Produced By - From Profile to Pipeline: Turning LinkedIn Into Clients | 149: Marie Zamecnikova

Starting point is 00:00:00 Personal branding is, I like to say, a business asset. So you really need to think about it as an investor. You are investing in it and it's not something that you will want to finish in the future. You need to really like believe in it that this is something that you want to get for your future, that you want to get for your business. And it also helps you like in terms of social selling because if you build your personal brand, it's something that adapts to. I also had like in the past problems that, for example, I was like launching different startups.

Starting point is 00:00:28 and I was like hidden behind logo, but my life was evolving. Then the startup was really limiting me because I no longer wanted to, for example, focus on technology or I didn't want to focus on the on health. I wanted to that like my company. Whatever I'm like building is actually coping who I actually am and who I am becoming and how I'm growing. And this is exactly what personal brands does. So like it's actually gross with you.

Starting point is 00:00:53 You can discuss different topics, show people how you live, recommend them different tactics, how to live life. how to not live life. Before we dive into today's episode, please hit that subscribe button. Your support helps us grow and inspire more people on their journeys. Thank you. Hello, Marie. Thank you for join us today and welcome to the show. Hello, Thomas. Thank you so much for having me. It's so pleasure to be here and I'm so excited for this podcast

Starting point is 00:01:21 visit. Likewise. So Mary, for those who don't know you, can you please introduce yourself? Sure. So I'm CEO and founder of Mario VLC. We are personal branding marketing agency, currently like one of the best in the world, and I just don't say it because I'm the CEO and founder, but actually there is not a lot of personal branding marketing agencies that would be able to take the founder and put them on spotlight on LinkedIn. So we currently have more than 15 people in our team and we try our best to actually turn the visibility into the out of the and to also get the founders more return on investment and also the growth engine behind the LinkedIn. So this is who I am and what I do.

Starting point is 00:02:07 That sounds exciting. And before we discuss it in more detail, can you actually say, Mary, how did you discover LinkedIn in the first place? Because LinkedIn is the main platform that you focus on. So what is your story behind discovering the platform? This is a really good question because it was like any other person. like I actually checked all of the society boxes. So I was recently graduate. I had a master degree in diplomacy and I was IT engineer.

Starting point is 00:02:36 And I just wanted to get on labor market. However, it just ended up that I was unemployed. For six months, I was sitting alone in Brussels. I'm actually coming originally from the Czech Republic. I was alone in Brussels. Of course, I had friends. But then it's just like happening that like your friends, they get employed and they don't have a lot of time to hang.

Starting point is 00:02:56 out with you and I was like what's wrong actually with me like I really checked all of the boxes that society wanted me I did all of the like university I was always proactive I always was coming up with new ideas etc and now I'm unemployed so I came up with that I need to market my skills let's say so that I want to create my own personal brand and LinkedIn was one of the choices that I had so I chose LinkedIn and I started to target my dream employers. The time I wanted to get employed by European Commission because from my background of diplomacy and also working, for example, in the past for the embassy of the Czech Republic in London, I wanted to actually get a job in European Commission.

Starting point is 00:03:42 So I started to target them on LinkedIn and one day, after one year of building my personal brand, European Commission came to me in the DMs on LinkedIn that they really like what I do on social media and also on my website and that they want my services and if I have company and I was like I don't have but I mean like I will make it work so within like 48 hours I established my company

Starting point is 00:04:05 in Belgium I never had experience with establishing the company neither anybody from my family but then I just established company and I started to rolling in and now I'm helping other people to do the same and I'm always saying to people you know there is only one side effect of personal

Starting point is 00:04:23 branding and it's that you can establish your company. So this is the worst case scenario. What can happen to you? But it's quite impressive, like having first client such a big organization, especially them reaching out to you. What did you feel like when they restart? I would probably think that someone is making fun of me. No, I was like, wow.

Starting point is 00:04:47 I mean, like it was also, it's not really good place to be unemployed. I really am empathic to other people who are unemployed or who end up in some situation like this because it's really like you don't even receive one email like you just receive rejections. You don't want to, for example, speak with your family because like you don't have any news to tell them like good news. And everybody's asking you so how is it going? And you just don't have like any good thing to tell them. So actually like when I received this positive reply that actually somebody likes what I do and that they'll like also my independence that I'm not just like climbing some like corporate ladder. I was just like,

Starting point is 00:05:28 oh my God. Like can you imagine? I was like I couldn't process it completely like for two weeks. I was like, is this really happening to me? Like is it because like of like this thing what I did with personal branding? So yeah, I couldn't like believe it. But it was real like immediately we jumped on the interview and like when they actually selected me, I started the procedure of the company. And I was like, wow, like, it's dead. Like, I mean, like, it was not that easy, but it's like that, like, somebody send you DMs. It's like on Instagram, right?

Starting point is 00:06:00 Like, somebody send you DMs, like that, like, commission send you DMs. Like, hey, like, there is this selection procedure. Do you want to jump on interview? Yeah, sure. Why not? I just have nothing to do right now. And I think if I remember correctly, you said that you've been like posting or building your brand for around the year and then they reached out to you, if I'm not mistaken.

