Logos are cool. Logos are sexy. And logos are easy to get wrong.

MISTAKE #1. Spending too much money on your logo right out of the gate

Unless you’ve got a million dollars in venture capital, and if you’re a transformational entrepreneur I’m guessing you don’t, then spending a ton of money on your logo is money misspent. You can start off with a relatively simple logo.

An entrepreneur came to me a few months ago, crowing about her new logo, saying, ‘Hey look at my beautiful logo, I spent $500 to do it!’ Once we worked on her message and her brand a little bit, she realized she wanted to change the name of her business. Her logo was basically worthless at that point.

Even if you think that you have the business name that you’re gonna have from now until doomsday, let me tell you, businesses change, especially at the beginning. And so do their logos. So don’t spend too much money on it.

MISTAKE #2. Developing your logo before defining your brand experience

Instead of starting with your logo, start with the brand experience. Start by defining who you serve, what you do for them, the problem that you have a solution to, and what’s unique about you. These branding decisions need to be super well defined before you even think about the logo.

I know, logos are exciting and relatively easy. Developing a logo doesn’t require stepping into discomfort and having people reject you or tell you no. You don’t have to struggle to find a logo like you struggle to find clients. But don’t start with your logo. Start with defining your brand and your brand experience, and let the business name and the logo grow out of those.

MISTAKE #3. Using cheap graphics that don’t set you apart

I know I said not to spend a lot of money on your logo. But let’s be real, cheap graphics tend to look cheap. If you’re a coach you’ve probably seen those graphics that look like a stylized picture of a person reaching upward. I can assure you, overly dramatic is not appealing. Those logos all look alike.

SUCCESS TIP: Instead of using a graphic and business name, just get a branded font. Find a font that expresses your character and your brand. Whether it’s strategic and really precise, or playful and fun, or really modern, or a little wacky and cool, your font should represent your business. No need for a symbol or some fancy design.

One key to this though, don’t use italics. Italics usually look either ordinary, cheesy, or they’re hard to read. If you give someone something that’s hard to read, people will not bother reading your business name. They won’t bother reading anything about you. So you definitely wanna have a branded font that’s easy to read.

MISTAKE #4. Including your tagline in your logo

If you include your tagline in your branded font, the font always has to be printed really big in order to be seen. If you print the font smaller, the way it often is, like when you’re sponsoring an event or if you print your logo on postcards, for example, all of a sudden that tagline is unreadable. If people can’t read it they’ll just keep moving. So when you get your logo with the branded font done, make sure you’re not including that tagline.

MISTAKE #5. Spending too much time on your logo (because it’s easier)

Here’s the thing, logos are easy. Selling and marketing are much more difficult. But that’s where you want to spend your time, not on your logo development. So whether you pull up a font that you like and just put your name in or whether you hire a designer for a little bit of money to create a simple logo, that’s totally cool. But then move on, because your genius lies in helping people. So spend more time doing that!

And you can always rebrand later. Trust me. I rebranded my company after I hit the seven-figure mark. I was over a million dollars in revenue, and I actually changed the name of my company and the fonts and everything else. So it’s not written in stone!

I want you to choose a good business name. I want you to have a font that you really love and that you’re excited about. And I want you to get out there, make a difference in people’s lives and be paid what you’re worth.

Want more help with this? Schedule a call with one of my expert coaches to get their insights 1-on-1.