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Season 6, Episode 239

Building a Powerful Brand: Insights from Serah D'Laine

42:00

About This Episode

In this episode of The Amberly Lago Show: Stories of True Grit and Grace, host Amberly Lago sits down with branding expert Serah D'Laine to discuss the transformative power of positioning in business success. Serah, a former Hollywood celebrity turned branding powerhouse, shares her experience of transitioning from the entertainment industry to running a successful agency. They explore the critical role of a cohesive brand presence, the influence of AI on business processes, and the essential nature of personal identity in online positioning. Serah delves into her personal struggles with perfectionism and body shaming, offering valuable advice on overcoming fear and resistance through authenticity and human connection. Join Amberly and Serah as they discuss the importance of showcasing one's expertise, handling criticism, and building a resilient personal brand in this thought-provoking and candid conversation.

If you are ready to leave your mark by discovering your message and sharing it with the world, you've come to the right place!! Let's work together to build your influence, your impact, and your income! Join the tribe you have been waiting for to activate your highest potential and live the life you deserve! Join the "Unstoppable Life Mastermind!" and let us know you are ready for greatness! Read the "True Grit and Grace" book here and learn how you can turn tragedy into triumph! Thank you for joining us on The Amberly Lago Show: Stories of True Grit and Grace! If you find value in today's episode, don't forget to share the show with your friends and tap that subscribe button so you don't miss an episode! You can also head over to amberlylago.com to join my newsletter and access free downloadable resources that can help you elevate your life, business, and relationships! Want to see the behind-the-scenes and keep the conversation going? Head over to Instagram @amberlylagomotivation! Audible @True-Grit-and-Grace-Audiobook Website @amberlylago.com Instagram @amberlylagomotivation Facebook @AmberlyLagoSpeaker

Full Transcript

0:02
Amberly Lago

Welcome to the Amberly Lago Show. Stories of true grit and grace. Hey there. Thank you so much for tuning in to the Amberly Lago Show. I have one of my bestest ever friends returning back on the show. Ms. Sarah Delane. She is a branding expert. She has spoken at my events. She has spoken to my mastermind. She has her own company. She is speaks all over the place. And we've been having so much fun here in the studio before we even started recording. But, Sarah, I love you. Thank you for being here. And I can't wait to share some wisdom with listeners here about just expanding their businesses and elevating their brands. So thank you so much for being here.

0:53
Serah D'Laine

I love you. Anything that you ever need is always like an F. Yes.

0:57
Amberly Lago

All the time. Oh, my goodness.

0:58
Serah D'Laine

Big capital F. But politely, y', all,

1:03
Amberly Lago

y' all have to know that she is the one who designed the whole program for the last unstoppable success summit. And you did such a phenomenal job. But you have worked with several of my mastermind members to help them with their brands. And you're amazing. But you are a former Hollywood celebrity used to being on the red carpet turned like you have. You're an expert in relationships. Like, I used to watch your show every Tuesday. You had a show every Tuesday. You're into numerology, into eq and then turned into this branding expert and your boutique agency, which I often don't even want to say boutique because that seems small because you've grown so big. But stage eight agency has just really exploded. So how did you go from being this Hollywood expert or celebrity to this branding expert? And I mean, we were friends in la and then you moved to Dallas and my husband was like, don't move to Dallas. Like, you don't want to do that. And here we are in Dallas and we were talking before we started recording that. It was like we. You were, I think, number 12 episode of the true Grit and Grace show of your podcast. I think it was like 12. It was like in the beginning, I think it was like episode 12. And we recorded in my tiny little office with my computer and my phone and it got interrupted in the middle. It was wild. And now we're in like in Dallas, in a beautiful studio in Dallas and I rebranded my show and we're like 200 and almost, almost 50 episodes. And it's so great to have you back on. But how did you go from trans, like going from being Hollywood celebrity and being big time movies and TV shows red carpet to what you're doing now. What was that big shift for you?

