the new way to build a profitable personal brand (2026 strategy)

MMatt Gray
Advertising/MarketingSmall Business/StartupsManagementInternet Technology

Transcript

00:00:00It's actually pretty easy to build a profitable personal brand that gets you ahead of 99% of people.
00:00:04Most people stay stuck with zero followers and zero dollars.
00:00:07But I grew from zero to two million followers in 18 months
00:00:10and then built founder rest over 700k per month and coached billion dollar founders.
00:00:14And I've realized the difference between a brand that pays and one that drains you is just a couple key things.
00:00:20So today I'm breaking down the five levers to build a profitable personal brand that can change your life.
00:00:25Let's get into it.
00:00:26And as you're watching, I want you to think about how this applies to your brand.
00:00:29I put together a short personal brand snapshot exercise that you can use after this video
00:00:34to see which part of your system is actually holding you back.
00:00:37First, find your zone of brilliance.
00:00:39This isn't some woo woo exercise.
00:00:41It's the psychological foundation of every profitable personal brand I've seen.
00:00:45When I started thinking about my personal brand, I wasn't clear on what to focus on.
00:00:49I built Bitmaker, a coding school, Ben Herb, my second company.
00:00:52I knew systems, I knew scaling, I knew content.
00:00:55But what should I actually talk about?
00:00:57What would people care about?
00:00:58These three circles helped me find the answer.
00:01:01When we talk about zone of brilliance, oftentimes it's just a lot easier to go and draw this up
00:01:04so I can illustrate it and it'll be a ton more easy for you to understand.
00:01:08What do these three circles mean?
00:01:09So first off, we got, you know, what feels fun, right?
00:01:14When you think about, you know, creating content online,
00:01:16you want to make sure that you're actually enjoying it
00:01:19because if you're enjoying it, you're going to stick with it.
00:01:22And like all great things in life, the big returns come over the long term.
00:01:27And so the next aspect here is you want to think about,
00:01:30well, what makes you money, right?
00:01:33Because you want to go and be able to go and build, you know, a team.
00:01:37You want to be able to invest in your product.
00:01:38And, you know, you're going to want to have profits
00:01:40that you can actually take as the founder of the business as well.
00:01:42So the next aspect here is that we want to actually ask ourselves,
00:01:46what do customers want, right?
00:01:53We want to go and make sure that we're actually creating content
00:01:56very similar to the products you're creating.
00:01:58You want to make something that people actually want, right?
00:02:00So that they're oftentimes pulling it from you.
00:02:02And when you go and you think about really nailing this, right?
00:02:05At the center here, right, you get your zone of brilliance.
00:02:13So grab a pen and paper right now, draw three overlapping circles.
00:02:18What I love, what makes you money and what customers want.
00:02:21Fill each circle honestly, not what sounds impressive,
00:02:24but what's actually true.
00:02:26Then build your entire brand around the center where all three overlap.
00:02:30Next is to define your brand DNA.
00:02:32This separates you from 10,000 other people who are in your niche.
00:02:35Your brand DNA equals three things, messaging, visuals, and positioning.
00:02:40I'm going to go talk through how I did this for my brand
00:02:43by giving you guys an example.
00:02:44Let's start with messaging.
00:02:45When I was 22, I was working 15 hour days at Bitmaker,
00:02:49marketing, ops, sales, product, legal, everything.
00:02:53I thought that's what it took to build something real.
00:02:55Then at Herb, I was still working like a psychopath,
00:02:58making money but destroying my nervous system in the process.
00:03:01That's why my entire message now is about the opposite.
00:03:05I'm obsessed with helping founders build systems
00:03:08that let them actually work less while making more.
00:03:11Because I've lived the alternative and it almost killed me.
00:03:15That's the core message every piece of content ties back to, right?
00:03:19It's the promise, more money, less time, actual freedom.
00:03:23Next is your visuals.
00:03:24I have a unique look across every platform,
00:03:27Instagram, LinkedIn, X, YouTube.
00:03:29You know it's me within three seconds.
00:03:31I care about elevated design that feels cinematic
