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Do you ever feel like you’re just blending in as a realtor? Like you’re posting those templated just listed/just sold graphics, doing what every other realtor on Instagram and Facebook are doing, and wondering why it’s not working?

I’ll tell you the truth. It’s probably because you’re not building you. Your clients are not able to find you because you’re not being you. You’re not being your authentic self online.

But today we’re going to change that. We’re going to talk about how to show up as you and fix your personal branding problem so you can stop chasing clients and start attracting the clients that are authentically drawn to who you are.

I’m Cheesette Cowan, and I help realtors go from the transactional hustle to CEO energy. After coaching over 300 real estate agents and building multiple seven-figure businesses, I’ve seen this pattern destroy more careers than market shifts ever could. In this breakdown, I’m going to show you how to build a personal brand rooted in your passions, values, and personality so you can stop chasing clients and really start attracting them.

Why Your Real Estate License Doesn’t Make You Special

Having a real estate license does not make you memorable. It does not set you apart. In Florida, where I live, the real estate license is the number one or number two most-held license in the state. That means there are thousands of realtors, thousands. And it’s all over the country the same way.

What makes you different? And I guarantee you it’s not your headshot. It’s not your brokerage. And it is not anything external. It is your brand.

Your brand is the emotional imprint that people remember when your name comes up. It is the thing that makes them say, “I want to work with her.” It is what makes you memorable, especially in a market like now where the competition is steep and these agents are really doing well at personal branding.

As we’re lead generating (because I’m always going to talk about lead generation – there’s nothing in a real estate business more important than lead generation), the personal branding impacts the way in which you lead generate.

What Your Clients Really Want From You

They don’t want to just know you’re a realtor. They don’t even want to know you’re perfect. They want to know you’re real. It’s relatability. And it doesn’t happen by having everything all buttoned up in a box. It happens just by being authentically who you are. That’s what makes people want to work with you.

We have to show up as our authentic selves in every situation, and that will attract the clients that are meant and called to work with us. If you’re looking about how to find your magnetism, you want to create connection-driven content. One of my clients is really killing this right now – her name is Jackie, she lives in North Carolina.

Step One: Find Your Magnetism (The Survey That Changes Everything)

First thing I say in branding is find your magnetism. Find the thing about you that makes you magnetic. We all have it. I know what mine is and I’m sure you know what yours is, but the problem is you don’t show up like that in real estate. You’re hiding behind what you see other people building and it may work for them, not because it works in general, but because it’s truly who they are.

I want you to survey 10 people. Ask them, “What do you think when you see me? What verb or what noun, adjective do you associate with me?”

That’s going to help you determine how you’re seen in the eyes of the people that already know you. When I started doing this, I sent this survey to my mother, to my sister, to three of my coworkers at the time. And they all said something similar. And I just realized that those words actually describe who I am.

Let me give you an example. I am a very tenacious person. Once I get started on something, I am not coming off that thing. People say this to me all the time – they’d be like, “If you said you’re going to do it, you’re going to do it.” But what that translated into with my clients is I’m going to get it done. If I tell you it’s a yes, I’m going to move heaven and earth to get that yes for you.

My clients have begun to trust me in that. So when I’ve asked them for their trust, when I’ve asked them to trust me with their business, to trust me with the numbers, to trust me with the marketing, they do that not because I’m automatically trustworthy, but because I’ve branded myself to them as somebody that gets stuff done, as somebody that doesn’t take no for an answer.

Your Passions Are Positioning Tools (Not Distractions)

Are you faith-based? Are you a comic con person? Do you like sports? Like I like sports. Do you like the ballet? Do you like opera? Do you want to work with first-time home buyers?

Your passions are not distractions and they should not be hidden from your marketing. What they are is positioning tools. They position you in a marketplace and set you apart.

If you love fitness, make your brand about high performance, energy, mental strength, toughness. If you love design, make sure that your design style and quality reflects that because this is going to attract somebody that is also into design.

These are the things that light up inside the right clients. These are the things that make them say, “Wow, she is the real estate agent for me.” And I am telling you this stuff works, especially when you start to incorporate it into your lead generation system.

