Lechon Kirb: Brand Strategy, Storytelling, and the Creator Economy | Be Yourself Podcast

Lechon Kirb

Brand strategist and founder of Market Theory — on storytelling that creates distinction, protecting your authentic voice, and why a small creator can still land six-figure business deals

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35 minutes
Branding · Storytelling · Creator Economy · TEDx

About the Guest

Lechon Kirb — Brand Strategist, Founder of Market Theory, Director of Partnerships at TEDx Orlando

A brand strategist and founder of Market Theory, a consultancy helping entrepreneurs create distinction through authentic storytelling and relationship-driven growth — and director of partnerships at TEDx Orlando, returning to the city for the first time since 2017

He attended 14 schools before graduating, spent eight years in the Marine Corps documenting the world with a film camera, and moved from photography into branding and brand strategy; his forthcoming book is Undeniable

Who He Is
brand strategist and founder of Market Theory, director of partnerships at TEDx Orlando, eight-year Marine Corps veteran and author of the forthcoming Undeniable
Market Theory
a brand-strategy consultancy built on the belief that if people don't understand why you care about things, that context is invisible — and it decides whether they trust you
TEDx Orlando
TEDx runs in 170+ countries with 3 billion+ annual views; it returns to Orlando for the first time since 2017, with Lechon enrolling business partnerships and sponsorships
The Core Principle
not having a massive platform doesn't make you a small creator — develop your voice, solve a real problem, put in the reps, and when the opportunity comes, move fast

Key Quotes

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Someone that doesn't have a massive platform doesn't make them a small creator. It doesn't say a whole lot about the value that they bring to other platforms or other opportunities. It doesn't mean they don't bring massive value even though their audience is small.

Lechon Kirb
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I've been on calls that found me from videos that had like a hundred views. Those calls could ended up in six figure business deals.

Lechon Kirb
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I need freedom like I need oxygen. These things are like the same to me. And so everything that I've done either creatively or in business is from the perspective that how do I gain more access to freedom and then how do I share that with other people?

Lechon Kirb

Episode Chapters

0:00 In this Episode 1:10 Introducing Lechon Kirb 1:36 TEDx Orlando Returns 3:36 Path to the New Role 5:02 Starting Market Theory 7:35 Storytelling in Business 10:51 Why People Chase Success 12:55 What It Takes to Create 16:20 Marine Corps Lessons 18:54 Protecting Your Voice 21:30 Rise of the Creator Economy 26:54 Advice for Small Creators 34:02 Wrapping Words

