Musings: Better than Branding

Two strangers at a coffee shop say “branding is everything,” and one of them tries to prove it with a straight face: she’s been wearing black since before black was “a thing.” That tiny, ridiculous claim opens a much bigger question Mo can’t ignore anymore. When did personal branding become a substitute for having a personality? 

This week, Mo digs into what brand strategy should be anchored to: integrity. Not a perfect color palette, not a flawless logo, not a curated “shtick,” but the harder stuff like follow-through, honest course correction, and alignment between how you show up online and how you treat people in real life. We talk about why “cohesion” can be a trap when it’s used to mask inconsistency, and why authenticity isn’t a vibe you buy, it’s a behavior you repeat.

In the world of purchasing power, money matters, but Mo calls it what it really is: a resource for busy people, an efficient shortcut when time and energy are limited. She explores bartering, community support, and the underrated power of kindness, connection, and a real network. Mo also looks at the places and brands that are beautiful on the surface but feel off, versus the ones that last because they do what they say they’ll do.

If you’re building a personal brand, a small business brand, or any kind of public identity, this conversation is your reminder that the real work is visible in your actions. 

Subscribe for more, share this with a friend who’s building something, and leave a review with your take: what does integrity look like in your brand?

Instagram: @tiam.podcast &  @joyscout.mo 

For Guest Inquiries, collaborations, and questions:

Email Mo: mo@joyscoutstudio.com

“Don’t get Deterred, get Inspired” 

Transcript

Coffee Shop Branding Reality Check

SPEAKER_00 0:21

I was at the coffee shop and there were two ladies sitting next to me and they were talking about branding. And they were saying that branding is everything. That branding is everything. Branding is everything. And they said it. They said it was such conviction. And that one of the one of the women she was wearing black, you know, they were both honestly wearing black, but like one was like all black. And and she was like, take me for instance, you know, like my brand is everything. And I've been wearing black before like black was a thing. You know, she said that she's been wearing black before black was a thing. This is the most absurd thing that I've been forced to listen to out in public this week because nobody owns black. And just to reiterate, like, there was never a time where black was not like on trend. Black is the go-to color for when you're not sure what the fuck to be putting on your body. It's like black on black on black is the cheat code to every social outing, you know? There was never a time in history where black was not like on brand. And like have you met the n have you met a nun? Have you met a nun? Have you met a ninja? You know, I'm being they know he's I know there's other things that they could be wearing. But have you met a mime? You know? Like people have branded black before. Like, have you met Darth Vader? Come on. Come on. Little black dress. Have you ever gone to a choir rehearsal or performance, I might say? The whole crew is wearing black. The whole ensemble is wearing black because black is the easiest thing to coordinate. Like, every shade of black is pretty much black, whereas every other color is a far too much of a medley. You know, you can't ask a group of 17, 8-year-olds who are ready to graduate and trying to do their last local performance to what the fuck am I saying? I don't know. You have to keep talking, Morgan. You're not allowed to stop. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 2:48

Like black exists because you just can't believe that they said this with such conviction.

SPEAKER_00 3:17

And it was, it was almost like it was almost as like that they were just trying, she was trying to convince the other person, you know, to just be like, I liked black before black was a thing.

The Delusion Of Personal Branding

SPEAKER_00 3:32

And that is the absolute delusion of branding. That is what current modern branding will have you believe about yourself. Is that it's that simple. Like that that you just have to be cohesive in what you're wearing and that that defines you as a person. It doesn't, it doesn't. And like I'm a I'm a brand specialist. I care a lot about the brand. I care very deeply about the aesthetic and the visual portion. And I care about the system of values and about the continuity, you know, especially if you're someone who's online and across multiple platforms and like how you are on paper and how you are out in the actual world and real live person-to-person experiences. Like those are really important things. And I would like brands to be truly unique in story and unique to the beholder of the brand, be it a company or an individual. And right now we're dealing with a lot of individual personal brands. And I know that it's overwhelming, and everybody thinks that the brand is everything, and that like design is everything, and that a great logo is everything, but it's not. It is not like the most important thing to me is integrity. Like integrity is everything. And you have to have integrity if you're a brand or an identity. I think to do the thing that you said that you were going to do and to show immense care and introspect and even like a coarse correction. If you had made some detour from, you know, originally what those core beliefs were, that you have a presence and an honesty within your brand to act in alignment with it, and then to be honest when maybe you've gone a little when you've detoured. And integrity is a thing that like brings you back to like why you're doing this. Like you can talk all about your brand values and what you like and what you want to do, but it's like it's so much about your your actions and how how it's like the thread that brings us all together and makes it not just real but genuine and you know, dare I say authentic. But I I guess I just feel like branding is such a sickness right now. You know, because everyone's talking about wanting to be able to show up online and like who they are online and like what's their shtick and what's my brand? What is my brand? And I know it's a consuming question because we want to find the easiest combination of our identity to be consistent in our lives and to have something to rely on that is innately ourselves. You know, and I'm full, I'm in full support of of that process, but I just think that so many people, and therefore the product or the service or the institution that they are pushing into the world is just lacking integrity. And that's that is the thing that I'm caring so much about as I as I continue down the path of a brand development. And you know, like I care so much about visual identity, but I care about the person that I'm working with. I care about like what that person truly believes. Like, do they light up when they're talking about what they're doing and what is lighting them up? You know, because it's okay to want to make money. I I love money. I love for everybody to have a lot of money, but it's just not the only it's just not the only

