Brand You Personal Branding

I don't remember a single bowl of the rice my mom made me growing up. That's exactly what's wrong with how most personal brands write and speak right now. Take the free Idea to IP Assessment: A short diagnostic that scores your expertise across 8 areas and shows you exactly where it's ready to become intellectual property you can package, sell, and scale. Find your single biggest next move in abou...

My best friend's fiancée said yes last month. Nobody at the engagement party called it a conversion. Holding an audience is a relationship. Like a real human one, it takes three completely different skills. Take the free Idea to IP Assessment: A short diagnostic that scores your expertise across 8 areas and shows you exactly where it's ready to become intellectual property you can package, sell, a...

I was scrolling old photos of my masterminds and events on my phone when a question surfaced. Did I actually do right by the people who crossed my path? Here are three words for anyone in the business of helping people navigate these feelings: Wasted, spent, and offered. The third is the one very few of us ever name. Take the free Idea to IP Assessment: A short diagnostic that scores your expertis...

Join Mike Kim and Sean Osborn as they discuss the critical role of a mastermind group in fostering your personal and business growth. Sean shares his personal journey, illustrating how strategic mentorship within a mastermind setting can lead to remarkable business success. This conversation offers valuable insights for anyone looking to boost their entrepreneurship endeavors and achieve personal...

What most people call an identity crisis is often an identity evolution. These feelings are becoming more frequent due to social media and the accelerating impact of AI. This video touches on psychology and how to find yourself in times of social change. Here are some things I've learned about how to fix myself and embrace self discovery. Get the Mike Kim Letter every Tuesday:   https://mikekim.co...

Last week, my friend Lauren texted me about a book online that looked exactly like mine. Same orange cover. Same font. Same little black sticker. Different name on the spine. Turns out "Dave Stone" has been pumping out AI-generated knockoffs by the dozen. I should have been furious. I wasn't. I was tired. In this issue of the Mike Kim Letter, I unpack what I'm calling visibility fatigue — the exha...

Watch on YouTube » In this episode, I discuss "The Tabloidification of the Internet"... my observations on mass media and how click-bait headlines influence public perception. This discussion encourages critical thinking and media literacy in a digital media landscape. 1:46 - Social media is the new supermarket tabloid 2:58 - How Buzzfeed and Upworthy created click-bait 5:18 - Not all views should...

( Watch on YouTube or read on my site ») I've been going on something called an "Artist Date": a solo outing, once a week with your "Inner Artist," to something that feeds you creatively. The idea comes from Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way , a book that's been sitting on my shelf for a year. I finally decided to go through with it. A few links I mentioned, all in one place: The Artist's Way by Ju...

Recently, I presented at SXSW called You Are Still the Brand: What AI Can't Do For You alongside author, Ryan Levesque. Preparing together gave me a rare look at how someone I respect does their work, and it made me rethink a few things about my own process.  Here's what I learned about preparation, deep work, and why there's a huge jump between $1,500 Hamilton tickets vs. $15 improv tickets. If y...

AI isn't killing books. The numbers say otherwise, and the opportunity for authors has never been bigger. In this conversation, Mike Kim (Wall St. Journal and USA Today bestselling author) and JJ Virgin (4x NYT bestselling author) talk about what actually happens to books in an AI world: who survives, who doesn't, and why your personal brand matters more now than ever. They also get into AI clones...

Ryan Levesque built a SaaS company, had a life-changing exit offer fall apart at the 11th hour, and then realized something that shook him:  he'd started hating his business, and as a result, he'd started hating himself. What followed was a radical reorientation: making a public confession to his audience that none of his emails over the past seven years had actually been written by him, moving to...

Your emails, posts, and captions sound generic because you shut off your real voice the moment you think you're supposed to sound impressive. You don't have a writing problem. You have a voice problem. I've spent over a decade as a brand strategist working with NYT bestselling authors and thought leaders, and I've found that nearly everyone falls into one of five voice types. This post may help yo...

