Evoke Greatness Podcast

Wealthy, Well-Known & Wildly Intentional with AJ Vaden (Part 1)

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🎧 Episode 170: Wealthy, Well-Known, and Wildly Intentional — Redefining Success with AJ Vaden (Part 1)

In Part 1 of this two-part series, Sonnie sits down with personal branding powerhouse AJ Vaden—co-founder of Brand Builders Group and co-author of the brand-new book Wealthy and Well-Known (pre-order by July 1 for $350.00 in amazing bonuses!).

AJ shares her incredible story of reinvention after being “super fired,” losing everything she had built—and the unexpected opportunity that followed with Lewis Howes. This episode is a masterclass in redefining success, reclaiming peace, and building a brand rooted in purpose.

We explore:

  • The true meaning of being wealthy (hint: it’s not money or time)
  • Why being well-known is more about alignment than audience size
  • How hustle culture leads to burnout and distraction
  • The core philosophy behind Brand Builders Group: “Diluted focus gets diluted results”
  • The myth of multiple income streams—and the surprising truth about growth
  • How AJ and Rory’s lowest point became the launchpad for their life’s work
  • Why trust and reputation—not followers—are your greatest assets
  • What it really means to be a “mission-driven messenger”

🔑 Key takeaways:

  • Peace is the new profit—and it’s available now
  • You already have a personal brand… but is it the one you want?
  • Focus is a growth strategy—not a limitation
  • Your greatest influence happens offline, in real relationships

đź’ˇ Quotes to remember:

“You don’t have to have a lot of money or time to have peace… but you do have to live in your purpose to find it.”

“Reputation precedes revenue. Value precedes transaction.”


đź“š Resources mentioned:

✨ Pre-order Wealthy and Well-Known by July 1st and claim $350 in free bonuses:
https://www.wealthyandwellknown.com/

Learn more about AJ’s work at Brand Builders Group:
 https://www.brandbuildersgroup.com/

AJ's Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/aj_vaden/

A rising tide raises all ships, and I invite you along on this journey to Evoke Greatness!

Check out my website: www.evokegreatness.com

Follow me on:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sonnie-linebarger-899b9a52/

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https://www.tiktok.com/@evoke.greatness

http://www.youtube.com/@evokegreatness








Speaker 1:

That very monumental day in my life where our majority investor walked into an office which I thought was a routine budget meeting and I very publicly got fired. I got super fired and overnight we lost all my income. I lost all my contacts, I lost my team, I lost all speaking engagements, consulting engagements, and two weeks later my husband resigned. And then we lost all of our social media. We lost our email list, our CRM, we lost our podcast and all of our intellectual property and our two previous books was up for question. It was gone overnight and this was an amazing opportunity for us to do one of two things crawl in a dark hole and have a giant pity party, or to go. Is there a greater reason for this?

Speaker 2:

Welcome to Evoke Greatness. We are officially entering year three of this podcast and I am filled with so much gratitude for each and every one of you who've joined me on this incredible journey of growth and self-discovery. I'm Sunny, your host and fellow traveler on this path of personal evolution. This podcast is a sanctuary for the curious, the ambitious and the introspective. It's for those of you who, like me, are captivated by the champion mindset and driven by an insatiable hunger for growth and knowledge. Whether you're just beginning your journey or you're well along your path, you're going to find stories here that resonate with your experiences and aspirations. Over the last two years, we've shared countless stories of triumph and challenge, of resilience and transformation. We've laughed, we've reflected and we've grown together. And as we've evolved, so too has this podcast. Remember, no matter what chapter you're on in your own story, you belong here. This community we've built together is a place of support, inspiration and shared growth. Where intention goes, energy flows, and the energy you bring to this space elevates us all. So, whether you're listening while commuting, working out or enjoying your morning coffee, perhaps from one of those motivational mugs I'm so fond of, know that you're a part of something special. Thank you for being here. Thank you for your curiosity, your openness and your commitment to personal growth. As we embark on year three, I invite you to lean in, to listen deeply and to let these stories resonate with your soul. I believe that a rising tide raises all ships and I invite you along in this journey to evoke greatness.