Full Transcript

BTW: This episode of the Be Yourself Podcast is produced by Beverly Media. Want a podcast that looks and sounds this good? Check out Beverly Production →
0:00 In this Episode
Lechon TEDex is massive, operating in more than 170 countries, generating over three billion annual views across its talks. I'll be dealing with a lot of the businesses that want to get engaged with TEDex sponsorships and things that are getting involved with like the events that are around it because it's not simply one event. It's going to be like a series of events.
Lechon Sometimes you get really really devastated by the fact that big are becoming bigger and you just stay in the same place.
Lechon Someone that doesn't have a massive platform doesn't make them a small creator. It doesn't say a whole lot about the value that they bring to other platforms or other opportunities. It doesn't mean they don't bring massive value even though their audience is small. I've been on calls that found me from videos that had like a hundred views. Those calls could ended up in six figure business deals.
Serhiy What are the lessons that you learned from the Marine Corp? And maybe some of them can be applied even now as you're running business.
Lechon That's a great question. There's a lot to learn from being in the military.
1:10 Introducing Lechon Kirb
Serhiy Hey everybody, welcome to the Be Yourself podcast, the podcast on expressing our true selves. Today my guest is Lechon Kirb who's a brand strategist and founder of Market Theory. He is a director of partnerships and creator at TEDex Orlando. So Lechon, welcome to the show.
Lechon Serhiy, thank you for having me. It's exciting to be here.
Serhiy I'm excited for our conversation. I can see the article on the Business Insider. It says that since 2017 Orlando didn't have TEDex and it's returning to Orlando now.
1:36 TEDx Orlando Returns
Serhiy So it's a pretty big deal. For those of you guys who don't know TEDex is massive, operating in more than 170 countries, generating over three billion annual views across its talks. So it's a massive massive news. So can you tell us a little bit how it happened for you?
Lechon Yeah. Well, it is very exciting, you know, especially for Orlando, which is really a creative hub. You know, Orlando's really known for like Disney and Universal and all the kind of magic that comes here from that. But what I don't think people are as aware of is that the people here really kind of resonate in that arena, right? Like they have a lot of creativity, they have a lot of magic, they come here because of that, and then they go into business and creative fields and stuff like that. So Orlando really is a very special place. So TEDex coming to Orlando for us is a big deal because there are some really brilliant ideas and brilliant people here with amazing things to share. So it's incredible. Yeah, it hasn't been here for quite some time, but the fact that it's coming back, I think is adding a lot of energy to the city.
Serhiy And what does the position really involve? The director of partnerships. What are you exactly going to be doing?
Lechon Well, I mean the short answer is I'll be dealing with a lot of the businesses that want to get engaged with TEDex, right? So, that's probably sponsorships and things that are getting involved with like the events that are around it because it's not simply one event. It's going to be like a series of events, right? So, I'll be dealing with like the business partnerships and kind of enrolling who would be a good fit for the platform.
3:36 Path to the New Role
Serhiy And it seems like it's exactly your alley because you're a brand strategist. And can you tell us a little bit what led to this new role and what did you do in the past?
Lechon Yeah. I am a brand strategist. If I really break it down, I'm just hyper curious about all creative things. And I believe that the vehicle that I've used over the years is just kind of building good friendships, is being present and just really hyper curious about people and building, you know, fantastic relationships. And that for me started really as a kid. You know, I went to 14 different schools before I moved a lot before I got out of high school. 14 different schools. And that was like really, at the time, I didn't really understand the power that you would get from being able to build relationships so rapidly, but it became some adaptation, I guess you could say, of not knowing if you're going to move in 6 months or a year and, you know, kind of a revolving door of people. And for me, what that ended up meaning is that I need to really become someone that can be with people in all the different ways that they are so that I could build meaningful relationships. So that's a very natural progression for me.
5:02 Starting Market Theory
Serhiy Sweet. And then you started Market Theory. Can you tell us a little bit about this consultancy?
Lechon I can, but I think it's probably important for me to give you more context, right? So, when I was 6 years old, I was playing hide-and-go seek with my cousin and my sister. And we grew up in Pittsburgh. And at the time, my mom was usually kind of busy working and that kind of thing. My cousin and my sister got the idea they're going to go play hide-and-go seek in the attic. And I had the bright idea. I was going to go hide in the basement. And like no one would go to our basement because it was dark and it was mild dewy and it was kind of scary, right? And you couldn't walk down the stairs. You had to walk on the edges so you didn't fall through it. And my mom had this old refrigerator in our basement. And so I went down there and I climbed in the refrigerator. I took out the racks and while I was trying to get situated, I actually knocked the refrigerator over on the door. So now I'm in a basement and I'm screaming and I'm clawing and I'm trying to get out of this refrigerator in a dark basement. And luckily I made enough noise that my mom overheard me, came down, ran down the steps, kicked over the refrigerator, and got me out of there.
