Personal Branding That Sticks with Kelly Schuknect

If you’ve ever watched someone speak and thought, “Why is their message so magnetic?”, the answer usually isn’t louder marketing or a prettier color palette. It’s clarity.

Janice sits down with Kelly Schoenick to unpack what personal branding actually means and why it’s one of the fastest ways to build trust, stand out in a crowded market, and make your marketing feel less like a grind.

We talk about personal brand as reputation: the set of associations people build about you across touchpoints like LinkedIn, speaking gigs, podcast interviews, your website, and even the stories you repeat. 

Transcript

Janice Hostager: [00:00:00] If you ever gone to a speaking event or looked at somebody else's business or watched a video and thought, why does everything that they say pull me in, their content clicks and their message sticks and they just have this way about them, you might think it's charisma or just a certain like qua, but it's probably something simpler than that. It's the branding.

Today I'm talking with Kelly Schuknecht about personal branding. What actually makes someone stand out? How to build trust faster, and how to translate who you are into messaging that brings in clients, because personal branding isn't about being louder or wearing a certain color.

It's about being clearer and a whole lot more memorable. So let's get into my conversation. 

Hey Kelly, welcome to my weekly marketing.

Kelly Schuknecht: Thank you for having me, Janice.

Janice Hostager: So let's start here. When you talk about personal branding, I think a lot of people start thinking about headshots and colors and, you know, things of the more concrete nature. What do you really mean when you're talking about personal brand?

Kelly Schuknecht: Yeah, I like to think of your personal brand as the things that people associate you with, right? So your personal brand can be, you know, anything that you're showing up and talking about online if you're applying for a job, people might look at your social media, right?

Like your, your personal brand is the reputation you're creating for yourself online. So it's, it's all encompassing, but really, you know, if you're wanting to build a personal brand, intentionally, it's, it's picking and choosing the things that you really wanna become known for and, and really making sure that you're showing up and talking about those things, strategically.

Janice Hostager: Okay. So when a, a small business owner is starting to think about branding, it, that can be kind of tricky, right? So does it, it doesn't really fit into like the buyer's journey, which is what I focus on in my coaching with my [00:02:00] students. It's really something that should be done Prior to that.

Is it kind of a, like, or is it an awareness tool, or is it more of a trust builder or?

Kelly Schuknecht: I was just gonna say, yeah, it is kind of, it fits in the buyer's journey journey in that it's the, it's the awareness, right? It's, it's the, helping people discover you, and then also that know, like, and trust factor, right? So people are maybe, you know, you put out a, a post, you know, something on social media, or, you know, your personal brand can be developed through going out and speaking, right? So you go out and speak and somebody sees you on stage. It's all of these touch points that people are starting to associate you with something, right? Right. Your topic, your company, your. the, the things that you mentioned like your, your brand colors and style and all of those things are all a part of that whole package of, of what makes people, what, what people think of you when they, you know, what they associate with you with.

Right. So, yeah, I think it fits in the buyer's journey as, as. As that first awareness stage of people discovering you and then, learning to like you or, you know, knowing whether or not they want to work with you based on the things that they're seeing of you, that reputation that you're building online, the, you know, the, the things that, maybe the, the credibility that you're building through the things that you're talking about. So, so yeah, I would say it fits in that kind of the top of the funnel, the awareness stage.

Janice Hostager: Okay. Okay, so if somebody is struggling with their marketing, maybe , struggling to bring in clients, what role would personal brand play in that problem?

Kelly Schuknecht: Yeah. Well, they're struggling to bring in clients, my question would be, you know, how are they showing up?

Janice Hostager: Mm-hmm.

Kelly Schuknecht: A lot of us, especially, you know, small business owners, solopreneurs, we're so stinking busy, right? Like, we're busy every day with the work that we forget to show up sometimes. And what I mean by that is, you know, we, we need to [00:04:00] be present on, on social media.

I mean, and that can look different depending on what your business is. But if you are. If you're in professional services, if you are serving other business owners, if you're B2B, you should be showing up on LinkedIn regularly. So that's, you know, that's one thing. It's also, you know, in other ways, you.

Maybe your, maybe your customers, you know, maybe Facebook or Instagram or something like that is a better platform for you to reach them. Just again, depends on what your business is, but, but showing up regularly and making sure that people are seeing you, because a big part of marketing and developing your personal brand is reminding people that you exist because, you know, you and I met Janice, I don't, I don't remember a few, few weeks ago, right?