Speaker 2:

Welcome back to another episode of Evoke Greatness, where we don't do mediocre. We're here for the bold, the curious and those who lead with fire and grit. Today, I am thrilled to introduce my guest, a woman who lives and breathes personal branding AJ Vaden. As CEO and co-founder of Brand Builders Group, aj has guided thousands of mission-driven messengers to turn their reputation into real revenue. With her husband, rory Vaden, she's co-authored the highly anticipated, wealthy and Well-Known the playbook unveils the proven data-driven system she's used to help elite voices names like Lewis Howes, ed Milet and Amy Porterfield to expand their reach, building compelling thought leadership while monetizing their impact. Aj isn't just a strategist. She's a multi-eight-figure entrepreneur, a top personal branding speaker and co-host of the Influential Personal Brand podcast, named a Forbes Top 10 Business Show. She's been featured in Success Magazine Inc, fast Company and Good Morning America. She's also a wife, mom of two, and has lived on four continents. Her journey is as inspiring as it is instructive. Aj, welcome to the show.

Speaker 1:

Thank you so much. Sometimes you have like those reflection moments where you're like wow, is that my bio? Like I forgot I'd done some of those things you know. Some of that feels like such a lifetime ago, with living on all these different places in different countries. Now that I'm so stationary with two young kids, I'm like wow, did I actually get to travel that much before?

Speaker 2:

I love that and I love that you're able to tie all of those elements into what you do and kind of that contribution to the population that you work with.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I mean honestly, you know, it's one of those things where I think for a lot of people we don't realize how connected our past experience, expertise whether it's personally or professionally how connected they really are with what we do. And it's channeling that through a very specific lens and finding a through line of every single thing that we've done in our life has kind of led us and prepared us to do what we're doing right now. Sometimes we can see it, oftentimes we can't.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, very true. I am excited to talk about your upcoming book, Wealthy and Well-Known. I also want everybody to know that this will be airing on July 1st and if you pre-order the new book by July 1st, you have tons of goodies that come with it $350 in free bonuses, as if there's not a reason to get the book anyway. It's always great to get goodies like that associated with it. So timing is important. So I want to make sure everybody knows that as they're driving into work listening to this episode, make sure, as soon as you get stationary, that you go in and pre-order listening to this episode.

Speaker 1:

Make sure, as soon as you get stationary, that you go in and pre-order yeah, thank you for that, and you can go to wealthyandwellknowncom. And, as Sunny said, yes, there's $350 of awesome free bonuses and free resources, masterclasses. There's so much that we've added to this to make it a no-brainer but, more importantly, so that these bonuses can help you execute so many of the things that we're going to talk about on the show today.

Speaker 2:

Let's dive into the title itself, right Wealthy and Well-Known. I think that challenges us to hold both like income and influence right. I'm curious what does wealthy truly mean to you? And then, as you and Rory, as your understanding of what the term well-known, I imagine it evolved through writing this book, but I would love to know a little bit more about those two items I love that you asked this because, to be honest, when we selected the title for this book, we did not think it would be as polarizing as it has been.

Speaker 1:

To be honest, we've had so many people in our community and our audience go I love the title, it's perfect and then we've had just as many friends, clients, colleagues go. What made you decide on this title exactly? And I think a lot of that kind of stems from there's this many times this external concept of what is wealth and what does it mean to be well-known, and I think a lot of times what we experience in today's very media-ridden social media influencer and I say that with bunny ears because I think that's all relative we get confused. What does it mean to be well-known and what is true wealth? What does it really mean to be wealthy? And I think there is some appeal. Yes, there is impact in being well-known. There is income that is associated with being wealthy.

