The Business of Life with Dr King
Dr Ariel Rosita King brings on a variety of International guests from various countries, cultures, organisations, and businesses to talk about turning
problem into possibilities! Let's turn our challenges in opportunities together!
The Business of Life with Dr King
Sir Nick Nelson: Unlocking Personal Branding Success Through Storytelling and Strategic Networking
Unlock the secrets of personal branding success with insights from Nick Nelsen, the visionary founder of Brandpreneur. Discover how to effectively package your image and skills to uncover hidden opportunities that can transform your professional journey. Drawing from his rich experience in multicultural marketing, Nick emphasizes the power of storytelling and the critical role of one's name, image, and likeness. Learn how cultural awareness and tailored branding strategies can elevate your brand in a global context.
Find out how to build a powerful personal brand with strategic networking techniques that can set you apart. We'll talk about how being known for a single, distinctive quality can create a strong network of advocates who champion your brand. From online engagements on platforms like LinkedIn to the power of repetition and key phrases, learn how to make a memorable impression that expands your professional reach.
Get inspired by the art of storytelling and transform your content into engaging narratives that resonate. Whether through personal stories or celebrating achievements, discover how storytelling can enhance your professional presence. Hear about a client’s remarkable brand transformation through personalized strategies, and explore the importance of bespoke solutions that celebrate individuality. Join us for an insightful conversation and explore the exceptional services at Brandpreneur, where the focus is always on putting you first.
The Business of Life
Dr Ariella (Ariel) Rosita King
Original Song, "Teach Me to Live one Day At A Time"
written, guitar and vocals by Dr. Ariel Rosita King
Dr King Solutions (USA Office)
1629 K St, NW #300,
Washington, DC 20006, USA,
+1-202-827-9762
DrKingSolutons@gmail.com
DrKingSolutions.com
Hello and welcome again to the Business of Life. Today we have a very special guest, mr Nick Nelson, and he's going to be talking about branding. Welcome, Mr Nelson. How are you?
Sir Nelson:I'm wonderful. Thank you so much for having me.
Dr King:Wonderful that you're here.
Sir Nelson:Huh, I said it's Wonderful that you're here.
Dr King:Huh, I said it's wonderful that you're here.
Sir Nelson:It's a pleasure to be here and I thank you for having me on your podcast.
Dr King:Thank you. Could you tell us a little bit about, or can you tell us about, your business that you have and how you started it and who you service, and so on and so forth?
Sir Nelson:Sure. So Nick F Nelson, founder of a company by the name of "Brandprenuer and, oddly enough, ironically enough, people know me personally as Brandprenuer, so it's a bit of a moniker as well as a business name is combined into one, and with Brandpreneur, the whole objective is to get noticed so that they can have access to what I like to call hidden opportunities. Hidden opportunities are those opportunities that are always out there and that remain available, but oftentimes we're missing because people don't know who you are, who you are, and so the whole objective of Brandpreneur is to package people so that they can sell themselves and also, by selling themselves, teach other people how to sell them. So, combined, they have access to hidden opportunities that will allow them to propel and elevate their professional careers and to achieve whatever goals, whether it be monetary, whether it be to walk on stages, to start a podcast, to be on a board right. I've had people even find their life make just by getting noticed right. Another hidden opportunity, right, and so it's been a labor of love since 2017. So started it then.
Sir Nelson:Prior to then, I worked in multicultural marketing, so I owned a multicultural marketing firm called Liquid Soul, and with Liquid Soul, we did film and television marketing and was the leading multicultural agency for film and television. For a solid four or five years. We marketed and did marketing for in the US NBCUniversal, warner Brothers Pictures, disney Fox, fox, searchlight, turner so we've worked with everybody from, you know, tyler Perry to Oprah Winfrey to you name it in between, and have partnerships with various media companies, et cetera. So a good run there. But in 2017, I decided to make a pivot because it no longer served me and when I say no longer served me, no longer served my interest. I wanted, and was purposed to do something a bit different and use my superpowers.
Sir Nelson:What I like to call for good, and that for good, is helping regular folk, people to learn how to sell themselves better, because oftentimes, what I saw was that many colleagues were being overlooked because they thought that their work would speak for itself, and the thing I teach people is that work can't speak, but you can speak right, and I help you to use your words. I help you to establish a name, image and likeness. That's a big term that's used here in the States now NIL. Many times it's used in terms of from an athletic standpoint right, but I use it from a personal branding standpoint in terms of name what is your name? What do people call you? Right? Image what do you look like? Because people pay for image and they judge immediately based off of image. So how are you showing up? And then, likeness how do you make people feel?
