With 29% of business owners saying they took the plunge because they were ready to become their own bosses, we asked a few about their brands. These entrepreneurs gave us insight into their brands, customer perceptions, and how they planned to evolve them in the future.

Let’s dive in.

The ‘why’ behind the brand

For most businesses, the reasons behind creating their brand in the first place came from a more profound place. They wanted to give back to the world and move humanity forward in some cases. But for some business owners, their inspiration stemmed from wanting to deliver unique, genuine experiences.

For Jenny Ly, founder of GoWanderly, they were “[…] a bunch of web developers who decided to turn our passion for travel into a business and created a one-stop for all the guidance every traveler needs before they venture abroad.” They wanted to “convey a minimalistic natural feeling which can often get lost in the world of glamorized traveler vloggers.” and “provide our readers with authentic experiences that can be replicated by any veteran or newbie travel enthusiast.”

This passion runs deeper for Woody Sears of the app HearHere describes how human narratives move us. “Since the dawn of time, stories have been the way in which values and knowledge are passed from one generation to the next— each adding their wisdom and experience along the way.”

“It’s time to connect with the sum of our experience, to enrich our lives with the stories today, and to inspire the great storytellers yet to come.” Sears goes on, “Our business is wholly unique in that it’s an app that both entertains and educates by telling stories of the locations we traverse both in travel and in our everyday lives. It is a brand that is dedicated to telling America’s stories, both big and small.”

For the employee reward app, PerkUp, the company’s CEO & founder, Thomas Mirmotahari, explains how the shift towards a hybrid work model presented an opportunity to “create better employee engagement by allowing companies to issue pre-loaded Visa cards to their employees to spend freely on perks they actually want such as child care, wellness, fitness, home office, or education.”

And it went even deeper, as Mirmotahari says PerkUp, “has come at a time when the Great Resignation has exposed that employees are not going to put up with toxic uninspiring work environments. I am glad that I started this company at a time when employees and employers really need to amplify engagement to support personal and organizational growth.”

Introducing the brand to new customers

Clear, concise positioning is a significant part of conveying products and services to audiences who aren’t yet familiar with them. We wanted to get an idea of how these business owners would describe their brands to people who had never heard of them, and of course, we got some interesting answers.

Joe Coletta, CEO at 180 Engineering, would want people to know that his brand was “one built around being ‘in the know.'” He goes on, “We have built our brand on being a leader in a field that can otherwise be difficult for businesses to navigate without our services.”

Danielle M. Jackson, an author at Hello Legendary Press, does double duty as co-owner of the children’s book publishing company along with her teenage son. For her, their business “encourage[s] children ages 4-15 to become veggie lovers, community explorers, and healthy habit makers. Hello Legendary Press fosters a love of learning that does not compromise culture, curriculum, or creativity.”

And for the ultimate pie company, Peggy Jean’s Pies, Rebecca Miller says, “For our first-time visitors, we explain that we bake completely from scratch, using nothing pre-made in a box or a can or a five-gallon bucket. We use my mom’s, my grandmother’s, and my great grandmother’s recipes.”

She goes on to explain the importance of work and community, “We love what we do, and we believe strongly that it shows through in our work. We are a family business, but we also [employ] 27 people in various capacities. We love being a part of our local community.”

What people should feel about their brand

Trust is considered one of the most critical factors in deciding whether a person spends money with a brand. In one study, 67% of people said a company’s reputation would get them to buy initially, but for them to keep buying, they needed to trust the business behind the product.

Teresha Aird, the co-founder and CMO of Offices.net, wants “customers to feel like they can trust our brand to help them with exactly what they’re looking for.” When people come to them, they will be able to “trust our expertise and years of experience when looking to make a change as monumental as shifting office spaces.”

Transparency pays when it comes to establishing confidence in a business. For Lattice Hudson, founder of Lattice & Co., “prefer[s] to show rather than tell when it comes to our business’s success rate. By showing them our customer reviews and success stories, I hope they feel more inclined to invest in my company’s services.”

As remote work becomes permanent for many, Lattice continues, “[c]ustomers are now hoping to receive most of their services through phones and laptops since it’s quicker and cheaper than having to commute to different locations daily. I see my brand establishing and improving its online presence by making it more helpful and functional.”

For many businesses that want to push their brands further, it’s essential to translate to customers that they’ve “found a treasure!” as Stephanie Weinberger, president of LifiBifi Inc, said. “We want them to be excited to have discovered a little business that they love!”

Dragos Badea, CEO of Yarooms, says it’s key to show how easy their “plug and play software for hybrid work” is to use. “We really want customers to think, “wow, it’s simple, and I get it!”.

Creating strong relationships between customers and businesses includes showing people a better way. And Kate Kandefer, CEO of SEOwind, takes this to heart. “The goal of our brand is to make people think that we’re refreshing, a cool breath of fresh air in an industry that has been dominated by the same old strategies for years.”

When considering the future, Kate says, “Right now, we’re focusing on bringing new things to an established industry, and our brand reflects that, but down the line, I expect that to stay cutting-edge, our brand will need to evolve as well.”

What’s on the horizon

Mike Sheety of ThatShirt, is already thinking about what the future holds for his business. “We are already working with fair trade materials from manufacturers because they recognize the importance of good working conditions, and in the future, we hope to increase our team and, as always, promote gender equality in the workplace, equal pay, and working conditions.”

As we’ve seen from these business owners, they’ve thought long and hard about their brands and how they want people to think about them. We hope more businesses continue to work hard to build trust and deliver products and services that excite and delight customers.