Starting point is 00:06:20 Yes. Because I think that people often see LinkedIn, they join LinkedIn, they make a few posts, establish, maybe their profile and they expect that after a few weeks or a few months, they start lending the client. So I always like to remind kind of context or time perspective that it doesn't just happen from one day to the other day or from week to week, but it actually takes some time for that to happen as well. Yeah. We have also this with our clients because, like, for example, like we are marketing agencies. So many times when new clients are joining us, they actually think that we are something like paid ads, that for example, like they will just pay the service and within like one month they will get like they will boom like influencers, et cetera. And personal branding is I like to say a business asset. So you really need to think about it as an investor. So like you are investing in it and it's not something that you will want to finish in the future.

Starting point is 00:07:16 You need to really like believe in it that this is something that you want to. get for your future that you want to get for your business. And it also helps you, like, in terms of social selling, because if you build your personal brand, it's something that adapts to. I also had, like, in the past problems that, for example, I was, like, launching different startups and I was, like, hidden behind logo. But my life was evolving. Like, and then the startup was really limiting me because I no longer wanted to, for example, focus on technology or I didn't want to focus on the own health. I wanted to. to that like my company, whatever I'm like building is actually coping who I actually am

Starting point is 00:07:56 and who I am becoming and how I'm growing. And this is exactly what personal brands does. So like it's actually gross with you. You can like discuss different topics. You can like show people how you live. You can also like recommend them different tactics, how to live life, how to not live life and like also like how they can then grow similar thing as you did. It's it's investment. It's personal branding is a business asset. I completely agree and I like it. For example, you have multiple companies or multiple businesses, but people may associate you only with that one business,

Starting point is 00:08:32 but if you are building your own brand, it's you, and then you can have multiple businesses, but still it's a personal brand, so it doesn't matter how many businesses or ventures or other things you do, and that's the great power of personal brand. So I like, and Maria, if we come back, like when you said that you wanted to build your brand, how did you actually get the idea to build a brand in the first place? Like, did you see that somewhere?

Starting point is 00:08:58 Did someone recommend you or you kind of came up with that on your own? I actually have a passion and it's drawing. So I started to draw already like with my father when I was really young. Like, I don't know, like two years old. We were like painting acrylic and oil in our house. and I loved it so much. And then, like, I just grown up. I was adults and I was teenager.

Starting point is 00:09:21 And, like, painting just went, like, aside, you know, like I had different movies afterwards. But then in my 20s, it was really, like, early 20s, I came back into drawing and I started to paint. So I took colors and I started to, like, really dive deeper into who I am, what I really want to do. Because I started to travel that time, I was living already in Brussels.

Starting point is 00:09:44 And I just started to do. doodle. I also bought some acrylic and I chose my colors during that time. And it's pink, blue and yellow. It's like how we position ourselves as a marketing agency in these colors. Also, like some people can see it really feminine, but actually 90% of our customers are men at the end of day. So it has nothing to do with like if you attract, for example, more men or women. We are open to both. It's rather like who you really are and we are here for both. So all of this like started with the drawing with starting to also realizing who really I am and what I want to do and where do I feel really strong in which colors. And I am not really like new Picasso. I'm not

Starting point is 00:10:31 artist. I'm not like graphic designer. I use painting really for like kind of like meditation to really realize what I see and who I really am because I'm all. also really into biohacking and into health. And painting is for me, like something where I really project what I have in my head and, like, what is my vision. And the time I draw everything in these three colors. So it started like this. Then when I started with my website where I wanted to have it as a block,

Starting point is 00:11:03 so I wanted to speak more about digital policies for my studies and position myself more in politics. And I literally like draw the whole web site. So I really draw all of the details on my website, which were also in these colors. And this was then what catched the attention of commission because the website was like something extraordinary. It was, it was not perfect. It was, there were a lot of bugs. There was a lot of things that you could like say that you could improve.

Starting point is 00:11:32 It was not done like properly as like usual developers would do. But it was different and it was my branding and where it actually started. So it was development over time. And this is also what I usually do with my clients. When we are developing their personal brands, I'm really asking them about their passions. So, like, what is your passion? And, like, where do you find yourself?

Starting point is 00:11:55 Like, where can I see that person who is, like, smiling and who is, like, shining? Because people usually have, like, mask, the poker face. And then, like, when you start to speak about the things what they like, like, for example, podcasting, like, for example. Yeah, you can see. see. And I know that also like when speaking with people on the podcast that I can see what you're trying to say. And I like this approach as well like trying to understand the people and then from that help to like build their brand. So it's not just because I like this color or because

Starting point is 00:12:30 it looks cool or something like that. But actually there is some kind of meaning behind it. So I think so that's interesting and a good approach. Yes. And out of Christie, do you still, draw? Do you still do it? Yes, I do. I'm now in Canary Islands and it was my dream actually to have house on the seaside. So currently I got like a summer house here on Canary Islands and I just transported my painting gear here in the Canarylands and I was just drawing this weekend and I want to continue in with this. It just takes that time. It's a lot about patience. So it's, you can do doodling, for example, in a plane. I also do a lot of like digital. driving, for example, with my iPad, et cetera, but usually it takes time to develop something to

Starting point is 00:13:17 really project what I have in my head. And I really love, like, when I have, like, the physical canva and, like, physical acrylic as well. So now I am in it completely. So you can also follow it on Instagram. Yeah, of course. Make sure to follow. We'll add links to the show notes. And I would ask you if we can still see the website that you built or sketched before. but as I remember, you recently launched a new one, if I'm not mistaken. Yes, exactly. And it was also a long process because I always wanted to have website according to my vision. And that one was like extraordinary, but it was like not perfect.

