Hi Reader,

Last week, I shared the 3 frameworks that completely rewired my brain for wealth. If you missed it, I've linked it here because we're building directly on those mindset shifts.

Today, I'm breaking down Phase 2 of the 13 frameworks I would use to build my financial and time freedom if I had read all the books, gained the experience, made all the mistakes, and knew what I knew today:

How to build a personal brand that creates real opportunities.

These are the 3 no-fluff strategies that will help you build a personal brand from scratch (without quitting your day job or becoming an influencer).

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Why Personal Brands Are the New Safety Net

Let me paint you a picture of what's happening right now.

First, the 9-5 isn't so safe anymore. We've seen massive layoffs across every industry. The job market is brutal. Even "stable" careers feel unstable.

Second, people have raised their standards. COVID made us realise we want more from life than sitting in a cubicle for 50 hours a week. For the first time, people are actually doing something about it.

Third, AI is here. Regular people are using AI to solve real problems and turning weekend projects into real income streams. The barriers to entry have never been lower.

All this is happening while social media makes it possible to reach millions of people from your bedroom. Forty years ago, you would've needed a billboard or radio ad to get your product out there. Today? One viral TikTok can change your life.

This means there's one single asset that will make you wealthy, future-proof, free, and safe: your personal brand.

I know, I know - "personal brand" sounds like influencer nonsense. But hear me out.

When you have a personal brand, you have:

• Multiple income streams that aren't dependent on one employer
• A safety net if you get laid off - your audience comes with you
• The ability to charge premium prices because people buy you, not just your service
• Complete control over your time and location
• The opportunity to work on something meaningful

But here's where most people mess up. They either:

• Overthink it until they're paralysed, or
• Start posting random content hoping something sticks (wondering why they never see results)

Neither works.

So let me show you the exact system I used instead.

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Framework 1: Don't Pick a Niche - Create a Character

For the past 5 years, there have been two competing schools of thought:

The business bros say: Pick a niche. The more specific, the better. Alex Hormozi started with gyms, Gary Vee started with wine.

The influencer crowd says: You ARE the niche. Just be yourself and share everything.

I tried both approaches and they both made me miserable.

I specifically remember going on holiday to Queensland three years ago. Instead of going to the beach, I spent hours torturing myself trying to pick the perfect niche so I could start posting when I got back home.

I'd research what was "saturated" and what was "trending," trying to find some magical gap in the market...

Only to change my mind three months later and do it all over again.

The business bro approach works if you're selling high-ticket services to a very specific market.

But for most people, it's a prison.

We're human beings with multiple interests. That super-specific niche might excite you now, but in six months, you'll be bored out of your mind.

And unless you're in that 0.0001% with perfect looks, charisma, and luck, the influencer approach doesn't work either.

People are self-centered. They don't follow you because you're "authentic" - they follow you because you deliver them value.

So here's what I do instead: Create a character.

Instead of picking a niche or just "being yourself," I imagine I'm writing to one specific person. Someone with real challenges, goals, and a life outside of just those goals.

Here's why this works:

1. People aren't one-dimensional. I talk about productivity, AI, psychology, personal branding, mindset, even fitness. These might seem unrelated. But they all connect for my perfect reader: someone building a side hustle while working full-time.
2. It creates instant connection. What makes someone pay attention to you vs the 10,000 others posting about the same niche? It’s not that you have better information, it’s that people connect with you. We're drawn to people who resemble us. Education attracts an audience, but connection creates true fans.
3. It prevents burnout. Instead of forcing yourself to talk about email marketing when you're excited about personal development, you can share what genuinely interests you - as long as it serves your reader's journey.
4. It opens doors for future opportunities. As AI makes it easier to create products quickly, having a diverse audience means more potential revenue streams down the line.

The secret is getting extremely specific about who this person is. Not just demographics - psychographics.

What keeps them awake at 2am?

What do they complain about to their friends?

What would make them feel truly successful and fulfilled?

Often, the best 'character' is yourself. Because you know yourself better than you could ever know anyone else.

When I write, I write for two people:

• My younger self - the lessons I wish I could have learned earlier
• My current self - the problems I'm actively solving right now

This creates content that feels both aspirational and relatable.

People see where I've been, where I'm going, and they want to either learn, or come along for the journey.

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Framework 2: The Authority Triangle

My biggest pet peeve with the personal branding and online business space is the fluffy advice people share:

• "You're unique"
• "You just need to be consistent"
• "Improve your edits, work on your mindset, and you'll get there"

The reality is, building influence is a game with rules. And if you understand the rules, you can win.

You listen to Andrew Huberman because he has credibility as a Stanford neuroscientist.

You watch your favourite YouTuber because they've built authority in their space through consistent, valuable content.

You buy from certain creators because they've mastered the psychology of influence.

The research tells us that building influence requires four things: Likeness, Credibility, Power and Status

To build this kind of influence through your content and create true fans, people who will buy from you (not just an audience), you need to balance three content types:

1. Growth Content

We can't influence people if we don't have anyone to influence.

Growth content attracts new followers. This is content that anyone scrolling could immediately understand and get value from.

Think: broader appeal, trendy and shareable (e.g. tips, mistakes, myths).

For example:

• Your own spin on a viral trend
• "5 work habits that actually got me promoted"
• "4 ways to use ChatGPT for your personal finances"

This is your "front door" content. It's what brings people into your world.