3:21
Serah D'Laine

Oh, my gosh, that almost feels like a lifetime. Like now. Honestly, I look at it and sometimes I'm like, really? Like, we're still talking about that. That was such a long time ago. And yet it's still the top thing that comes up when you Google me. So in order to stay on brand, have to talk about it to a certain extent. I love Hollywood. I love everything. One of the biggest things that made it so fun and exciting, that's been probably one of the greatest lessons that then I also carry into developing businesses and brands is it's all about, like, in Hollywood, you can become anybody you want. You can literally embody a character, become anybody you want to, and yet you don't. You don't own that piece. So you create this aspect, but you. You don't own any of it. And so there's this beautiful fantasy of embodying this identity that you can do anything. And so transitioning then into out of the industry and then moving into starting my own business, it was something was really important for me where I wanted something that I owned that I could create and build, that nobody could take away from me, that. That I felt like I had personal power in. And not. Not arrogant power, but just something that I was like, I'm building this. I get to create this. I own this. And. And who do I get to become in doing it? And that's one of the biggest things that I love helping other people with is stepping into who you get to become. And these Incredible. Whether they're CEOs or entrepreneurs that have a vision and a mission to do create a bigger impact. But one of the biggest things is they have no idea how to position themselves. And so in transitioning from Hollywood into starting my own, that was one of the biggest pieces where I was like, okay, you know, you can. The roller coaster of how I did it was literally a roller coaster that's an up and down, and I've failed plenty of times. And I had to discover what I didn't know. I always understood personal branding because that's a key piece in Hollywood. And I understood that you are the brand. But one of the biggest foundations for me was I didn't. I tested out of high school at 15.

5:51
Amberly Lago

Really? Wow.

5:53
Serah D'Laine

I was working. I was working Kansas.

5:57
Amberly Lago

So you tested out of high school at 15?

6:00
Serah D'Laine

At 15. That is wild.

6:02
Amberly Lago

I think about that because Ruby is 16. She's going to be a junior. And you grew up so fast. I feel like you were on The Hollywood scene. And you were in Europe from the time you were really young.

6:18
Serah D'Laine

We grew up traveling around in Europe. So even though I was born in California. Yeah, we went through Germany, England, Sweden, France, Spain, Portugal, like the whole thing. So understanding different cultures and understanding people and learning when I didn't know a language, I got to learn how to communicate with people when words aren't an option.

6:36
Amberly Lago

So through body language.

6:38
Serah D'Laine

Body language and energy. Absolutely. And just kind of it's like a vibe like, do we connect? Do we not connect? And so that's been part of that whole journey that has definitely aided in not just my journey in Hollywood, but then transitioning out. One of my biggest values is that independence where you can, again, you can be anybody you want, but you can create anything that you want. And so when I transitioned out, it was like, okay. That was still. That was a little piece of a struggle for me though, because I had a little of the. Well, I'm not, I must not be smart enough to start my own business because there's a stereotype, right. One, actors are, you know, oh, you're just, you're acting. Even the foundation of it is in psychology and really understanding human behavior. But I didn't understand anything about business. And I also had this vision that I felt like wasn't. My vision didn't scare me and that scared me. And so when I started, my vision

7:47
Amberly Lago

didn't scare you and that scared you. I love that you're like, well, this should scare me, but it doesn't.

7:54
Serah D'Laine

Well, because we talk about in, you know, everything in personal development, become your best self, high performance, you know, reach your highest potential and create this vision. And if your vision scares, you know, you're on the right path. And I'm like, cool. My, no, my vision doesn't scare me at all.

8:15
Amberly Lago

Yeah.

8:16
Serah D'Laine

And at the same time, again, testing out of high school. Didn't go to college either. I grew up in Hollywood. I was working consistently. I was learning through, don't get me wrong, working in the largest media and advertising industry in the entire world. It's quite an education. I got my own education, but coming out of that, I wanted to have a chosen education in, well, what do I want to learn now that's actually going to give me that independence to build something that I can own that then can be successful. And I went to, oh my gosh. I got the support. Like every high achieving and successful business owner knows that you get support when you need it. Everybody who is successful knows that. And so I took that and I Was like, okay, well who do I need to contact? Who do I need to learn from? Who is the best that I need to learn how to do all of this? And I took that kind of internal wound of, well, you may not be smart enough to do this. So I took that and then learned everything that I needed to learn in order to understand building a business, building brand taking, personal branding. But then, okay, now social media is a thing. How do we do that? How do we scale that? So everybody's like, how do you know how to do all this stuff? And I'm like, because I just. You educate on how to do it.

