Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in advertising services but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Teju Aluko, CEO of Branperience, located in Los Angeles, CA, USA.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

Branperience [/bran-/spear-/re-/ence] is a Full- Service Brand Experience Firm I founded in 2018. We're a one-stop, all-inclusive Firm with a team full of empaths committed to building brands through memorable brand experiences - the experiential way. Our approach to Brand Experiences is unique and centers end-to-end journeys through emotion-led relationships - not just one-off transactions like traditional Marketing and Branding. Over the past few years, we developed a diverse portfolio supporting an array of industries, most notably in Sports & Entertainment, Nonprofits, Social Impact Organizations, and Product-Based Businesses across the Country. Our work is for businesses and brands that center people within their brand experiences. Our Stakeholders understand that we have emotions and feelings & those emotions + feelings are involved in everything we do - down to the way we use products, services, brands…everything. Science tells us that 90% of the decisions we make are based on emotion, not this rational thinking that we think they are - so we account for them, strategically, and that's what sets us apart.

Tell us about yourself

I'm an intuitive empath from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, who started Branperience in 2018 in a coffee shop in Downtown Milwaukee with my two daughters, who were barely teenagers at the time, after signing our first client in a meeting from a referral. I spent the better half of my career in the Branding and Marketing space in various industries and leading organizations from corporate retail to professional sports. I decided I was going to apply my thought leadership and approach that I developed through those professional and personal experiences I've experienced along the way, and the goal was to influence and impact the industry by building brand experiences that were fueled by feelings and emotions, not just campaigns and trends, that could run alongside and pass the "big guys." I had been working on this approach for about 4 years, since I walked out of my corporate retail job of 7 years with no plan, no job, no nothing - just thoughts, feelings, emotions, bills, and those two kids - betting on myself.

Every day I'm extremely motivated to partner with businesses + brands to strategically sustain their experiences, despite dramatic budget and capacity differences, with an experiential strategy, unified end-to-end journeys, and experience touchpoint management. Doing this while playing a small part in changing the trajectory of the traditional marketing and branding space by centering our human decision-making triggers, our emotions, + feelings to truly connect with those we do business with beyond the sale.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

My biggest accomplishment has been maintaining the same team members for the last four years and being proof of the promise. I'm a firm believer that memorable brand experiences are built from the inside out, and the reason we're able to produce such results + impactful brand experiences for our Stakeholders is because we truly have one on the inside. We don't promise anything we can't prove, and that's a really big accomplishment.

What's one of the hardest things that comes with being a business owner?

Activating boundaries is one of the hardest things that comes with being a business owner to me. It's imperative that all your Stakeholders are aware of and abide by your boundaries because it makes the entrepreneurship journey less stressful.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

  1. Invest in your mindset – personally + professionally. Your business habits are an extension of the person you are outside of the business - that's why mindset in entrepreneurship is so important. Poor personal habits will bleed into your business, so continue to "work" on yourself in both aspects of your life.
  2. Stay disciplined. There's a big learning curve in entrepreneurship - especially in the beginning stages, so you have to stay disciplined and diligent in the process. Embrace the joy and stay steadfast & disciplined in your pursuit.
  3. Make decisions. Make them when you're nervous, unsure, certain, etc., for your business. It's not necessarily the act of making decisions that is so frightening, it is the uncertainty of the results and repercussions of those decisions, but that's where the power lies. On the other side of fear is freedom, so decide.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://www.branperience.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/branperience/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MsAluko
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/teju-a-7969131b/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

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