Some entrepreneurs start off with the wrong brand or business concept. Many don’t realize how critical beginning with the right brand is. It is the foundation of your business. In this episode of The Brand ON! Show, Brandon Coleman Jr breaks down why most entrepreneurs screw this up—rushing through branding, trusting the wrong people, or inheriting a mess they’re too nervous to fix. A bad brand won’t just slow you down—it’ll cost you millions. Brandon shares real-world cases where businesses went from stuck to skyrocketing just by getting their brand right. If you’re coasting on a “good enough” brand, you’re leaving money on the table. Tune in, get real, and turn your Brand ON!
————
Ask Brandon ANY Question!
https://www.brandoncolemanjr.com/brand-on/#index
Order Brand ON! The Book
https://www.brandoncolemanjr.com/order-book/
————
Connect and Follow Brandon Coleman Jr
Email: bcj@brandoncolemanjr.com
Website: http://www.brandoncolemanjr.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandoncolemanjr/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@brandoncolemanjrofficial
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/officialbrandoncolemanjr
————
Transcript (with chapter marks)
00:00:42 The Fifth Pothole
Brandon Coleman Jr: There are seven potholes that will absolutely sink your brand. These are the ones I’ve seen for over 50 years, and they continue day by day. I get to witness them. Pothole number five is the wrong brand concept. The starting or growing a business is a juggling act, engineering, production, finance, HR, and brand often get shoved to the back burner.
00:01:37 A Brand in Shackles
Brandon Coleman Jr: I once asked a new client how he picked his company name. He shrugged and said, well, Brandon, we’d hit a wall brainstorming…. When we finally tackled it, realigning the brand kicked the elephant out. Their business didn’t just grow. It detonated. It blew up. The wrong concept had been a shackle. The right one was rocket fuel to their profits.
00:04:21 The Blind Leading the Blind
Brandon Coleman Jr: Number two is amateur input. The blind leading the blind. Most branding help isn’t expert. It’s convenient, that kid with a brand-new marketing degree, green, not seasoned. They mean well, the convenient local firm. They might be the one if you live in the right place, or they might just turn graphics and AI can spit out marketing fodder for their presentation, but they usually can’t align your brand online gigs. It’s a hit or miss, usually a miss.
00:05:58 Inherited Baggage
Brandon Coleman Jr: Number three, inherited baggage, the hand me down, headache, not every brand’s your baby. Acquire a company or join one, you might inherit a concept that’s DOA, dead on arrival, a name that’s dated, a vibe that’s off, a position that’s muddled. You didn’t choose it, but you’re stuck selling it.
00:07:40 Performance Must Match Promise
Brandon Coleman Jr: Mismatched foundations. Crash hard. Performance has to match the promise. Branding is a megaphone, not a miracle. If the concept is broken, just don’t waste your time.
00:09:00 Priority Number One
Brandon Coleman Jr: The wrong brand concept isn’t just a misstep, it’s a pothole that can absolutely destroy your alignment, sink you entirely: rushing your picks, trusting amateurs, inheriting clunkers or building on unstable sand… The right way to lead is to treat brand alignment as priority number one, not an off-afterthought. That’s why real brand alignment leadership comes from the top.
00:11:23 The Bottomline
Brandon Coleman Jr: Sometimes, the most obvious thing gets right past you. Sometimes you’re driving that beautiful, fast car so quickly down the road that you’re just avoiding the potholes, and you’re so used to it, you’re just ducking and dodging and diving them and you’re not realizing that the road you’re driving on is not that smooth. You’re just hitting them and bonking them and moving all around them.