Sir Nelson:A brand is two things, and two things only. It's what you want to be known for. How do you want to make people feel? And oftentimes feeling comes through the experience of you. So what is the experience of you? You're either going to be a good experience, a bad experience, a memorable experience or forgettable experience.
Sir Nelson:And I say all of this data and intel and information, and I help people to develop a strategy, a look, a digital online presence through graphic design, web design, video. Teach them how to create content that tells a story, so their LinkedIn doesn't feel like an extension of their resume, but it actually tells a story of who that person is, because people love stories and they always will, and far too often people just don't know how to tell a story. They're not wondering why they're not getting engagement and why they're being overlooked. So I use all of these things to help people to elevate their professional career by accessing these hidden opportunities, by teaching them how to sell themselves and teaching other people's how to sell themselves and teaching other peoples how to sell on them on their behalf.
Dr King:That's absolutely amazing. That's wonderful. May I ask? You're talking about stories. I would assume that you're working with people from all over the world, from various people, so do you allow for international consulting? Is that something that you do?
Sir Nelson:It doesn't matter where the person person is there have been many a morning where I've been on zoom at three o'clock in the morning.
Sir Nelson:Let's be clear, all right uh, I remember I had one client that was in dubai and we were on opposite ends and you know I would take a turn and they would take a turn. Right, there's a tennis match, right, somebody, somebody is going to be inconvenienced, right, somebody will be. But they were gracious enough to say well, nick, you don't have to do all of the early lifting not heavy lifting, but early and so. But to answer your question, yes, yes, I work with people from all over and I can help in some capacity, right, with people from all over and I can help in some capacity, Right?
Dr King:So yes, Thank you. And may I ask culturally, you know, when you're looking at those that mostly have their images more for North America or the Americas, I should say including South America, Soviet Americas opposed to Africa, opposed to Asia, Are there differences when you actually do branding with people? Are there subtle differences? Are there basically no differences at all?
Sir Nelson:Absolutely is. So. Culture is everything right, and so it's amazing. The biggest where I see the cultural differences is when I do conferences and things of that nature, and you have international conferences, people from all over, and you know we do a popular thing called what's called our branding booth. It's a branding headshot booth, right, and with that, with our images, we're known for how we edit images, I call it, we make them scroll stopping. Now, where does that fall into place?
Sir Nelson:So what I've known is that if they are from a person is from Asia, they don't want you to touch or edit their face. Right, because it's a sign of disrespect. Right, there have been times in which we've done that and they'd be like, no, I don't want any edits. They've actually become angry and mad about that. Right, there are other parts where of the of the of the world where they're fine with that. They're like give me every last bit of Photoshop you have Right.
Sir Nelson:Also, color plays into part. Right, in certain places like Africa and things of that nature, color is very important and it becomes a symbol of who they are. Right. Also, texture icons, things of that nature, all of those little differences are all cultural nuances. Nuances, right, even in terms of how people communicate. I have several individuals from Nigeria, for instance, and I call Nigeria like the New York of Africa because my New Yorkers they're straight and to the point and they will hustle you out of the stocks, right, and so not in a bad way, right, but you know they, they, they are very right.
Sir Nelson:Trying to get to it Right.
Dr King:On point.
Sir Nelson:Their own point. They what they said, what they said, what they said, right and so. So, yes, there are various nuances, you know. Language is one as well, of course, as you know.
Dr King:But the majority of my work, though, does come from the US. Thank you, and you know you did say that it's very interesting that it is a matter of a story, so may I ask for a majority of your clients that are on LinkedIn or are on, or perhaps on Facebook, and they find you what do you find are some of the most common mistakes and how are you able to turn those around for them?
Sir Nelson:Yeah, so common mistakes is that they tend to overthink. So they're very analytical people, right? They? They run around in their heads so much, right, they get all the steps in every single day in their head, all right, and they tend to overthink. The other thing is that they tend to they tend to overthink. The other thing is that they tend to what I like to call brand-splain, so it's over-explaining something, right? They don't know how to be concise in their language. The other thing is that they can't commit to being known for one thing and they want to do all the you know, all the things they want to talk about, all the things that they do.
