WS394: Building Your Personal Brand with Dave Daley

If you feel like your current branding strategies are not getting you the results you want, then today’s show is just the one for you!  Dave Daley a.k.a. the Monster Motivator is our guest today and provides some valuable insights that will usher your branding out of 2004 and into 2020, where it belongs. Branding is a central part of any business and the world of real estate is no exception.

[INTRODUCTION]

[00:00:00] ANNOUNCER: Welcome to The Real Estate Syndication Show. Whether you are a seasoned investor or building a new real estate business, this is the show for you. Whitney Sewell talks to top experts in the business. Our goal is to help you master real estate syndication.

And now your host, Whitney Sewell.

[INTERVIEW]

[00:00:24] WS: This is your daily Real Estate Syndication Show. I’m your host, Whitney Sewell. Today, our guest is Dave Daley. Thanks for being on the show again, Dave.

[00:00:33] DD: Hey, Whitney. Thanks so much for inviting me on. I’m looking forward to connecting with your audience.

[00:00:38] WS: Yeah. I’m looking forward to this too. I really enjoy getting to know you. We’ve got to talk numerous times over the last I guess few weeks, and I’ve enjoyed it a lot. So, I know you’re going to bring some big value to the listeners. This is a big subject that everybody’s looking to learn more about and trying to figure this out. I know you’re going to provide a lot of value and help us on that today.

So quickly, I want to remind the listeners to go to Life Bridge Capital where you can connect with me personally and also join the group, the Real Estate Syndication Show, so we can ask questions of experts like Dave and other people in the industry and connect and network and grow our businesses together.

But a little about Dave, he is a straight-talking authority on business leadership and personal branding. He draws upon his more than 20 years of hands-on experience as a salesperson, entrepreneur, and CEO to deliver an experience that is both entertaining and educational in every one of his speaking engagements. His techniques reinforce his core principle that branding 101 is “Never let them forget you.”

That’s incredible, Dave. That’s so true. So true. Tell the listeners a little more about who you are, what you do, and then was jump into this topic that everybody’s trying to or if you’re in business, you need to be thinking about, right?

[00:01:52] DD: Yeah. It really is. It’s interesting. I talk about branding in 2020 versus 2004. So many people are stuck in that 2004 time, and the evolution that we’re experiencing in the last 15 to 20 years is unprecedented, absolutely unprecedented. But if you look kind of 30,000-foot view of who I am, where I came from, and where I’ve seen myself going, to be really honest with you, Whitney, I’m not even actually supposed to be here.

Growing up, I could start from the very beginning. I was put up for adoption at birth. The first 18 months of my life, I was in an orphanage in North Philly. I’m from the East Coast. And left back in the second grade diagnosed with ADD. They said I had a learning disorder. I never graduated high school. At 19, I’m sitting in a jail cell, looking at 8 to 10 if things don’t go my way. That’s just the first 19 years. But if we go back around to that real quickly, I was brought up very fortunate.

First of all, I was adopted by two amazing, amazing individuals. My mom was the definition of unconditional love, and I tested that unconditional numerous times, Whitney. She came through with flying colors. But I grew up in a push-pull environment. The professionals with all their degrees on the wall said, and I had their quotes there, there’s something wrong with me. I’m broken, because I can’t learn in that cookie-cutter mode.

But my mom never bought into it. She told me from the time that I can remember that I was a gift from God. And that anything that I actually wanted to do she would support me, and I could do it. So it was that push-pull environment. So, I was very, very fortunate. Even though she wasn’t my biological mom, there was no doubt that the universe said, “She’s your mom, and this is how it’s supposed to unfold.” So very, very fortunate.

One of my keynotes is the power of perception, and I share the whole evolution of being adopted and bringing everybody through to the very full circle to where I was very, very fortunate to be able to show my mom and dad right at the very end that I was there for them like they were there for me. So that’s a little bit of a 30,000-foot view of me personally, professionally.