00:03:34and I want clean graphics that respect my audience's attention
00:03:39and cause them to share with 20 people
00:03:41in their company slack.
00:03:42I want intentional shot choices, not just talking heads.
00:03:45And I like to treat content like mini films,
00:03:48not disposable posts.
00:03:50Then there's my positioning.
00:03:51I believe the future of online business
00:03:53belongs to personal brands that are systemized,
00:03:56profitable and beautiful.
00:03:58Not one or two, I mean all three.
00:04:02For me, you don't choose between freedom and money,
00:04:05creativity and systems,
00:04:07making millions and actually living your life.
00:04:09That's a false choice and I'm here to prove it.
00:04:11Strong brand DNA creates instant recognition and trust.
00:04:15Weak brand DNA makes you forgettable.
00:04:18The psychology behind it is that humans buy
00:04:20from people they know, like and trust.
00:04:23But in 2026, that entire process happens
00:04:26in about four seconds of scrolling.
00:04:28If your messaging, visuals and positioning aren't clear,
00:04:31you lose.
00:04:31They scroll past, you're invisible.
00:04:34So this week, write down your thesis in one sentence.
00:04:37Then audit your last 10 posts.
00:04:39Do they all tie back to that thesis?
00:04:42Or are you just posting random tips,
00:04:45hoping something sticks?
00:04:47If it's random, you don't have a brand.
00:04:49You have a content graveyard that makes zero money.
00:04:52This is usually the moment where people realize,
00:04:54okay, okay, I get the model,
00:04:56but I don't know where I break.
00:04:59That's exactly why you can go and download
00:05:01the personal brand snapshot exercise link below.
00:05:04It forces you to map your brand across all five levers
00:05:08and exposes the one constraint that you can't see
00:05:11from inside your own business.
00:05:13If you're serious about fixing this,
00:05:14grab it after this video,
00:05:16fill it out and book a call with my team
00:05:18so we can go and discuss the results you find.
00:05:20Now back to the third lever, the content GPS.
00:05:23This is the infrastructure that turns followers into dollars.
00:05:27You're not broke because you don't have followers.
00:05:29You're broke because you're missing the middle layer
00:05:32that converts attention into money.
00:05:34The content GPS has three layers, rented audience,
00:05:38owned audience and monetized audience.
00:05:40So here we've got our rented audience.
00:05:42The key thing here, right, is you're not Zuck,
00:05:44you're not Musk, right?
00:05:45You don't own these platforms.
00:05:47And so when you're solely reliant on, you know,
00:05:50your ex-audience or LinkedIn audience,
00:05:52you have something called platform risk.
00:05:54You know, at any moment,
00:05:55you could just get rug pulled by the platform.
00:05:57And you've heard this before, right?
00:05:58That friend that lost their Instagram page
00:06:00that they were working on for years
00:06:02and then suddenly it was gone and their business vanished.
00:06:05Right, so what we want to make sure is here
00:06:07is that as we're growing our rented audience
00:06:10across these platforms, first off,
00:06:13that you're diversifying the amount of channels you're on.
00:06:16Right, 'cause if you're just relying on one platform,
00:06:19well, you've got a lot of platform risk.
00:06:21But if you're omnipresent, let's say across five platforms,
00:06:25that risk goes way down.
00:06:26And the other way then to conquer that platform risk
00:06:30is then to go and own your audience.
00:06:32And so when you think about owning your audience,
00:06:34a key piece here are your call to actions, right?
00:06:38So what you want to be doing is having the right call
00:06:40to actions in your content,
00:06:42whether that's in your YouTube descriptions,
00:06:44like you'll see right below this YouTube video,
00:06:47or at the end of ex posts where you're driving people
00:06:50to your newsletter landing page,
00:06:52it could be at the end of Instagram carousels
00:06:55where you're using a core trigger word to drive people
00:06:57to a many chat DM automation,
00:07:00or it's at the end of your long form LinkedIn posts, okay?
00:07:04So those CTAs or call to actions essentially go
00:07:07and catch the sea of attention that you have out online
00:07:11and then drive those people to your newsletter, right?
00:07:15And it's statistically proven that your newsletter converts
00:07:1827 times better than on social media.
00:07:20So now you've got the CTAs going, but you're wondering,
