We were lucky to catch up with Brett Ellis recently and have shared our conversation below.

Brett, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s start with a story that highlights an important way in which your brand diverges from the industry standard.

From the start of my career coaching business in 2017, I set out to shift mindsets of talented professionals. Most people approach job searching from an “I need a job.” perspective, when they should be approaching it from a “You need me to work for you.” strategy. It’s a shift from reactive job searching to proactive career marketing. In other words, “Stay ready, so you don’t have to get ready.”

Job seekers need to think more like business owners. That doesn’t mean that they need to start a business. The first step is having or developing expertise with an in-demand service. Am I good at something that people are willing to pay for? Do my skills set me apart from my competition? Can I bring a unique approach to solving a well-known problem? It’s great to be passionate about your work, but if nobody is willing to pay for it or everyone else is doing it, you might want to pivot or find a more specific area to focus.

From that point, it’s all about career marketing and personal branding. You know the old saying, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” Well today, I’d say it’s even more about “…who knows you.” We live in a digital world, and these were best practices, even before the pandemic hit. It’s even more relevant now. Your online presence is a huge asset to becoming recognized as an expert in your field. This goes for corporate professionals, artists, and everything in between.

I chose the route of LinkedIn to build my professional brand around helping job seekers by making career advice more engaging and accessible. I write posts about resume writing tips, interview prep materials, cover letter guides, etc. I basically see myself as a LinkedIn teacher, and people like my content because they are able to take tangible strategies away from each post. This has helped me tremendously in landing clients and job interviews without ever reaching out first.

This is where the magic happens. No cold calling to find coaching clients, recruiters in my inbox asking me if I’d like to interview for their open roles, journalists asking me if I’d like to contribute to their articles, etc. I provide so much value for free that people think of me or find me easily when they are looking for someone with my expertise. Marketing is all about staying top of mind. That’s why you get so many marketing emails from these companies. Kleenex is a good example. They became so well-known for tissues, that people refer to tissues as Kleenex, even when it’s not their brand being used.

Of course this didn’t happen overnight. So folks who are newer to this concept should focus on the basics: making sure they are excited to share their resume and have a strong LinkedIn profile, that they look at them and think, “Damn. I’m the sh*t!”

Once you get your basics down, start thinking about more advanced strategies like creating posts on LinkedIn: discuss industry trends, share advice and stories from your own journey, document your success at work. You can also leverage opportunities to speak at conferences, on panels, etc. Beyond those tips, blog, write articles, reach out to relevant journalists to see if they are looking for contributors. You can write whatever articles you want on LinkedIn. You don’t need to work with editors or get approvals.

These have all been powerful strategies that I’ve leveraged to build my personal brand, so much so that I don’t currently do any paid advertising or cold calling for my business. I hope this shift in thinking resonates with other people, so they can apply it to their own work and careers.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I come from a family of educators, so it was no surprise that I naturally gravitated towards the work. I grew up in rural Illinois, and I was raised by an amazing single mother who pushed me to be a 1st-Generation college student. I quickly understood the need to hustle if I wanted something. Because of that push, I fell in love with business and entrepreneurship.

I strengthened my career as an educator by recognizing the value in advocating for historically excluded groups and other people like me. I became the person I needed when I was younger.

My passion for equity has remained with me as I built a business as a career coach. I get to help job seekers and budding entrepreneurs make life-changing moves by making career advice fun and accessible. That’s how I developed a powerful brand and following on LinkedIn.

I have several free resources available on my profile and website that you can check out, and I still work with clients who are looking to advance or break into tech!

Me outside of work: I am a huge music fan. I love to go to concerts, and I’ve recently started learning how to DJ. I’ve never grown out of my love for anime and video games, so I’m likely spending nights at home watching Boruto or becoming the next Pokémon Champion. You might find me out at a networking session in Atlanta or at some corporate-sponsored event. I love making new connections and learning from others.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

I’ve shifted the focus of my business a few times. I started my business as a resume writer in January 2017. My business was taking off, but I didn’t enjoy writing as much as I enjoyed teaching/coaching. I felt like I was creating a dependence from my clients, and they weren’t actually growing. I was doing all the work for them.

I shifted to hosting career coaching sessions by the hour and in 30-minute slots. This work was much more enjoyable for me, and honestly it was a lot easier. I also have a background in teaching, so I started doing workshops with local colleges, universities, co-working spaces, community organizations, corporate resource groups, etc.

Just as my workshops and speaking gigs started to take off, COVID hit. Luckily, I had already done a lot of virtual coaching and webinars through Zoom before the pandemic hit. So, I pivoted again from a in-person speaker to a virtual facilitator. Having already developed a very in-demand skillset, while others were still learning remote tools helped a lot.

Now I’m excited to continue coaching and doing a mix of in-person and virtual workshops for my clients.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

When I first started building my reputation as a careers expert, I was doing what all of the big names in the industry were doing. I earned multiple certifications to establish my credibility in the market. This was a great way to learn and master my craft as well. Luckily, I convince my employer at the time to pay for all of them because they were also helping me in my job with students.

After that, I began paying attention to what might be considered LinkedIn influencers back then around 2017. I created original content, but I was copying their strategies. It was great to learn, but I wasn’t seeing the traction and engagement that they were. I was pretty much putting on a front as this buttoned-up “professional” coach. That’s not who I really am.

I like to speak authentically, in a fun way. I enjoy leveraging pop culture to teach and make work more exciting. I started creating my content through a more authentic voice, and that’s where I started to see my audience and reputation grow.

I did a lot of public speaking gigs, I used humor, and I made strong connections and advocates. That word of mouth and in-person connection has been the most powerful way to showcase credibility, stay top of mind in my industry, and land clients.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.brettelliscms.com/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brettellis1/

Image Credits
Darryl Humphrey II