Branding is not just your logo, your colors, or your website. It is the experience people have when they interact with your business and the leadership that shapes everything behind the scenes. If you are focused on building a brand that grows with you, not just building something that looks good at the start, you are in the right place.

In this episode of The Branded Impact Podcast, I sit down with Kannyn January, Founder and CEO of Ambiance Luxury Boutique, a luxury women’s retail brand with two brick-and-mortar locations and an online store.

We talk about what it really takes to build a meaningful, profitable brand, especially when the journey includes pivots, setbacks, and hard seasons.

You will learn how Kannyn bought a business at 23 with an SBA loan. She grew from one location to four and then scaled back. Her biggest growth came from investing in people, culture, and execution, not just visuals.

This conversation is an honest look at leadership, brand evolution, and why progress, not perfection is what builds longevity.

🎧 Listen on Spotify | Apple Podcasts
📺 Watch on YouTube

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Key Takeaways from This Episode

• Leadership shapes brand experience more than visuals ever will.
• Culture, training, and expectations determine how your brand is felt both online and in person.
• Management is mechanical. Leadership is emotional.
• More is not always more. Scaling can increase sales while decreasing profit and peace if your systems are not ready.
• Rebranding is often a sign of growth, not failure.
• Execution is the missing link between a beautiful brand and a profitable one.
• Progress beats perfection. Sustainable brands are built through iteration and consistency.

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Leadership vs. Management: The Difference That Changes Everything

Kannyn shared one of the simplest and most powerful breakdowns of leadership I have heard.

Management is mechanical.
It focuses on process, tasks, and logistics.

Leadership is emotional.
It centers on culture, communication, and buy-in.

That distinction matters because leadership determines whether your team feels invested enough to bring ideas forward, solve problems, and protect the customer experience.

“Leadership will determine the culture in your business.”
Kannyn January

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Scaling Smart: Why More Is Not Always More

Kannyn scaled her retail business to four locations and learned a lesson many founders only realize after burnout.

More locations, more offers, and more moving pieces do not automatically mean more profit.

COVID amplified this reality, but the deeper issue was operational strain, especially when hiring and leadership systems were not built to support remote locations.

“We were doing more in sales, but there were so many more moving pieces that I was drowning in the work.”
Kannyn January

Scaling should support your life and vision, not slowly erode it.

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Branding Beyond Logos: Culture, Systems, and Experience

One of my favorite moments in this conversation is that Kannyn talked about branding for a long time before ever mentioning a logo.

Most customers do not come back because of a logo.
They come back because of how you made them feel.

Consistency comes from:

• Clear expectations
• Training and onboarding
• Customer service standards
• Cleanliness and environment
• A team empowered to handle issues as if you were there yourself

“It’s the experience and the connection.”
Kannyn January

This is branding.

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Building a Brand That Grows With You as You Evolve

Kannyn has owned her business for over 20 years and has rebranded multiple times because she has evolved.

At 23, she made branding decisions based on what she could afford.
Today, she designs a brand that reflects luxury, timelessness, and expansion.

If you have outgrown your current branding, you are not behind.
You are evolving.

“The business has matured and grown up as I’ve matured and grown up.”
Kannyn January

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Execution Over Perfection: Your Brand Does Not Work Until You Implement It

This is where many business owners get stuck.

They invest in a logo, website, and photos.
Then they stop.

A brand only becomes powerful when it is executed consistently across:

• Website and messaging
• Social media and visibility
• Client experience and onboarding
• Team training and culture

“You’ve got to execute.”
Kannyn January

A beautiful brand without execution is just potential.

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Guest Links

🌐 Website: https://www.shopambiance.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kannyn-january-388a0a16/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ShopAmbianceSLO
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/shopambiance/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shopambiance/

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About The Branded Impact Podcast

The Branded Impact Podcast is hosted by Jo Espejo, Founder of Branding by Jo, helping women-led businesses align visuals, messaging, and systems so they can show up with confidence, attract the right clients, and scale with ease.

