“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit. ”
-Aristotle
The literal meaning of branding is to mark with a hot as fuck piece of metal, creating a permanent identity of what is branded.
Similarly, branding your business is also about permanence.
Instead of a 3000 degree piece of metal, its etched in through great design, constant communication, and high-quality work. Instead of a farmer trying to segregate you into his livestock, you have full control of how you will be branded.
A strong brand garners a shitload of attention when its at the peak. When increased demand through fantastic reputation creates its own demand, there is an exponential return in profits.
There are some brands that I appreciate so much, that I do the virtual equivalent of throwing cash at them.
When Jordan Peterson releases a pre-sale for his book, I’m going to bite. And without hesitation.
Consuming a great piece of content makes time irrelevant, in a good way. Great content puts you in the zone, in that flow state. And afterwards, you leave fulfilled and nourished.
Like this, a great brand creates anticipation because of the high expectations you have for how well it can serve you. We simply get excited for all things that make a huge impact in our lives.
Can it put us into the zone? Will we learn something that will make our lives significantly better? Will we be highly entertained? Aroused?
It could be your brand that does this. Your brand can one that people can’t wait to give money to. Line up for 7 days to give money to. Pre-ordered 2 months in advanced. That people fantasize about.
How Do Brands Get There?
What you’re giving in value initiates this strange give and take frenzy of consumerism.
In the beginning, practice giving value with no intent on reciprocation. Just service on your part… and good will. This is a way to practice getting to the authentic place you need to be so that people eventually enjoy your work. You can’t be in a flow state if you’re thinking about how people owe you.
It goes to say that building a great brand isn’t going to be easy! It’s hard to be underappreciated. Life sucks a lot when you’re working your ass off, hustling, and nobody cares. It’s hard to devote yourself and sacrifice your ego to some greater good – some brand that you’ve idealized.
But its certainly better than the alternative. To have nothing.
Inevitably, when people start to notice your competency and attitude, it’ll pay off, and you’ll eventually have it all.
Indeed, we humans are reciprocal creatures. I mean we feel obligated to pay people back. It’s literally etched into our DNA to behave this way and it makes sense to have an anti-selfish gene mechanism that helps us cooperate… and in turn, we win.
Knowing this about us, you will seek to win favor among a variety of people by just doing an extra favor for them – without them asking. Only out of your good-will, will you act. You will serve people with your competence.
You’ll run into many opportunities to do this in your day to day life, so the habit need never be fabricated or schemed…
It’s ego and delusion that makes us think that we don’t have any more opportunities to do any better for others. Look for where you can add more value, and you’ll certainly find them.
It’s impossible to not be a more happy, fulfilled, in the zone person if your goal is, wholeheartedly, to give value. How can you make something better in the very next moment?
With no demands, but only faith that it’ll mean a good and honorable life, you’ll act towards the favors of others.
Of course, you must still be focused on rewards – when the time comes you still strongly negotiate on your own behalf – your own favor being as important as others.
In fact, your competence gives you leverage, and this is a power you can exploit to your advantage.
In the quality of your daily work habits you build this brand of undying-service. Giving value. Inevitably, over time when word spreads, your value still reaches farther into people’s lives
A network of relationships begin to form around you – positively centered towards you. You’ve created a vibe. An aura. A brand.
You can get culty. If you want.
I digress.
Now, increased is your attractiveness to potential business partners, customers, and new friends.
At the end of the day, people simply want to have what other people are enjoying. This includes relationships. Rare metals. Bitcoin. And brands.
Get To Work Then
This section is about the amazingly boring topic of effort, work, and focus. It’s a topic that people like to avoid because a lot of people, simply, don’t have grit to put in real work. They want to build a brand off of fancy design and cool catch phrases.
No doubt, this painstaking focus on gradual improvement will eventually pay-off when new levels are reached, but it doesn’t make it any fun to toil in the dirt getting there. Most people have a hard time with this.
Indeed, the habit of willfully taking on pain-in-the-ass activities is gruesomely tiring and incredibly frustrating. Full of failures, rejections, and burn-outs, being high-output is something that requires practice.
Like with any skill set you practice, you’ll need to ramp up to higher and higher levels.
You simply have to build the capacity to pay attention to details, and be effective with your actions towards those details so that you get results.
Eventually, it gets easy though – like how you would get competent at anything you focus on. Like how a marathon runner warms up with a 4 minute mile.
Additionally, it helps if you idealize a perception of the brand you want, and visualize your lifestyle that said brand entitles you to. As long as you attribute your actions to the attainment of them, fantasies can help you stay disciplined towards your craft.
From there you can find a burst of energy, some motivation – even though it’s fleeting. Do a dopamine detox, so that those burst of motivation can help you rearrange your cravings, so that you crave hard-work and excellence instead of sedation and expediency.
Attribution of your actions to specific goals is key.
Final Thoughts
Understand the key components to shaping your brand, and focus on improving them.
No, that’s not a logo, or cool advertisements. Focus on improving your quality of work and value to others.