It’s late November and if I’m being honest, it feels like the first time in months that I’m comforted by the feeling of having two feet on the ground.
For nine straight months I’ve been in an airport, on a stage, in heels, in conversations, in motion, and now, suddenly, everything around me has quieted down. And not in a “oh no, my business is slowing down” way, but in that deeply satisfying way where you finally get to see what the last 12 months have actually created.
But if you had looked at my numbers, my schedule, or honestly even my confidence in the early months of 2025, you probably would have thought I was delusional.
Because while I was posting sparkly photos from stages and traveling across North America looking like the poster child of momentum… behind the scenes I was either in the red or barely breaking even. I was spending money I didn’t technically have on travel, events, production, marketing — all while reassuring myself that it would all come back.
And it did.
But it didn’t come back because I got lucky or because someone discovered me, and it definitely didn’t come back because I manifested a profitable year.
It came back because I built it. Because for twelve months straight, I made decisions that didn’t match my circumstances; they matched the version of me I was becoming — and that, more than anything, is what it actually takes to build a personal brand that gets paid.
People want the sexy parts: the stages, the brand partnerships, the perfectly lit photos of you standing in front of a room full of people nodding at your every word. But nobody talks about how much self-belief it requires to stay in the room long enough for any of that to materialize.
So let me walk you through what really happened this year, the strategy beneath the shiny Instagram top layer — because if you’re trying to build a personal brand that brings in real revenue, this is the story you need to read.
Phase One — Leading With the Real Asset
The first thing I had to get honest about was the fact that I’d been half-in, half-out for a long time.
Even when I ran an agency, I knew my voice held the real value, but I kept hiding behind deliverables because it felt safer to pretend the agency was the asset instead of admitting the thing people actually wanted was me.
So last November, when I shut down my agency and committed fully to personal branding and PR coaching, it wasn’t because I felt prepared. It was because I was tired of circling the thing I knew I was meant to do.
That was the first phase: deciding to lead with the asset I had spent years pretending wasn’t the star of the show.
Phase Two — Investing Before It Made Sense
The second phase was the part people don’t glamorize because it’s not sparkly at all, and honestly it’s what keeps business owners up at night.
I invested long before it made sense — financially, emotionally, and reputationally.
There were months where my bank account scared me. I had many moments when I wondered if I’d misread my own abilities, and days where I’d put on makeup to go speak at an event and quietly ask myself if everyone was about to find out I was winging the entire thing.
Confidence did not lead this year. Confidence followed it. Because confidence isn’t a personality trait, it’s a skill — and you build it by continuing to show up in the moments you most want to retreat.
Everything you see today is built on the version of me who kept going when shrinking would have been easier.
Phase Three — Asking for the Opportunities You Want
And now the final phase, the one that really changed everything, was learning to ask.
And when I say “ask,” I don’t mean the passive, half-assed kind of asking where you quietly hope the right opportunity finds you on a lucky Tuesday. I mean the kind of asking that requires you to place yourself directly in front of the rooms, people, and platforms you want to be invited into — even when you don’t yet feel like the obvious choice.
There was a version of me, not that long ago, who still believed that if I kept doing great work and kept showing up with integrity, the right people would simply discover me.
Sometimes they do. But that is not a strategy.
So this year, I made myself develop a much more muscular relationship with visibility. I told myself that if I was going to choose this path fully, then I also had to choose the discomfort that comes with asking directly.
What Asking Actually Looked Like
- Pitching myself to rooms before I felt qualified
- Reaching out to people whose caliber intimidated me
- Following up when silence felt easier
- Introducing myself to decision-makers instead of waiting to be introduced
And in doing that, I realized the “confidence” I thought I needed wasn’t confidence at all. It was clarity: clarity that my work had value, that my perspective mattered, and that no one was coming to hand me opportunities I wasn’t willing to claim.
Visibility Is Not Optional — It’s a Skill
Working with founders and corporate leaders this year only reinforced that lesson.
I’ve lost count of the number of executives who are brilliant on paper, widely respected inside their organizations, exceptional at what they do — and yet almost entirely invisible outside of their corporate walls. Not because they lack talent, but because they’re hiding behind titles, job descriptions, company names, and the assumption that visibility is something earned passively through tenure rather than something built intentionally through initiative.
What I now believe fully is this: your title cannot be the most interesting thing about you.
Your company cannot be your identity, and your reputation cannot be something you delegate entirely to marketing and hope it turns into something meaningful.
A personal brand that gets paid is one where your name carries weight before you enter the room. And that kind of brand does not sit quietly waiting for permission, timing, or luck.
It does not shrink until someone else validates its readiness.
It moves toward the opportunities it wants — even when that movement feels premature.
It steps forward.
It participates.
It speaks.
It asks.
And over time, those intentional acts compound into visibility that opens doors and changes careers.
The Personal Brand That Gets Paid Is Built Long Before It’s Seen
If there’s one thing this year has taught me, it’s that the personal brand who gets paid — really paid — for your ideas, leadership, perspective, and presence… is built long before anyone else can see it.
Yes, long before you can even see it yourself.
→ If you’re ready to step into your potential and become visible for what you do best, learn more about how I can support you through my group and 1:1 coaching programs.
→ Want to keep this motivation up? Listen or watch the latest Fame-Ready podcast episode: Build a Personal Brand That Gets Paid: Strategies for Coaching, Speaking, and Sponsorships