New episodes deliver real conversations and actionable strategy to help you stop guessing and start building a brand that actually works.

Explore Other Episodes of The Branded Impact Podcast

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Work With Branding by Jo

If this episode had you thinking,
“Okay… I need my brand to match the business I’m becoming,”
here are two ways to take the next step:

Book a Visual Brand Audit
A clear, honest look at what is working, what is causing confusion, and what to shift so your brand connects and converts.

Explore Our Services
For CEOs who want brand alignment and execution support so their visibility, systems, and client experience scale together.
Branding by Jo Services

Full Branded Impact Podcast Episode Transcript

Below is the full transcript from this episode of The Branded Impact Podcast for those who prefer to read or reference the conversation.

00:00 Building a Meaningful Brand

02:23 The Importance of Leadership in Business

04:39 Scaling and Managing Growth

06:38 The Evolution of Branding

09:04 Lessons from Scaling Back

11:03 The Role of Experience in Branding

12:47 Executing Your Brand Vision

14:47 Finding Your Unique Brand Identity

17:24 The Journey of Entrepreneurship

19:43 Final Thoughts on Progress and Mentorship

Jo Espejo (00:18)

Hello, welcome back. In this episode of the Branded Impact podcast, I am sitting down with Kannyn January quarter founder and CEO of Ambience to talk about the real work behind building a meaningful, profitable brand, especially when the journey includes setbacks, pivots, and hard seasons. And I don’t know about you, but I know that so many of us have encountered those. So Kannyn, thank you so much for joining me today. I am so excited to learn.

Kannyn January (00:42)

Thank you for having me.

Jo Espejo (00:43)

and more about you. So if you can start, talk to me about why you found it ambience and what is it and what do do?

Kannyn January (00:49)

Ambience is a women’s upscale retail clothing store. have two brick and mortar locations and an online location. And I actually worked there in college while I got my biochemistry degree and then took out an SBA loan at 23 to purchase the business from the previous owner. It’s very, very bold.

Jo Espejo (01:10)

what made you decide to leave it from biochemistry?

Kannyn January (01:13)

Yeah, I, well, I wanted to buy the business. had grandiose dreams of turning it into something even more than it was, which we have now, but I had no idea what I was doing at that time and sell it and pay for med school. And God had a very different plan for my life because I met my husband and I had my son and I had to figure out how to make retail work so that we, I could help.

support my family.

Jo Espejo (01:39)

Very cool. And yeah, sometimes best laid intentions and then God’s like, Hey, funny, I had a different plan for you.

It’s like being open and willing to pivot because sometimes our plans, like we didn’t really realize what that could mean. You know, our young selves don’t know what that looks like.

Kannyn January (01:46)

Right.

Yeah, there’s a really good saying, I love this saying, if you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans.

Jo Espejo (01:57)

I think that one’s a good one or I like to say that God likes to think I’m stronger than I am because you know they say like they God won’t give you something that you can’t handle and I’m like okay really I think you think I’m stronger than I am like we’re we’re being tested

Kannyn January (02:04)

more than you.

Jo Espejo (02:10)

if your now self could go back to your younger self, is there something that stands out as far as you wish you would have done sooner or maybe avoid it altogether?

Kannyn January (02:21)

I probably would have.

sought out support sooner. I worked with a retail analyst, I think a year after I bought the business. what I have learned over the 21 years of doing this was from other people, right? talking to and asking questions of people who have, it doesn’t have to be the same type of industry, but have built successful businesses.

because there is a formula. I also would have taken some leadership courses because I had no idea how to lead a team or manage people. So I would have invested in that a lot sooner.

Jo Espejo (02:58)

That’s an interesting take. I don’t think I’ve heard leadership come up ⁓ as often.

But I do hear a common theme is that a lot of us wish we would have reached out for mentorship or taken that approach sooner. And I think there’s plenty of people out there. And that’s really the foundation, too, of this podcast. In a lot of ways is that we want to give back and we want to help people shorten that learning curve so that you can get there faster. And it’s not a negative thing. We get an education so that somebody can teach us something that we don’t know. But then I find that a lot of people get into

entrepreneurship and then feel like they have to do it alone. Like they just got to figure it out.

