The Secret Behind Authentic Personal Branding w/ Mo Ismail| Ep 413

That's one of your big philosophies in why your personal brand is so successful, giving value before you ask for anything. How do you do that as a business versus just a passion project where it's like, I'm just giving value? I think we're always walking around wondering what does somebody want from us? What do you want from me? Look in your DMs, look in your inbox, look at how people come up to you at a conference or a networking event. Your guard's up, man. Your guard's up all the time. You're trying to steal my time, my attention, my money, my friends, my status. And until we start to feel comfortable with somebody, we're not gonna really entertain those ideas. And I think the thing that is really disarming to people is to lead with generosity. Not because it's a scheme, it's not a Trojan horse, but because it's generally how you operate. It's part of your operating system. So somebody who comes by a total stranger and says, Hey, Moe. I see you there. You look a little lost in this sea of people. Tell them what's going on. Like I told you, we all want to be seen, to be included. And there's some part of you in that moment I could imagine when I say you, I mean, all of you who are listening or watching, is a child who was neglected at some point. No matter how much love you got, it was never enough. And it we should not put a container on our love. So it could be more. Fine. So you felt left out. You felt overlooked, passed up on. So when somebody's like, hey, Moe. I just noticed you're alone there. What's going on? You're like, well, I don't know anybody here. It's like, who would you like to meet? And you say to me, oh, well, I don't know. Maybe this kind of person? You're like, well, let's go find them together. By the way, my name is Chris. And I think that moment's gonna stick with you. You're probably gonna say to yourself, that guy or that gal is genuine. And there's something about human nature that we are going to feel like we need to reciprocate. Our social network depends on us doing that. So when somebody gives you, eventually, you need to do something. Like, I make dinner. Well, I got the dishes, or I bought the groceries, or you drove and we filled up the gas. It's not a quid pro quo mandate, but it's how we continue to build on the relationship so it gets stronger versus weaker. And so somewhere along the way, oh, hey, Chris. What are you doing here? Is it your job to just meet randos in in the corner and introduce them to people? Like, well, no, actually, I'm gonna be speaking. Oh, what are you speaking about? You see, like, we start to show up for each …