Episode 114 – Henry Kaminski Jr: How To Master Your Personal Brand

[strong]Casanova Brooks:[/strong] What’s up Dream Nation. We are back again with an episode that I’m sure will not disappoint. Today on the line. We have mr. Henry Kamensky Henry. You want to go ahead and say what’s up to dream nation for me?

[strong]Henry Kaminski Jr.:[/strong] What is going on dream nation. It’s a pleasure to be here. Thanks for having me, my friend. I can’t wait for this episode to, to kick off.

[strong]Casanova Brooks:[/strong] It’s going to be a lot of fun. And as we were wrapping before we hit record, I was telling you that I’ve been a big fan of your content. I’ve seen it, you know, and you’re really in a space that’s so valuable right now in teaching people how to brand, and we’re going to get all into that.

But I always like to make sure that we give the proper introduction. And so before we get into the tactical and the strategy on it, I always like to say that I think of us as entrepreneurs is just like superheroes. Why is because we’re constantly putting on a Cape, we’re flying around the world and we’re trying to solve problems, not only for ourselves, but also for other people.

And so. If we can look back before you became, came featured in all major publications before you began to have your own show, which you’ve had now for three and a half years, and teaching thousands of people, how they can bring them themselves and start their own businesses. If we can take it back to when you were just a young boy, tell me who is Henry Kaminski jr.

[strong]Henry Kaminski Jr.:[/strong] Oh, wow. All right. So I’m going to try to make this as fast as possible. So when I was growing up, I always heard my mom tell this story about how I was, how I was her miracle baby, and that it took 16 years to have me and I never understood that ever as a six, seven year old kid, I thought women were pregnant for 16 years.

So what happened was, when my parents got married, they immediately tried to start a family and they couldn’t, you know, medicine wasn’t the way it is today. So they really couldn’t figure out what was going on, come to find out there’s issues with my dad there’s issues with my mom and they just couldn’t get pregnant.

So finally medicine gets a little bit better. and after 16 years of trying. They, my mom went in for a little surgery and bam there I was nine months later. So I don’t know about you dude, but I don’t know if I would do anything for 16 years straight and continue to fail and continue to just get, let down.

Like I, I probably after year five would have been like, listen, we’ll go figure something else out. We got pivot like, right, this isn’t gonna work. Right. This isn’t meant to be. But these two knuckleheads went at it, you know, for 16 years and sure enough, I’m born. And then two years after that, My mom is in the kitchen doing her thing.

And she comes into my room and I’m in the crib, she thought I was sleeping, but I was actually blue and unresponsive. So they rushed me to the hospital, come to find out I lost all the salt in my body. So they get me, they get me stable and, Man, I think of that story. And I heard this story over and over and over again, told by my mother.

And I just had this ever since a little kid I’ve had this, never give up mentality, refuse to give up mentality. Cause my parents had that in them. And they sort of, yeah, by telling that story, it got, it got downloaded into my DNA. And so I’ve been in business for 13 years now and I almost lost the business twice.

And, we can get into how deeper, however you want to go. I don’t care. but I said to myself, man, you will never give up on this, that you’ve built this business from the grow from, from a dream. Like it wasn’t even, it wasn’t even a thought. It was a dream. that really just came true. To be honest with you, literally from scratch you go from.

Understanding what graphic design is to like, like, I didn’t even know what it was 13 years ago until my friend introduced it to me. And then I was like, I want that I could get good at that. I’m going to do whatever it takes to get good at that. And you know, so that’s sort of the backstory and how we could get into, we could go into whatever you want.

[strong]Casanova Brooks:[/strong] So first I want to know. A big question. And I always think about was what was the biggest cause now, now you, in a sense maybe for a lot of people, when they see your brand and they see your graphic design, of course there’s always back struggles, right? We’re all human, but what was your biggest struggle over these last 13 years for you to be able to get to where you are today?

[strong]Henry Kaminski Jr.:[/strong] So there was a couple of things. So I’ll go back to, I’ll go back to the earlier I started my business when I was like mid twenties, right? My parents went through a horrible divorce. So my father winds up getting custody of me and raises me. and so he’s working four jobs. He was a mechanic for ups for 33 years.

So, you know, he, he was, a union negotiator. So he had some skills when it came to negotiation. so. he did whatever he could to make sure that there was clothes on my back and food on the table. You know, we, I got my school clothes from canal street in Chinatown, in New York city.

Like I wasn’t going to the mall and getting the, getting the fresh stuff. Right. So it was all bootleg, Nautica sweatshirts, and, you know, you know how that goes. Right.

