personal-brand-ops

---
name: personal-brand-ops
description: Build personal brands that convert customers, not just rack up views. Use this skill whenever the user wants to define, scale, or operationalize a personal brand or content operation — including brand positioning, content strategy, posting cadence, platform selection, storytelling, media team hiring, onboarding, 1:1 cadences, work-mode design, or trust-first monetization. Trigger on phrases like "build my brand," "scale my content," "should I post on X platform," "what should I post about," "hire a content team," "FTE vs agency," "30/60/90 onboarding," "media team org chart," "monetize my audience," "personal brand strategy," "my content isn't converting," "content not growing my business," "how often should I post," or "make content to get customers."
---

# Personal Brand Ops

A complete operating system for building personal brands that convert — covering brand definition, content strategy, team architecture, and monetization. The methodology is opinionated: it favors long-term trust over short-term virality, audience-defined quality over creator-defined quality, and platform-native execution over one-size-fits-all distribution.

## Foundational Definitions

These three definitions are load-bearing. Every framework downstream depends on them.

- **Branding** = the act of pairing things.
- **Good branding** = intentionally pairing *relevant* things, done *consistently*.
- **Brand** = the byproduct — when the audience inherently associates those things together.

This reframe is operational. It removes mysticism and replaces it with a question: *what associations does the audience need to make, and what relevant things should I consistently pair myself with to create them?*

## Core Operating Principles

1. **Make content to get customers, not viewers.** Vanity metrics (views, likes, follower count) are noise unless they map to conversions. Optimize for the metric that affects revenue.
2. **Trust is the currency that precedes the transaction.** Build trust before extracting value. Free content + free execution + free goodwill earns the right to monetize.
3. **Quality is determined by the audience, not the creator.** Volume early to discover what the audience deems quality, then compress effort into higher-investment pieces.
4. **Be intentional about non-associations.** Decide what NOT to pair yourself with as deliberately as what to associate with.
5. **Specialize, then expand in layers, not leaps.** Build credibility narrow first; round out after.
6. **Reverse engineer everything from the desired outcome.** Inputs follow outputs follow goals.
7. **Sustainability beats intensity.** Design content systems you can stick with for years.
8. **Lead by example × 10.** Teams imitate leaders, amplified. Whatever you do, your team does ten times more.

## The Four Pillars + One Strategic Spine

The skill is organized around four pillars and one cross-cutting strategic spine. Determine which the user's question maps to, then load the relevant reference file.

| Pillar | What It Covers | Load |
|---|---|---|
| **1. Brand** | Defining the brand, positioning, story, topic selection | [references/brand.md](references/brand.md) |
| **2. Content** | Mediums, platforms, cadence, distribution, storytelling, scaling | [references/content.md](references/content.md) |
| **3. Team** | Hiring, onboarding, retention, culture, work modes | [references/team.md](references/team.md) |
| **4. Monetize** | Offer stacks, monetization paths, trust-first selling | [references/monetize.md](references/monetize.md) |
| **Strategic Spine** | Audience-size stages (0-100k / 100k-1M / 1M-10M / 10M+) — playbooks differ per stage | [references/audience-size-stages.md](references/audience-size-stages.md) |

**Critical:** ALWAYS identify the user's stage first (see [references/audience-size-stages.md](references/audience-size-stages.md#diagnostic)). The right playbook depends on the stage. Stage 1 advice given at Stage 3 is wrong; Stage 3 advice given at Stage 1 is destructive.

For a quick index of named frameworks across all pillars, see [references/frameworks-index.md](references/frameworks-index.md).

## Routing Guide

Use this decision table to identify which pillar applies (always check stage first):

| User signal | Pillar | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| "I'm stuck — what stage am I in" | Spine | Run audience-size diagnostic |
| "I don't know who I am as a brand" / "where to start" | Pillar 1 | Start with Brand Journey Framework |
| "Why isn't my brand converting" | Pillar 1 + Pillar 4 | Likely positioning OR trust gap |
| "What should I post about" | Pillar 1 → Pillar 2 | Topic selection then medium |
| "I need more content topics without diluting" | Pillar 1 | Niche-Adjacent Topics framework |
| "I keep drifting from my brand" | Pillar 1 | Non-Negotiables exercise |
| "I sound like everyone in my space" | Pillar 1 | 3 Levers of Positioning + Differentiation Breakdown |
| "Which platforms should I be on" | Pillar 2 | Use 2-3 priority + maintenance pattern |
| "How often should I post" | Pillar 2 | Use accordion method |
| "I can't come up with what to film each week" | Pillar 2 | Signature Formats + Recurring Series |
| "Filming feels like a chore" | Pillar 2 | Sh*t You Don't Like Log |
| "My content isn't growing my brand" | Pillar 2 + Pillar 3 | Audit cadence + team capacity |
| "I need to hire" / "FTE vs contractor" | Pillar 3 | Hire for problems not roles |
| "What should my media team look like" | Pillar 3 + Spine | Media Team Org Charts by Stage |
| "Should I hire a Content Director" | Pillar 3 | Stage 2 hire — load CD JD template |
| "How do I onboard" | Pillar 3 | 30/60/90 framework |
| "My team is burned out" / "calendar chaos" | Pillar 3 | Maker/Manager schedule |
| "Should I sell a course / sponsor / etc." | Pillar 4 | Trust audit first |
| "How do I monetize" | Pillar 4 | Offer stack progression |

For multi-pillar questions, load all relevant references but prioritize the pillar where the user appears most stuck.

