5 Reasons to Build a Personal Brand

In this powerful return to the Holistic Millionaire Podcast, Shelley Riutta shares fresh insights following a transformational retreat in Madison. Reflecting on the rise of the wise woman, Shelley shines a spotlight on one of the most foundational elements for soulful visibility: building a personal brand. But not just any brand—one that is deeply authentic, magnetic, and aligned with your unique magic.

Shelley walks listeners through the heart of what personal branding really means and why it’s no longer optional for holistic entrepreneurs ready to be seen. From attracting soul-aligned clients to charging premium prices with confidence, Shelley blends strategy with soul, reminding you that your story, your essence, and your energy are your most powerful assets.

If you’ve ever wondered how to stand out in a crowded market without compromising your integrity, this episode is a must-listen.

Key Points From This Episode:

• Why your personal brand speaks before you do—and how to make sure it’s saying the right things
• The secret to attracting premium clients who are energetically aligned with your mission
• How to position yourself as a trusted authority without burning out or overworking
• Why storytelling (especially “micro-stories”) can transform your impact and magnetism
• A simple Google-based exercise to assess and elevate your personal brand right now

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Shelley Riutta on Instagram 

Rise of the Holistic Millionaire Facebook Group

Holistic Business School Website

Holistic Millionaire Podcast

Transcript

Transcripts are auto-generated.

Shelley Riutta (00:00)
Welcome back to the Holistic Millionaire Podcast. Super excited to connect with you. We are back after a few week hiatus from the podcast and I so missed it. We have a lot going on and I can catch you up to speed with what we've been doing behind the scenes. There's a lot of expanding, shifting, and just some powerful things going on. And it really, one of the

most powerful things that has happened is we had our retreat here in Madison and that was a week and a week and a half ago. And so there was a lot we were doing leading up to it. And today as a team, we were, you know, just celebrating debriefing. It was such a powerful retreat. When I look back at how many workshops and retreats I've done over the last

you know, 20 some years I've been working with clients the last 15 years in this business, it has to be like 200 events. I should sit down and actually, you know, just write out how many I have done. And every time I do them, I go, this is the most powerful one we have ever done. And this one was so magical. And there was many things that emerged.

that are the themes of what I'll be talking about today that I just really want to delve into and highlight. But the bigger picture, you know, when I always like to kind of orient us, where are we going? You know, where are you as a holistic millionaire? Where are you meant to be going at this time on the planet? Because I believe that you are your message, your what your

the transformation that you're bringing into the world is needed right now. So you're getting the tap on the shoulder. You're being called to expand. I'm sure a lot is going on for you. And this is about stepping, you know, forward powerfully and visibly with your unique magic and your message and your voice. And so really the theme of the retreat was the rise of the wise woman.

And it was all about setting the stage for a massive distribution for your message, for that visibility, so your ideal clients can find you. So today we're going to be talking about one of the key elements. And this is really a foundational piece as you go out to be more visible with your message, with your work in the world. And that is building out a personal brand. And so there's you.

You can hear people sharing, building out a personal brand and you probably might be confused or maybe you have clarity. So I'm going to just dive a little bit deeper and explain why I think it's such a powerful thing and a foundational thing for you to focus on as you go to bring your message into the world. So what is personal branding anyway? So I did a little research online and,

The Harvard Business School had an article and so I took the definition. It said, a personal branding is the intentional strategic practice of defining and expressing your value. And personal branding's goal is to ensure that the narrative about you is number one, accurate. Is it true? Number two, is it coherent? Does it make sense?

Number three, is it compelling? Does it draw people in and I like to say, it draw your ideal clients in and to you? And number four, differentiated. Does it demonstrate what makes you unique? So is it true? Is it accurate? Is it coherent? Does it make sense? Is it compelling?

Does it draw your ideal clients to you? And number four, is it differentiated? Does it demonstrate what makes you unique? So this is a great assessment for you. If you look at yourself online, do a Google search, see which, you know, whether it's your website comes up, your social media platforms, and then take a look and observe and just say, you know, run it through these four filters.