And let's say, you know, you and I had had a networking conversation, right? And you didn't or you didn't need it at the time, right? But let's say six months from now you meet somebody who's in the middle of, you know, trying to develop their personal brand. They, maybe they're just starting a business, whatever, and, and. not gonna remember me six months later, right? But if I'm consistently showing up in your inbox on your social media feed, you know, and reminding you that I exist, you might tell that person, oh, I know this great person that you should talk to. Right? So it's, it's consistently showing up in a way that people remember what you do and how you can help them when it's the time that they might need you.

Janice Hostager: I love that you also pulled visibility into that. And I think the one area that I struggle with personally is being visible. Like I get busy in my business and I'm behind the scenes and I'm doing all this and, and. You know, writing emails and working with clients and dah, dah, dah. And I forget that people don't actually know that I exist.

So I love that you said that. Like somebody recently said to me, you need to be doing, doing something every day to make yourself visible. And I just thought, you know, that's really true because it's so easy for me to forget about that. So I'm really glad that [00:06:00] you mentioned that.

Kelly Schuknecht: And it, and it's true. And, and you don't have to get overwhelmed with that though either, right? Like so, because that, because we are busy, for me, I put. One hour, maybe 90 minutes on my calendar every Monday. 'cause I'm, I am not a Monday person, Janice. And so, Mondays typically I'm like. It is just everything hits me in the face.

You know,

Janice Hostager: Yeah.

Kelly Schuknecht: morning, I gotta do all the things right. And so actually that's the best time for me to focus on things that I know I just need to get done during the week. And, and I block off my time

Janice Hostager: Yeah.

Kelly Schuknecht: don't have meetings. 'cause I am not in the mood to see anyone at Monday morning at nine o'clock. But that's the time when I go, you know what, this is what I'm gonna pull some of my pod clips from podcast episodes I've been on, or, you know, blog post I wrote recently. I'm going to. Create a snippet that I can share on LinkedIn and I schedule out three posts for the week. And so I spend that little bit of time Monday morning my brain is in the best place to do that type of work.

Right. And, and I get it done for the week. Right. And so then the rest of the week, I don't have to think about it, but I've got scheduled posts that are going out at different times during the week. And that way, the work is done for me. I'm, I'm, I'm showing up, I'm visible, but I don't have to make it a daily, just, you know, task that

Janice Hostager: Get on camera. Yeah. Yeah. Do you feel like branding, especially personal branding, is hard to do in yourself? Like I, I remember hearing the phrase once, A jar can't read its own label. Is that true or am I looking at branding the wrong way?

Kelly Schuknecht: You know, I think, I think you're right. I think that all of us struggle a little bit with that, whether it's imposter syndrome or you know, just, know, it's hard to, it's hard to know how people see you, how, how they perceive you. Right. of the ways that I think that. That we can do that is through. Thinking of the questions that people ask us, right? So when I, I used to work in publishing for 10 years. I worked in publishing and I didn't, I didn't think anything of it. Like I, I learned a lot during that 10 years, but I, I didn't realize how much other people didn't know about the publishing [00:08:00] process.

And it was through many conversations. I would go to conferences or networking groups and I'd be talking to people and I would just mention my previous experience and they would. They would say, oh, I've always wanted to write a book. And they would ask me questions about writing a book, about publishing, about, you know, about the process.

And I started to realize, oh, these are the things that people, you know, that they, they don't necessarily know. And this is the way that I can show up and help people. Right. So, it was kind of like taking that. It wasn't really a feedback loop, but kind of turning it into a feedback loop of these are the things that I have to give that people, you know, could need and want from me that I can now share with other people. I think that, I mean, that's one way of, of kind of getting out of our heads and thinking about, you know, how we can serve people. But I think also just asking people, you know, asking people what you can help them with or what, you know, what, asking for feedback about things, you know, that, that type of feedback really can help us, hone in on what those things are that really people associate us with, with, and that we can talk about more in our content, whether it's blog posts or social media or whatever.

Janice Hostager: Gotcha. Gotcha. Talk to me about, now you have a three pillar framework that is very practical. Talk to me more about that.