Step Two: Tell Your Story Through Your Brand

Once you have found your magnetism (and it may take you time to find it), now you want to create content that tells the story. What story? Your story, your magnetism story.

If you follow me, especially if you follow me on Instagram or TikTok, you will know that I’ve lost over a hundred pounds. So for me, I’m at the gym in the morning. My gym workouts are always in my story. It’s a part of who I am. Faith is a part of who I am. My children are a part of who I am. Food is a part of who I am. Sports is a part of who I am. Friendship is a part of who I am.

When I did my brand voice guide, it said I’m a sage woman. That means I’m a woman of many interests and many passions – I’m passionate about a lot of things. So that means there is nothing literally that’s off limits for my content and it attracts all people in. And what I find really attracts people the most is how versatile I am.

They love the fact that I could go from playing Kirk Franklin to Glorilla. And they’re like, “How can you be that?” Because that’s who I am. And what you’re seeing is that come across in my content. I’m not hiding it. I’m actually showcasing it.

I believe when the Bible says that you should live life more abundantly, that I should enjoy my life more than a sinner because I’m not chasing a high. I’m not chasing anything ungodly. I am just enjoying the experience of life with the people that I’m around. And that’s the kind of business that I have created. I created a business that is enjoyable.

Step Three: Create Connection-Driven Content

What realtors do is they want to create business content. They want a business page. You can have a business page, I’m not saying don’t have a business page. But you want to create content that’s not business, that connects to the person. Connection is currency.

When you align your content with your passion, people will find you. Your people will find you. If you’re a big mindset person, which I am, I used to do Monday motivation and Monday motivation was just about businesses and entrepreneurship. And I would get up there and share business tips. Why? Because I love business. I don’t really care what business it is. I am a fan of business.

So when I would go on live on Mondays every Monday, I would just talk about entrepreneurship, backend stuff, budget stuff, financial stuff. And it attracted over 20,000 people to that page because I was talking about something I’m passionate about. When you communicate something that you’re passionate about, it just resonates. It hits. It connects with people.

This is one of the reasons that when I talk to agents, especially agents that have dual career, you don’t have time to play around with this thing. You have to hit it the first time and be impactful when you do it.

Why Being Real Beats Being Perfect Every Time

I don’t do this as much anymore, but I have some clients that do – when I had kids, I would show that I’m struggling and juggling to drop the kids off, hurry up real quick, get to a listing appointment. People relate to stuff like that. As an entrepreneur, I’m sharing my struggles. I’m sharing the things that I’m dealing with. Why? So that people can connect.

This is what makes you special to your clients. If you value systems, talk about how you help people with systems buying house systematically. Let your light shine. I think that the reason why God rewards authenticity is because this is your personality. Your personality is God’s imprint on your life. God made you the way you are for a reason. You have the passions and the drives and the desires you have for a reason. Let that stuff come out.

Jackie’s done a really good job at being vulnerable and authentic on her social media and people are watching even if they’re not connecting. That’s why you have to connect them to lead magnets and funnels, create things that people can engage in so that you can continue to build connection systematically.

Don’t Just Show What You Do, Show Who You Are

Let me give you a personal story. I travel a lot. So I started doing 24-hour trips. I can’t tell you how many inboxes I got for 24-hour trips. And it was because as a realtor or busy mom, sometimes I can’t go away for two weeks, which is what I love. But I can do a quick turnaround trip from Friday morning to Saturday night in a city across America.

I post the whole trip on stories and people are like, “This is so cool. I love how you get stuff done in a short amount of time.” Why? Because I believe in maximizing time. Time is very important to me. I express my values in everything that I do.

I think this is one of the reasons that people connect with certain people. It’s not because you’re a realtor. Nobody really cares about it. Like I said, second most license in the state of Florida. Nobody cares about that. There’s thousands of us out there, but what separates me from other agents is I’m going to be me. I’m going to have a good time. I’m going to laugh. I’m going to joke. I’m going to take care of business in a short amount of time so that I can go on my 24-hour vacations.

