Hi friends, clients, and beautifully complex humans (and new subscribers!)

A couple of weeks ago, it was my birthday, which, fun fact, also happens to fall on International Men's Day.

(Do with that information what you will.)

To celebrate, I took three days off.

A proper break.

A little solo retreat.

A “go away, rest your brain, stop building empires for five minutes” kind of getaway.

Except… that’s not exactly how it went.

When Your Favourite Escape Turns… Beige

I went back to one of my favourite hotels, the place I've retreated to many times when I needed space, sleep, and a reset.

But this time?

It wasn’t great.

It wasn’t awful.

It was just… beige.

Same building. Same location. Same river views.

Different ownership. Different feeling. Everything was slightly off.

Slightly lazier.

Slightly cheaper in effort but more expensive in actual cost.

Slightly less cared for.

Not bad enough for me to cancel my plans.

But bad enough that I noticed... and once I noticed, I could not un-notice.

And because my brain refuses to take a day off, the next three days of “rest” became three days of me psycho-analysing why the hotel felt slightly shit, and I think most of you know me well enough to know, I have a hard enough time with rest on a 'good day'.

Here’s my conclusion (and the lesson for all of us):

Branding is so much more than a logo.

Branding is an experience.

Everything the old owners did, the warmth, the care, the details, the tone, the staff engagement, the "we actually give a damn that you're here" — was gone.

Same logo.

Same website.

Same rooms.

But the brand?

Dead.

Because a brand isn’t the colours.

- It isn’t the font.

- It isn’t the Instagram grid.

- It isn’t the signage.

A brand is:

• how you make people feel
• how you show up
• how you respond
• the standards you hold
• the details you care about
• and the energy you bring into the room

It's the difference between "fine" and "I can't wait to come back," and "We're never working with anyone other than you."

This is true for your business, too.

Maybe you've updated your logo.

Maybe you redid your website.

Maybe you've got your socials humming.

But... how does your brand feel?

Does it feel attentive?

Does it feel thoughtful?

Does it feel like you've kept the humanity in your processes?

Does it create an experience that people remember?

Or... like my hotel... has it silently faded into a slightly beige version of itself?

This is why I focus so heavily on the humanness of business.

Because your clients don't stay for the design, they stay for the experience.

A gentle Monday question for you:

Where in your business has the experience quietly slipped into beige?

(Trust me... It's better to catch it yourself before someone else does.)

Warmly (and slightly more rested than before),

Ming