Kelly Schuknecht: Yeah, so we've covered a couple of these pieces already, right? So when I talk to anyone who's wanting to build their personal brand, there's three things that I say that they should focus on. So number one is visibility. We've talked about that a lot, right? Just remembering to show up, remembering to, I, I talk a lot about content, but visibility can be different things, right? You could schedule, maybe, maybe a goal for yourself is like one podcast interview a month that I'm gonna try to get on somebody's podcast, right? And that, that will help with visibility.

Pillar number two is credibility. So it's not just about showing up, but it's also how can we show the audience that we're a credible expert in an, in our industry, in our field. For me, you know, I help people with developing their thought leadership platform. And one of the questions I noticed that [00:10:00] people would ask me, I do a lot of podcast interviews and I noticed that people were asking me often, well, you, you know, you help people write books, so you must have your own book.

Right? And I would go. I don't. Right. And so, I made it my goal to get my book out there because I knew that I needed to have that, that credibility piece. And you don't have to necessarily have a book. But for me it was really important to have that book in hand. So when I'm going out and speaking on stages, I can say, you know, Hey, here's, here's the.

If you wanna get deeper into this topic, here's my book, here's more about me. You know, it's another tool in my, thought leadership platform. Maybe for you, for credibility, it might be just showcasing some of the podcast interviews that you're doing, you being your audience.

Janice Hostager: Mm-hmm.

Kelly Schuknecht: if you are doing podcast interviews, you know, taking clips and sharing those things to show that I'm out talking on this topic, I know what I'm talking about.

People want to, you know, hear my expertise on this topic because I am a credible expert, right? Another way might be case studies, if you have case studies or examples of ways that you've helped your clients. Those are great ways to establish credibility. And the last one is consistency. Again, we kind of talked about this already, but the, the consistency I recommend for people is, especially again, if you're B2B, if you're serving, you know, professional services, you're serving other business owners, I recommend showing up on LinkedIn two to three times a week, doing podcast interviews. I would say I, I shoot for two to three times a month. But you know, even again, like just if you can start where you are and, and shoot for one per month,

Janice Hostager: Mm-hmm.

Kelly Schuknecht: not a huge lift. It's, it's something that's, you know, getting you out there. And then, you know, maybe blogging once, once a month or sending a newsletter once a month. Just having a few things that you have kind of in your, marketing kind of,

Janice Hostager: Arsenal. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.

Kelly Schuknecht: A Yeah, yeah. A system for yourself. That's just, you know, these are the things I'm gonna do, I'm gonna commit to, that's not overwhelming that you can fit within your schedule, but that are, are [00:12:00] allowing you to show up consistently to the audience that may or may not, but hopefully may need your services at some point.

Janice Hostager: So is there what? What is it about a personal brand that really makes you stand out? Because I think I, even, even beyond a personal brand e, anytime I'm working with a client, we talk about this, what makes you unique. And I would imagine that's really true. The people that I know that have really strong personal brands, they all have this special something.

So talk to me more about that.

Kelly Schuknecht: I think the most important thing is to have a story and not like a story, like a fictional story, but a story that helps people, that helps people understand you and, and you know how you help them. Right? I've seen that with my clients when we are going out and, and pitching clients to. Speaking events, the ones that have a, a really good story to share or are able to kind of turn their topic into a story that resonates with their audience, I think that really, really, helps people connect with them and, and, and makes them interested in hearing more from them. I, so I mentioned that I have a book, right?

So my book, authority X Factor, it's called Unlocking Your Authority X Factor. But the Authority X Factor that I talk about is, is really kind of like, what is that story or what is that unique blend of your skills and experiences, that career path that has led you to serve the clients in the way that you, you do, right?

What makes you. Best able to help them. And so it's, it's capturing that story and helping other people associate you with that story and, and why you are best able to help them, in whatever the service is that you provide.

Janice Hostager: So is that something like your, founder story, , is that the story of like how you came to be or how you, why you're interested in it? Or is it just.

A particular story that you have that you share again and again that defines you? What [00:14:00] kinda story is that?

Kelly Schuknecht: It's kind of, it's kind of both of those things.

Janice Hostager: Okay.

Kelly Schuknecht: for me. You know, I, so I lost my job in OC in October, 2024. It was laid off and I hated the first few podcast episode episodes I, was in. I hated leading with that story, but I started to realize how many people. Associated with the story that I was telling.

'cause

Janice Hostager: Hmm.

Kelly Schuknecht: have lost a job. And so, you know, the first few times I would be, I was almost embarrassed to say, you know, this is what happened to me. But then people were actually really interested 'cause it was like this, you know, this success story of, you know, I lost my job and here's what I did with. The situation. Here's the, the lemonade that I made out of the lemons, right?

