AI Summary
This video is a personal branding guide where Adefi Adiyo shares the step-by-step process she used to build a personal brand that made her 'millions of naira' in a year. She emphasizes that a personal brand is about perception, and she outlines the key principles of storytelling, niching down within yourself, creating content strategically, and prioritizing community over follower counts for monetization.
Chapters
Adefi Adiyo lists her achievements this year: became a FedEx speaker, listed as a top creator in 2024, built an audience, started a business, and held an event in November. She attributes all of this to her personal brand, which has made her millions of naira.
She states that everyone has a personal brand, whether they like it or not. A personal brand is essentially how you are perceived by others. The problem is that many people don't know how to monetize their brand or story.
The first step to building a personal brand is telling your story because if you don't, someone else will. Ask yourself what story you want to tell and what you want to be perceived as. Her story started with being a freelancer and content writer, which attracted people who resonated with her struggles and journey.
She advises niching down within yourself, not within a topic. Picking a narrow topic and talking about it constantly leads to burnout. Since we are fluid and change over time, your brand should evolve with you. Build a brand around your own journey and passions, so it can change as you do.
She challenges the common advice to 'be yourself' when creating content, calling it confusing. Since perception is subjective, there's no single truth to who you are. Instead, ask yourself, 'How do I want to be perceived?' and create content that aligns with that desired perception, such as dressing like an expert if that's the impression you want to make.
Content ideas are the easiest part. Once you know how you want to be perceived and who you want to talk to, you can use ChatGPT to generate content ideas. You can even ask it to generate scripts, and potentially create a month's worth of content in less than an hour.
Monetization is introduced with the concept that 'money follows people.' Building a strong personal brand and a 'cult-like' community opens up endless monetization opportunities. She lists her income streams: social media strategy services, coaching calls, brand deals, public speaking, products, and affiliate marketing.
She emphasizes that followers don't matter; community does. Building a community of people who trust and support you is essential for making money. She created a community for women in remote work called 'Remo Worker', solidifying her brand and creating a new revenue stream.
The video wraps up by reiterating the importance of building a community rather than chasing followers. She encourages viewers to share the video and subscribe.
Mentioned in this Video
💡 Key Takeaways
Personal brand defined
Provides the core definition of a personal brand, framing the entire discussion.
00:26Tell your story
A foundational principle that emphasizes proactive control over your narrative.
01:11Niche down within yourself
A contrarian take on the standard 'niche down' advice, emphasizing fluidity and authenticity.
03:15Monetization streams
Lists concrete income streams, providing a clear picture of how personal brand can generate revenue.
09:01Community over numbers
Crystallizes the central philosophy of the video, offering a clear and actionable principle for success.
11:41Full Transcript
[00:00] Hey guys, welcome back to my channel. My name is Adefi Adiyo, if you're new here. So today I'm going to be speaking all this year and sharing with you guys how I deal with my personal brand that has made me millions and millions of naira this year.
[00:12] I became a FedEx speaker this year. I was listed as one of the top creators in 2024. I built an audience. I started a business. We had our event in November. You know, I've done so many things this year and I owe it all to my personal brand. And I want to share
[00:26] you guys step by step how i did it so you guys can do it as well it's only 25 let's get right into it before we get into it let me just say something everybody has a personal brand whether you like it or you don't like it what is the personal brand essentially a personal brand is how you
[00:41] are perceived now the issue is a lot of people don't know how to monetize their brand a lot of people don't know how to monetize their story in this video i will be teaching you about monetizing The one thing that I've gotten and I've been able to, you know, act is the monetization of my personal brand.
[00:58] So the first thing you need to do when it comes to personal branding is to tell your story. We've agreed that personal branding is all about perception and how you are being perceived. So the first thing, like I said, is to tell your story.
