The Phone Call Came in 2022.
It was a client I worked with 8 years ago. She’d built a successful company over two decades. It was the kind of business people point to and say, “they’re doing it right.”
But then she said something I’ll never forget…
X, we had to shut everything down.
- Not because she got lazy.
- Not because the work got worse.
- Not because she stopped caring.
The game changed. And she didn’t see it coming.
She’d done everything right by the old rules. But by the end, it was too hard to keep going. And too hollow to sell.
That call still haunts me.
Because I see it happening everywhere now.
The New Rules of Winning
The market divided. Quietly. Permanently. Into three lanes.
- BIGS: Win on scale. Capital, infrastructure, leverage. They sell cheap, ship fast, show up everywhere.
- BEASTS: Win on speed. Arbitrage specialists. First movers. Phoenixes. Reborn with every new trend.
- BRANDS: Win on connection. They make people feel something. That feeling creates loyalty, premium pricing, and customers who sell for them.
If a business isn’t Big, isn’t a Beast, and hasn’t built a Brand, it’s getting squeezed from both sides without an exit.
That’s where my client was. That’s where most service businesses are right now.
When “Good” Stopped Being Enough
What used to work:
- Get good at the craft.
- Referrals roll in.
- Build a solid reputation.
- Compete against other small businesses.
Excellence was the edge.
What the market looks like now:
- Bigs undercut on price and out-spend on visibility.
- Beasts move faster than most can react.
- Brands have built something people want to belong to—not just buy from.
The results?
- Quieter inboxes.
- Leads taking longer.
- Referrals that used to roll in now trickle.
In short, everything is getting harder day by day.
The Part That Hurts Most
The grind to make things work sucks, but it’s nothing new.
What’s new is the sting watching businesses with half the experience and value delivery grow faster.
This is the shift. Competency used to translate to customers. It doesn’t anymore. The market stopped rewarding the most qualified. That’s why good companies are losing to “worse ones.”
Think about it…
- Bigs: aren’t better—they’re cheaper and more accessible.
- Beasts: aren’t better—they’re making promises most can’t fulfill.
- Brands: aren’t better—they’re more emotionally connected.
Competence isn’t the primary currency anymore. And that’s why good businesses lose to “worse” ones.
Why This Matters Now
Maybe it’s already showing up. Or maybe business is still good. The phone still rings. No crisis—yet.
My client wasn’t in crisis either. Not at first.
Because the symptoms always start small. Then they compound. For my client, things got harder and harder. Eventually, she looked for an exit, and didn’t find one. She’d built a great business, but not a brand anyone else wanted to own.
So whether a business is five years into this shift or fifteen, the math is the same. Time to go beyond competency and expertise.
So What Do You Do?
Most service businesses I work with say…
They’re not in it to become Big. They don’t have the capital or desire to out-scale enterprise players.
They’re not about to become Beasts. They are professionals with solid experience in their craft. They don’t want to chase every trend or bandwagon.
But Brand? Brand is built on what they already have: expertise, relationships, reputation, trust.
It’s the path that doesn’t require becoming something they aren’t or don’t want.
The Take Away: It’s Time to Build Your Brand
That’s a loaded statement. So let me give you the shortcut (more next week, so subscribe).
Brand boils down to three measurable metrics.
- Buy High: Do customers pay a premium—even when cheaper options exist?
- Stay & Pay: Do customers stay and buy again and again?
- Yell & Tell: Do customers happily tell others without being asked?
You can immediately tell the power of your brand by those three metrics. Your goal now is to relentlessly optimize around them. They are your brand’s true north—or better yet, its horizon. You’ll never reach it, but walking toward it takes you further faster.
Three Brand Questions to Obsess Over
What can we provide or do so that our customers…
- Buy High?
- Stay & Pay?
- Yell & Tell?
At some point, answering and executing on these questions will build an unstoppable brand.
My challenge to you…
Sit down and answer these questions, and pretend you absolutely must…
10X your price
(how would you justify it?)
10X how long customers stay
(what would you need to do?)
10X client referrals
(what would you need to provide?)
If these questions feel hard, that’s the point—they force you past “do great work” into “build something people want to belong to.”
Most answers from this exercise won’t rely on skill or delivery expertise. You already do that.
Answers will come down to improving your:
- Product
- Experience
- Community
Next week, I’ll dive deeper into the specifics. But for now, ponder these questions as if your business depends on them.
Comment below: what would you do to drive 10X?
A New Target For Small Businesses
For most small businesses, it’s no longer about building a successful business. It’s about building a successful brand.
A few years ago, that sounded like a luxury. Now it’s a necessity.
The businesses that ignore this don’t usually crash overnight. They just wake up one day with no options left.