9:43
Amberly Lago

It's so important. I'm glad you brought that up because I think it's so important. I always have. You know, I'm a mentor and I have a mentor. I am a sponsor, I'm a mentor

9:56
Serah D'Laine

and I have a mentor. Every, every successful person knows that.

10:00
Amberly Lago

Yeah. And I have a mastermind, and I'm enrolled in a mastermind. I think it's important to keep learning and growing. And people think, wait a minute, you're. But you have a coach. Well, heck yeah. Because I want to keep learning and growing. We gotta keep, continue to level up.

10:16
Serah D'Laine

You have to be ever the student. But I had a little of that because growing up in Europe and they're so much further advanced than us. And so by the time I got to Europe, I'm six years old and I go, and this is Germany. And the teacher is like, well, how come she doesn't know this? And how come she doesn't know this? So then they held me back in school because they put me in the age that I was supposed to be, not my education level.

10:41
Amberly Lago

Oh.

10:42
Serah D'Laine

And so I was like, what'd that

10:44
Amberly Lago

do for your self esteem?

10:45
Serah D'Laine

That was so good not to brag because I was like, I don't understand what. But then it happened again when we moved to another country. And then it happened again because now they had held me back. And then this country, now they place it on education level, not your age. So then it flip flops. So then again I'm going into a teacher and she's like, well, how come she doesn't know this? Meanwhile, I'm trying to learn a foreign language at the same time as learning oh my. Like multiplication. And you're like, well, that's not hard enough.

11:17
Amberly Lago

And they're like, how many languages do you speak?

11:20
Serah D'Laine

Oh gosh. Anymore? None. I wish, I wish I held onto it. I mean, at the time.

11:26
Amberly Lago

I get that though, because I used to speak French. And I was in France and I could get around and speak and communicate very easily now. And I worked at a French restaurant, actually it was a Basque restaurant. And I was the only person that was an American. Everybody else was either from Basque or Spain or France. And then there was me. And then you don't use it and you lose it.

11:56
Serah D'Laine

No. And so by the time I came back to the us, people made fun of me because I had a German, Swedish, British accent and I could speak. I was fluent in German and I was fluent in Swedish, almost fluent in Portuguese. And that's where the British came from because we were in Portugal. But it was a British speaking school because everybody from UK comes over into Lisboa. And so I come back to the US and they're like, you sound funny. And I'm like, okay, you sound funny. And I didn't understand the school system coming back into the US Now. I didn't understand that school system because there so many different rules that then Europe doesn't have. And I'm just like, okay, this whole school thing, like, this is, this is not. I don't feel like I fit in here at all. And I'm not saying education's not important, but that really instilled in me. I want to get my own education. That's what's important for me. So by the time going into Hollywood, I mean, I was 13, so working, but then I'm like, oh, well, I'm working consistently and I can just test out. So I failed my ged. I am not a test taker. I don't know, I'm really smart at a lot of things, but I'm not a test taker. It drives me nuts.

13:22
Amberly Lago

What I love that you have on your website is a test. A test, A test, A quiz, A quiz. Okay, Test quiz.

13:32
Serah D'Laine

Yeah, Your personal brand quiz.

13:34
Amberly Lago

A personal brand quiz. And I love that because it helps people identify. Okay, well, what is my personal brand? And there's a lot of people that don't understand. I have a friend of mine who, she's a life coach and oh my God, she's amazing. And anytime we go to lunch, I'm like, yep, coach me, coach me. She's.

13:56
Serah D'Laine

You get the free code, free friend coaching.

13:58
Amberly Lago

She's freaking amazing. And her social media and I've told her this to her face is terrible because I'm like, these are beautiful quotes and perfectly curated quote cards and stuff. I was like, but nobody knows who's behind this. Like, people are going to buy your coaching because they know, like, and Trust you. You've got show you do videos of you show your face. And I always say, like, okay, yes, like, your Instagram is like your post or like, that's your storefront and your stories. That's, you know, that's like, okay, this is how people get to know you. And then your DMs, that's your cash register. That's how you.

14:46
Serah D'Laine

That's a really great way to put it. I've never put it that way before, but you would actually be really surprised at how many people don't. Like, I see incredible talent and expertise and they deliver excellence in what they do. Their brand doesn't reflect the excellence that they provide. And I don't mean logos and I don't mean colors because that's not branding.

15:15
Amberly Lago

I know, hey, look, I need help with that right now. I mean, I seriously just had a team meeting and they were like, wait a minute, you offer all of these things for your mastermind and it doesn't even say that on the website?

