Professional Headshots That Sell Daniel Wakefield

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(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) This is the Beyond the Story podcast, a show that goes way beyond the story.

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And now, Sebastian Rusk! Hey, welcome to the show.

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Thanks.

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Good to be here.

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It's great to have you here.

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I mean, I'm actually in your studio, so I'm actually here, but you're here because you're on the show.

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Appreciate it.

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So, we just got done having a lot of fun just now.

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We're here at Top Tier Headshots in Fort Lauderdale, and I was able to experience this guy's talent and gift of really being able to take a brand and bring it to life.

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Not that I need more life in me, but this guy was able to pull it out, so I appreciate you and what we got to do today.

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I'm excited to see the final product.

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Absolutely.

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You know, on my show, I love to tell people stories for context for our listeners.

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I always like to go back to the beginning of the story.

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Now, the beginning of the story is different for everyone, so you decide where the beginning is, but I want to know where this all started and what brought you to present day with what you've created here.

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So, I used to be a high school science teacher, so a little bit of a different career path.

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Always been interested in science and nature and things like that, and that was kind of what got me into photography, believe it or not, in the first place was I really loved wildlife and I wanted to be able to capture them and just be able to have the memories of the stuff that I saw.

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So, I picked up photography, realized how bad I was, and then just really threw myself into following people like Nat Geo photographers and how do I get from where I am to where they are in terms of the quality of the images, being able to tell a story with the images, and so that's really how the journey in photography started.

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How many years ago was that?

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Twelve-ish, I think, and so that just became a hobby and passion, ended up getting some images published and placed pretty highly in some international competitions, but was starting to think about photography as a career because I was falling in love with the photography itself as a creative medium, but, and then, you know, teachers are not known for making great salaries.

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I was just about to say, do you miss that science teacher salary?

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I mean, not the salary, I miss the impact and the getting to be involved in people's lives in that way, but yeah, I mean, it was, my wife wanted to be a stay-at-home mom and stay with the kids, and I just, I needed to be able to provide for the family and teaching wasn't cutting it, so that was at least part of the desire, but there was this, like, I really interested in doing it as a career, knew that I didn't want to be a wedding photographer, that just wasn't my thing, but like, how do I break into it, so that kind of leads to the next thing.

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Do you do weddings?

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I don't, no.

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If somebody asks me, I'm like, I have some referrals for you.

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I know somebody.

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Yeah, exactly.

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So, was it a part, so it was a part-time thing, became a full-time thing, or did you just go full-time?

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Yeah, so there was the wildlife photography that was happening, like, weekends or like, you know, during the week when I could, and I started to do, like, some occasional family portraits or high school senior stuff on the side, just to make a little extra money, and actually, part of the story is, I actually started a photography business before Top Tier Headshots, and it failed spectacularly, like, spectacularly.

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If you're going to fail, make sure it's spectacular.

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Go out with a bang, I guess, right?

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So I never got a single client that was not a friend or family member, like, it just, it didn't happen.

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And it, I was essentially trying to be a jack of all trades.

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I was trying to, like, if you need photos done, I will take them.

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If you have a checkbook, and you need your picture taken.

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If you have a heartbeat, and willing to pay some money, I will take your picture.

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But because of that, the branding was all over the map.

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You would go on my website, see a beautiful portfolio that was so variable, you didn't really know what I had focused on.

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And because it was so broad, the messaging was, like, watered down, and, like, it didn't really resonate with anybody.

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So that was, I think, part of the reason for that failure.

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Yeah.

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So when did you arrive at, hold on a second here, first time around, didn't work, we need to dial this in.

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And this is a good message, for those of you listening, or maybe watching a clip here of knowing exactly who your customer is.

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And more importantly, what are your non-negotiables on what you are no longer willing to do?

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I know I arrived there several years ago, and everything shifted when I set up.

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I'm only doing three things.

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And if it's not those three things, I'm not leaving the house.

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When did that happen for you?

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So after that business closed up shop, and I was like, I'm done with photography, I'm not going to visit it again.

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But then it actually happened quite quickly.

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I read a book by another photographer who's based in DC, and was doing headshots exclusively, and like crushing it, like business was going really well.

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And I had a mutual friend with that person, so I ended up hopping on a Zoom call, picking his brain about some of the business aspects of photography.

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And he really encouraged me to do a couple of things.

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One of them was to specialize in something, so that people know that that's what you're good at.

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And then also to join a professional group, so that I could become that expert.