Take the Idea-to-IP assessment here » No business strategy will solve a nervous system problem. In this episode, I break down Charlie Munger's inversion principle, a powerful identity framework from mental performance coach Lauren Johnson, and why the most successful people I've worked with are always the most teachable. This is the inner game, and it matters more than any tactic. CONNECT WITH ME...

Take the Idea-to-IP assessment here » Your inner voice powers everything: what you say, write, and how you show up. But most people try to force it louder instead of turning down the noise. In this episode, I cover how tracking behaviors, sorting ideas vs. notes, and building a simple capture system protects your original thinking and ensures you don't default to being a copy of a copy or a copy....

Take the Idea-to-IP assessment here » Most people think voice is just what you say or write. But there's a third voice that matters more than both: the voice of presence—what you emanate when people are around you. In this video, I unpack why developing all three voices is what creates real opportunity. CONNECT WITH ME Newsletter Instagram TikTok X (Twitter) LinkedIn Facebook

Take the Idea-to-IP assessment here » What does a day worth repeating actually look like? Today, I talk about getting punched in the mouth by January (literally ended up in the hospital), why AI is the Ozempic of thinking, and how I'm putting guardrails around my brain in a post-AI world. If you're a hard-charging, high-achiever who defaults to being the engine instead of the architect, this one's...

Take the Idea-to-IP assessment here » One of the most common problems I see: experts doing everything right but not getting the traction they should. Usually, it comes down to this: the right digits, the wrong order. You can have all the right numbers in a phone number, but if even one digit is out of place, you're not dialed in. That's why I built the Idea to IP Score Assessment—a free 30-questio...

I spent last week in the hospital getting tests done after experiencing bad headaches. Everything came back clear, and I'm on the mend. While I was there, a line from Matthew McConaughey's book Greenlights kept coming to mind: "Can I live in a way that I look forward to looking back?" Sharing some thoughts on that experience and a few updates on what's coming up. EPISODE LINKS: Join the waitlist f...

I've spent years building a library that shaped who I am as a person and entrepreneur. From memoirs of obsessive creators to dark philosophy, relationship healing to marketing classics—these aren't just books I've read, they're books that changed me. Here's my full list (with some comic books, YouTube channels, and newsletters thrown in): http://mikekim.com/booklist CONNECT WITH ME   Newsletter In...

Watch on YouTube » Read this episode » One of the most important aspects of my business costs about $12 on Amazon. It's a cheap plastic 12 month calendar that I stick on a wall. In this episode, I break down my entire annual planning system. I'll show you how I schedule big rocks (webinars, launches, events), build in proper runway and recovery time, and create the margin needed for life's inevita...

Watch on YouTube » Read this episode » The past year has been a reckoning on work, grief, and self-trust. I reflect on the changes I made this year: what I built, what I cut, and what death clarified for me. This episode is about subtraction, nervous system regulation, and learning to live without numbing or chaos. I hope you find some of my learnings helpful. EPISODE LINKS: Join the waitlist for...

Watch on YouTube » Read this episode » Welcome to that in-between liminal week and a half between Christmas and New Year's. Every so often we get lucky and score two weekends during this stretch, and this year is one of them. This is one of my favorite times of the year. Despite the commercialization, this period is a rare cultural pause. A collective breath, if you will. For me, it's a time to li...

Watch on YouTube » Read this episode » During her visit to New York City, my (sweetheart!!!) niece Nylah asked if I could help with a school project on social media and influence. (She thinks I'm an actual influencer, haha.) We braved the winter weather and did an interview while walking towards the Museum of Natural History. I always tell people that if you want to explain what you do, try explai...

Watch on YouTube » Read this episode » Content marketing is dead. "How-to" isn't a differentiator anymore—AI can do that better than any of us. What actually cuts through now is the messenger , not the message. In this video, I break down why the shift from "How-to" to "How I…" content matters, how connection beats conversion, and why wisdom earned through lived experience is the real currency in...

Watch on YouTube » Read this newsletter » I played (too many) videogames in college and often sank a lot of time into "character creation" – where you get to pick what kind of character you'll build for the game. Game developers knew players would obsess over getting it "right," so they built in something called a respec — a way to wipe your build, reassign your points, and start fresh without los...