15:33
Serah D'Laine

And that can be. That's part of your messaging of declaring. Like, it comes down to positioning. It always comes down. And honestly, if there was the million dollar tip that Hollywood taught me, that's been one of the biggest things that every business owner can learn to succeed is it is all about positioning. But how do you define how you're unique and different?

15:57
Amberly Lago

So, and how do you position yourself? Say you're somebody who is female. They want to start a coaching business. They're in a job that that's their main source of income. But they are starting this side hustle of coaching clients. They've gotten certified to be a life. How do they start to position themselves on social media, for instance, to reflect that that is what they're going to be doing?

16:26
Serah D'Laine

Well, I'd start by saying the biggest one that I see, that's the biggest mistake, is the DIY branding. And so they start by doing it themselves rather than understanding how to properly position. So positioning. I just worked with somebody recently and again, expertise gives such great value. The esthetic part of her brand looked inconsistent, Messy. I kind of give lovingly the example of. It kind of looks like a messy room where it's like, this is over here, this is over here. Like, what are we doing? What's the thought? What's the cohesive thought? Yeah, the other thing that was missing is she didn't have one signature method that could showcase her expertise and define how she's different. And then building that into taking that on social media, like, as much as I think it's silly. The as seen on those credibility that you've been in and featured in so many publications.

17:31
Amberly Lago

Actually added that to my bio and I changed my bio on often, but I just added it in on Instagram. I was like, as seen on the Today Show, Doctors Hallmark. Yeah, I just added that in to give me credibility because it really matters. And I hired a company years ago and it's the first time I ever hired a company to help me. And it was $30,000, and they were going to take all my huge course that I had put on Kajabi and they were moving it over to their platform. So it took me giving my assistant access for her to move everything over so they could put it on their system. And they got it. And I saw the landing page and I was like, oh, my gosh, it was horrible. I said, I got on a call and I said, I look like. I look like a. Nothing wrong with being a housewife, but I look like a housewife.

18:42
Serah D'Laine

But that's not your brand. If that's your brand, that's great.

18:45
Amberly Lago

That's great. But I wasn't a housewife that decided to be a life coach. I was. Where's my credibility? Like, I'm more than just a mom, just a housewife. Just. And I don't mean to. I'm probably going to piss people off by saying that.

19:01
Serah D'Laine

No, but you're. You're smart to say that because you're not discrediting a woman who. That's. If that is her brand, then awesome. Make content around that.

19:11
Amberly Lago

But that's not you. That's not me. And I was like, because she's not

19:15
Serah D'Laine

speaking on stages and has a show.

19:17
Amberly Lago

Where are all my logos of all that? Like, I've. Of Nike, Athleta, Lululemon, Shape, NBC, abc, Forbes, all this. Where are the logos? Because you need that credibility, I feel like, because you get a few seconds for people to look at your stuff and decide, okay, is this person legit? Am I gonna look at them? Am I gonna look at their brand? I'm gonna look more into it.

19:46
Serah D'Laine

The fascinating thing about that piece that most people don't understand, and here's just some nerdy psychology, it's 0.05 seconds that really, as humans, everybody does it. 0.05 seconds that our subconscious looks at something and we judge it.

20:03
Amberly Lago

Is that right? I thought we had a few seconds,

20:06
Serah D'Laine

but it's no, no, no. And now, come on. And now in social media, where it's going a mile minute. And now with AI Everything goes faster. It might be less than. No, I'm just saying how the brain processes information and we're visual creatures, so we're looking at something. It. It's not. It's not bad and wrong. It's just human. It's just what we do. It's how we operate.

20:29
Amberly Lago

See how Ruby scrolls through TikTok. I can't even.

20:33
Serah D'Laine

Is that one second or is that 05 seconds?

20:36
Amberly Lago

Yeah, it's like this. This. No, this, this. Quick, quick, quick. It's. Everything is so fast. Yeah. Well, I want to ask you, speaking of AI, how do you think that AI is going to. Because you, I love, man, you totally geek out on. On stuff. That and you know the latest trends and everything that is happening. Like you.

21:02
Serah D'Laine

I do.

21:03
Amberly Lago

You. You tell me stuff. Ever since we met. How long have we known each other?

