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Successful CEOs: God Multiplies Your Growth Through Personal Branding



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Introduction

Did you build a God-first business? Did you bring Christian values into the business's systems, processes, methodologies, and operations? Then you might want to consider building a personal brand around the successful business you've created. God wants to use leaders like you to influence others.

Let's explore what successful Christian CEOs need to know about building a God-First personal brand.

In this post, I share why even the busiest CEOs should care about building a personal brand, using the Born to Do Method to develop your own personal brand, and more!

Why Christian CEOs Should Care About Building a Personal Brand

People do business with people, not companies. They do business with the visionary CEO they like, know, and trust. God designed it this way because He desires relationships built on trust and mutual connections. This keeps the good guys moving up, and the bad guys get eliminated. It's in our DNA to fellowship and connect with others because God wants to use us to be His witness to others. This is why human connection creates customer loyalty and employee endearment beyond any relationship a company could ever reach. We're designed to have strong bonds with one another.

Notice that the big God-first companies have personalities that drive that brand's mission. Wendy's had Dave Thomas, Walmart had Sam Walton, and Chick-fil-A had S. Truett Cathy.

In your company, that persona is you. And God wants to use your public persona (or personal brand) to share how His influence in your life was the secret sauce to your company's growth and success.

Personal Branding and God-First Leadership

God put people in leadership positions to influence their follower's thinking. This is the most fundamental and enduring purpose behind being in a successful leadership position.

The Bible says

Moreover, look for able men from all the people, men who fear God, who are trustworthy and hate a bribe, and place such men over the people as chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of the fifties, and of tens. (Exodus 18:21)

For thousands of years, God-fearing people have been entrusted with leading. They would be men of good sense and that understood business.

Back in those days, leading was delegated by kings and rulers. These days, avenues exist for anyone led by the holy spirit to do personal branding, giving God an outlet to influence people’s thinking through us.

We can influence employees, clients, prospects, vendors, contractors, stakeholders, partners, and even competitors in our marketplaces!

Our personal brand is a tremendous asset that God uses to grow our companies both publicly and internally as successful CEOs. Even a podcast, which is typically externally focused, can influence a company's internal culture. Imagine employees that don't regularly encounter the CEO now listening to their leader on a podcast, watching a video series, reading their book or blog posts. You may never meet your employees at the cash register, but they find out exactly what you believe in through your personal brand.

Whether you have thousands of employees or only a handful of clients, God wants you to share your inspired thoughts in public. If not you, who? You were the one given the unique methodology. People will listen and find value in what God wants to say and do through you. This human connectable importance is what God longs for. The blessing comes as more opportunities for your company. That's a fact!

As the owner, founder, and CEO of a successful Kingdom-first venture, God wants to use your personal brand to activate, utilize, and maximize every available asset you allow to advance His purposes through your company's mission. Able

A Personal Brand is a Relationship Ecosystem

Nothing can replace having coffee one-on-one with someone and getting to know them. However, with all of the digital assets available to us, we have an amazing opportunity to create one-way human interactions that can be multiplied and scaled.

The Bible says

And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. (Mark 16:15)

When you see people starting a speaking career, it's because they have a calling inside to share with the world. Those speakers share such great stories that we feel like we intimately know them. They share their "real" struggles and victories over podcasts and blog posts.

And although we've never met these guys, we know an incredible amount of information about them. We feel a bond with them. And then we become evangelists of that person's message...a message that took them deciding to start personally branding themselves so that God could use them to spread the Word.

You're building a relationship ecosystem when you start sharing your message across various platforms. It's about building an engine that operates 24/7 across different media and environments. Every part of your personal brand that you develop is tied to the overall goal of inspiring others with what God has uniquely shown you. You're creating touchpoints and opportunities for someone to get to like, know, and trust you. Only then will they be able to learn from you and be activated by you.

God's plan for spreading the Gospel is to use your multiplied influence through purpose-focused personal branding. It's time now to respond to the call and take advantage of the tools available for us!

What’s a God-First Personal Brand?

Your personal brand is a relationship with you, separately from your company. It's God using His likeness through you to advance His purposes.

