Content Funnel for Search Through Personal Brand?

May 28, 2025

by a searcher from Gettysburg College in La Jolla Shores Beach, San Diego, CA 92037, USA

Has anyone used a personal brand to assist in their search? Eg, building your own personal brand through making content, posting on socials, or running ads from your own personal brand which brings you warm leads? I have a small following on Linkedin and I am planning on building my personal brand more (Think 26 year old founder building his commercial cleaning company and growing through acquisition) and a big focus with this for me is building my brand through my company and not on becoming an influencer/providing edutainment. The goal is to build a personal brand, expand my network for our search, and also, build our company brand for prospecting. Does anyone have experience here/guidance? I am new to this and need all the help I can get. For reference, here is a post I am debating on posting: Video: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yGqOdMf4cWLlE-Hmr0AUHLvd2flzzYLT/view?usp=drive_link "What does a day in the life of a 26-year-old commercial cleaning business owner in San Diego look like? I recorded one using the Meta /Ray-Ban smart glasses (Headliner Low Bridge Transition Lens Model) Some highlights: 1. Built out a M&A CRM I am actively looking to acquire another commercial cleaning company in###-###-#### Ideally in California or Colorado). I am targeting companies doing $5M to $10M in annual recurring revenue, and especially those with sticky accounts, clean books, and a great team. To make this process more organized, I grabbed hundreds of leads of cleaning business owners from Apollo.ai, pulling names, emails, phone numbers, websites, and LinkedIn. I’m currently in the process of reaching out directly to these owners and building relationships, whether they’re looking to sell now or not. Right now, we’re managing everything in Google Sheets since our current lead pool is relatively small—but if you’re scaling beyond that, I’d recommend GoHighLevel.ca or HubSpot. We’ve used both at Big League Clean. 2. Iterated Big League Clean mass outreach systems We’re using Smartlead for cold email, and filter info into redacted As @Alex Hormozi says, it’s a volume game. The goal is simple: open the door for real conversations. (Shoot me a DM if you want to hear the other tactics we're using, happy to help) 3. Networked and met people. I try to meet 2–3 new people a week who are taking/want to take/have taken the path I am looking to take—investors, business owners, operators, and private equity. It only takes one person to change everything. 4. Ate a sandwich from Rubicon Deli $16. Size of a football. High quality. Good people. I’m a sucker for businesses doing things right - check them out if you’re in San Diego."

Reply by a searcher
in Miami, FL, USA

Yes, I wrote a sales book that did pretty well like 7 years ago and I’ve closed more m&a deals because of the personal brand. Most of the time I use creative financing to get the deal done and to get the seller to agree to those terms they need to be sold on you and what you will do for the business once you take control. Nobody wants to hand over their baby to a stranger and risk them ruining the business, even if you gave them all cash up front. I’ve also found that once you’ve done a bunch of deals, using your personal brand is more effective then trying to approach as a PE or investment company since there are real big players out there and if you can’t compete in that way, the personal brand is more effective.

Reply by a searcher
from Loyola University New Orleans in New Orleans, LA, USA

^Luke Tatone‌ , thanks for the mention! ^Matthew Christou‌ I like this question! Brand is huge when starting out; social media and LinkedIn are great, as they help increase exposure if it’s not coming through other sources, such as PR or direct advertising. Consumers especially love to see the behind-the-scenes and understand the "authentic" person who runs/ manages the big picture. I put this in quotes as a caution to be aware of what is exposed fully. Over time, you will see a return on consumers trusting and understanding what you do and the value you add. Depending on the lead you want to attract, is the content geared toward that audience? Not to say the video example is not good, I think it’s on par with what social media wants. Just wear the lenses of, "if a future acquisition were to view this, would they take me seriously, and am I respectful to my brand and thus possibly their brand?” Lastly, be aware of sensitivity to personal tastes. I’ve been on the receiving end of a few green-eyed monsters in deals, so be mindful of what is exposed. A potential acquisition might think, “I see the nice office or nice car, so I’ll ask for more money/ownership, they can afford it.” Not to say everyone does this, but people come from vastly different backgrounds and can interpret things differently. Hope this helps, Good Luck!

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