[strong]Casanova Brooks:[/strong] So I definitely do.

[strong]Henry Kaminski Jr.:[/strong] Right. So he brings me up. You know, with this strong work ethic, but I had this on my mom’s side, I had this really wealthy uncle who was like, it’s like lifestyles that are rich and famous, big construction company, super successful.

You know, they named a children’s hospital after him, like real godfather shit.

[strong]Casanova Brooks:[/strong] Right.

[strong]Henry Kaminski Jr.:[/strong] So I would always go up and visit him and be like, Whoa, what’s this life. And so I got like, as a young kid, I was trying to find myself like, Who’s the, who’s the sucker here, like is the working man, the sucker and I right.

Or like, what’s going on? Like, I want that. I want what uncle Joe has, right. So I immediately became fascinated with money and. Said when I make it, I am going to have all that stuff. Right. So I was never financially educated. I was never financially intelligent on like, literally just a couple of years ago. I finally got my act together.

So I came up with this mentality where you it’s new money. It’s young money. You gotta spend it as soon as it comes in because you got to show everybody how successful you are.

[strong]Casanova Brooks:[/strong] Right. And up in the Northeast, especially when you’re around New York city. I mean, it’s, it’s a lot of spotlight on you and I mean, you’re in Jersey, right?

[strong]Henry Kaminski Jr.:[/strong] Worse.

[strong]Casanova Brooks:[/strong] Right. So it’s, it’s a lot of spotlights understandable. That was kind of the environment.

[strong]Henry Kaminski Jr.:[/strong] Yeah. So what happened was that catches up to you eventually, because I like all those stories where you let money like that, you heard about it in the past, where you let the money get to your head and, you know, you turn into this pretentious, egotistical maniac.

Like that was me, you know, that was me. So that was struggle number one was how do I get over myself,

[strong]Casanova Brooks:[/strong] Do you find one time that you like lost, you know, a, a pretty large amount, like you brought in, you know, maybe 30,000 in a week or something, and you lost almost was there one moment that you said I gotta stop this?

[strong]Henry Kaminski Jr.:[/strong] Oh yeah. So, okay. So fast forward, I’m jumping around here a little bit. So, now we’re fast forward 2017. Okay. So what I just described happened in 2010, 2011. Okay. Fast forward, 2017. I have my son, my son’s two and a half, so not, not too far from, from yours. And, so when my, I was not ready to be a dad, I was not ready to be a dad.

Ironically, my wife and I had to go through two rounds of IVF. I shouldn’t say we, but my, my wife had to go through two rounds of IVF to finally have him. So there was a lot of men, mental mindset stuff going on in my head, like. This isn’t meant to be, this is forced. You’re not supposed to be a dad. You’ll never be a dad.

Like your dad, like all of these, all of these, like limiting beliefs and like all these skeletons in my closet. Right. So my son’s born and I. Sort of go financially insane. Like I bought two Rolex watches, I bought $187,000 car. I went, I like exploded. Right. And I just wanted to get my mind off of everything.

So I was like, let me just go buy stuff to get my mind off of it. But we all know, Oh, that stuff, that, that is a, that is a dopamine blast and that’s it like it’s done in 20 minutes. Right, right. And that’s exactly what happened, but what happened was at the same time, my business wasn’t doing that well, right.

I had Money in the bank, but I was like, it was burning a hole in my pocket. So I, I blow it off. And then my business started to struggle a little bit. I had to refund some clients that I had there. It was the right thing to do. I did not deserve that money and I, I gave it back to them, but that put me like 40 K in the hole.

Mm. So now I got to build this back up. So I go to my father and I said, you know, dad, this is what’s going on. and he said to me, so he says, well, what are you going to do about it? So I said, I have, I have this plan. I’m going to give away the watches. I’m going to give the car back. I’ll pick a beaten on, on, on at all.

But I got to get liquid again, some liquid to put back into the business, otherwise of that. Right. So I gave, I sold back the watches and I’ll never forget this dude. I’m driving back from the jewelry store with a sack of cash on my front seat. And I called my father and I said, You know, I gotta tell you something that given back those watches, it took me two weeks to go back.

I didn’t go back right away. It was a, it was an ego blow to give those watches back. Right. And people might be listening and going, dude they’re watches. Right. But to me, they stood for something else. Right. So two weeks goes by, finally go back and I call my, I give the watches back and I’m, I’m driving on the highway and I called my father and he says, I says, I’m, I’m done, you know, I got those, well, I gave the watches back, right.