Once they kicked me out high school, I realized that I had the entrepreneurial DNA like my mom told me. And my other keynote I talk about is my Tommy story, and I had a gentleman come into my life early on and beside – Except for my mom, he was the first successful adult that said he believed in me and showed me that he believed in me. He taught me how to cold call business-to-business, 40 to 50 cold calls a day. He gave me the confidence, the courage to be able to walk in and the self-image, to be able to walk in any business, look somebody in the eye, introduce yourself, and figure out how to get to the decision-maker.

Those tools helped me over the last 20+ years build and sell three companies in three different industries. I’m such a big believer, Whitney, that it’s actually not what you do but it’s how you do it. Between the three businesses, two of them were service-based, and the other was product-based. So, again, it’s not what you do, but it’s absolutely how you do it. That’s the evolved now into business coaching, and we work with Dave Daley International. We work with commission sales, hiring commission sales, business owners in the multiple six and seven figures. Because that’s been my world for the last 20+ years on how to brand in 2020 versus 2004.

When everything is said and done, my real theme, my real message maps back to one thing:  trust. You see, I believe that your brand loyalty, both personal and professional in today’s world, is king. The reason it’s king is because it matched to trust.

[00:06:07] WS: I couldn’t agree more. I mean, trust. If people don’t trust you – So, in our business, most of the listeners are they’re either passive investors or they are trying to connect with investors. That relationship is all built on trust. And it starts with the brand. That’s where they first probably see just like myself or other listeners. They see us first, they see our brand, and then they’re intrigued by that. Then over a period of time, we connect or whatever. But it’s through that trust where we actually will do business together.

So, get us started though about this branding in 2020, because you say it so well. The branding, 2004 versus 2020. So many people are stuck in 2004. “Well, I’ve still got my old website. I’ve got a website.” Or, “Yeah, I’ve been on Facebook a little bit.” But get us started with thinking different from 2004 to 2020 and some things we should be doing today that maybe we don’t know to do.

[00:07:04] DD: Yeah. Here’s a great way to kind of tie that into a nice bow – is 2004, it was what you know and who you know. 2020: it’s what you know, it’s who you know, but just as important, who knows you. That’s so important to understand. And the evolution and the power behind our personal brand in 2020 versus 2004 is night and day. When you can build and explode your personal brand and your flavor, now what happens is you create that trust. If you look back years ago, the big companies, Pepsi, Coca-Cola, Nike, Adidas, they all look for and their money goes to – At the end of the day, when all the smoke clears, it is about trust.

When they have a sponsored athlete or an entertainer and that sponsored athlete goes sideways, what do they do? They put all their money into PR. They don’t want to lose that trust. It’s evolved so much now in the business world that when you can build and explode your personal brand and your flavor, your business brand now starts to follow. Back in the day, it was reverse. It was so important to focus on your business brand.

Today, I believe it’s flip-flop. I believe with the platforms that we have available, social media, podcasts, webinars, physical stages. When you focus on your personal brand, your business brand will follow.

[00:08:54] WS: I like that. So, tell me, let’s talk about that personal brand. How do you get started with a personal brand and what does that mean really to have a personal brand and how – Let’s dive into that a little bit.

[00:09:06] DD: Well, it’s let’s do this. Anybody here listening that is on any social media platform, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, any of them, you’re a global brand. Whether you like it or not. You’re a global brand. So now that you understand that, and I’m sure 99.9% of the people watching and listening to this have some sort of platform. So now that you can understand and wrap your brain around, great. I am a global brand because of these platforms. Now, how do we enhance that?

I have a 90-day brand builder boot camp, and we focus on bringing your brand to the masses in your flavor. One of the things that I do that before we do anything and before I talk about this, let me just give a little context here. I’m a big believer that you need the combination of practical and personal development. And I believe that any program that doesn’t have personal development is just incomplete, because personal development is life 101. One of the things that I do with my clients is before we do anything, once we decide to work together and there’s a synergy, we don’t go any further until we capture what I call seven levels deep. Seven levels deep on your why.

Here’s what happens. Here’s why this is so magical, Whitney, is the first – Every person, including myself, that I’ve gone through this formula with has not failed. We’ve ended in the same place. So, the first three levels, you bring in your mind, your head, the practical. The third three levels starts to bring your heart. The seventh level, it’s a magical level. You combine your heart, your head, and your soul. Every single person I’ve worked with Whitney, no matter industry they’re in, when we get to that seventh level, it’s not about them.