Kannyn January (03:32)

I think that as we make mistakes, which we will inevitably do, we can often carry a little shame around that. And so it’s hard to go to people who you perceive as doing a lot better than you and say, you hey, I did this and it didn’t turn out well. And what would you do? And how would you pivot?

People tend to be very generous of spirit, especially people who have owned their own business because like any of us, at some point there was failure, there was struggle. And so they can often relate even if in this moment in their life, they’re finding a lot of success. Yeah, and I think leadership even more so than management and they’re different in the way that they show up in your business is incredibly important.

Jo Espejo (04:16)

So when you say leadership versus management, what does that look like and what does that mean to you?

Kannyn January (04:20)

Well, management is mechanical. Leadership is emotional. Leadership will determine the culture in your business. will determine how you show others how to show up. It’s not the day-to-day work as much as it’s the…

investment in the business. know, you every, all of us want our employees to be invested. All of us want our employees to bring ideas. that will happen through leadership development within you and your team.

Jo Espejo (04:53)

did you find that the effects of it were additional motivation? Just that stream lands into the management piece too though, doesn’t it? Because it’s how you deal with situations differently.

Kannyn January (05:01)

Well, you’re investing in your people when you’re doing different types of training. I’m implementing something called EOS, Entrepreneurial Operating System, in my business.

And you end up having a leadership team that you’re meeting with on a regular cadence. And some people have been in leadership positions for a long time, but really haven’t had the opportunity to know what that means. I think a lot of us default to whatever we learned growing up in terms of how we show up for people or how we communicate our expectations, how we respond to difficult situations.

oftentimes they’re not really what the business needs or what your team needs. So you’re having to, you know, learn and adopt new tools so you’re lifting everybody up with you. Where I think that oftentimes the word leadership and management get intertwined. you can manage behaviors, but you really can’t manage people. You have to lead them.

You know, and I’ll give you an example for me. It used to be that I would want to hire people and I’d want to hang on to them. Like my whole hope was that like, I’m going to hire you and I’m going to train you and I want to keep you here. you know, people would leave. feel so upset and I take it so personally. and as I’ve grown as a leader, realized, that’s your, know, to think that we’re in control is again, it’s laughable.

My goal is to bring people in, build them up so that wherever they go, whatever they do in the next chapter of their life, people are blown away. Like, where did you work? What did you do? Because they have skills and they can show up in a way that impacts that next business, that next path that they’re going to be on.

Jo Espejo (06:38)

I like that mindset shift and it is hard. I want to shift the conversation a little bit now because this is something that I so many entrepreneurs struggle with is letting go. So developing people and then having the confidence that you can do more with others help. So you have two brick and mortar locations and an online store. So when you bought the business, did it have multiple locations

Kannyn January (06:58)

I had up to four locations. More is not always more.

Jo Espejo (07:02)

Okay. More is not always more. But I want to start with when you made the decision to grow because having two brick and mortar locations, it’s impossible to be in two places at once. So how did you do that with the branding? How did you do that with the people? Because there’s

A lot of times we have a hard time scaling and expanding because we’re afraid that no one is going to do it as well as we do, or is it going to follow through the service the same way? Or I know a lot of times when it’s not necessarily a retail store, but it’s a service provider, they’re like, people are coming to me and expecting to see me, not somebody else. So how did you overcome some of those obstacles when you decided to open another one and then eventually four locations?

Kannyn January (07:43)

Well,

I cloned myself, so it made it really easy for me to be in both locations at the same time. I threw trial and error. I think that I’ve had all those thoughts or experienced, you know, situations that would reinforce those ideas, you know, but if you train your team correctly,

Jo Espejo (07:47)

You

Kannyn January (08:03)

It is like you’re there, right? If you create a culture where here are my expectations around how we deal with a customer issue, how we give service, how we maintain the cleanliness of the business, then it is like you’re there. I have my operations director and I work a lot and she’s amazing.