21:08
Serah D'Laine

A few years now. Like a while. I lost count.

21:10
Amberly Lago

Oh my gosh, like five years, maybe four years.

21:13
Serah D'Laine

Maybe enough. Enough for you to do another 250 episodes of your podcast.

21:19
Amberly Lago

But ever since I first met you, you've always said, oh, this is the latest platform. Like, I remember when Kajabi first came out, you're like, kajabi, you got to get on Kajabi. Then you're like, oh, you got to try this. Oh, you got to try chat GPT. Oh, you got to do like AI. You were like the first person that told me about AI. I'm like, what's AI like? You always, always know the latest trends in everything. You are on it. You were just on it.

21:49
Serah D'Laine

I love you for that.

21:50
Amberly Lago

How you. You do. You're so smart with all that stuff. You're my go to person for, okay, what's going on? Protect stuff. How do you think?

22:01
Serah D'Laine

Which is like not sexy at all, but so needed.

22:05
Amberly Lago

It is. And I'm like having.

22:08
Serah D'Laine

But having the right tech so it's the right systems and processes. So that's another thing about, you know, and I have a whole formula in the profitable personal brand and one of them is profit. And inside of that, it's understanding the systems and processes. AI is definitely impacting that.

22:25
Amberly Lago

So how is that impacting? What do you. How you think it's going to change it? I love AI, by the way.

22:30
Serah D'Laine

I'm obsessed and love it. And even as a creative. Okay, so some. Sometimes I feel like creatives are like, whoa. But it's not creative. So it will never take away innovation. And I'm not the only one to say that. But it's accurate because it can only replicate. It can predict Based off an equation. But we still have to create. We still have to innovate and come up with ideas. And at the same time, it was funny because I was just working with a client and we're working on her LinkedIn and all the things. Right. And so AI now tracks. Oh, my gosh, everything. Everything.

23:10
Amberly Lago

Oh, I know. And AI, what is it on LinkedIn where there's an AI stuff on your post where it says, yeah, now you

23:19
Serah D'Laine

can ask AI to help you write your post. So the downside, I'll just say this, the downside is I feel like it's going to hinder or have us. Like, we need to remember to think for ourselves. Yeah, we need to remember to have discernment and not just say, oh, let's just go and ask AI to see what that comes up with. So I have even a rule when I'm working with clients. It's like, okay, we're going to find what makes you different. AI can not determine that. That's on your expertise. That's your experience that you've been through. AI will never. It can maybe make a few suggestions. I've had IT run suggestions on what makes my brand different. I was like, let me see. What are you gonna tell me on how my brand is different than how everybody else does it? And let's see how it compares. On how I tell other people to come up with how their branding is different.

24:12
Amberly Lago

Can I admit something right now? I've got four pages of questions I haven't looked down at all, but two of the pages of questions I have. I wrote into ChatGPT and said, hey, I'm. I'm interviewing an expert branding strategist. What are some great questions I could ask her for the show?

24:39
Serah D'Laine

I'm really curious.

24:40
Amberly Lago

What did it say? Oh, yeah, you want to know?

24:41
Serah D'Laine

I do want to know.

24:42
Amberly Lago

Okay, well, there. This is some. This. Let me put my glasses. Okay.

24:47
Serah D'Laine

Those are great glasses.

24:48
Amberly Lago

Oh, thank you. Thank you. How do you find a. Define a brand and what. What are the essential elements of a strong brand?

24:58
Serah D'Laine

We talked about.

24:58
Amberly Lago

We did.

24:59
Serah D'Laine

I think we talked about that.

25:00
Amberly Lago

Can you walk us through your process of developing. Developing a brand from scratch?

25:05
Serah D'Laine

Sure. Three P's, Profit or Persona? Presence and profit.

25:09
Amberly Lago

Okay, talk us through that.

25:10
Serah D'Laine

Okay.

25:11
Amberly Lago

See, AI, look at this.

25:14
Serah D'Laine

But I still had to come up with my unique process.

25:17
Amberly Lago

Yeah, you did. You did.

25:18
Serah D'Laine

And that is different. And that's one of the. That is one of the things. So that's in presence. So whenever I'm working with somebody, then it's okay. It has to do with positioning, but it's how are you different? What is your process? What is your unique process that makes you different than how everybody else does it? One of my brand differences is sure my lens comes through Hollywood, largest media advertising industry in the world. I didn't get my knowledge from a classroom. Total respect to classroom. It's just my lens is different.

