John Morgan is one of my favorite people in the personal branding world. He calls himself the ‘Chuck Norris of Personal Branding’ and he is one of the most original thinkers out there in my opinion. I had a chat with him the other day and this is what he had to say about his work, himself and his new book. It went a little bit like this:

What exactly do you do John?

I’m a branding and marketing consultant who helps entrepreneurs create a tribe of raving fans around their brand. When I was teenager I began studying branding & marketing. This didn’t make me popular with the ladies but it’s paid off since then.

What is your approach to Personal Branding?

My approach is to be myself and always remember people want to do business with people they know, like, and trust. Marketing is about relationships and conversation. It’s not about spending thousands of dollars to push your message on people.

Who are your typical clients?

My clients are literally across the globe. I have clients in the US, Canada, UK, Australia, Dubai, and China. Typically they are entrepreneurs who know what their passion is and know what where they want to take their business. They just need me to help them get there.

What are the frequently questions from your clients?

The most frequent questions involve building their brand. Everyone wants to increase their audience size and their platform. You can’t do that by implementing just one strategy. It’s a combination of efforts. Other common questions are about what to do if you have more than one interest. How does that affect your brand? You are your brand. If you’ve got a lot of passions then great! Own that and let the world know about them.

Tell us about your new book?

I’m very excited about Brand Against the Machine and not just because I wrote it. I’m excited because Wiley let me write a book that isn’t full of fluff or B.S. The way we brand ourselves is broken. It’s been broken for a long time. This book sets out to fix that by not just telling people that it’s broken but telling them how to fix it.

What’s the 20/60/20 Rule all about?

In general 20% of people will love what you do. You can make a living off of those people. They are your raving fans who you can count on. 60% either don’t know you exist or don’t care. The last 20% will hate you. It doesn’t sound like fun but the people who hate cause the people who love you to come to your defense. Take the Twilight series for example. Lots of people hate it and that just makes the 20% who love it fight that much harder for it. You don’t want people in the 60%. Get them off of the fence one way or the other.

How does your Instant Positioning Method work?

The Instant Positioning Method is about aligning yourself with brands that are already established. For example, if you interview 7 of the worlds best fitness experts for your blog then people will begin to look at you as an authority in fitness as well. Your position increases by aligning yourself with respectable and established brands.

What are your best words of advice to Personal Branding explorers?

Understand that everything you do is branding. How you answer the phone, how you dress, what you tweet. It all has an affect. Your brand either works for you or against but it always works.

How do you make sure your own personal brand stands out?

Don’t be afraid to break the rules. Falling in line with industry norms is deadly to your business. Go against what your competition is doing. Challenge the status quo.

Tell us about your blogging and how it fits into your business?

A blog should be your homebase online. It’s where people can get familiar with your content and style and find out about what you do. I’m not the most consistent blogger in the world. I want each post to be awesome. I can’t achieve that by blogging daily. So when I do blog, I try to make it count. My blog will play a big role in the future of my business.

What gives you the best results on social media?

Consistency. Putting out great content. And always remembering that social media is about the reader not the writer.

What are your best-kept secrets?

I read about 2-3 books a week. Mostly on mindset, focus, and things like that. I also like to pay attention to what celebrity chefs are doing. They are excellent marketers and great at branding.

What’s next for Personal Branding?

More people will be aware of the power of building a strong personal brand. Competition will be tougher which is why now is a great time to start. Marketing will continue to be about communicating WITH people and not AT them.

What are three things you’ve told yourself that kept you going during your darkest hour?

I can do all things through Christ who strengthen me, I’ve lived through worse, and what’s the positive I can take from this.

What are three life memories you recall most frequently and why?

The first 2 are the days my children were born. Those were the best days of my life and I think about them often. The third would have to be a trip to Disney World me and my wife took. We’ve been there more times than we can count but I think back on those memories a lot.

Your favourite quote?

“Get busy living or get busy dying” from Shawshank Redemption.

Best oneliner?

Whoever coined the phrase ‘quiet as a mouse’ has clearly never stepped on one.

Tell us what it’s like to live in Nashville?

Being born and raised in Nashville it’s hard for some to believe I hate country music. You won’t ever find me in cowboy boots! Nashville is an amazing place that rocks way more than people would ever expect. We’re not all rednecks.

What’s the one thing people can do to help you?

Buy a copy of the book. Read it. Take action on what you read.