From Bankrupt to Multi-Millionaire … TWICE—Here's How

Picture this:

A 30-year-old founder is running a 9-figure company.

She’s praised everywhere.

From Forbes to Inc. Magazine.

NYTimes even calls her: “Cinderella of Tech''.

Until all of a sudden, BOOM!

The company goes bankrupt.

Everyone’s thinking the same thing:

“She is finished. Her career is done”.

Well…

That didn’t happen.

She became even stronger with her next business.

And a thought leader in media and entrepreneurship.

“What?”, says the world in shock.

Everyone had one question in their minds: “How the hell did she do it?”

The answer was right in front of them….

It was her thriving personal brand that saved her from getting crushed after her business went bankrupt.

Yes, that’s how impactful personal branding can be.

Sometimes, it makes you money. Sometimes, it saves you from getting destroyed.

But how did she manage to build such a strong influence?

In the next 5-minutes, we’ll break down

For those of you who don’t know Sophia Amouruso,
Her story’s nothing less than a movie (quite literally).

After all, there’s a whole Netflix show inspired by her. Go, check it out…

So, Sophie was a single child suffering from mental health disorders since the age of 10.

Naturally, she was a rebel who dropped out of college and went on an expedition at the age of 17. 

She kept wandering from Sacramento, Seattle, and Oakland to Portland, working in shoe stores, record stores, and subway as well as a stripper for months.

Things even got to a level where she had to be arrested once for shoplifting.

God, that’s one hell of a life to live.

Until she finally decided to build her business (an e-commerce brand) from scratch.

I mean, she started selling the stuff she sold in the store.

And surprisingly, this is when she applied the first part of ‘Sophia’s framework of influence catching’.

1. Do Common Things….Uncommonly

If we look at Sophia’s business model, it wasn’t unique. It wasn’t different.

After all, it was just an e-commerce store selling vintage clothing.

Right? 

So what’s the difference?

Well, the difference was the way she approached her brand.

This is the key principle not just for personal branding, but for any kind of brand.

Do the things that everyone is doing, in a way that no one is doing.

Yes, there were many serious e-commerce brands available in 2006 that had serious names with serious tonality with serious websites.

So, what did Sophia do?

She named her brand– Nasty Gal!

In an era, where every brand took inspiration from leaders like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and Larry Elison, Sophia decided to name her brand on a 1970s pop album by Betty Devis.

It instantly helped her cut through the noise.

It’s very similar to what we discussed in Naval Ravikant’s edition– Combine the things you aren’t supposed to combine and boom! The magic is created.

Can you do something like this for your personal brand?

2. Believe it or not, Labeling is a Skill….and an Important one

The frame is more important than the picture you’re showing.

It’s a common saying. We all have heard it.

But what does it mean?

Shaan Puri, Founder of Milkroad explains it best:

Instead of giving a so-called professional name to her brand, Sophia decided to go ahead with Nasty Gal.

What’s crazier is that she has done it again and again…countless times.

For example– when she decided to launch her entrepreneurship course, she knew that the name of the course mattered.

A lot.

So she brainstormed the name for days: 

• Founder academy?

• Entrepreneurship Circle?

• CEO University?

Nope, nothing fitted.

She lost all hope of finding a name that works.

Then, one day later, while going through a plane catalog, 

She noticed something.

A word: Business-class

“Wait!”, she asked herself.

“Business Class?

Isn’t this literally what I am selling, classes for business?”

Now that’s really interesting.

And yeah, you guessed it right.

She named her education brand- “Business Class”.

Not only that, she made her entire theme revolve around aviation.

Like naming her modules as flights. And classes as layovers.

Now, I am not asking you to rebrand your entire business…. I mean, duh, right?

All I am saying is:

You’ve got to learn how to label yourself, your organization, your product through your content, the right way.

What’s the right way?

Well, that’s for the next edition.

Therefore, if you haven’t subscribed, what are you waiting for?

3. Let the Haters Hate...It Makes you Money

“What the hell, are you serious?”

“How is having haters profitable for my personal brand?”

“Are you out of your mind?”

I know. Shocking, right?

Fortunately, or unfortunately, that’s the truth.

Let me explain.

Every brand and personal brand has a target audience or an ICP.

Now, I am totally with you on this, that you should, at all costs, protect your target audience’s sentiments and feelings.

BUT

At the same time, don’t be afraid to create content that may repel people who are not your target audience.

Ironically, it can actually boost your brand.

How?

After Nasty Gal went bankrupt, Sophia launched her media business- GirlBoss Media.

By the name, it gives vibes of high-feminine energy and women’s dominance.

Which is right.

Because that was her target market.

To do that, Sophia sometimes made statements that her male audience didn’t agree with/liked.

Hell, the number of controversies GirlBoss started on Twitter is uncountable.

But that didn’t stop her.

In fact, it deepened the relationship between GirlBoss Media and women.

Soon enough, her bestselling book #GIRLBOSS even got adapted as a Netflix series.

This is similar to how Steve Jobs used to troll PC users as boring and classless.

Because it boosted Apple users’ morale and ego.

After all, no matter what business you’re in.

Your customers or audience want to feel smarter and better about themselves.

That’s why, sometimes, not being politically correct and being true to your ICP pays well.

And we did it.

A complete breakdown of Sophia Amoruso’s multi-million dollar CEO-lebrity strategy.

I firmly believe that reverse engineering the top leaders of the industry can create magic for your personal branding journey.

And that’s what I promise to bring to your life. Magic.

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Let’s meet next Thursday,