The Nathan Barry Show

The story you leave out of your content could be the reason someone connects with your work. I sat down with Philip McKernan, author of One Last Talk, who has helped Olympians and World Cup athletes and consulted with the US Army and the Pentagon. We get into why your origin story matters, how to recognise the gifts you undervalue, and why the fear that drives success can eventually become exhausting. Philip walks me through his framework connecting story, gift, and impact, then coaches me live through my discomfort with promoting my upcoming book. A simple drawing exercise leads to a challenge I wasn’t expecting about who I’m letting down by holding back. If you’re building a personal brand but feel uncomfortable sharing your story or promoting your work, I think you’ll get a lot out of this conversation. Timestamps: 00:00 Introduction 02:00 The business pitch that needed a personal story 07:00 Philip’s own origin story 11:00 Helping an athlete reconnect with his purpose 17:00 Finding the gift you overlook 21:00 When fear-driven ambition becomes exhausting 24:00 Why I’m not afraid of my business disappearing 34:00 Buying a castle when business was down 95% 38:00 Building a better relationship with yourself 40:00 Why asking for help feels uncomfortable 43:00 Philip coaches me through a drawing exercise 47:00 The challenge I wasn’t expecting 54:00 Why being visible can feel frightening 57:00 An exercise to uncover your story 1:03:00 Understanding what your happiest days reveal 1:09:00 Learning from your darkest days 1:16:00 How sharing your story creates connection 1:18:00 Final thoughts and where to find Philip If you enjoyed this episode, please like and subscribe, share it with your friends, and leave a review. I read every single one. Learn more about the podcast: https://nathanbarry.com/show Follow Nathan: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nathanbarry LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathanbarry X: https://twitter.com/nathanbarry YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thenathanbarryshow Website: https://nathanbarry.com Kit: https://kit.com Follow Philip: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/philip_mckernan/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/philip-mckernan YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@philipmckernan Website: https://philipmckernan.com Featured in this episode: Kit: https://kit.com One Last Talk: https://onelasttalk.com The Ladders of Wealth: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Ladders-of-Wealth/Nathan-Barry/9798893312393 Highlights: 02:00 The business pitch that needed a personal story 21:00 When fear-driven ambition becomes exhausting 43:00 Philip coaches me live 47:00 Why we undervalue our own work 57:00 An exercise to uncover your story

Most creators try to grow by posting more. More content, more platforms, more hours. But the biggest creators and thought leaders grow in a very different way, and most of it happens behind the scenes. I sat down with Domonkos "Doma" Eross, founder of Flowin, a creative agency for thought leaders, to talk about what actually drives audience growth right now. We get into his seven strategic steps to succeed as a thought leader, why creator partnerships are the number one source of growth in the creator economy, and Doma’s outreach technique for landing dream clients. If you've ever wanted to know the systems the biggest creators use to consistently grow their audiences, I think you'll get a lot out of this conversation. Timestamps: 00:00 Introduction 01:33 How Doma started working with thought leaders 03:03 Why direct outreach works 03:33 The Manchester United cold email 05:05 Why a well-packaged pitch gets attention 06:49 Using credibility to get past the first filter 08:06 How office hours turned into clients 09:13 Leaving energy vs lingering energy 10:13 Why curiosity beats a target list 11:59 How your network compounds 12:54 The seven steps to succeed as a thought leader 13:18 Step 1: Develop exceptional knowledge first 14:17 Step 2: Define your mission and theory of change 16:19 Step 3: Build an ecosystem strategy 18:21 Matching your ecosystem to how you make money 19:51 Step 4: Turn your ideas into the right content 21:18 Protecting clients from the wrong projects 22:38 Step 5: Build the right team 23:12 Why team size and influence don't correlate 24:55 How James Clear decides what to work on 26:32 Building a team around impact 28:26 The most surprising role on a thought leader's team 30:53 What thought leaders know about saying no 32:17 Focus on your craft and outsource the rest 33:22 Step 6: Creator partnerships, the #1 source of growth 35:14 Why Creator Network works better than list swaps 37:19 How partnerships work at a smaller scale 39:00 How much growth Creator Network drives 40:27 Why partnerships are a win-win 41:22 Set up partnerships before your podcast episode airs 44:27 Why the creator economy isn't competitive 46:32 What Doma has learned from his clients 47:57 Step 7: Build and perfect your organic channels 48:13 Why your newsletter is the only channel you own 49:56 Building a newsletter that sounds like you 53:05 The three phases of a book launch 54:15 Teasing your book in your newsletter 55:26 Why you need to book podcasts months ahead 56:08 The concentrated strike approach 56:34 How to pitch the biggest podcasts 58:48 Which podcasts actually sell books 59:50 The people behind podcast bookings 1:01:36 Using a live event to launch a book 1:03:37 How Doma runs Flowin 1:05:08 Why Doma doesn't want to scale 1:06:40 Final thoughts If you enjoyed this episode, please like and subscribe, share it with your friends, and leave a review. I read every single one. Learn more about the podcast: https://nathanbarry.com/show Follow Nathan: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nathanbarry LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathanbarry X: https://twitter.com/nathanbarry YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thenathanbarryshow Website: https://nathanbarry.com Kit: https://kit.com Follow Doma: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/domonkoseross Website: https://flowin.consulting Featured in this episode: Kit: https://www.kit.com Flowin: https://flowin.consulting Highlights: 03:33 The Manchester United cold email 13:18 Why thought leadership is the result, not the goal 24:55 How James Clear decides what to work on 33:22 The #1 source of growth in the creator economy 53:05 The three phases of a book launch