Sir Nelson:But, at the end of the day, in order for somebody to sell you, you have to be known for one thing, right? Because you're not just trying to get one person to sell you. You're trying to get many people to sell you. Matter of fact, you're trying to build a sales force of people that will say you know what you need to use. This person or this person would be excellent for this opportunity. And if you're not known for one thing, people just don't know how to sell you. And, in terms of selling people, you have to even give them the words. That's why I'm a big proponent of keywords and phrases that you say over and over and over again, like one of the phrases that we use, for my organization is called you are a brand. I hashtag it, I say it over and over again, it's my mantra you are a brand. You are a brand Because that is what I'm about and I try to drill it, but it also helps people understand that's what I am and what my organization is and what it represents.
Sir Nelson:The other thing is that people are too humble. Right, there's too much humility, and I'm not saying you have to be a show-off or braggadocious, but you have to let people know what it is you're doing and not just assume that people are going to magically find out. Right, people are not leveraging their relationships and their networks enough, right? A lot of what this world goes around on is built off of relationship, and so they don't network enough or they are afraid to network outside of the same circle that they typically network in. And I know there's a comfort level and the comfort zone associated with staying within your same network. But there are golden hills, right, and if you are able to go out there and network in other circles. It's efficient. They think that networking is something that you have to do in person, right? They don't understand that some of the most powerful networking you can do is with people that you have never met before, but you've given them a like and a comment on their post and you become friends online.
Sir Nelson:Becoming friends online is different than becoming friends in person, it's. You know, you like my post, I like your post, you comment on my post, I'll comment on your post. Let's be friends, right? It's a mutual support system, right? And then ultimately, that support system or it turns into hey, we've been liking and commenting on each other's stuff for a while. You want to do a quick Zoom to introduce each other, or coffee chat, and then relationship builds from there.
Sir Nelson:Relationship comes from you telling a story and people getting into you, and they might not even comment or like, but you become a part of their day.
Sir Nelson:They look for your content, matter of fact, they become disappointed when they don't see it, and so you become a friend in their head, right, they will recommend you and they will have never even had a one conversation with you, but they'll be like you know what? I've been watching, you know Ariel for a while and I don't know if she can help, but I think you might want to reach out to her. Right, you've just been sold by someone who has never even had a conversation with you. So that's why it's very important for you to consistently put yourself out there and to tell a story, because people, people, people love story, right, that's why they go to you know cnncom, and they they watch movies and things of that nature Make your content editorial, editorial is you know, it's told in the form of story and if you do that, watch your viewership go up. But those are just some of the few mistakes that my clients, that we work with them to rectify.
Dr King:Thank you, that is so very interesting. May I ask, when you're telling a story, especially when you are on LinkedIn and you're doing business, or most of the contents are business? That is so very interesting. May I ask, when you're telling a story, especially when you're on LinkedIn and you're doing business, or most of the contents of business, which might be different from Twitter or Facebook and they might be quote-unquote friends and these are people that you're learning from, what type of stories do you tell? Sometimes you see on LinkedIn and say, well, this isn't supposed to be on LinkedIn, but I want to tell you about this and my view is that you know, um, all of life that's related to who you are as a person and go on linkedin, but is that true? And how? How do you try to do business and be professional but, at the same time, tell your story, but at the same time, tell you a story.
Sir Nelson:So people need to understand that. People go on LinkedIn. The number one reason why they go on LinkedIn is to be entertained. It's entertainment, right, and that's what social media is. It's an entertainment medium and you look to learn and be entertained, right. The reason why platforms like LinkedIn exist is because they want your eyeballs and they want your data right, and a part of getting eyeballs is keeping people entertained. So what do you say, right In entertainment?
Sir Nelson:In the entertainment field, you know, one of the things I learned is I learned the secret to content. There is actually a recipe to amazing content that amazing content providers use, and it's the same thing that the home and garden television or HGTV uses, or CNN or any of these reality TV shows and stuff they use Right. There used to be this one show called oh my goodness. It's about America like home makeover, home makeovers, home makeover show Right, and in the show you learn the backstory of the family. You'd get a chance to understand whatever struggle they might have, but then you also saw the transformation of that home. So you learned about how to build across the way, right. You learned insights about the family in general. You learned about different building techniques, et cetera. And then you got a chance to feel good at the end when they said move that bus right and that family would go out there and they see their new home and they start crying and jumping and yelling, et cetera, and it made you feel good, right, what they use is a secret sauce. It's a three pronged approach. Those who do it best use all three consecutively within one single post. It's insights If you know a thing, you can teach a thing.
