What we are going to tell you today is special. It is our work, but the kind that doesn’t fit into case studies. So, here is everything we truly built, broke, fixed, and finally got right.
What We Built First: A “Yes” Agency
In the first year, we said yes to everything.
- Brand deck due in three days.
- Social media strategy without access to data.
- A client who wanted premium work on a starter budget.
Did you know? We once even agreed to redesign a brand and execute its launch campaign within the same week.
At the time, saying yes felt like survival. Looking back, it was fear, disguised as ambition.
But that phase taught us something invaluable: You only learn your limits by crossing them.
What We Broke Early: Our Process
A client came in for “branding support.”
By Week 3, we were:
- Writing website copy
- Redesigning packaging
- Managing social content
- Handling last-minute presentation decks
The team was exhausted, but no one said anything.
When the project ended, we didn’t feel proud; we felt relieved.
None of us wanted to experience that again:
- If a project drains you instead of challenging you, something is broken.
And in this case, it was our process!!
So, we scrapped everything, sat down to create our SOPs, and created a system based on ownership and autonomy – a system that energised, instead of draining us.
It is working super fine!
What We Fixed Next: How We Scope and Sell Work
Fixing this wasn’t glamorous.
We rebuilt proposals line by line. Defined deliverables in uncomfortable detail. Added timelines we could actually defend.
We started saying things like:
- That’s outside the scope, but we can add it.
- This needs more time to do justice.
- This isn’t the right fit for us.
The first few times, it felt terrifying. But something unexpected happened:
- The right clients stayed. The wrong ones walked away.
That was the beginning of Brand Mender growing up.
What We Fixed Internally: Feedback, Ownership, and Trust
At one point, feedback became a bottleneck.
- Everything went through the founder.
- Every decision waited for approval.
- The team hesitated instead of owning.
So we changed how feedback worked. Here is what we worked towards:
- Clear roles
- Defined decision-makers
- Space for disagreement without fear
The team stopped asking, “Is this okay?” And started saying, “Here’s why we chose this.”
That’s when Brand Mender stopped being founder-led and became team-driven.
So, finally ending this long rambling, let us tell you that nothing about this journey was linear. But if Brand Mender exists today with clarity and confidence, it’s because of these exact moments above.
And, on that note, we have a gift for all the founders there:
🔥 Want a head start instead of learning everything the hard way?👉 Explore our Brand Playbook: the same framework that helped us survive, rebuild, and grow over seven years. |
