Leonard Kim is the author of Ditch the Act: Reveal the Surprising Power of the Real You for Greater Success. His TEDx Talk, Why You Should Let Your Fears Guide You, has been internationally recognized as one of the best TED Talks by Forbes, Inc. Magazine and Mashable.

Forbes named Leonard a top Marketing Influencer, Inc. Magazine named Leonard a top Digital | Youth Marketer and Entrepreneur named Leonard a top personal branding expert.

Leonard is managing partner of InfluenceTree. At InfluenceTree, Leonard and his team teach you how to build your personal brand, get into publications and grow your social media following. Or if you don’t have the time, they do it all for you.

Leonard’s content has been read well over 10 million times and he has amassed north of 500,000 social media followers. He has been profiled in CMO, Fast Company, Fortune, Adweek and more.

I interviewed him last week and it turned out to be a value-bomb!

Time Stamped Keynotes

[01.57]-Gerard introduces Leonard Kim

[03.20]Before Leonard turned 28 years old, he struggled a lot
Every startup he worked for went bankrupt
When he turned 28, he became sick of tired of being sick and tired

[04.14]-When he got too sick and tired, he tried many things among which writing turned out to be a surprisingly great exercise for him

– He started writing every single day, and within six months, he had more than 3 million reads on his content
–Quora made him a top writer
-By the end of 2014, he ended up having 20k followers and 10 million reads

[05.35]- Leonard thinks that outbound marketing is time-consuming

[06.36]-He thinks that one should talk about what they want to talk about, and put it everywhere possible. People would see that, and they would come back to you and phone all becomes super simple.

[08.01]-If you use ads for outbound and use the content you have been creating for inbound,

[08.55]-Leonrd gives a great example of how one can use outbound marketing(ads to be more specific) with content to get customers they want

[10.10]-Gerard talks about the importance of sending gifts as an outbound strategy and how he has been doing that

[12.58]-Fear is not a bad thing if you know how to use it for the right purpose

[13.39]-Fear is great. It indicates that there is something that if you do would make you happy

[14.13]-You should do three things

– Identify what’s scaring you
– Go through the emotions
– Actually, figure out what would happen if you go out and do what’s scaring you

[15.51]- You have to change the way you perceive fear.

[16.31]- A lot of people approached Leonard for personal coaching

[16.58]- When he realized that people need his mentorship, he designed a course on how to grow social media following and brand yourself

[17.36]- Leonard believes that people do business with people they know

[18.15]-Even a little/minute information can change the whole path of a relationship.

Things that we usually overlook or consider ridiculous drive the relationship

[19.38]- When we go out and tell people we meet, about our struggles and pain, we realize that we are not the only one to have to suffer them and this further makes your connection stronger

[19.56]-When you share your failures first, i.e., when you start the conversation vulnerable, you create a bond right away

[20.45]- Leonard talks about the tiers of services they offer with influence tree

[21.22]- Influencetree has customers including the vice president of Cisco, a Newyork Times bestseller and many another fortune 500 companies

[23.32]-When he had a lead gen company his main job was to get his workers structure, organize and strategize +

[23.58]-His customers were getting 2-3 leads an hour

[25.34]-One thing that Leonard would like to change in his company is his email funnel

[25.52]-Book that Leonard recommends Limitless: How to Ignore Everybody, Carve your Path, and Live Your Best Life by Laura Gassner Otting

[28.02]- Leonard thinks that watching television is a life hack. You can relate to real life situations watching TV and even improve your life

Key Takeaways-

• Book to read-Limitless
• Life hack-Watching TV
• Books written by Leonard-Ditch the Act: Reveal the Surprising Power of the Real You for Greater Success and The Etiquette of Social Media: How to Connect and Respond to Others in the World of Social Media 
• His Website