And he says, are you done? And I said, with what? And he said this, he says, I worked four jobs to make sure that there was clothes on your back and food on the table. He’s like, what are you going to do? When Dante comes to you one day and says, daddy, can I buy those sneakers? Or can you buy me those sneakers?

And you can’t because you have no money in the bank. He said I didn’t do that to you. So don’t do it to him. And I could cry right now just because I, it brings me back to that exact moment. I remember exactly where I was on the highway. I remember exactly the time of day. And, and I said, right then and there I was crying hysterically.

I could barely drive. And I said that you got my word. I’m done. And I went on a, I went on a, a very strict financial diet and I learned financial intelligence. And what I did was I promised myself that day that I would only live off of 70% of my earnings and I would invest the other 30%. Into my business into investments into a rainy day fund, just, just bank account.

Right. Right. And I’ve done that for well since 2017. And let me tell you something. Changed my life. And now it’s not about the money anymore. Cause there’s plenty of money in the bank. It’s it’s I don’t have this weird sensation for money anymore. Like I used to, like, I sort of get over that, like it’s so funny.

Like I noticed, like I used to be Gucci from head to toe and. I used to be the flashiest guy you ever saw. Now, I like my cars still and my wife still teases me about that. And I have, I have my, my watches that I still love. But other than that, you’re not going to catch me with a name brand. I might be wearing it, but you’ll never know what it is.

I know what it is, but you’ll never know what it was. And

Chasing Money

I just realized as I get older, like that doesn’t matter. Like you don’t have anything to prove anymore. Like the only person you have to prove to is yourself. Right. That’s what you got approved. So anyway, that was long and winded, but that was a big one lesson for me from a financial intelligence standpoint.

Like that shit doesn’t matter anymore. Dude. You, you got bigger things to worry about, like raising this kid the right way, right?

[strong]Casanova Brooks:[/strong] Now there’s so much to unpack there and I appreciate you being transparent. The first thing on my mind is, how do you feel like you got into that mode? Like, was it your environment?

It wasn’t your circle because obviously you’re dad wasn’t living in that. So it’s not like you got that mindset yeah. Lifestyle from your parents.

[strong]Henry Kaminski Jr.:[/strong] Super insecurity. So when I was doing, I remember the funniest things like. Like they happened yesterday. Right. When I was a kid, I was always the smaller guy.

Right. I’m stocky, but I was always like a smaller guy. and so I was always teased for my height. You know, my, my parents would, send me to school with dirty clothes. So I would have rings around my collar when I went to a Catholic school, but I was, I quickly got out of it because,

[strong]Casanova Brooks:[/strong] I felt like that wasn’t your tribe. They were all, you, you didn’t fit in.

[strong]Henry Kaminski Jr.:[/strong] Yeah, no way. Like all these people were wealthy compared to what I was living. So I couldn’t even, I couldn’t even relate. Right. So I would get teased for wearing dirty clothes. I even had my father or enrolled me into the Cub Scouts because on certain days, The Cub scout uniform was allowed at school.

And I would just, I would just wear it because it hit the dirt on my collar because it was a, it was a darker shirt. Right, right. And, I, you know, I just recently started to tell that story because I was, I was with my best friend at dinner one day and it was the wives in Austin.

And he was like, man, Henry, you’ve got to tell this story more, man, because. People see, like your house and the cars and the like your watches and stuff. And like, they just see that stuff. They don’t see the earlier days. Like, you know, you go into school with dirty clothes and getting yelled at getting, getting sent home.

You know, my principal drove me home to change. How. Horrible is that? Pulls me out of lass, drives me in his own car to take me to my house and says it, you have to change your outfit. Hmm. Right. Yeah. And then brings me back. Like, that’s not embarrassing, like that’s not gonna, so I grew up extremely insecure, so I needed to.

I had the like completely overcompensate. Right. And, and it, it, you know, my wife’s been here since day one. She has the first business card that I ever designed. Like she was here way before the success or way before I started making money and we would have it out in the earlier days. And she would say, Henry, I don’t.

Need this stuff. I don’t care about this stuff. I love you for you, but I couldn’t hear it. You know, I couldn’t hear it. It was. How do I prove to my family that I don’t have to work for uncle Joe? Like everybody else does. I’m going to be the one nephew to one cousin, the one family member that’s going to do it on his own.

And he’s going to. Middle finger, everybody that that’s watching and watch me. Right. So I had this big chip on my shoulder, but man, you think they would, I thought that they would be proud. All that did was build up so much resentment and, it was awful, you know, it was awful. So there was, so this road to success is it was pretty.