00:07:23well, how do I really convince people though
00:07:26to go and want to click there?
00:07:27Well, the killer flow here is making sure
00:07:30that you also are giving away free lead magnets.
00:07:33When you think about creating lead magnets,
00:07:35you really want to make things that are insanely generous,
00:07:38things that people can't believe
00:07:40that you're giving away for free
00:07:41so that they can't help but go and join your email list.
00:07:44So enough about owned audience now,
00:07:47let's now get into the monetized audience side of things,
00:07:50okay?
00:07:50So you can monetize your audience
00:07:52in tons of different ways, right?
00:07:54The key thing here is that you want to make sure
00:07:56that you're driving people then from your email list, right?
00:07:59To actually going and driving them
00:08:01to your product or service.
00:08:02So typically, you know, as we go and look at my own funnel
00:08:06inside a founder OS, right?
00:08:08We'll go and drive people from my email list
00:08:12to go and apply to founder OS
00:08:14if they want to go and get help from me
00:08:16and get direct access to my team
00:08:18and over 50 live sessions per month.
00:08:20From there, they seamlessly become a customer.
00:08:22We onboard them in a one-to-one call,
00:08:24have them join our community.
00:08:26And from there, they're part of a robust community
00:08:28of amazing high growth founders.
00:08:30And they're also coming out to some of the in-person events
00:08:32that we have globally as well.
00:08:33And so when you do this right, you're driving results,
00:08:37you're driving recommendations,
00:08:39and you're driving positive reviews.
00:08:41So as an example, you can go and check out founder OS
00:08:43on Trustpilot.
00:08:44We've got over a hundred five-star reviews
00:08:47in just the last couple of years.
00:08:48And this is exactly what you should be aiming for as well.
00:08:51Why?
00:08:52Well, because when you nail this,
00:08:54you create a profit flywheel.
00:08:56What happens is all of these people are joyful.
00:09:00They've gone through this amazing experience
00:09:02that they go and tell their friends.
00:09:04They go and ascend to other products that you have,
00:09:06and you're able to upsell them,
00:09:07thereby driving additional customer lifetime value
00:09:10to your business, being able to serve people for decades,
00:09:13not just years.
00:09:14And honestly, just build a business
00:09:15that you're fucking proud of.
00:09:17Most people skip layer two, right?
00:09:19They go from follow me on Instagram
00:09:21straight to buy my $2,000 course,
00:09:23and then wonder why their conversion is just 0.2%.
00:09:26You need to move people from rented to owned first,
00:09:29and then onto monetization.
00:09:31Number four, choose your distribution strategy.
00:09:33Here's something most people don't realize
00:09:36about personal brands.
00:09:37Look at Tesla, about 24.6 million followers on X.
00:09:40Look at Elon, over 231 million followers.
00:09:44That's 10X more.
00:09:46Same company, same products,
00:09:48but people follow the person, not the brand.
00:09:51CEOs with personal brands are three times more trusted
00:09:54than the companies they run.
00:09:56This isn't opinion, it's data.
00:09:58Here's what you can do
00:09:59to figure out your distribution strategy.
00:10:01I'm gonna draw this out, and just to really help you out,
00:10:04I wanna show you exactly what wins on each platform.
00:10:07Let me run you through the platform decision tree.
00:10:10Here, we have you, okay?
00:10:12And you're confused as to what platform
00:10:15you should go and focus on.
00:10:16So let me go and clear this up,
00:10:18and we're gonna answer the question pen versus camera, okay?
00:10:22So over here, we have pen,
00:10:25and over here, we have camera, okay?
00:10:30If you determine that you're more comfortable
00:10:32with the good old pen, writing out your thoughts,
00:10:35sharing your ideas on pen, paper,
00:10:37well then, you're probably gonna go and enjoy platforms
00:10:40like X and LinkedIn most.
00:10:43On the other side of things,
00:10:45if you feel more natural in front of the camera,
00:10:48you like sharing videos and that side of things,
00:10:50well, you guessed it.
00:10:52You're probably gonna go and get started on a platform
00:10:54like Instagram, YouTube, or maybe on TikTok.
00:10:59Now, it doesn't matter what platforms you're on, okay?
00:11:02The key thing here is that inevitably though,
00:11:05you must own your audience, okay?