Here’s why that’s so magical. When you hit those fear barriers, when you hit those stoppers, when you hit those valleys, because you’re going after something that scares you and excites you at the same time, here’s what happens. When your why becomes bigger than you, you become unstoppable. This seven levels deep gets you there, and it’s such a great blueprint to refer back to. I literally – I utilize my two seven levels deep every single morning in my monster momentum morning.

[00:11:52] WS: Love that. You’re speaking my language. I was just speaking at a conference last weekend, and I was talking about some personal branding and what we have done. But I started with our why and how we got our why and why it’s so important. One thing that I think is unique about having a why like you just talked about is that other people get behind you. They may not care about your profession or care really about your services, but they’ll get behind you and support you because of your why. That’s something they’re passionate about as well.

[00:12:22] DD: Man, it’s so true. I just read this quote, Tyler Jack Harris on Instagram, a great guy if you want to follow him. I’m going to paraphrase this, but he said, “People don’t want to know what business you’re in. They want to know why you’re in that business.” That parlays into one of the things – I’m going to be sharing a PDF with your audience. But one of the things that I really am a big believer in is, again, tying in the mystic with the practical in today’s world. The why, a lot of people think more of the mystic end of it, and it’s so important.

Then I want to share some real practical steps. One of the ways to answer your question in a different way is how do you explode that personal brand is understand how to create your signature story. I have a blueprint on that, on creating your signature story. Because at the end of the day, people do business with who they trust. The only way to show trust is, and I’m such a big believer in this that it’s on all my marketing, your vulnerability becomes your credibility.

So, over the – My intro when I walk into a physical stage is he’s built and sold three companies in three different industries. But he’s also crashed one to the ground. That’s where so much of my value I can bring to the table with my coaching clients, with my speaking engagements, whether it’s digital or physical because that wisdom that I acquired, and that’s in that window of time, Whitney, there is not a university in this world that could give me that wisdom. That real-world experience.

I always say keep that theory on the shelf. That gets in the way. I want the real stuff from the people that have been there and done it. So, this is called your signature story. Again, I’ll share a PDF, and anybody can download it. It’s very simple. It’s four steps. The first is connect, and that’s connect with your heart. So, you want to share a personal story that connects with your audience. Next is going to be the head. Teach. Teach some real practical steps that you’ve actually utilized prior. Third is connect again. But now either leave an open loop with that first story and finish that up or tie in another story that’s even more powerful that connects on another level. So, it’s going from I’m a big believer, heart, head, soul.

And last but not least is social proof, sharing those testimonials. But here is where a lot of people think social proof is just their clients or just their customers. No. Share the social proof of what you’ve actually done as well. So now, when you connect, teach, connect along with social proof, that’s going to map to the ultimate power, and that’s trust.

[00:15:35] WS: Love it. I love it, because I’ve seen it happen personally. As we think about our story and how we really let people know our story, but I’ve seen it happen in other people, and that’s helped me to be better at that. But I appreciate you elaborating on your signature story, because that’s what people remember. There’s lots of people that do the business that whatever your business is, including myself, there’s so many of us that are pursuing the same path, the same career path or this entrepreneurial real estate business. But you’re going to be distinguished because of your story and your brand. But ultimately, your story is what’s going to connect with somebody.

[00:16:11] DD: 100%. I have so many people that I work with that they’re so afraid of being vulnerable. They’re so afraid of that big monster under the bed is what I call it. Once we can start to breakthrough that, the strength and the power and what I call that bulletproof self-image because I believe that you can build your self-image up. You can tear it down but you cannot outperform it. I’m so passionate about creating a bulletproof self-image that I always say that the greatest gift that any adult can give any child, whether it’s your child or not, is a bulletproof self-image, because you’re going to teach that child that they can fish for themselves and nobody has to fish for them. That to me is the ultimate gift that you could give any child. So, everything really does map back to that bulletproof self-image.

[00:17:09] WS: Okay. Wow. So, we figure out our why. We know we have to have a signature story and why that’s so important. What’s after that? How do we kind of continue this branding for our personal branding process?