[01:11] Because if you don't tell your story, somebody is going to tell your story for you. So when you want to create a personal brand, the first thing you want to ask yourself is what story do I want to tell? what do I want people to perceive me as so when I started you know building my personal brand
[01:25] online I started talking about the fact that I was a freelancer at the time I was a freelancer I was a content writer I started talking about it at that time that was how people perceived me as that was my personal brand and then I got into content creation and I started talking about
[01:39] content creation so the first thing you want to do is ask yourself what is my story right what do I want people to perceive me as am i a 95 accountant what is that thing then you talk about it the good
[01:52] thing about storytelling is you're going to find your people people that can resonate with you will follow you and become your audience so when i started talking about freelancing i started talking about content writing and also becoming a content creator people that could resonate with
[02:05] my struggles my story my you know successes the things that i'm going through my journey they started following me and they became my audience and that was how i was able to build a community right so when you're creating a personal brand it's not enough to just post anything ask
[02:20] yourself what is my story your story is your superpower what is that thing that makes you unique are you a 95% trying to start a business what is your story so people try to you know
[02:33] create a personal brand online by just posting anything just anything that is how you create a personal brand your personal brand is tied to your story once your story changes your personal brand changes somebody was telling me oh my god i didn't say how can i change my personal brand i'm
[02:49] like your personal brand will only change when your story changes when i started i was a freelance writer and that was my audience that was my personal brand right now i'm an entrepreneur because you know i have a business right now i'm building a community for women my story is
[03:03] changing my personal brand is changing so your personal brand is heavily reliant on your story tell your story the second thing you want to do when it comes to creating a solid personal brand
[03:15] is to niche down and when i say niche down i don't mean niche down within a topic i mean niche down within yourself one of the biggest mistakes a lot of people make when they start creating content and sharing their story is talking about a particular topic until it hurts now let's say you want to
[03:32] talk about being a marketer and you just said okay i want to talk about marketing and marketing of marketing every day of my life It will get to a point let say two years down the line you going to get tired of talking about marketing Soon it going to become like a chore
[03:45] You're going to get stressed out, burnt out, thinking of ideas. Instead, niche down within yourself. Down where your personal brand is built around you. When I started creating content, I didn't only talk about freelancing.
[03:58] I talked about everything that was happening in my life. I talked about the fact that, yes, I'm a freelancer. I'm a content writer. I work remotely. but I'm also trying to become a content creator, right? And then when I quit content writing, I shared about it.
[04:10] I talked about it. I said, oh, now I'm no longer doing content writing. I'm now into social media strategy. When I created my first business, I talked about it. Now I talk about entrepreneurship. Now I talk about social media strategies. Now I talk about content creation.
[04:22] Now I talk about monetizing your audience. Can you tell how my personal brand is evolving as I evolve? That is because I'm reaching down within myself and not a particular topic. If I was only talking about remote working,
[04:34] I would have gotten tired because I no longer work remotely. I no longer do a night to night. What would I talk about? The thing you guys have to realize is we are fluid as human beings and we are constantly changing. If you decide to talk about one topic, you might find yourself not doing that topic in the next five years.
[04:49] So what do you have to talk about? So make sure that you are niching down within yourself. You are the topic, right? You are the topic. Talk about all the things that pertain to you, things that you are passionate about,
[05:01] things that give you joy, that give you spark. And let's say three years down the line, you're no longer passionate about it. Talk about something else that gives you passion. Do you understand? That way, you're going to build a brand and an audience that actually loves you for you, for your journey, not for a topic.
[05:17] Two different things. Now, the next thing you need to do in order to build a solid personal brand is to create content like a pro. I know it gets tricky because everybody wants to create content. Everybody knows that posting content is the real deal.
[05:31] But the question is, how do I start creating content? now if you go online you go on tiktok you go on youtube you go anywhere the first advice you give is oh my god no just create content do yourself i feel like even me i used to give that advice but thinking about it that is such a bad advice because what do you mean be yourself
[05:48] right you've never done this before you don't even know the first thing on how to do it and be yourself is such a skewed way to look at content because who are you essentially does that make sense a lot of people say be yourself i feel like they're even making me more confused
[06:02] because in the end, who are you? Like I said, personal branding is all about perception. The way I perceive is not the way my sister will perceive you. It's not the way Aisha will perceive you. It's not the way Adiola will perceive you. It's not the way Olamide will perceive you.
[06:14] It's not the way Sarah will perceive you. In that light, it means there is no single truth about who you are. We are fluid. We are like sponges. You are different things to different people. That means when people say be yourself, it's very confusing
[06:29] because who are you essentially? So what you need to do is to ask yourself, how do I want to be perceived? And create content like how you want to be perceived, not how you want or not how you are, not be yourself.
[06:41] If you want to be perceived as this, you know, worker olive da da da da, create content like that. If you want to be perceived as this young girl that is getting a bag, wherever, create
[06:54] content like that. Create content that aligns with that, not be yourself. because in the end they are like sponges, they are very fluid. There is no single truth to who we are. So ask yourself, how do I want to be perceived create content like that? Who do I want to speak
[07:13] to create content for them So let say you are an entrepreneur and you selling services to B2B brands How do you want to be perceived Do you want to be perceived as an expert Create content like an expert Dress like an expert in front of the camera
[07:27] So let's say you are in your house, you're always wearing your normal, this thing. No, dress like the expert. Dress like how you want to be perceived in front of the camera. Now talk to your target audience. Do you understand? Instead of being yourself, do you understand what I mean?
