Welcome, friend, to the new and improved Brand Burnout.

If you’re wondering “WTF, how did I get on this list?” This is the new version of Jamie R Cox’s newsletter. And if you don’t like that. You can one-click unsubscribe.

Yes, I merged my two mailing lists into one because honestly—who has the time? And, I felt like Brand Burnout folks were getting the best of me while my long-time subscribers we just getting the rest of me.

What inspired this evolution?

I’m so glad you asked. Because today I’m talking about ways you may be overthinking and overcomplicating your brand.

A Cautionary Tale of Two Newsletters

My work is…a lot. I technically run two businesses.

Strange Salt is my brand agency and creative collective. We work with early-stage start-ups who are challenging the status quo and flipping antiquated systems on their heads.

Jamie R Cox is my brand strategy practice. I work with service-based solopreneurs to build brands that help them get off the marketing hamster wheel and start winning clients they align with.

Like I said, it’s a lot. But I wouldn’t have it any other way.

That’s because my brain loves to run in lots of different directions and find new problems to solve until it eventually peters out and I collapse in my bed at 10 p.m. Then I do it all over again the next day.

This might sound like your nightmare, but this is my personality. You’ll either love me or hate me. And the same energy exists in my businesses.

Last year, in case you’ve missed me screaming about it every chance I get, I left Instagram. “But where will I put the energy I’m saving,” I asked myself. 🤡 So, I started Brand Burnout, a Substack-specific newsletter that helps small business owners ditch toxic hustle culture and build a brand that works for them.

Simple, right?

Wrong.

Because I already had a newsletter on Flodesk. And it’s purpose was to help small business owners navigate the world of branding in a way that works for them.

I wasn’t just doubling my work. I was also bifurcating my audience—spinning stories to appeal to the internet in its entirety versus my ideal clients (You, I hope? Since everyone else has unsubscribed by now).

I even deprived some of you, my most loyal subscribers, of my content (rude!) and made you go to a whole new place to get the juicy gossip you’d become accustomed to.

The Great Merge and Migration of 2025 🐝

I started Brand Burnout on a shiny new (to me) platform I heard about called Substack. Because “that’s where writers go!” and “you can reach a whole new audience there!”

These aren’t lies, but the promise of this shiny new platform overshadowed the purpose of my writing—to connect with you, dear reader.

Instead, I started doing everything I tell my clients not to do.

👎 I started creating content for a platform, instead of creating content for my audience.
👎 I found myself doom-scrolling as Substack prioritized short-form social features.
👎 I chased the promise of well-paying subscribers while the platform worked against me.

My most popular piece of content on the platform wasn’t even something I necessarily created, but a comment I left on a friend’s note about not having kids. 🫠

Meanwhile, the best of me (my innermost feelings and musings on business ownership) was being buried as subscribers were asked to “Read in the app!” rather than read my writing in their inbox, as it was intended.

This all came to a head when, on a call with a friend last week, she asked “I talk to so many people in your ideal audience. Where can I send them to learn more about you?”

My brain turned into a flow chart that looked something like this…

• If they might want to work with me ➡️ Send them to my newsletter.

• If they want tactical tips and events ➡️ Send them to Brand Burnout.

• If they want to feel inspired and hear me gripe ➡️ Send them to LinkedIn.

• If they want to know more about me ➡️ Send them to my website.

So, I just froze and gave her some incoherent answers about how email introductions were always great (not untrue).

It was then and there that I decided “I’m leaving.”

So I packed up my data from Flodesk and Substack, migrated it to Beehiiv*, and now we’re here.

My biggest learning? Substack does not make it easy to leave—should I delete my account? What about all the people that linked to me? What about the popular comment I left on my friend’s note?

I’m tired, guys. I don’t want to make these decisions. I’m only one person and I’m guessing you are, too. And that’s why it shouldn’t be this complicated.

Building a Brand is Simple ¹

The hot take you came here for: We’re making this (gestures wildly) way more complicated than it needs to be.

Branding is often seen as getting on every platform, creating as much content as we can to speak to the most people possible, and convincing them our way is the only way.

But building a brand is:

• Understanding who you want to talk to.

• Knowing where to find them.

• Showing up in ways that make them feel seen, heard, and understood.

Where are you making things overly complicated? It could be in your onboarding process. You might be overthinking your website (just launch the damn thing). It could be in your core offers (you have those, right?). Are you giving the best of yourself to the wrong people?

Simply put, do less.

3 Ways to Make Your Brand Do Less

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