Authentic Alchemy • Step 3: The Audit

Let’s Do This

Grab your coffee, tea, matcha, or hand-milked almond latte—it’s Branding Mondays, a mindful way to start the week by exploring how we can express ourselves more meaningfully in this big, bad, beautiful world.

So far on our “learning-to-brand” journey we have:

• Realized that a brand is what they say it is, not what we say it is.

• Learned that the Authentic Alchemy philosophy rests on an innate truth: value is inherent. Truth × Empathy → Resonance → Magnetism. We’re not here to concoct; we’re here to reveal.

• Dived deep into our motivations and intentions, recognizing that building a business or brand is an at-will relationship.

(Missed last week’s session? Catch up here → https://dustinbyerley.beehiiv.com/p/authentic-alchemy-beginning-the-work)

Step 1: Truth & Empathy — Complete
Step 2: Foundational Awareness — Complete

Step 3: The Audit

Whenever I tell a client we’re about to run a brand audit, their face usually droops in dread. Relax—it’s not that kind of audit. We’re just reviewing everything the brand has created, shared, or expressed up to this point.

We can’t move forward if we don’t know how we got here. Keep using yesterday’s tools and you’ll get yesterday’s results—so sometimes we have to hose the place down with bleach, strike a match, and moonwalk out of there.

It’s uncomfortable, yes—and that’s the point. The beginning of this process is supposed to stretch us.

From a brand-practitioner’s perspective, an audit means gathering every single public-facing artifact—websites, socials, LinkedIn pages, articles, ads, bios, packaging, pizza boxes, even dusty press clippings—and piling them in front of you. Your job is to study that pile and see what you’re truly working with.

Ask yourself:

• Who is this person or business—really?

• How are they coming across?

• What impression lands in the first five seconds?

• What triggers a “yikes,” and why?

• What’s working? What isn’t?

• Is voice and visual presence consistent?

• Are they focused or all over the place?

• Would a stranger trust them?

• Are they telling the truth or stuck in their own narrative?

• Do they connect with their audience?

• Would you want to be associated with them? Why or why not?

Answer honestly, and the path forward will start to reveal itself.

An audit is a multi-sensory dig: you’re not just spotting what works and what doesn’t—you’re uncovering the true nature of the person or business in front of you.

You need to see who they really are so you can adjust the process to fit their needs. By this stage you can usually sense whether someone can reach their highest expression—or is trapped in ego. Watching a client cling to a self-image that ignores genuine connection can be tough. But that’s the very shadow Authentic Alchemy is built to confront, shifting the mindset from “I need to be this” to “I am this in relation to others.”

Deep stuff, right? Branding, at this level, is more like mindset work. I may call myself a branding guy, yet most days I’m guiding people through the inner rewiring that lets new perspectives replace rigid ones.

Here’s the baseline principle:

Ego stalls energy.
When clients fixate on how they want to be seen, growth freezes. Our job is to move them toward the relief of “It feels good to be seen as I am, in relationship with others.”

If you’re self-branding, this is a moment when a professional guide can help—but it’s not impossible solo. What matters most is your relationship with honesty and self-examination. Branding is relational: are you building dialogue or broadcasting an agenda? Intentional creation doesn’t mean obeying every comment like a focus-group robot; it means making things with the genuine desire to connect. That intention alone sparks curiosity, reflection, and—ultimately—resonance.

A lot to chew on, I know. And that leads us to this week’s exercise…

Weekly Exercise · Meeting People Where They Are

A teacher once gave me a story that still guides how I pinpoint connection:

The Butcher, the Baker, and the Candlestick Maker represent the full spectrum of businesses.

If my goal were to promote greater consciousness in these fields, I wouldn’t simply tell them to stop what they’re doing. I’d first connect on terms they relate to and introduce adjustments that feel constructive and possible.

• You wouldn’t storm into the butcher shop shouting, “Hey, stop killing animals—it’s cruel!”
  A more effective opener might be, “Have you thought about offering organic cuts? Customers keep asking, and here’s how it could boost sales.”

• Same with the baker. Rather than scolding, “White flour is poison,” you could say, “Whole-wheat loaves are trending—want to test a batch?”

• Even the candlestick maker responds better to, “Soy wax burns cleaner and lasts longer,” than to, “Paraffin is terrible—shame on you.”

Now reflect on how this applies to your brand. Maybe you’re promoting a healthier alternative to strong, long-lasting synthetic fragrances. How will you communicate the benefits—especially when shoppers might miss the variety or staying power synthetics offer? Can you position your message so they’ll understand and feel capable of acting on it? This is empathy in action: a puzzle you need to examine from every angle before moving forward.

The point: Passion without empathy can’t land. Your vision may be brilliant, but people won’t embrace it until you translate it into their language and current capacity.

Five prompts for this week

1. Do people actually understand what I’m doing?

2. Where is my audience right now? Am I meeting them at their level of knowledge and need?

3. One micro-action I can take this week to clarify my work is: __________. (Then do it.)

4. How can I simplify my presence—make it cleaner, more concise, easier to digest?

5. Which offer have I undersold? How will I articulate its value more clearly? (Then do it.)

Tip: Choose one question to tackle per day; by Friday you’ll have five small wins.

Share your experiments

Tried something that clicked? Email me at [email protected]—I’d love to feature a few examples in next Monday’s issue.

Next week we’ll start distilling core brand truths, and the clarity you gain from these prompts will make that work much easier.

Around the Studio

New Website Coming This Week

We’re putting the finishing touches on a completely new studio site—live this week. Can’t wait to reveal our future-forward direction. Keep your eye out for an announcement this week.

Feel the Force! · 3rd Force “LifeForce”

Tired of beige mood boards? Same. I just wrapped the branding, album art, and social rollout for 3rd Force’s upcoming release LifeForce (dropping June 27). Think bold color, vitality symbols, and an animated cover you can preview on my IG.

• Watch the motion art → @dbdcreate

• Follow the band → @3rdforcemusic

• Queue a feel-good Monday vibe → Spotify

Love Is in the Air · Ojai Wild “Rose Love” Cologne

Fragrance alchemist Janna Sheehan hand-grows her roses, then distills them into magic. To match that craft we flipped the usual white box inside-out—saturating it in deep red and overlaying a reversed fragrance spectrum. The result: a shelf-popping mini-art piece.
Explore the line → https://www.ojaiwild.com

Share the Journey

Know someone navigating purpose, creativity, or brand clarity? Forward this note:

“I’m getting a free, mindful branding class in my inbox every Monday—no pitches, just clarity and creative prompts. Thought you’d like it: dustinbyerley.beehiiv.com.”

Thanks for being here on this expanding brand journey. Questions? Hit reply and I may feature them in next week’s session.

See you next Monday morning.
Explore more → https://dustinbyerley.com
IG @dbdcreate 
Email [email protected]

— Dustin Byerley