Starting point is 00:13:58 Like there was so many bugs, so many things not working. But it was like where it all started. I think that I have somewhere like screenshots. So I definitely can put it up somewhere. Maybe like I will write a post about it on LinkedIn. And then, like, in the process of revamping it, making more professional, I actually hired external people. But it was not me. So I didn't felt in it that, like, this is my vision.

Starting point is 00:14:22 But I was like, okay, it's professional. It's something what they developed. It's something what they designed. It works. But I didn't really felt that it's what I wanted. And recently, we actually extended our portfolio of services. And currently, we also do for our client's website development. because many times you actually can see that you can have the most amazing LinkedIn profile.

Starting point is 00:14:47 But if your website doesn't work, if actually people cannot find your read magnet, if they cannot submit the form or anything like this, it just doesn't work. So we see LinkedIn as an engine for growth of business, but then it needs to work as a whole, as the whole marketing funnel. And this is why we plugged in a new service. So currently also our clients or like a digital digital,

Starting point is 00:15:09 business college members, which is one of our product, where we teach people how to actually plug in LinkedIn into their marketing funnel or into their business. They can actually order with us the lending pages and we do it for them. And I already know these people. I really know their passions. I really know them in depth. I know really the core of their business because always at the beginning of collaboration, we do to an hour's workshop where I really have like a lot of questions about the business, how it started, what is the pricing, where we are going. and then we are able to actually put their vision of website, of different, for example, posts on LinkedIn into the reality.

Starting point is 00:15:48 So currently what you see on MarioLevi.com is really like my vision. So I have designed everything like from A to Z myself. And I just like felt in love with it. It's the most professional version and the most like close to really my style and my branding as possible. I couldn't do it better. I really left there everything. And I also didn't want to like focus only on one clientele. And this is like something that I'm a lot like opposing.

Starting point is 00:16:18 That there are saying like if you sell to everybody, you sell to nobody. And it's true to some extent. However, for example, with my story, I went from the unemployed person to actually a person who owns company. Therefore I can help people like students. I can help like employees to, for example, get promotion, et cetera. But we are always, as a marketing agency, we are like focusing all our communication in the most premium customer, which is founder or entrepreneur. But then like on my

Starting point is 00:16:50 website, you can actually choose if you are a student, if you are employee, or if you are corporate, because we also have actually services and products for these people. And it doesn't mean that like if you sell to everybody, you sell to nobody because we have in 21st century, we have many different products like digital products. So actually I am navigating different products to the different people where I should invest more time and where I don't need to

Starting point is 00:17:17 because students, for example, don't need that much of my personal time. They just need navigation. They just need to get down their branding. They just need to get down, okay, like this is my passion. This is what I want to do. This is my North Star.

Starting point is 00:17:32 Employees usually also need a bit of like a newch. So, like, they need to, like, just get on another level, like, how they can be, like, extraordinary, how they can get promotion. But they don't need me to sit with them, for example, every week for one hour to nail down their pricing, et cetera. So, like, our main communication is for founders and entrepreneurs, but we also offer products for others, which doesn't do that much of my time. And it's rather handled by digital products. And this is, like, really great for especially scaling. So if you want to scale your business, if you want to scale your agency, then you can actually get more broad portfolio of the clients and handle them in different needs.

Starting point is 00:18:13 I like it because, as you said, you actually been through those stages, so you know what it's like. You know you actually have experience, whether it's student, someone who struggled to find a job, entrepreneur in different areas. And I was going to say that I like on your website, you mentioned it, that you can pick I am and from four different things. positions as you did and then it takes you further which i think it's quite interesting and creative aspect on the website so for people i will again put the link to the show notes so they can have a look

Starting point is 00:18:43 if they want you can also give me feedback you can send on support at mariolemy dot com in case like you have any like yeah like this this is this just doesn't work or like uh or that you like something you can just reach out and tell me because i always like to grow i always like to learn positive feedback Others will be in junk. We don't accept them. Spam folder, I know. I was going to ask you, Mary, also, before, when you started on LinkedIn, did you like have some kind of guidance, someone that you followed, or did you do it by yourself by trial and error? What was your, let's say, that first year like? How did you basically start? This is a funny thing. So I started with LinkedIn in 2019, and this was when I started to develop my personal brand, and then within one year I got my first client and established company. So currently my company is over five years old.