2. Connection Content

Your followers came for the value you provided in your growth content. Now, you need to give them a reason to actually care about you.

This is the biggest mistake I made early on: I only posted educational content, which meant people were here for my tips, not for me.

I felt trapped in a box, because whenever I posted something new, my engagement absolutely tanked.

This was a bad sign.

There was no personality, no story, no reason to care about me specifically versus the hundreds of other productivity accounts out there.

With connection content, you'll avoid this problem.

Connection content is personal - your story, behind-the-scenes moments, lessons you've learned.

Now, we're not posting like influencers.

If your content is about finance, don't just post about your breakup. Post about how you stayed consistent with your savings goals despite that breakup leaving you not wanting to get out of bed.

I've started sharing more about:

• Moving across the country
• My experiences with relationships as someone pursuing ambitious goals
• The mental challenges, even just the day in the life of building something while working full-time.

This content is still useful and relevant, but it builds that human connection that makes me memorable.

3. Authority Content

While connection content builds influence subconsciously, authority content is where you really differentiate yourself and stick in people's minds as THE person for your topic.

Authority content is your unique insights:

• Contrarian takes
• Original frameworks
• Industry commentary

It's about having genuine opinions and perspectives based on your experience and knowledge.

This is what makes you memorable, makes you different from every other creator (or AI chatbot) out there.

For example, I believe most time management advice is completely wrong because it ignores energy management.

That's my take based on years of research and experimentation, and it positions me differently from every other productivity creator out there.

Similarly, the frameworks I'm sharing in this series - they're my own synthesis of everything I've learned and implemented. They position me uniquely in the personal branding space.

If you can create content that people believe, implement, and see results from, you'll build real authority in their minds.

Your audience comes for the education, stays for the connection, and pays for the authority. You need all three working together to build a personal brand that actually converts to income.

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Framework 3: The Content System That Scales

If you’re building a personal brand while working a 9-5 or building an actual business, being smart and strategic isn’t optional.

We are competing for attention against influencers and content creators who dedicate 100% of their time, energy and mental space to this space.

This is where scalable content becomes so powerful, and it's what I’m focusing on implementing right now.

There’s two options for how you can approach this:

Option 1: The Systematisation Approach

If you're focusing on one or two platforms and don't want to dive into long-form content immediately, use this approach.

Create repeatable weekly content types and content series. Let's say your ‘niche’ is personal finance and you post four times a week:

• Monday: Book review series
• Wednesday: Industry news breakdown
• Friday: How-to guide on specific financial topics
• Sunday: Do my payday routine with me

Every week when you sit down to create content, you're not having to constantly ideate and overthink what to post.

You can focus on actually creating quality content instead of staring at a blank page wondering what people want to hear about today.

Option 2: The Repurposing Machine

This is the approach that I’m implementing:

1. Choose a foundational, long-form platform where your content starts. For me, it's my newsletter because I'm naturally a writer. If you're more of a talker, maybe it's a podcast. YouTube can work for either because you can script or just speak naturally.
2. Repurpose to other long-form channels. I take my newsletter content and adapt it for YouTube videos.
3. Choose 2-3 short-form platforms. For me, that's Instagram, TikTok and sometimes threads. Study what does well on each platform specifically, and adapt your content for each platform's specific audience and format.
4. Use AI to scale the process. This is where AI absolutely saves your life. Once you start repurposing in a way that works for your audience, you can teach AI your patterns and get it to help turn your long-form content into platform-specific short-form posts.

The compound effect is absolutely insane. Instead of reaching 1,000 people with one piece of content, you're reaching 10,000+ people across multiple platforms. Your ideas have more chances to resonate, and you're building authority everywhere instead of just one place.

Plus, it creates what I call "omnipresence".

People start seeing you everywhere, which dramatically increases your perceived authority and the likelihood they'll remember you when they're ready to buy.

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Your Next Steps

We’ve just scratched the surface on these concepts today (I’ll be breaking these down further for you in the coming months), but if you can focus on these three frameworks

1. Creating your character
2. Balancing your content types
3. Systemising your creation

You will get further than 90% of people attempting to ‘grow an audience’ with zero strategy.

But here's the thing - knowing how to create a personal brand means nothing if you can't find the time to actually build it and stay consistent.

So, over the next two newsletters, you'll receive Phase 3 and Phase 4 in your inbox:

• The monetisation frameworks to actually build wealth from your personal brand
• The time management and productivity frameworks to do all of this while working a full-time job.

See you then,

Tayla

P.S. Honestly, I was a bit nervous sending this newsletter, as it's quite different to anything I've put out before. But I did it, because I want to share what I've learned in hopes that it can help just one person.

For this exact reason, if you've ever wanted to build and monetise your personal brand in a research-backed way (while working full time) I'm putting together something special. I can't share all the details yet, but if you want behind the scenes insights and early access when I announce it, join the waitlist here.

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Looking for more?

You'll find all my AI resources, Notion templates and other free resources here.

Have feedback or a resource request?

Share it here. (I'm constantly looking for opportunities to serve you better. Your feedback influences my weekly content and free resources so I can give you exactly what you need).

Have feedback or a resource request?

Share it here. (I'm constantly looking for opportunities to serve you better. Your feedback influences my weekly content and free resources so I can give you exactly what you need).