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So I did both of those things.

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And I ended up following in his footsteps, so to speak, and getting into headshots.

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I didn't realize at the time what a big market there is for it, and especially more and more people doing business online, everybody's showing up, trying to have an image online, and so they're thinking about it.

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And so that was kind of the impetus for starting.

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It wasn't like, oh, I really love the genre of headshots.

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It was kind of a, started out with a, I think I can do this, and I think there's a market here for it.

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And it was kind of along the way that I actually really fell in love with it.

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And how long has that been where you've been like, I am in my lane, headshots, top tier, know my market, got my people dialed in as far as who I want to work with?

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In two months, it'll be five years.

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Congrats.

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Yeah.

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Well, that just goes to show that when you make a conscious decision to say, this is what I'm doing because I said that I'm doing it, and it's a non-negotiable, everything starts to happen.

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I bet you start to see the fruits of your labor once you made that decision.

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100%.

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Yeah.

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100%.

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Yeah.

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It was, people began to, I began to show up at networking events.

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After maybe the first six, seven months of being in business and just really throwing myself into networking and things like that, I started to show up at networking events and people, they didn't know my name yet, but they were like, oh, you're the headshot guy.

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And it just started to kind of proliferate.

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And the more events that I went to and then started to really grow my network on LinkedIn as well, people started to recognize me.

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And so that brand was really getting solidified.

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And like the more clients I had, that turned into more shout outs on LinkedIn.

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That turned into just the snowball started to happen.

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Yeah.

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And that's what happens.

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You show up.

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I've done that for a long time since I've started.

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I would go to networking events.

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I would show up.

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I put together a little video recap and I go, here, Daniel, take it, just share it with your people and let me in for free if you can.

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No one ever, at the time I wore bow ties.

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No one ever said no to a guy in a bow tie and a camera.

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But later on they would call and go, hey, do you do those kind of videos for businesses?

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And do you do, in fact, somebody with our team here today that her role in our BNI chapter is content creator.

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That's her business.

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But what does she do every couple of months?

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Headshots.

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Is it her favorite thing to do for the chapter?

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Probably not.

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But those headshots turn into that initial business.

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Hey, we need videos for our business.

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Hey, I'm getting married.

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I know you don't do that.

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But that showing up and showcasing, and you've got one of the few products that you can actually show up where your cost of goods is technically your time on being able to say, hey, let me take a couple shots, blow people's mind and go, he's our guy.

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Yeah, 100%.

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And sort of that increasing hype and kind of the snowball starting to roll down the hill faster and faster.

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I ended up coining a phrase or not a phrase, a term for that, and I call it the hype tornado.

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Just like it's several things working in tandem that really start to spin the hype out of control in a good way for your business.

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So is the majority of your business referrals and new networking or?

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I get 60% of my new clients from LinkedIn.

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And then, and some of that's word of mouth on LinkedIn.

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There's kind of a lot of crossover there, but some of it is just one of my clients will post something, give me a shout out and that all of their network is seeing it.

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And then they're like, all right, how do I work with this guy?

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And they're sending me DMs.

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I've never met them before.

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So that's a, that's a huge thing.

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And then there's a lot of straight up word of mouth.

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People just connect to me over email or introducing me, you know, Google SEO, Google ads, stuff like that.

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But a lot of LinkedIn and networking kind of crossover, big Venn diagram.

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Well, that was what I was the most excited about was I said, Hey, listen, I've worked with dozens of photographers over the years and we've created content shoots and all kinds of different stuff.

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And what I was most excited about, especially with this opportunity after seeing your work as well, and how people talk about your work was that you're doing my headshots, creating content for me.

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I cannot wait to get the headshots and talk about him online.

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Why?

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Because that allows my network, just what you just got to saying to learn about you, which turns into referrals by default.

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Why you see the end product and you go, wait a second, I want that.

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Well, let me make a quick introduction.

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And that's really the beauty of not just networking, but being able to have somebody else showcase your work and edify it.

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And one of the things that I really love doing, and I, I, I kind of just started doing it naturally and it's turned into a strategy, but it's a strategy I think that really comes from the heart is I work with awesome clients, um, yourself included.

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And so I love to be able to take some of what we just captured and for me to post it, but the caption is not, here's five reasons why you should work with me.

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The caption is about you.

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It's about your brand.

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It's about why what you're doing is awesome.

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And it's about why people in my network should go and follow you.

