, I get asked on a daily basis. “I was wondering how to really get it out there,” they say or “Do you have any guidance on what you did when you started?”

I get asked this often, by you, because it’s a relatively easy task. One Tumblr click away. “How do you start a brand?” But for me, it’s near impossible to answer. It would take me a day to write Step One.

I wish my answer could be this straightforward: “I can tell you how we started our brand. But I can’t tell you how to start your brand.” Because it’s the truth. What worked for us is most likely not going to work for you. 1) Because we already did it and 2) In case you haven’t noticed, I’m a different person from you.

When you whittle it down, Branding is about personal connection. I’m a firm believer that we all strive for connection – through relationships, familiarity, community, interaction, touch… And whereas marketing and advertising are about selling and convincing, Branding comes down to relating. Personalizing. Sharing. It’s what people do with people they like. It’s what draws us to the ones we consider friends.

“How do you start a brand?” You’ve already started. From the moment your eyes opened, you started. You started the brand of You, which is the strongest, most cohesive, most believable and trustworthy brand on the market; the best brand you can offer because no one does it better, no one knows it better than you do. I can’t really tell you how to make your t-shirts or how to sell them. I can’t tell you what your logo should look like or whether you should even have one. Which stores to stock? What’s the price tag? Who’s the customer? These are exciting problems that are best solved by you. As long as you write and tell your story, work diligently and continuously on the best representation of yourself, then it will be unique and special, inviting and intriguing, fresh and outside the box. It will be you, unadulterated.

Start there.

by bobbyhundreds