Not everyone needs to build a “personal brand” or post online.

👋 Welcome back to Content to Commas, your weekly playbook for turning content into authority, consistency, and growth.

I randomly had a few conversations last week that all oddly landed on the same point.

Someone told me they want to build their brand. I asked why. They said, "everyone's doing it." I asked what was their goal … silence.

I'm noticing right now, people want the results they see online, but they haven't asked themselves if they want the life that creates those results.

This issue is about making sure your strategy supports what you want, not what you think you should be building.

📌 In this issue:

Let’s get to work.

— Brandon Smithwrick

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An audience isn’t valuable because it’s big.

It’s valuable because it reduces friction everywhere else.

When people already understand what you stand for and how you help, everything gets easier. That’s why the smartest builders don’t optimize for followers. They optimize for early wins and clear outcomes.

Teachable’s Modern Course Creator Playbook shows how to:

If you want growth that doesn’t reset every time a platform changes, this is worth your time.

I know how this sounds coming from me.

I'm a full-time creator. I work in marketing. I've spent over a decade teaching people how to make content that gets results. But I'm asking you this because I care about your time.

Think of 'content' as a stepping stone, not the destination.

I don't want you to craft a brand just because it's a buzzword.

Instead, let it be something that truly resonates with your purpose and aligns with your goals.

You may not want a personal brand. You might just want what a personal brand will give you.

… and that's not the same thing.

Creating content changes how you see everything.

You start thinking in hooks. You have a conversation at dinner and think, "that's a carousel." You can't experience anything without wondering if it's shareable. You spend time creating and scheduling content. People know you before you introduce yourself.

That's not good or bad. It's just real.

And if that sounds exhausting to you, you should not build a content first brand.

Success has many routes:

Content is one path, a very powerful one that can accelerate your growth, but not the only one.

The only wrong move is choosing a path because you saw someone else win on it.

If you're unsure whether content is your path, ask yourself these:

1. Do I actually want to be consistent?

Consistency isn't posting when you feel inspired. It's posting when you don't.

It's trusting the process before you see proof.

If that doesn't excite you, content might not be your path.

2. Am I willing to share?

Creators see content everywhere.

Your life doesn’t need to be an open book online but you will find yourself sharing bits and pieces.

If you keep your Instagram on private right now, don’t think this is the year to have it on public.

3. What do I actually want my life to look like?

Not your calendar. Not your money. Your actual day-to-day life.

Do you want to wake up and write? Do you want to be on camera? Do you want people to recognize you in public?

These aren't hypotheticals. These are real outcomes of building a visible brand.

4. What's the cause, not just the symptom?

I might want to quit your job. But do you want to work for yourself, or do you just hate your boss?

You say you want a personal brand. But do you want to create, or do you want validation?

It's more detrimental to go down a path you'll fall out of love with than to do something purely for passion.

If you read this and realized content isn't your path right now, that's clarity.

Here my take of what’s next

Double down on what you're already good at.

If you're great at sales calls, book more of them. If you're great at in-person networking, go to more events. If you're great at teaching, help others.

Use content strategically, not performatively.

You don't need to post every day. You can genuinely have conversations with people and by the person behind the scenes.

Stop mimicking other people's success blueprints.

The 5 am wake-up alarm. The cold plunge. The 10-mile weekend runs.

Those work for some people. They don't work for everyone.

Your path to success should be designed around your strengths, your energy, and your actual goals. Not someone else's wins.

Each week, I share tips on branding, monetization, growth , and useful tools that you might have missed. You can catch up in just a few minutes.

These posts did numbers for a reason. Worth a reread.

The stack I keep coming back to in my own business.

The gear I actually use to capture clean, usable content without overthinking it.