That first step, that MUST be taken in my opinion before anything else, is to....come up with your OWN identity. A brand name, some semblance of a logo (although this can evolve over time), and something that will make your company unique. Having a brand that is uniquely you will give you that mentality that you have already begun the journey, and give your close friends and family that try your homemade products something concrete in their minds, instead of just Gran't home-brew that was pretty good they had that one time." In my opinion, the brands that really stick it out are culturally tied to the market in which they exist. Unless you're a celebrity with a huge following, you probably will be facing an uphill battle standing out if you try to make the brand about yourself. In my case, I came up with Two Saints as the brewery name, because my plan was to open it in my home town of St. Maries, and St. Maries sits at the confluence of the St. Joe and St. Maries rivers, the two saints. "Grant's brewing company" doesn't have quite the same appeal to as many people as something like "Two Saints". Being the first brewery the county had ever seen and making it about the whole area created a lot of curiosity as well as local pride. The local culture here revolves mostly around two things, the waterways and the timber industry. The logo doesn't need to be overly complicated or busy, it just needs to be recognizable. I would also recommend something somewhat simple. Remember, you need to be putting your logo on things like shirts, hats, and glassware. You also need to think about what identity your company is going to have. Unless youre in a large market, it would not be wise to narrow your scope so much that you alienate the vast majority of people. My town is largely beer and whiskey drinkers, and the people that did drink beer, pretty much just drank Coors Light. Even today after two years I still get people that come into the Taphouse and ask the question "What do you have that's closest to Coors Light?" Some people even alluding to the fact they think craft beer is "crap" or "too strong". The first beer I came out with was my "St. Joe Special American Lager". It was an almost amber in color, barely hopped, pseudo-lager. It was my introduction to the town and most of the people here had an idea that "craft" meant triple IPAs and Imperial Stouts. It took a good year of several batches of my hazy IPA before it actually started to sell, only after I had gained the trust of the area by producing several good approachable styles.

Hey @Grant Lee - look what came up in my feed this morning: https://www.idahostatejournal.com/freeaccess/opinion-small-town-paradox/article_2d7f7af4-9dbe-49f7-a744-c1604d7a5526.html