Sir Nelson:What can you teach? People want to learn Information, information about you. People want to know who you are. They are interested in your life. People are inherently curious or, as I like to say, nosy. It's nosy, right. What are you doing today and who are you working with? And you know, oftentimes people will be like man, nick, you sure are busy. I've been watching Nick, I see what you've been doing. Man, that's a lot dog, that's. You know, that's good stuff, bro, you know, and I'm like, okay, right, but with that they feel that they know me, they feel closer to me, and feeling draws people into you so they become invested in you, right, right. So insights, information and then finally, inspiration. People love a good move, that bus moment, right, because life is hard in these streets and we all need to be inspired.
Sir Nelson:So what you will see is that the information about everything else except what you do will do better on LinkedIn. Showing your family, showing the struggle, talking about something personal, right, celebrating someone else All of these things are techniques and tools that you can leverage to be seen. But, in the same time, this is what my employer is, this is what my business is, this is what I've done. This is where the conference that I've gone to, these are the people that I've interacted with. But here are the various stories, right, these are the various stories you know. In crime shows they talk about, you know, and these are the stories you know, and it's that whole thing, man. And so that's what people look for, right, they want to know your personal law and order. Right, they want to understand the story. They want to know who done it. They want to know who done it. They want to know who done it and how the story ends.
Dr King:That's so insightful. It's another way to also see not just LinkedIn, but business is not just business. Business is life and the life that you have besides what you do in business. That's so insightful and that's so interesting stories. And I'm more interested in the people. Exactly what you're saying and those, those are the ones that I like the most. Those are just like you know. I just want to celebrate that I've graduated, without telling me but the struggle that you had to graduate, how difficult it was to come up with the money, how you had to, you know, in a hard time for a reason, whatever it was. Then I got that feel-good moment and I feel like somehow I was with that person, somehow I was taken through that journey with them in one pose. So I know exactly what you're talking about. I just didn't know if he could sauce it absolutely is.
Sir Nelson:I guess it's not a secret anymore because I've said it well, saying it is very different than doing it.
Dr King:Just because people know what it is, it doesn't necessarily mean it's easy to do, otherwise you wouldn't be. You wouldn't be helping us to do it then, would you? Can you tell us any stories about some of your favorite success stories of, not necessarily with a, you know, a personal name, but success stories of clients that you've worked and in different fields?
Sir Nelson:So my very first client. She owned a for lack of a better, it's a community. She owned a community where she encouraged black women to learn how to play golf so they can elevate their professional profile in corporate America. When she came to me she was disgusted. She was, you know, down and out, you know, because it just wasn't working for her and, transparently, I didn't know what the hell I was doing. But I did right. It's one of those things where you know it's transferable skills. It's taking what I did for major corporations and now I'm transferring it over to this one sister who's given me her last few coins and said Nick, I need you to try to make this make sense.
Sir Nelson:Over the course of several months, put together her strategy, revamped her image all the way around, helped her to figure out what her personality is, because communities are very personality driven. You have to have in communities they have what they call a community manager, that person that helps to galvanize people, come up with activities and topics and things of that nature, and I had to make her that community manager and help her to identify. All right, what is this community? Who are you serving? What are they interested in? You know, why are they here, you know, what are you providing for them? What's in it for them, right? And so we began to, one by one, answer all of these questions, and then I held her accountable in terms of putting these things into action and within a six month period, she went from doing that to now engaging corporate partners, because the other thing is that corporations want access to community. And so she was looking at it in one way, in terms of I'm just trying to build members. I'm like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, you are trying to get dollars, and dollars come from corporate partners. And today she has, you know, relationships with Kohler, bmw, you know all sorts of major corporations throwing money at her Right To have access to a community and to go speak and things of that nature.
Sir Nelson:So I'm like, ok, you know she, she figured the secret sauce out, but a lot of it is just figuring out the perspective, right, in terms of how you, how you manage and do things. And honestly, I have hundreds, if not thousands, of stories like that in terms of just it. A lot of times it's what's your strategy, what's your approach, and many times you find you're selling to the wrong people. Right, I've learned that people, people move into a walk with their feet, and if they're not walking in a certain direction, then you might want to pivot in terms of how you're positioning something. What are you selling or what have you? The other thing that you want to do is you want to sell before it's even done. Right? Hell, it doesn't even have to exist yet. Sell it right, because once you've sold one, you are now forced to make it happen. Right, and I learned this from these millennials, or whatever, gen Zs or whatever man. Let me tell you something it's a whole new ballgame nowadays. They will sell it and then they'll figure it out.
