Personal Branding: Why Perception Matters - With Chris Do | Ep 356

In the previous episode, I talked about brand misalignment between perception and reality. What you're going to do, I mostly focus on negative perception and what you can do to kind of

rectify that. In this episode, because my boy Rich needs some help with styling, I'm going to talk about personal branding as it relates to style. So let's say you're a graphic designer or you're a business consultant or something like that, and there's perceptions about you that you might be like a fashion designer or something like that. I'm talking about myself. I guess that's what he's saying.

What happens if they give you positive attributes of something that you may or may not want to be known for just yet? I'm wondering why you even asked this question, because I don't find that to be a dilemma. I. I find it's kind of interesting that people are perceiving things that I've yet to announce, which is really cool. So then you're sitting there thinking, I don't think Chris does anything unintentionally. So when he's making a move, we should be paying attention.

Now, what I know about human nature is this. No one, including me, likes a surprise. Change is hard. So what you do is you take a big change and you chop it down into little chunks of change, and by the time you get to the final change, everyone's on

board. So what you may or may not know is how much I've been talking about personal brand and how I'm showing up in the world. So much so that people who don't know me, who wind up having a conversation with me, they attribute something that's quite interesting. And so let me know what you think about this. Somebody has come up to me and said, chris, I noticed this big change in you about two years ago. And I'm noticing, like, you're speaking differently. You're talking about different things.

You're just a whole different person. And I would ask them, when do you recall that? Before, After I got the Louis Vuitton bag and the changes that I've made in the eyewear and how rocking different chains and things like that, they're like, oh. And so here's what their perception is. I've changed because I've signaled to them I've changed outwardly. And when they don't know what's happening internally. Right.

And I'm making moves today that won't bear fruit for years from now because I know how people are resistant to change. So at some point in

the near future. I don't know when to tell you, but I'll be launching my own fashion line. So would you trust me as a person who's going to design clothes that you may or may not want to buy? If I wound up looking like a slob, if I didn't know how to put A and B together, if I didn't, how to mix colors and textures, and you probably say, he was a designer, I think he can do this. But we'll wait and see. Versus what's happening now, which is, Chris, when the merch drop, we want to know.

Let me sign up for whatever it is you're about to do, because I like where you're heading. And what's really wild is the more wild I become, the more that I embrace fashion as an extension of my worldview, my taste, the more people seem to be excited for me, which is pretty wild. So I'll step on stage, dress up in my pants skirt with my knee high socks and my weird shoes where you don't know where the soul ends and began. And people take notice right away.

They say, oh, he must be a creative person. He must be pretty self confident and self aware for him to be able to walk up on stage. Now, this may or may not be true internally, but this is what I'm signaling outward. So

it's okay. When people see you making changes, they start to attribute things to you. And in this context, we're talking about positive things. Embrace it, smile, accept it and move forward. One of my buddies, his name is Trevor, and he's been saying, chris, take me shopping with you. I want to do this thing with you. So he made some very small changes to his wardrobe. He changed his shirt, he put some graphics on it instead of a blank T shirt. And he added pockets.

What a revolution to his athleisure pants. And all of a sudden people are coming up to him saying, hey, style icon, what's up? He literally just changed two pieces of clothing. That's all he's got right now. And so it's super exciting.

If you're listening to us and saying, is it that easy, Chris? It is that easy. And the easiest thing that you do might even cost you a whole lot of money, which is to get a haircut. You know, every time you change hair, people like, who, who is this? Remember in junior high when you would come to school and maybe your mom cut your hair like mine did, like, oh, who got in a fight with a lawnmower? Blah, you know?

And I remember very distinctly, I went from nerd to, like, kind of cool in one break. So basically, right before Christmas break, for the holidays, I went to the hair salon, the stylist. I'm like, give me this and that and do something here. I put on some new clothes. I walked into school like John Travolta, Saturday Night Live, like, you know, whatever that walk is. And he's owning it. Not that I owned it. I just walked in feeling super self conscious. But people are like, whoa, are you the

same guy? And just like that, in one day, it changed. Now, I strategically showed up one day before the long holiday to kind of just drop the bomb and come back in two weeks so that I can put myself together. But I noticed immediately the kind of impact that it can have on your perception, and you can be a brand new person.