Sales and Cigars | Isaac Mashman | Unlocking the Power of Personal Branding | Episode 202

[00:00:00] Hey everyone, Walter Crosby with Helix Sales Development, your host of Sales & Cigars.

[00:00:04] Today's episode is with Isaac Mashman and he says he's addicted to coffee and standards.

[00:00:11] And what we talk about is personal branding and we dial this in for you if you're a sales professional,

[00:00:19] if you're a salesperson, if you own a company, yes because you know your brand and your marketing

[00:00:25] is important as a company but as an individual this is what we're talking about, what you can do,

[00:00:31] what you should be doing, what you should be thinking about for your personal brand on social

[00:00:35] media and it's not you know taking a picture of what you had for dinner and posting it on Facebook

[00:00:40] right that unless that's your thing where you're doing reviews of food right so Isaac gets into some

[00:00:46] of the reasons of what we're trying to what you're trying to accomplish um he's really approachable

[00:00:52] he's really easy to talk to he's very accessible so go grab a cigar grab a cocktail and strap in for

[00:00:59] another educational episode of Sales & Cigars. Thanks. So Isaac welcome to Sales & Cigars,

[00:01:19] I appreciate you taking some time to join us for our conversation. Walter thank you for the invitation,

[00:01:25] a little jealous of you, have a call scheduled later tonight I'll be smoking a cigar but I'm in the office

[00:01:29] I don't think the the landlord would be too happy if I let up a cigar in here. Yeah my landlord provides

[00:01:35] me with some grace um seeing it's me um I get uh I built my own little cigar lounge that's turned into

[00:01:43] my podcast office my company office so I get a little I get a little bit more uh flexibility than most

[00:01:49] people do um so um so you know we're going to talk about um branding and marketing but I kind of

[00:01:58] kind of want to ask a couple of questions before we get going there um is there a is there a book that you

[00:02:04] you you reread or that you gift often to uh people in the business world? Yeah and it would actually be a book

[00:02:11] that would be perceived as controversial uh to people who just read it by face value or hear the term

[00:02:17] and it's actually The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli uh it's one of these books that you know that we use this term

[00:02:25] Machiavellian as this dark type you know dark energy kind of oh you're trying to be deceitful and

[00:02:32] in the book he's actually writing it from a third party standpoint it was a gift to um one of the I

[00:02:39] suppose princes right of Italy and Italy has a fascinating culture uh you know just in terms of

[00:02:44] the the you know Roman Catholic Church and uh you know it maintaining power and eventually there being

[00:02:50] a revolution in the church losing that power and there's a reason why it's consolidated to Vatican City

[00:02:54] today because that empire used to stretch for hundreds and hundreds of miles but in the book he

[00:03:00] he wrote it as a gift to in my opinion he wrote it to get into another position of power because he

[00:03:05] previously was a conciliary he was somebody who offered advice and he um by the end of his life

[00:03:11] lost a lot of that influence he had because the family that he was working with um I believe fell

[00:03:16] out of power one of the people died and he he sent it as a gift and it wasn't confirmed if he or if the

[00:03:22] person he gifted it to I don't remember the actual name I don't don't even want to think about that

[00:03:25] but it's not even confirmed if they read it right because it was published um I believe after his

[00:03:31] death but in the book he talks a lot about how to maintain good people around you more than anything

[00:03:36] and he says that you know one of the biggest downfalls of the prince is having bad advisors

[00:03:40] that have uh pretty much attached their success in a selfish manner and will look for any way to gain

[00:03:47] that upper hand on the person in power and he says in one of the chapters that the smart ruler at the

[00:03:53] smart prince needs to find people who attach their success to the prince's success and I've adopted

[00:03:57] that too because anytime that I bring on a consultant or somebody I want to work with I want to make

[00:04:01] sure that they're somebody who wants to grow with me right we're in this together in this business

[00:04:06] relationship and I believe that in a business sense it's it's really an underrated book and you cannot

[00:04:11] just think about it from this dark energy trying to manipulate people but rather understanding

[00:04:16] human intentions and understanding what you can do to achieve that sort of power in your own

[00:04:21] business in your own life so I believe it's a necessary read whether or not you're interested

[00:04:25] in history or psychology but just from the face value and diving deep into it and studying it not

[00:04:31] just if you just read it you're not going to understand it but if you dive deep into it like a

