A brand is the promises that are made divided by the manner in which they're kept. A say/do ratio. Make an appointment, show up on time, you're one for one. The next appointment you're late, your say/do ratio just dropped to fifty percent. Eventually you'll get a reputation as a person who is always on time. Or not.
Identity is all the things that identify you. Your name and signature for certain, how you dress, your mannerisms, the company you keep.So everybody has an identity and everybody has a brand. Successful sole practitioners, people who work for themselves, actually have to approach those matters deliberately. Few have done it as effectively as Gretchen Roufs.
The Janitorial Sanitarial Industry (JanSan to insiders) is emerging as the behind the scenes hero of the pandemic. Industry amping up in the face of adversity is the story of America and in the JanSan industry, no individual is more recognizable than Gretchen Roufs. Authoring the the "last word" editorial page of Sanitary Maintenance, the industry bible, for 22 years helps. So does her track record, driving the marketing efforts of industry giants. So does her vivid red hair and "Cajun Shrimp" nail polish.
So everybody gets the joke when they see Gretchen portrayed as Cosette, the abused waif from Les Misérables. It makes a great backdrop when she speaks at industry trade shows.
At some point, many sole practitioners consider the advantages of a Limited Liability Company, usually as a way to isolate personal assets from professional activity. Some choose the name of their LLC, others have it thrust upon them; in Gretchen's case, her husband already had an LLC formed and on the shelf from a previous enterprise. If the name wasn't exactly perfect, the expediency was.
Distinctive, elegant and understated, Minnesota nice in the heart of Texas
The RiverCenter logo was part of a $5000 contract to create identity material for the exposition hall, which seemed like a lot to the citizenry in 1984. Twenty-five plus years later, it is still in place, which probably catagorizes the City of Davenport's decision as one of their most cost-effective.
Generally speaking, the electorate wants judges who are tough; they perceive courts as being ineffectual revolving doors for the criminal class. Unfortunately judge-candidates are somewhat prohibited from promising to be tough, judges must be fair. (It's part of that innocent until proven guilty thing.) The use of Charles Stengel's nickname could have been eliminated from his campaign as being too informal for a judge. I chose to use it, engraved on a bat, which created a mnemonic device for name recognition, which is so important for bottom of the ballot races. The bat also served as ambiguous suggestion of the candidate's intention to be Buford Pusser/Walking Tall tough.
The name says Christian, the logo suggests that graduates of the little grade school regularly go on to become valedictorians of their public high schools.
Shhhh, don't tell anyone, but this isn't really a logo, at least not for a real product. I have submitted it as a potential solution for two very different products, but so far, no takers. Consider it priced for clearance.