Money As A Tool For Busy

SPEAKER_00 7:49

thing. And we've already seen what happens to the world and to families and to careers and to the society that we live in when money is the most important thing because like I just think that money is a resource for busy people. Money is a resource for busy people. Like if you know you could be abundant, you know, you could be you could be abundant in time, and you could be you could be rich in your friendships and your connection, and you could have an incredibly resourceful network of of people. And you could you could you could have your resources are extended so far beyond money, and we've just been put in such a time crunch that we can't we don't have time to trade other facets of our our experience, you know, like to trade my service for your service. And like bartering is beautiful, it's so beautiful, and it deals deeply, deeply in integrity. Because I'm trading something that I'm doing for something that you are doing, therefore I'm going to show up the way that I would like for you to show up. And at the end of a bartering service, if you feel as though, you know, you've somehow gotten dripped, it really makes you be far more choosing of who you would you would trade that type of time and that type of experience with. And that's why, you know, money can definitely be abused in that situation. Because it's just like, well, I paid you, so it's done, you know, it's done. And there's nothing else to trade other than the money that I've given you. And so it's like it can make it so cheap. And it can just make a relationship cheap too. Like the relationship that you would have between someone that maybe you would continuously see and continuously barter with or continuously trade with, or just you know, being able to show up and offer your time or your skills, like that is so important. And and it's just sad to me that it's like we've forgotten that that that's possible. That that I mean, I I haven't forgotten, and I know a lot of skilled people, especially right now, it seems to be like it's really back on the table a lot more when it comes to um individual, like business owners. And especially if they like what you're doing and they respect what you're doing, and you like what they're doing, and you respect what they're doing, people are so down to do some trading because everything is so expensive. Like I, you know, a few episodes back, I think this was in probably early March when it was like the last day that the last penny was minted and it's no longer gonna be pennies aren't happening now, you know? And that idea to me was absurd. Like, it's too expensive to make a penny. Like, we can't make it's too expensive to make the thing that represents money that represents that represents the value that we would that we would put into something. Like money has defeated itself. Money can't afford itself. We're living in a world where money cannot afford itself. That is this like it's something something isn't working here, and I just like where is the in where is the integrity gone? It's like man, whatever that feeling is when I say that, like I just feel it in my in my heart, in my chest, like a deep just like it's not a it's not a bummer, it's not a it's a total disappointment and I can't believe people forgot about integrity as a resource, I guess.

Kindness As Social Capital

SPEAKER_00 12:33

Yeah. Maybe that's what I'm trying to say. Because kindness is a resource too. Man, there's there was a uh reel with a bunch of clips from a show I couldn't, I can't even I don't even know the name of the show because that's the way that is the absurd amount of of TV and and series that are being pushed out right now. Like I I kill I don't know them all. Like there's shows I've never even heard of with people and actors that I've never that I'm not familiar with, you know, because there's just so many stories and and and so much money trying and attention trying to be grabbed. And it was a it was a clip of like a mom who you know had been struggling like financially, but she was not struggling in the sense of being able to show up every day with some ability to help someone or some bit of kindness or some bit of networking and some bit of solving a puzzle. And this is accumulated over, you know, weeks worth of or maybe months worth of being a good human. And um it's her son's birthday, and it's kind of a last-minute plan where they're gonna throw a party, and he's just like, you don't have to worry about it, because I know money's super tight, and and she just, you know, called in the favor and probably didn't even call in the favor, just showed up and talked about the moment that she was in, and all these people along the way that she'd been helping, whether it was with a little bit of car trouble, or you know, setting somebody up on a date or or listening to somebody bent or, you know, being able to pick someone up because they didn't have a reliable ride, whatever it was, like, you know, these people are someone owns a cake shop, or someone knows someone who does party planning, or someone owns a venue, or you know, someone, someone's event just got canceled out of a venue, so why don't you guys host your party here? And it was just all these little connections that made sense simply because she was being herself and then showing up to as herself. And then when she makes the request, the request is granted, you know? And I know that this is a TV show, but that is one of the best that is that's the power of visual learning and of storytelling. Like that's something that I reference when it's like there's so many ways.

Pretty Spaces Without Good Service

SPEAKER_00 14:54

There's so many ways to, there's so many resources available to us, and whether and you know, you could have a very pretty brand. You could have a very beautiful design. Now I could walk into your space and to your like coffee shop and be like, wow, this is not only executed beautifully with the color and and furniture choices, but like the flow of the room is wonderful, the restrooms are brand new and clean, and the whole thing is there, and yet the surface is so mean, or the coffee is really overpriced and not very good, and yet it's so pretty, and it's so pretty, and I might keep going back because it's pretty, but every time I feel a little mmm, it doesn't feel right, you know, and like that is just it's so nice. Like there are places that don't look as good, but if you you know they've been around forever because they know what they're doing and they're doing what they're calling to be do. To to be dude, to be doing. And I don't I don't I don't know. I just I guess I just want to remind you that you have so many resources available to you if you know the money is a resource for busyness, for busy

Time Is Realer Than The Crunch

SPEAKER_00 16:37

people. If you are busy and you can't give your time, you can't give your energy, you you can't give your skills, you you can't do a big commitment, whatever it is, you know, you're on the other side of the world, you can't get there. Like you can, if you have money, you give money, you know, like that's how you and that's what makes money beautiful. Like that is that is like this just efficient, fast track, this immediate solution to what otherwise would take an unknown and an undisclosed amount of time, you know. But like we have time. You have time, you have time, we have time. Especially if money can't afford itself. Like, that if that doesn't show us that the time crunch isn't real, then I don't know what else really does.