Personal brand has become one of the biggest buzzwords in the creator world. Creators everywhere are launching offers, building funnels, and posting consistently, yet very few are creating something people actually remember. I sat down with Chris Do, Emmy award-winning designer and founder of The Futur, to talk about what it really takes to build a personal brand that stands out. We get into why most creators end up serviceable but forgettable, why branding comes down to differentiation, and the three-part framework behind brands people obsess over. Chris also shares why the real work of personal branding happens internally, how to find your voice phrase, and the trust triangle that decides who audiences believe. Partway through, he turns the interview around and starts coaching me, and we go much deeper than I expected. If you're building a personal brand and wondering why it isn't resonating yet, I think you'll get a lot out of this conversation. Timestamps: 00:00 Introduction 01:39 What it means to un-bland yourself 02:48 Why branding is all about differentiation 03:04 Why Apple has a brand and Dell doesn't 04:31 How status and identity drive what we buy 07:29 How Target built a brand 10:42 How Kit positions its brand 11:44 Moving from features to meaning 14:11 Why most personal brands are really marketing funnels 16:11 Why personal brand work is internal 16:26 How we lose who we really are 19:04 Chris starts asking the questions 20:24 How getting sick at 24 changed Nathan's identity 21:51 Why we tie our identity to what we do 23:03 Who are you outside of your work? 23:36 Why you are the gift 25:51 How Chris answers "who are you?" 26:36 The difference between design and art 28:45 Why being true to yourself comes first 29:45 Nathan's mission 32:24 Why Chris moved from commercial work to content 33:36 Why your brand needs to stand against something 35:44 Finding your keyword and your nemesis 37:03 Why the best heroes have great enemies 40:39 The three-part personal brand framework 41:49 Chris's own brand triangle 42:33 Workshopping Nathan's personal brand 43:30 Separating who you are from your company 44:44 The story behind Chris's mission 47:25 Why all strategy is autobiographical 48:13 Nathan on feeling like a burden 49:29 Nathan's story about his stepdad 53:49 Chris's read on Nathan's story 56:36 Finding Nathan's rallying cry 59:28 Learning to accept help 1:01:26 Why we trust people who aren't perfect online 1:02:00 The trust triangle 1:04:52 How to find your voice phrase 1:08:21 Final thoughts If you enjoyed this episode, please like and subscribe, share it with your friends, and leave a review. I read every single one. Learn more about the podcast: https://nathanbarry.com/show Follow Nathan: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nathanbarry LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathanbarry X: https://twitter.com/nathanbarry YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thenathanbarryshow Website: https://nathanbarry.com Kit: https://kit.com Follow Chris: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thechrisdo X: https://x.com/thechrisdo LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thechrisdo YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thefutur Website: https://thefutur.com Featured in this episode: Kit: https://www.kit.com The Futur: https://thefutur.com Highlights: 03:04 Why Apple has a brand and Dell doesn't 14:11 Why most personal brands are really marketing funnels 40:39 The three-part framework behind Bryan Johnson's brand 49:14 Chris turns the interview around 1:05:17 How to find your voice phrase

