Power Up Your Brand by Getting Out of Its Way!

On the road toward building a brand your audience loves, there are many hurdles—most of which you could never predict. But, one of the biggest pitfalls of brand building isn't an external factor like funding (though having it helps!) or how many hours you have in the day (but it would be nice to have an extra one). Instead, the biggest barrier in growing your brand might just be....wait for it...‍

YOU. ‍

If you're shaking your head and saying "No way, Jamie, I would never get in my brand's way!" then pull out your mirror and keep reading. Here are some of the ways you may be standing in your brand's way of growth and change.‍

You haven't documented your brand knowledge

A lot is going on in that business owner brain of yours. No matter if you're a solopreneur or you're working with a team, there's always something that needs your attention and brain power. If you glimpsed into the ticker tape that scrolls through my brain, you'd see:

"Have I paid that invoice?"

"Did I respond to that email?"

"What am I having for lunch?"

"I have to post that article on LinkedIn."

You get the point—it's a never-ending parade of thoughts that sound off at all hours of the day. And, somewhere, rattling around with your daily task list and the cheat code to get unlimited money in The Sims (it's Rosebud !;!;!;), are all your best-laid plans and thoughts on what your brand is and what it stands for.

If you haven't documented these ideas you're standing in your brand's way.

‍You're not just clouding your mind, you're gatekeeping the information that can give employees, partners, and vendors the insight they need to do their job correctly and ultimately help you build your business.

By building brand guidelines that include things like your brand's visual style rules, messaging templates, and values, you'll have a quick reference point for collaborators and documents that will give you a foundation to work from every time you create communications for your brand.

You aren't empowering your experts

One of your (many) business owner superpowers is that you will always know your business better than anyone else. And Wow! What a feeling to be an expert on something! 

But, that superpower can also be your Achilles heel. The fact that you know your business so well also means you have a lot of bias toward your brand and how things should get done.

Because of this, you may try to control the juicy brand details that should be entrusted to experts. If you're building your brand on your own, that's great, but you may have some blind spots that are caused by your own biases and preferences. And, in case you haven't heard, you are not your customer.

When you work with a trusted expert to build your brand, you'll open possibilities you haven't quite imagined yet. There's a big, bright future for your brand, and it's bigger and brighter when you let go of control and get a new perspective.

You're trying too hard to be likable.

The hard truth about running a business: you aren't for everyone.

I'm a walking testament to this. Some of you may have landed on this blog post (thanks, SEO!) and thought, "This site is loud, obnoxious, and I hate it."

And to you, I say, "Goodbye!"

But, the rest of you have made it this far in this post.

And to you, I say, Welcome to the party!"

This is all intentional! My brand repels the wrong people and appeals to the right people. I'm working to build a community of people who share my values and ideas because those are the people who make my best clients.

But, to build this community, I had to let go of what other people wanted me to be and instead be the things I am. In short, I had to be comfortable being disliked.

If you're just trying to be likable, you're standing in the way of connecting the right customers to your brand.

Leaning into the cringe-worthy things that might make other people uncomfortable are going to be the things that pull your ideal customers toward you. Stop trying to be likable and instead, just try being you. Some people will love it, others will hate it. And that's okay.

Get out of your brand's way!

In the whirlwind of your responsibilities as a business owner, it's easy to overlook the subtle ways you could be preventing your own brand's growth. The biggest obstacle to building your brand isn't always the time, resources, or energy it takes to do so, but rather, it's standing in the mirror. So step aside if you're ready to build a better brand.