Jason's Greatest Personal Branding Trick

Summary

Podcast Summary: Help Wanted – "Jason's Greatest Personal Branding Trick"

Podcast Information

• Title: Help Wanted
• Host/Author: Money News Network
• Episode Title: Jason's Greatest Personal Branding Trick
• Release Date: June 5, 2025

Hosts

• Jason Pfeiffer: Editor in Chief of Entrepreneur Magazine
• Nicole Lapin: Money Expert

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Introduction

In the June 5, 2025 episode of Help Wanted, hosts Jason Pfeiffer and Nicole Lapin delve into the art of personal branding, focusing on a transformative strategy Jason refers to as the "5% character." This episode is particularly valuable for professionals seeking to enhance their presence and influence within their industries without feeling the pressure to overshare their personal lives.

The 5% Character Concept

Jason Pfeiffer introduces the concept of the "5% character" as a strategic approach to personal branding. He emphasizes that individuals are inherently multifaceted, with a wide array of thoughts, feelings, and interests. However, in professional settings—such as on LinkedIn, during podcasts, or in meetings—only a small portion of one's personality and expertise should be showcased to remain relevant and effective.

"The 5% character is a version of yourself that is always interesting, always impressive, and always on. And once you identify it, you become exponentially more valuable and desirable."
— Jason Pfeiffer [03:00]

Origin of the Idea

Jason shares a pivotal moment that led to the development of the 5% character concept. During a night out with entrepreneurial celebrity Gary Vaynerchuk, Jason observed a significant transformation when the camera crew left, revealing a more authentic and thoughtful side of Gary. This experience underscored the distinction between one's full personality and the curated persona presented in professional contexts.

"Gary is playing a character named Gary. And the character speaks in a distinctive way and the character thinks in a consistent way."
— Jason Pfeiffer [02:45]

Implementing the 5% Character

Jason outlines a step-by-step process for identifying and cultivating one's 5% character:

1. Identify Your Target Audience:

   • Question 1: Who do you want to reach? (e.g., future employers, sales clients, customers)

2. Determine Relevant Attributes:

   • Question 2: What 5% of you is most relevant to them? Identify the aspects of your expertise and personality that align with your audience's needs.

3. Define Core Characteristics:

   • Choose three words that encapsulate your 5% character. These words should guide how you communicate and present yourself professionally.

4. Translate Characteristics into Actions:

   • For each of the three defining words, determine actionable behaviors that reflect these traits consistently across all professional interactions.

"Once you know your 5% character's focus, you can start to craft this character by thinking about how they write, act, and think."
— Jason Pfeiffer [04:30]

Practical Examples

Jason provides concrete examples to illustrate how different professionals can apply the 5% character concept:

• Realtor:

  • Three Words: Experienced, Analytical, Calm
  • Actions: Share lessons from recent transactions, post data-driven market analyses, maintain a steady demeanor during market fluctuations.

• Writer:

  • Three Words: Knowledgeable, Engaging, Supportive
  • Actions: Provide storytelling tips, create interactive writing workshops, offer feedback and encouragement to aspiring writers.

• SaaS Sales Professional:

  • Three Words: Efficient, Insightful, Reliable
  • Actions: Share productivity hacks, offer market insights, consistently follow up with clients to build trust.

"If you're a realtor, your 5% character is absolutely obsessed with the housing market because that helps home buyers and sellers trust you."
— Jason Pfeiffer [06:50]

Benefits of the 5% Character

Adopting the 5% character approach offers several advantages:

• Consistency: Maintains a reliable and predictable professional persona across various platforms and interactions.
• Relevance: Ensures that the content and behaviors align with the interests and needs of the target audience.
• Detachment: Allows individuals to separate their full selves from their professional personas, reducing vulnerability and enhancing strategic communication.

"This may sound inauthentic, but frankly it should be liberating. If you are uncomfortable selling yourself, now you're just selling a character that looks like you."
— Jason Pfeiffer [09:00]

Jason also acknowledges that he personally employs the 5% character strategy in his professional life, including in every episode of Help Wanted. He describes his own 5% character with the words: approachable, optimistic, and supportive, and details how these traits manifest in his interactions and content creation.

"Once you define your 5% character, you can instantly embody it whenever you need. When you step onto a stage, you know exactly how to talk and act."
— Jason Pfeiffer [10:50]

Promotion of LinkedIn Mastery Course

Towards the end of the episode, Jason introduces his course, LinkedIn Mastery, which expands on the 5% character concept to help individuals become top voices in their industries. He offers a 40% discount to Help Wanted listeners using the promo code provided in the show notes.