[00:04:36] textbook and and go chapter by chapter there's a lot to you know unpack there and it's something I need

[00:04:42] to pick up I have an illustrated copy I found at Goodwill actually I was really blessed to find that

[00:04:47] I need to reread it it's been a couple months since since I last picked it up that's a that's a first

[00:04:52] dude so I appreciate that and everything I've ever ever read about that that book has always been as

[00:05:01] you say this from a negative perspective but when when we are looking for that advisor that people that

[00:05:08] we're working with employees right as well we need to make sure that our vision and their vision is aligned

[00:05:15] and that we're we're working towards the same uh the same objectives and same goals and I think one

[00:05:23] thing that it'd be you know I'll have to go and and look at this it's probably a book that you need to

[00:05:28] dive into over a period of time um based on what you're saying but I to me it's it's like when if we have

[00:05:35] employees or we have a particular partner that we're working with it's a it's important I think to tell them

[00:05:42] how they can influence our vision how they can achieve the vision of the company of the greater good

[00:05:50] if we don't tell them how they do that in their position at their level at their level of function at their

[00:05:56] level of authority um I think we miss the boat and I think that's a common thing I see with with CEOs and

[00:06:02] business owners they they great at explaining the vision but they don't always help them help the

[00:06:09] individual realize you know this is why and this is what you can do every day every week to make that happen

[00:06:17] I'm kind of curious if if that was something that came out of the book like that or is it um

[00:06:23] did they go that deep because I I have to be honest I haven't read that book I just heard about it

[00:06:29] yeah it's definitely worth reading Walter I mean for any stage in business I mean it's just interesting

[00:06:33] too because it's such a cultural piece to where that phrase and psychology is you know well recognized

[00:06:39] you know you have phrases like narcissism and uh you know psychopath you know sociopath and and then you

[00:06:45] have Machiavellian right the personality types but uh in the book if I'm not mistaken he does talk about

[00:06:50] kind of setting that vision right and kind of having a common enemy if you have a common enemy that you

[00:06:54] can attack and kind of get the people on board for because he writes it from a 30 000 foot overview

[00:06:59] to use that analogy of being in an airplane right of like you have all this territory where are you

[00:07:04] sending troops where are you sending resources um and and there are strategies like in the book that um

[00:07:10] he doesn't he actually explicitly says that he doesn't endorse a lot of the strategies which is

[00:07:15] interesting and he says that uh you know you should never be outright evil and do these things

[00:07:19] um without some end goal in mind and he uses the example of a prince who uh i believe he was a duke

[00:07:25] actually and he uh basically killed a lot of the people in power or did something heinous and what he

[00:07:32] did is rather than taking the fall himself he had a fall guy and he had a general that he put in the town

[00:07:37] square and basically let the public kill and so the prince looks great and you have this fall guy and so

[00:07:43] uh you know niccolo he says you know don't do these strategies just to be you know evil mannered but i

[00:07:49] believe in a business sense setting a vision that is achievable and and for example in my own company

[00:07:54] with mashman consulting group i've publicly set the goal of being the number one public relations

[00:07:59] or not public relations i'm still in that that pr standpoint but the number one personal brand

[00:08:03] consultancy that is able to work and assist clients from all walks of life all professions

[00:08:08] in an ethical manner in a moral manner because the you know public relations space and the personal

[00:08:14] branding space there's so much uh sleazeballs right and i believe that in sales you've probably

[00:08:18] seen these guys that are just like selling products or services that they themselves don't believe in

[00:08:23] or things that are you know snake oil and i've set that public goal of being the number one personal

[00:08:28] brand consultancy and having a team of 500 consultants by 2035 but why is that right i could set the vision

[00:08:34] but why what's the deeper meaning and it's really to set the tone in a positive manner and provide

[00:08:39] the proper advice and provide the proper you know certifications the proper uh strategies to people

[00:08:45] so they don't get scanned and so they don't fall victim to the fake forbes feature to the fake followers

[00:08:51] to the fake crap that everybody else sells online the you know the lamborghini hustle bro culture which

[00:08:56] we see a lot that's evident on social media today it's uh you know when you were describing the

[00:09:03] the the lamborghini that that fake group um you know what pops into my mind are those uh commercials

[00:09:11] infomercials late night where they're doing the hard sell all that that we know inherently is crap

[00:09:21] we know there's a catch we know there's some moral uh uh proclivity there that it just doesn't