Lechon But that was the moment for me that I really discovered that I need freedom like I need oxygen. These things are like the same to me. And so everything that I've done either creatively or in business is from the perspective that how do I gain more access to freedom and then how do I share that with other people? That mindset is what led me into the military. I spent eight years in the Marine Corps. And there's a lot to experience in the Marine Corp. We can talk more about that if you want, but the short answer is I had a friend that sold me an old film camera and I took that camera around the world with me just kind of documenting our experience. And it just laid the seed that like our stories matter and how they're documented matters and if they're captured at all determines if they live, you know, beyond that moment or not. And I really wanted to be doing something that was able to harness that. And that was kind of what led me into the beginning stages of getting into imagery and photography, commercial photography and branding and all that is to kind of find ways to capture these stories and yeah, it's been really kind of a gift to my life.
7:35 Storytelling in Business
Serhiy So storytelling is essential. I derive this from your words. How do you apply storytelling in the business that you've been involved with?
Lechon Yeah, great question. I do think storytelling is essential because it creates distinction, right? If people don't understand why you care about things and if you care about things and why you're doing it, essentially that context is invisible to them. They really don't have the information that they would need to decide on you. If they like you, if they trust you, if they want to build with you, right? A lot of that comes down to like what they know about you so that they can kind of self-select like does this resonate with me? Does this excite me? Am I interested? Right? And and your story and your journey and your context I believe creates the bricks that would have them walk down that road.
Lechon Is storytelling essential? I think it's powerful. It's one of the most powerful things that you could probably learn. And if you start sharing your story, I think that it does open people's eyeballs to you. But it's less about if you're sharing your story because most people don't share their story at all. And if they do, it's usually someone else is telling your story. So they're lacking all the details of what what it really felt like to you, what really caused the transformation in your life, you know, and why you started that business. What were the difficulties, the hardships? So people can really understand when you're looking at big brands, you're looking at Nike, you're looking at Target, any of these big brands, most people interact with those brands from the level of like what they need, what services they provide, what products they provide, but they really aren't connected to the people that are involved. Not at the higher levels, not at the mid levels. They don't know what they've been through. And so, all of that is invisible. But if you are able to harness any of this stuff, you can really make a difference.
Serhiy Can you give us a few examples maybe from your existing clients?
Lechon Yeah, I mean there's lots of different examples I could probably give you, but what I think is probably more meaningful to this conversation is that mapping this on to like a general entrepreneur, you know, if you start telling your stories and you start creating context and narrative around what you're doing, you just reduce the time that it takes you to convert business. You reduce the time that it takes you to get awareness when you get on the internet and people start to build with you and you start to build an audience. Like that's really where I think it matters on the ground floor is that if you start doing that all of a sudden you have a much easier time when it comes to business and when it comes to launching a new product or wanting to build with people, right? Because they have a sense of why they would want to do that. I don't want to say it's like they're being incentivized, but I will say that it will definitely reduce the time that it takes you to build allies and champions of your brand.
10:51 Why People Chase Success
Serhiy One of your posts says, "Most people just want to be successful because they want to be loved." I mean, in a way, it's so apparent. But do you chase? But yeah, but look at it under different angle. It's not that obvious. So have you seen a lot of people chasing the wrong thing?
Lechon I don't really think they're chasing the wrong thing in most cases. I think that just going back to your comment here about my quote, I think that people want to be loved. I find myself in a lot of business conversations and often they're talking about business at like the business level. What is the brand, website, monetization, money, clients, and things like this, right? But really underneath all of this is the idea that they're doing something. They're taking some action to improve their life. They're doing something that is going to put them in a position to make sure that their family is better off and that they're better off and that they're farther down the line than where they came from. You know, like these are the kinds of things that are underneath what they're doing that is presenting itself as a business.
Lechon So, yeah, when I'm talking with people, like for me, that's very clear. Like even if someone's like really hyper transactional and really about the money, are they really about the money? There's something that they want to use the money for. Like it's what the money makes available to them in their life and their family and their dynamics that makes them want to go after it so aggressively. And so because I have the ability to see that when I'm in any given conversation, I don't take offense when people are that way. You know, I get like they're serious about transforming their life. They're serious about making sure their family is good from now until the rest of their lives. And I think it's really kind of a beautiful thing.
12:55 What It Takes to Create