Okay. And I’m here to tell you that like, It’s not as pretty as the end result. I gotta tell you, you know, the past two years have been probably the most beautiful years in my life. Not only because my son’s here now, but, I’m turning 40 this year and I’m not going to live the next day, half of my life, the way I lived my first half.

And I’ve gotten much more comfortable in my own skin. And it’s, it’s a much. More relaxing life, I guess is the word. But, you know, not to say that I don’t push myself and, and, and, and try to outdo myself and try to level myself up every, every time. But I’m not trying to prove anything to anybody anymore.

[strong]Casanova Brooks:[/strong] ,Do you think that that comes with time or is that something that you think you could have figured out, you know, at 27, 28? Because a lot of people right now there, which we’re going to tap into this, but a lot of people right now, there’s so much uncertainty and struggle for lack of clarity, and they want to live that lifestyle right now because they want to show that they’ve made it.

Right. That they’re somebody of authority, but then at the same time, they also understand that they’re hearing it from people just like you that says, Hey, you can’t keep up this lifestyle because otherwise they’re heading down the wrong paths and it’s all going to explode. So do you feel like if you had the right knowledge and if you had the right people in your corner, you could have did this at 28, or do you feel like it had to just come with your experiences and over time?

[strong]Henry Kaminski Jr.:[/strong] Well, I’m a strong-willed individual. I’m somebody that needs to get clocked in the face to get the picture.

[strong]Casanova Brooks:[/strong] My grandma used to always say, “you don’t believe due to stink. You gotta go there and smell it”.

[strong]Henry Kaminski Jr.:[/strong] That’s right. I love your grandmother for that.

[strong]Casanova Brooks:[/strong] Right.

[strong]Henry Kaminski Jr.:[/strong] That is awesome. If I had the right mentorship. Right. And I don’t regret one minute of this, but if I had mentorship growing up, like my father, he saw the stuff, I had three cars I had, and I didn’t even have a garage. Right. I lived in a walkup. Right. And so my father saw all of this.

And he was just so quiet about it. Like he never asked me anything about it. He’s like, Hey, if you can afford it, that’s all he kept saying. And so I really didn’t have, and my father, he carries around nickles, like manhole covers. So he’s like, so he’s got the first dollar he ever made. Which is fantastic. God bless him.

Right. But I saw him. He was never cheap with mum was cheap with me, but like, if I needed something, he wasn’t going to be like, nah, you gotta go mow the lawn 15 times to get it. No, it was, he just lived a very, a very frugal life and he still does. Right. But I didn’t have anybody telling me, Hey. Bank that away, you know, there’s an important, there’s a reason why people have rainy day funds.

There’s a people, there’s a reason why wealthy people invest their money. Right. I didn’t have any of that. It was, make all the money and I was watching my uncle, Joe, like my uncle Joe would, would finish a big project on the highway and. He would come back with four Escalades in his driveway. I was like, Oh, okay.

That’s how you, that’s how you celebrate money. I guess you just go buy stuff. Right. And I just kept seeing him just accumulate stuff. And I was like, well, that’s that’s what i gotta do. And so fast forward, I believe, believe in my heart of hearts that I had to go through all of that so that I can tell the story that I’m telling you today.

And now I have a story to tell my son, and I can promise you that my son, I can’t promise you anything, but I can promise you that I will teach my son. How to avoid the mistakes that I’ve made in the past, when it comes to money and the relationship with money, because money’s just a tool, my friends, it is not the end all be all.

It doesn’t make you happy. I’m here because I’ve done it. You know, I made my first million after the 36 months. Right. I made multiple millions after that. Right. I got this thing hanging up on my wall, 2018. We did 1.3 million, one funnel like. I made the money. Right. We went on the big vacations. It’s great.

The experience, right? You’re able to change your life. You’re able to experience things that you never, but it doesn’t make you happy. I get, I can promise you that because I remember when I, when I came back from Italy last year, like that wore off very quickly, you know what I mean?

[strong]Casanova Brooks:[/strong] Right.

[strong]Henry Kaminski Jr.:[/strong] That night I have the pictures to, you know, to reminisce, but like, That was, that was very temporary.

So, and I, and I saw that coming up, like I saw that coming up, buy all these cars and clothes and watches and go on these big vacations and like you come home and like I’m still miserable. Right. And I would have to be reminded when I would be complaining that Henry, what are you complaining about?

There’s people that wouldn’t experience your life in a thousand lives? What’s what, again? Right. And that, that checked me, those conversations would just check me and I’d be like, yeah, dude, what are you complaining about? Like stop. Right. And so now I’m just like, I’m to the point now where I don’t want to see people go through that, that, that, that vicious cycle of thinking, like, they’re just chasing money.

