Brand Building 101: The Origin Story

If you are a comic book nerd like me, you love a good origin story. You get to see the seminal event that causes an ordinary person to become a hero or a villain. In business, it’s that light bulb moment when an idea hits you, and motivates you to create the solution to fulfill the needs of the consumer.

In both cases, the origin story is the foundation of what happens next.

As an athlete, your origin story is the foundation of your personal brand. Your origin story is the narrative of how you became who you are today. It defines your identity, shows your motivation, highlights your passion, humanizes your brand, and facilitates an emotional connection with your audience.

So how do you create an origin story? Let’s take a look at the steps you should follow:

1. Reflection: What sparked your interest in sports? Was there a pivotal moment that let you to pursue a specific path? Take some time to think about these questions and write down your thoughts.

2. Obstacles: What challenges did you face along the way? Overcoming adversity is often the most engaging aspect of your story.

3. Mentors: Who are the people who played a significant role in your journey? Paying homage to your mentors can inspire others to seek guidance as well.

4. Share Your Victories: What have you achieved as an athlete and as a person?

5. Lessons Learned: What lessons did you learn from your experiences? How have they molded your attitudes, work ethic or approach to competition?

As you can probably guess, this process can take some time. But answering these questions will help you create an origin story that will allow you to define your unique, personal brand. Once you complete your origin story you can share it with others through social media to offer support and inspire others facing similar challenges. You can use it as self-motivation during challenging times to remind yourself of how far you’ve come and the strength you possess.

And finally, your origin story creates a sense of authenticity for you and can create an instant emotional connection with your audience. This makes your journey unique and highlights what makes you stand out from the rest.

Monetizing your brand is absolutely invaluable in the modern business environment. Open your phone, scroll through Instagram for five minutes, and take note of all the people that you come across using their personal brand to try and sell you. Whether it be a fitness influencer offering a personalized nutrition plan or a business coach offering their top ten tips to close deals, brands are being monetized online everywhere we look. 

Whilst you may be keen to rush out and monetize your own brand, there are some integral steps in this process that cannot be overlooked. Foremostly, you must have a strong and clearly defined brand. This involves defining your purpose, telling your brand story and establishing your brand authority within your field. Defining, developing and establishing your personal brand are all individually complex and nuanced issues worthy of their own blog posts. However, for now it is enough to say that without meaningfully laying these foundations, your routes to monetization will be few. 

On the other hand once you establish a powerful brand authority within your niche, your capacity for monetization is virtually limitless. Regardless of your personal opinions about them, you only have to consider individuals such as Gary Vee, Oprah and Elon Musk as evidence of this statement. 

With a powerful brand authority established, some of the most common pathways to monetization include: 

Public Speaking: If you create a truly well respected brand, people will listen to what you have to say, and… they might even pay for the privilege! Whilst it may not suffice as a standalone source of income, you can still expect to earn $500 to $5,000 per engagement when starting out. 

Coaching: Provided that you are an expert in your field, sharing this expertise with others is a logical and effective path to monetization. Coaching can be done 1-1, in a group setting or you can take advantage of the internet’s vast reach and do it online. 

Advertising: A very self-explanatory and yet no-less effective way to earn income from your brand. However, you must be conscious that it is generally inadvisable and counterintuitive to accept sponsors or advertisers that do not align with your personal brand. 

The value of effectively monetizing your brand absolutely cannot be understated. However, before you can even consider making some money from it you must ensure that you have established yourself firmly as a brand authority within your chosen field. Once you have successfully done this (and you must expect that it will take some time), your pathways to monetization will be virtually endless.

The League of Legends E-Sports World Championships are starting September 25^th with play-in stages in Berlin, Germany. The Knockout Stages start October 17^th in Paris, France, with the World Final in London, UK on Saturday, November 2^nd

The Players Era Festival presented by EverWonder Studio kicks off in Las Vegas, Nevada on November 26^th. The festival will feature elite D1 programs competing in a pre-season tournament, combined with an innovative format that will include financial education programs, and multiple on-call NIL opportunities for players. The Players Era Festival has committed to providing $9 million in NIL to college basketball players in 2024, and more than $50 million over the next three years.