Serhiy Do you know Chris Do? He's a very powerful speaker and influencer and he was talking about the legacy that we leave and the fact that he just visited the pyramids and the Mayans were building these things that people just are reaping benefits till now making all the dollars on the tourists and stuff like that. So and he says that without laying these foundations right now we don't have our chance to leave a legacy. So I think storytelling and content making is important but do you think that all of us have what it takes to become a content maker or create content worth sharing or worth being checked out?
Lechon You know, I think that some people are better prepared to do that, right? They're more comfortable in their skin. They're more comfortable with their flaws. This is the name of my show. They're more comfortable being themselves, right? Yeah. Like you can allow two things to exist at the same time. And when you're able to do that, you're okay to put yourself in positions where you can gain leverage. Like I've always been comfortable in my skin. So if I get on a stage or if I get on a podcast or if I'm in a conversation, I feel as though I'm the highest authority with what I have to believe and what I have to say. And I don't need that to be validated. I also don't leave people feeling, you know, bad. In fact, if I'm in any given conversation, my intention is to leave it better than I found it. Either add some perspectives to that conversation that change and shift how people perceive things, to add value to that conversation so that it means something for someone else down the road.
Lechon But I will say that some people are more comfortable with that and also more powerful with the way that they use their language. And if you're not careful, your language can either empower or disempower you. And most people don't even notice that that's happening when it does. I'll give you an example. Most people if they need rest, they'll say, you know what, I'm really tired. I'm exhausted. Right? I don't say that, you know. And I don't say that because that makes you really kind of the victim of that condition. I'm tired, so I need rest versus like I'm choosing something. So, instead of saying I'm tired, I'll say it's time for me to get rest. You know, this is something that I'm selecting. This is something that I'm choosing. But the distinction is powerful because one is disempowering, one is taking you down and you're kind of like rendered helpless and one is something that you're actively doing to ensure that your body's prepared to take on the next day.
16:20 Marine Corps Lessons
Serhiy I'm fascinated by the fact that you served in the Marine Corps because I really love Simon Sinek and he gives so many examples of how the trust is built in the army and the fact that you are willing to sacrifice yourself for your body just is just remarkable. He believes this is something that corporate America should actually take from the military people's book. So my question for you is what are the lessons that you learned from the Marine Corps? And maybe some of them can be applied even now as you're running business.
Lechon That's a great question. There's a lot to learn from being in the military. To be upfront with you, right? There's a lot to learn. But I think one of the biggest lessons that I learned was that I have a very high degree of sufferability. Like if things are uncomfortable or they're not going the way that I think that they should go, I have the ability to kind of exist in that space without judging or assessing it. I don't have it that if something is not going well that it's not supposed to be that way. Like most people are in resistance to that. They just say, "Oh, it shouldn't be like that and I don't think it should have gone that way." Well, that's the way that it's currently going. And there are things that you can do about it, but more than anything, there's a way that you could be about it so that you're able to gain enough bandwidth to function at your most efficient positioning while, you know, dealing with complicated circumstances, which the military provides you with every day, right?
Lechon I would just say when you're dealing with difficult things, if you can allow yourself the space to let that exist the way that it's currently going and then give yourself the bandwidth to be able to manage your emotions and your experience around that, you will be much more effective in any complicated scenario, whether that's a relationship or a job or business. Because most things that the dynamics of that experience will change if you're able to manage yourself along the way and the military is really good for that.
18:54 Protecting Your Voice
Serhiy Was there ever a moment in your life where you had to protect your unique voice or even your identity in some way or another?
Lechon Yeah. I mean, for me, because I've spent a good portion of my career behind the scenes, and so a lot of the things that I would share or that I would contribute to were kind of hidden in many ways. So people really wouldn't see that. And now that has changed for me because I'm on stages and I'm on podcasts and I'm speaking and I'm, you know, writing my book. It's called Undeniable. It's really about like you being able to properly leverage the words that you use to either empower or disempower you, right? And so my thoughts are more forward facing now. And so I do think there's a degree of protecting, but it's more about who you be, you know. A lot of people can take your words and then like repeat those words. I had a friend recently ask me if I read this one particular mindset book and I said no, I hadn't read that book. In fact I do study mindset in many ways but with my own thinking, my own meditations, my own journey. I have read stoicism and things like that over the years but really I stopped doing it because I wanted to be able to put myself in a position where I could be really present with my own thoughts. I could form my own thoughts and how I think about things and build processes around those things if they were going to solve particular problems.