The process of personal branding involves uncovering the uniqueness God created through you, building a reputation on the things He wants you to want to be known for, and then allowing yourself to be known for them. Ultimately, the goal is to create something that conveys a message God wants to share with the world and recognize the opportunity to be rewarded financially, strategically, and personally.

Discover Your 'Born to Do' Uniqueness

The key to God-First personal branding is that you have to uncover what God put you here uniquely to do and then serve others through it.

The Bible says

As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace: (1 Peter 4:10)

Your uniqueness is a gift from God to be used to serve others in some way, shape, or form.

How to Start Developing Your God-First Personal Brand

Personal branding starts first by defining your message, your marketplace, and the media you'll use to share it all.

First, what's your message?


The role of someone who does branding is to be able to pull your message and story out. See, branding people who understand their role as a conduit between God and you will be able to get a "feeling" of what your message will be. This is why you struggle to find your message if you go at it alone.


Next, it's time to define a very specific marketplace.


God doesn't want us to think that the entire world is our marketplace. There are 8 billion people in this world, and God will use other people like you to share a message within their marketplace. You need to focus on your own tribe, your own specific geographic area, demographic, or industry.


The final step is to define the media and modalities by which you'll share your personal brand message.


There are many methods, modes, and media to choose from when building a personal brand. You don't have to create online courses or go on a speaking tour if that's not your cup of tea. Maybe you want to lead a mastermind group, launch a membership program, and offer 3-month coaching and consulting service based on your methodology. Others might want to lead an event or even become a vlogger (video bloggers). God wants to use your personal brand in the way in which you've been uniquely capacitated to spread awareness. Whatever the method, it will be how you love (or will love) to communicate. Trust God in this process.


SIDE NOTE: Sometimes, starting with the end in mind will help. For example, if you want to attract more mortgage brokers to work at your brokerage, you reverse engineer your personal brand to meet that goal. Similarly, suppose you know you want to expand your franchise operations to 1,000 stores. In that case, you know your personal brand's media and message have to be positioned in a way to develop relationships with franchisees to be in a position to buy their stores out when they are ready to sell.


What Problem Do You Solve in the Marketplace

When John the Baptist and Jesus began their ministries in the world, they were solving a problem. The problem was Roman oppression. The solution was to repent and turn to God. At that moment in time, that was a well-received message because it really helped people cope with the issues going on around them.

Notice that, first, John had to recognize a problem and have the heart to want to help others solve it. Then, his ministry began.

First, the beginning of your personal brand is answering with one or two words: What problem does God want to solve through me?

My one word is purpose. I help people discover their purpose because it's a big problem if people can't feel meaning and significance in what they are doing here on earth. It causes a lot of stress and anxiety when we don't know what we're supposed to be doing.

I've written an entire book called Discovering Your Calling as an Entrepreneur. It's all about stepping into your purposed-focused calling.

When you discover one word, it's something you can quickly write an entire book on. Your one word is your identity through Christ and solidifies your spiritual existence in the business world.

At this point, I hope you're convinced that your personal brand is not some superficial vanity public relations tool to exploit more sales. This is the life purpose we're talking about here. This is your secret to living your best life and running a God-First company, and God wants you to be excited to share it! This is your calling. It is why you were put on this earth!

When the problem God wants to solve through you becomes evident, your message, marketplace, media, and monetization strategy will all line up.

Fully Address the Problem

In my book Discovering Your Calling as an Entrepreneur, I define the problem of not knowing your purpose in business, and I focus all of my marketing around that problem. If entrepreneurs don't know their purpose, they end up launching businesses they shouldn't be in, or the business is out of alignment, and they end up quitting to move to the next shiny object they can put their hope able. Why my book is a good example is because it solves the problem of purposelessness.

People buy solutions to their problems. And they buy into people who can guide them to solving their problems. Your ability to recognize their problem, empathize with it, and present a clear path to victory will determine if the person will choose you as the best solution.

The Born to Do Method

One of the most significant questions someone will ask themselves is: what on earth am I here for? The symptoms of this question lead us to ask what problem we solve and what we're going to dedicate the rest of our lives.