[00:17:21] DD: Yes. So, on the practical end, one of the things that I love to teach and show people that they can implement instantly and evolve it is what’s called the three Cs in branding and marketing. I’ve actually done that in my book. I don’t have a copy on me, and I did that on my chapters in my book. But if you follow the three Cs, this is a blueprint that you will connect with that trust every single time, and it takes a lot of the guesswork out.

First is curiosity. You want to connect. You want to turn heads. You want to get attention. Second C is creativity. You want to be able to create that creativity in your flavor. So, what happens is when you start to implement the first two Cs, you start to attract your ideal clientele. You start to attract your ideal audience because you get their attention with the first C. The second C is that creativity, whether it’s your content for your emails, for your webinars, or whether that is your signature talk for your digital and physical stages. The third C is connection, curiosity. Get their attention. Don’t let them forget you. Creativity, do it in your flavor. Third leads to connection. Connection leads to trust.

[00:19:00] WS: That’s awesome. Your brand and your story, all that’s leading right to those Cs that you’re talking about. The curiosity, the creativity. So it‘s great how you’ve laid all this out too. It’s like it’s easier to follow, thinking about it that way as well. So, a few more questions though before we run out of time, Dave. This has been really good. What’s been the hardest part of the branding journey for you or maybe your clients? I know you’re coaching many people through this branding process. What’s a common theme that you see that holds people up from making this happen?

[00:19:29] DD: Definitely 100%. I wrote a book, an e-book and a regular book, soft cover back book, and it – All talking about how to crush those dreaded fear barriers. Look, there’s so many fear barriers that people are afraid of, but the number one fear that everyone has is the fear what other people think. That’s why they’re so afraid to be vulnerable. But here’s what I say. I’m going to give you a quick – All your audience a very quick and effective hack on how to crush that dreaded fear barrier on what people think.

At the end of the day, we are human beings, so we are going to judge. That’s a fact. When you can understand that and wrap your brain around that, now we can take the next step. Okay, great. You’re going to judge. I’m going to judge. That’s who we are. We’re human beings. But when you can wrap your brain around you’re going to be judged, your only job is to make them accurate. Here’s what I mean by that. I used to own a sports and nutrition store here in Southern California, and I hear all the time. I get to know my customers, and they come in. We’d help them with their meal plans and their diets and their workouts. I hear this all the time. I actually hear it from stage a lot too, “You’re so much nicer than we thought.” I’m judged by my appearance, but my only job is to make them accurate. When you can wrap your brain around that –

Here’s another thing I want to share with you when it comes to that is – Again, that maps to they’re so afraid to be vulnerable. They’re so afraid. I want to – Once we break them through that, they understand the power within them. Now, you just face that fear. I wrote an e-book back in 2012. It’s called The Monster Under the Bed. Now, you’re 10 years old. You’re in your room. The lights are out. It’s pitch-dark. You’re under the covers, and you hear this sound. You know for sure it’s a big, green, hairy monster ready to come out and eat you.

Now, we’ve all been there. I mean, I was just there last week. So, what happens is when an adult comes in, he turns on the light. You look under the bed. What is it? There’s no monster. It’s the exact same thing that happens when we become adults. We create this big, green hairy monster, and we know for sure that it’s coming here to eat us until we turn on those lights and look under the bed. That’s what I’d love to help people do, along with real practical steps that I’ve actually utilized in building and selling three companies in three different industries.

[00:22:14] WS: Love it. That’s’ awesome. That is awesome. So, tell us one thing, one way that you’ve recently improved your business that we can apply to ours.

[00:22:23] DD: What we’re doing right now, podcast. Podcast is such a powerful tool on both ends, whether you create your own or you get on as many as you can that has your ideal audience in it. I know, I mean, you talked about this when we first met. I have never, never been introduced to a platform that creates a connection so quickly, so deep, and so long-term. I had a show called Monster Motivator TV 2006 and 2016 and ’17. We did close to 80 episodes. You could see us on YouTube channel, and it was a mobile podcast. So we were live. The relationships that I built from that show, most of them are still powerful because of podcast, and that’s why we launched Brand Builder TV. So, we can teach you how to rise above the noise and elevate your position in your industry.