"This idea unlocked my career and it created a wave of opportunity. It is why I included it in my first ever course, which is called LinkedIn Mastery."
— Jason Pfeiffer [05:30]

Conclusion

The episode wraps up with a brief mention of how listeners can engage further, including contacting the helpline for personalized advice and following the show on social media for exclusive content. While the majority of the episode focuses on the insightful 5% character strategy, the hosts ensure listeners leave with actionable steps to enhance their professional branding.

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Key Takeaways:

• 5% Character: Focus on a selective and strategic portion of your personality that aligns with your professional goals and audience.
• Strategic Branding: By defining core characteristics and translating them into consistent actions, professionals can build a strong and trusted presence.
• Authenticity vs. Strategy: Balancing authenticity with strategic presentation helps in creating a relatable yet professional persona without oversharing.

Notable Quotes:

• "You don't need to put your whole self out there. In fact, you shouldn't." — Jason Pfeiffer [02:00]
• "When you are relevant, consistent, and valuable, you become someone that people recognize and trust." — Jason Pfeiffer [10:20]

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For more insights and personalized solutions to your work-related challenges, consider reaching out to Help Wanted through their helpline at [e-mail].

Transcript

[Nicole Lapin]

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[Nicole Lapin]

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[Jason Pfeiffer]

This is Help Wanted, the show that makes your work work for you. I'm Jason Pfeiffer, Editor in Chief of.

[Nicole Lapin]

Entrepreneur Magazine, and I'm money expert Nicole Lapin. On Tuesdays, Jason and I answer the helpline and help callers solve their work problems.

[Jason Pfeiffer]

And on Thursdays, I give you one way to improve your work and build a career or company you love.

[Nicole Lapin]

And it starts now.

[Jason Pfeiffer]

You want to get attention for your work. You want to put yourself out there, but something is holding you back. Maybe you're uncomfortable on social media or you're not sure what to share or you just worry about looking egotistical. So here is a liberating truth. You don't need to put your whole self out there. In fact, you shouldn't. Today, I will show you a powerful alternative. I call it the 5% character. The 5% character is a version of yourself that is always interesting, always impressive, and always on. And once you identify it, you become exponentially more valuable and desirable. This idea unlocked my career and it created a wave of opportunity. It is why I included it in my first ever course, which is called LinkedIn mastery. It helps you advance your career by becoming a respected top voice in your industry. And as a listener of Help Wanted, I'm going to give it to you for 40% off.

[Nicole Lapin]

Off.

[Jason Pfeiffer]