25:51
Amberly Lago

But see, I like learning. I would rather learn from somebody with life experience than from a degree from going to school. I mean, honestly.

26:01
Serah D'Laine

And those are usually the people that find me. Yeah, those are usually the people that find me.

26:05
Amberly Lago

I like that.

26:06
Serah D'Laine

The ones who are also a little, like, maybe have their little rebel inside of them too and they want to go a little bit against the grain. I don't, I don't always work with people who are very like, straight laced and follow the exact like, norm as everyone else. Because why, why fit in when you were literally born to be unique and stand out? Yeah, pretty sure a couple people quoted that one. So, okay, so Persona, presence, profit, Persona is what identity do you need to become in order to achieve that? And every again, successful. Any person who has created a successful business knows that, you know, it's at the end of your life, you're not like, oh, how much money did I make and was I famous and all of that stuff. That doesn't really matter. It's who did I become in the process? What identity did I get to embody? Yeah, and then presence. How are you going to take your unique positioning? How are you going to put, put that on a digital platform for the world to judge in 0.05 seconds without having to fear that you're going to be judged, without having to fear that, oh, it's not going to be authentic. It's not going to be authentically me.

27:19
Amberly Lago

Oh, but can I just say something? We're always judged.

27:21
Serah D'Laine

I know.

27:22
Amberly Lago

Did you see my, I don't know if you saw my last post.

27:25
Serah D'Laine

So I,

27:28
Amberly Lago

well, I did a post and I was like, oh my gosh. I got a YouTube comment where I'd posted a video and it was all about resilience and how grit plus connection equals resilience. And I'm in a skirt and my leg is all scarred up. And the only comment from that post, I'm talking about resilience. I'm talking about like spirituality and all this stuff. And the only comment on that post was, am I just crazy or does that lady's legs, that lady's knees look like they're too low? And I was like, You're. My knees are too low for what?

28:15
Serah D'Laine

How high are your knees supposed to be?

28:18
Amberly Lago

Actually, I'd never. I was like, she thinks my knees are too low, man. That's the least of my worries. I mean, did she see all the scars? And I'm like, so, I mean, way

28:32
Serah D'Laine

to pull attention away from. Was she body. That's body shaming.

28:37
Amberly Lago

It was total body shaming. And so at first I just kind of laughed and I was like. Then it was in the back of my head.

28:43
Serah D'Laine

Okay, thank you, Becky.

28:45
Amberly Lago

I know. I was like. Then I was like, oh, maybe my knees are too low. What's up with my knees?

28:50
Serah D'Laine

And then you went into self doubt on it. Your knees are not too low.

28:53
Amberly Lago

I know, I swear to God. But you know what? We're always being. We're always being self critical judged. We're always. Yeah, self critical, all the things. But yeah, if we can start to just whatever gonna put it out there anyway.

29:14
Serah D'Laine

So I'm gonna tie this back in too because like I have. It's like pts. Because I have my own perfectionitis. And that comes from stuff in Hollywood. That comes from the pressure and the intensity.

29:28
Amberly Lago

Sure.

29:29
Serah D'Laine

That comes from living with a grandmother who was very verbally abusive in the beginning. And so I have all of that internal story that if I ran that and sometimes I gotta wake in the morning and squash those demons and just, you know, every once in a while, that internal daiglet, it's just like, bitch, sit down.

29:46
Amberly Lago

Yeah.

29:49
Serah D'Laine

But what I have to even remember and what I tell stories. So many people that I work with, somebody, everybody wants to have a voice. And I am a huge advocate for giving people a voice in order to share what, like you're meant to be heard. What is it you want to say? What do you want to inspire people with? There is a lot of people who have opinions and nothing to say.

30:15
Amberly Lago

That's why I always say seek counsel, not opinion, because everybody's got an opinion.

30:22
Serah D'Laine

And we have a lot of mental illness that runs rampant on social media in the form of text messages or, you know, messages all over the place,

30:31
Amberly Lago

people hiding behind a screen.

30:33
Serah D'Laine

And so you're always gonna get it. You're always gonna get it.

