I spent the bulk of my professional marketing career in a constant adaptation and adoption to digital strategy. My first label internship was in 1998, and I took my first full time role in 2000. Just in time to watch everything change. Later, an unplanned pivot forced me to apply all my marketing acumen to my own brand – and I didn’t do a great job. In my haste to get myself “out there,” I skipped the first step I always took with an artist: I didn’t have the story.

It took me a moment to figure out what I was doing wrong, and the lightbulb eventually went on because I was building my personal brand in another way without realizing it, just by consistently moving from a place of instinct and passion.

The creator economy is growing, with most people doing some variation of the same thing. The biggest misstep I see people make in trying to grab eyes and attention is focusing on a formula instead of their true desired outcome. They skip over the “why,” and get stuck in the “how.”

I’ve combined the learnings from my own journey, strategy I offer clients, and lessons I teach my college marketing students to create a series of classes and products to give creators, entrepreneurs, folks taking a leap, folks positioning for a pivot, or people who just want to solidify their brand actionable steps – NOT HACKS – to tap into the power of their story and use it to build an authentic brand.