00:11:07And that's where it doesn't matter what platforms,
00:11:11you're always gonna come back down to a newsletter, okay?
00:11:16So you've gone through the decision tree
00:11:18and now you understand what platform is best suited to you.
00:11:22Great.
00:11:23Now, this next piece of knowledge,
00:11:24most people just gatekeep this shit,
00:11:26but this is the stuff that I wish someone had shown me
00:11:28a few years ago when I got going building my personal brand.
00:11:31What I wanna give you is the cheat sheet
00:11:33for each of the core platforms.
00:11:34So let's dive in, all right?
00:11:37On X right now, what I'm seeing working,
00:11:39and this is fresh off the press,
00:11:41is that articles are absolutely blowing up.
00:11:44So what I'd suggest is that you're posting
00:11:45two articles per week using the article feature inside of X.
00:11:49Now, from there, you wanna make sure that your content
00:11:52every single day has curiosity-driven CTAs below it
00:11:56that then drive people to, you guessed it, your newsletter.
00:11:59Now, you wanna make sure that you're also engaging
00:12:01with the comments, right?
00:12:02Because this isn't just about building
00:12:03some audience online, right?
00:12:04You wanna make sure that people can feel the love
00:12:06and feel like they're part of something bigger, right?
00:12:09And so from there, I take my top-performing content on X,
00:12:12and you guessed it, right?
00:12:13We're also going and repurposing that to other platforms.
00:12:16You know, some of my best YouTube videos
00:12:18were actually tweets that I just went and expanded on.
00:12:20So let's move on to LinkedIn.
00:12:22LinkedIn probably drives about 45% of the leads
00:12:25to founder-wise, so honestly,
00:12:27probably one of the most powerful platforms out there.
00:12:29And the key thing here is you wanna make sure
00:12:31that you set up your profitable profile, okay?
00:12:33In your featured section, you wanna make sure
00:12:35that you go and you drive people to your newsletter there
00:12:38using an effective lead magnet, okay?
00:12:40From there, right, you're engaging with your audience
00:12:43similar to X, right?
00:12:44And making sure that you have all of your, you know,
00:12:46profiles set up in a good way,
00:12:48that you have your right work experience, a good cover photo,
00:12:50and you have multiple links throughout it,
00:12:52including at the end of each post,
00:12:54driving people to that newsletter.
00:12:56Okay, let's move on to TikTok and Instagram, right?
00:12:59Here on TikTok, you wanna be posting daily,
00:13:02you know, short form videos, right?
00:13:04That's kind of a no-brainer.
00:13:05On Instagram, I like to do one reel a day
00:13:08and one carousel, okay?
00:13:10At the end of each carousel, we go and put a call to action
00:13:13that leads people to a trigger word in ManyChat,
00:13:15and in exchange for getting their email there in my DMs,
00:13:18we go and give them some free resource, okay?
00:13:22ManyChat is probably one of the most powerful tools
00:13:25out there, and you definitely wanna make sure
00:13:26if you're using Instagram, you get this set up.
00:13:29So, YouTube, the mother of all platforms.
00:13:32YouTube, by far, is my favorite platform
00:13:34because you're able to go and drive rich relationships
00:13:37with people because it's audio, it's video,
00:13:40and I think it's the best way to convey your ideas.
00:13:42So, typically here, you know, you'll hear people say,
00:13:45"You know, you gotta upload every week,"
00:13:47but I would just say the best content strategy on YouTube
00:13:50is the one that you can stick with, number one,
00:13:52and secondly, is the one that can allow you
00:13:54to achieve the quality bar that you're really after.
00:13:56I found when I first got to going on YouTube,
00:13:59we were doing three a week,
00:14:00we couldn't get the quality right,
00:14:01and it didn't hit.
00:14:02Suddenly, I went and kind of reduced my output
00:14:05to once a month, and we really leaned into quality,
00:14:08and everything just blew up.
00:14:10So, don't feel like you need to just do quantity,
00:14:13quantity, quantity at the beginning.
00:14:14First, focus on quality.
00:14:16From there, you wanna go and utilize your descriptions
00:14:18below each video to go and drive people
00:14:20the core call to actions you have.
00:14:22So, you can see below this video, I'm driving people
00:14:24if they're interested to join Founder OS
00:14:26or giving you the free lead magnet,
00:14:29which is the personal brand workbook
