<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" version="2.0" xmlns:itunes="http://www.itunes.com/dtds/podcast-1.0.dtd" xmlns:googleplay="http://www.google.com/schemas/play-podcasts/1.0"><channel><title><![CDATA[Brand Masonry Notes: Building a Business]]></title><description><![CDATA[A series chronicling my journey of building a business.  Starting with Service based businesses and eventually adding in product based businesses and coaching/community businesses. ]]></description><link>https://brandmasonrynotes.com/s/building-a-business</link><image><url>https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ekD6!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffd38e9c3-cee9-45bf-8909-7472d66a7c60_1280x1280.png</url><title>Brand Masonry Notes: Building a Business</title><link>https://brandmasonrynotes.com/s/building-a-business</link></image><generator>Substack</generator><lastBuildDate>Tue, 05 May 2026 11:37:24 GMT</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="https://brandmasonrynotes.com/feed" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"/><copyright><![CDATA[Kat Rosati]]></copyright><language><![CDATA[en]]></language><webMaster><![CDATA[brandmasonrynotes@substack.com]]></webMaster><itunes:owner><itunes:email><![CDATA[brandmasonrynotes@substack.com]]></itunes:email><itunes:name><![CDATA[Kat Rosati]]></itunes:name></itunes:owner><itunes:author><![CDATA[Kat Rosati]]></itunes:author><googleplay:owner><![CDATA[brandmasonrynotes@substack.com]]></googleplay:owner><googleplay:email><![CDATA[brandmasonrynotes@substack.com]]></googleplay:email><googleplay:author><![CDATA[Kat Rosati]]></googleplay:author><itunes:block><![CDATA[Yes]]></itunes:block><item><title><![CDATA[Scared of Cheaper Competitors? Let’s Talk About What’s Actually Happening]]></title><description><![CDATA[That cheaper competitor with the massive budget?]]></description><link>https://brandmasonrynotes.com/p/scared-of-cheaper-competitors-lets</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://brandmasonrynotes.com/p/scared-of-cheaper-competitors-lets</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Kat Rosati]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Sat, 18 Apr 2026 18:43:49 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!HnAq!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7b524efe-5557-45ca-a1d9-7c39fbac74e5_1920x2880.jpeg" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!HnAq!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7b524efe-5557-45ca-a1d9-7c39fbac74e5_1920x2880.jpeg" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!HnAq!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7b524efe-5557-45ca-a1d9-7c39fbac74e5_1920x2880.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!HnAq!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7b524efe-5557-45ca-a1d9-7c39fbac74e5_1920x2880.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!HnAq!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7b524efe-5557-45ca-a1d9-7c39fbac74e5_1920x2880.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!HnAq!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7b524efe-5557-45ca-a1d9-7c39fbac74e5_1920x2880.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!HnAq!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7b524efe-5557-45ca-a1d9-7c39fbac74e5_1920x2880.jpeg" width="1456" height="2184" 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srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!HnAq!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7b524efe-5557-45ca-a1d9-7c39fbac74e5_1920x2880.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!HnAq!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7b524efe-5557-45ca-a1d9-7c39fbac74e5_1920x2880.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!HnAq!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7b524efe-5557-45ca-a1d9-7c39fbac74e5_1920x2880.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!HnAq!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7b524efe-5557-45ca-a1d9-7c39fbac74e5_1920x2880.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>That cheaper competitor with the massive budget?