Here's the real talk: everyone's talking about building a personal brand, but there's one thing I don't see spoken about enough. It's the underlying element that actually determines whether you'll succeed or not.

It's courage. It's confidence. It's the willingness to step out of your comfort zone and be seen.

Because let me be honest—it's not that you don't have the expertise. You do. The issue is visibility. Not enough people know about you. Not enough people have seen you do your thing. And that's what's stopping you from building a profitable personal brand.

I work with clients every single day who want this big thing. They want to be known. They want to be a leader. They want to attract their ideal clients. But they find themselves frozen in front of the camera, overthinking everything, telling themselves they don't know what to talk about.

The truth? You've got the expertise. You've got the experience. What you're missing is visibility. And it's not that you don't know what you're talking about—it's that not enough people know you and have seen you.

Let me walk you through four key things you need to be thinking about when it comes to building your courage and confidence to get visible.

Courage Over Confidence: The Game-Changer for Building Personal Brand Visibility

Here's what I'm gonna say every single time: courage over confidence, every day of the week.

I know, I know—we're all obsessed with feeling confident first. But that's backwards.

The question isn't “Am I confident enough to do this?” The real question is “Am I willing to be courageous in this moment?”

I had a client who was a leadership coach, and she'd been asked to speak on a panel at International Women's Day. She came to me and said, “Suz, I just don't feel confident enough to do it.”

And I said, “That's not the right question. Do you feel courageous enough to say yes?”

She said yes. And she did it. And when she came back to me after that event, she was glowing. People had come up to her afterwards saying how brilliant she was. And you know what she told me? “I know now that I can do this.”

That's how confidence actually builds. It's not some magic feeling that arrives before you take action. It comes from taking courageous action, again and again and again. It's proving to yourself that you're capable.

Your brain loves to tell you that you're not capable. But if you're willing to say “I'm just gonna be courageous even though I don't feel confident right now,” then the more you do that, the more action you'll take, and the more confident you'll become. That's how personal brands get built.

Your Unique Message: What Do You Want to Be Known For?

When you look at the people building powerful personal brands—think Alex Hormozi, Layla Hormozi, Daniel Priestley, Chris Doe—there's something crystal clear about them. When you see them, hear them, understand what they've done and what their expertise is, you know their credentials, their thoughts, their beliefs, their ideas.

That's what a powerful personal brand looks like.

These people show up consistently. I see them everywhere. If you're in their algorithm, you're listening to their podcasts, watching them on YouTube, scrolling their Instagram. It's that constant repetition that builds their brand. I know what they think. I know what they talk about. I know what they're here to do in the world.

So the first thing when it comes to building your personal brand is to get really clear on what do you want to be known for. But here's the thing—it's not just about knowing what you do. You need your unique take.

When I work with my clients in Amplify, we explore some deep stuff:

What is the hill you're willing to die on? That one thing you want everybody to know. That you stand for. That you believe in. That you're here to do.

What is the enemy? What are you fighting against?

What's your shadow self? This is the big one. What are the things you don't wanna tell anybody about? Those things so often are what's holding you back. They're the belief that you're not as good as the other person. That you don't have as much to say. That the way you say it isn't good enough. That people won't respond to it.

Really understanding your shadow self is one of the biggest bridges to you starting to be more courageous.

Intentional Thought Creation: Rewriting the Stories Your Brain Tells You

Once you know what you want to be known for, we need to talk about what's happening in your head. Because your brain loves to tell you that what you're sharing isn't good enough. That you're not enough.

Here's what I want you to do: start writing down those negative thoughts and feelings. Yeah, the worst, isn't it? But then, on the other side of the page, write down the opposite. What do you want to believe?

If your brain is telling you “You're not enough and what you're saying isn't good enough,” the thought you're gonna replace it with is: “I am enough. What I am saying is good enough. Because I know my clients value it. I know they love when I share what I think and what I believe. My clients have had results from the things I've taught them.”

You're building your evidence. You're shifting your mindset.

Every single morning, one of the things I do is I make a decision about what I'm gonna think that day. “Clients are waiting to work with me today. I'm gonna create a video and it's gonna be exactly what somebody needs to hear. I'm gonna have a coaching call with my clients and we're gonna have such an incredible conversation that shifts their mindset.”

When you think about the way your day unfolds, are you taking control of it? Or are you allowing your thoughts to stop you from showing up and being visible? Because remember—we've got the expertise. We need more exposure. We need more people to know about us.

Understanding how you're showing up, what you're thinking, and what's working versus what's not is absolutely crucial.

Build Your Conviction: Are You the Driver of Your Success?

The second thing when it comes to building your personal brand with confidence is your conviction.

And conviction looks like this: I don't wanna let today go without having connected with my audience. Without having put my thought leadership and my ideas out into the world. I know this is what I wanna build, and in order to build it, I know I have to show up. So I'm gonna do everything in my power—come hell or high water—to make this happen.

Ask yourself right now: What is my conviction level? Is it a two out of ten, or is it a nine or ten out of ten?

Because here's the thing: if you wanna create more success in your business, you've gotta be the driver. There's nobody here pushing you. You are the only one pushing you. So you've gotta ask yourself—are you being the driver you need to be to show up in a bigger way? And if you're not, what needs to shift?