I chased money for years, right. Now I’m trying to chase the experience. Like, what type of experience will it be to work with this particular client? Right. And how can we with your brand accelerator program, Henry, are you going to be able to transform this person and help them design a life and brand for themselves that they’re going to be proud of?

That’s going to help them build a legacy long term. And that’s what I’m focused in on. So my biggest goal is when people are applying for the program, I’m really qualifying them because I’m saying to myself, do these people have what it takes to get there because we just spent the last 25 minutes talking about how this isn’t pretty right.

Okay. And so I know your audience is new or aspiring entrepreneurs, not saying. Don’t do this. Okay. I’m just telling you guys upfront that you gotta have thick skin. You gotta get up after you get punted in the face and it’s not just going to happen once it’s going to happen multiple times. So do you have what it takes to get up when you get punted?

Wipe it off and say, okay. Learned that lesson. That doesn’t work. Let’s continue on our journey, then, you know, you might be better off staying where you’re at and I’m just keeping it real with you guys. Like I don’t, I don’t want to see anybody jump into trying to build a business online. And then six months down the road after they spent 30, 40, 50,000.

Right. And that, that goes real fast. Right. you say to yourself, shit, now I’m broke and I’m still at ground zero, now what do I

Chasing Money

[strong]Casanova Brooks:[/strong] I think that’s a great point. the one thing that I was curious about is at what point did you know that branding had to be the number one thing for you? Right? Like, because a lot of people, they want to, they want to deliver the work.

They want to be hardworking. They want to make sure that they can deliver it to their clients. But that branding, that storytelling, that, you know, really name recognition, maybe that becomes second to them delivering the work. Do you feel that branding should be number one? And at what point did that become your mindset?

[strong]Henry Kaminski Jr.:[/strong] Yeah, I’m always gonna say branding is number one, because branding is, let me give you the quick definition of branding. So we don’t get it twisted, whatever, with the other definition that everybody else thinks it is, you know, branding’s your, it’s not the logo. It’s not the website. It’s it’s those are your brand assets, right?

Those are that those are the tools you use, right? Those are branding assets. Right. But what branding truly is, and I got this definition from Marty, Newheimer, it’s that gut feeling people get when they interact with you and your business. That’s the bottom line. When you walk out of this house, when you walk out of the room, right?

What are they saying behind your back? That’s branding. Right. So, and then the personal branding, which I specialize in is, is the, the, the intersection between how you see yourself and how other people see you. The wider, the gap, the less, the, the, the worse off you are. Okay. That’s when I know your message and your, your, your, your business is going to fail.

If you keep it up, the closer that gap. The more alignment you have with yourself, the more alignment you have with the people that you serve and your audience, your business is going to blow, like your business is going to blow up, right. Your business is going to be great. Right. So that’s why it’s. So when did I choose branding?

Here’s the big, here’s the big takeaway that I want you guys to pay attention to? When I was coming up as a graphic designer, I was a one man band. I was doing club flyers for five years before I started to pivot. Right. So I would be out there hustling. The nightlife industry. And I would be the one doing all the designs for the flyers.

But what happened was I grew up, I got out of that scene, right? Fiverr comes out that disrupts the industry, the design industry, hurricane Sandy blows through my. My state and wipes out two of my biggest clients, when they restructured, they’re like Henry, we’re going to bring it in house. We don’t need you anymore.

That was $250,000 a year worth of work gone.

So how do I, how do I reinvent myself? And that’s when I realized that branding is the way. So I immediately started to think to myself, How do I deliver more value to my customers, to my audience, to the people that I want to serve.

Nobody wants like how far is a, is a, is a brochure design gonna go for them? Right? How much is a business card worth to them? How much is it going to move the needle for them? Not much. So that’s when I started to seek out and understand more what a sales and marketing funnel was. And I started to, you know, when you seek, you will find, and I started to dive deeper into what is ClickFunnels?

What is this software? How do you use it? I’m a pretty bad ass designer. Could I start designing funnels? Can I start helping people brand themselves and their identities to help them generate more business and help them really sort of come into their own skin if you will, and feel confident about themselves so that they can go on and help more people.

Ah, that’s branding. I need to learn this. So what I did was at the time I started to. Pick up on some of my mentorship from, from Russell Bronson, who then in turn became a client of mine for two and a half years. And we help his business grow to a hundred million dollars, in three years, which was fantastic.