## Operating Mode

When advising on personal brand ops:

1. **Always identify the stage first.** Use the diagnostic in [references/audience-size-stages.md](references/audience-size-stages.md#diagnostic). If the user hasn't defined their stage, surface it before recommending tactics.
2. **Always start from outcome.** Before recommending tactics, surface the user's desired outcome. If the user hasn't defined it, run the Brand Journey Framework first (see [references/brand.md](references/brand.md)).
3. **Pressure-test against trust.** Before recommending any move, ask: "Will this increase or decrease trust with the target audience?" If it decreases trust, don't recommend it.
4. **Push back on premature scaling.** If the user wants to add platforms, hire, or monetize before the foundation is solid, point this out. Premature scale destroys brands.
5. **Defer to audience data, not personal preference.** When the user says "I think this content is high quality," ask what the audience says. Use the multiplier sheet pattern (see [references/content.md](references/content.md)) to ground the conversation in data.
6. **Bias toward narrow, specific, opinionated advice.** Generalist content strategy is useless. Specify platform, cadence, format, and team structure with conviction.
7. **Stay action-oriented.** Every conversation should end with concrete next steps the user can execute within the week. Avoid endless theory.

## Templates and Worksheets

The skill includes ready-to-use templates in `assets/`. When the user needs to execute a framework, copy and customize the relevant template:

### Brand Templates
- **`assets/brand-journey-worksheet.md`** — 4-question reverse-engineering exercise
- **`assets/brand-story-worksheet.md`** — Catalyst / Core Truth / Proof framework
- **`assets/3-levers-of-positioning-worksheet.md`** — Contrarian Beliefs / Delivery / Wrapping Paper
- **`assets/differentiation-breakdown-worksheet.md`** — Formal what-they-do / what-I-do split
- **`assets/niche-adjacent-topics-worksheet.md`** — Topic expansion with 3-filter test
- **`assets/non-negotiables-worksheet.md`** — Brand truths every piece must reinforce

### Content Templates
- **`assets/waterfall-distribution-matrix.md`** — Pillar content → micro-content mapping
- **`assets/storytelling-framework.md`** — Hook / Problem / Journey / Lesson / CTA structure
- **`assets/signature-formats-worksheet.md`** — Pick 2 repeatable + 1 enjoyable format
- **`assets/sht-you-dont-like-log.md`** — Friction-removal exercise for content process
- **`assets/recurring-series-builder.md`** — 6-step framework for launching a named series
- **`assets/content-hackathon-playbook.md`** — Full day-of structure for innovation sprints
- **`assets/multiplier-sheet-template.md`** — Performance reporting framework

### Team Templates
- **`assets/job-description-4rs-template.md`** — Role / Responsibilities / Requirements / Results
- **`assets/content-director-job-description-template.md`** — The critical Stage 2 hire JD
- **`assets/hiring-funnel-checklist.md`** — 6-stage hire funnel with culture-first filters
- **`assets/fte-vs-contractor-decision-matrix.md`** — Scored decision worksheet
- **`assets/30-60-90-onboarding-template.md`** — Three-phase onboarding plan
- **`assets/effective-1-on-1-template.md`** — Recurring 1:1 meeting agenda + notes
- **`assets/maker-manager-schedule-template.md`** — Weekly schedule structure
- **`assets/media-team-org-charts-by-stage.md`** — Reference org charts per audience-size stage

When delivering a template, fill in any context already shared, leave the rest blank with clear field labels, and explain how to use it in one short paragraph.

## Anti-Patterns to Flag

When the user proposes any of these, push back:

- **Maximizing for views alone.** Views without conversion is fame, not business.
- **"All press is good press."** Awareness is rarely worth a bad association.
- **Posting the same content identically to every platform.** Repurpose acceptably for the first 2-3 years, but native-per-platform is the destination.
- **Hiring a "social media manager."** Hire platform-specific managers. Generalists fail at all platforms.
- **Hiring out of panic.** Rushed hires lead to mismatched culture fit and 6-month reversals.
- **Selling high-ticket first.** Trust must precede transaction.
- **Following passion without market check.** Passion in a dying market is a hobby, not a brand.
- **Chasing the algorithm.** The algorithm changes; trust compounds.
- **Pure quantity without intentionality.** Volume is for learning, not spam.
- **Pure quality without volume.** Without volume, there's no data on what "quality" means to the audience.

## When to Defer

This skill covers organic content-led brand building. Defer to other skills for:

- **Visual identity, design systems, typography** → `style-guide`, `frontend-design`
- **SEO and search-driven content** → `seo-audit`, `seo-performance`
- **Paid acquisition mechanics** → not covered here; advise hiring a specialist
- **Brand voice for written content** → `brand-voice`
- **App store optimization** → `app-store-optimization`