Branding, Boundaries, and Bullsh💋t

What move is the right move when you have a business but no brand? What's the right move when what you do so well for your clients you haven't done for yourself? That is the challenge of today's houseguest, Kevin Roberts. He's been chugging along with his business without really running his business. Making that first step to build and brand has stalled his progress. He mentions how his friends ar...

Self-care in personal branding should be a thing especially for solopreneurs. Becoming a solopreneur can cause you to lose your mind and your since of direction. It's scary when you have to totally be responsible for the shit that happens to you financially. Money! That's where everyone goes off the rails. If you don't make money at this thing, what kinda life will you have? Then it becomes, ooh I...

Ms. Linda Lin is in the house to talk restaurant with me. We both share a passion for the restaurant industry and believe things need to change with how they brand or the lack there of. Most restaurants have a concept but no brand. The go to is quality of food and customer service. If only they could see beyond the taste bud and recognize the significant of their contribution to relationship build...

From dessert to digital marketing is how houseguest Shoaib Zafar made his way to the world of automation. He's taken what he learned running his own dessert shop to creating a product that not only automates your business but gives you back time and peace of mind. He is the Founder of Digital Market Hero when he helps restaurant owners build powerful marketing solutions. It's all about ATTRACT - A...

Don't confuse taking up space as a solopreneur with being a hype man for some shit you wanna sell. Taking up space as a solopreneur is to make room for others. Taking up space provides more room for you and those attracted to you. You have to get comfortable with the uncomfortable part of running a business. Monetizing what you're good at is not the same is running a business. You have to mak...

If your policies are an after thought that you copied and pasted from someone else, you need a whoop'n. GCB has a conversation with Cas Johnson, The Ethical Strategist, who is all about policies and procedures, or HouseRules as she calls them. This area of your business is often neglected when you're a business of one. I can understand why you may not think they're necessary since you're the only...

When you're a life coach without a strategic brand, where do you go? That's not the question my houseguest, Ankit Sherke, had. Ankit is a brand designer who specializes in personal branding for the life coaching industry. He study science before he found himself in the grip of graphic design. Our conversation get's started with the question on damn near every solopreneurs lips. How do I get more l...

When you have The Ratchet Sage in the house, you know it's about to get real. We're talking about her business of one pivoting to a place of her becoming a more public figure. So check it out. Brandma is spill'n tea and drop'n gems in the tea room today. That's what happens when she has a brandbaby™ in the house.  Today's guest is Ebony L. Green and she wants you to stop playing with your gre...

Let me fess up first. I've been guilty, even recently, of doing follow for follow. Hindsight and experience as a solopreneur have taught me that there is is no real value in it. Looking through a strategic lens, you have to factor in the brands available target market (ATM). If you have a reachable available market (RAM) that is full of wasted follows then you are mess'n with your money. The folx...

Not every business has a brand. Or not every business gives a fuck about a brand. Martha Murray is the owner of Martha Murray Designs , an interior designing firm of one. She's been holding it down as a business of one and has no immediate plans to change. She's never thought about branding, but that didn't stop her from building a reputation. Despite ignoring social media, she's booked out for &n...

What is brand ego®? In my branded world it's how you P.L.A.Y. the game. To play the game is to have a brand with personality, its own language, an audience that will listen and a yarn that captivates. Solopreneurs have the unique position of building a personal and business brand that speak volumes. Brand ego is the bridge between brand identity and brand image in a business of one. It is built of...

Brandma is spill'n tea and drop'n gems in the tea room today. That's what happens when she has a brandbaby™ in the house. Today's guest is Chris Martin and he wants to do all the things. Although he's a phenomenal podcast host, he still wants to do filmmaking and documentaries. Chris is not dreaming of six figure incomes, but he does have a financial and business goal that he's working on. Chris h...

hIf you're a solopreneur who is afraid of sacrifice, you need a job. The reason most folx can't operate a business is they're to soft to handle the hard times of running a business. We live in a world where even homeless folx can survive without cell phones, so what is a solopreneur to do? Choose wisely when you have to or want to sacrifice for the greater good. Some solopreneurs will sacrifice ou...

Where The Money Resides We all know what an ATM means to our everyday life. Well the ATM in the life of a solopreneur is the available target market and it's still where the money resides. Solopreneurs seeking success without making a deposit don't know how to find the ATM. Having a brand strategy and marketing strategy requires that you know about the ATM in so that solopreneurs work smarter inst...

You can be a solopreneur and have successful relationships even if they aren't always healthy. You can bully yourself no end when it comes they happen. Just know bullying doesn't work. Whether you're at fault or not is irrelevant. Leading a successful business while trying to hold down any typeof relationship is challenging at best and heartbreaking at worst. Don't allow that to make you cut yours...

Who wouldn't get excited at the prospect of making a half million dollars? When you're trying to get out of dead end job, grow your business, or just increase revenue, someone telling you how to make 6-figures could be real attractive. I mean it's all about how to be a successful solopreneur otherwise there's no point. Nevertheless, the pitches today are no better than snake oil salesmen you see i...

One of the key components to brand strategy is the ideal client? The old way of coming up with an ideal client was based on quantitative research. You interviewed and survey folx so you made sure you ticked all the boxes for them. Well what does it say when the client avatar of your ideal clients tics some of your own boxes? Are you treading into confirmation bias territory? And even and even if y...

If you're a solopreneur with dreams of scaling your brand and business, you gotta get paid for saying no. In this episode I share a story of the lesson I learned about getting paid to say no. You are only one person. That means you can't do everything or take every job that comes your way. It's your responsibility to make sure you're compensated for saying no. It's not about YOUR worth or value. I...

What is it that makes us so competitive in every day life? Being competitive as a solopreneur is wasted energy. Brand positioning has a component that requires you to do research on the "competition." These are people who may be in the same industry or industry adjacent. Why does it matter? The world is changing and people are more selective. When it comes to a service based business, it's not the...

We've all heard, content is king. That's great for content creators, but what about when you're a solopreneur? Which is better, to put out shitty, content or no content? In the brand scheme of things, you could end up with similar results. Content creation is part of your marketing strategy if you have a brand strategy. One of the pillars of Brand Ego® is content but from a perspective of making a...

Topping the usual suspects of business failures are lack of capital, poor management and location, location, location. That's just for the businesses they know about. I blame bad advice being applied poorly as the number 1 cause of business failure. There are a horde of folx who can help us with the paperwork. Now you're ready to build your brand and begin to market. The limited advice on branding...

Welcome to the intro episode of Brandma's House. In this episode GCB talks shit about what you can expect from her in future episodes. GCB doesn't believe in scripting so she may fly off the rails every now and then only to come back with fire. She's here for the violence of changing the branding game for solopreneurs. If you can't handle it then keep it push'n.