[00:23:30] WS: What’s the one thing that’s contributed to your success, Dave?

00:23:34] DD: I couldn’t articulate it until I had them on my show. So, one of my – Our last episodes was Tom Bilyeu from Quest Bars. If anybody doesn’t know Tom Bilyeu, he’s a co-founder of Quest Protein Bars. 2010, him and his partners built a brand from scratch, from zero to an evaluation of $1.2 billion in 2017. Here’s what – When I had him on the show, I said, “Tom, you’ve created a ton of value, but we’re going to get really right down to it. If you have one thing to leave your audience –” I couldn’t articulate this until he said this, but it absolutely maps back to my success as well. When I want to learn something new, I find that person or those people, and I sit at their feet.

Now, let’s put that into context and perspective. You’re talking about a man that’s built a billion-dollar brand in less than eight years, and he’s still humble enough to say, “When I want to learn something new, I sit at their feet.” Think about that. I mean, you’re – It still gives me the chills. So, when I want to learn something new, I sit at their feet, and I search for the people that been there and done it.

[00:24:50] WS: Wise words. That’s for sure. No doubt about it. That’s not always easy for us all to do, is it?

[00:24:56] DD: No.

[00:24:57] WS: We feel like we know, we have the answers most of the time I think, but yeah. Wise words. So, before we have to go, tell us how you like to give back.

[00:25:06] DD: I love – Well. I’m a big proponent and supporter of rescues in the canine world, especially pit bulls. So, I give to nonprofits. That’s just a big – I have three or four nonprofits in that world that I give back to. I love talking, impacting kids, because again I think it all comes down to that self-image and that’s going to dictate. I was so fortunate to have a mom that helped build my self-image from early on, and I give her so much credit for that. So those two worlds, big, big passion for me.

[00:25:43] WS: Well, Dave, this has been a great show. I can’t thank you enough for your time and just elaborating on the branding from 2004 to 2020, because it is so different. I just appreciate you just blasting that out, because it’s hard to wrap our mind around that. I think a lot of times, we’re kind of stuck with that old website that we had 15 years ago, and we haven’t done anything to it. We’re haven’t changed our ways of branding, but it has changed. I just appreciate you going through so many steps that we can just take today to increase our brand and our story and just the importance of that. But right now, it’s important that you tell everybody how to get in touch with you.

[00:26:19] DD: Yeah. I am not hard to find. So, I’m on all the social media platforms. We just got on TikTok, and I’m trying to figure out how to learn it. So. I’ll be looking for a 12-year-old little kid to teach me. So davedaley, D-A-L-E-Y, mm like monstermotivator.com, and that’s pretty much my handles on all the social media and would love to connect. If anybody has any questions, we’re going to send you over the PDF for the signature blueprint. Yeah, love to connect. 

[00:26:50] WS: Then where can they find your book?

[00:26:52] DD: You can go to Amazon. It’s Knock Out Fear in the First Round. It’s on Amazon and barnesandnoble.com as well. Our website is davedaley, D-A-L-E-Y, mm.com.

[END OF INTERVIEW]

[00:27:04] WS: Don’t go yet. Thank you for listening to today’s episode. I would love it if you would go to iTunes right now and leave a rating and written review. I want to hear your feedback. It makes a big difference in getting the podcast out there. You can also go to the Real Estate Syndication Show on Facebook, so you can connect with me and we can also receive feedback and your questions there that you want me to answer on the show. Subscribe too, so you can get the latest episodes. Lastly, I want to keep you updated. So, head over to lifebridgecapital.com and sign up for the newsletter. If you’re interested in partnering with me, sign up on the contact us page, so you can talk to me directly. Have a blessed day, and I will talk to you tomorrow.

[OUTRO]

[00:27:44] ANNOUNCER: Thank you for listening to The Real Estate Syndication Show, brought to you by Life Bridge Capital. Life Bridge Capital works with investors nationwide to invest in real estate while also donating 50% of its profits to assist parents who are committing to adoption. Life Bridge Capital, making a difference one investor and one child at a time. Connect online at www.LifeBridgeCapital.com for free material and videos to further your success.

[END]