Lechon And I think it's hard to do when you consume a lot of other people's views and content and ideas. Those ideas just become some new version of the way that you think about their ideas. And so I don't really consume that type of information much anymore. Now it's more about like tactics and business structures and things like that — things that put me in a position to start stacking my skills in more efficient ways. But when it comes down to my thoughts and how I convey those thoughts, they're very much what I think and feel about things. Do I need to protect it is a real question. I don't feel the need to protect it. I do feel the need to like refine it and continue to build upon that.
21:30 Rise of the Creator Economy
Serhiy The creator economy is what's going to just occupy this world. So I think everyone should become — not everyone but there's no harm in becoming a creator and share your viewpoint. There's even a platform called subs.com created by the founder of OnlyFans of all the platforms but subs.com for all the experts right and it's just empowering people to show their voice right. And I mean TEDex turning back to TEDex and what you said about Orlando being a very creative city. I think this is amazing that now these people who are more of could be more of in artistic industries could share their voices through the platform. Do you have any criteria — I know you told me that you're not entirely responsible for choosing the speakers, but any ideas on what people you would like to partner with being a director of partnerships at TEDx Orlando?
Lechon Yeah, for me it's more about like congruency and alignment. You know, there are lots of businesses that have money and they do things, but they may or may not be a good fit for the audience. They may not really care from an internal structure. They may just not resonate with it. And that's fine, you know, like for us, it's more about like congruency and alignment. What would be the right fit? What would serve these people best? What would put them in a position to enhance their lives? And that's normally like the early stage filtering systems like what's going to be in alignment.
Lechon What kind of advice would I give — because I want to touch on what you were saying about the creator economy because I do think it's a very unique time. Right now we are seeing more news and more noise on the internet than we've ever seen before. You know, with AI's advancements and how much stuff is out there, I think that we're at a time where having owned media and owned distribution is going to be just absolutely invaluable. You won't be able to put a price on it. Even if you look at some of the biggest brands, like what they've previously done is they would essentially kind of rent distribution or rent media, right? Like they'd go run ads on Facebook or Instagram or Tik Tok. They're running ads and trying to get people into their world. And a lot of why that is is because they don't have their own solutions that they own and are basically driving attraction and awareness and retention on their platforms.
Lechon But now that's shifting. These brands are starting to evolve and become platforms of their own. For example, Chick-fil-A has their own streaming platform, you know, where they're doing their own content and their own things that they own and have retention within their ecosystem. This is how things are going to shift for creators and for bigger brands. And so I think right now if you can take advantage of growing your audience, growing your awareness, and then having these assets that you build within your ecosystem, you will find a way to insulate yourself from any noise that's happening because the people that are with you are going to be living in your world with you and participating in that. And to kind of add like an additional layer is if you start thinking in terms of the value of the problem that you solve for and then how to create structure so that the people that support you early stage actually benefit financially from being involved in that support — you're going to essentially win.
Lechon And so I do think there's a shift. These brands are shifting into like owned media and their own platforms and relying less on ads because the cost of advertising is becoming more and more expensive and then once you convert someone into your ecosystem then you've got to retain them, right? So they have to think about that model completely differently. So, I think there's going to be a massive opportunity for creators to partner directly with these large brands and be able to do co-created and co-owned media solutions and platform solutions. And it's really kind of an exciting time, but you have to be in the game, you know, you have to be in the game. Start working on it, developing your voice, developing your unique perspectives and then creating these ecosystems that allow you to thrive while supporting the people that are behind you or following your brand.
26:54 Advice for Small Creators
Serhiy You strike me as someone who is not shying away from your unique set of values and beliefs that in my dictionary what it means to be authentic. Sometimes this is coming for me as a small podcaster and a small creator. Sometimes you get really really devastated by the fact that big are becoming bigger and you just stay in the same place. So LeBron started this uninterrupted media platform. And how are you going to compete with them, right? With LeBron being LeBron and just building this media empire that he's building right now. And in podcasting field there's just everyone's becoming a podcaster. So can you give an advice for small creators? Should we continue expressing our unique voice, you know, and not ever minding what's going on in the world, trends, AI, even I can talk about AI all day just because it's trendy right now, but it's not my cup of tea. I'm not interested in it. You know, I believe that we are becoming inauthentic if anything by using AI. You know, sometimes I want to see LinkedIn posts with mistakes just to understand that it's been written by a human being, you know. So, what's your advice for small creators who want to get to these partnership deals with big brands? How do we grow and what's the playbook for us?