[00:09:28] it isn't clean um and but but somehow people are still drawn to that shortcut um and they're drawn

[00:09:36] to the idea of getting someplace faster and and and it's not it's not generational um a lot of people

[00:09:44] out here like wow you know kids today right well kids today they've been saying that for 120 years

[00:09:49] right um everybody's been talking about it it's to me it's just a human thing that people are aren't willing to

[00:09:57] do the the the work um right and recognize that it takes some time and you're going to make mistakes

[00:10:05] um along the way but you you you gotta you gotta do the work uh and i don't care if it's sales or

[00:10:12] marketing or um you know just just generally running a business you you gotta go do the work and make

[00:10:19] the mistakes yeah it's the equivalent of the diet pill versus the actually working out and and eating

[00:10:25] right uh you know everybody wants a six pack overnight and so they'll get do the weight watchers

[00:10:30] do the programs purchase the pill or you could uh you know i suppose compare it to the tv of you know

[00:10:36] the tv evangelist that sells holy water and thinks that you can be cured automatically and it's like

[00:10:41] it's so unethical and there is this innate gut feeling of this isn't really legitimate but the hope is what

[00:10:49] leads the person to make the purchase and sales is 80 emotions i mean that's common right

[00:10:54] everybody uses that example it's like yeah i mean you you lean into the emotional side the dream

[00:10:58] building side the uh oh you want this because you want it not because you need it and that's where i

[00:11:04] think as a sales professionals especially need to have kind of that moral backbone of saying

[00:11:08] i'm not going to sell something to somebody that they don't need and uh you know from a personal

[00:11:13] branding standpoint being that fake person that fake guru that that rented lamborghini rented rolls

[00:11:19] royce is just it's unethical because people are still going to want to support you even if you're

[00:11:25] not at that point but you're working to get to that point and you let these people live vicariously

[00:11:29] through your vision of what you're building towards and i mean it can be just as effective and it's

[00:11:33] more effective because now you mitigate the reputational risks of somebody finding out that

[00:11:38] you're illegitimate right and uh that's kind of a big reason why i'm in this space and why i'm

[00:11:44] setting that ambitious goal of being the number one personal brand consultancy worldwide because

[00:11:49] i believe that we can do it the right way and that we can do it with a a firm ethical standing

[00:11:54] all right i mean i think everybody's if you're looking to help people right this is the premise

[00:12:01] of sales in my mind if we're looking to actually help somebody and we can help them we're obligated

[00:12:08] to do that and and if if we're if we can't help them we understand their problem but we can't help

[00:12:15] them we're obligated to say i can't help you i'm not your guy i do these things but not that thing

[00:12:22] and it's being it's being willing to not just try to to jam that square peg into the round hole

[00:12:30] um and it happens for lots of reasons um but it if we don't have that moral compass then we're you

[00:12:39] know get ourselves into trouble our reputation gets damaged so uh and i think that's a great

[00:12:46] a segue there so we we've talked about this on on the podcast we talked about branding before we've

[00:12:53] talked about marketing um but from your perspective and we're thinking about individuals what's the

[00:13:00] difference how how does a like a salesperson who's been around for a few years is doing well

[00:13:08] what should they be thinking about and how do they know the difference between branding and marketing

[00:13:13] well let me start out by defining what personal branding is because building a personal brand is a

[00:13:17] lot different than building a company brand your personal brand is you it's who you are and i would

[00:13:21] make the philosophical argument that you've had your personal brand from the moment you were born

[00:13:25] your parents determined your name where you were born nurtured into those characteristics and beliefs

[00:13:30] you know the god that you pray to the political ideology that you adhere to

[00:13:33] and as an adult you are now able to cautiously direct that personal brand and direct your reputation

[00:13:40] which is an extension of it to achieve a particular goal and if i could define branding versus marketing

[00:13:45] simply branding is what you were known as right what you were known for and marketing is how you can

[00:13:50] get more people to know about you and so they're very there's this great symbiosis that happens between

[00:13:56] the two because how you brand yourself think about rolls-royce or think about ferrari and lamborghini

[00:14:01] compared to ford or chevy or gmc right it affects how they're marketing themselves and right the the

[00:14:06] marketing vehicles and the channels exactly and so from a sales professional standpoint you need to

[00:14:12] position yourself as that expert right position yourself as that authority and so if you're in