These questions can be hard to articulate and turn into a business or personal brand; however, it's the work that needs to be done BEFORE beginning any journey to branding.

This is why I developed the Born to Do Method in my branding agency. It's a framework built on six questions that help uncover the entrepreneur's personal brand - the message they are born to share with the world, along with the services and products to complement the message. It's a methodology that focuses exclusively on what God uniquely called that individual to do. And as we evaluate the responses with our clients, themes will overlap, and certain cornerstones will be set in the foundation to build the brand.

The methodology is about determining how God makes you truly unique and irreplaceable. Once you know that the God of the universe wants a one-on-one relationship with you and your business, you realize that building a personal brand is the way God breaks you free from the ordinary life the world has to offer and separates you from the noise and influence of the marketplace. Your personal brand helps you understand that you have no competition because no other person is like you. God needs you to be different so that you're in a space all your own so that your tribal following can easily recognize you.

The 6 Questions of the Born to Do Method

The best part about personal branding is that it only involves the CEO. There's no back and forth with partners; no need to bring the marketing team in with focus groups. All we have to do is find out the "magic" that makes you special and unique. What did God create you to do that no one else can do?


The 'Born to Do Method' is a metaphor for an individual's calling from before birth. If someone is born to do something, this person was pre-thought of with a plan to do something for its creator: God. Christian or not, I bring this up to my clients, and it's my little way of evangelizing while also driving the point that branding is a spiritual, one-on-one process with your creator, so let's take this seriously.


The 6 Questions are paired up into three sets. One question deals with who you were designed to be; the other deals with how you should serve others. Ironically, personal branding is not about you: it's about God and His purpose through you to serve others.


The problem with some personal brands promoting riches, fame, and influence is that they are slaves to what the world needs them to be. That's why famous people constantly hate their life, burn out, and get sick of what they're doing because it's out of balance with how God designed personal influence to be.


On the flip side, if you're only focused on who God made you be and the things you want to do, you run the risk of launching products and services that nobody cares about or needs. This would then fail the very element of personal branding God needs to do through you to influence others.


This is why the Born to Do Method seeks to balance how God shaped you with what the world needs to hear and receive from you for God-focused problems to be solved.


Personal branding done correctly seeks to define the intersection where who the world needs you to be…. and who God designed you to be. Godpreneurs have a calling over our business lives, and our personal brands operate in a space closest to our calling.


Questions 1 and 2: What Problem Do You Solve and What Are You Passionate About?


The first pair of questions in the 'Born to Do Method' balances what you're passionate about with what problems you can solve.

First, we must recognize that our holy spirit produces a feeling called passion. I feel that goosebumps are the holy spirit connecting with God to physically show us that we're on the right track with something.

Then, we pair that passion up with something the world needs - a real problem to solve that we can monetize.

For me, I know people need logos and websites. Without it, most can't operate their business. And since logos and websites are the expressions of one calling, and my passion is to help someone find their calling, I'm operating in my zone of genius by providing personal branding services to successful Godpreneurs.

I like to ask my clients what they could talk about all day, for free, and be jacked up about! This usually pulls some good information out of them.

You have various experiences and skills, as well as passions and interests. Without a roadmap, it can be a struggle to decide which way to go. Use Trello to make a list of all of these things and sort them by what you're ok at and what you are uniquely gifted at.

SIDE NOTE: You'll notice that some things that you consider yourself excellent at are something you need to let go of and delegate to someone else in your organization so you can stay in your unique abilities.

I asked my clients another approach to this question is if they had automatic money coming in from a trust fund. The only stipulation is that they have to be at a company and position that they love doing. What would that job or company be like? Money isn't a factor; only your joy and happiness are.

Questions 3 and 4: What's Your Past Education and What Experiences Have Shaped You?

The first set of questions dealt with your passions and problems you love solving. The next set addresses what you're gaining knowledge and experience in.

First, your past education, combined with what you are continuing your education in will shed light on what you were born to do. Everything you've read, observed, and heard, as well as your formal education and seminars you've attended, are likely things that fascinate and intrigue you.