And I said to her recently, we can’t work any harder to grow. The growth will come from the people that we lift up around us. Their competency is really what’s gonna enable us to grow. again, it’s a mindset shift in letting go. I had someone tell me that…

They made the most money they ever did in business when they started giving pieces of their business away. So I know that there is a, there’s like a surrender or letting go that really frees up your time in my business, I’m considered the visionary. In order to have great ideas, you have to have the mental capacity to do it. And if you’re working in the business.

It’s really hard to do that. You have to work a certain amount on the business it’s like an 80-20, right? And then if you’re the visionary, you have to come up with ideas in order to…

stay relevant. I’m in retail. Retail is, feel like as time goes on, things kind of are speeding up in terms of the expectations from your clients and having to market correctly. just when you think you figured it out, the algorithm changes.

Jo Espejo (09:32)

I hear you talking about when you did the locations, it’s the system, it’s the culture. Is that how you feel it was with the branding too? Because I think it’s so important that people, when they walk into one location, they have the same feeling and experience. So what did you do to ensure that your, your branding was intact?

And then it sounds like a big piece of it was training your people because you talk about the customer service, the cleanliness of the building and all those pieces. But what were the key focus points? Did both locations have the same look, feel, touch, or did they have two different vibes when you decided to do that?

Kannyn January (10:03)

slightly different vibes because they’re both kind of a reflection of the town that they’re in. I’ve rebranded several times. I’m actually in a process of rebranding right now. And it’s that idea that the business has matured and grown up as I’ve matured and grown up. And I don’t know if you read that book.

What got you here won’t get you there, as you’re starting out in business, you know, either certain things you have to learn to get to a certain point, but then you can’t keep doing that to get to that next point you have to, sometimes when you’re starting off, you don’t have as much money, right? You’re not investing your bootstrapping a lot of this, especially when it comes to like to branding and packaging and you’re more focused on cost than

the customer experience. So as you grow, you have more of an opportunity to look at, you know, the customer journey and how each time they connect with your brand, what does that feel like? I think branding is very important and not just in for today, which is different than when I opened the business or bought the business.

Now you have to look at your social media branding, like how many social media platforms are you going to be on? And then you have paid advertising, emails. There are so many places. So having a cohesive brand is really important.

Jo Espejo (11:18)

it sounds like you have to struggle in retail and the fact that you have a cohesive brand and you want to give that feel, but then you’re also battling the fact that the buildings look different. And then there’s only so many things that you can control. But I still think ultimately it can be done.

Now you mentioned

I think we want it now. I’m like, you keep telling me good points. I’m like, okay, I got to remember to go back to because earlier you said more is not always more. So talk to me about that because you said you went from one to four and now you’re back down to two brick and mortar. So what were some of the lessons that you learned that made you scale back down?

Kannyn January (11:41)

Yes.

well, COVID was a hard lesson for all of us. I think that, especially when I was younger, like I was so ambitious and I felt like I had to grow a specific way to grow. in my mind, was continuing to add other stores, managing. I mean, I have.

Such respect for retailers who have stores in different cities in different states, know I think my furthest store was like five hours from me if there is an issue you got to hop in the car drive drop everything and drive five hours to Help figure out what’s going on. I mean you would ideally would like a team That could support that but hiring

and the two cities I opened was incredibly challenging. Hiring is a challenge, I think, for most businesses today, more so than it was a couple of years ago, especially pre-COVID. But again, you have to have time to come up with creative ideas to make sure that your structure and your training and all of that is really,

organized and set up and then being executed. I think that until you have that down to just to continue to grow is going to create a lot of chaos and a lot of stress and not necessarily making more profitable or making more money. mean, we were doing more in sales, but there were so many more moving pieces that I was kind of drowning in the work.

