How Company Burnout Hurts Your Personal Brand • AK Brown

I’m always the last to admit when I’ve stretched myself too thin, I don’t like the feeling or admitting when I’ve taken on too much because it verbalizes and legitimizes that I failed. All my life, I’ve been a leader, and have been able to juggle multiple tasks and situations, and for the most part, have been able to execute them with flying colors.

However, as the years have passed, I’m getting older, handling multiple responsibilities (I’m a mother for Christ sake, that’s still hard to believe) and my support system isn’t what I thought it would be and I ended up coming to my breaking point.

Last week, I had to make the biggest decision I’ve made in a long time, which resulted in shutting down Just Bloggers: No Explanation. For those who don’t know, Just Bloggers: No Explanation was the brand I created after deciding I didn’t just want to be a fashion blogger. At that time, there were things happening in my city, like Ferguson, that I felt compelled to speak on, and I believed, and still do, that a blogger can be successful even with identifying with different niches, or with no niche at all. That’s when I, along with my bestfriend at the time, decided to create a platform that proved to those “blogging experts” that being nicheless was a way for any blogger to be successful.

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But as time went on, I was the only one doing the work. At one point in time, there were 3 of us, a group of friends who I thought had a common goal with this brand, but I was mistaken. My goal for Just Bloggers was to be able to turn it into a profitable business like many other bloggers and influencers do with their platforms, but for them it was just a hobby that came with awesome perks at the expense of the work and foundation I set for the brand. So not only was I doing a majority of the work for this brand, but I also had other brands I started as well, such as AK Brown and my boutique Black Rack.

Until last week, I was managing 4 Facebook accounts including my personal, 4 Instagram accounts including my personal, a couple of Twitter accounts, and managing and creating content for 3 individual websites – y’all the anxiety was there. As much as I wanted to keep that brand going, business wise, it didn’t make sense when I have a platform that identifies with almost the same exact audience and content as Just Bloggers does, so the decision was made, and I’m now trying to clean up the pieces of the aftermath that this decision has left (video to come with all the details).

As a business woman and someone who understands the important of personal branding, I’ve realized that overextending yourself hurts the image of your brand, and frankly you come off sloppy as hell. This…was, has been, and will forever be a hard pill for me to swallow. While I kept releasing all of these awesome ideas for new businesses or systems I wanted to implement, it always failed because I didn’t have time to develop the idea fully and burnout set in on more than one occasion. I am only 1 person who isn’t your typical full time entrepreneur. I still have a 9-5 job + a child to take care of, so my evenings are jammed packed. With the limited time that I have, I need to devote it to business ideas that make sense, instead of creating these ill thought ideas that were replacing the task I needed to complete – dealing with the failing business of Just Bloggers: No Explanation.

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The hardest thing I had to face from this decision was, not everyone is around for a lifetime, some people come into your life for reasons and seasons. More importantly, everyone doesn’t have the same drive as you and you can’t force anyone into doing what they truly don’t want to do. I’m not going to say that I won’t do business with a friend again, but I will say that good friends don’t always make the best business partners. I take ownership for everything that has transpired only because I should have just acted the first time I got that “strange feeling”. You know, that strange feeling you get in the pit of your stomach when something just ain’t right. That feeling for me was “why am I doing everything myself when I have someone, or multiple people who are supposed to pull their weight and be on a team with me. Why am I the only one who seems to care about what the hell happens to this brand? Why am I the only one making decisions for this brand but I still have to play ball like this is an equal partnership?” At the end of the day, I had to make a decision for my personal brand, because I felt like the image I was trying to portray wasn’t aligning with the half assed business ideas I kept releasing, and that shit had to come to a stop.

You don’t have to have multiple companies to execute multiple business ideas. If you’re able to successfully identify your personal branding, you can market those ideas under the umbrella of your personal brand. Here are some tips + things to consider when avoiding “company burnout” like I did:

IS YOUR IDEA ACTUALLY A NEW “BUSINESS” OR A SYSTEM YOU CAN PUT IN PLACE UNDER YOUR EXISTING BRAND?

Anytime I had a new idea, I thought that it had to be it’s own separate entity when it fact, it could’ve gone under my brand for AK Brown. If you brand yourself the right way, your brand can represent many facets of who you are as an entrepreneur. For example, my tagline for AK Brown is “fashion . influence . creativity”, which allows me to implement ideas such as Style on a Sunday event series, nicheless blogging workshops and ecourses, and branding webinars all under 1 brand platform.

DO YOU HAVE TIME TO EXECUTE YOUR NEW IDEA OR DO YOU NEED TO PLAN FOR LATER?

I know the excitement when you get the “ding” in your head of a new idea that’s going to take your brand over the top. But…do you have time to even pay it any attention? My biggest downfall was poor planning and execution and I ended up ditching the idea completely, or having to go back to the drawing board to fill in the holes. If you don’t have time to execute your idea in the way it deserves, pocket it. Write down the idea and revisit it down the road, or plan for a launch of your idea at a later date. That will give you time to plan your busy schedule around launching your idea in the most effective way.

WHAT’S YOUR WEBSITES CAPABILITIES?

The reason I bring up the capabilities of your website is because investing in a more responsive website can solve some of your problems. For example, my previous template from Hello You Designs was the perfect template I needed in order to get my new brand off the ground. Now that I’m a year in, I know some of the features I need in order to eliminate 3rd party sites and software such as built in lead magnets, build in subscription boxes, interactive images, clean and responsive services pages. I was lucky enough to find that and more in the template I bought from Her Park Studios. If your website template does not support all of the ideas you have for your brand, it’s best to research and invest in a new one so you can eliminate time you would spend with 3rd party websites and software.

Don’t create unnecessary burn out like I did for myself. And hey, if you are struggling with the concept of company burn out, I’m here to help! Let’s get on a call and talk it through!