00:14:31that you can go and leverage and go and steal
00:14:33all the things I'm going over in this video right now.
00:14:35So, from there, the core thing though to really understand
00:14:38is that 80% of the battle is your title and thumbnail,
00:14:41or what I call your packaging, right?
00:14:43So, you wanna make sure that you nail those.
00:14:46From there, you wanna make sure that you have
00:14:47an insane value per second, making it so insanely valuable
00:14:51that people can't help but go and share the video
00:14:55with five friends, okay?
00:14:56And then, you wanna make sure that the first 30 seconds
00:14:59of your video hook people and deliver on the promise
00:15:02that was in your title and thumbnail.
00:15:03So, that is the cheat sheet for these core platforms.
00:15:07You can go and implement these today.
00:15:08Can't wait, see what you create.
00:15:10Number five, build your offer stack.
00:15:12This is how you serve your audience at every level
00:15:15and actually make money.
00:15:16That taught me something critical.
00:15:17Validate demand before you build, sell it, then create it.
00:15:22And once you validate, you don't just need one offer,
00:15:25you need a stack.
00:15:26You need three offers that ascend people
00:15:28through your personal brand universe.
00:15:30An entry-level offer, core offer, and high ticket offer.
00:15:34The psychology behind all of this is people need small wins
00:15:37with you before they trust you
00:15:39to then make bigger investments.
00:15:40Entry offer is your proof of concept.
00:15:42You know, this person's actually legit.
00:15:44Core offer is your transformation.
00:15:46This drastically changed my business
00:15:48is what you'll hear from people.
00:15:50And then, high ticket is your intimacy and speed.
00:15:52Like, I need this right now and I wanna be as close
00:15:55to this human as possible.
00:15:56If you skip straight to high ticket without entry and core,
00:15:59you cut off around 95% of potential customers.
00:16:02Your market is tiny.
00:16:03If you only do entry-level, you leave millions on the table
00:16:06'cause you're serving beginners forever.
00:16:08So, here's exactly how to build your offer stack.
00:16:11Step one, validate demand.
00:16:14Talk to 30 people in your audience and ask,
00:16:16what's your biggest problem with, you know, insert your topic.
00:16:19Ask, if I solve that completely, what would it be worth?
00:16:23Listen for patterns in language they use.
00:16:25Step two, design your entry offer.
00:16:28Take one specific problem and solve it completely
00:16:31for someone in seven to 14 days.
00:16:33Package it as a PDF, a mini course or a checklist
00:16:36and then price it under $150.
00:16:39The goal is to have a quick win that proves you're legit.
00:16:42Step three, build your core offer.
00:16:44This is your main transformation.
00:16:46This might take 90 to 180 days to complete.
00:16:49Maybe it's a curriculum, community, coaching program.
00:16:52You want the price based on the value created,
00:16:55not the time spent.
00:16:56Ask yourself, if this gets my audience to 50K in results,
00:16:59what's a fair price for me?
00:17:01Step four, create a high ticket offer.
00:17:03Ask yourself, who needs speed and personal access?
00:17:06What would a one-to-one with you unlock?
00:17:08You want to package this as direct access,
00:17:10faster results and custom solutions.
00:17:12Price should feel expensive,
00:17:14but obvious to the right people.
00:17:15Don't over-complicate it.
00:17:17Just get clear on the stack and you can refine as you go.
00:17:20Now together, these five levers work together as a system.
00:17:23Building it alone can take many people tons of years
00:17:26of expensive trial and error.
00:17:28So if you're ready to build with 700 other founders
00:17:30doing it right now, you can jump on a quick call
00:17:32with my team at founderOS at the link in the description.
00:17:35This 15 minute call can actually change your life.
00:17:38And now that you've seen the system,
00:17:40step one is completing the personal brand snapshot exercise,
00:17:44link below.
00:17:45And then step two is bringing your completed exercise
00:17:47on a short call with me and the founderOS team
00:17:50to help you go and build the system
00:17:52to unlock the growth of your personal brand.
00:17:54If you want to see how I built systems
00:17:56so my business runs without me,
00:17:58you can go and watch this next video.
00:17:59I'll see you over there.
00:18:00Much love and let's win together.