[00:14:16] the automotive detail or automotive sales industry you need to position yourself as a top sales leader

[00:14:22] in the automotive space and then talk about hey some of the strategies talk about the client stories

[00:14:27] talk about the sales talk about you know the end result of hey i was able to help rebecca get into

[00:14:31] the car of her dreams which was perfect for her family and you can lean into content creation and

[00:14:38] podcasting or writing articles and you know doing these things that are providing that public display

[00:14:43] of competence that people are able to latch onto and see so whether you're adhering to the hey i'm trying

[00:14:49] to train other professionals in my space versus the i'm also showing people the ins and outs of you know

[00:14:55] what it's like to be on the other end of the deal right and be the person who's presenting the paper

[00:15:00] and present presenting the uh contract you're able to uh position yourself as that number one person

[00:15:06] which will help you cut through the noise because it's hyper competitive right there there's no shortage

[00:15:11] of sales professionals there's no shortage of content creators online but by positioning yourself

[00:15:17] and saying hey i help do x y and z i help automotive dealerships increase their sales right you are able to

[00:15:25] effectively be that go to be that referral partner for the people who are looking for referrals and

[00:15:30] we're talking about a couple minutes ago uh if you're not able to provide or work with that client

[00:15:35] right or maybe not being able to provide that service or product chances are you know somebody who could

[00:15:40] and so by you taking the moral path and saying i can't help you but i know somebody who can you're

[00:15:47] building a phenomenal relationship with the person you send them to right by being that referral

[00:15:51] partner you're thinking of them and you're saying hey i know james i know walter right i know uh willis

[00:15:56] and he's going to be able to walk with you and and provide that exact thing that i might not be able

[00:16:01] to but you're still going to be able to get that end result and maybe down the line if you see

[00:16:06] a need i'm still going to be here the company's still going to be here so you could obviously follow

[00:16:11] up with me but for where you're at right now why don't you go with this person and that helps you

[00:16:15] stand out in the space and as somebody who has that moral backbone and and has that spine which

[00:16:21] i believe as a culture and as a society is more important than ever to be able to say hey we're

[00:16:27] not the we're not the best fit but i know somebody who is and uh right there helps you stand out it's

[00:16:33] creating credibility yes for yourself right and um my belief and i'm curious if this falls in the line

[00:16:41] you know if we're authentic to who we are and we're we're really listening to the the individual that

[00:16:51] we're that we're that we're talking to and trying to qualify disqualify somebody it you know we're

[00:16:57] obligated to to tell them that and we're we're looking for that that credibility is created through

[00:17:05] the questions we ask and and and being a resource rather than always having always trying to sell

[00:17:12] something because right i think you said it earlier no one likes to be sold to but everybody likes to buy

[00:17:20] and and i i think that's a um there's a distinction there that you could spend you could write a book

[00:17:26] about um i think daniel pink has written books about that but that my my point is we we need to

[00:17:34] be clear about what it is that we can we can really do to help somebody and if we're if they're not in

[00:17:41] our lane have a a toolbox of resources to share that's going to that's going to help create that

[00:17:48] credibility rather than trying to put a a square peg into a round hole well and what you're talking

[00:17:54] about is also connecting on a personal level right sales people go wrong because they only focus on the

[00:18:00] service or the outcome and they don't focus on the individual and talking about their needs and

[00:18:03] talking about their desires so last week i was in denver for a conference where i spoke and it was

[00:18:08] in the water feature uh space so i was talking to people who create these beautiful koi ponds

[00:18:13] waterfalls outdoor water features and one of the things that was made clear to me was how

[00:18:18] uh much of a luxury and an emotional connection these water features have to these people because

[00:18:24] think about if you've had the dream for your entire life to have a koi pond now you're in this space

[00:18:30] where you now you can get a koi pond built it's not just some pond it's not just a a water or a body

[00:18:36] of water that has some fish in it it's this no i have a pond because my dad had a pond and now i'm

[00:18:41] able to take my daughter and dip her toes into the water and feed the fish and treat these memories and

[00:18:46] so you're connecting with the person and you know in the personal branding space you can just say i help

[00:18:51] do x y and z i help coaches increase the revenue by thirty thousand dollars in ninety days but

[00:18:56] okay cool so does the next guy but if you can say hey avid cigar enthusiast right like this is a point

[00:19:02] of rapport right and sales requires rapport that trust and in the personal branding space i always