Speaker 1:

But, to be honest, the reason that we selected this title is because there was a large season of our life, my husband and I where wealthy to us meant money and we were figuring out how do you make more money? And there's nothing wrong with that. There's a season and a time for needing and wanting to make more money. That is not a bad thing, so don't hear what I'm not saying. But I think for us we were in this hustle culture. We were everything was about more, more, more. And when we got more, we kind of looked at each other and we said, well, I thought this would feel different. And we're still working as many hours as we were and we're still doing as many things and we're still striving the same we were. And is it really more money we're after? Is money really the thing? And then we decided you know what? We had it wrong. Wealthy to us wasn't money, it was more time. So then we spent the next season of our lives, both personally and professionally, thinking if we just carved out more white space, if we just had more margin, if we just had less to do, if we just had more time, we would have more peace, we would have more freedom, we'd have more opportunities to do the things that we weren't making time to do already. And then we realized that wasn't it either. And it was like every single time we had an opportunity to have more time, we filled it and there was this anxious spirit about us, and it wasn't until writing this book that we really discovered for ourselves and some may relate to this is that there is nothing wrong with having more money I believe that that is a gift from God. And there is nothing wrong with wanting more time and having lots of free time. I believe that, too, is a gift from God. But what we really believe through this whole process is that what it truly means to be wealthy is to have more peace, and there's a lot of what we talk about in this book of we believe that peace is the new profit, because we know that money can't buy peace and more time can't buy peace, and we could have had peace in the striving, we could have had peace with all of that. But that's something that we have to choose, that's something we have to seek, that's something we have to go after, and you don't have to have a lot of money to have peace and you don't have to have a lot of time to have peace. But peace is available right now and I think for us and what we talk about in this book is a lot of our peace was found and really tapping into our God-giving purpose, identifying our calling and stepping into that and we can talk about that more later. But our peace wasn't found with money and it wasn't found with extra time. It was found in living out our purpose and that is where we have. I wouldn't say we work less hours a day than we either have, but we work different. It's different and not necessarily less, but it's very different.

Speaker 1:

And then the well-known piece. I think a lot of people get caught up and we think the idea of being well-known has something to do with huge audiences or big followings or large email lists or lots of subscribers and downloads and engagement and posts and comments and shares, and it's about how many books were sold and how many people know you. And that's just not it either. And regardless of who's listening, what I can tell you right now is that you are already, as you are, where you are, perfectly and wholly well-known by your creator.

Speaker 1:

And I think a huge part of this is realizing in this world, where we can feel less than that's because of comparison. It's because we're looking at everybody else around us and what they have and what they're doing, often in a mirage environment, through the lens of social media, and we think, wow, environment through the lens of social media and we think, wow, like that's not me, am I valuable? Is what I'm doing worthwhile? Like, am I important? Does what I do even matter? And this whole concept of identity is what we really tapped into, unintentionally, in this book. But the well-known piece is realizing that it's more important for you to be well-known by the people in your family by having a relationship with your creator, by serving people right in front of you, than it is chasing strangers on the internet Love that.

Speaker 2:

You just walked us through the iterations of how you viewed it through your lens.

Speaker 2:

Right, and our lens is made up of our lived experiences and so we go through these iterations or these seasons where we may hold importance of one thing at this season and then it grows and it matures and sometimes you shed off the things that are no longer important.

Speaker 2:

But I love that what came to mind was like the side of hustle culture where it's like wealthy and well-known and this misconception is like make as much money as you can, don't sleep, you know, get, get, get, get, get all of the next things. And I love that you really went through the process, that you guys intentionally went through the process to say it's based on our value system and what we find really important, and although that can iterate and change throughout our lives, then it comes down to non-negotiables and what you're willing and unwilling to do, and so it sounds like you guys got really clear on that. In that hustle culture, that's where there's all the noise, the distracting noise, and you'll never, you won't drift to your big giant goals. You've got to temper that noise and get really clear on what you want to then be able to create that path forward, and it sounds like this is really a playbook to do that, love that.

Speaker 1:

You mentioned the word distraction, that is the word, like that is the word, and I think hustle happens due to distraction and it's because we're trying to do more, more, more, more and usually it's, you know, more ideas, more income streams, more thoughts, more audiences, more platforms and we're distracted and instead of being phenomenally awesome at one thing, we become somewhat average and mediocre because we're spread too thin. One of the core philosophies that we have in our company we talk a lot about this in the book is diluted focus gets diluted results. Diluted focus gets diluted results. And no one got to be great at anything with diluted focus, yeah.