Those are things that people come to know me by. When they come to know me by that, they expect that from me. And because it’s authentically who I am, I can actually deliver on it.

When You Stop Chasing, They Start Finding

When you start being authentically you, you stop having to chase clients. They start finding you because they’re finding you based on similar values. When you connect with people based on similar values, similar passions, the connection is so deep. It’s magnetic that you don’t have to chase them. They will find you.

So many agents, when I first came into real estate, I remember I did this video about why realtors were hiding behind real estate. I felt like people were hiding behind real estate. Like they didn’t want people to know who they are.

I was doing a video today and in the video, I didn’t mean it, but I cussed in the video. I edited it out. But then in my stories I put that I had to edit this video because a four-letter word came out accidentally. And I was like, “Hint, hint, they don’t come out accidentally,” but it just shows you that I’m human, that I’m fun, that I’m funny, that I’m quirky, that I have flaws and shortcomings just like everybody else.

Because sometimes when the content is too polished, I ain’t buying it. I don’t want it. I don’t relate to it. That’s not real.

Your Challenge: Stop Trying to Be Someone Else

Stop trying to post what you think will sell. Stop trying to post who you think your clients will want you to be. Stop trying to be something that you’re not. Be your authentic self and let your brand tell the story and do the heavy lifting for you.

I had an agent reach out to me. She said, “Your videos are so perfect.” I’m like, “That is not my intent. I do not want to be perfect. I’m not perfect. I don’t want to appear like that. What gives you that impression?” She’s like, “Everything is so polished.” I’m like, “Girl, if you see behind the scenes, it ain’t that. But what it is is consistent.”

Because I’m consistent. I’m going to show up regardless of what the circumstances are. Regardless of what’s going on around me, I’m going to show up. And remember when I said my friends said you’re going to do anything you put your mind to. They know that about me. That’s the thing that I want to portray, not perfection.

Who Are You Really?

I gave you an assignment earlier. Reach out to maybe five to 10 people in your circle. Tell them to give you three to five adjectives, nouns, et cetera, that describe you. And then really pray about those things. Think about your unique gifts and talents that God gave you and see if those things resonate with you.

Pick the top three to five collectively from the whole list and then start to create your brand around that. Start to post content that evokes those emotions, start to create color schemes that provoke those emotions and let the brand speak for you.

Your dream clients are out there. Your ideal clients are out there. All the people that you want to work with are looking for you and to work with you, but they won’t find you if you don’t show up as you. If you’re trying to be like somebody else, they’re going to go find that person because I’d rather have the original than a copy any day.

But you are one of one. No one can do what you do the way you do it. When you stay in your own lane, there’s no competition. Stay in your lane and make your mark.

I’m doing this YouTube video in my living room. I don’t have a production team. And I still show up every week authentically me because the content is good. I am the brand, not the surrounding, not the background. As you grow, will the background get better? Will the camera get better? Will the material get better? Absolutely. But you have to start where you are, use what you have and do what you can with those resources so that you can show up authentically yourself and actually build a business.

Give your business a chance. That’s my challenge to you this week. Stop hiding behind real estate. Be authentically you, and watch how your ideal clients start finding you instead of you having to chase them.

But personal branding is just one piece of building a profitable real estate business. If you want to learn how to combine authentic personal branding with proven systems that help you consistently make 6 figures selling 10+ homes per year, I’d love to help you in my Blueprint Program.

The Blueprint is a 12-month mindset coaching and business skills training program designed to help you build a real estate empire that aligns with your values and funds your lifestyle. You’ll learn the sales strategies and systems that help you attract your ideal clients authentically – without cold calling, without compromising who you are, and without burning yourself out.

Inside The Blueprint, you’ll discover how to create a lead generation system that works with your personality, build buyer and seller systems that save you time, and develop the CEO mindset you need to scale beyond six figures.

If you’re ready to stop blending in and start building a business that’s authentically you, learn more about The Blueprint Program and join the agents who are making 6 figures by being themselves.