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So it's kind of a soft, it's not like a column and do your podcast right away.

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It's a, you go, he posts really awesome stuff.

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That's going to be helpful for your brand.

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It's going to add value to your LinkedIn feed, so you should go follow him.

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But in the process of following you, it gives you a whole bunch of new potential clients that maybe didn't know about you before, but now they're following you.

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So that's been something that has really, I think just created this momentum.

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That's not just for me.

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It's actually like, it's like created a community and it's one of the things that I love to hear almost more than anything else is when I have one client and another client that didn't previously know each other and they recognize the headshot vibe on LinkedIn and they ended up connecting and saying like, do you have a top tier headshot?

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Yeah, I've got one too.

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And it just is creating this momentum and this vibe for other people, which I just, I just love.

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Like if we're not wanting to see our network win, like what are we even doing?

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Yeah, I want you guys to hear that.

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I want you guys to see that whatever it is with the clip, when you show up, Tony Robbins always talks about when you show up to any relationship, trying to figure out what you can get from it, you've already lost.

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But when you show up to any relationship, figuring out what you can bring to the table, what you can contribute to it, you automatically are winning out of the gate and also enrolling that other person to do the same exact thing.

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So the next time you're thinking, well, I need more business or I need more referrals, how can you show up and pour into somebody else that can then pour into you and watch the ripple effect take place?

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It's a beautiful process.

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I've lived this for years.

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God knows I started my business with negative $0.

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All I had was a little bit of talent and desire to want to just show up and do something for some people.

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That's why podcasting has become my life's work is because I get the opportunity to sit down, have conversations with people that then turn into opportunities.

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We have no idea what opportunities are going to be produced out of this podcast, out of this clip, out of where it's at.

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And that's the best part about it.

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I have no idea what's going to happen based on what you post on what we got to create today.

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That's the beautiful mystery of the whole idea, but you've got to be willing to show up.

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We live in this tit for tat world where, well, I'm not, what's your budget?

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Well, sometimes there's not always a monetary value attached that doesn't devalue what you offer, sell, whatever it may be.

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But as far as my buddy, Brian Kramer, I always say it's no longer about B2C or B2B.

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It's about H2H, which is human to human.

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And it starts there.

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If you can focus on the human element, the relationship and cultivating that first and allowing business to naturally come into that equation because you're both transacting in some form or fashion, I just believe the outcome is so much more fulfilling on both ends.

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A hundred percent.

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Yeah.

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I couldn't agree more.

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Well, man, today was a lot of fun.

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I cannot wait to see what the end result, I see like snapshots and he's got his laptop set up and technology allows you to see in real time.

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But I know there's a lot that goes on behind the scenes on there.

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So I'm looking forward to seeing what happens.

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And more importantly, I'm looking forward to seeing what opportunities are created for you to be able to help pour into your business and pour into your life to see what new opportunities can be created based on you being willing to show up.

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So I appreciate your willingness to work with me.

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Of course, man.

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I've had a blast today and I'd love to hear any final thoughts you have for our listeners on personal branding or anything else may come to mind.

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Yeah, absolutely.

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I mean, I think that the in this day and age of everybody's online, we're getting overwhelmed by AI.

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There's something powerful about authenticity and about showing up as a human being, whether it's on LinkedIn, whether it's at a networking event, whether it's on your website, for people to see your authenticity, your genuineness.

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I have people that come into the studio and they're like, Daniel, I need to project trustworthiness that because my clients, they put a lot of trust in me.

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Maybe they're managing money or whatever it may be.

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And I need to project trustworthiness.

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How do I do that in a photo?

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And my immediate response is, you've got to look genuine.

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You can't have a fake smile, you can't.

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And that's why the coaching that I do as part of the process is really all driving towards whether you want to look more confident or more approachable or however you want to communicate.

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But the overarching thing is authenticity.

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How do we show up looking genuine?

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And then obviously the goal is, I want that to be who I am.

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So let's focus on showing that.

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Let's not have a disconnect with fake smile versus I really am a genuine person.

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Let's make sure they all match.

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And there's something powerful in showing up authentically.

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Yeah, I couldn't agree more.

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Great final thoughts.

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I appreciate your time, my brother.

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Looking forward to seeing what we get to create.

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Absolutely.

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Until next time, friends.

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Thanks so much for tuning into this episode of the Beyond the Story podcast.

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Signing off from the podcast, Launchlab.com Studios.

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We'll talk to you next time.