Speaker 2:

And then that becomes crystal clear. I love that. Okay, you've helped build the brands behind some of today's most recognized voices, and it's been over a lot of years. What's something that some of those folks that you've worked with, even through their own iterations, that they still struggle with in building their brand, and how do you help them?

Speaker 1:

Okay, I know that you didn't know my answer to this question, but this is the perfect segue into what we were just talking about. The perfect segue because here's what I find is that, ironically, the more successful, the more you know quote unquote wealthy and well-known, and that people become in business and in life it just it doesn't matter. There is this temptation to do more, to want more, and what we have found with some of the most well-known personal brands that we have worked with is that their number one thing that they needed help with was focus. There were so many opportunities to do other things that they got diluted right. One of our most well-known clients is Lewis Howes, who I adore and love on so many levels, and when we first worked with Lewis, he had 17 revenue streams, 17 income streams. And if you just think about that for a second and do a reflection on your own business, on your own life and this could be different product lines, different service offerings it doesn't have to be completely different entities, but how many things are you going after? How many product offerings, how many packages do you have, how many you know? Just even different involvement are you in with different things that are quote unquote related to helping you generate revenue. In theory and I think that's the thing it's in theory, we think all these things are helping us. I think as well.

Speaker 1:

My husband shares this sentiment. It is not shared by many, but we believe that one of the worst pieces of advice that there is on the internet today like single-handedly is that you need to have multiple streams of income. It's the worst advice in the world for most people Because really, what we need to break through to become known, to actually have the success that we want to make the impact that we have is focus. We don't need more ideas, business models, revenue streams, audiences, platforms we don't. We already can hardly handle what we're doing. What we need is to go. Where am I most aligned? Where do I have the deepest calling? Where do I feel like I can serve people in the deepest and most meaningful way, ie where I can have the greatest impact and where does that audience live and what do they need from me? What can I provide to them that no one else on the planet can, and how do I want to do that in a way that makes it not feel like work, it's like how could I do something that feels like passion, not a burden, right, and I think that's a big deal, because how many things are many of us doing that we don't even like, that we don't even wanna do, and we're doing it for the sake of what money? I think that's a thing that we need to reflect on.

Speaker 1:

I think that's a problem that we hear a lot is, you know, it's diversified revenue streams, have multiple streams of income, have this side hustle, as you mentioned earlier, and I just believe that some of the worst advice we can get and it's the number one thing that some of our biggest brands struggled with, because there is so much temptation, there is so much opportunity and they do have the resources, and what happens is that the main thing starts to get diluted and it gets a little less focus, it gets a little less attention, and then you look around and you're like why isn't this working anymore? I can't tell you the number of people who come to work with us at Brand Builders Group because their business has what they call plateaued. They're like we're stagnant, we're not growing anymore, and I bet 90% of the time it's because their attention got divided. They started adding in additional offerings, additional products, additional platforms, new funnels. They started trying a bunch of new stuff and the main thing wasn't the main thing anymore. And then they think the market is at fault, the economy is at fault, their avatar has changed, the buying behavior has changed and they don't recognize. No, you changed your business and it no longer has your full, undivided attention. That is what changed.

Speaker 1:

And if we cut the clutter and we go back to the basics and we go back to the main thing and that might be a different main thing right, it might be something new, but it's just not multiple things. We can do all the things. We just can't do them all at once. And I think that's what a lot of us struggle with is we're trying to do all the things at the same time and not doing any of them exceptionally well. And so what we really help people with is clarifying what is the main thing. What is the top, primary focus and your singular business model. What problem do you solve? How do you uniquely solve it? Who do you solve it for? How do you make money solving it? And then, how do we reach those people at a greater scale?

