3 Lessons I Learned About Branding From My Bad Driving

What makes you special has the capacity to make you money if you think small. In branding it’s called finding your niche. Unfortunately, you like so many others, think bigger or more is better.

You have a big group of friends. Yaaa for you. Can you count on one hand who’s gonna be down with you when the world is kicking your ass? If you can then everybody can’t be yo friend.

You market your brand to everyone because that’s who you made it for. Are you too scared to remove what’s wasting space and making you chump change? That fear is keeping you broke.

Have you hired someone who is poisoning your company from the inside or formed collaborations with questionable entities? Would your company improve if you sever those ties? Are they really adding value to your game.

Who are you trying to impress with your treasure trove of bullshit? #SideWaysCrazy

How you niche your brand is how you make your money. When you say I have something for everyone all the time you give no thought to your gifts or limitations. Do you offer so much bullshit because you think the possibilities are endless? Yeah, no. That’s being violent to yourself and you do’n too damn much of the wrong thing.

Let me share a story with you about nine words my sister said to me that I carry with me to this day when I think I’m being extra.

I was driving in L. A. traffic with my sister. I was doing my normal duck’n and dodge’n across five lanes of rush hour crazy. I guess I changed lanes once to often because she turns to me and says, “You know you can’t get in front of everybody.”

She had me twisted. I’ve been drive’n L. A. streets since I was 12 years old. So when this chick told me what I couldn’t do I threw my momma in her face. “I can show you better than I can tell you.” But every time I changed lanes I saw the car I was just behind pass me up, so I would switch again.

No matter how fast I drove. No matter how many folks I cut off. No matter how many laws I broke. I would never be able to be in front of everyone. Even though I had shit to do, traffic doesn’t work that way. Well, neither does branding.

Y’all probably wondering, what in the fresh hell does this have to do with niching. Well, here it is.

LESSON ONE

You’re leaving money on the table jumping from product to product and service to service. You’re trying to get in front of everyone and you won’t stay in your lane. You think you have something to prove or you’re gonna miss some money if you don’t get in front of everybody.

You’re doing follow for follow bullshit to run up your numbers. Neither of you will benefit financially from this. And because there’s no real alignment you’re not sharing each others post. You’re getting cussed out because you’re spamming folks in the DM’s. Your lead magnet is something or copied and slapped your logo on so it don’t even know if it fits your vibe.

You’re doing all this because you don’t know who wants what you have. Worse yet, YOU DON’T KNOW what you have, so you don’t know how to market it. You living under the misguided notion that everyone is your customer. And based on that nonsense, you send out inconsistent and unclear bullshit.

You’re no different than me driving in traffic like a zip damn fool. Every new tip and trick someone claims to be the secret to a million dollars you jump on it. You take advice from damn near anybody who says they hold the secret. You give no thought to the relatability of your brand or business.

Here’s one secret that’s not a secret. Stay in your own damn lane. Once you find that lane apply good advice to that one thing. That lane is your yellow brick road.

LESSON TWO

All that swerving from lane to lane made me miss my damn exit. I was too far over and no one would let me get over to make the exit. Although I blamed them for not letting me in, it wasn’t their fault. I was being a smart ass and trying to prove a point

Missing my exit is equivalent to you missing your money. Refusing to niche either horizontally or vertically costs you dollas all day e’ry day. Niching is a marketing tactic not handcuffs to stifle your many interest. Niching is about positioning yourself for the folx who will let you over and give you the money you asked for.

By not niching your brand game is so weak. You try to support it with a bunch of back and forth and you think you’re do’n something. The more back and forth you do to sell, the more inauthentic and unappealing your offer. Nobody is gonna chase you down to give you money.

Here’s another secret that’s not a secret. Operating in your niche means you are an uncontrollable bad ass. There is no reason for you to venture out of the lane that is closest to your money. Save that crazy for someone else. Don’t be impatient like me when I drive. If you go with the flow of your brand your success will be right around the corner. I promise.

LESSON THREE

The final part of the lesson was that my car was a piece of shit. And even though I would speed and do all the things to get in front of the speedier car or the flashier car or the more expensive car, my car was still a piece of shit by comparison.

There is no reason for you to be out in these business streets acting like you’re all that when everyone can clearly see that you’re not. Trying to drive your brand with this mentality makes you look even raggedier. Even though your raggedy shares the road with the regal there is no reason to draw unnecessary attention to your raggedy.

Furthermore, the only folx willing to be your ride or die are people who are trying to be supportive but don’t know what the hell you do’n. They support every now and then when and if they can. They, however, are not the folx who will make your business successful. Maybe they need what you offer, maybe they don’t. You’ll know when they stop fuck’n with you.

Final secret that’s not a secret. There is no shame in being raggedy for a little while. Give yourself time to level up to the flash. You will have earned it and you can command the price. Folx will see the value of something that is built with grit, grace and greatness.

BONUS LESSON

This has nothing to do with my sister, but it will drive the point home. There is a reason they say the riches are in the niches. People know you to be the SHIT when it comes to that one thing. They know your brand is the best place to go for that one thing. Even those who bargain shop know it when they have the money to spend or splurge on that one thing.

Check out Danielle Leslie. This chick has made, I think $15 mil off her Course From Scratch. She don’t do shit else but that one thing. Being one of her unwitting victims, I can say, if you’re not a slick ass salesperson or have the next great course, you won’t make shit, but that’s not the point.

She was on the cover of Forbes in December 2020 as the millionaire maker. She was in Black Enterprise in April 2021. She has over 155,000 followers on Instagram and 58,493 on facebook and she only posts every 2–3 months.

Are you getting the point? She niched down and blew up financially. She pimps nothing but that ONE THING. She pimped it all the way to the bank 15 million times.

When you’re ready to pimp that one thing and get authentically Branded AF, I’m right here 🤚🏾 to help you get out of that busted ass brand. Book a free 20 minute GAB Session to see to get what you’re work’n with.

Phyllis Williams-Strawder

Ghetto Country Brandmother®
Certified
👉🏾 Brand Strategist;
👉🏾 Business Coach; and
👉🏾 Life Coach
with a degree in Business. She describes her personal brand as an empathic bitch leading a respectful rebellion. Phyllis also the former owner of Bigmista’s BBQ & the author of That Damn Girl Stuff.

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