"Personal Branding Isn't a 2025 Trend - It's a Career Superpower" with Amelia Sordell
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At NXT LVL, we’re all about connecting ambitious creatives with the insights, advice, and inspiration they need to level up their careers. That’s why we sat down with Amelia Sordell—founder of Klowt and the queen of personal branding—to talk about building a brand that stands out, navigating career pivots, and why she’s never had a five-year plan.
If you want to hear more from Amelia, we’ve got good news. We’re hosting an event with her in April, so keep reading to claim your spot.
Let’s get into it.
Personal branding has been around for a while, but 2025 feels like the year for it. Why do you think that is?
What’s changed in how people and businesses are approaching personal brands, and why is it more important than ever?
Personal branding isn’t a 2025 thing, it’s a forever thing. So long as people could communicate, people have had personal brands. You have a personal brand right now, whether you realise it or not. It’s the way you smile at strangers in the street, or snatch your coffee from the barista this morning, or how you emailed that customer service rep last week. Your personal brand is your reputation, just at scale. But what’s different now, especially heading into 2025, is the speed and scale at which your “brand” can be built online. And that brand is ultimately a real-time resume that will open far more doors than any job application could ever do.
Because up to 80% of the best jobs aren’y advertised, and recruiters and hiring managers don’t just look at your CV or your LinkedIn title anymore—they look at you as a whole person: your posts, your opinions, your track record, and how you show up online. They form an opinion on you as a person, vs the piece of paper you’ve submitted And for job seekers, this matters big time. It’s not what you know anymore, or who you know - it’s who knows you. So if you’re not promoting yourself you will be left on the table for others that have.
It’s not about “look at me” it’s about “look what I can do for you” - or better, “look what I’ve done for other people”.
What made you decide to start your own business in personal branding? Was there a moment or experience that made you realise this was the right path for you?
I fell into personal branding really. I was a recruiter for many years and quickly realised that I got a much better ROI from posting LinkedIn content and sending DMs than by making the required 100 cold calls a day. That quickly turned into optimising for maximum return - and a weekly content plan.
Before long I went from 1.5k-12k followers and had people DM-ing me asking my how i’d done it. That turned into new content, and then people asked me to be paid to help them do it. In aug 2020, I decided to quit my job and give this thing a full time go. There wasn’t ever going to be a better time. The world was in lockdown, businesses were closing left right and centre - I figured, if not now, when?
You don’t have to be an expert to get started with your personal brand, I wasn’t. I was just a few steps ahead of someone else, which meant i was able to gain traction quickly with those people. Don’t think that you need to have it all figured out to start. Just start. No marathon runner becomes a champion marathon runner by running a marathon - they start by putting on their shoes and going outside. Take the same approach to your personal brand.
Pricing creative or strategic services can be tricky - how did you figure out your costing models when you started? Did you face any challenges in getting clients to see the value in personal branding, and has your pricing structure evolved over time?
Honestly? I worked out what I wanted to earn then reversed engineered that into what I thought I could reasonably charge based on a low volume of clients I wanted to have. Sure, there is an element of price comparison but my business doesn’t compete on price - we compete on value. Our prices are 7.3x times more expensive than they were when I first started out, and I’ve never once discounted them to win a client - even when we needed them.
When you’re speaking to clients about costs, Every founder or freelancer does this weird thing where they feel like they have to justify their cost. You ramble about whats included and why you charge that fee, then they state their budget and you fold to meet it. Stop doing that. State your price, then shut up.
a) It shows you're confident about your price and delivery. Which makes you more valuable.
b) It completely changes the power dynamic with your prospect from customer > supplier to customer <> partner.
Your pricing strategy IS part of your brand. And if you undervalue your work, so will your clients. And clients that don’t value your work will pay you nothing, but expect the world in return. Don’t be afraid to turn down business that doesn’t meet your requirements - you don’t need to alter your value to meet someone else’s budget constraints.
You work with some big personalities. How do you juggle different egos, expectations, and working styles? Have you ever had to turn someone down because they weren’t the right fit?
Always. We’ve even built our a 4 month “trial” contract to see whether we actually want to work with you or not. The thing is, not everyone is your ideal customer - and nor should they be. Working out who you get the best results for, and then building out a strategy to attract more of those kinds of people is the ultimate business and career growth hack.
Because people who you get good results for will value you, and people who value you are more enjoyable to work with. Don’t under estimate the importance of working with clients who value your work, effort and time you put into them and their business.
Look at who you work with now - whether it’s your boss, your colleagues or your clients. Define who you get the best results with, understand why - what is it about your relationship? Is it collaborative? Honest? Communicative? Work it out - then find a way to attract more of those people into your corner. DM strangers on LI, find more of the same by asking for referrals.
Setting boundaries about who you do and do not want to work with is important, because if you don’t your resentment will set them for you.
