Welcome back to The Self Love Fix. Today, I have such an exciting conversation I want to have with you.

Whether you’re a current business owner or hoping to start one, whether you’re seasoned in business or brand new, I really believe you’re going to benefit from this conversation.

Let’s talk about business and brand.

What is “Brand?”

The first thing I want to say about business and brand is that first of all, they’re actually two different concepts, and I’m going to define them for you the way that I define them. I especially  want to go deep into brand, because brand can be very ambiguous for people.

People think they know what it is. You probably even think you know what it is.

Some people think it’s all colors and fonts; honestly, there was a hot minute where I thought that. Before I really knew anything about business or entrepreneurship, I absolutely thought brand was colors and fonts or logos.

(If that’s you today, don’t worry—I’m here to help clear this up.)

So, what is brand?

The way I like to define brand, in very simple terms, is that brand is what makes you stand out from others. Brand is what makes your company, your product, your offers, whatever it might be stand out from others.

I also believe that brand is the way others perceive your company, product, etcetera.

All in all, I believe that brand is the identity of a business.

Now, not all businesses bother building a brand, but the ones that do want to distinguish themselves.

There are some businesses or companies where they’re just here to deliver a service. They’re not really interested in building a brand or trying to stand out from others. They’re not really interested in creating a legacy. It’s really just about the exchange of a service, the exchange of a good, whatever it might be, and that’s fine too.

A really good example of this is Equate, Walmart’s generic “brand.” They’re not really interested in building a brand of their own or working to stand out; they just want to give an alternative cheaper option for people. It’s about meeting a need, and that’s all.

I’m not of the camp of insisting that you have to commit to building a brand, and if you don’t have a brand, it’s really bad. There are some people who are just interested in exchanging a service. They’re not really envisioning building a brand globally or having a major impact through the lives of thousands or potentially millions of people. Instead, maybe they’re just interested in having a business that allows them to live the kind of lifestyle they want.

Maybe they want a business that allows them to pick up their kids from soccer practice, or hang out with their friends or their spouse. The business is more about them and how they want to live their lives than it is about building a brand and building a legacy, and there’s no problem with that.

However, I want to speak to you about building a brand today because personally, with my business, I’m in the camp of brand and legacy. I want my work to impact many, many, many people, and I like to work with clients who are about that same vibe.

So while not building a brand is fine if you also don’t plan to build a legacy, if you want to create something that’s impactful to thousands or potentially even millions of people…if you’re really here to build something long-lasting, something that will leave a mark even when you leave this world…you need brand.

You need brand, and you need it from day one. You need a way to distinguish yourself. Make no mistake about it. I don’t care what industry you’re in; you need to commit to building a brand if you plan on building a legacy.

I find that a lot of people make a mistake with this. They prioritize building a business, but they don’t prioritize building a brand at the same time, and that’s where things break down.

Business vs. Brand

So, let’s define business versus brand.

To me, business is a structure for your brand. It is actually a vessel for your brand to come through into the world.

This is really profound information that I wish I had heard before I started out, because a lot of people come into entrepreneurship business-minded. I did for a hot minute, before I realized that brand is everything. Brand is queen.

So business is a vehicle for brand. You might hear some people say brand comes first, and honestly, I probably would have said otherwise a short time ago, back when I wasn’t really clear on what brand was.

Now I firmly believe it needs to be brand from the jump. But building a brand isn’t just picking colors and logos and fonts; if anything, there are actually several other things to consider before going to fonts and colors and a logo.

Those things are actually branding, by the way, not brand. Fonts, colors, and logos are a derivative of your brand, not the brand itself, and a proper branding strategist or brand strategist will tell you that. They will also tell you what they need from you before they go and figure out what colors and fonts and logos you need.

Building a brand really is an analysis process. Before your strategist can pick fonts and colors, they need to understand the identity of your brand, your vision, your mission, and your values. They actually take all that information and use that to come up with your colors, fonts, and logos.

If you try to jump to that stage of building a brand before taking a look at the foundational elements, you’re actually doing yourself a disservice.

Especially in this age of insta-business where it seems like business is something anybody can do, people like to skip steps because they play too much into seeing how “easy” it can be in the age of the internet. They want to skip steps around actually laying the foundations of brand and business, and that’s such a huge disservice to you and your business itself.

So, brand and business are really two things that we want to consider right at the beginning, and if you’re not at the beginning and you’re just learning this, that’s okay. You get to actually go back to the basics, drop your ego, and decide that you can still pause and strengthen your vision and make it clear what your brand is about.

So, it’s crucial that you do not skip steps when building a brand and a business. And one of those steps is vision.

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The Power of Vision

If you are interested in building a brand with legacy vibes for your business, you need a vision.

Where are you taking people? Whether it’s through services, music, artistry, or even a product, where are you taking people?

You really need to know where you’re taking people, because not only will it light a fire under your butt and keep you motivated every single day and practically give you a compass for where you’re going, but your people will feel it, and they will know that they have to work with you.

The thing about business without brand is that people will make a decision about whether or not they will spend money with you based on what you can do.

If you put out bare minimum vibes, you will get bare minimum vibes back. But when you have a brand, people will pay top dollar, because they can feel what you’re about. They can feel a connection that connects to their values, that connects to what’s important to them, that’s greater than the service itself, and that will call them into your space.

As human beings, we love to connect to something bigger than us. Some of us are really into sustainability; for instance, I am a crazy sunblock person, and I will only use certain kinds.

I recently bought Supergoop because I fucking love their brand.

You can tell by the way that they formulate their products that they care about what they put out. They use all-natural products and all-natural ingredients. You can tell by the way it smells and feels that it’s high-quality.

I don’t care what industry you’re in. No matter what, there is something distinguishable about you. There is something that stands out about you, and it’s something that people are dying to get in on.

Embrace Big Business Energy

In case you didn’t know, brand is big business energy. And honestly, this is why I love human design and shadow work so much, because we can really work with the human that feels overwhelmed or doesn’t know how to work with their energy, and we can have that stop being your biggest problem and allow you to move on to more expansive things like brand.

That’s where business gets fun, where it gets playful, and where it gets to be about leaving your impact and your legacy.

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