Starting point is 00:19:43 And at the beginning, I didn't know about all of these LinkedIn shamans and gurus and influencers, and I was just doing my stuff. I was just posting, like clients were incoming. I was also hanging out in the EU bubble, what is called in Brussels. And I was happy. I was not digging deeper into like influencers, et cetera. And then what happened was that I think it was October 24. I just saw that in Amsterdam there is happening a conference.

Starting point is 00:20:12 It was Samrash Spotlight. Samrash, it's a really good software for like keyword search, etc. We are using it in my company to write articles, also to look for the trending words, etc. And I was attending this conference. And I was just like browsing from one stand. to another and there was also like coaching that you could like go to the round tables and you could be coached by someone and I was looking at the timeline and I didn't know anybody and then there was one session about LinkedIn and it was held by some guy I didn't know his name and I was like yeah

Starting point is 00:20:45 whatever I will just sit there I will just sit there I will just listen and then I sit down there were like other 10 people and there was a guy with Bert and like Bolt and like he was like okay welcome to this like coaching session about LinkedIn so I'm actually like a really big influencer on LinkedIn I live with it 24 7 and my name is just mean Alic and I was like I knew it when you said Bert and Bob was like it must be asking I was like who is this guy like what he wants to tell me and then there were like other 10 people and like we should do the like a round in the table and like we should say some of other experiences with LinkedIn. There were lots of like people, for example, employees who didn't have a lot of experience

Starting point is 00:21:30 or some people just had it as a CV. And then it was my turn and I told him, yeah, like I actually have business on LinkedIn and I'm making money on LinkedIn and it's going quite good. And he looked at me like, you are making money on LinkedIn? And I'm like, yes, I make money on LinkedIn. He's like, guys, applause her. Applaus her because this is not normal. And I'm like, it's not normal.

Starting point is 00:21:53 I wonder that it's completely normal. And he was like, no, this is actually like extraordinary that you make money on LinkedIn. And I'm like, oh, okay, I didn't know. So thank you, I guess. And this is how I met, just met Alic. And I didn't know him. And then like I went to him after the coaching session. And I was like, can I actually take a selfie with you?

Starting point is 00:22:16 I mean, like, I don't know you, but I guess that I should tell her, take a selfie with you. I'll take a selfie and then I will do research who you are. I'm like, oh my God. And then I was like, wow, okay. That's pretty cool. And that's how you discovered

Starting point is 00:22:35 like the influencer guru kind of field of LinkedIn. And then it just started to roll in because like Jasmine, he coached Lara. So I found Lara. Then I was with Lara in Dominican Republic in 2025. And it just started.

Starting point is 00:22:50 to like go on and on and like discovering all of these pieces. Oh, it's interesting. Yeah. And it's the power of the platform, isn't it? Because although we've got people all around the world, everyone from different kind of backgrounds and everything, but you can meet, as you say, literary people from everywhere. So it's pretty cool.

Starting point is 00:23:10 And I like the potential of LinkedIn as well. But it's also like interesting that really like on LinkedIn, you can be like really narrow-minded. And this is also something that I hear from lots of clients. that they try, and what you also said at the beginning, that they try. And after like one to once, they say like, yeah, it doesn't work for me. I'm closing my LinkedIn account. Or they say, yeah, maybe it's not for my niche or maybe there are no clients for me.

Starting point is 00:23:34 And this is exactly amazing example, how LinkedIn can be also like narrow-minded that you can really live in your bubble because like I was really like just doing my stuff. I was like in Brussels. I was looking for the clients there. I was not looking to actually expand, for example, my network outside of this. And I even didn't know that actually there is a network like that there are actually like influencers and like people like who actually have like millions of followings, et cetera. And it's sometimes that you also might be just not to looking at the right place that you just need

Starting point is 00:24:11 to like extend the network. You need to extend the connections because at the end of the LinkedIn is social media, like, any others. Like if you don't extend that network, then like LinkedIn will always give you what like LinkedIn thinks that you like or don't like. But if you start to like follow people like outside of your usual pattern, then it will also suggest to completely different people. So it's also something to take into consideration to get outside of your LinkedIn pattern and then new opportunities will come your way. So think about it also in the sense like how your clients actually think. So we for example have a client who is doing like luxury interiors. So we do a

Starting point is 00:24:56 personal branding for him and he has a company that is doing like luxury interiors for influencers. So therefore we are like looking at what influencers actually like, where they hang out in which groups, who they follow on the LinkedIn and then we get into these bubbles so that actually influencers then come to us and then we can like sell that specific service and put the people on the call with our clients. So we do also like the call bookings, etc. We do everything like from A to Z for this like premium service. But it's like really thing outside of the box what might be like possible.

Starting point is 00:25:32 And then people might come to you, not you to them. I like it. It's a good point. I sometimes like experience it as well. For example with the podcast that sometimes maybe I had like impression that I felt like that I reached out to many people. I spoke with many people and I'm like, are there still people, you know, to invite to the podcast. But then you start maybe researching more, I don't know, doing more homework or just being more mindful of whom you come across.