</p><p>They&#8217;re not your biggest problem.</p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://brandmasonrynotes.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Brand Masonry Notes is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div><p>Your reaction to them is.</p><p>The moment you see them show up&#8212;flashy ads, lower prices, louder messaging&#8212;<em>you feel it.</em></p><p>Tightness in your chest.<br>That little voice that whispers, <em>&#8220;Uh oh&#8230; here we go.&#8221;</em></p><p>And before you even realize what&#8217;s happening, you start changing things.</p><p>Lowering your prices.<br>Second-guessing your offers.<br>Dialing yourself down to &#8220;stay competitive.&#8221;</p><p>I&#8217;ve been there.<br>It&#8217;s one of the fastest ways to quietly sabotage a business that was actually working.</p><div><hr></div><h2><strong>The Day I Realized I Was Playing the Wrong Game</strong></h2><p>There was a point in my business where I was objectively really good at what I did.</p><p>Not &#8220;pretty good.&#8221;<br>Not &#8220;getting there.&#8221;</p><p>I was THE BEST in the industry. </p><p>I was saving clients from five-figure mistakes.<br>Delivering quality work faster than industry standards.<br>Building systems no one else was even thinking about yet.</p><p>And still&#8230;</p><p>I was watching what everyone else was doing.</p><p>Especially the cheaper ones.</p><p>Especially the louder ones.</p><p>I assumed that they were all more successful than me. That they had figured out some sort of secret that I hadn&#8217;t yet.</p><p>I thought <em>they</em> were the competition.</p><p>So I started playing their game.</p><p>And that&#8217;s where things went sideways.</p><div><hr></div><h2><strong>Here&#8217;s the Truth Nobody Wants to Admit</strong></h2><p>Not everyone buys on price.</p><p>Read that again.</p><p>If you don&#8217;t believe that yet, you will keep shrinking every time someone cheaper shows up.</p><p>The cheaper competitor?</p><p>They&#8217;re not stealing your clients.</p><p>They&#8217;re filtering them.</p><p>They&#8217;re attracting:</p><ul><li><p>The tire-kickers</p></li><li><p>The &#8220;just shopping around&#8221; crowd</p></li><li><p>The people who will question every invoice</p></li><li><p>The ones who disappear the second something cheaper pops up</p></li></ul><p>Let them have them.</p><p>Seriously.</p><p>Those were never your people.</p><div><hr></div><h2><strong>What Your Best Clients Are Actually Looking For</strong></h2><p>Your best clients&#8212;the ones who:</p><ul><li><p>Pay on time</p></li><li><p>Respect your process</p></li><li><p>Trust your expertise</p></li><li><p>And don&#8217;t make you want to throw your phone across the room</p></li></ul><p>They&#8217;re not sitting there thinking:</p><p>&#8220;Who&#8217;s the cheapest option?&#8221;</p><p>They&#8217;re thinking:</p><p>&#8220;Who feels like they actually know what they&#8217;re doing?&#8221;</p><p>That&#8217;s it.</p><p>That&#8217;s the whole game.</p><p>And that&#8217;s where most businesses in this messy middle get stuck.</p><p>They&#8217;re trying to <strong>be everything to everyone</strong>, instead of becoming <em><strong>irreplaceable to the right people</strong></em><strong>.</strong></p><div><hr></div><h2><strong>The Real Problem Isn&#8217;t Competition. It&#8217;s Positioning.</strong></h2><p>You don&#8217;t have a competition problem.</p><p>You have a positioning problem.</p><p>Because when your brand:</p><ul><li><p>Sounds like everyone else</p></li><li><p>Looks like everyone else</p></li><li><p>Prices like everyone else</p></li></ul><p>You become&#8230; guess what?</p><p>Comparable.</p><p>And when you&#8217;re comparable, the cheapest option wins.</p><p>Every time.</p><div><hr></div><h2><strong>Why Cheap Competitors Only Win When You Blend In</strong></h2><p>Cheap competitors don&#8217;t win because they&#8217;re better.</p><p>They win because <strong>you&#8217;re unclear</strong>.</p><p>Unclear messaging.<br>Unclear positioning.<br>Unclear value.</p><p>So the buyer defaults to the only thing that feels concrete:</p><p>Price.