Speaker 2:

But that's not multiple things, that's one thing that, too, the questions and answers are just like perfectly in a dance with one another. You mentioned that in the book that reputation precedes revenue, and that's a lot of what you were just saying. Right, because that reputation you build, that that can easily get cloudy as well when you're focused or distracted on a number of different things. But I do, coming back to that reputation piece, I would love to know in your journey, have you had a moment where your reputation showed up for you prior to the bank account side?

Speaker 1:

prior to the revenue side, where your reputation really showed up for you in a monumental way, yes, and it was in a very humbling way, so humbling and monumental at the same time. In fact, for those of you who do get a copy of the book, first of all, thank you if you'd be willing to do that. But we opened the book and chapter one, my husband and I, divide chapters. My husband and I little known fact we're business partners before we fell in love and got married, so we've been in business longer than we've been married, so we split chapters, and chapter one is my chapter and the opening line starts with May 4th 2018.

Speaker 1:

Your services are no longer needed here, and that was a very pivotal moment in my personal life because for the prior 13 years leading up to May 4th 2018, my husband and I, as I mentioned, were business partners. We had two other business partners and a majority investor, and I had given every ounce of my being, every hour of my day, every minute of my hour and every piece of my personal life to growing this business. And there's a little bit of guilt and shame in admitting that, because I willingly foregoed all birthday parties, weddings, anniversaries, baby showers, personal events, all for the sake of the company. It was all for the sake of company first revenue, profit, ambition, ego, title. And I could have said I was doing it for a lot of other reasons, but in my core, if I was really honest with myself, I was doing it because it made me feel important and that's how I spent the first 13 years of my professional career building our first company, which was a sales coaching business, and we grew it. It was very successful. We grew it to eight figures, had almost 200 coaches.

Speaker 1:

On that very monumental day in my life where our majority investor walked into an office which I thought was a routine budget meeting and I very publicly got fired, I got super fired and overnight we lost all my income. I lost all my contacts, I lost my team, I lost all speaking engagements, consulting engagements and two weeks later my husband resigned. And then we lost all of our social media. We lost our email list, our CRM, we lost our podcast and all of our intellectual property and our two previous books was up for question. It was gone overnight.

Speaker 1:

And this was an amazing opportunity for us to do one of two things Crawl in a dark hole and have a giant pity party or to go. Is there a greater reason for this giant pity party or to go? Is there a greater reason for this? And I can't tell you that that was an automatic thought. That happened in those two weeks. There was a lot of uncertainty, there was a lot of anger, there was a lot of humiliation, there was a lot of embarrassment, there was a lot of really hard moments, and that went on for a couple of years, to be honest. But in the middle of all that, the reason that we said, god, this has to be you, this has to be you, god, there's no other explanation Is that in the middle of that, two days after I got fired on May 6th, we got a very unexpected call from someone who at the time, was really just an acquaintance and I've already mentioned his name and it's why he's mentioned so often in the book and Lewis Howes reached out to Rory, my husband, unexpectedly out of the blue.

Speaker 1:

We had not heard from him in two years and then, two days after I got so super fired, he calls Rory and said you know what? Guys? I don't know why, but for the last couple of months I've just been getting this prompting that I'm supposed to call you guys. I'm feeling a little distracted in my business. The business is growing, the podcast is doing well, but I feel diluted. I feel stretched too thin and I don't know why. I just felt like I was supposed to call you. Now just pause for a second and rewind.

Speaker 1:

10 years earlier Rory and Lewis had met when my husband's very first book, take the Stairs, came out and was number two on the New York Times list. Rory was cold-pitched to be on Lewis's podcast. It was a very casual, very acquaintance-level relationship. But there was a few interactions over the years where we helped support to him with some ideas with his first book. Not a formal client, not a paid engagement, just people helping people. And then he called us two days after we were fired, not because we had a business, not because we had some big social media following, not because he even knew this is what we were doing. He called us because there was a pre-established reputation of know that you guys know what you're doing and I know that you've helped me before. Would you be willing to spend a couple of days with me? So he flew to Nashville, tennessee, two weeks later not even two weeks later, probably a week later spent two days with us in our basement you heard me in our basement and at the end of those two days, it was Lewis that said guys, this is your new business, personal brand strategy and helping people clarify their message and the problem they solve and building their personal brand, leveraging their reputation. This is why this happened. This is what you're meant to do.