Starting point is 00:26:01 And I'm like, oh my God, there are so many people, even such a large account. And I've never seen them like, you know, I don't know, 100,000 so followers. And the fact that I haven't seen them before doesn't mean that they don't exist. I just haven't discovered them yet. So as you say, there is such a big potential, so many people. don't forget that I think LinkedIn is still kind of untemped. Potentially, if you look at how many people use it, how many people they are active. So of course, people are still joining new accounts growing.

Starting point is 00:26:29 So as you say, so much to discover there. So it was a great example. It's also the analogy and metaphor. Like when you look at now at me and Tomash in this podcast, so just like can you tell me like two, three things that you see that are green? So just like take like three seconds like two three things that are green and now just like pause and like just tell me how many white things have you seen. So you would not like immediately like tell me the answer because you were like focusing on two to three things that are green.

Starting point is 00:27:04 But like you didn't see the white things because you were not looking for them. And it's exactly the same also on LinkedIn. Like if you just like focus on like specific positions, if you focus on specific people, specific parameters, then you might just not see the other people who just have like slightly different parameters because you are not looking for them. And it's also the same with life. It's same in the reality that like you just like focus on one thing and each of us is living in the certain like perception, in the certain reality and that we look at the things differently from one to another. So it's like when you buy something, something new or the discover or something. You've

Starting point is 00:27:45 never seen that before. You didn't know it existed, but then you get it and you're like, oh my God, it's everywhere suddenly. It's like, how could I not see it? How could I not like why? Yeah. Quick one before we get back to it. If you like this kind of conversation, I've started sharing short videos on a group where I break down what I've learned from more than 150 episodes. Content, podcasting, personal brand. No fluff? Just what actually works. Just search Produced Buy on YouTube or don't. And keep figuring out the hard way. And Mary, can you please offer like some kind of advice for people who are maybe struggling to find fresh clients or like in general, any advice or recommendations, how to find your first clients?

Starting point is 00:28:44 Definitely. So if you are like struggling to find your first client, I would really like look at first at your products because this was also for me one of the things that I was not really clear at the beginning. And then like with developing of my personal brand and like finding like because to be honest, like when I was unemployed, I was really like open to everything from like building websites to like working on LinkedIn to like doing Instagram like I was really like wide open to like a lots of different product and then like because like I actually then like showcased what can I do then the client actually came to me but then when like I would repeat if I would like need to give advice to the people like really be clear about what you are offering and like focus on that so

Starting point is 00:29:32 for example choose one thing let's say for example landing pages so that you will tell to people that you are going to provide them conversion, that you will provide them the sales pages that actually are going to give big conversion and that their clients will immediately buy within the three seconds and that you have, for example, that you have it packed by, for example, Microsoft Clarity where you can actually showcase the cases that are actually people within three seconds, for example, both a certain product on the sales pages that you worked on. So I would really like focus on one product that you really like,

Starting point is 00:30:05 like for a certain amount of money, I would not really overthink the price in terms of like, do I ask too much or like should I go down or should I give a discount? Because a lot of people, they just overthinking in terms of the prices, but rather like really focus on developing that product that is irresistible. So really like a work on it, like right about it, right, why people actually want the sales page, why you are exceptional in comparison with others. what you can deliver in terms of the return on investment. Like make also a banner on LinkedIn,

Starting point is 00:30:39 like write the headline about it so that it's a search engine optimized. Right, even like in your about section, about how you came up with this idea. So like that you, for example, are IT engineer or that you already develop these things. And they really live by this idea. And then like people start to just buy it because they will see you as an expert in the field

Starting point is 00:30:59 that they actually want the sales page from you than from others. and then it creates also FOMO, fear of missing out. So really like develop one product and then put it on LinkedIn, advertise it, write about it. You don't need paid ads. Everything is organic on LinkedIn and just make it irresistible offer. And don't overthink price, don't overthink like bonuses, don't overthink like other stuff. Just focus on that one thing and like make it happen, connect with your ideal clientele, like probably founders and people who already have website,

Starting point is 00:31:33 but their sales pages are not as good as you would make them. Yeah, I like it. I think it's really worth investing or spending time just to develop your profile. Of course, if you don't know how there are so many people who can help you, whether you can nicely reach out to someone for help or follow anyone. And a great point as well to, of course, there are lots of people on LinkedIn, offering auto services. So there might be competition, but at the same time,

Starting point is 00:32:04 if you find something that is unique to you or some kind of, doesn't need to be like literally unique, I don't know, area or something, but give it some kind of something that makes you like competitive advantage to stand out from the others. Repeat it enough so that people recognize you, you stand out and you had to try, don't give up. It takes time, but it's worth it, isn't it?