30:38
Amberly Lago

But, you know, I just had. I have a friend of mine and he was like, you know, I hear a lot of people say, these speakers say share from a scar, not an open wound. And that, that's what I always say. Like, I really feel like you need to share actually in a safe place before you start to go out there and Be vulnerable on social media because I know if I shared my story without sharing it in a safe place and without, you know, doing some healing work, then it would have just, I probably would have never shared again after being like totally body shamed for my scars and the way that I looked on social media. And so no, I think that it's important to share in a safe place before you go out there and like, this is my brand and I'm going to put it all out there. What do you, how do you feel about that?

31:38
Serah D'Laine

Thousand. So really, really smart to think of it that way because so the ones who have a desire to make a bigger impact. Absolutely. You have to show up. It's not to me, it's not about being seen, it's about being heard. So yes, putting yourself out there and then everybody has that resistance of like, okay, but what if, what if this happens? Whatever you know, enter whatever your fear is, that's where that Persona piece of who is it that you have to embody that next level version of you where those things you don't pay attention to. I have had plenty of people say plenty of things about me from all kinds of. For all kinds of reasons. Yeah, let's not. Oh my God. One thing I haven't ever told anybody that if anybody does their own digging on it, finding my face. The super fun thing about being a public figure of at least celebrity of that caliber. I find my face next to Scarlett Johansson and Sandra Bullock on a triple X porn site as clickbait to get people into an actual porn site.

32:56
Amberly Lago

Oh, wow.

32:57
Serah D'Laine

Yeah. Super fun.

32:58
Amberly Lago

Wow.

32:59
Serah D'Laine

Super great to find that one on your Google alerts.

33:02
Amberly Lago

Oh my goodness. So

33:06
Serah D'Laine

am I going to worry about what other people are gonna say about that or is my, you know what, my will has to be stronger than my resistance. And your resistance is that internal. That's like, oh, I won't do that then, oh, well, you're on this. And what are people gonna say? So, oh, I won't post more, I won't show up. More than your will, your internal gut passion. You have to go after something with so much passion and desire and you have to want to need it, not just want it. And that internal will has to be stronger than your I won't. And whatever I won't comes up based on what somebody's going to say to you. What somebody's going to type about you.

33:53
Amberly Lago

Oh my goodness.

33:54
Serah D'Laine

What somebody is going to have a past experience experience of you with like, people are going to say whatever they want to say. Mental Wellness is an epidemic.

34:03
Amberly Lago

Yeah.

34:04
Serah D'Laine

And I say that laughing, but, like, it's, like, not. It's not cute.

34:08
Amberly Lago

I just had an experience where I had someone that just wasn't a right fit for my program. And I was like, hey, I'm so sorry, but this is not in alignment, and gave her a refund. Then I found out that I had one of my clients that said, hey, just so you know, she's going to all of your clients and telling them bad things about you.

34:34
Serah D'Laine

Fun.

34:35
Amberly Lago

Yeah, fun. And I thought, well, you know what? I can't control what she says. And I've never had a client do that before. I've been coaching. I coached for 26 years in the fitness industry. And then I've been doing this mastermind for years. I. I've never had someone do that. And I thought, well, I can hide. I can worry about what she says, or, you know what? I can just keep my side of the street clean and keep being a good person and have a brand and be the person that no matter what anybody said people would be like, that just doesn't sound like that. That can't be true. That's not Amberly.

35:17
Serah D'Laine

Well, and that's the biggest thing is because then people who, again, want to make an impact, and then whether you're hiding or even just holding yourself back a little bit because of worrying of those things, no, you can't. Like, so that's one of the other pieces about having a personal brand. And the power of your personal brand is being able to control the narrative. And I don't mean control in a bad way, but it's being able to still showcase who you are. And when that is in full alignment, then the ones who truly gravitate to you are the ones who are in alignment with that same energy. Everybody else, they can say what they want. And then I guess this is what kind of ties back to AI. I'll just, like, full, like, circle on it. Because it's remembering to think for yourself, not just relying on, well, if AI is going to tell you this, well, if somebody else is going to say that. And then we start just listening to what other things are saying rather than doing, like, an internal gut check of, like, hang on, does that align? Do I take what somebody else says to make my opinion of someone, or do I go and gut check it and be like, does that feel correct for me? I never listen to what anybody else says about somebody else, because that was their experience.

36:40
Amberly Lago

Yeah, that was their experience.

