Personal brand has become one of the biggest buzzwords in the creator world. Creators everywhere are launching offers, building funnels, and posting consistently, yet very few are creating something people actually remember.

I sat down with Chris Do, Emmy award-winning designer and founder of The Futur, to talk about what it really takes to build a personal brand that stands out. We get into why most creators end up serviceable but forgettable, why branding comes down to differentiation, and the three-part framework behind brands people obsess over. Chris also shares why the real work of personal branding happens internally, how to find your voice phrase, and the trust triangle that decides who audiences believe. Partway through, he turns the interview around and starts coaching me, and we go much deeper than I expected.

If you're building a personal brand and wondering why it isn't resonating yet, I think you'll get a lot out of this conversation.

Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction
01:39 What it means to un-bland yourself
02:48 Why branding is all about differentiation
03:04 Why Apple has a brand and Dell doesn't
04:31 How status and identity drive what we buy
07:29 How Target built a brand
10:42 How Kit positions its brand
11:44 Moving from features to meaning
14:11 Why most personal brands are really marketing funnels
16:11 Why personal brand work is internal
16:26 How we lose who we really are
19:04 Chris starts asking the questions
20:24 How getting sick at 24 changed Nathan's identity
21:51 Why we tie our identity to what we do
23:03 Who are you outside of your work?
23:36 Why you are the gift
25:51 How Chris answers "who are you?"
26:36 The difference between design and art
28:45 Why being true to yourself comes first
29:45 Nathan's mission
32:24 Why Chris moved from commercial work to content
33:36 Why your brand needs to stand against something
35:44 Finding your keyword and your nemesis
37:03 Why the best heroes have great enemies
40:39 The three-part personal brand framework
41:49 Chris's own brand triangle
42:33 Workshopping Nathan's personal brand
43:30 Separating who you are from your company
44:44 The story behind Chris's mission
47:25 Why all strategy is autobiographical
48:13 Nathan on feeling like a burden
49:29 Nathan's story about his stepdad
53:49 Chris's read on Nathan's story
56:36 Finding Nathan's rallying cry
59:28 Learning to accept help
1:01:26 Why we trust people who aren't perfect online
1:02:00 The trust triangle
1:04:52 How to find your voice phrase
1:08:21 Final thoughts

If you enjoyed this episode, please like and subscribe, share it with your friends, and leave a review. I read every single one.

Learn more about the podcast: https://nathanbarry.com/show

Follow Nathan:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nathanbarry
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathanbarry
X: https://twitter.com/nathanbarry
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thenathanbarryshow
Website: https://nathanbarry.com
Kit: https://kit.com

Follow Chris:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thechrisdo
X: https://x.com/thechrisdo
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thechrisdo
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thefutur
Website: https://thefutur.com

Featured in this episode:
Kit: https://www.kit.com
The Futur: https://thefutur.com

Highlights:
03:04 Why Apple has a brand and Dell doesn't
14:11 Why most personal brands are really marketing funnels
40:39 The three-part framework behind Bryan Johnson's brand
49:14 Chris turns the interview around
1:05:17 How to find your voice phrase

The online business world is changing. People have more information than ever at their fingertips, and the business models that many creators started out selling aren't converting the way they used to.

I sat down with Jasmine Star to talk about why traditional courses and memberships are becoming harder to sell, and the new hybrid offer model she now teaches her clients. We get into how to build offers around specific customer results, how to find out what people will actually pay for before you build, and Jasmine’s four-step framework for building a consistent $10K/month business. She also shares how she delivers high-touch coaching at scale, and the best ways to build trust with your audience in today’s “trust recession”.

If you’re building an online business and wondering what types of offers still work in today’s crowded online space, I think you’ll get a lot out of this conversation.

Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
01:18 Jasmine’s first digital offer
04:00 How her $197 course made $255K
04:40 Why she built a membership
06:22 The problem with traditional memberships
08:28 Building Social Curator
10:27 The creator economy after 2020
12:07 Why courses and memberships stopped working
13:12 The hybrid offer
16:40 How to price an offer
20:02 Turning coaching into a scalable offer
22:27 Who the offer is for
24:28 The 90-day $10K offer
26:30 The $4K Freedom Formula
29:32 How to keep clients accountable
33:50 Why asynchronous coaching works
35:36 Scaling coaching to hundreds of clients
39:25 How to market the offer
44:01 Using webinars to sell
47:13 Why long-form content is coming back
50:04 Measuring content performance
52:43 How Jasmine met Nathan
53:41 How to get high-value clients
55:29 Creating an offer people will pay for
59:55 Finding the right audience
1:00:49 Getting your messaging right
1:04:26 Finding your customer's pain point
1:06:10 Using DMs to build trust
1:09:38 Building a personal brand
1:11:48 Final thoughts

If you enjoyed this episode, please like and subscribe, share it with your friends, and leave a review. I read every single one.

Learn more about the podcast: https://nathanbarry.com/show

Follow Nathan:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nathanbarry
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathanbarry
X: https://twitter.com/nathanbarry
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thenathanbarryshow
Website: https://nathanbarry.com
Kit: https://kit.com

Follow Jasmine:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jasminestar
Website: https://www.jasminestar.com
X: https://x.com/jasminestar
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/jasmine-star
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@officialjasminestar

Featured in this episode:
Kit: https://www.kit.com
Social Curator: https://www.socialcurator.com

Highlights:
03:38 How Jasmine made $255,000 in five days
12:07 Why courses are no longer enough
17:31 How to find what people will actually pay for
33:50 People already have the information
36:15 Why Jasmine’s ROI guarantee isn't a money-back guarantee

Should you sell your business, or build it to own forever? Ankur Nagpal sold Teachable for $250 million and Carry for $76 million. I bootstrapped Kit and turned down a $200 million acquisition offer from Spotify. We took very different paths as founders.

I sat down with Ankur to break down why we made those choices and how they've played out. We get into the key considerations for selling a company vs. building it to own forever, why raising venture capital can quietly trap founders into a specific kind of business, and the hiring and go-to-market tactics Ankur used to build two companies from scratch.

Ankur also shares how founders can use the QSBS tax break to keep millions more from an exit.

If you've ever thought about selling your business, or you're trying to decide whether to bootstrap or raise venture capital, this is the episode to listen to before you make that call.

Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction
01:37 Teachable's Story
03:39 Why Ankur Sold Teachable
04:47 Nathan's Approach to Building
07:16 Building to Sell vs. Building to Keep
08:34 Carry's Story
09:30 Understanding QSBS Tax Benefits
16:06 Being Bought vs. Having to Sell
16:40 Why Raise Capital for Carry?
18:25 Bootstrapping vs. VC
22:54 Lessons for Second-Time Founders
26:10 Ankur's Next Chapter: USVC
28:36 Recruiting Great Talent
32:24 Our Contrarian Beliefs
34:50 Go-to-Market Strategies
39:18 Ankur's AI Content Strategy
46:25 Staying Focused
48:58 Content Workflows
59:16 Product Market Fit Evolution
01:02:08 Closing Thoughts

If you enjoyed this episode, please like and subscribe, share it with your friends, and leave a review. I read every single one.

Learn more about the podcast: https://nathanbarry.com/show

Follow Nathan:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nathanbarry
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathanbarry
X: https://twitter.com/nathanbarry
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thenathanbarryshow
Website: https://nathanbarry.com
Kit: https://kit.com

Follow Ankur:
X: https://twitter.com/ankurnagpal
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ankurnagpal
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ankurna

Featured in this episode:
Teachable: https://teachable.com
Carry: https://carry.com

Highlights:
03:00 The Perfect Exit?
10:40 QSBS Tax Benefits For Founders
18:30 Bootstrapped vs. VC: Which is Higher Status?
23:20 Product Market Fit for Second-Time Founders
32:20 Our Contrarian Beliefs