Starting point is 00:32:27 Yeah, it should be like exceptional. extraordinary. I see that a lot of founders there are also like overthinking like, okay, like should I do this, should I do that? And like, yeah, there is so many things that you should do. And I'm like super like business oriented. So it's really like make it as clear as possible for the people to understand. And I also did experiment on this like how long it takes for people to realize that you have some product. Because sometimes it happens to us that especially in digital business college, our member. they are founders and they launch some campaign and after one week they're writing yeah like nobody voted so i took it out and i'm like do you actually know that it takes three months for people to actually

Starting point is 00:33:10 realize that you have some product so actually after three months they actually even like get that you have some product like yeah yeah and i have made experiment on my instagram i was running every monday and i was every monday i was actually like making story about it at like at 7 a.m i'm going for run and I always made a story about it. And every Monday I did this. The first month nobody noticed. The first month, like, nobody even, like, reacted on the fact that I'm running. The second month, people started to engage on this, and they started to associate Marie with running.

Starting point is 00:33:45 And the third month, people actually started to run with me. And they started to do the Monday morning runs with me. And then I understood that actually, like, it takes time for people to process it. And it's just about repetition. it's about consistency, it's about discipline because if I'm going for a run one time, it doesn't mean that Marie is a runner. It just means, yeah, like, okay,

Starting point is 00:34:06 like she's nature, whatever. Like, we have other stuff to do than, like, follow Marie, like, if she's running or not, right? Even, like, you can imagine, like, how harder it is than with the products and with business, because you actually want people to commit to your program. You want actually people to commit by paying

Starting point is 00:34:22 for your specific products. So you cannot expect them that after one week, they will immediately get like why they need this product, what is this product about, why did you came up with this, who you even actually are. So just use this analogy next time and you will do a new campaign that you should like start to like farm up people. This is also why we are speaking in marketing about farming up, that you really need like to

Starting point is 00:34:47 create the fear of missing out, why people need this, like start to talk about a specific topic. And then people just come to you naturally, hey, like I actually saw that you do these audits or AI actually saw that you have this digital business college and it just starts to work step by step but it just doesn't work overnight unfortunately yet. This is true. I think you can be repeating all the time that it takes time but still people, I feel like on LinkedIn like even on DMs looking for secret hacks or whatever to grow quickly. And if you ask them for how long you've been showing up on LinkedIn, I don't know, a few weeks

Starting point is 00:35:23 or a few months, but then see like your example or anyone else that. it actually takes years to build a brand and establish authority and something like that. And I like the example that you mentioned with running because I kind of struggled with that as well because sometimes, for example, when I post something or even in pinned comments, I repeat something and I'm like, isn't this going to be boring or annoying people if I repeat it all the time? And then next time you see people commenting like, oh, I didn't see this. What is it?

Starting point is 00:35:52 I was like, come on, I've been posting about this all the time you haven't noticed. But then it actually reminds you that people may not pay attention, they may forget, or they just may not see that. So it's worth repeating because you never know. As you say, you are bombarded with content from everywhere. People have short attention spent. So it's really worth repeating that. Yes. I also studied like really big personal brands.

Starting point is 00:36:17 For example, like my big, in personal branding, like my really big, like who I admire, who is my idol is Tony Robbins. because he built on his personal brand more than 180 businesses so I really like his ecosystem I really like how he's doing things master classes and like events etc and you can like really see like when you go to his events

Starting point is 00:36:39 and there is a repetition like he's not coming up with a new thing every time and like he's on stages like every month he's repeating the things but actually you if you are in the audience you are always taking something different from his speech because there is a reviring happening in your brain so even when you are like repeating something in

Starting point is 00:36:59 comments in your post etc it's not about you what you're communicating because you already know it but the person who is receiving the information that person is always taking something different from that specific information so it's not about the person who is saying it but the person who is receiving it so and it's really interesting and it's also like with other big minds like I don't know like I'm like big fun of health. So I have been, for example, with Wimhoff and like with Joe Dispenza and all of these big minds. And it's also nothing else than personal branding at the end of day because like Wimhoff,

Starting point is 00:37:35 he also made all of his thing on personal branding. Like the whole method is named by him. So it's a personal branding. And like ice bats were here for like centuries. It's not that he invented it. He just brought science to it. And he also made the method based on him. And this is how he became the celebrity. But it's again, like he's repeating it. You actually can make the ice bath at home. You can just buy the ice, put it in your bath and make it at home. So why people actually go to the Wim Hof, why people go to the Netherlands,

Starting point is 00:38:10 why they go to the winter expeditions. He's always saying the same, like breathe, go to the ice bath, like go outside of your comfort zone. There is nothing more. It's just about the experience about like you going to another level, like challenging yourself, be close to someone like this, being inspired, being motivated. It's nothing else than personal brand at the end, what actually drives people to actually follow the person who is building the personal brand.

Starting point is 00:38:38 That is a great point. There can be, for example, someone who's more experience in that certain area, but still, I will go with that person who's got a brand because I've got some kind of relationship. I know that person. and there's like, let's say, some kind of charisma or there isn't just to follow them. Instead of someone who might be more experience, have more knowledge, but I don't know that person, I don't have any relationship. So it was a great example.