36:41
Serah D'Laine

Experience that may have been oil and water. We Could. We could bake cookies over here with like, you know, flour and. I don't bake cookies. That's a bad analogy. I don't even know

36:51
Amberly Lago

I liked it. I was going along, going along with it.

36:54
Serah D'Laine

Something that's fun and goes together versus oil and water. You're never gonna. You're never gonna gel with certain people. You're just never gonna gel with.

37:06
Amberly Lago

Okay, I could talk to you all day and we are running out of time.

37:09
Serah D'Laine

Oh, boy.

37:10
Amberly Lago

We've got a couple of minutes left. I'm gonna go back to the AI. One of the questions. What are some common branding mistakes that companies make?

37:22
Serah D'Laine

Okay, companies or entrepreneurs? Because I do work with both. So I'll say, let's say mostly entrepreneurs

37:28
Amberly Lago

listen to the show. So entrepreneurs.

37:31
Serah D'Laine

I can touch on both of them very quickly. So entrepreneurs. I touched on it briefly because it's really doing that diy rather than actually taking the time to properly understand your positioning and getting the support that you need in order to do that. You don't know what you don't know.

37:47
Amberly Lago

Yeah, yeah.

37:47
Serah D'Laine

And then within companies, again with. Because of AI, we want to humanize the business in some way. We want to know who's behind. That's why I don't care about logos, I don't even care about colors. Having a personal brand piece within companies and now CEO being the personal brand to bring in awareness, bring in top talent into companies and everybody's biggest thing then is okay, but I'm running a million things. How do I have the time to do that? Well, it depends on what your company needs. So you either need to create assets where you don't have to be there for, or I'm going to bring it back around again to making sure that you have proper systems. So that time is our greatest asset. If you don't have systems that actually support you in doing what you need to do, scaling your business, being able to like get to that next level. So we've actually now in stage eight, we've incorporated IScale, which is an all in one system. Whether you need courses, website funnels.

38:51
Amberly Lago

That's amazing.

38:54
Serah D'Laine

Time saver.

38:55
Amberly Lago

So tell, tell us how to. For an entrepreneur or a company, how do they access? Well, first of all, how do they access. Like just getting in touch with you. But how do they access these courses? And I did, by the way, on your website, see all that you're doing and you have so many amazing courses and things that you offer. I am blown away.

39:19
Serah D'Laine

I've done a.

39:21
Amberly Lago

Seriously blown away by all that you've created. It amazes me. But how can somebody get into that so they have a better system and they can scale their business and like really up level their branding?

39:33
Serah D'Laine

Yeah. So I would say if it's an entrepreneur one, I'm always available. I've been More available on LinkedIn more recently, so diversifying some of the social media, but going to my website, fill an application, I always take time for people. It's just some people want more personal private consultants, consulting and coaching. Some people want the courses that sort of like do it at your own pace and then we actually have more done for you agency services. So it really depends on what each person needs. I'll always take the time to actually have that conversation because most of the time we're rebranding a lot of the stuff that people have.

40:16
Amberly Lago

Well, you, you're amazing at the branding and I see what you. You've done for my Mastermind members and

40:23
Serah D'Laine

you've really powerful ladies about to come out even bigger now.

40:28
Amberly Lago

Oh, my goodness. You.

40:29
Serah D'Laine

Because they look like the experts that they are now.

40:32
Amberly Lago

Yeah. You have really helped them. So they loved when you came and spoke to the Mastermind group and everybody loved when you shared at the unstoppable success summit and you created the. The most beautiful program, by the way. That was gorgeous. So tell everybody the best way to find you.

40:55
Serah D'Laine

Honestly, I'd say if you're interested in knowing how you can get your business or your company to the next level, honestly, just message me on LinkedIn. I take care of that team and my systems might do other things, but if you send me a message on LinkedIn, Sarah Delaine on LinkedIn.

41:13
Amberly Lago

LinkedIn. And you know what, if you found value in this episode, please take a screenshot and share it. You can share it on LinkedIn or share it on Instagram and tag me@amberly Lagomotivation and Sarah Delaine on Instagram and thank you so much for being here. I think we're going to have to have you back on because I have three more pages of questions. So I think we need to have Sarah back on. I love you. Thank you so much for being on. Thank you. I love you so much. Thank you. Thank you for tuning in and we will see you next week. Thanks.

Pain to purpose to joy.

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