That will always be a, a section in my memoir of, of being part of that journey for them. And he started teaching me, man, he’s like success leaves clues. You got to get out there and mingle with people that are doing better than you. You got to get out there and. And, and, and show who you are Henry, because right now you’re just another fancy designer.

Like you’re just another cool, cool designer. Like you have this big personality and this mission in life to help other people. You need to get out there and do that. I embraced that. I embraced that and went full and that’s, that’s why I’m here today. That’s why I do seven interviews a month with folks like you on shows as awesome as this, because there’s people out there that.

They’re afraid to pull the trigger. They don’t feel confident in their branding or themselves. They, are, are, are buying all of these mediocre courses thinking that, that this next course is going to be the one that brings them to seven figures, right? No, it starts with you first. Like if you don’t feel confident in you.

What makes you think somebody is going to be confident in buying from you? Right. So we got to level you up first. And get you pumped and now you’re going to go out there and change the world with your brand. And that’s the exciting, like I have story after story, after story, you know, one, one is Dom Faussette.

Awesome. Dude came to me a couple of years ago and was like, dude, I got this cushy job at six figures. I’m doing good. Like, I really don’t need anything right now. I live in Arizona. The cost of living’s awesome. He’s like, but I got this side hustle and I want to take it. Full time. And by the end of the year, I want to be doing think react, lead full time and crushing it.

But I don’t know where to start. You know, I’ve done this course in that course, and I kind of got a logo, kind of got right. But I need somebody to take me through a process. Cause I know there’s one. I just don’t know what it is. And he’s like, I’ve been following you for a few months. I like you, your attitude and how you like present yourself.

But, and I think you can help me. Can you get me out of my nine to five in a year, with your program? And I said, I think so, because I felt his energy, this dude was determined, right? So we run them through the brand accelerator program. And about six months in, it takes about 30 to up. it only takes about 60 to 90 days to get the full brand identity and the website and the funnel, all of that, all established for you.

But it was about six. It was about three months after that two and a half months, three months after he completed the program where I got a text message from him and he’s like, he calls me HK. He’s like H K I put in my two weeks. And I was like, what? He’s like, yeah. I put in my two weeks, I was like, and you were worried about doing that in December.

It’s the second week of June. Right. And he’s like, I know my income surpassed what I’m making at my nine to five. So I’m out. I’m good. And now you got to see him. You know, he went from like, when he was with me, he was, had like 300 followers on Instagram. He’s got like 90,000 now and he’s, he’s got these coaching clients that pay him a monthly, very, he’s getting like 30, 40,000 a month in revenue now, coaching other speakers and coaches on how to.

Present themselves on stage. Cause he’s a, he’s an executive coach and leadership speaker. So he goes out to companies and, and helps these folks level themselves up. Like he leveled himself up. So when I see him out there impacting all these people, like, yeah, he made it, he made an investment to my company and, and went through the brand accelerator program.

But the money was not the reward for me. It was watching him two years later at the level he’s at today. Just absolutely crushing it. Like watching him mature. That’s that’s what does it for me these days

[strong]Casanova Brooks:[/strong] I love it. So talk to me about someone starting off a brand, right? What are the first steps? Because a lot of people want to start building a personal brand.

They have a story. What does that look like? How do you guide potential clients when they’re first starting out and they want to develop a personal brand?

[strong]Henry Kaminski Jr.:[/strong] Yeah, the F the first thing that I say is, is two fold is you really need to understand who we’re serving. Hmm. We really need to understand who we’re serving.

Everybody skips that step. They want to, they want to save the world. They want to help everybody the quickest way to fail the quickest way to fail. I wish somebody told me this a long time ago. Cause I would I be doing this interview on a yacht somewhere, like, honestly, right. But it, it was hard for me to think, well, you only want to work with this person.

Well, how many of those are, how many are they in the world and how can I make a living off of this and what am I missing if I subtract everybody else out? Well, I’ll tell you right now, branding, isn’t about adding to your business. It’s about subtracting. If you want success in your business, it’s not about adding to it.

It’s about subtracting. It’s about what you don’t do. And that was a huge wake up call for me. Cause some of the gurus out there will tell you what you gotta be on this platform and that platform, and you gotta post 17 times a day and you gotta be everywhere in there. No, you don’t,

[strong]Casanova Brooks:[/strong] Do you believe that different strategies can work for different people? As it is there one, is there one, streamlined way to do it? And the reason why I asked that is because you see guys out there, like Gary Vee let’s just use Gary eeV for example. And that’s a conversation that I’ve had a lot and I’ve asked like, who is Gary Vee’s target audience?

Because it definitely goes against the traditional. Like you got to know your avatar, you got to know your ideal client. I don’t know if he knows who his ideal client is. Very broad.

