passion related to a project often dwindles over time. This inverse relationship can be a breaking point for personal brands.

So, how can we overcome this? Is it even possible?
​

Pick the right model for your business

In working with well over 1,000 high-income personal brands, I can tell you this…

As a professional, it’s less likely that you’ll get bored of your area of expertise and more likely that you’ll tire yourself out trying to grow the wrong type of business model.

Many consultants feel this pressure. They build their brand as thought leaders, then get so much work from that thought leadership that they no longer have time to become thought leaders. It feels like they got five part-time jobs instead.

When this happens, realize it’s not the industry that wore you down, it’s how you valued and priced your time.

Just like I pivoted from a content agency to group coaching and leading personal branding workshops for corporations, you too can look at ways to create more value per working hour, capitalize on the 1-to-many approach, and create more time to think and create. (Never forget, thinking and creating is your most valuable use of time - make sure you carve it out as sacred. If your biz model doesn’t presently allow for this, you should focus on how to adjust.)
​

Becoming un-infatuated with “overnight success”

Frustration is the result of misplaced expectations.

Realize that for every big LinkedIn creator who is making multiple thousands a month from their thought leadership, there is often a trail of flopped businesses behind them. This includes Justin Welsh, Lara Acosta, and others who are now sailing past 150k followers.

Focus on 1:1 Relationships Over and Over Again

Writing and creating for a faceless audience yields boring content.

Writing and creating for one person means you have more skin in the game.

That’s how you need to treat growing a following.

Stop focusing solely on numbers. They are just a lagging indicator of your “leading” competitive edge, which should be that you’re so passionate about helping each audience member solve their challenges that content flows through you.

Every time I see creators grow exponentially, it’s because they went back to creating more “intimate” content — meaning they removed the distance between them and their audience and started getting focused and white-hot-and-passionate about solving specific problems.
​

Go back to the beginner mindset

If you want to sustain your brand momentum by being a known expert in your field, allow me to offer some counterintuitive advice:

This can be the hardest obstacle to overcome when creating content because many of us think sharing vulnerable learning lessons for “elementary” concepts erodes our expertise and “executive position.”

Quite untrue.

Remember, your audience is at expert level 2 on a scale of 1-10. If you write or speak at a 10, you’re not impressing them, you’re LOSING them.

Being a true master of your domain means you can translate something simply and in a manner that provides a bridge for your audience to close the gap of understanding.

Set aside your ego, meet your audience where they’re at, and watch your influence soar.

​
Join a community

Building a personal brand is lonely. I’ve listened to the 5 biggest influencers on LinkedIn share what really ignited their following and income. Want to know what it was? Being in a community of other people who were in the same growth phase as them. Not only did this prevent burnout due to entrepreneurial loneliness, but it also created a huge “network effect for their content.”

Every time I’ve invested in a mastermind or community, my following has grown as a result. Because of this, I set aside a decent amount of money each year to join the right ones.

​

The Recap

Realize that a stagnant personal brand often happens because of burnout or lack of passion. But fortunately, you can overcome this if you:

1. Choose the right business model
2. Don’t focus on “overnight success”
3. Maintain a “beginner’s mindset”
4. Focus on 1:1 relationships
5. Join an engaged community

Looking for a community of high-income experts growing their personal brand online? Join our Brand Inner Circle Community. For $250/month, you’ll get access to weekly 90-minute writing labs led by yours truly, monthly Q&A, networking, and content prompts galore.