the strongest brands are deeply human. they serve as a proxy for who the audience wants to become, which means to some degree - your audience must see themselves in you.
the thing is… a lot of creators never show a ‘relatable’ version of themselves on camera, because they treat the act of ‘creating content’ as a performance.
the term performance, by definition, means that the way you show up is calculated - you’re tying your existence to an outcome, and altering the way you show up in hopes of meeting some sort of expectation.
this act of self-calculation is exactly what dilutes most people’s brands, because the act itself is an attempt to wash away the imperfections and texture that people can latch onto and remember. you become sanitized.
people are hyper-aware of their own ‘imperfections’ because they experience life through them every day.
and for your brand to connect, you need to be willing to showcase that you too have imperfections, that you are flawed, that you are human. this is what makes you relatable. leaning into the human experience.
but most people do it embarrassingly wrong.
they think that they need to do something tactical like ‘add 5% of relatability in their content mix’, and then they end up making weird stuff that is supposed to make them relatable, like talking directly about their insecurities on the internet. and its cringe.
once again, that’s a performance because its measured against an outcome.
it doesn’t hit. it might actually make things worse.
the simplest fix is to embrace what filmmakers call cinema vérité, which is french for "truthful cinema."
the goal isn't to create a reality. it's to reveal one.
instead of scripting every moment and optimizing every sentence, the filmmaker tries to capture something true about the subject.
now, this doesn't mean you need to turn your life into a documentary. for most people, that isn't strategic or even effective.
but the principle matters: spend less time manufacturing content and more time capturing who you already are.
show people how you think in real time.
let them see your uncertainty, your frustration, your excitement, your contradictions. the things you'd normally edit out are often the things people remember.
capture your life inside your content, do not create content inside your life.
so many people think that ‘building a personal brand’ means being an information broker. but with ai and all the tools that are at the people’s disposal, there’s no shortage of information.
and in a world where information is infinite, attention flows toward people, not just knowledge.
the creators who win won’t be the ones with the best information, they’ll be the ones who are willing to be seen
insecure person can perceive you wrong, tell you how to act based off their perception of you, and it can completely wreck the way u approach life if u aren't secure enough to trust yourself over the opinions of others
move pure & be aware w advice u take over ur own experience
it's way easier to bullshit urself when ur in motion
the gym, burying yourself in work, etc .. all the noise drowning out what u actually know
the stuff ur not addressing is always waiting for u when things go quiet
there's 2 or 3 things in the back of ur head you know for a fact would change everything if u actually dealt with them
but you never address them
everything else ur doing is very elaborate avoidance of those 2 or 3 things
hot streaks come when ur completely out of ur own head
the weeks that everything clicks & ur untouchable, zero self analysis going on
the second u notice the streak & start watching it happen, it ends
the best accounts are self-expressive. might need to create a new platform where people can only post if they're inspired. twit had real energy to it few years back, a bunch of people building, sharing bts, elevating etc. everyone is out to hit a 'content quota' now or dipped
feels like everybody at some point stopped being themselves because it became easier for them to cave in and fit a role than to step out and carve their lane
high ego and low output has to be the goofiest combo. what are you proud of? the superior self you're after only exists on the other side of firing shots. you'll get 10x better, faster with lots of iterations. got to get your hands dirty
'making niche content' is a cope people pull for being bad at making things that people want to watch
pretty much every niche has millions of people that don't know you exist
big word to the marketing minded - people buy from people. if you are leading your business w a 'personal brand', pls don't exclusively post things that are supposed to funnel people into your biz backend. you look weird volume-posting the same thing over & over thinking you can brute-force your way into building relationships w the people on the other side of the screen. esp on twitter