You Get 30 Seconds. One Chance. That’s It.

My son is swimming in a three-day national meet right now.

And as his mother and a swim parent, I can tell you the nerves are real.

Imagine training nearly daily for months, and then being given 30 seconds to prove all that training was not for naught.

Imagine worrying about sleep, nutrition, stroke technique and stamina for months, only to win or lose by 0.01s. (Yes, that happens fairly regularly.)

Imagine being their mother, watching from the spectator stand, knowing there’s nothing more you can do but cheer for them and enjoy the process.

That’s how I feel as a personal branding coach too.

A coach’s dilemna

With my VIP clients in the Brand Builder Mastermind (LAST CALL for Feb 2026 cohort!), I can only show them the best practices and hope that they will implement it the way they’re supposed to.

With my clients, I create for them an unambiguous, clear and sustainable branding and content creation strategy, designed for time-starved senior industry experts, corporate executives and business owners.

Week after week, 52 weeks a year, I bring in world-class, brand-name coaches for one flat annual subscription, covering the best practices in branding, public speaking, writing and monetization. And I can only hope they will attend, take notes, and implement.

Trust me, I know the feeling all too well.

I guess that’s my personal and professional life colliding.

30-second snap judgment

With personal branding, you only get one chance at a first impression.

Someone lands on your LinkedIn profile. They scan your photo, skim your headline, glance at your bio.

30 seconds. Maybe less.

They’ve already decided if you’re worth their time.

Someone reads your post in their feed. In a couple of sentences they make a snap judgment about your credibility, your value proposition to them, your expertise, whether you’re someone they want to connect with or ignore.

One chance.

Someone gets introduced to you at a networking event. They size you up in seconds based on how you introduce yourself, how you carry yourself, what you ask them.

That’s it.

Just like my son sprinting for his dear life in an Olympic-sized pool, you don’t get a do-over. You don’t get to say "Wait, let me try that again." The race has already started. 

This is why I obsess over getting the fundamentals right with my clients:

Your LinkedIn profile.
Your origin story.
Your remarkable offer.
Your funnel.
Your industry niche.
Your brand positioning.

When the magic happens

And yet, when my clients nail those fundamentals, magic happens.

Like that one client who created an AI chatbot after they saw me create ChanGPT.ai, which has given me thousands if not tens of thousands of leads, 365-24-7, even when I am asleep or on vacation.

Like that one client who created a landing page and free offer, collecting emails that translated to a new high-ticket customer.

Like that one client who was asked by their company to train the leadership on LinkedIn, given how professionally they were showing up on LinkedIn themselves.

Like that one client who was asked to give a keynote speech, go on radio as a regular monthly guest, or get interviewed by a national newspaper.

I mean, I live for this feeling.

That high. That euphoria.

I cannot describe that feeling adequately in words.

That’s what I live for, as a swim parent and as a branding coach.

I live for moments like these.

And I would like to work with you in 2026 to create many more of them.

[LAST CALL] Feb 2026 intake 70% full!

If they have only $150 per month to spend on their professional development this year, 200+ of our Mastermind cadets would invest it into building their personal brand.

I am looking forward to welcoming 10 new cadets into my 12-month Brand Builder Mastermind community in February 2026.

18 Jan 2026 update: 70% of Feb 2026 cohort is full.

📌 3 SPOTS LEFT!

Learn more about building your brand in 2026 →

With love,
Juliana Chan, your rocketship captain 🚀