Lara Acosta joins James Smith to discuss the problem with personal branding. While millions of entrepreneurs chase the "influencer" dream, a quiet crisis of ego and AI-generated slop is destroying genuine market value. This obsession with being interesting rather than useful is a dangerous lie that is threatening the future of human agency and business growth in 2026.

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Follow Lara on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laraacostar

We cover:

⬛ Why Introverts Will Win Personal Branding In 2026

⬛ How High Ticket Pricing Creates A Halo Effect

⬛ Why Writing Is The Ultimate Skill For Manipulation

⬛ What Happens When You Stop Chasing Vanity Metrics

⬛ How To Reinvent Your Identity Through Radical Change

Timestamps

00:00 Intro

00:59 The Problem With Personal Branding

02:28 How Lara Built LinkedIn

03:49 Be Useful, Not Interesting

05:29 Ego Is Slowing Growth

08:52 Retrospective Storytelling Wins

12:07 Hooks Plus Visual Hooks

15:15 Ghostwriters And AI Slop

20:09 Turning Attention Into Income

24:24 How To Raise Prices

31:06 Why High-Ticket Works

36:41 Message Beats Equipment

40:09 Mastering Problem Awareness

52:17 The Cost Of Visibility

58:10 Why 2026 Belongs To Writers

71:18 SMPB + 4321 Framework

77:38 Email Lists Beat Platforms

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Chapter 1

High Output Management

Incoming Inspection and Inventory Strategy

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