[strong]Henry Kaminski Jr.:[/strong] Yeah. And that’s, that’s sort of, I don’t have a beef with Gary, but him and I are way too similar. So it’s like two bowls in a China shop, right?

Yeah. and, and we get that vibe from each other for sure. Cause I’ve met him a bunch of times and it’s always been a very weird. Connection. Yeah, but I got to tell you this. I asked the same question because if you’re, if you’re working with these fortune 500 companies and these big multi multimillion dollar brands, how you talk, you talking to like 17 and 18 year olds, like, how is that helping those bigger brands?

I don’t know. And it’s, it’s, it’s definitely for me. It’s and I like his message. like he’s helped me tremendously over the years. I’ve, I’ve, I’ve binged his stuff for awhile. And then I got to go away for a couple months. Cause he’s just too much. And then I gotta come back a little bit, see where he’s at, but I’ve been watching him from a far and I got to tell you, he loves people and he loves to help people.

But when it comes to strategy, I mean, we have to get clear, like we have to do what works for us. Okay. We have to do what works for us. Right. And, and that’s what I found that worked really well for me was subtracting instead of adding. So I used to be on all the platforms posting three times a day everywhere, and it was exhausting.

[strong]Casanova Brooks:[/strong] Do you feel that it’s because, like you said, at the beginning now you’ve been able to successfully delegate. Do you feel like if you were brought on more people earlier, right. To help you along the way and build that, that maybe you could have been focused more on your strengths and allow them to do to things that wasn’t bringing in revenue and that would have maybe changed a mindset a little bit.

[strong]Henry Kaminski Jr.:[/strong] Yes. I agree with that statement. I agree with that statement.

50 Cent Focus Strategy

I wish I built my team faster. I was stuck because I didn’t know how to build the team. I knew how to manage people, but I didn’t know how to build it from scratch. And that was a big hiccup for me. And Russell helped me with that. And then I got some help from someone else and we built out.

per se, we built out systems and processes inside a unique designs, and then I started hiring people. And now we have a team of eight people that really just do all the heavy lifting for me and for the client. And they’ve been with me for five years. It’s not like I hire freelances here and there it’s, they’ve been with me for a long time.

And I work specifically with the client. That’s where I found I was the most valuable tool. My client is working strategically with them. Getting their message tuned in getting their look and feel tuned in and then have the team build it out. So to answer your question, yes. If I started it sooner, I think I would have been able to, to, to, to agree more with Gary’s philosophy.

But what I found was. When you focus in, on becoming a master at one thing, how do you become that master of one and thing when your attention and focus is 15 other places, and you’re only contributing one 15th to that thing that you’re trying to master. Right? Right. So picture a wheel, right. And the wheel has 15 different spokes on it.

And inside of those spokes, Facebook Instagram, Tik Tok, LinkedIn, YouTube, Google ad. Right. And you’re trying to spread your attention and your expertise along all of those things. How to, how do you get good at it? Right now? Let’s erase all of those spokes. Just have one big fat circle and it says Instagram in the middle of it.

How quickly do you think you’re going to be able to mass master Instagram when that’s all you’re focusing in on. Right.

[strong]Casanova Brooks:[/strong] Yeah, I would definitely agree.

[strong]Henry Kaminski Jr.:[/strong] Right. So 50 cent taught me this, right? He said, one of the things that you need to do is give yourself 30 day deadlines. He works off of 30 day deadlines.

So he’ll say in this month I am going to master Instagram and nothing will matter to him that month. But Instagram. And he goes, for me, 30 days was enough for me to be able, because he goes in, like he doesn’t play. Like he goes. And when he goes, it goes and focuses in on something. He goes all in. Right. So I challenge your audience.

You want to get good at Instagram marketing or you want to get good at personal branding or whatever it is that you want to get, go all in for 30 days and see the result after that. Right, but focus on nothing else, but that one thing telling you it’s, it’s the way I’ve done it, I’ve experienced it. Right.

I don’t know anybody who’s spread themselves super thin and became the success that they are like branding is the one thing that we need to remember, like this. What do you want to be remembered as. Hmm, what do you want to be remembered as, so I’ve dialed that in right away for me. I want my name to be synonymous with personal branding and marketing funnels or marketing funnels for personal brands, right?

Yeah. And that’s it. So when you think, Oh, somebody needs it or somebody is inquiring about a click funnel. I want my name to pop up, especially if they’re a coach or consultant or somebody that has wants to make a business out of themselves. Right. And that is all I post about. That’s all I talk about and I practice what I preach.