Key Takeaway

Building a profitable personal brand requires a systemized approach that transitions followers from social media to owned email lists through a strategic three-tier offer stack and consistent brand DNA.

Highlights

The 'Zone of Brilliance' is found at the intersection of what you love, what makes money, and what customers actually want.

Brand DNA is comprised of messaging, visuals, and positioning to create instant recognition in under four seconds.

A 'Content GPS' system moves audiences from rented platforms (social media) to owned assets (newsletters) for a 27x higher conversion rate.

The platform decision tree helps creators choose between 'pen' platforms like LinkedIn/X and 'camera' platforms like YouTube/Instagram.

A profitable offer stack must include an entry-level win, a core transformation program, and a high-ticket intimacy/speed offer.

Successful YouTube growth in 2026 relies on quality over quantity, focusing on 'packaging' (title/thumbnail) and high value-per-second.

Timeline

Introduction and the Zone of Brilliance

The speaker introduces a roadmap for building a profitable personal brand based on his experience growing to two million followers and $700k monthly revenue. He emphasizes that most people fail because they lack a clear system. The first lever is finding the 'Zone of Brilliance' using a three-circle Venn diagram. This model balances personal passion, market demand, and monetization potential to ensure long-term sustainability. By focusing on the overlap of these three areas, creators can build a brand that feels authentic and remains profitable.

Defining Brand DNA and Thesis

This section covers the second lever, Brand DNA, which consists of messaging, visuals, and positioning. The speaker shares his personal story of burnout to illustrate how a core message—helping founders work less while making more—should drive all content. He explains that in the fast-paced scrolling environment of 2026, a brand must be recognizable within three seconds. Visuals should be cinematic and intentional rather than disposable, and positioning should reject false choices between money and freedom. He concludes by urging creators to audit their posts against a single-sentence brand thesis to avoid creating a 'content graveyard'.

The Content GPS: Rented vs. Owned Audience

The third lever is the Content GPS, a framework for converting attention into revenue by navigating three layers: rented, owned, and monetized audiences. The speaker warns against 'platform risk,' where a creator's business can vanish if a social media account is banned. To mitigate this, creators must use call-to-actions (CTAs) and generous lead magnets to move followers into an 'owned' newsletter list. Statistics show that email lists convert 27 times better than social media platforms. By building this middle layer, founders create a profit flywheel where happy customers drive recommendations and long-term lifetime value.

Distribution Strategy and Platform Cheat Sheets

The fourth lever focuses on distribution strategies, highlighting that people follow individuals far more than corporate brands, as seen with Elon Musk and Tesla. The speaker provides a decision tree to help creators choose between 'pen' (writing-based) or 'camera' (video-based) platforms. He shares specific 'cheat sheets' for X, LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube, noting that LinkedIn drives 45% of his own leads. On YouTube, he stresses the importance of 'packaging'—titles and thumbnails—and prioritizing quality over quantity. The ultimate goal across all platforms remains driving traffic back to a centralized, owned newsletter.

Building the Three-Tier Offer Stack

The final lever is the creation of an 'offer stack' to serve the audience at different levels of trust and investment. The speaker advises validating demand by talking to 30 people before building anything, then creating an entry-level offer under $150 for a quick win. The core offer provides the main transformation over 90 to 180 days, while the high-ticket offer provides direct access and speed for those who need custom solutions. Skipping levels either shrinks the market or leaves significant money on the table. The video concludes with a call to action to use the 'personal brand snapshot' tool to identify business constraints.

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