Starting point is 00:39:05 And this is also bringing me that I'm now working on making our marketing agency, like against the status quo. Because actually when I decided to make my personal brand marketing agency, I already had clientele and I was like, yeah, like I cannot do this on my own. I cannot do this whole personal branding on my own. I need marketing agency to actually help me. So I went to the marketing agency and I was like, hey, guys, like I have a clientele. I have a revenue.

Starting point is 00:39:32 I have some kind of like website, but it's not like the most amazing and I need help. And they actually rejected me because I'm not someone like, I was not someone extraordinary at a time. And it's like really interesting that usually like marketing agencies, they are like collaborating only like already established big brands. because they can see that the revenue is coming. And even though I had the revenue, they didn't want to build it from scratch.

Starting point is 00:39:59 And this is currently what we try to challenge with my company because the most evil thing in 21st century is marketing because you are marketing mainly like prep, like crappy food, addictions and all of these things, which is not right. And like we are trying to actually bring up the experts who are hidden, who, for example, have like solutions, who are engineers. who, for example, work in construction, they have like a really great revenue. They are like big minds.

Starting point is 00:40:27 They know how to, for example, build and how to do architecture, et cetera. It's just like that they're like super hidden and either they never thought about personal branding and like market themselves or they bend to the marketing agencies like mainstream marketing agencies and they got rejected. So this is currently what we are working on to really like bring up the people, the leaders, to really like big minds of the world and like show them to the world because like we are missing in the world like smart people the people who like can put our world on another level because currently like people who get that marketing is the thing that you in this world if you want to do

Starting point is 00:41:09 whatever then like it doesn't mean that these people are usually good so it can be like whoever actually gets that the marketing is important like it doesn't mean that that person is good and they can for example tell you on social media whatever like that they are the best person that they think good for the society etc it's the same like Coca-Cola also claims you like yeah like it's good for stomach i will make you feel good sure but i never saw like advertisement for steak or for banana or others it is true it is yeah it might be might not be like the one with the most expertise, but it might be someone who's just the smartest or understands marketing,

Starting point is 00:41:54 so knows how to sell it to you, instead of someone who's hidden behind the shadows, but untapped potential. Yes, exactly. And marketing is everything nowadays. I agree. And Mary, just to be aware of time, I want to ask you kind of lighter questions by the end of the recording. So what are some of your hobbies or things that you like

Starting point is 00:42:17 to do in your free time? So I am big sport fun. So as I also said many times, like I love everything around health biohacking. So I love sport. I do martial arts since really young age because my father, he actually is master of the world in taekwondo.

Starting point is 00:42:35 So he was teaching to me taekwondo since really young age, but I didn't really like it because it's a lot about legs. So then we started to do Thai box together, which was especially beneficial during my puberty because he could actually punch me. illegally in our session so he liked it a lot but it was just like within the sport norms and I also continued with martial arts then into the later age I had accident then also surgery last year so still getting back into the full mode of the martial arts so right now I'm mainly like swimming

Starting point is 00:43:08 running doing weightlifting but these are the things that I like the most also nutrition so I'm really like controlled freak when it comes to like nutrition and the food and how can I like increase the capacity of my brain how can I actually be more productive and how can I like bring the best of me into the business and my clients so I'm really mindful and responsible about this so like my whole lifestyle is around it I was going to ask even before you mention it about biohacking and healthy lifestyle what do you think about Brian Johnson oh yeah I'm his big fun so it's a really really interesting and I think that he's really doing like big work for the society because there

Starting point is 00:43:53 was missing something like this to actually open eyes to the people that like there is possibility to live different and I was actually I'm usually like saying that I'm second generation of biohacker because like my parents they started with biohacking so I was exposed to biohacking since being a child and I was like for example when I was like in a school like secondary school or high school I was like taking supplements, et cetera. And kids were actually, like, bullying me because of that they were smiling, that, like, I'm, like, old person because I'm taking pills. And I was always a bit weird and different because of the practices what we were doing with

Starting point is 00:44:30 my parents, like, we did like hypnosis. We did lots of meditations together and, like, massages, acupuncture and, like, alternative medicine and as such. So I was a bit weird when I was at school. But right now, when I'm meeting my peers, when I'm meeting, like, class, classmates from that time, they look like my grandma, to be honest. Or maybe my grandma looks amazing in comparison with them. So actually, like, my parents got a point, and I'm so glad for this,

Starting point is 00:44:58 and I'm so glad that I survived it and that I don't have any trauma from these times. It was just tough, and I am really big fun of Brian Johnson, that he's putting this more to public, and he's really strong that he's also facing all of the hates around it, because I know how it is, and it's still not normalized. It's still like normal person is considered the one who is like watching Netflix with Pringles in the evening and like not having the consistent sleep time. So this is still our normal, but I am very much confident that this will change sooner or later. Yeah, that's interesting.

Starting point is 00:45:38 It's like not the same, but for example, like, you know, when you've got friends, go, I don't know, party or two have drinks and you're the weird one because you don't drink alcohol. Yeah. But I have to say that I was also party animals. So, like, I was not always like this. I was always, like, really curious and like I always wanted to go abroad, et cetera. And I was young. So, and I'm still young.

