Mike Kim
Mike Kim is a personal brand strategist who helps established founders and experts build an industry-defining brand that’s unmistakably their own.
Bio
Over the past decade, Mike has helped thousands of experts transition from trading time for money to building scalable businesses around their ideas. His clients include New York Times bestselling authors and experts featured on PBS, TED, CNN, and Fox. He has been featured in and written for Inc., Entrepreneur, and The Huffington Post.
Mike is a 3x bestselling author. His most recent book, Own Your Brand, Own Your Career (with co-author Andy Storch), hit #1 in Career Development on Amazon. His first book, You Are the Brand, is a Wall Street Journal & USA Today bestseller with foreign rights sold in France, Korea, and Complex Chinese.
He has been a top-rated speaker at SXSW, Social Media Marketing World, Podcast Movement, and Mindshare Summit, and has been featured on leading podcasts including Smart Passive Income, Entrepreneurs on Fire, and Read to Lead. He hosts the top-rated show, The Brand You Podcast, helping service-based professionals build their business around their personal brand.
Each week, Mike publishes The Mike Kim Letter, a weekly newsletter to help you chart your own path, find your voice, and create what is unmistakably yours in a post-AI world.
Short bio
Mike Kim believes marketing isn’t about closing a sale, it’s about opening a relationship. This refreshing approach has made him a sought-after speaker, online educator, and personal brand strategist. He is a 3x bestselling author, including the Wall Street Journal bestseller, You Are the Brand.
Nowadays you’ll find Mike helping experts turn their ideas into intellectual property and writing his weekly newsletter, The Mike Kim Letter.
Keynotes & workshops
CopyProof: How to Write, Market, and Persuade in a Way That’s Unmistakably You
Everyone has the same AI tools now, so most marketing sounds the same. CopyProof is messaging no one can copy, because it only works coming from you. Mike gave this talk two years in a row at Social Media Marketing World. He has rebuilt it from scratch for the age of AI, drawing on ten years as a direct response copywriter and his work with John Maxwell, Donald Miller, and Catalyst.
Key takeaways:
- How to spot the lines where your message sounds like everyone else
- Climate and tone, and emotional range: the two skills that make people feel your message instead of skimming it
- Where AI belongs: using it to spread your best work, never to write it
You Are the Brand: Showcase Your Unique Expertise and Build a Profitable Personal Brand Business
Most experts are overwhelmed with advice and underwhelmed by results. Based on Mike’s Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestseller, this talk walks through The Brand You Blueprint, the same method Mike has used to build brands for thought leaders like John Maxwell, Donald Miller, and Dr. Daniel Amen.
Key takeaways:
- The 8 Ps (point of view, personal stories, platform, positioning, products, pricing, pitch, partners) and the order to use them in
- How to build a brand that pays, without faking a persona or chasing followers who never buy
- How to price your offers with confidence
Possible interview questions
“There’s a lot of talk about AI replacing our ideas and content, but you say the real threat is to our voice. Can you explain?”
Mike shares his Four Voices framework and why developing all four voices is the key to sharing our wisdom, which is the most AI-proof competitive advantage you can build.
“You work with talented experts who feel stuck trading time for money. How can they get leverage and make greater impact?”
Mike shares the patterns he’s seen over a decade of helping thousands of experts build scalable intellectual property, and how to package what you’re already doing with magnetic messaging and commercial viability.
“For those feeling ‘successfully stuck’ in their career, business, or the niche – how can they explore new directions or reinvent themselves without burning everything down?”
Mike shares how to evolve your messaging, offerings, and identity and reinvent your brand without burning it down or losing the trust you’ve built.
“The idea of ‘personal branding’ can be unappealing to some people. You say it starts with just three questions. Can you walk us through that?”
Mike shares his Personal Brand 3 framework, three simple questions that help people find clarity on their messaging, offers, and brand story. Practical, immediately applicable, and field-tested with thousands of clients.
“You’ve diversified your IP across several verticals. What has been the most important point of leverage to make that work?”
Mike breaks down how each of his verticals took a different path but required the same pillars. Done properly, each vertical compounds your thought leadership, scales your authority, and contributes to making your business anti-fragile.
Books
You Are the Brand
(2021, Morgan James Publishing) — Wall Street Journal & USA Today bestseller. The 8-step blueprint to showcase your unique expertise and build a highly profitable, personally fulfilling business. Foreign rights sold in France, Korea, and Complex Chinese.
Own Your Brand, Own Your Career
(2025, with Andy Storch) — #1 in Career Development on Amazon. The strategic guide to building an authentic personal brand that accelerates your career.