The power of a personal brand — and how your kid can build one

Let’s meet two teenagers. 

🧒 Jimmy: A 17-year-old boy from Wichita, Kansas.

👧🏻 Emma: A 16-year-old girl from San Bruno, California. 

Like many kids at that age, they occasionally filmed themselves doing random things or talking into a camera. 

Jimmy was ambitious…  

… and Emma was more laid back.

You might not recognize them, but your kid most likely will. 

Today, 26-year-old Jimmy is known as Mr.Beast:

• He’s YouTube royalty with 306 million subscribers

• He’s a savvy businessman worth hundreds of millions of dollars

• And he has way more facial hair  🤷 

And 23-year-old Emma:

• Has 12 million YouTube subscribers

• Owns a $20 million coffee brand

• And gets courted by world-renowned fashion brands

We won’t get into the nitty gritty of their stories today (you’ll find plenty of content online if you’re curious). I’m talking about these two because they’re both pros at one thing —

Building a personal brand. 

Why does personal branding matter for kids?

“Influencer” is still a highly desirable career path for kids, but they’re realizing that it’s not as easy (and fun) as they thought it would be. 

Because having influence is hard work. 

At the core of it, to influence is to have a personal brand that resonates and connects with an audience. 

For kids, having a personal brand can translate into (but not limited to):

🥅 Knowing their goals and values

🤝 Connecting with others more easily 

🩵 Understanding themselves better

…all of which will inject them with a healthy dose of self esteem.  👊

In today’s world, where everything — and I mean everything — competes for our limited attention, a distinguishable personal brand is becoming the baseline, not just a nice-to-have. 

Besides, it’ll be good practice if your kid decides to become an entrepreneur. 

Like Steve Forbes said: “Your brand is the single most important investment you can make in your business.”

How to get started…

Here are three ways to help your kid build a personal brand that grows with them, and stands the test of time. 

1. Guide them to self-explore

You might be thinking, “my kid already has a unique personality or talent that distinguishes them. Isn’t that their brand?” 

That’s great — as a starting point. 

Guide them to think about their brand as the overlap of three things: 

• Interests: What they like to do when nobody’s watching

• Strengths: What they’re good at

• Values: What they stand for and believe in

If they exhibit strength in a certain area, lean into it. Provide support when they want to learn something, and encourage them to share updates with you regularly.

Create an environment where they’re free to try different things, have unpopular opinions, or even embarrass themselves (we learn the most this way). 

2. Make it fun

“Let’s build your personal brand” sounds a little daunting. 

How about “let’s design a logo that represents you”?

Brand-building is not a short-term goal. Businesses spend decades doing it, and some still do a bad job. 

But you can help your kid start working toward it by breaking it down into small, fun activities. 

So try designing a “personal logo” together. It’ll get them thinking about how they want to be represented visually. 

Then move on to words. Come up with a “slogan” — what kind of descriptors, sayings, or quotes do they associate with? 

These fun little steps can get them to open up, and think about how they’re represented in relation to the rest of the world. 

3. Connect it to goals

Branding helps businesses find customers that connect with what the brand stands for. 

AKA — the target audience. 

But your kid doesn’t exactly have a target audience… 

So instead, their personal brand should be connected to goals. 

Every stage of their life, they want to accomplish something. These goals can be small or big: 

• Be known as a good friend

• Get followers on Instagram 

• Attend a top college

• Start their own business

And these are the best motivators for them to develop a personal brand. 

They don’t need to use it day-to-day. But when the goal requires it — or when there’s a great opportunity — they can seize it by identifying the personal traits that help them stand out.

Remember — consistency is key

Jimmy and Emma didn’t create their brands overnight. 

It took years of consistent effort (and a lot of throwing spaghetti at the wall) until they found a voice that resonated with millions.

So I’ve got two final thoughts to leave you with: 

• A brand is nothing if people don’t trust it. And trust can only be achieved with consistency over time.

• But it’s also natural for their brand to evolve over time, just like their interests and values. So keep it dynamic, and keep it truthful.