Speaker 1:

And Rory and I looked at each other and we said to us this is not our business. I just got fired. Rory just quit. No, this is not what we do. And he said but it is what you do. It didn't have to be a business for someone else to see. This is what we did. This was already innately a part of our calling and our purpose and our passion. And so I see this is what we did. This was already innately a part of our calling and our purpose and our passion, and so I think this is what I really want everyone to kind of like. I want you to hold this in your hands.

Speaker 1:

And when I tell you this, when we launched Brand Builders Group on July 27th 2018, okay, now that I was fired May 4th we formally launched this business on July 27th with no business plan, no social media, no website, no email list, no podcast, no book, no funnels, no marketing strategy. We launched our business on Lewis's podcast because he said let me help you. I know that if you helped me, you can help other people the same way and I want to help you. So he launched our business on his podcast. All we had time and money for was to create an unstylized landing page with a picture of me and my husband with an orange button that said request a call here. Pause and remember we are a personal brand strategy firm. We had no personal brand, but what we did have was a trusted offline relationship, a trusted reputation with Lewis, and what he had was a very intimately trusted relationship that he had built for years with his podcast audience. And on that one podcast interview and him saying I worked with these guys, I'm introducing them to you with the most awfully designed, uncompelling no coffee, no creative, awful orange button 1,000 people requested a call. Trust is built offline and online and trust happens through actually providing value, not because we have a bunch of social media posts. It's because there is rich content that provides value in someone's life and it doesn't always have to be online. We didn't do this with Louis online. We did it with him offline in a real human-to-human relationship, on phone calls, in a basement, building relationships way before we ever needed them. And so this concept of reputation, right. Reputation precedes revenue. Well, value precedes transactions, and I think those are both really important concepts of like.

Speaker 1:

Most of us have a reputation, whether or not you've intentionally spent time putting it together or not. Ie, all of us have a personal brand. I often get asked the question hey, aj, like why do you think I need a personal brand? Had asked the question hey, aj, like, why do you think I need a personal brand? My response is always the same I don't think you need a personal brand. I know you already have a personal brand, it's just is it the one that you want?

Speaker 1:

And the same thing goes for our reputation, because reputation and personal brand are synonymous. We all have one Like. If we all just took a second right now and we said what would I do or who would I call if I wanted to go to the hottest new restaurant in town? Most of us, if you thought of a who right, that means that you already have a subconscious connection with someone who loves restaurants, loves food, loves trying new things is always on the up and up in whatever's happening in your city. They have an intentional, by default reputation with you, even if they didn't mean to. The act of personal branding is just putting intentionality behind a reputation. Reputations are things that we already have. The art of personal branding is formalizing, digitizing and monetizing that reputation that you want.

Speaker 2:

Okay, you know how it works. This is where I hit the pause button. I hope you enjoyed this episode. Wealthy, well-known and wildly intentional with AJ Vaden. After getting super fired up and losing everything overnight, aj based a choice hide or rebuild with purpose. In part two, she shares how her reputation showed up before revenue, how Brand Builders Group was born in a basement and why. Wealthy and well-known is a roadmap for rising from rock bottom with clarity, focus and peace. Make sure to check back next week for part two. Bottom with clarity, focus and peace. Make sure to check back next week for part two.

Speaker 2:

If today's episode challenged you, moved you or lit a fire in your soul, don't keep it to yourself. Share it with somebody who's ready to rise. Could I ask you to take 30 seconds to leave a review? It's the best way to say thank you and help this show reach more bold leaders like you, because this isn't just a podcast, it's a movement. We're not here to play small. We're here to lead loud, one bold and unapologetic step at a time. Until next time, stay bold, stay grounded and make moves that make mediocre uncomfortable.

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Sonnie Linebarger

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