The winners of personal branding in 2026, I think truly are the introverts because the intellectuals who've been quietly learning and observing are finally feeling like they can actually have a voice that is not reliant on what they look like, how they speak or how charismatic they can be.

When I learned how to write, I learned how to communicate.

And then communication is the biggest skill any entrepreneur can actually learn.

Because then you understand psychology. Then you understand behavior.

Then you understand manipulation.

Lara Acosta is an entrepreneur, investor and LinkedIn expert.

James and Lara discuss why your ego is slowing your growth.

The secrets to effective storytelling and...

What is the problem with personal branding?

Everybody wants a personal brand, but no one knows what it actually means.

How can you make yourself useful to a market of people that don't know you, that don't care about you, and that just care about themselves?

In a perfect world, you've got a perfect client. What frameworks could you give them right now that could get them started?

So there's two, the SMPB, so understand your skill, understand the market, understand the problem you're fixing, and then what value you provide. And then the second thing is use the full as you'll notice, I don't promote any other people's crap in this podcast, only in way and stuff. But if you're out there running a small business and you want to use social media to make money online, it's what I've spent the last 10 years doing. I now teach other people how to do it. If you head to my website, jamesmith.com, you can see what I've got an offer for you. Even this very podcast is a means of me marketing my businesses. This is what probably have the most expertise in. So one more time, that's jamesmith. business, head to the website, see how I can help. Back to the episode. Okay, Laura, what is the problem with personal branding?

I think... probably have the most expertise in. So one more time, that's Jamesmith. Business. Head to the website, see how I can help. Back to the episode. Okay, Laura, what is the problem with personal branding?

I think that at this point, everybody wants to build a personal brand, but no one actually knows

what it even means anymore, because it's been used so much by every single marketer that to some

people, it means lead to some people, it means being famous. that to some people it means lead gen to some people it means

being famous and to some people it just doesn't mean anything anymore so now saying i want to

build a personal brand you don't even know what that means but everybody wants a personal brand but

no one knows what it actually means and And I think that's a problem.

So we've got this kind of result-based thing that people have got through, whether it's

selling a business, starting a business, using social media.

...