Building a personal brand doesn’t have to be difficult. In fact, you can build a personal brand for free if you’d like.  I’ve researched some of the top entrepreneurs and personal branding experts in the world and I want to share with you how they were able to build their personal brand.

If you follow and I mean really follow the advice given by those listed below, there’s no reason that you can’t build a personal brand.

1. Gary Vaynerchuk

Gary Vaynerchuk is CEO of VaynerMedia and Vaynersports. He’s invested in companies such as Twitter, Snapchat, Uber, and Venmo. Gary is 4-time New York Times Best Seller. He currently has an Instagram following of 2.5m followers.

According to Vaynerchuk, your personal brand is your resume. What are you putting out into the world? What you put out in the world is how others will perceive you. Are you providing value in the world? A personal brand is not hard to cultivate when you want to help others.

Your personal brand is free. This can go back to what are you putting out in the world? You’re living your personal brand every day with the beliefs that you have.

Gary clarified that putting your thoughts out into the world doesn’t mean that you’re being disrespectful. If you have an opinion, then share it, but always think first as to how others will react. An opinion might be on the topic of entrepreneurship whereas it’d probably be beneficial to stay away from politics.

Create more content. When you’re creating content in the world, you need to be yourself. People like authenticity. What are you doing today to get yourself known? Are you writing for a blog or speaking to an audience? When you consistently create content, you will get known.

2. Grant Cardone

Grant Cardone is a New York Times Best-Selling Author, creator of Grant Cardone TV, CEO of four businesses, and currently has over $400 million worth of real estate holdings. Grant has an Instagram following of 534,000 followers.

Cardone states that a personal brand should be defined as the thing you spend the most time doing. The five things that you do the most defines your personal brand. If you watch TV, then that’s who you’ll be known as. But if you’re someone who reads or starts businesses, that’s also what you’ll be known as. The choice is up to you.

You should never follow the rules. Grant posts way more than any other person I know on social media. He isn’t following the rules. Some people may hate him for it, but he doesn’t care. If posting more gets himself known, then he will do it.

What do you stand for? Your personal brand should be built around what you stand for. What do you believe in? Whatever you stand for, you should live it every day.

Look at strong companies and see what they do. How were they able to build their personal brand? Think of companies like Starbucks and Amazon. You can conceive their company’s brand to create a personal brand for yourself. When you think of them, aren’t they positive thoughts?

“Have goals so big your problems pale in comparison” – Grant Cardone

3. Josh King Madrid

Josh or JetSetFly is a tech entrepreneur, marketing specialist, and founder of Team Jet Set. He was ranked as one of the top Influencive influencers of 2017. Josh is also the host of The Dropout Degree  podcast show. At only 19, he has a social media following of over 100,000 followers.

Josh uses tons of video content like Youtube and Snapchat when building his personal brand. Video is more personal than a quote post. You can hear the person talking to you as if they were right next to you. You don’t always have to use video content, but you should incorporate it into your posts.

Josh shows that if you want to build your brand and take your influence to the next level, that “Content Is King and Marketing Is Queen”. If you want to exceed at the next level online, you might want to hire a professional photographer and videographer to take photos and videos for you.

Remember, the quality of content you put out has a direct impact on how people will think of you. When building a personal brand, don’t take any shortcuts. Hiring a professional doesn’t have to be expensive. You could find a friend at first or you can hire a professional and do a couple of sessions at once and have content that’ll last you months.

Josh, along with Gary Vaynerchuk, agree that it comes down to getting yourself known. Josh does this through being featured on different articles online, growing his social media following, and by his podcast. To get yourself known, you need to do big things, and that doesn’t start with sitting on the couch. Start to connect with others by producing valuable content and your brand will start to grow faster than you ever thought.

4. Lewis Howes

Lewis Howes is a former pro athlete turned New York Times Best-Selling Author and podcast host of The School of Greatness which is ranked as one of the top 100 podcasts in the world. Lewis has an Instagram following of 438,000 followers.

When building a personal brand according to Lewis, you should find someone who inspires you and you should ask to work for them while you pay them. Yes, they don’t pay you. You pay them to work for them. Think about all the people who would like to work for free, this allows you to separate yourself from the crowd.

When you’re working with this person, you can learn how they built their personal brand by their habits and how they carry themselves. It’s only a matter of time before you act like them.

You should find one platform and build up that platform. In the beginning, it was LinkedIn for Lewis. He’d spend six hours per day on there. When building a personal brand, you can stretch yourself too thin. It’s better to start with one platform and master it.

“The greatest gift you can give yourself is education and growth.” – Lewis Howes

5. Casey Adams

At 17, Casey is an author, brand specialist, and speaker. He has an Instagram following of over 112,000 followers.  According to Casey, you need to impact people. The more of an impact that you make on people, the more people who will follow you. Just impact one person per day and it’ll add up.

Casey also preaches about the power of the DM, also known as direct messaging. Casey has been able to network and engage with high status individuals by consistently DM’ing these individuals and providing value, which in return has built his brand massively.

Engage with your audience. It doesn’t matter if you have a large or small following. You should comment on other people’s pictures and respond to comments on your photos. It’s the little things like commenting that add up.

Share your journey. With Instagram, you can document your journey from where you started. You’re showing the entire world your progress. What type of progress do you want to show them?

Who’s your favorite personal branding expert? Let us know in the comments!