Courage To Have A Brand Ego
Well damn. How courageous are you as an entrepreneur in your brand? We used to call it selling wolf tickets back in the day when you talked shit you couldn’t back up. Here’s another question. Are you brave on all fronts all the time or just on some things some of the time? Do you need help being courageous or can you talk about your brand without trying to sell it all the damn time? I’m asking for a friend.
In my book, courage is doing it afraid. That means you, as an entrepreneur, were courageous enough to believe in something so strong you turned it into a business. You didn’t know if it would be good or bad. It mattered that you knew you could do it. Then something happened.
You put a price tag on your idea and all courage went out the window. Poor baby. So much of how we start a business is tied to how we feel as a person. If people don’t buy what you’re selling, you take it personally. Your bruised ego feels rejected and dismissed.
It’s as if your ego came with a dollar sign. You set a price that changes every time the wind blows because you’re scared. In real life, you confident, competent and clear about who you are. When you crossed over into entrepreneurship the healthy ego didn’t make the trip.
I blame that ‘you are your brand’ bullshit people be spoon’n out. I also blame the influencer industry. Just because you can influence someone to buy something, that doesn’t make you a fucking brand. And let’s not exclude those folx who believe that making a name for yourself makes you a brand. It’s a fishbowl of fuckery.
I’m getting angry just typing it. 😡
You are a person with a business that needs a brand. Let me beat this dead horse for a sec from an archetype perspective.
- I am Phyllis Williams-Strawder. A wife working to turn her man into a trophy husband.
- My personal brand is the Ghetto Country Brandmother. A brand that is a rebel/caregiver for the brandbabies.
- My business is CKO Creator. A brand that is hero/sage that’s here for the sage/rebel
The woman above grew up with such low self-esteem she gave herself away indiscriminately. She went from thoughts of teenage suicide to an insecure woman who married the wrong man for the wrong reasons. I’m not talking about the Big Daddy I have now. Nevertheless, shedding her is still a work in progress.
The ghetto country in me became a thing when I operated the restaurants with my husband. I packed it away when we closed the restaurant so I could pursue a career as a business coach. I didn’t think it was appropriate for the industry. I didn’t know it was part of what I now call my brand ego. It was the self-esteem of my personal brand identity.
I didn’t know I needed the ghetto country brand identity to coach effectively. I realized from the restaurant days that being the brand effected our scalability and hiring since I restaurant wasn’t based on a concept. I also realized I needed folx with similar values and qualities of mine and my husbands personal brand identity and I didn’t want them to fake it.
It was a whole ass entanglement. 😜 Sorry Jada.
Some may say that’s just me being myself. Well it is and it isn’t. When I’m with my fam I don’t have to explain my bad English and colloquialism. I also give them access to all of me because of the love they have for me. There is a distinct difference to my self-esteem and my brand-esteem. The distinction has to do with the level to which I am personally affected by people rejecting what I have to offer as a business.
If someone chooses to attack me personally for something I did professionally, then they took a professional thing and make it personal. It’s why self-importance shouldn’t be part of the brand ego. When it’s not, the courage of brand ego can stand 10 toes down for what it believes.
Neglecting to have a brand ego causes entrepreneurs like you to people please. It’s what most brand strategist want you to do anyway. They base damn near everything your brand is about on what the market wants. Essentially, they want you to chase money. But what would happen if you let money chase you?
If you gave into a brand ego that comes from the brand identity, then the brand image you projected would take you out of the box of people pleasing. By doing so you attract folx who consistently want to spend based on a brand you lead. This is in contrast to creating a brand that’s led by the masses, your audience. You shouldn’t have to walk on egg shells because the brand you built doesn’t reflect who you are. IJS
Here’s the thing. I’m of the opinion that a lot of businesses fail because of poor brand ego on top of bad business practices. An entrepreneur who’s supposed to be a brand leader self-diagnosis’ with imposter syndrome because they don’t know how to get out of the box they didn’t know they were in. But like so many other things that get misconstrued when you talk about what you don’t know, imposter syndrome is not a thing. It’s most attributed too high achieving women. I don’t know what that means for those who aren’t high achieving or female cause that ain’t none a my business. 🤭
Here’s another reason I think businesses fail without brand ego. On the other side of ego is humility. Most entrepreneurs I know embrace humility over ego. They consider it a better character trait. After reacquainting myself with THAT definition, I will no longer self-identify as a humble person. I don’t have a problem with being contrite but humble can kiss my ass. No disrespect to my church upbringing. Humble and humility are defined as having a low view of one’s own importance. Yeah, no. Being humble is putting folx outta business.