Janice Hostager: Hmm.

Kelly Schuknecht: and people really, it, it, it started to resonate And, and, and you know, I tell my story in my book, like, it, it, it was the, the journey that I was on that led me to where I was. And then I also get to, you know, share about how, I had lost my job after helping my company grow to a certain point where we were acquired.

And that's why I lost my job, you know? So I got to talk about my experience before that, the success we had there, the. You know, it's this kind of story arc, right? Of like, and then this happened and then, you know, and then, and then, you know, I was whatever in this state of like having to decide what to do next.

And again, people were. Were associating them, like they, it was resonating with them because a lot of people have experienced what I had experienced, and they want to, they want to know that, that, that there is a, a light at the end of the tunnel. There is hope, you know, for them. Right? And so, what I was doing was kind of growing a following of people who wanted to, to, grow, start their own business. Maybe they're even in corporate still and they wanna get out of it and they wanna start their own thing, right? But to know that that is, some, a path that they might be able to take and have success, it resonated, right?

So, again, that's, that's just my story and my experience. I think, you know, anyone who's running a business. It was led to [00:16:00] run the business that they're running because of their skills and experience, you know, and, and so kind of taking from that and learning like what really resonates with people, what did they get interested in and excited about?

And, you know, so maybe kind of your, the founder's story,

Janice Hostager: Mm-hmm.

Kelly Schuknecht: it's just a little bit of like, helping people just understand, you know, who you are and, and, how you are able to help them and why.

Janice Hostager: Hmm. I love that for so many reasons, but one of 'em is that you can't fake something like that. You know, I can go in and, speak on a stage and have a flawless presentation and, and get all dressed up and have my hair and makeup done, but that story makes you a real person and it's your story. You own it.

. And, and if you have that and you can tell it in such a way that it relates to your audience, that really does define your brand. I love that. I love that. How does personal branding show up in. Your day to day messaging.

Now you talked about like being on a podcast or speaking at at an event. How would it show up, for example, on your website during your emails?

Kelly Schuknecht: Yeah. Well, so again, I, podcasting is such a powerful tool. I often will do the, right now, I mean, what a, what a great example. This is what we're doing right now, right? And you're asking me these questions and what I do after every podcast interview that I, I am in, and I. I did 60 ish last year. I'm shooting for like

Janice Hostager: Wow.

Kelly Schuknecht: 50 to 60 this year.

It's kind of an average of one a week, right? And, you know, because that's what we do for our clients is we help our clients get podcast interviews. So like, I've got to be doing the thing that we help other people do, right? But so I, you know, I take every one of them and I pull the transcript and I, I put it into, you know, an AI tool, right?

And I have it extract from me like, what are the questions that were asked of me? What are the topics that came up?

Janice Hostager: Hmm.

Kelly Schuknecht: of [00:18:00] these stories that I told that I can share, right? Because every host asks different questions.

Janice Hostager: Mm-hmm.

Kelly Schuknecht: Say the same stories often, but really you're asking me different questions than the last

Janice Hostager: Mm-hmm.

Kelly Schuknecht: So I can take every one of those, I can turn that into a topic that I can blog on, that I can put into my newsletter, that I can, take a clip and, and share the clip of, of, you know, us talking. There's so many ways that I can do that, and all of it's related to my core topic, which is related to my personal brand and the business that, that I, you know, that I am running.

Right. And so it's a great way I, I, I think. if nothing else, podcasting is a great way for small business owners to practice their message and then turn that one one hour or even sometimes just 30 minutes of you talking into multiple forms of content.

Janice Hostager: Oh, what a great use of AI too. That's the one thing that I have loved about AI is just giving it tons and tons of data and it will spit out patterns. It will spit out, like you said, questions or, or topics and oh, great idea, . So, what are, what are the biggest mistakes that you see small business owners making with their personal branding?

Kelly Schuknecht: Well, so I think one is, you know, we talked about a little bit just like forgetting to show up.

Janice Hostager: Mm-hmm.

Kelly Schuknecht: I think that, you know, a lot of times we just, we get busy, we don't feel like doing it right or it feels, sometimes it can feel salesy or icky or, you know, like you're bragging or whatever. And I think we have to get over that feeling and know that really, our message is important because we're helping other people. So when I go out and talk about my journey, yeah, it can feel almost like self-indulgent and bragging and you know, and you feel like you're saying the same things over and over, but you're reaching a different audience every time. You know, you're reaching new people, you're building awareness, you're gaining visibility.