Is it the thoughts you're having? Is it the belief that you can be successful? Is it clarity around what you wanna talk about and be known for? Or is it getting through the river of misery and the suck of not being good at something before you take action?

This year is kind of my first year doing more video. And let me tell you—it's been awkward. So awkward. I've been podcasting since 2017, so that's like breathing to me. It's easy. But once you get on camera, it's a different beast entirely.

But the more I do it, the more I encourage myself to do it, the more I drive myself to do it, the easier it gets. The more I'm enjoying it. The more I'm in flow. Which helps me build my personal brand.

Here's another thing I wanna say: don't constantly focus on the numbers. We're in an attention economy. The algorithm works in different ways. Create quality content. Measure what's working and what's not. But even when I don't get huge views on my videos or my socials, I'm still getting clients DM-ing me saying my message really lands with them.

You only need your message to land with a couple of people for you to start building a profitable personal brand.

Work Till Your Idols Become Your Rivals: Find the Play and Joy

This is a saying I absolutely love: work till your idols become your rivals.

Years ago, I was thinking about the people I followed—Amy Porterfield, Marie Forleo. And then I saw someone share Instagram stories of their three favourite podcasts, and one of them was me. Alongside Amy and Marie. And I just thought—yes, I've worked till my idols have become my rivals.

Obviously I say it playfully. But here's the thing: that's the whole point. If you wanna build a personal brand that doesn't feel like you're pulling teeth or scraping your nails on a chalkboard, you've gotta find the play and the joy in what you're doing.

Your energy is your invitation.

I say that every single week, but it's so important. If you feel stuck in the way you're creating. If it feels super hard—and I don't mean learning a new skill, but just not enjoying it at all—then it's gonna come across. I can tell the difference between my videos when I'm in flow and loving it versus when I was first creating them and finding my style. The ones where I'm in flow and loving what I'm creating are way more magnetic.

So here's what I do: I think about how can I make this fun? How can I create from a place of sharing what I really believe and the things I'm seeing constantly with my clients and my audience?

Here's what's real: when you're working with clients, there are two levels. There's the functional level—I can teach you the strategy, we can go through all the steps, you can do all the work. But then there's the emotional level. If you don't have the courage and the confidence to execute on that strategy, nothing's gonna work.

So I try to help my clients be more playful in the way they create. Find where they're in flow. Find the things that really matter to them.

Now, it's not to say you can't get better at things you're not naturally flowing with. I've been reading a lot of long-form content on Substack lately, and I'm inspired to get better at writing. Even though I have written a book, writing isn't my natural thing. But the question I have is: is there play in that? Is there something I could do that would make it not so hard work and more playful to learn that skill?

If you're wanting to get more confident on video, there are stages you can go through. You could start with B-roll—just doing something, recording yourself, and typing a message over it. That's your first step of showing up. Then you could share quick stories or tips—a 15 or 32-second video. Then you could create something bigger. And if you wanted to go to YouTube, you could create longer-form content.

Here's what I know about building your personal brand: anything longer than six minutes is long-form content, and it's gonna help you build trust faster. Remember the Google 7-11-4 rule—when someone spends seven hours with you, across 11 different times, on four different platforms, that's what the buying cycle has traditionally been. And honestly, I reckon it can be a lot shorter when someone spends time with you in long-form content.

Understanding the purpose of why you're creating can really help you show up with more confidence, courage, and conviction. I know why I'm doing this. I know what the purpose is. I know what the payoff is. I know how it's gonna connect with my people. The people who wanna learn from me, connect with me, coach with me.

It's only through taking courageous action and finding what works for you that you're gonna build your personal brand.

Build Systems That Help You Show Up Courageously and Consistently

The fourth thing is building systems that help you show up more courageously. And honestly, this is where things get real.

For me right now, I use my DJI Osmo camera. It's a two-minute setup. That means it's not this big production that takes an hour to set up and becomes a barrier. After my coaching call this morning, I knew this was a topic I wanted to talk about, and I was able to do it quickly and easily.

Having systems in place is everything. I use Descript to edit my videos. I use Claude to repurpose into an SEO blog, then into clips for YouTube shorts, TikTok, Instagram—wherever. I take that blog and put it on my website and Substack. Then I might cut it up for LinkedIn or other places.

Having those systems means that when I do have the courage to show up and create, I can squeeze so much value out of what I'm creating, and it feels great.

Here's what often happens when people are trying to build their personal brand: things take a long time, it feels really hard, and it's not joyful. You can get over it really quickly and decide this isn't for you. And I totally get that. If something was gonna be hard continuously, and I wasn't able to find the play in it or create systems to help me execute well, I'd probably give up too.

Time to Take Courageous Action and Get Visible

So here's my challenge for you: if you wanna build a personal brand with more courage, more confidence, and more conviction, start thinking about these four things. Ask yourself this question: if you're not showing up, why are you not showing up?

Because coming into the next 12 months, having a personal brand is one of the most important things. Business brands are gone. Personal brands are here. The way we buy from people now is by finding out more about what you believe, what you're here to do, what your purpose is, and how you help.

So for you to be able to communicate that in your business is absolutely crucial. And here's the best part—you can have fun in the process.

Today is the day for you to take courageous action to build your personal brand.

What is one thing you're gonna do that's gonna move you forward? Ideally something you might actually enjoy?