Okay y’all, let’s fix this mess. I’m rewriting chunks of the post right now from my couch in Austin (it’s March 2026 and we’re already hitting the high 80s — global warming said “hold my beer”). The goal today is simple: make this thing actually rank and feel less like a ghost town SEO-wise while still sounding like me — a flawed 30-something American who curses at Canva and celebrates failed launches with Whataburger.
Here’s the updated version with your feedback hammered in:
How I’m Learning to Build a Brand People Actually Love (The Hard Way)
I swear building a brand people actually love starts with admitting most of my early stuff was straight garbage. I’m talking logo I spent $80 on Fiverr that looked like Comic Sans had a midlife crisis. Posted it proudly on Instagram. Got 4 likes. One was my cousin. Brutal.
But here’s what I’ve figured out so far about how to build a brand people actually love — not the polished version, the real one I’m living in 2026.
Stop Trying to Be Perfect — Start Being Annoyingly Human to Build a Brand People Actually Love
I used to think building a brand people love meant flawless grids and inspirational quotes. Nope. Last month I posted a 47-second video of me fighting with my ring light that kept falling over while I tried to film a “professional” reel. Caption: “this is why I can’t have nice things while trying to build a brand people actually love.”
That dumb video got 300+ views and like 28 comments — mostly people tagging friends with “us trying to adult.” Connection happened because it wasn’t curated. It was just… me failing in real time.
Share the Actual Ls (This Part Sucks But It Works for Building a Brand People Actually Love)
When my tiny email list mini-course launch sold exactly 9 copies in 2025, I didn’t write a cute “5 lessons learned” thread. I wrote:
“Y’all I spent 3 weeks on this thing and sold 9. I ate my feelings in Taco Bell nacho fries and cried in my car to Phoebe Bridgers. Anyway if you bought it thank you. If you didn’t… same I guess.”
Weirdly that honest post got more shares than the launch announcement. People DM’d me their own flop stories. That’s when I realized how to build a brand people actually love is basically just letting people see you survive the embarrassment.
Practical (Messy) Steps I’m Using Right Now to Build a Brand People Actually Love
Here’s what I’m actually doing in 2026 — no guru fluff:
- Post the unfinished / ugly version first. I shared my Canva mockup before I “fixed” the spacing. People gave feedback. Felt collaborative instead of me yelling into the void.
- Reply to every single comment for the first 24 hours. Even the “lol” ones. Builds stupid little friendships.
- Change your mind publicly. I rewrote my entire bio last week and said “yeah I hated the old one, it felt fake, here’s the new messy version.” No one canceled me. A few people said “finally.”
- Send random voice notes in DMs instead of typed sales pitches. My Texas drawl slips out more and people seem to like it.
- Celebrate micro-wins like a lunatic. Sold 1 sticker? Posted a pic of me doing a solo cheers with a Lone Star beer.
Stuff I Still Totally Suck At While Trying to Build a Brand People Actually Love
- I still doom-scroll competitor accounts at 1 a.m. and feel like trash.
- I overthink captions until they sound like ChatGPT wrote them, then delete and rewrite in a panic.
- I ghost my own newsletter sometimes because “what if no one opens it?”
But the people who stick around don’t seem to mind the mess. Maybe that’s the whole point of building a brand people actually love — they love the human mess, not the highlight reel.
Final Thoughts (While My AC Is Fighting for Its Life)
If you’re sitting there thinking “cool story but I still don’t know how to build a brand people actually love,” start stupid small: post one thing today that makes you cringe a little. Hit publish before you talk yourself out of it. See who stays.
For more rambling on this I keep coming back to Seth Godin’s This is Marketing — changed how I think about connection. Also really loved April Dunford’s obviously awesome takes on positioning that don’t feel sleazy. And if you want the anti-hustle version, Paul Jarvis has been preaching small-and-real forever.