[00:19:08] encourage my clients to find that uh personal hook and then you can go into the professional punch

[00:19:13] line so i say addicted to coffee and standards i help emerging and establish public figures optimize

[00:19:19] and scale their personal brands so i have a personal hook which is addicted to coffee which i've

[00:19:23] already had so much i'm not coming into this session with a cup of coffee in hand but but the

[00:19:27] thing is i mean the cigar thing for sales and cigars is perfect because now you're adhering to and

[00:19:33] you're connecting with people who have an enthusiasm for cigars and then they're the sales professional

[00:19:38] but they're connecting with you walter first and that right there is a huge piece of advice but it's

[00:19:45] and i had this conversation with somebody the other day like well don't you feel like you know you

[00:19:49] talking about cigars and having a cigar doesn't that like you know repel certain people or make certain

[00:19:56] people go away and it like does that happen yeah it does and that's okay right because those probably

[00:20:04] aren't my people might i be able to help them yeah i might be able to help them with if they have a

[00:20:10] particular problem but if they're not if they're not allowing me to be who i am and because to me

[00:20:19] it's relatively easy to get business right i mean it's it's it's not easy but it's you know if you're

[00:20:25] good at it and you're and you you have professionalism getting the business isn't necessarily the problem

[00:20:32] it's having for me it's having some fun and working with people that really really want to transform

[00:20:39] so in terms of my brand you know i want somebody who's committed to going down the bumpy road

[00:20:48] that is change and it will get bumpy and it will be uncomfortable and if we if we're not prepared to

[00:20:55] navigate that right that's why we that's why we have cigars right because we we got to take some time to

[00:21:02] contemplate what we're doing but it's to me it's okay to niche that in and you know lose some of

[00:21:09] those people because they're not your people but think about how solid of relationships you're building

[00:21:14] with the people who are your core group so yeah you might lose a couple people who might be turned off

[00:21:18] and be like oh my god he's smoking tobacco in 2024 how could he how awful compared to the people who are

[00:21:26] saying man i like this dude i don't even smoke cigars right now i i do but think about somebody who's

[00:21:31] coming to your profile and be like i don't smoke cigars but i i see the appeal of that like gentleman

[00:21:36] kind of perspective of sitting down enjoying something and having something that they they

[00:21:40] they are prideful about because that's what cigars are cigars are a point of relaxation absolutely

[00:21:45] but cigars also represent an ideology of being that you know i would use the term masculine even though

[00:21:52] you know women smoke cigars as well but it's traditionally more of a masculine thing you sit around

[00:21:57] you talk business with friends you talk uh you know talk about what's going on in life you're

[00:22:01] celebrating an occasion so people who even aren't in the space are able to respect that and appreciate

[00:22:06] it maybe not to the same degree as somebody who does smoke cigars but that gives a deeper layer

[00:22:11] of connection and a deeper layer of rapport that can be built so these people are going to think of you

[00:22:15] be like man you know i like walter because of his approach i like the whole cigar thing and uh it's like

[00:22:21] you can have an interest in something um or not have an interest in something but still appreciate it

[00:22:26] right even if it's uh even if it's somebody who uh you know is a a a pipe person or they're a an

[00:22:35] aficionado around beer okay they have i mean there's a way in there's a way to understand them you you can

[00:22:41] connect right most people have knowledge about like beer or whiskey or some other some other thing right

[00:22:50] and if not it's it's a curiosity where you could you get a chance to learn something about exactly

[00:22:55] it's literally a way in um for somebody to start to build that that rapport and it it to me it's like

[00:23:04] it's okay if if it's not for everybody and there's nothing wrong with that because we can't be

[00:23:11] everything to everybody and when we when we do that in sales it gets us i think that's what gets them

[00:23:16] into trouble is that they're trying to to to sell something to somebody when it's really not a good fit

[00:23:23] and it's a really it's a you you gain so much by saying this doesn't sound like i can really help you

[00:23:32] right and the good news is i think i know somebody who who who i could refer you to that could help you

[00:23:40] with that i mean i i've told the story before right i was helping i was working with somebody

[00:23:45] like prospecting and we were talking through an issue and they had a huge problem that i could help them with

[00:23:51] but it wasn't their biggest problem they had a bigger problem that they had to solve or nothing

[00:23:57] else mattered and i'm like okay so put what we're talking about on the back burner you got to go fix