Starting point is 00:46:01 But now I'm more responsible. And I was also like social drinker. So I'm coming from the Czech Republic. So we are really like beer country. And it took me really long time to actually get. outside of the society circle of like drinking beer every time when we celebrate something or when we are happy. It took me really, I don't know, like I wanted to like, I wanted to like stop completely like drinking beer for five years because I didn't felt good. I felt inflameded.

Starting point is 00:46:28 I felt that it's not good for my sleep. I felt that it's not good for my health. But it's like the hardest thing is the mindset to really say stop to the society where you are living in. And it doesn't take over the night because like there will be always. people who will try to sabotage it. And they don't want to sabotage it because they don't like you. They just want to sabotage it because it's something not normal because you will no longer be who you were before. And they want to enjoy that time with you.

Starting point is 00:46:56 So this is also something really interesting to observe that the more you will change your habits, the people you will change too. And then, Mary, do you read books? And if so, have you got any recommendations? I am actually not a really big book reader. So a lot of people would say that I read books, et cetera, and I don't want to be percy for somebody who I'm actually not.

Starting point is 00:47:23 So I'm not a big book reader. Maybe it might be from the school where we were like really like forced to read books that we actually didn't want to usually. And I am more like into videos, more like watching YouTube, like diary of CEO and these things rather than, for example, reading books. And there is only two books that I finished until the end. I usually, like, I buy books, but I usually, like, turn them upside down and I read the finish. And then I'm like, okay, I'm done. And I usually don't, and even if I start from the beginning, there is not, like, there are only two books that I finished until the end. And one is

Starting point is 00:48:01 about personal branding. I don't remember the author. And the second one is right now, I'm finishing it. And is Joe Dispenza, forget, you. the habits of yourself and this I love so much actually I'm not a big book reader I'm always like taking book with me but it takes time to finish it and I usually

Starting point is 00:48:20 like I'm reading it like when I'm for example in a plane when I'm traveling digital nomading so and there is no no Wi-Fi so just like to save me but yeah not big book reader no yeah no or it might be smart if you don't want anyone to talk to you

Starting point is 00:48:36 pull up the book so it looks like you're reading and I just want to be on my own. Even though I have actually the opposite, because usually nobody wants to talk with you if you are on your phone. But every time, when I open the book, every time people come to me to speak with me. And I'm like so glad because I actually am not a big bookreader. So like last time I was reading this book of the Joe Dispenza,

Starting point is 00:48:59 and it's like forget the habit of yourself. And I was like reading it. And there was like steward like came in the plane. And he was like, hmm, interesting. I'm actually like investing my whole life into finding who I am. And now I should forget who I am. And I'm like, yes, this is the point. First, you actually find out who you are. And then the tweak is that you need to forget who you are in order to rebuild your person, who you really want to be. Yeah, it's interesting. So every time somebody comes to me when I read

Starting point is 00:49:32 book. Yeah, this was probably not a good idea what I said before. I mean, some people, Might have a different. I don't know. No, I remember, it happened to me. I listened to audiobooks, but I remember I was on YouTube reading the physical book as well, and someone came to me. So the title was like, I was reading How to Win Friends and Influence People, and someone came over, I was like, you don't know how to find friends or something. I was like, come on, I'm just reading this book.

Starting point is 00:50:01 So it just reminded me. But Mary, then can you please summarize where people can find you, follow you, and promote any of your fair services? Sure. So the first point is to connect with me on LinkedIn, Marisa Mecola. Then go to the website, Marioelivi.com.

Starting point is 00:50:17 You can also follow me on Instagram, on TikTok. I'm everywhere, like whatever social media I'm in. So you can find me, Mario Livy, you can also Google me. But usually, like, most of the updates are on LinkedIn, where we also have newsletter and also on our website, Mariolyvi.com,

Starting point is 00:50:33 where we also advertise, like, for example, some masterclasses. So you can also find there some free guides on LinkedIn, how to develop your personal brand, and much more. I will always add any links to the show notes. And then last question, Mary, is there anything I should have asked you and did not or anything you would like to share before we finish? I think you had to ask really great questions. It was a really great conversation. So thank you for it.

Starting point is 00:51:00 And I would just remind to people that personal branding is your business asset. So don't think about it. don't overthink it, just like invest in it because it will bear fruit in the future and you will be so glad that you started. So this is the last point. I can only agree. And thank you for kind words. I enjoyed it as well. Just trying to be mindful of time, but I could ask many more questions. But I really appreciate it. It was of course great to meet you. I think you share great content across many platforms and also live digital nomad life, which to me is impressive. and it looks like you're enjoying your life, which I'm happy to see and happy to hear.

Starting point is 00:51:41 So want to say a big thank you. Keep doing the great work and I'll keep following and supporting. So thank you very much. Thank you, Thomas. Thanks for listening to Produce By with Tomen. Check the show notes for all the links. And don't forget to subscribe, like and share your feedback. Speak soon.

Produced By - From Profile to Pipeline: Turning LinkedIn Into Clients | 149: Marie Zamecnikova

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