Jo Espejo (13:14)

I think the just trying to figure out what that balance looks like and the systems are key.

everything that Kannyn is talking about with the branding, she has yet to mention logo and she has yet to mention color and any of those pieces. Her focus has all been on team, culture and experience. And that’s what carries through the branding. And then the other piece that I wanted to kind of revisit was you mentioned that your brand has evolved. And I think this is a piece that a lot of people forget that is an option because what we started with when we were doing it ourselves,

we were bootstrapping or what we envisioned for our brand, our life, it’s okay that it pivots. So then what has gotten you usage or rebranding again? What are some of the things that you’re revisiting in this rebrand?

Kannyn January (13:53)

things that I hadn’t even considered or thought about at 23. I mean, at 23, I bought a brand, An established brand. I wanted single mark for a logo so that we could use it because we are, manufacturing our own goods.

I wanted it to really reflect how we’ve grown. Now I consider ourselves, you know, a luxury brand. So I wanted the brand to reflect that. I wanted something that was timeless. I could send you, I think I have probably six or seven.

logos in the 21 years that I’ve owned this business. And some of them were super fun, but not, they don’t age well,

I mean, I’m really excited about our new brand. actually breaks down into design that we can print on our tissue paper. We’re going to make garment bags. We’re doing a lot more than we’ve ever done. And I wanted a logo that would enable us to do that and look elevated.

Jo Espejo (14:48)

That’s awesome. And I think that’s a piece too. We get to do that as we grow and we get to build. So you start somewhere and you bought an existing brand. So there’s a lot of already those decisions already made for you, but then you’ve pivoted and you’ve changed. And if you didn’t catch it, she said that she’s got at least six or seven variations. I don’t even know what variation of a logo I’m on myself. And I even changed my business name. I’ve changed my demographic. I’ve changed my chart. It’s just been, and for me, it’s been an evolution of

Leaning into it really brings me joy and what serves for this season of my life. So it’s a little different because I’m not in retail, I’m service provider. But when I first got into photography, I was doing weddings and it was fun and I loved it. And I love capturing special moments, but then I was gone every Saturday and Sunday. And then as my son got into sports age, I was like, wow, I don’t want to be missing sports games. And then I started blocking my calendar and I’m like, well, that doesn’t really work for a business model. And in Florida,

we have wedding season pretty much all year round. I was like, well, that’s not going to really work. So then I made that pivot and shifted out of weddings. And then as I started, and I finally went full time, branding kind of fell in my lap. And I love the fact that I could marry like my business experience from everything I had done growing up and gone to college for with the creative side, but selfishly, it also allowed me to create space for being the type of mom I wanted to be. And I no longer had to worry about scheduling brand photo sessions during

golden hour, which is the best time for family photos, but also happens to be the time that my children have to be traveled in two different places at the same time. And so I’m like, how do I coordinate dropping off two children and getting to a photo session and back? And if anybody knows Florida, most popular time of year to get photos is also heavy rain season. So then I was having to reschedule and cancel and it was a whole fun thing, but then I pivoted again.

I remember my first iteration of a logo I thought was absolutely gorgeous, loved it on the computer. I walked into a networking event that I had sponsored and I knew it was my logo from across the room, but I was like, for the love, you can’t read it. Like it’s too fancy and script and it didn’t work. I was like, that’s great. So then I had to go back and revisit it again because it didn’t work. So as you guys are envisioning your brand, think

One of the things I would love to encourage is just get started and then don’t be afraid to pivot and look at it and take into consideration things like, this timeless or is it trendy? Are you going to outgrow it? And then if you do, that’s okay. Then just make that pivot and shift.

Kannyn January (17:03)

And you will outgrow

it. Your taste will change and your business will change and your logo will need to change. Even like YSL and Gucci and all those big brands, they change their logos. They’ll all move one direction and then decide they don’t like that anymore and move another direction. Free People, it’s a brand that I used to carry years ago.

They changed their brand every couple of Within the brand, had different logos.

Jo Espejo (17:30)

Yes, from a branding perspective, I also say be mindful because it’s a lot, it’s a very big expense. And then you’ve got brand recognition. I also like to encourage trying something for a little while and seeing if it fits. But at the end of the day, most of us are not shopping because of a logo. We do not return to because of a logo. go

Kannyn January (17:49)

It’s the experience and the connection.