Yeah. Or I should say I preach, I preach what I practice. Right. So what do you want to be known for? That’s personal branding.

50 Cent Focus Strategy

[strong]Casanova Brooks:[/strong] And I think that that’s what the question that we have to ask ourselves more often. What do you, we want to be known for? What do you want your name to be synonymous with?

And if you don’t necessarily know, look at who are the people who inspire you or you aspire to be like that you gain a lot of inspiration from you gain a lot of tactics from, and if, if you could say, I would love to live the life that they. Live, right. Obviously you’re not talking about their values and things like yeah, because you have to keep your own values, but if you could say that, then, you know, I would tell you to, to really do it.

Dive in and I’m very familiar. I am a funnel hacker. Yeah. As well, you know, funnel, hack their scenario. Right. Look at what they’ve been doing and see if you could give yourself that 30 day run to learn those systems, or maybe even a three month run. To be able to give it all, you got to try to build at least a foundation like that person has and see if you really like it.

So there’s something that I always like to ask my guests at the end of the show.

And I say, you know, you’ve been an inspiration, which you definitely have listened to that. Your backstory listen to that. You know how you overcame those things, especially with the mindset, but there’s someone out there right now that is inspired just like mine, self by you. And they love your journey and they want to do similar things to what you’ve done, but they have that little voice in their head.

And that little voice says that they’re not smart enough. They’re not strong enough. Or maybe they just don’t have enough resources. What’s the one thing that you say to that person to get them to just take action.

[strong]Henry Kaminski Jr.:[/strong] Okay. So happiness comes from within, guys. It’s not something that comes externally, so you’re never going to find it in a car.

You’re never going to find it in a guy or a girl or significant other. You’re never going to find it in a house. That happiness has to come from within. So what I would do is I would silence that little voice cause that all it is, it’s a, it’s a little voice that’s scared. And to this day, that little voice pops up for me too.

And here’s the story that I replay or here’s the conversation that I have with little Henry. I, and I call him little Henry. I go, buddy, I get it. You’re scared. This is uncharted territory. But nothing in life is guaranteed. You come from humble beginnings and you’ve made a beautiful life for yourself.

What are three things that you’re grateful for right now? What are three accomplishments that you’re super proud of? Let’s focus our energy there for a second. And then I take a second and I think about those things. And then I say, damn, if somebody, you know, a little punky kid, From the streets of New Jersey that got an eight 20 on his SATs who scrapped his way to me making a name for himself and created a business from zero.

An idea, literally an idea to what it is today. What are you afraid of? Hmm, what haven’t you seen already? And so I’ll leave you with this guys. You know, one of my favorite movies of all time is the Bronx tale. And I highly recommend you watch this movie if you haven’t watched it yet. And it’s a Robert de Niro produced it and he starred in it and you know, yeah.

Gee, it’s an O G movie. It’s an O G movie. but the, the, the premise of the movie was the saddest thing in life is wasted talent. Okay. And I shared with you my story today. And I always say to myself, I remember those days where I was hanging around with the wrong people. I got involved in some stupid things I shouldn’t have gotten involved in.

And that could have been you. You could have died at 22. You could have gotten mixed up with the wrong people and shot killed, thrown in jail. Whatever the case may be that could have all been you, but somebody kept picking you up from the back of your collar and putting you on the right track again. So fast forward.

Now you’re an adult. Now you have this dream of becoming a, this, this legacy builder or whatever you want to call yourself, right? You want to leave a legacy behind what are you doing right now to build it? Hmm, what are you doing right now to build it? Because you only have a finite period of time here, guys, like, and trust as you get closer to forties, start to you start to feel it right.

And you start to sense it. Right. I feel like I’m 22. Right. But I know that I’m 40. Does that make sense? And what I realized was. I only got 40 more years if I’m lucky. Right. And if that right. And so what are you going to do when you’re 80 or 90? And you’re looking back going, I shoulda, coulda, woulda now’s the time we gotta do this.

We gotta make it happen. If I died today, Casanova, I would be okay. I love it. I would be okay. So that, that’s what I would tell. Myself or anybody who has that inkling of doubt. And I hope that helps.

[strong]Casanova Brooks:[/strong] It definitely does. Well again, man, this has been a phenomenal episode and we look forward to having you back on the show.

Again, you’ve dropped so many nuggets, so much truth, and so much value. Remember Dream Nation in the dream we trust. But , we must take action just as he said because our time on this earth is only finite. And if we don’t, it will only merely be a fantasy. We’ll catch you on the next one.

Listen My Other Podcast on DreamNation