Hey {{first_name | there}},

I’ve been sending my “Happy New Year!” emails to all my business friends. I love this time of year because I get to ask, very casually, what people are excited about in their business in the year ahead. We trade lengthy emails or schedule calls, lament a little, and hope for the future.

And when people ask me where my business is headed, I carefully mention that I’ve started my own rebrand. The look of disappointment on their faces is heartbreaking.

“But I love your voice!”

“But the design is so fun!”

“But!”

It’s enough to make me second-guess spending the money—until I remember all the tension I’ve been feeling.

I’ve had this brand since 2022, and it’s carried me through a lot of business life. But when I look back on the past year and a half, the leads that closed quickly were past clients who were familiar with the depth and breadth of my work or referrals who were able to communicate that on my behalf. They largely bypassed my content, website, and case studies. But the leads that lingered came to me through LinkedIn, my website, and a few communities. From that lot, I heard many a, “This is exactly what I need! Can you do it for less?”

First, I thought it was a service problem—I’ve priced everything too high. Or maybe I’ve priced it too low? Then, I thought it was an audience problem—I’m in the wrong rooms, I’m not talking to the right people (not entirely wrong, but not entirely true either). And, after zooming out to prepare for my own rebrand, I realized it’s all about the signals I’m sending.

That’s this week’s issue of Brand Burnout 🔥 Plus, the universal signal that all service businesses need to prioritize.

I don’t want to stress you out, but every choice you make in your business sends a signal. These signals are the cues people use to understand us and how to engage with us. Our actions (or inactions) tell them how seriously to take the work, how much effort is required, and what kind of experience they’re walking into. These perceptions are formed long before someone ever gets on a call with us.

Think about it like this—has someone ever invited you to a call with a calendar link, then when you open it, it’s nothing but Wide Open Spaces?

You might think, “Oh, they’re really available.”

Or, “Oh, they must not have any work on their plate.”

Or, you could jump to, “Wow, this person doesn’t have boundaries.”

Over time, these signals teach people how to treat you. When they align, clients show up prepared. When they don’t, friction appears: misaligned expectations, price resistance, endless clarification.

You might be thinking, “Isn’t this a marketing, sales, or operations problem?” And sure, that’s where many of these signals show up. But brand determines how those actions are perceived and turns them into the signals that resonate with the right audience.

Your business model¹ sets the context: the kinds of clients you focus on, the types of engagements you offer, and, quite simply, how you make money. It shows which actions might be worth taking in the first place. Brand, on the other hand, determines which of those actions you actually pursue and how they come to life—shaping how people perceive you, understand the work, and decide to engage.

In other words:

And if you don’t know how you make money, it’s almost impossible to send the right signals—no matter how polished or clever the actions themselves appear. So let’s back up to talk about your business model.

Most service-providers I talk to fall into three categories:

These businesses rely on committed clients who are ready for transformational work. Each engagement is complex and high-touch, and revenue comes from fewer clients, each making up a significant portion of the service provider’s revenue.

Because this experience is high-touch, clients in this tier need to commit serious resources (money, time, and energy in most cases). The brand should feel exclusive, and maybe even intimidating to most people. This is where a lot of discomfort lives for service providers. When things get difficult, they start to become a little bit of everything for a little bit of everyone.

Possible brand signals include:

These businesses generate revenue from clients at a moderate price point. Each engagement is lower touch than a high-investment project but still requires meaningful delivery and client follow-through. Revenue comes from more clients, and the work is structured or semi-standardized.

These businesses deliver meaningful results, but without the full intensity of a high-investment engagement. The challenge here is that the service can feel just out of reach for both higher- and lower-tier audiences if the brand signals aren’t clear. Done well, the brand communicates structure, competence, and approachability without trying to be everything to everyone.

Possible brand signals include:

These businesses depend on volume and repeatable cycles. Each sale is smaller, but revenue comes from serving many clients. Work is designed to be efficient, standardized, or self-guided.

This business model’s actions need to cast the widest net to get the volume of customers needed to sustain it. Buyers in this category typically aren’t receiving proximity or personalization. They’re gaining momentum and a way to move forward without friction. When businesses in this category try to inject too much depth and intimacy, boundaries get blurry and service providers find themselves over delivering or hand-holding.

Possible brand signals include:

Your personality as a service provider still matters. How you show up, what you value, and the way you engage with clients all influence how your brand feels. But the goal isn’t to let personality run wild and take control of the business—it’s to find the sweet spot where who you are intersects with what your clients need.

Think of it like a Venn diagram: one circle is you—your style, your approach, your quirks. The other circle is your client’s expectations—what they need to feel confident, supported, and capable of engaging with your work. The overlap between those circles is where your brand signals live most effectively.

When you get this right, trust naturally follows. And trust, my friend, is the universal signal that every service business needs to send.

Your signals aren’t just aesthetics; they’re the cues that build trust, clarify expectations, and align your work with the right clients. Personality gives the signals that signature flavor only you can create, but your business model gives them focus. It takes both.

The disappointment on my friends’ faces when I’ve told them I’m changing things up—even though it breaks my heart—is the proof I needed to make a change. Because while I may be sending signals people love, the people who love them aren’t my clients.

I’m sending the wrong signals. And that’s okay. Because what may be the wrong signals right now were the right signals at one point. That’s the thing about brand. As much as we want it to stay the same, it has to change and grow as we change and grow.

Thanks for reading,