# 179: The Power of Personal Branding and Building Trust With Your Ideal Customers Featuring Nikki Gonzales

- Show: [Manufacturing Happy Hour](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/manufacturing-happy-hour)
- Published: 2024-04-02
- Length: 59m
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/manufacturing-happy-hour/2024-04-02-179-the-power-of-personal-branding-and-building-trust-with-your-ideal-customers
- Listen: http://manufacturinghappyhour.com

## Summary

Nikki Gonzales, Head of Partnerships at Quotebeam and co-host of the Automation Ladies podcast, discusses how personal branding builds trust and opens doors for early-stage hardware and software companies. She recounts her career journey from Iceland to Houston, her first sales experience at her father's control systems business, and how networking led to her role at Quotebeam. Gonzales explains how she leveraged her personal brand to support Quotebeam's growth before they had a marketing budget, and details the company's evolution from a parts sourcing platform to providing e-commerce tools for industrial distributors.

## Chapters

- [0:00](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/manufacturing-happy-hour/2024-04-02-179-the-power-of-personal-branding-and-building-trust-with-your-ideal-customers#t=0) Introduction and Guest Background
- [5:30](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/manufacturing-happy-hour/2024-04-02-179-the-power-of-personal-branding-and-building-trust-with-your-ideal-customers#t=330) Childhood in Iceland and Move to Houston
- [12:12](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/manufacturing-happy-hour/2024-04-02-179-the-power-of-personal-branding-and-building-trust-with-your-ideal-customers#t=732) First Sale at Father's Business
- [16:27](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/manufacturing-happy-hour/2024-04-02-179-the-power-of-personal-branding-and-building-trust-with-your-ideal-customers#t=987) Career Transition to Software
- [20:16](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/manufacturing-happy-hour/2024-04-02-179-the-power-of-personal-branding-and-building-trust-with-your-ideal-customers#t=1216) Networking and Joining Quotebeam
- [25:10](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/manufacturing-happy-hour/2024-04-02-179-the-power-of-personal-branding-and-building-trust-with-your-ideal-customers#t=1510) Personal Branding and Trust
- [30:33](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/manufacturing-happy-hour/2024-04-02-179-the-power-of-personal-branding-and-building-trust-with-your-ideal-customers#t=1833) Company Culture and Employee Branding
- [38:40](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/manufacturing-happy-hour/2024-04-02-179-the-power-of-personal-branding-and-building-trust-with-your-ideal-customers#t=2320) Automation Ladies Podcast and Community
- [52:02](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/manufacturing-happy-hour/2024-04-02-179-the-power-of-personal-branding-and-building-trust-with-your-ideal-customers#t=3122) Quotebeam Platform and Sales Pilot Launch

## Topics

- [Direct-to-consumer & e-commerce](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/direct-to-consumer)
- [Marketing & brand](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/marketing-and-brand)
- [Sourcing & supply chain](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/sourcing-and-supply-chain)
- [Careers & education](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/engineering-careers-and-education)
- [Leadership, teams & culture](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/leadership-and-culture)

## Most relevant to

early-stage companies

## Mentioned

- Quotebeam (company)
- Automation Ladies (product)
- Festo (company)
- Kion (company)
- Apple (company)
- Rockwell Automation (company)
- Process and Controls Engineering, LLC (company)
- Sales Pilot (product)
- Canva (tool)
- LinkedIn (tool)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [Building your Brand as a Medical Device Professional](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/global-medical-device-podcast/2021-05-31-building-your-brand-as-a-medical-device-professional) (Global Medical Device Podcast)
- [Advice Line: Growing Beyond Your Niche](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2024-10-10-advice-line-growing-beyond-your-niche) (How I Built This)
- [176: How Hardware Founders Should Represent Their Product](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/product-startup/2023-05-18-176-how-hardware-founders-should-represent-their-product) (Product Startup)
- [S1E39 How to Build Trust (& Win New Business) With Your Customers | Jeff Wells](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2020-09-25-s1e39-how-to-build-trust-win-new-business-with-your-customers-jeff-wells) (Being an Engineer)
- [Advice Line with Fawn Weaver of Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2024-04-25-advice-line-with-fawn-weaver-of-uncle-nearest-premium-whiskey) (How I Built This)

## Citing this page

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