Sir Nelson:Right, then they'll make it, then they'll make it, and there's a beauty in that, because sometimes, as grown folk, we will have made everything, everything. Then we go out there and sell and wonder why people ain't buying, because we didn't even know if they wanted it or not. Right.
Sir Nelson:Right, just going up there and just building stuff, right. But if you go out there and sell it, let me tell you something People laugh at me because most of the things that I sell ain't baked yet, right. But I go out there and sell it Right, and then it's not that I can't bake it, it's like OK, now it's time to bake, right. The other thing is that I learned is that people try to sell too much Right, try to sell way too much, no, no, no. You know, you got to. You got to have a main offer, an upsell and a downsell. You got to figure out what it is you're selling. One of my favorite examples in terms of just creating products because people pay for products is Taco Bell. Have you ever heard of Taco Bell?
Dr King:Yes, there's Taco Bell. I'm not sure that.
Sir Nelson:I don't know where it is in Europe, but right. I say a fast food restaurant, we'll say Burger Queen.
Dr King:Fast food restaurant.
Sir Nelson:We'll say Burger Queen.
Dr King:Okay, or KFC. That is all over the world.
Sir Nelson:They got KFC everywhere.
Dr King:Actually that's everywhere Asia, Africa, everywhere, Every continent.
Sir Nelson:I've ever been to and I've been to all of them except one. I've seen a KFC.
Dr King:So have I. Yeah, that's right.
Sir Nelson:So the thing about these restaurants is they have a limited pool of ingredients, but they mix and match them ingredients the same ingredients to create many different products, right, and so it is taking the same ingredients that you have, what your core ingredients, and all you're doing is mixing and matching and it's a new product. It ain't the new product. All you did was take the same ingredients, mix and match them. You know, with taco bell, here in the states is a place that sells tacos. Tacos ain't nothing but ground beef. You know lettuce, tomato, some sauce, right, some tortillas of flour. You know corn chips, man, they call it a chalupa. They call it words that ain't these ain't even no real Mexican words, right, they done called the whole thing something different.
Sir Nelson:All they did was take the same daggone ingredients and mix and match them and now they have a gordoza. What the hell is a good? Come on man. Come on man. And people be like yeah, let me get a gordoza please, um, extra crunchy. Same thing with you, right, look at what are your core services and figure out different ways and different products that you can navigate and that you can create, because people pay for products. Right? That's the other mistake far too many people make is they don't? They don't know what they sell. Call it something, right? I want that. I don't care what you call it. I force my clients to build products and call it something. I can sell a name, right? I don't know specifically everything in the package. I can sell it. That's what it's called. I will take a number one. Please Give me a number five.
Dr King:I love it so insightful, it's so insightful. Well, we're coming to the end of our 30 minutes, which is just not enough time. Um, do you have any last? Um, I would say, not words, but in any recommendations or something for someone looking for, uh, you know, rebranding themselves, or actually not just rebrand themselves, but looking for what do they want to do and how do they, how do they want to share their purpose with other people?
Sir Nelson:I would say go to brandpreneurcom B-R-A-N-D, P-R-E-N-U-E-Rcom and schedule a time for us to chat, and I can definitely help you with that.
Dr King:Thank you so much, and do you have any courses that are also online? Is that one of the things that you sell, or is it mostly one-on-one?
Sir Nelson:It's mostly one-on-one because with courses it's just generic stuff. You can go on YouTube and find some of that generic stuff A lot of. I'm customized for people, right, and everybody has a unique problem and so I problem solve based on the problem. I don't just sell to be selling. I look at what the problem is and then I take my collective ingredients and I sell you a chalupa.
Dr King:I want to say thank you. It has been an absolutely delightful, delightful time with you. I want to thank you for taking the time and energy to speak with us today and thank you and to our audience, thank you so much for listening to the Business of Life and please do go to Brandpreneur. You will be amazed at what you can get from this amazing, amazing entrepreneur.
Sir Nelson:And it's UER, not EUR, because I put you first.
Dr King:Thank you so much, sir.
Sir Nelson:Thank you, take care.