[07:43] be like how you want to be perceived in front of the camera because in the end personal branding is all about perception so now that we've talked about how to actually create content let's move
[07:56] on to content ideas i think this is one of the easiest parts of you know content creation because you can use creativity to brainstorm i always use creativity to brainstorm when it comes to you know content ideas so the good thing is once you already know you want to be perceived and you
[08:10] know the person that you are talking to essentially and you know what you want to talk about what you're passionate about all you have to do is just go to chadivity and ask it okay this is what i am this is how i want to this is you know how i want to be perceived this is what i want to be talking
[08:22] about this is what i'm passionate about can give you content ideas pick the one that works for you start creating content start creating content on it you can even go further to ask chadivity okay
[08:34] give me a script like i said content ideas is actually the easiest part you know of personal branding of creating content creating the content is one of the most difficult parts knowing who you are in front of the camera is also one of the most difficult parts and i think we've already addressed
[08:49] that um earlier so you know use tagivities you generate content idea very simple you can generate like a month's worth of content again less than an hour with activity so yeah do that now this is
[09:01] that things get exciting we've gotten to the monetization part see i said this thing money follows people. If you can successfully build a personal brand and build a cult-like community
[09:13] and audience that loves you for you, for your story, for your journey, the monetization opportunities are endless. Right now, let me show you guys. I have like six, seven different streams of income that I built through my personal brand. We first started a social
[09:28] media strategy for brands. I told you guys that I was a content writer before. Then I built my social media and I realized that I think I can build social media. So I started doing social media strategy for brands as a service now i do coaching calls for people that
[09:42] you know want to get into freelancing want to get into remote working want to monetize their personal branding i do that as well for social media strategies i want to get clients i do that as well you know i get paid through brand deals a brand can sponsor my youtube videos sponsor my
[09:56] TikTok videos sponsor my instagram videos i get paid for that i've gotten into public speaking i get paid for that i get paid to come out for events i also get paid selling these two products affiliate marketing like i said the opportunities are endless when you have a solid brand it's not
[10:13] even when you have a brand that actually gives value and gives solutions to people like my brand oh my god the opportunities are endless right next i want to get into forex i want to get into
[10:25] real estate, I want to get into affiliate marketing. Seriously, I would make a shitload of money because why? I have a solid audience. And another thing that I even got into this year, because of my
[10:37] brand, I was able to create a business out of my brand called Remo Worker. Because I was talking about Remo Working for a while. And then I created a business out of it, which is a community for women. We provide resources, events, workshops. You can sponsor us
[10:49] if you want to sponsor our workshop It next year It coming up next year quarter one if I send you an email But yeah you know that aside that also pays me as well which it has priority next year will pay me so yeah like and like i said the opportunities to
[11:05] monetize your brand your brand is endless so to be honest instead of focusing so much on the monetization part focus more on building a solid brand and an engaged audience money follows people
[11:17] I think I'm listening so much more today. But money follows people. Trust me, whatever you think you're going to make right now, times it by 10 when you build a solid brand.
[11:29] A solid brand that will put trust. They like you. They love you. They support you. They love your story. You're going to be making money from left, right, front, center, back. You would never be broke. I've never seen anybody with a solid personal brand that is broke.
[11:41] It is not possible. Like, how are you going to do it? Like, money will be following. Money will be pushing. It's like money, please don't push me again. It's going to pursue you Like seriously I want to say something And this is like a postscript When it comes to building a personal brand
[11:55] Don't just follow numbers Build a community That's what people will not tell you People will talk about personal brands About like followers Followers don't matter Community matters And how do you build a community?
[12:07] You build a community When your story is unique When you tell your story You're going to provide the money You want to build a community Of people that trust you Love you follow you support you that is when you actually making that's when you actually make money
[12:23] so community over numbers community over followers every time every day what i did to be the community was this i was talking about remote working for a while people were following me fine that doesn't
[12:36] mean anything what i did was i created a business to be the community of women right that work remotely. So right now, we help women get into remote working, impact women through resources.
[12:49] Like I said, workshops, events, community. We have that. So right now, when you're thinking of, oh my god, remote working in Nigeria, you think of Adelefe, because I built
[13:02] a very strong community around that. So when it comes to personal branding, think about it. What community can you build around your personal brand? That is when you start to make money. What community can you build around your personal brand like for instance i want to recite someone
[13:18] financial jennifer financial jennifer talks about finance right i shall build a very solid community around finance for women because that's what she talks about
[13:32] so why don't you ask yourself what is my personal brand what kind what kind of community can i build around my personal brand that is what is going to solidify your personal brand it's not about having followers and lot of people that are following your social media nobody cares oh people can
[13:49] follow you and not engage with you they can't even engage with you and not even tell your papa but building a community hi the monetization opportunities are just endless you can sell anything to your community because they love you and they support you they will buy
[14:02] like you can promote anything like any like seriously build your community like that is that just came to my head and i just i just had to say that one so yeah we've come to the end of our video i hope you've learned something new about building a personal brand and especially
[14:18] building a community over following you know vanity metrics like followers um i hope this video helps you so yeah what i want you to do right now is to share this video with your friends like comment hit the thumbs up button subscribe yeah thank you so much for watching i'm gonna
[14:36] see you guys in the next video bye