[00:24:04] that right i mean or you just you're you're done so definitely go talk to bob i will connect you you

[00:24:13] make a decision as to whether bob can really help you with that but he'll at least give you some insight

[00:24:18] that maybe you're you don't have and it turns out they're working together they're they're solving the

[00:24:24] problem there's progress right the the the tide has changed um and will we do work together maybe um but

[00:24:33] it's like i get a certain sense of satisfaction as a salesperson that i helped the guy solve the

[00:24:38] problem yeah you're still a part of his journey undeniably and if you think about the sales cycle

[00:24:44] and the sales process you need to hook right you need need somewhere to come in and have that initial

[00:24:49] conversation and i believe i view the cigars thing for sales and cigars is a similar thing of you have

[00:24:56] the cigars which hooks people in and then the value and the conversations and the expertise that

[00:25:01] you're able to provide and the guests that you bring on are able to keep people there and so you

[00:25:06] have an initial hook in the sales process that says hey there's a need that i can solve but then the

[00:25:11] actual value in terms of product or service that you're selling is going to keep them on that journey

[00:25:17] with you and keep them coming back for more uh you know in my own work in personal branding i mean

[00:25:22] i could work with podcasters authors anybody but there there's an initial need and then as that

[00:25:28] relationship builds and as their journey progresses and they're expanding their personal brand now three

[00:25:34] months might go by and there might be a new need that arises and so that relationship and that value

[00:25:39] that i was able to initially provide them will have them come back and say isaac i need another

[00:25:43] consultation let's work together and and that's the thing i mean sales is relationships and you know

[00:25:48] the biggest issue i think most people have is they're not having enough conversations and they're not

[00:25:53] learning and gathering enough information this is something i've seen in my own business of like

[00:25:57] hey why is revenue down because i'm not talking to as many people right i'm not doing as much

[00:26:01] and if you just have more conversations chances are your revenue is going to naturally increase in

[00:26:07] parallel if if you're if you have the right mindset and you're providing value it is just ability to

[00:26:14] connect with people at a certain scale and that might be 10 people a month it might be 100 people a

[00:26:21] month it just depends upon the nature of your vision your business but i mean you do have to

[00:26:26] be out there uh telling a story the story has to be compelling and that's really what what we've been

[00:26:33] talking about is that personal brand is finding the thing that allows you to be yourself right that

[00:26:40] authenticity that makes it easier because people can feel that right and and and being able to i'm sure

[00:26:48] there's more to it but if if if you're faking it that's going to come out at some point yeah and and

[00:26:55] what will happen is you'll go from the person who's sending referrals and eventually be the person who

[00:27:00] gets referred right and so if you're solving a specific problem or let's say you're selling

[00:27:06] i don't know hvac services right something so niche but something so needed you can send you know

[00:27:11] business to other hvac professionals if you're not able to service a particular client and it takes

[00:27:16] a certain degree of selflessness to do that but by you positioning yourself as that you know number one

[00:27:21] hvac professional in your local industry or the the you know top sales guy eventually customers

[00:27:27] and clients and friends and people in your network are going to say hey oh your ac broke i got a guy

[00:27:32] and then they can refer you i mentioned mike facara who just launched a cigar brand out of miami guido

[00:27:37] cigars um whom i'm going to refer you to and and have a conversation with i look forward to him being on

[00:27:42] the show but you know if you're thinking about the italian i got a guy right the the mafia approach right

[00:27:49] uh you know you you have to be willing to share uh your industry you have to be willing to share your

[00:27:55] network and that will pay off in dividends long term because again it's like sales is a long process

[00:28:01] building your personal brand is a lifetime commitment and building a business is a lifetime

[00:28:05] commitment something you got to go into with the long long term in mind yeah and in having the right

[00:28:11] motivation i don't know selflessness it's really just being a good person being a good human and

[00:28:18] and sharing what you know and providing value and um the the it it's it's more of you know the golden

[00:28:26] rule kind of uh kind of a situation right where if you do the right things for the right people in

[00:28:33] the right amount you know you're going to um you're you're you're gonna win in the in the long run

[00:28:40] yes and it's it really comes down to those basic basic philosophies so you know what you you're

[00:28:47] you're you're able to talk to people who are at any level um in terms of developing their brand

[00:28:54] somebody's been around for five minutes to five years you can you can still provide them some guidance

[00:29:00] and coaching and development um what's the best way we're gonna have some notes in the in the show