You know, all those marketing things that we've, we've been talking about in this episode so far. And I, and I think the biggest mistake is like, we, we take for granted like our, our experience and we, you know, we [00:20:00] just, we get led by that. Like, you know, just that feeling of like, I don't, I don't wanna do this, or I don't wanna do it in this way, whatever.

And

Janice Hostager: Hmm.

Kelly Schuknecht: have to get over ourselves and, and remember to just continue showing up, continue to, share our message even if it feels like repetitive, like we're saying the same thing all the time. Because, because to other people, they're not seeing every one of your posts. Seeing every single thing that you do. And so you are, continuing to show up with that same message so that when they see you again, they remember that you

Janice Hostager: Hmm.

Kelly Schuknecht: they remember how you can help them.

Janice Hostager: Yeah. Yeah. Well, you know, even if you. I mean, first of all, you're reaching new audiences all the time. And even if you do hear someone's story over and over again, they're never gonna tell it the same way. And I've heard there's people who are famous that I've heard their story repeatedly, and every time I learn something new about them, and I think, well, that's really interesting.

That's really cool. And it, and it helps develop that whole person in my brain. And I think you're absolutely right. I think that that is, that happens when we tell our story again and again. Do you feel like somehow I, 'cause I've been guilty of this too. I, well, I used to have a design agency, so I used to design a lot of websites and I would get, I would certainly focus on logos and colors and all of that.

And I've had some personal brand advice that would be like, well, you know, if your color's blue, you should have everything blue. And, you know, and I feel like this is. Poor advice that's out there. Is there any other advice that you think like this is gonna get in the way of your personal brand rather than benefit it?

Kelly Schuknecht: That's an interesting question. I don't know. I think you know it when you talk about like website stuff, I think all of it is similar in that everyone has an opinion, right? And when I used to work in, I used to work in marketing for an accounting firm I just, I remember that [00:22:00] like every single person who came and looked at the website had a different opinion about. What, you know, what the wording should be or what pages we needed, or what this should say or that should whatever. And I remember constantly. Yeah. I mean, you know that how it goes, right? I remember constantly making changes based on feedback I was getting. And I think we could do the same thing when it comes to our personal brand.

You talk to one person. Oh my goodness. And I, I, sorry, I just, I had another thought about the same thing. We just did this with, a client. We helped ghost write the book. Right. But this particular client. go and talk to somebody and they would say, oh, but you need to have this in it. Oh, but you need to have this on the cover.

Oh, but you need whatever you need to publish through this platform or that platform, or whatever. And every time he came to me, he was changing his mind because he was talking to different people and everyone had an opinion and he couldn't like go in one direction because every time he talked to somebody they would tell him something different.

And I was like, oh my gosh. And I think same thing with your personal brand again. Like you could talk to one person and like they, they might have an opinion about your colors and they might have an opinion about, you know, where you're going out and speaking, or whether you should niche down or not, or whatever.

All the things that small business owners have to deal with or have to think about. And I think it's really important to just not overthink it and make decisions and don't, you know, you're gonna get feedback from all kinds of people. You're gonna get different opinions, whatever thrown at you.

Right? And, and, and I think that it's really important to just tune it out and know what you care about and what you don't. And, and just the rest is just noise. Right. personally when I, so when I created my brand colors, so the first few months I was, I had my business, I didn't have really any of that stuff organized as far as my brand colors, my website, all of that.

It took

Janice Hostager: Right.

Kelly Schuknecht: to kind of get all of that. But one of the things that was important to me was I wanted the color pink in my branding. And, that might be, you know, a controversial opinion for some people because pink is not a very professional looking [00:24:00] color. In, you know, in some ways, right?

But to me, I was like, I love the color pink, and this is a woman owned company, and I want to have that as part of my branding. So we, we, we created this brand that has a lot of pink in it. And I love it. I absolutely love

Janice Hostager: Mm-hmm.

Kelly Schuknecht: care what other people think about it because it is truly me, and that's what matters, right?

Janice Hostager: Yeah.

Kelly Schuknecht: I think that's, that's the mistake a lot of people make is just, you know. Letting other people sway their opinions, especially in a way that like will make them like zigzag and you just gotta like stay the course. I think.