I believe that God has placed things in your past and present as guides to your future. There's always a reason or significance in your interests. Subconsciously or consciously, hobbies or jobs we pursue point us towards our calling.

Next, the Born to Do Method digs through your past experiences to uncover things you've accomplished and credentials that give you credibility to talk about a topic - the focus of your personal brand message. If you're going to guide others, you have to have walked the walk for others to trust you as their guide. God uses our personal testimony as the gateway into deeper relationships in the service to others. A testimony gives you the right to talk about the topic because you’ve actually done the work and seen results from it.

Once this next set of questions are answered, my company explores the accomplishments and results in these areas. In combination with the first pair of questions, we're beginning to connect things, and the picture of your personal brand calling is starting to show. Every past experience related to what you love to study is evidence and an indication of how God designed you and who you're meant to serve.

For many of the CEOs I work with, God wants them to serve as the person they used to be. Because you understand what the person is going through mentally, you can empathize best. Empathy is an essential component in people trusting you and thus gaining a following.

For me, I heavily research, study, and get training in helping people find their purpose, their calling in life. That, combined with my experience in helping launch hundreds of brands for entrepreneurs, makes me a perfect guide for helping Godpreneurs bring their calling to life.

Questions 5 and 6: What Do People Want to Buy, and What Do You Love Selling?

Now it's time to focus on the economic side of your personal brand. The last two questions take your uniqueness and put a monetization strategy behind it. You've discovered the problem God wants you to solve and what you're passionate about. Now it's time to look at which way people would like to buy from you.

Creating a business model around your personal brand can be tricky because there are so many options. You can run a membership site, well video courses, do masterminds, and even host events.

For me, my target market wants to launch its Christian personal brand. Financially, they want to add a revenue stream. They want to feel fulfilled in their life by pursuing their God-ordained calling. Strategically, they want to continue growing their successful existing business.


Remember that this question focuses on what people WANT, not their needs. What people need, we will address in the next question. That's where we put a monetization strategy behind what they want. But first, you have to be clear on the fact that people want something beyond your services. You have to find out what your audience WANTS in their life financially, strategically, and personally.


Now that you're clear on what people want, now let's give them a service that brings it all together, from A to Z. The sixth and final question of the Born to Do Method is asking yourself what business you want to be in. This is where you take all the ways you make money to create a viable business considering all the previous questions: passions, skill sets, experiences, problems you solve, and the current market needs.


For me, I'm in the publishing business. My Christian entrepreneur audience needs help taking their message to the world. First, they buy branding services. So, I have branding packages to help them bring their vision to life. We help create their signature system, their signature talk, the book, the courses...the works!


Then, qualified personal brand clients move into my publishing platforms of Daily Godpreneur and the Godpreneur Academy. That's where we have a stage for them to connect to Christian entrepreneurs who will discover them and buy their signature system. As a publishing company, we find talent and bring their products to the marketplace to buy and make royalties on the sales.


The five keys to a successful Christian personal brand business model are that it can be performed digitally, there's a recurring revenue component, it can run while you sleep, and it's scalable, meaning that it has a system and process that can be duplicated. Your goal is to design a system with as many of these five business model components as possible.

Bring Your Brand to Life

When deciding to bring your Christian personal brand to life, you can start it off on your own, or hire a firm like mine (Creative Complex) to do it with you.

For the DIY people, we have a course called How to Build Your Christian Personal Brand on the Godpreneur Academy to help guide you on launching.


For entrepreneurs running successful businesses, it's more efficient for you to use a firm like mine to continue growing your business while launching this next component of your life. The four major phases of working with us are 1) discovering your calling, 2) launching the personal brand, 3) publishing your methodology on our platform, and 4) coaching, guidance, and mentorship in speaking and writing so you can be more influential.


Whether you're the DIY type or a branding agency type, we have events, live virtual training, and webinars. We work exclusively with Christian personal brands through the agency and operate primarily through one-on-one interaction with a brand strategist who talks to clients and encourages them along the journey.


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