You have a strong personal brand, but you’re also running a business with its own brand identity. How do you balance the two? Do you ever feel pressure to show up a certain way online because of your company?
That’s a great question. I see personal and company branding as sisters, not twins. They both have their own identity, individuality and likes an dislikes - they’re similar, but different. And that’s how you need to view your personal vs company brand. A person is a human, a company is a collective group of people who’ve come together for a common cause. A community doesn’t speak in the same way as an individual.
Do i feel pressure to show up a certain way online? Not really. The beauty of building your personal brand and constantly being exposed to people liking or disliking you is that you become so confident in your own skin, and so being myself is the ultimately growth hack because people are attracted to authenticity. And repelled by it, too. Which is great - because it means I don’t have to waste my time trying to befriend on people who don’t like me in the first place!
What’s your take on employees building personal brands alongside their work? A lot of businesses encourage it, but what happens if an employee’s views or online presence start to clash with the company’s? Have you ever had to navigate that yourself?
I think if your values match your companies, what have they got to worry about? If you’re a decent, well rounded and emotionally intelligent person there should never be a world where you say anything offensive online.
As I said earlier, your personal brand and your company brand should have some similarities - but they’re not the same thing. For starters if you’re an employee, your personal brand is your reputation - your live resume, so you need to view and invest in it as such.
And equally, there shouldn’t be a world where a happy employee is fox-guarded from posting content and building their personal brand - because employees with strong personal brands is an opportunity, not a threat.
You wrote a book! How did that opportunity come about? Did you actively pitch to publishers, or did they approach you? And how was the process of writing a book while running a business?
I did, yes! It was #1 on Amazon in 4 categories, and the best seller in Sales and Marketing for the entire month of December which is crazy. Sold more copies launch week than Seth Godin and Alex Hormozi! The book came about because I’d been posting for some time and Annie, my editor came across my content online and asked if I’d be interested in publishing a book with them.
Fun fact, I’d put “Author” on my vision board in 2018 but had no idea what I wanted to write or how I was going to become a published author, I just knew I wanted to do it. Fast forward to 2023, and I signed the book deal in September.
It was definitely an experience, I’ll give you that. One of the hardest things I’ve ever done. And for anyone thinking about writing a book - especially if you’re leveraging your personal brand - recognise that it’s a commitment.
But it can be a game-changer for your career. It positions you as an authority, it forces you to formalise your knowledge, and it’s an asset you can point to in job interviews, keynote opportunities - new business pitches, or your LinkedIn headline: “Author of X.” If you’ve got valuable insights, share them.
There are a lot of misconceptions about personal branding. What’s the biggest one you hear, and what’s the reality?
The biggest myth: “Personal branding is all about self-promotion and vanity.” People assume it’s non-stop selfies or bragging about achievements. In reality, it should be value-driven. If you only talk about yourself, you’ll lose people quickly. But if you’re sharing lessons learned from a failed project, or practical tips someone else can use in their career, or your authentic perspective on industry trends - people can see themselves in your content. And that’s gold.
It’s gold that brands spend billions every year trying to harness, it’s human. Its resonance. It’s “I feel seen” or “they get me” - and once you have that impact on someone, they never forget it. And they’ll support you, refer you and buy from you.
A strong personal brand isn’t just about getting noticed—it’s about being remembered for something useful. Hiring managers or potential clients think, “That’s the person who always has a fresh take on XYZ.” That’s the difference between shallow self-promo and genuine expertise.
What’s the most common mistake people make when trying to build their personal brand? And what’s one simple thing they can do to improve it?
Biggest personal branding mistake: copying someone else’s style instead of figuring out their own. It’s easy to think, “Oh, this influencer is super popular—I’ll emulate them.” But if you’re not being yourself, you’ll never stand out. Because you’re a copy. A fake. A poor mans “influencer”.
It’s not inauthentic, it’s forced - and to be honest it’s uninteresting.
One simple fix: do a quick brainstorm of three things you’re deeply passionate about or knowledgeable in—these can be work-related or personal. Start posting and commenting about those topics. By focusing on your stuff, you’ll actually have something valuable (and genuine) to say. Authenticity always wins… and yet so few people are actually brave enough to be themselves.
If someone is just starting to build their personal brand, what’s the first thing they should do? What’s the one piece of advice you wish you’d known when you started?
Just f*cking post it. Forget strategy, forget “hacks” and algorithms. You can worry about that later. If you want to build your personal brand, set a timer every day for 5 minutes and just f*cking post it. You have 5 mins per day to get your message out, post it, engage and move on. Don’t procrastinate, or perfect, or panic - just get it out there and keep getting it out there for 4 weeks.
Look back after that period of time and review what went well, what didn’t and double down on what did. Then you can start to build strategy and direction, but to start with and forever? Just f*cking post it!