Gurulocity Brand Management Institute

Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Kevin Namaky, CEO of Gurulocity Brand Management Institute, located in Cincinnati, OH, USA.

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

Training and development of brand management team members is an ongoing concern and challenge for brand leaders. Assistant brand managers (ABMs) and brand managers do not learn in school the key skills and deliverables required in most brand organizations. School programs are dated, incomplete, or simply not taught practically. In addition, most experiences that marketers get early in their career also do not prepare them for post-MBA/brand management work. This frustrates ABMs and brand managers, and their managers (brand directors and VPs) feel a need to micromanage—with little time or capacity to set aside for proper training.

Most of our programs have been live training and coaching programs such as workshop events and monthly 1:1 coaching. These programs are highly effective and offer some of the most specific and useful (practical) content in the brand management training market. Sometimes, we are the only company offering certain brand management topics. While our live training programs have been a success, there are some drawbacks to live training events, namely cost, and timeliness. This presents a new opportunity to build an ideal learning and development platform for brand management professionals. With the trend towards remote learning/work, and the ongoing development of technology enablers (course, membership, and community apps), now is the right time to address these challenges.

So, recently we launched a new membership program that combines workshop/course content with a supportive learning community of peers and experts, creating an in-depth, always-on training and development platform for brand management teams. This new platform is more complete, efficient, timely, and practical than any other training option in the market.

Tell us about yourself

After working 15 years in the corporate world leading brand teams, I then spent 5 years on the agency/consulting side developing brand strategy and innovation for large consumer brands. I worked on brands for companies like Kimberly-Clark, Scotts Miracle-Gro, Gorilla Brands, and Kraft Heinz. This experience allowed me to hone brand management skills and tools. But, I also noticed along the way that those on my teams often did not get the necessary training they needed in school. Most companies did not have adequate training and development programs to fill the gap. So, after getting burned out working in consulting, I decided I wanted to start my own business. I wanted to teach and help others, and brand leadership was something I knew well. I launched the Brand Management Institute in 2016, which has grown yearly. I replaced my day job entirely. We've added team members around the country and the globe.

Teaching and helping others learn and grow has always been my passion. In addition to my marketing degree and MBA, I also have an education degree - having taught in music programs before starting my marketing career. Over the years, I've tutored and mentored classmates and younger students. Since I was young, I have always got fulfillment by helping others. My company is now a way to gain that fulfillment by teaching something I know well: brand marketing.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

There are many accomplishments along the way. It's not my goal to get investors or grow rapidly like you hear the big/famous startups are doing. So my big accomplishments are things like having the guts and initiative to start the business in the first place, getting to the point where I could leave my day job, hiring a team, getting published in a few big-name publications, and recently designing and launching a new membership platform.

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

Early on, the hardest thing is transitioning from doing everything yourself to hiring help and growing the team. You have to drive enough new business so you can afford additional team members, but it's hard to drive more business without a team. So there's a balancing act, spending money and time to grow the business but also wanting to invest those resources in people.

You also have to get used to inconsistency in your revenues until your business grows to a consistent and predictable size. With a day job, you can pretty well depend on those paychecks showing up. But as a business owner just starting out, money doesn't come in unless you make it happen. And if you take your foot off the gas, you risk not having the income you need to continue paying your bills. There's an increased amount of pressure vs. holding down a day job.

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

Do your homework. Make sure that what you are thinking of doing is something people need. Get specific. Who needs it? Why? How will you deliver it? How is it different? And how will you make an acceptable profit?
Have a strategy, even if it's a simple one-page format. What are your goals for the first year? What are your major obstacles? How will you address or overcome those obstacles and meet your goals? Set out a plan and then stick to it. Don't go around chasing every shiny object. Stay focused on the goals.
Have a financial plan. You need to identify how you will fund your business from the start. Do you have savings? Do you want investors? Is your spouse helping support you? Do you need loans? Then, you need to know for the coming year how much money is going to come in and how all of it is going to be spent. It won't be perfect, but you need to plan it out to sustain the business.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://gurulocity.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gurulocity
Twitter: https://twitter.com/knamaky
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/knamaky/

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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