I get asked often: “Craig, should everyone start a personal brand?”
My answer is always the same: No.
That might surprise you, coming from someone who runs a personal branding agency.
But personal branding only works when you have something worth amplifying.
I see it every day. Founders with broken marketing funnels dropping $3K/month on ghostwriters, praying for a miracle.
They think personal branding will save them because Facebook ads didn’t work. Cold email flopped. And their webinars convert at 0.2%.
So they bet everything on content because it looks like the strategy that works for everyone else right now.
I get the thinking.
But the timing is usually waaay off. T
hey try to build influence before they build proof.
So when IS the right time?
Well, it depends entirely on where you are.
I break it down into two stages. Most founders are stuck in the first one.
Stage 1: Finding Your Voice ($0 – $500K/year)
This is where you’re still finding product–market fit, proving results, and shaping your worldview.
You’re not ready to “build a brand” yet because you’re just finding your voice.
That means:
Post to learn, not to teach. Use content to explore your own thinking, share experiments, and ask questions. People connect with curiosity more than they connect with confident advice from someone still finding their footing.
Share your journey, not your “expertise.” Talk about what you’re doing right now: the wins, the failures, and the messy middle.
Build in public and test ideas as you go. Throw thoughts out there and see what gets a response. You’re finding your voice but also learning what your audience cares about.
At this stage, don’t expect your content to deliver a steady stream of leads.
I’d recommend keeping the daily time commitment low, roughly 30 minutes:
Talk about what you’re building.
Share what’s working.
Ask questions.
Engage with others in your space.
Reply to a few comments.
Draft one short post or note
Think about what landed (or didn’t).
I find people in this stage are often so desperate to make LI work as a growth channel that they chase “hacks” and become obsessed with “growth content.”
Let me tell you now: This pretty much always fails.
If you want to win on LI, you need to play the long game.
Reframe what you expect from this first stage, and you’ll feel less pressure to get leads right away. You’ll move at a realistic pace and focus on what actually helps you grow.
Stage 2: Scaling Your Voice ($500K+/year)
At this stage, you’ve got the case studies, the measurable results, and the lessons from actually doing the work at scale.
Now it’s time to shift your content from exploration to execution.
That means:
Your voice is sharper.
Your lessons are hard-earned.
Your brand becomes a revenue driver.
This is also the stage when it makes sense to invest real time and money into your content: 2+ hours per day, or delegate it to a team that gets it.
This is when a ghostwriter actually earns their fee. Because now everything is backed by real proof, and you’ve developed enough of your own thinking to hand off.
Word of warning: Just don’t try to skip straight here.
That’s the biggest mistake I see founders make: hiring a ghostwriter while they’re still in the proof-building stage, still nailing their offer or first case studies.
Posting during that earlier phase has value, of course, just not the kind you might expect.
It lays the groundwork, sharpening your skills and helping you get a better read on what your audience wants.
But once you’ve built something real (clients, results, a clear offer), those same efforts start paying off differently. Your posts carry proof. They attract opportunities, partnerships, and talent because they’re rooted in lived experience.
That’s where the ROI curve bends upward. When personal branding starts to multiply your effort instead of just express it.
Why Personal Branding Is Harder Than It Seems
Here’s something you might not want to hear:
The skill gap between a founder who posts occasionally and one with a real personal brand is like comparing someone who jogs to an Olympic sprinter.
We’re talking:
Level 2 vs Level 10 content quality
Random thoughts vs strategic narratives
Hoping for likes vs engineering trust
When you’re under $500K/year, spending 2 hours daily on content is a terrible ROI. You could be:
Talking to customers
Fixing your offer
Building systems
Testing channels that convert faster
Those activities build the foundation that makes personal branding work later.
The Proof Problem
You know why Hormozi blew up? He built Gym Launch to $100M first.
You know why Rogan became Rogan? He had decades of comedy and commentary experience.
You know why my content resonates? I’ve spent years in this industry.
I built 3 agencies, served some of the biggest marketing agencies, and have been in the industry for 10+ years now. I understand this world.
So, I can confidently say that the personal brand comes AFTER the proof. Not before.
Your audience will see right through you if you don’t.
So, What Should You Do Instead?
If you’re under $500K/year:
Fix your fundamentals first:
Pick one marketing channel and focus on creating core material; make every new piece better than the last
Test and refine your messaging over time
Build case studies that sell themselves
Post to document, not dominate:
Share what you’re learning
Ask questions publicly
Engage with people ahead of you
Build your skills:
Write daily (even if you don’t publish)
Study creators who resonate with you
Find your natural voice through reps
Once you pass £500K and have real results to talk about, go all in.
Bring in help when it fits and let your personal brand become a true business asset.
What if You’re Somewhere in the Middle?
For founders in that transition zone (making good money but not ready to hire a full ghostwriting team), My Content Pal’s built something different.
Instead of doing it for you, we teach you HOW to do it:
Month 1: We Write for You
First, we hop on calls together to define your strategy and surface your unique angles.
We add ideas to your personal Notion dashboard and run bi-weekly calls to keep drawing out new insights and stories from your current work.
We then write your first 10 posts. You see what “great” looks like and start absorbing it.
Month 2: You Write, We Edit
You draft, and we shape your voice, tighten your storytelling, and build your writing rhythm.
Month 3: We Give You the System
You get the AI framework and workflow we use internally, so you can keep showing up consistently without relying on anyone else.
The goal is to help you develop your voice and master content early, so when you’re ready to scale, the foundation is already there.
The bottom line is this: Everyone should have some presence online these days, but not everyone needs or should be building a full personal brand
Yet.
Figure out which stage you’re in. If you’re stuck in Stage 1, build proof before you build influence.
And when the time comes to make that shift?
We can show you exactly how to turn your hard-won expertise into content that keeps working for you over time.
But only once you’ve earned it 😉
Craig