And this will give you a good start to really assessing the current state of your personal brand right now. And we're going to dive in and just give you some ideas around these as well. first, just want to explain and kind of just give you the rationale, give you a compelling reason why this is so important.

And so the five reasons to build a personal brand. So when you are able to do it accurately, coherently with compelling energy and also differentiated, what are some of the outcomes that you can expect? And the other thing that I want to add to this is the personal brand is the foundation, but to get the distribution, to get more eyes on it, that is

you know, marketing and distribution. And that's a whole other topic. And we're going to dive into that in the Holistic Millionaire podcast as well, because this is another key area. I've seen so many holistic professionals over the years have the most beautiful branding and they do have all of these things dialed in, but there's no, there's no eyes on what they're doing. So that is a key component to building your personal brand.

So why build the personal brand? The first is it done right. It will help you attract your dream clients effortlessly. So building that clear, authentic personal brand, it will help the right people find you, your sole aligned clients. And it is like they are magnetized to you.

and they're magnetized to your values, your energy and your vision. And your brand oftentimes speaks before you do. And how that is is, and this is why visual branding is so powerful. And so when I'm working with clients, I want to make sure that their visual imagery is on point for them. It's in alignment. It is compelling. It is differentiated because we register visual images

quicker and faster than we do text, right? And so your visual branding is either going to draw people in or it's going to push them away. That being said, I do not want you, you know, sometimes people are coming to me and saying, you know, my branding is not up to par when they're really, there's a level of perfectionism, you know, they're

stopping working on other things. So there's this fine balance between, you know, really addressing your branding and focusing on it and being perfectionist about it and not actually honing in and doing other things that are actually more of a priority. But when it's dialed in, it will magnetize your ideal clients. So those visual images are so important.

and it's looking at the aesthetic. It's looking at also creating that those images, those visual images, because we teach premium pricing, attracting clients at a higher level that are willing to invest in themselves, your branding needs to reflect that you have invested in yourself and

The other thing I like to think of is, you know, how we present ourselves on social media or in our website or in any of our marketing activities. There needs to be a certain level of care and attention because unconsciously what people are saying is that kind of care and attention that they're, you know, making to their messaging, their website, how they're showing up. They're going to take that same kind of care with me.

So it translates into that at a very subconscious level. The second reason to develop your personal brand is you can charge premium prices with confidence. A strong personal brand positions you as that trusted authority and people are really, they can trust in you. It allows you to command higher rates because you have built that

credibility with your personal brand. You know, as I was preparing for this episode, I was thinking back to my first holistic business, which was radiant life counseling and coaching. And I invested a high level in my personal brand, the visual images, the messaging, the differentiator, the accuracy, you know, all the things that we're talking. And I was able to command a higher fee in a small conservative community.

And this is why it's so critical. It says so much about the value of your work, you know, what you're putting out there. And also I was able to communicate my differentiator. That was another reason I could command a higher fee. What made me different than all the other choices that people had with counseling and coaching? So.

Developing your personal brand effectively will allow you to charge those premium prices with confidence The other thing that I do want to mention with this Because this is a big thing we talk about in the holistic business school is you do need to have that substance with what you're delivering and I know if you're listening to my voice if you're listening to the podcast you are a seasoned holistic professional

You know your craft. You're really good at what you're doing because we need that substance and then have that strong personal branding because in the marketplace right now, there's people that have really good branding, but there's no substance behind it, right? And that is why there is a lot of distrust with what is going on because people are saying they're able to do things, but they really don't have the substance.

to do it, but they look like, you know, the people are just getting distracted by their branding. So this is one of the issues that, you know, people, consumers, right? Your potential clients, one of the things that they're sorting through. This is something we hear over and over again in the holistic business school. We get so many people who are like, my gosh, I wish I would have found you sooner. You know, I signed on with this person and this person and

They're just like, wish I would have gotten to you faster. Number three is a personal brand will help you to amplify your impact and message. Your personal brand is a platform for your purpose and it gives you a voice to reach more people and have that distribution that we're talking about. So personal branding done right, sets the stage for you to get visible because as more eyes are coming on you, you can feel

confident about what they're going to see, right? Number four is developing a personal brand is going to create business sustainability beyond your one-on-one work. It that personal brand can allow you to scale beyond trading time for money and the way the way that we teach you to do that is through a signature group program.