Lechon Yeah, that's a great question. You know, I think it probably really starts with the language. You know, someone that doesn't have a massive platform doesn't make them a small creator. It just means that where they are in their journey is a little bit earlier than where they're going to be, right? But it doesn't say a whole lot about the value that they bring to other platforms or other opportunities. It doesn't mean they don't bring massive value even though their audience is small, right? And so I would encourage people that have a smaller audience or getting started or they're kind of earlier in their journey to not view it as though they're a small creator and that they don't add massive value because their audience isn't large.
Lechon I'll give you an example right — in 2015, I started something called a virtual summit and essentially we were helping businesses build online courses or learn all the things that they need to do around online courses and that kind of thing. We didn't really have a large audience. We just were solving a particular problem for people that were trying to learn about that stuff and through that journey we ended up getting our first sponsor which at the time was Thinkific — they're like a big learning management software company and it really transformed everything that we think about business because they came in as a sponsorship partner right so it's just essentially they gave us money to come in and support our mission. They curated a bunch of like top level speakers across the world to come in and speak on our platform. They took some of their marketing budgets and funding budgets and instead of running ads to their business, they ran ads to our event, our platform. So, that was massive for us. And because they're such a big brand, they then got other big brands to get awareness of what we're doing that wanted to come on and partner. And it ended up being multi-millions of dollars worth of marketing because we ended up driving so much traffic to these events. Probably well over 60,000–70,000 plus emails — live people that wanted to be involved with our platform, right? And then we were able to do things on the back end and so we were small. It didn't mean we weren't doing something meaningful or valuable. They were able to see it thankfully.
Lechon And then eventually we started to learn how we could add more value to them which we started to understand like the cost of their acquisition was very expensive probably $40–$50 per email often. So they were spending a lot of money on ads and so we started creating a strategy where we could bring in collaborative other sponsors that aren't competition but also could bring an audience to these events so that they could benefit from like acquiring more customers at a lower cost, you know, and so we started to figure out how we can add value to them even though like starting out we just didn't know. We were just putting together something that's going to be helpful to people and luckily it worked. But had we not taken that step, we would have probably just stayed in the position significantly longer than we were. We got lots of notoriety press. We got awareness within our industries and started building other high-level relationships and consultancies. It all started with us taking a particular action.
Lechon And so I say all that to mention that if you are starting out and you're looking to speak to your audience and solve a particular problem or share or create or entertain or whatever that thing is — that doesn't mean that your unique perspectives or your unique flavor that you're adding to the world doesn't add value to other large brands and organizations. They only know what they know. They don't know what they don't know — that's outside of their sphere of understanding and awareness. And if you're able to bring that awareness into their frame of view, now all of a sudden that can be worth millions of dollars for them, right? And so, yeah, I think it's more about like developing your skill set and speaking uniquely to the world in your in your way.
Serhiy This is just inspiring. So, you're saying that quantity is not that important. Sometimes quality is what matters and being your real self.
Lechon Yeah. I mean, I think you could say it that way. You know, I do think there is something to getting more awareness and raising your profile. It's hard to raise your profile if you don't tap into the flow of where traffic is. So you need to tap into the flow of where traffic is so that you can raise your profile so that when you speak it has more power. It has more impact when people see it and when they hear it and it starts to develop validation from other people that are aware and talking about it and making comments and things like that. Right? So you need to emit that energy. You need to project it. But I will say that it's more about if you can cut through the noise than if you're adding to it.
34:02 Wrapping Words
Serhiy As we're wrapping up, any words of encouragement or just any words that you want to leave us with?
Lechon Yeah, I think the main thing I want to leave you with is that if you're starting a business or you're a creator or you're doing a podcast or any of those things and you're not in a position or you haven't put yourself in a position where you're monetizing or you're growing rapidly, I would say you need to put in the reps. You know, like there's — you become someone different the more reps that you put in, the more that you're able to like release yourself from the results, like how many views you got and how many people paid attention to it, right? Like, if you start to disconnect from that and you just put in the reps, you're going to gain an audience, you're going to get momentum. I've been on calls that found me from videos that had like a hundred views and those calls could have ended up in six figure business deals and it wasn't because I had so many views. So it doesn't mean that what you're doing isn't like a high value thing. It means that you don't have enough awareness yet and that doesn't mean you don't have high value. So yeah, I would just leave you with the idea that if you're putting something meaningful out in the world, keep putting that message out there, you will get the opportunity to connect with people and then when you do, make sure to move fast.
Serhiy Thank you, Lechon. Thank you a lot.
Lechon Yeah, thank you for having me, man. I love this conversation.