[00:29:06] notes but what's the best way for somebody to identify yep i am somebody that isaac can help and

[00:29:14] i need to get a hold of like what what should they be thinking about would be very broad based to say

[00:29:19] like i can work with anybody and everybody and you mentioned a good point of whether you're just starting

[00:29:24] out versus you're already an experienced professional and the approach that i would take

[00:29:27] with both clients differs based off of where they're at so if you're just starting out we're not

[00:29:32] positioning you as the top authority in anything right we're positioning you as somebody who is an

[00:29:36] up-and-coming professional somebody who is learning and aspiring to achieve that goal and so you're

[00:29:41] taking people along for your journey in your process to achieve that compared to the professional where

[00:29:47] you already have the expertise so now you can talk about all of the knowledge and talk about your

[00:29:51] stories and talk about your life and you know the the different things that you're able to offer

[00:29:56] so the positioning and the approach is a little bit different um typically the best people that i work

[00:30:01] with are people who have a lot of success offline but don't know the first thing about

[00:30:04] how they can leverage that uh credibility that they have that those local successes and transmute

[00:30:10] that into the digital manner um i've been able to work with podcasters authors creatives models

[00:30:15] entertainers musicians and really the end goal is varying by the client but there are three main

[00:30:22] overarching reasons why somebody would want to build out their personal brand number one is to make money

[00:30:27] right you want to drive revenue for your business or maybe you want to sell merchandise or make money through

[00:30:32] some sort of uh group coaching or have a a paywall behind content whatever that might be maybe you

[00:30:39] want to build out your personal brand for a purpose right you're mission driven uh you see this a lot

[00:30:43] with these billionaires who uh want to you know associate themselves with some philanthropic cause uh this is

[00:30:50] also seen for example people who have a deep connection to things and traumatic events that they've experienced

[00:30:55] right you think about domestic abuse survivors or sexual assault right these are people who turn into the best

[00:31:00] public speakers the best authorities because they are taking a mission and they're telling more people

[00:31:06] about it and the final reason walter why you'd want to build out your personal brand is is very simply

[00:31:10] vanity and i i don't see that being you know anybody in your audience but we see this a lot in celebrities

[00:31:15] and entertainers hey why do you want to be famous oh it feels good right it's it's a win-win situation

[00:31:20] i like it right but uh i'm still in a void exactly exactly and i'm not here to talk about oh which is

[00:31:27] better which is worse should you even be driven by vanity i'm not here to be your pastor your father

[00:31:32] that you go and and you know confess to but what i would tell you is if you're considering building

[00:31:37] out your personal brand start by asking yourself why you want to build out your personal brand and then

[00:31:42] we could talk about what are the steps that we can take and strategize and for you to implement

[00:31:46] in order to achieve that particular goal and actually you know make more money or get more

[00:31:51] people to know about a certain cause so identify those things and then once you have an idea about

[00:31:56] where you want to go then i come in and my firm comes in and now we can start okay step one step two

[00:32:02] step three uh and i'm really big and and you know every single consultant that we're going to bring on

[00:32:06] over the next decade is going to have a very big organic approach i'm not some of this like let's get

[00:32:12] rich quick building your personal brand takes time i mean it took me five six years to land my first

[00:32:17] forbes feature right and just today i i looked online and it turns out i was in another article

[00:32:22] i'm like that's so cool but it took me five years from not getting that massive result that i was working

[00:32:27] towards to finally be able to have that compound success and it's the same thing as sales you can go

[00:32:32] through a dry spell six months goes by and your revenue is not there and then all of a sudden the

[00:32:36] floodgate opens and you have 25 clients who want to work with you and close

[00:32:41] so it it's being understanding why you want to do this and where you want to go

[00:32:46] is a is a good place to start best place to reach you website linkedin what's what's your preference

[00:32:52] well you can go to google and type in isaac mashman and connect with me on the social media platform of

[00:32:57] of your choice i'm on facebook i'm on linkedin um you know anywhere that you're you're there i'm

[00:33:02] probably there as well it can't be a personal branding guy and not be well connected got it so last

[00:33:07] question isaac um pastor president any relationship with cigars definitely uh definitely it's it's one

[00:33:14] of those things that i enjoy um you know growing up i was in boy scouts which i attribute a lot to

[00:33:21] the man that i am today and i believe that boy scouts should not to get too political should be the place