Jo Espejo (17:51)

the experience and the.

Kannyn January (17:51)

Well, not everyone’s going to like

your logo. You need to like it. I mean, we just rebranded and some designer really didn’t like it. I was like, I don’t care. It’s not for you. It’s for me.

Jo Espejo (18:08)

I was like, we’re not here to serve everyone. So you have to love it because you have to have, this is what lights me up the most about working with brands and rebranding is when they get excited about their brand and they feel connected to their branding. And that gives them the confidence and the courage and the desire to get out there and share it. Because the worst thing that you can have, and this is what I see happen so many times, which is really when people start to pivot and they want to rebrand, they’ll say something like, here’s my business card, but.

Kannyn January (18:09)

No.

Jo Espejo (18:32)

like excuse the whatever or, that photo is awful or it just doesn’t feel disconnected. And if you’re finding yourself not wanting to get out there and share your branding, or you don’t want to create the marketing materials, one, could just be, you’re not creative and that’s not your strong suit, which is fine. But usually what I find is that there’s a disconnect. And so you’re looking at your branding and no longer feel connected to this. I’ve grown up, I’ve outgrown this. I want to be excited about my branding. I want it to match the vision that I have.

And then that’s given you the excitement to be like, I’m going to print this on a garment bag. I’m going to do the tissue paper. I’m going to elevate my experience. And what does that look like? And that’s the beauty of evolving and growing. Your brand continues to get to that next level. And that’s okay. You just have to be mindful of how often you’re doing it.

Kannyn January (19:16)

expensive. And I would say also, be mindful of what you’re going to use it for. I can’t remember the type of brand I was looking for, but it’s kind of like, how Disney, you can break it down. So it’s just the D, right? you can use it in so many different formats and it’s still recognizable as Disney, right?

Jo Espejo (19:36)

Yes.

Kannyn January (19:36)

And so I wanted something like that because I know I had so many different things that I needed to use it for.

Jo Espejo (19:43)

I also want to recommend that if you are going to do a rebrand, you have to stop using the old stuff. So you have to be ready to commit.

to fully changing over because then it causes confusion, but that’s where it can get expensive or just time consuming. And I don’t think we realize how many things have our branding until you do a rebrand and then you find it everywhere. You’re like, my gosh, like it is in all of the things. And then you have to commit to changing your life.

Kannyn January (20:02)

Yes.

especially in my…

Well, especially online. You you don’t realize how many platforms you have. They have either either captured your brand or are using a logo. Just from being in business.

Jo Espejo (20:17)

One, I just came across one the other day and I changed my branding three years ago and I just stumbled across a directory that still had my old stuff. And I’m like, my goodness, where’d this come from? How did I miss it? And this is again, sometimes you talk to the adage that we’re like, those of us that do, it’s like what the cobblers kids don’t have shoes because there’s too busy helping everybody else. You know, with the running the brand agency, my branding usually takes backseat to all of my clients that

I need to take care of first. the bandwidth. think the biggest takeaways that I’m taking from are you have to be willing to invest in the people. And you said that earlier, the people that invest and have teams help them grow are the ones that go further. Because if we try to keep it all ourselves, we’re going to bottleneck our business. So you’ve got two brick and mortar locations. You’ve got an online business, you’re expanding and you’re growing.

But you also have a team that you’re investing in that’s giving you the space to be the visionary that’s giving you the space to dream and execute at that level that no one else can do. And you’ve got an operations person then it sounds like that’s handling, I’m sure a lot of day-to-day logistics and making sure that the widgets are spinning that the way they should be. And then you’ve got teams running your stores because you can’t be a visionary and running a store from open to close.

Kannyn January (21:28)

And being able to manufacture clothing and design and manufacture fine jewelry, I wouldn’t have the time to do that. And then I also do business consulting. I love doing that. I fell in love with retail because I love being of service to people. I love helping people. So this is kind that next iteration for me in my life, being able to help other business owners.

as retailers, most of their money is tied up in their inventory on their floor. So there is a formula to how much inventory you should be bringing in by department. But I’ve made a lot of mistakes. So I’m able to help them in a lot of ways in their business because I’ve been there.