</p><div><hr></div><h2><strong>The Shift That Changes Everything</strong></h2><p>The moment you stop trying to compete&#8230;</p><p>And start building a brand that actually <em>feels different</em>&#8230;</p><p>Everything shifts.</p><p>Because now:</p><ul><li><p>Your messaging attracts your ideal clients</p></li><li><p>Your visuals build trust instantly</p></li><li><p>Your pricing makes sense instead of raising eyebrows</p></li></ul><p>And suddenly, those &#8220;cheaper competitors&#8221;?</p><p>Aren&#8217;t even on your radar.</p><p>They&#8217;re no longer relevant to your buyer.</p><div><hr></div><h2><strong>This Is Where Most People Get It Wrong</strong></h2><p>They think the answer is:</p><ul><li><p>More content</p></li><li><p>More marketing</p></li><li><p>More effort</p></li></ul><p>It&#8217;s not.</p><p>It&#8217;s alignment.</p><p>Your brand, your messaging, your pricing, your offer&#8212;</p><p>They all have to tell the same story:</p><p>&#8220;This is premium. And it&#8217;s worth it.&#8221;</p><p>When that story is clear people don&#8217;t hesitate.</p><p>They lean in.</p><div><hr></div><h2><strong>Welcome to the Messy Middle (You&#8217;re Not Alone)</strong></h2><p>If you&#8217;re reading this thinking:</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m too experienced to be this stuck&#8230; but here I am.&#8221;</p><p>Yeah.</p><p>You&#8217;re exactly who I wrote this for.</p><p>The messy middle is where:</p><ul><li><p>You&#8217;re booked&#8230; but don&#8217;t feel profitable</p></li><li><p>You&#8217;re good at what you do&#8230; but don&#8217;t know how to position your business like it</p></li><li><p>You&#8217;re working hard&#8230; but don&#8217;t see the results of your efforts</p></li></ul><p>And it&#8217;s frustrating as hell.</p><p>Because you <em>know</em> you&#8217;re capable of more.</p><p>You just can&#8217;t see what&#8217;s actually holding it all back.</p><div><hr></div><h2><strong>The Fix Isn&#8217;t Hustle. It&#8217;s Structure.</strong></h2><p>This is exactly why I created <strong>Brand Masonry</strong>.</p><p>This is not another fluffy branding guide.</p><p>It&#8217;s not a &#8220;pick your colors and write a cute bio.&#8221;</p><p>I&#8217;m talking about the real stuff:</p><ul><li><p>Fixing your positioning so you stop competing on price</p></li><li><p>Aligning your messaging so clients know you&#8217;re the person to hire immediately</p></li><li><p>Building a brand that filters <em>for</em> the right people and repels the wrong ones</p></li></ul><p>Right now?</p><p>Your low prices&#8212;or unclear positioning&#8212;aren&#8217;t just failing to attract the right clients&#8230;</p><p>They&#8217;re actively pushing them away.</p><p>(That&#8217;s not a guess. That&#8217;s literally how buyer psychology works.)</p><div><hr></div><h2><strong>Here&#8217;s the Line You Need to Decide On</strong></h2><p>Are you going to keep:<br>Watching your competitors<br>Adjusting your prices<br>And hoping it somehow works out?</p><p>Or are you going to:</p><p>Build a brand so clear, so confident, and so aligned&#8230;</p><p>That the right clients choose you without hesitation?</p><div><hr></div><h2><strong>Your Move</strong></h2><p>If this hit a little too close to home&#8230;</p><p>Good.</p><p>That means you&#8217;re ready.</p><p>&#128073; Grab <strong>Brand Masonry</strong> and fix the real problem:<br><strong><a href="https://tr.ee/YOi4oBetR0">Grab Your Copy of Brand Masonry- Instant Access!</a></strong></p><p>Or if you&#8217;re the &#8220;I don&#8217;t have time just fix it for me&#8221; type start with our<strong> MAVERICK Audit:</strong></p><p><strong><a href="https://maverickandmason.com/maverick-audit/">Sign Up for the MAVERICK Audit</a></strong></p><p>But whatever you do?</p><p>Stop playing small just because someone else decided to play cheap.</p><p>You didn&#8217;t build this far to be overlooked.</p><p>And you definitely didn&#8217;t build it to compete on price.</p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://brandmasonrynotes.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Brand Masonry Notes is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div>]]></content:encoded></item></channel></rss>