Janice Hostager: Yeah. I think where I get hung up on all of this is not necessarily colors. And, and when I, when I was assigning websites, it, I would definitely say, this is not your brand. This is the manifest. This is like the, the tip of the iceberg of your brand. You know, your brand is your mission, your vision, your goals.

I mean, that's where I would put in , the, like the next of this brand. And then it, it, works outward from there. But I think for personal brand, the thing that always got me hung up, and this is kind of weird, but it's like I'll see people out there doing the same thing I'm doing, and some of them will go on podcasts and do their videos in, you know, a t-shirt and ripped jeans where, and other people will be all, you know, buttoned up and, you know, just looking professional.

And, and, and this is where I, in my, in my head and I'm like. Which 1:00 AM I? Because I wear, I wear t-shirts and I have ripped jeans, but I also dress up like I'm wearing dress today. You know, it's like, so, which one? Like, I think I get stuck in this, where I have to slot myself into something to represent myself in a fully authentic way when I can't define what, what I, I am.

Does that make sense? You know?

Kelly Schuknecht: Yeah, I know what you mean. I think well, and, and having the, the marketing agency background that you have. You, you know, this world is very casual, right? Marketing

Janice Hostager: Right.

Kelly Schuknecht: often do show up in

Janice Hostager: Yeah,

Kelly Schuknecht: and baseball caps and whatever. [00:26:00] Yeah. And I, again, I think you. You shouldn't overthink it. I think you need to decide who you are as a person showing up.

Right. So, I have a rule for myself that, when my podcast today is usually my day that I, I. nice, right? So my, my husband and I joke, it's, typically Thursdays is when I record all of my podcast episodes for my own podcast. And then I try to do all my guest episodes on that day as well. And so that's usually the day, like I'll come downstairs wearing a dress and my husband will say, oh, it's podcast day, right?

Janice Hostager: Mm-hmm.

Kelly Schuknecht: knows I'm gonna be on, on camera. And I, I make a conscious decision to dress nice on that day. And other days when I don't have meetings, I will, you know, dress down and, and whatever, right? It's important to me how I show up and how I appear, but in yet, I could be on a call with somebody who's wearing a hoodie in a, in a baseball cap, and, you know, it doesn't, it really doesn't matter.

It's really about how you want to be perceived. And so for me, I make that decision. Other people, you know, don't care. And so,

Janice Hostager: Yeah.

Kelly Schuknecht: again, it's part of your personal brand and how you wanna be. How you want to be perceived, right?, When I go speak on stages, I typically am gonna wear a blazer.

I'm gonna look, you know, I'm going to, I'm gonna look nice, right?

Janice Hostager: Mm-hmm.

Kelly Schuknecht: gonna show up in a hoodie and jeans and I have seen speakers do that, and it's fine, they can

Janice Hostager: Yeah.

Kelly Schuknecht: But that's not the personal brand that I want to have.

Janice Hostager: Yeah. Yeah. And I think maybe for, for me personally, I think it's more just going throughout down that. Decision process. And, and I, I tend to probably be dressed a little more professionally, you know, in, in professional situations. But there are some people that pull it off really well by wearing the, the torn jeans and, and the hoodie and, and, and that becomes part of their.

Brand, you know, just how they appear in person. But, so I love that you didn't necessarily focus on that in our conversation, that you're talking about your story and I guess that's it. It's really, I'm looking for a way, maybe 'cause I'm a visual person to visually connect that. Personal brand with a visual brand.

And [00:28:00] so, yeah, I think that's the, that's where I get hung up personally, but I might be weird in that one, but, okay. So I have a few Rapid Fire q and as for you. So if your branding feels off or if your brand, your personal feel brand feels off, where should you look first?

Kelly Schuknecht: If it feels off well, so

Janice Hostager: So if, if you feel like something in my brand isn't really working real well and I don't know what it is, where, where would be the first thing to look at?

Kelly Schuknecht: Um, so I do think it's that story. I think, you know, we talked about the story. If something isn't resonating with your audience. You gotta look at what you're talking about, right? Like, what,

Janice Hostager: Hmm.

Kelly Schuknecht: what are you saying? And why isn't it resonating? Maybe you're trying to reach the wrong people. Maybe, maybe your story isn't, I hate to say it, but maybe it's not interesting

Janice Hostager: Yeah.