Think of all the successful people you hear about, read about or know about. They probably have a high level of self-esteem. And yes, some cross over into self-importance. Nevertheless, how they identify creates an ego that breeds success. No, I’m not crazy enough to think that having a brand ego will fix everything wrong with your brand. I am crazy enough to believe it will improve your brand and you in the process.
The first thing you can depend on a brand ego for is the ability to say no. I look around at younger generations, my daughter included, and I see a bunch of folx afraid of the word no. It feels so personal even when it’s not. If you’re an entrepreneur who’s afraid of rejection or rejecting others, baby you’re in the wrong game.
I know I’ve told yall before that branding is a pimp game. Well a part of that game is rejection. It comes in the form of the word no. No to taking money from any and everybody. No, everyone doesn’t want what you have. No, you don’t have to sell your soul to the devil. Whatever. It’s the difference between being the trick on the street and the playmate in the penthouse.
Let’s see what happens when you say no from the penthouse. It’s a 30,000 foot view of the total available market.
Total Available Market
We’re gonna shorten total available market to TAM. You can look at your TAM based on a few different segments. It can go global, regional or industry specific. Once you’ve chosen your TAM segment you need to have a best guestimate to how many people exist in it.
You may have heard the saying, go big or go home. Well let’s go big. 🥳
Your TAM is global. If you’re a service based business with a zoom account, this is definitely doable. If you’re a product based business you may have limitations. But it’s a perfect world today so we’re gonna kick those limitations to the curb. Also In this perfect world there are only 5,000,000 people.
Now, based on having a global TAM you know they all don’t speak your language. And based on this room that language is English. As big as the world is, only 8.4% of the population are native english speakers. Another 20.5% are non-native speakers. Those are statistics from 2021.
Unfortunately, there are money chasers out there who will try to sell to the whole 5 mil. Their brand ego is based on self-importance so they don’t give a fuck. You, however, have a brand ego based on self-esteem. You know you would be better off focusing on native and non-native English speakers. Based on that knowledge, you have the courage to say no to 3,555,000 people. That still leaves you with 1,445,000.
This level of no let’s you zoom in on a 20,000 foot view. At this distance you can see your reachable available market.
Reachable Available Market
We’re gonna shorten reachable available market to RAM. So at the RAM level you can arguably reach at least 1,445,000 English speaking folx. In a perfect world if you could sell something to all of them for $1 you could make almost 1.5 mil. That’s a nice chunk a change. Who wouldn’t want that? But the thing about it is at this level our world is a little less perfect.
That’s because at this level there could be at least 1 of 2 things going on. 1, not everyone in the RAM wants to be touched by you; or 2, you don’t wanna touch everyone in the RAM. Brands with self-important egos didn’t learn their lesson. Think about the last time you got the car warranty call. Think about the last instagram dm you got to buy followers. And these are just the obvious self-important egos.
Based on the self-esteem of the brand ego, you know there’s more you need to say no to. Something my momma used to say. Everything that’s good to you ain’t good for you.
So what does that mean at the RAM level. It means at this level everybody and they momma got a dollar. Yaaa for dollars. But what you need is folx with $5. The worth of your brand dictates that’s the minimum it will take. If the self-esteem of the brand starts to slip you will think about offering discounts. You’re afraid you’re gonna miss some money if you don’t.
Instead your brand stand 10 toes down on its brand identity and knowing its worth. So it says no. At the RAM level you have access to 1,455,000. In our perfect world only 75% of them have $5. That means you have to say no to another 363,750. That leaves you with 1,091,250.
That let you zoom into the 10,000 foot view. You’re still in the penthouse but you can see the available target market.
Available Target Market
If y’all have been hang’n with me for a minute, you know the ATM (available target market) is where the money resides. These are the folx who are most likely to buy what you’re selling. Everybody at this level got $5.
This is you talk’n to folx around the world who speak English and have $5. The folx with a $1 can hear you but they know they’re not ready for you. When they get their five they’ll know where to find you.
See, at this level you don’t have to people please or discount. Also you have the potential to make $5,456,250 instead of $1,445,000 at the reachable level. You’ve increased your potential for income by 74% just by saying no to what you don’t want.
At this level you can get into the details of demographic, geographic and the rest of it to find your ideal client. At this level you have a clearer view of who’s check’n for you.
To go any further down this rabbit hole is beyond the scope of this point. It’s the rabbit hole I go down with my clients to get them to say no. But I just want you to imagine the potential income if they were charging $10 or $100 at the ATM level. The math is ridiculous.
This is how I now know I left millions on the table despite making millions with our restaurants. Don’t be like the old me.