The online business world is changing. People have more information than ever at their fingertips, and the business models that many creators started out selling aren't converting the way they used to. I sat down with Jasmine Star to talk about why traditional courses and memberships are becoming harder to sell, and the new hybrid offer model she now teaches her clients. We get into how to build offers around specific customer results, how to find out what people will actually pay for before you build, and Jasmine’s four-step framework for building a consistent $10K/month business. She also shares how she delivers high-touch coaching at scale, and the best ways to build trust with your audience in today’s “trust recession”. If you’re building an online business and wondering what types of offers still work in today’s crowded online space, I think you’ll get a lot out of this conversation. Timestamps: 00:00 Intro 01:18 Jasmine’s first digital offer 04:00 How her $197 course made $255K 04:40 Why she built a membership 06:22 The problem with traditional memberships 08:28 Building Social Curator 10:27 The creator economy after 2020 12:07 Why courses and memberships stopped working 13:12 The hybrid offer 16:40 How to price an offer 20:02 Turning coaching into a scalable offer 22:27 Who the offer is for 24:28 The 90-day $10K offer 26:30 The $4K Freedom Formula 29:32 How to keep clients accountable 33:50 Why asynchronous coaching works 35:36 Scaling coaching to hundreds of clients 39:25 How to market the offer 44:01 Using webinars to sell 47:13 Why long-form content is coming back 50:04 Measuring content performance 52:43 How Jasmine met Nathan 53:41 How to get high-value clients 55:29 Creating an offer people will pay for 59:55 Finding the right audience 1:00:49 Getting your messaging right 1:04:26 Finding your customer's pain point 1:06:10 Using DMs to build trust 1:09:38 Building a personal brand 1:11:48 Final thoughts If you enjoyed this episode, please like and subscribe, share it with your friends, and leave a review. I read every single one. Learn more about the podcast: https://nathanbarry.com/show Follow Nathan: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nathanbarry LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathanbarry X: https://twitter.com/nathanbarry YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thenathanbarryshow Website: https://nathanbarry.com Kit: https://kit.com Follow Jasmine: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jasminestar Website: https://www.jasminestar.com X: https://x.com/jasminestar LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/jasmine-star YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@officialjasminestar Featured in this episode: Kit: https://www.kit.com Social Curator: https://www.socialcurator.com Highlights: 03:38 How Jasmine made $255,000 in five days 12:07 Why courses are no longer enough 17:31 How to find what people will actually pay for 33:50 People already have the information 36:15 Why Jasmine’s ROI guarantee isn't a money-back guarantee

Should you sell your business, or build it to own forever? Ankur Nagpal sold Teachable for $250 million and Carry for $76 million. I bootstrapped Kit and turned down a $200 million acquisition offer from Spotify. We took very different paths as founders. I sat down with Ankur to break down why we made those choices and how they've played out. We get into the key considerations for selling a company vs. building it to own forever, why raising venture capital can quietly trap founders into a specific kind of business, and the hiring and go-to-market tactics Ankur used to build two companies from scratch. Ankur also shares how founders can use the QSBS tax break to keep millions more from an exit. If you've ever thought about selling your business, or you're trying to decide whether to bootstrap or raise venture capital, this is the episode to listen to before you make that call. Timestamps: 00:00 Introduction 01:37 Teachable's Story 03:39 Why Ankur Sold Teachable 04:47 Nathan's Approach to Building 07:16 Building to Sell vs. Building to Keep 08:34 Carry's Story 09:30 Understanding QSBS Tax Benefits 16:06 Being Bought vs. Having to Sell 16:40 Why Raise Capital for Carry? 18:25 Bootstrapping vs. VC 22:54 Lessons for Second-Time Founders 26:10 Ankur's Next Chapter: USVC 28:36 Recruiting Great Talent 32:24 Our Contrarian Beliefs 34:50 Go-to-Market Strategies 39:18 Ankur's AI Content Strategy 46:25 Staying Focused 48:58 Content Workflows 59:16 Product Market Fit Evolution 01:02:08 Closing Thoughts If you enjoyed this episode, please like and subscribe, share it with your friends, and leave a review. I read every single one. Learn more about the podcast: https://nathanbarry.com/show Follow Nathan: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nathanbarry LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathanbarry X: https://twitter.com/nathanbarry YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thenathanbarryshow Website: https://nathanbarry.com Kit: https://kit.com Follow Ankur: X: https://twitter.com/ankurnagpal LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ankurnagpal Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ankurna Featured in this episode: Teachable: https://teachable.com Carry: https://carry.com Highlights: 03:00 The Perfect Exit? 10:40 QSBS Tax Benefits For Founders 18:30 Bootstrapped vs. VC: Which is Higher Status? 23:20 Product Market Fit for Second-Time Founders 32:20 Our Contrarian Beliefs