[00:33:27] for men for boys to become men it should 100 be reserved for boys and i remember i had a bunch of

[00:33:32] scout masters who were military guys you know one was a marine one was navy another was navy and uh

[00:33:37] these older men and i'm still connected with some of them today and uh sitting around the campfire

[00:33:42] and it would always be towards the end uh we had one mr ike and he used to always chew on the cigar

[00:33:46] he'd get the cheap swisher sweets and being from jacksonville uh the swisher sweets factories in

[00:33:51] jacksonville florida but then the older i got and the later i stayed up around the campfire

[00:33:56] i'd realize that they would break out the cigars and they'd sit around and talk for hours they'd watch

[00:34:00] the fire die down i know one of my scout masters uh mr larry he would sit there just by himself

[00:34:06] just smoking a cigar and you would never see him smoke a cigar until it was late at night

[00:34:10] and uh as an adult and as a younger man i felt like it was a rite of passage and i still believe

[00:34:16] it is a rite of passage in many ways in many regards but we see these masculine figures like

[00:34:21] sylvester stallone or arnold schwarzenegger smoking the cigars in the movies or hannibal from the a-team

[00:34:26] right and it was like at the end of every episode hannibal and i know the tv show is way before my

[00:34:32] time but at the end he'd like be like i love it when a plan you know comes together and the end of

[00:34:36] the episode every single time would be him smoking a cigar on the plane or on the helicopter or whatever

[00:34:40] and um as an adult i've kind of adopted that and it's like yeah you don't need to smoke a cigar

[00:34:47] you never do it's not like a cigarette you don't need to go out and smoke a cigarette in the rain

[00:34:51] right when it's freezing cold like my grandmother used to do uh but it's a want right it's it's a want

[00:34:57] it's a desire it's a it's not a need it the relationship is different and that's what most

[00:35:02] people misunderstand and they're like oh you smoke cigars you need to understand why just like why you

[00:35:07] want to build out your personal brand i never thought i'd draw this parallel but why you want to

[00:35:11] build out your personal brand and why you want to smoke smoke a cigar you know the intention is different

[00:35:16] and um that's why you know i'm a huge lover of perdomo's padrones and olivas those are probably

[00:35:22] my top three brands uh nick perdomo when i was first getting into the space i went to youtube and

[00:35:27] he was this dude who was like you know he looked italian even though he's not italian

[00:35:32] and he was this this shorter guy dressed in a really clean pinstripe suit and he did a tutorial

[00:35:37] on how to light up a cigar i was like man i like this guy this guy has class and um it's i love them i

[00:35:45] didn't realize i was so passionate about him but i i can talk about him apparently for extended

[00:35:49] amounts of time yeah yeah um but but there there's different reasons uh to have cigar um to and to

[00:35:58] kind of tag on to what you're saying i can go into um any town that has a cigar lounge i go into that

[00:36:06] cigar lounge and it happened uh we were talking about arkansas i i went into hot springs and there's a

[00:36:13] little there's a little cigar shop there on on the that little main strip um as soon as you walk in

[00:36:20] like you got something in common with all the people in there men and women right all demographics all

[00:36:26] economics you know everything is is different and you got one thing in common that you can start with

[00:36:34] and it to me it's a great it's a great equalizer everybody can what are you smoking right is a

[00:36:40] how most of those conversations start and boom you're off to the races and you might find something

[00:36:46] else you might find you got nothing else in common is but isn't it cool we both like cigars and there's

[00:36:52] not judgment i mean obviously yeah if you're smoking like a swisher sweet might crack a joke or two but

[00:36:57] it's not with the intent to hurt right and that's how you build those relationships and uh that's something

[00:37:03] i also appreciate it's it's not a judgmental space it's a we share a similar thing a similar passion a

[00:37:09] similar hobby and uh i believe from a business standpoint finding those those ways to disconnect

[00:37:14] or uh disconnect on a emotional level just to connect and make more business it's like going to a bar

[00:37:20] after a business conference right and having those conversations you're sitting around and now you

[00:37:24] introduce a cigar it just takes that relationship deeper and um it's another vehicle to to uh to build off of

[00:37:32] and and find some common ground yeah um yeah it's awesome all right isaac i appreciate all of the

[00:37:39] insights they appreciate the passion for uh uh for cigars and um thank you very much walter the pleasure is

[00:37:46] all mine my friend