And so having that magnetic brand will help you, you know, get to that, ⁓ get to that audience, position yourself as a premium brand, and then you can enroll people into your signature program. We know you love doing the one-on-one work. And so many of you are going to still have one-on-one in your business model. You don't have to,

but we help you reposition it so it becomes a VIP and a diamond offer. So it's flipping your model. And developing a personal brand allows you to do that.

The fifth and most important compelling reason to develop a personal brand is it will help you stand out in a crowded market. And one of the key things and the way that we teach personal branding about standing out in a crowded market is the personal branding, all the visual elements that we've been talking about, the accuracy, the coherence, the compelling.

you know, making it compelling for your ideal clients, making it differentiated. That's all going to help you stand out in a crowded market. But here's the other keys that and why you have an advantage with building out a personal brand is your authenticity. People are craving authentic connections right now and your ideal clients are

highly sensitive, they're intuitive, they're empathic. Oftentimes they're sensing energy and they're going to feel your authenticity. And so this is your biggest different differentiator is your authenticity, your stories, your unique interest. These are the things that can take your personal brand and bring it to a whole nother level. And so

standing out in the marketplace with your personal brand, but also with your authenticity and with your sole alignment, with your unique message, with the unique work that you're doing. All those elements coupled with powerful personal branding makes you unstoppable. And this is why I'm so excited for you. One of the things that is

You know, we talk about the visual images. We talk about the messaging, the differentiators. One of the things we've been talking a lot about in the holistic business school is storytelling. And this is a part of your personal brand is, you know, there's your core story that oftentimes is your journey of transformation that oftentimes a mirror mirrors your ideal client.

that oftentimes you are walking the journey that you're guiding your ideal clients to walk on that journey and making it much easier for them obviously. And you know the road, the steps they need to take and the journey, the arc of transformation and all of it. And so having those stories but actually going deeper. This is something we've been working on for the past few months.

And it has been a game changer for the holistic business school clients. And that is we're helping them going deeper with their stories, more in the moment stories and micro stories, right? A lot of times people are telling the same stories over and over again, but there's a deeper level of going to your storytelling that can help you build out your personal brand. And so this is something that I'll be talking about in future episodes.

but it has been so powerful to just go deeper. People are speaking in a language, you know, in their written posts, but also in their videos where people are feeling the authenticity, they're feeling the depth of the story. And it's one of the key things is if you're going to teach something, wrapping it in the wrapper of a story is going to help people remember it.

It's just a way that is much easier for us to organize information. So this is just something we've been diving into lately. So we're going to be talking more and more about building out a personal brand authentically in alignment, going deeper into your story, going deeper into your differentiator. So you can really stand out and your ideal.

you know, the reason we want you to stand out is so your ideal clients can actually find you so that they can, as they're scrolling on social media, they see a picture of you, they see a post of you, they see the personal branding elements, they see your authenticity, they see your storytelling, they see the quality of the message that you're bringing out. And they're like, this is my person. This is who I need to work with.

So we'll be diving into it even more. So, but I'm gonna give you a homework assignment. I want you to do, just to do a personal brand review right now, I want you to do a Google search, put your name into Google, take a look at what is showing up and just start to clean things up, because whatever comes up at the top, that is what people are going to see. No matter who you are, you could get.

someone referring like giving a solid referral to you. What do people do initially? They do a Google search, right? So people are always going to look at your footprint online. So make it a practice every quarter to do a Google search. Take a look at what shows up first. Go to that platform, clean it up, you know, dial in your personal brand, and then just keep going down all those things that come up on the first page.

So that is your homework assignment. So if you have not joined us in the rise of the holistic millionaire, please join us. There's something that we are piecing together that we are going to be launching in not this next month, but the month after that I am so jazzed about. And you will be able to get access to it if you are in the Facebook group. So make sure to join us. All you need to do is answer three quick questions.

and someone, a member of our team will reach out to you and make a connection. I might even reach out and make a connection. So sending you big love and I can't wait to see you on the next episode.