Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Bran Black. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Bran, appreciate you joining us today. Coming up with the idea is so exciting, but then comes the hard part – executing. Too often the media ignores the execution part and goes from idea to success, skipping over the nitty, gritty details of executing in the early days. We think that’s a disservice both to the entrepreneurs who built something amazing as well as the public who isn’t getting a realistic picture of what it takes to succeed. So, we’d really appreciate if you could open up about your execution story – how did you go from idea to execution?
I’ve learned that generating an idea is a very minuscule piece of the puzzle. Extremely necessary, but minuscule in the grand scheme. Where the determining and majority factor comes in is execution. Nothing moves, unless you do. As it relates to branNEWmedia and branNEWrunway, it’s been just that. When I came up with the concept late 2018 heading into 2019, I knew the level of impact I wanted both BNM & BNR to have on the culture. I had such a huge admiration and desire of the idea that something that came from my head could truly matter in this world. But I didn’t get caught up in the glamor of the idea so much that I wouldn’t focus on the real work. I got straight to it. I can honestly say, along with God’s favor, I’ve always known that to get what I want, I’ll have to work for it. And not as hard as everyone else, because that’ll only leave you everyone else results. I knew and know to this day that you must truly outwork any and everyone if you want it bad enough.
Once I knew what I wanted the essence of BNM & BNR to be, I then literally mapped out what I thought at the time would get me there. Now, this is entrepreneurship, so of course things don’t always go as how you planned and that’s completely fine. It’s about the process. Every step I went through was imperative as figuring it out has been my school of business. There were and are many elements that I needed to figure out. Elements such as the business model, website design, our true purpose and vision, pricing, potential profit margins, branding, and the list goes on & on. I eventually reached the point where we were able to expand and grow the team. So now navigating staff and all that entails. All in all, in a nutshell, in my opinion to go from idea to execution, you’ll need true passion & love for what you’re doing, grit, awareness, drive and of course faith. If you want it, go get it.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
My name is Bran Black. I’m from Detroit, Michigan but currently based out of Atlanta, Georgia. I relocated from my hometown to leave my comfort zone and to ultimately find my purpose. From being in Atlanta, I launched a media agency called branNEWmedia with a fashion division called, branNEWrunway. These entities were built solely to a genuine guide for creatives such as music artists, beat-makers, and fashion designers. I entered this space very organically. It really just fell in my lap and I made the decision to not ignore God aligning my purpose. branNEWmedia provides tools, resources and services to creatives to simplify things for them. I know how political, gatekeeping, and frustrating the space of not only creating but trying to build a career from it can be. That’s where we come in. Our main service to music artist is our Release Rollout service. This is a service that allows us to generate a complete music release plan for an artist and everything it entails. Allowing the artist to focus more on creating the actual music. We also provides ways for artist to submit their music and have a chance being showcased on our website and much more. branNEWrunway, our fashion division, serves as a platform for both underground fashion designers to increase their brands reach while also being a source where lovers of. fashion to go from new brands, fashion inspiration, and much more. We’re also working on a service to offer fashion brand owners that we believe will be game-changing and very impactful.
I’m also in music management as I manage soon to be superstar, Chris Van Gogh. Navigating the business of music has been an experience that has taught me very valuable information. Managing CVG has thus far been a helluva ride and I can’t put into words how excited I am for the future.
Any advice for managing a team?
Leading and managing a team is not an easy task to say the least. Even at a beginning stage of a business, just the action of people depending on and trusting you to lead them to success can be taxing. But I genuinely love it and accept that it comes with what I’m doing so I could never complain. How I manage my team is pretty simple for the most part. I treat everyone with the utmost respect and love, and I lead with pure intentions. Everything else stems from that. I respect them, so I’ll always be transparent and fully authentic with them. I love that they even are apart of what just started as a vision in my head so that keeps me grateful for them. I keep pure intentions so me knowing what it’ll take for them and the company to excel, I’ll always put them in the best position that I’m aware of to do so. branNEWrunway’s Executive Director, J. Hibb, plays a big part in managing the team and overall business plan. We as a team lead our business and brand with love and pure intentions. That allows the sky to be our limit because please believe what you put out, will indeed make its way back to you. Shoutout to Hibb and the rest of the team!
Can you share one of your favorite marketing or sales stories?
I live live my overall life but more particularly my business life by taking risks. I believe that the greatest reward comes from the greatest risk. I’ve never been afraid to put it all on the line behind a vision I truly believe in. From the smallest to the largest, take a risk and I bet you will eventually see progress. One instance of this was for my artist, Chris Van Gogh. We were preparing to release PSYCHOTIC, his debut project. As we were doing so, I personally knew how important this project was and how much it will mean in the future looking back. I took that into account and made a decision to make the investment and surprise the team with a billboard. This was at the time the biggest one-time marketing risk I had made. And it honestly felt great to do. The team and I had been working hard all year on this project and this is was a great way to both market the release while also in a way affirming our work didn’t go in vain. That billboard expanded CVG’s reach. We received many comments and messages of people expressing how they discovered CVG from the billboard and are now hooked on his music. Job not finished, but job well done.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.branNEWmedia.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brannewmedia/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brannewmedia/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/branNEWmedia
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvZwfENu-jdsrEFKnVklvNA/featured
- Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@brannewmedia https://www.tiktok.com/@brannewrunway
Image Credits
Jaren Stephens