Today’s guest is a friend of a friend, and there are lots of friends that we share in common, including guests who’ve been on this show; Gillian Zoe Segal, Ramit Sethi, James Altucher, Stephanie O’Connell, and so I’m really excited to connect with her. Her name is Dorie Clark. She’s a frequent contributor to Harvard Business Review, Time and Entrepreneur. She’s been recognized as a branding expert by The Associated Press, Inc, and Fortune.

What’s a brand? Yeah we’re gonna talk about that with Dorie. I believe I have a brand; sometimes I hesitate to admit it because I think it sounds, sometimes, a little snobby to say that I have a brand. But she puts it in a way that really democratizes this concept of having a personal brand. You have a brand, whether you’re working at a company, an entrepreneur, a mom staying at home with your kids raising them, you have a brand! And so the earlier you recognize that, and nurture that, and cultivate that, the better off you can be.

Now Dorie also serves as a marketing strategy consultant and speaker for many notable clients, including Google, Microsoft, Yale University, Fidelity, and World Bank among others. She’s the author of two great books; the first is called “Reinventing You“, and more recently she’s the author of “Stand Out: How to Find Your Breakthrough Idea and Build a Following Around It“. She currently is an adjunct professor of business administration at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, and a visiting professor for IE Business School in Madrid.

Dorie was also featured on Huffington Post as a 100 Must Follow on Twitter in 2013 and 2014. She’s also on the Nifty 50 list of top women on Twitter, and most notably she was named on of Inc Magazine’s 100 Great Leadership Speakers for Your Next Conference, and recognized in Forbes as one of 25 professional networking experts to watch in 2015. So she is, as it pertains to branding and leadership, she’s your go-to and she’s on the show today. So I’m very honored.

Three key takeaways:

• We’re gonna learn why we should all care and cultivate our personal brand. And as I said, you have one whether you like it or know it.
• The number one mistake people make in the pursuit of developing their audience and their personal brand, and how to manage your money when you’re self-employed and income is inconsistent and sometimes you make good money, sometimes you make no money.
• Dorie shares her two big rules and why they work for her.