Building a Business on Hard Work, Self-Discipline, and Passion – Sharon Brand

How to launch and run a successful business with no MBA – just a healthy quotient of drive, passion, and self-belief. 

In this edition of ThinkMBA Real Stories, we feature Sharon Brand, founder of Brand’s Media Group, whose path into entrepreneurship grew from her interests in marketing and fashion. In this Q&A, Sharon explains how her lifestyle blog led to an agency, what she learned from launching a business during the pandemic, and how formal education, self-discipline, and self-belief have shaped her approach to building a business without an MBA.

After finishing up my studies, it was clear that marketing and fashion were both big passions of mine, so merging them made the most sense. Following my gut and staying passionate are really what make me a strong entrepreneur today.

2. Your lifestyle blog eventually became the starting point for your agency. When did you realize it could grow into a business?

Exactly, but in a less direct way. I started the blog, BrandTravels, back in 2016, at the peak of the blogging era. I was posting restaurant reviews, museum visits, and what was next in fashion, and the blog grew little by little. My slogan for BrandTravels was “Promoting Your Business Today.” I was doing that through the blog and my personal page, and eventually started helping businesses grow their marketing.

“Following my gut and staying passionate are really what make me a strong entrepreneur today.”

Fast forward four years, at the height of COVID, I launched Brand’s Media Group in a more structured way, and my first three clients came in. It was really only then that I thought, “Okay, this could be the start of something big.”

Shops were closing. Curfews were being implemented. People were confined at home, and there was a huge shift toward online shopping and supporting local businesses. That’s when I saw an opportunity to help businesses struggling to stay open and relevant during the pandemic.

3. You launched your agency in 2020 while finishing your master’s degree. What was the biggest challenge of learning to run a business while still studying?

I was actually finishing my master’s degree pretty much the same week I launched the agency. I presented my thesis on Zoom because we were at the height of COVID. I always say there is life before COVID and life after COVID.

The biggest challenge was figuring out the legal side of the contracts I was signing with clients. I hadn’t studied business, and I didn’t know anything about legal agreements. I only knew how to build strong social media pages. I was saying goodbye to my student life forever while starting something completely new, without anybody’s help.

4. You built your career without an MBA. How did you learn the business skills you needed along the way?

This is probably the question I get asked most, because my path into business was definitely unconventional. You usually study business, learn how it works, and then open your own. I started BMG with nothing. No spreadsheet. No Google Drive. No server. No formal organization or structure, although it was still very organized in my own way.

I built spreadsheets, templates, and a system that worked for the clients I had back then. I was charging so little and doing so much. I hired someone right away to help me. Everything was on a smaller scale than it is today, but along the way, I learned some golden rules about running a business that still apply:

Hire well, grow slowly, be kind, and never stop learning.

5. Looking back, what has formal education prepared you for, and what did you have to learn through experience?

It prepared me to think critically, be open to feedback, and know when to pivot. My thesis took a full year to write. It involved constant meetings, interviews, reviews, reworking my writing, and checking sources. I wrote over 100 pages on the influencer marketing industry, and the hard work paid off. We didn’t have AI or ChatGPT to help us. We did it all by reading, researching, and typing every single word ourselves.

“Hire well, grow slowly, be kind, and never stop learning.”

The other important part is the network. Formal education opens those doors for you, and I think that’s essentially the most important part of pursuing a master’s degree. So choose your program wisely. Look at the opportunities for growth within it. Who are the teachers? What are their backgrounds? Who do they know in the industry? Are there career opportunities through the school? Any internships you can take?

I’ve always been big on saying yes to every opportunity while you’re in school. You just never know where it might lead. Say yes, and see where the magic takes you.

6. Entrepreneurship rarely goes exactly as planned. What is one lesson you wish you had learned earlier in your career?

You can’t take everything personally, and that’s a hard pill to swallow when you’re young. I was 23 when I started my business, and at that age, everything feels personal. You’re still building yourself and growing as a person while also growing a business.

Building BMG helped me develop a thicker skin. It’s not about ego or wanting to protect myself; it’s something you have to learn. You have to establish boundaries, set limits, stand your ground, be honest, and keep it real.

There are a lot of things I would have done differently back then. I would have had clearer contracts, set clearer expectations with clients, and said no to some contracts because they felt misaligned. But you live and you grow. Without those learning experiences, there is no growth. I always look back at when I started and remind myself that, truly, everything happens for a reason.

7. For someone considering an MBA before starting a business, what factors do you think they should weigh before making that investment?

You shouldn’t do an MBA just to start a business. You should do an MBA because you’re passionate about business and willing to grow and be open to opportunities in the field.

I would keep in mind that you don’t need an MBA to start a business. You need a good idea and a disciplined mindset. You need consistency, and you need to believe in yourself. Those aren’t traits you’re taught in school. They’re traits you build yourself.

“The other important part is the network. Formal education opens those doors for you, and I think that’s the most important part of a master’s degree.”

8. If you could give your younger self one piece of advice about education and career choices, what would it be?

After I graduated from high school, I applied to a 3D Animation program and didn’t get in. I thought it was the end of the world, so I found another program instead: Studio Arts. That program opened doors for me in journalism, media, and communications, which is eventually how I got started in marketing.

Sometimes things work out the way they’re supposed to, and that’s okay. I would tell myself to enjoy the journey, because it all goes a little too fast.