Jo Espejo (22:07)

So, Kannyn , have they been listening and they want to learn more about your luxury retail brand or are interested because they have a retail store and want to learn more about your inventory formula and how to manage that? Where can they find you?

Kannyn January (22:19)

They can shop our website. It’s www.shopambiance.com or they can reach out to me, Leadership First Consulting is my business. LinkedIn would probably be the best way to find me and connect with me if they had questions or they can reach out to the store and they put me in touch with them.

Jo Espejo (22:39)

And so last piece of advice for anyone that is, you know, in this journey of entrepreneurship and I guess what’s the number one thing that you wish you would have implemented sooner with branding?

Kannyn January (22:51)

with Brandine.

That’s a hard one. mean, what I would say is that, anything worth doing in life is hard. Being a business owner of any kind is hard, but it’s worth doing and that you have to persevere to find success. It’s on the other side of the failures or mistakes that you’re inevitably going to make.

Jo Espejo (23:09)

That’s a strong piece of advice. when you look back, that one piece of branding, is there anything that you’ve done that you feel like really had an impact on your business?

Kannyn January (23:17)

the branding is so important, but it’s the execution of the branding that is more important. It’s really being able to tell your story through your brand that matters more than the brand itself. There’s a brand in my industry and when they launched they were called Show Me Your Moo Moo.

It’s a women’s clothing brand and they made these like 70s MooMoos. That’s what they did. There were these two girls in New York. It’s a huge brand now. They got investors and it was such a horrible name from my perspective. And now it’s just called MooMoo and never deterred them from their growth, right?

but they had to evolve and change it as they grew. I think you shouldn’t be so critical because branding is a creative thing and there’s gonna be people that like it and people that don’t like it. Trust yourself, pursue what you love.

Jo Espejo (24:14)

I think the key there is so important because a lot of us focus on getting a logo, getting a website, getting the colors. You spend all this time designing and creating and feeling aligned. There’s a second piece to that. You have to execute, you have to implement because your logo could be beautiful and your website could be gorgeous, but if no one finds it, then what does it matter? And then if there’s a misalignment. So I think it’s so

Kannyn January (24:26)

You got to execute.

Jo Espejo (24:37)

key to have branding that tells your story and that aligns and that feels connected to who you are because then that’s going to follow through on the experience. If you’re creating a brand that misaligns, you’re going to have a hard time growing your business and you’re going to have a hard time getting behind it because there’s a disconnect. So thank you for sharing. think that is instrumental. So important guys, because I have so many clients that have gotten beautiful brand foundational visuals and then they didn’t take that next step.

They didn’t implement, they didn’t execute. And that is the key. And then being willing to fail and fail forward. That’s it guys. It is honestly a long journey. And then I think the last piece that she talked about earlier that I don’t want you to forget is look for the mentorship, look for the people who are willing to pour back in to help you along the way so that maybe you can avoid some of those bumps and bruises that

they figured out and can help you avoid so that your journey can be smoother. Doesn’t mean it’s gonna be perfect. Doesn’t mean you’re not gonna have any failures of your own. Just hopefully you can shorten the learning curve and get there faster.

Kannyn January (25:36)

Progress, not perfection.

Jo Espejo (25:37)

progress, not perfection. I just said this the other day, and I think that was what was taken away from a different podcast I was a guest on. I said done is better than perfect. That’s my variation of progress, not perfection. And so that seems to be a very unifying stream. then I say you done is better than perfect, and then you elevate and you grow. And that’s okay. So you can do better. Your 23 year old self could only afford so much and could only do so much. And now you’re at a different

place and you’re able to do more. And that’s the beauty of a journey. And that is the beauty of a brand evolving. So thank you again, Kannyn, so much for your time. And if anyone has been listening and they know of some of that would benefit, please share and give us some love and like, and subscribe so other people out there can learn about branding and the impact that it’s making in business. And as always continue to go out there and make your branded impact