Kelly Schuknecht: And so, it's maybe pulling out of that story, what is the most interesting part, and then. maybe getting that outside feedback. Janice, we talked about that, like getting outside feedback from people that might help you, make that story more compelling.

Janice Hostager: Hmm. Yeah. Love that. So what's one brand that you love right now?

Kelly Schuknecht: Oh my goodness. In what

Janice Hostager: I.

Kelly Schuknecht: Any industry.

Janice Hostager: Any industry. We're just doing hypotheticals right now, so.

Kelly Schuknecht: Well, I, so this is silly. I'm gonna do a silly answer. I am, I'm, I have been exploring LTKI love, so we talked about clothes and I like, I really enjoy wearing things that make me, just make me happy, right? Like I enjoy. Doing like outfit of the day posts and things like that.

Not on LinkedIn, but on, on my other social media, like my fun social media.

Janice Hostager: Yeah.

Kelly Schuknecht: and so LTK is a platform for, like marketing. So I can, I can share some of the outfits that I'm wearing and have affiliate links in there. And so I'm just, I'm only like two weeks into this platform, but that I'm, I'm loving the, the brand.

It's. [00:30:00] Self, like the, there, there's a lot of women on there who just are really enjoying, similar things and it's kind of a, a fun community. So

Janice Hostager: I'll have to check that out. Nice. So.

Kelly Schuknecht: like to shop, it's dangerous.

Janice Hostager: probably. Yeah. What's, something about branding that you've changed your mind about?

Kelly Schuknecht: Well, so part of my story that we didn't get into, in this episode, but, but I tell it in, you know, a lot of, a lot of, ways in a lot of interviews and things I do in, in my book, but for me, I was, for many, many years, the person behind the person,

Janice Hostager: Yeah.

Kelly Schuknecht: is what I say. So I was working for a CEO and I was the person that was helping him get everything done right. And I, so I think for me, what the, the kind of the. What I didn't believe before was that I was capable of being that person, right? Being the

Janice Hostager: Hmm.

Kelly Schuknecht: being the one who had the personal brand. I had, I was developing a personal brand all along, but like, not intentionally. I didn't know I was gonna start a company. And I think that what I have learned is that, we all have the ability to. Develop our own personal brand and stand out even if we feel like we are the behind the scenes person. Or if we've been the behind the scenes person and we don't, have that trust or faith in ourselves that we can do it.

We, we really can. And, and really it just takes being intentional, putting yourself out there.

Janice Hostager: That is such a great answer. I, I think so many of us have been the, you know, the, the person behind the brand for so long. In fact, my first business that I made, I intentionally chose not my name in the, in. Company name because I, I didn't want it to be a personal brand 'cause I thought I, I, no, I'm not ready for that yet.

And when I work with clients and I work with a lot of clients and it's all about pushing their brand. So to go out there and step into the arena, so to speak and say, okay, here's what I am, here's who I am, here's my story, here's what I believe. It takes a, a decent amount of courage. So I, I think that's awesome.

Kelly Schuknecht: it does.

Janice Hostager: Okay, [00:32:00] well with that, how can people learn more about you or your business or your books?

Kelly Schuknecht: Yeah. Yeah. For anyone who's interested in, in developing their personal brand, the best place to go is authority x factor.com. That is the site where you can learn about my book. You can also take the personal brand quiz, and that's, that's the, the, the key. So if, if you're wanting to grow a personal brand, take the personal brand quiz.

It's right up at the top of the, the website, and it takes just a couple of minutes to go through, and answer the questions while you're answering the questions. It'll make you think, it's thought provoking as you're answering everything, but then at the end it gives you a score and a recommendation for what to work on if you want to kind of take that next step with your personal brand.

So it's a great. Tool. It's, it's free. It's a great resource. And then also on that, that same page is information about the book, if that's something that you're interested in reading, and you can download the first chapter for free.

Janice Hostager: Oh, that's awesome. Well, of course I'll put all the links in show notes. Kelly, thank you so much. This has been delightful.

Kelly Schuknecht: Thank you, Janice. Thanks for having me on.

Janice Hostager: So if this episode hit a nerve in a good way, that is, here's your next step. Don't reinvent your entire brand. Just find a place where your message isn't clear, your story's not clear, because your personal brand clicks and it makes you connect with others. For more information about anything we talked about today, you can go to my weekly marketing.com/156. Thank you so much for joining me today. I'll see you next time. Bye for now.