By using the code Help Wanted, you can find a link and everything in the show notes. So go check that out. But today on Help Wanted, I am going to give you my 5% character concept for free right here in this episode. But first, let me tell you how it all started. On a night out with Gary Vaynerchuk. Who's Gary? You probably know Gary Vaynerchuk. He's been on the show before, actually. He is an entrepreneurial celebrity known for his brash, rapid fire advice. He has a camera crew following him constantly, turning his conversations into content. Many years ago, Gary invited me out to a wine bar and when I arrived, his cameras, as usual, were rolling. And Gary was the big loud guy that I had always seen online. But then his camera guy left and Gary transformed. He became soft spoken and thoughtful and we talked about a wide range of stuff. And that is when it hit me on social media. Gary is playing a character. If Gary was an actor, this would be obvious. But Gary is showing up online as himself, as Gary. And we are all told to be authentic. So this is kind of confusing. But then I realized the nuance. Gary is playing a character named Gary. And the character speaks in a distinctive way and the character thinks in a consistent way. The character is a part of Gary, but not all of Gary. Soon I gave this character a name. I called it the 5% character. Here's the thing. You are 100% person. You wake up with many thoughts and feelings and desires and interests and anxieties. You have good days and you have bad days. You have opinions on everything. So do I. But that does not mean that it all belongs on LinkedIn or in whatever professional setting you are communicating in. Instead, you only 5% of you belongs there. Before you put yourself on display, you have to ask yourself Two questions. Number one, who do I want to reach? Maybe it's future employers, maybe it's sales clients, maybe it's customers for your product. And then question number two, what 5% of me is most relevant to them? Of everything you know, what is the most useful to those people? Where are you super confident that that is the start of your 5% character? You are narrowing in on the small part of you that is most relevant to whatever professional audience you want to reach again on LinkedIn, but could be anywhere. Could be when you're showing up on podcasts, it could be when you're on video, it could be when you're on stage, it could just be in a meeting, whatever. This is your 5% character. And once you think of it this way, look how fast this becomes useful. Let's just use some examples. Maybe you're a realtor. So your 5% character is absolutely obsessed with the housing market. Why? Because that helps home buyers and sellers trust you. Maybe you're a writer. So your 5% character loves teaching storytelling because that showcases your knowledge and it makes you more trustworthy as a hire. Or maybe you're in SaaS sales. So your 5% character is obsessed with how to work efficiently because that's what your target customer wants to do. Now let's go a step deeper. Once you know your 5% character's focus again, the 5% of you that is confident, knowledgeable, most relevant to the audience you want to reach, you can start to craft this character. Start asking yourself things like how do they write or act or think? What tone do they use and why? To do this, I want to challenge you to pick three words that define your character. For example, a realtor might say something like this. The three words are experienced, analytical and calm. And next, think about how to turn those three words into action. So let's just keep going with the realtor example. How could they take action on those words here? Experienced, analytical, calm. Alright, well, let's see. Experienced, this means that they regularly share lessons and examples from recent transactions showing that they really understand the real estate market. Analytical, this means that their posts are full of data and projections. Because for buyers and sellers, it is all about the numbers and calm. Calm means that they're never hyperbolic about swings in the market because buyers and sellers want a steady hand. Who has seen it all? See what we've done here? The idea of the 5% character was really just to narrow you down to what's most relevant to an audience. And then you pick these three words which then Help guide how you live and breathe and be that character. This may sound inauthentic, but frankly it should be liberating. If you are uncomfortable selling yourself, now you're just selling a character that looks like you. Plus, if someone criticizes your content, they're not criticizing you, they're responding to your character. If a post doesn't perform well, it's not a personal rejection. It's just data to help inform the character. The detachment allows you to be strategic and intentional without feeling vulnerable or exposed. Now here is an admission. I do this too. I am playing a 5% character right now. I play it in every episode of this podcast. This podcast, Help Wanted is consistent because I and Nicole, we play speak in our characters voices, which is a part of us, but not all of us. But when we present as the 5% character, we are always consistent. You know exactly what you're going to get, who we are and what we have to say, the tone in which we're going to say it. It's all intentional. And I decided on my words. My words are approachable, optimistic and supportive. As a result, here's how I action these items. Approachable. I reply to everyone who DMs or emails me. That's approachable. Also, when I'm on this podcast, as you will hear, often I'm vulnerable. I share mistakes that I make. That also really fits into being approachable. Something that I really want to emphasize. My second word was optimistic. Optimistic. I never complain or criticize or if I do, I'm doing it to move towards an optimistic view of how things should be or how we can thrive. And then supportive. That's my third word. I turn everything into a lesson. This scales in infinite ways, right? It's not just the podcast. It's how I Show up on LinkedIn. It's how I write my newsletter. But I also played this character in keynotes, on stage, in meetings, in sales pitches. Once I defined my 5% character, I could instantly embody it whenever I need. When I step onto a stage, I know exactly, exactly how to talk and act. When I sit down to write a LinkedIn post, I think, what would Jason have to say about this? When Nicole and I are recording Help Wanted, I am always thinking about it through the lens of the character that listeners know and expect to be consistent. This isn't inauthentic. This is intentional. When you are relevant, consistent and valuable, you become someone that people recognize and trust. You wouldn't sell a watered down product, you know, so don't sell a watered down version of yourself, be the character that everyone knows and wants. And again, that is one small part of my larger course called LinkedIn mastery, which helps you advance your career by becoming a top respected voice in your industry. And you can get it. Just, just look at the show notes wherever you are listening to Help Wanted and you'll see a link and a promo code to get 40% off. And if you take it and then you post on LinkedIn, tag me, I will see it. I will respond because, you know, approachable. Help Wanted is a production of Money News Network. Help Wanted is hosted by me, Jason.

[Nicole Lapin]

Pfeiffer and me, Nicole Lapin. Our executive producer is Morgan Lavoy. Do you want some help? Email our [e-mail] for the chance to have some of your questions answered on the show show. And follow us on Instagram at Money News and Tik Tok Money News Network for exclusive content and to see our beautiful faces. Maybe a little dance?

[Jason Pfeiffer]

Oh, I didn't sign up for that.

[Nicole Lapin]

All right, well, talk to you soon.

[Progressive Insurance]

Sam.