Why So Many Logos? — A "Mini-Blog"

While I’m working on the next regular Conquest Mindset article (or “blog,” as the kids are calling it these days), I figured I’d put together a quick mini-blog with a bit of a purpose.

There’s always a lot going on behind the scenes here. New products have been added, with a few more on the way (possibly by the time you’re reading this). An eight-month-long issue involving Facebook and Instagram has finally been resolved — and wow, what a mess that was. Our Google search visibility is improving, and the social side is coming together, including the ability to shop directly through Facebook and Instagram, with a few wrinkles still being ironed out.

If you haven’t visited the website lately, there have been some improvements there, too. Lots of little things that might not jump out at you right away, I won’t be offended if you don’t notice every one.

I may have even found an effective way to block all those scam emails from people offering unsolicited “help” to generate sales, improve conversions, or perform whatever other miracles they claim to offer. But that’s a story for another day.

So what did I want to share today that’s a little different from a regular blog?

Foundation

Conquest Mindset launched in 2025, and the website went live in February 2026. Before that, there was plenty to take care of: the company name, the domain, and all the other behind-the-scenes essentials. One thing I wanted ready from the beginning was a logo.

I had the name, a slogan I loved, and a pretty good idea of what the logo should represent. Conquest Mindset is about overcoming obstacles, showing determination, refusing to let limitations define you, and continually striving for excellence. My original idea was a globe, perhaps with a rustic look, representing the idea that you could “conquer the world” if you put your mind to it.

After a lot of time and effort, I designed what I thought was the perfect logo. I was seriously proud of it. I still am, by the way!

I was ready to have some test shirts printed, so I took a T-shirt from another lifestyle brand that had inspired some of my thinking (which I won’t name), measured its logo, and made mine the same size.

A few months later, the shirts finally arrived. Naturally, they shipped during the postal strike.

I loved the shirts, but something was wrong: my logo looked too small. I measured mine. Correct size. I measured the logo on the comparison shirt. Also correct. So what went wrong?

The other logo was perfectly round. Mine had design elements extending to the left and right, which made the central globe look smaller even though the overall dimensions matched.

Then a couple of other things occurred to me. As much as I loved the design, it had a distinctly vintage look. I liked that, but I wasn’t sure it was right for the main Conquest Mindset logo. And if I was making changes anyway, why not show North and South America instead of Africa, Europe, and Asia?

Expedition

So I put on my “designer jeans” (I have no idea how many people will get that reference, or find it remotely funny) and set about improving my already perfect logo.

The new version needed to be sharp, stay within the main circular border, and feature the part of the world I actually live in. I also worked in the full Conquest Mindset name and the Mind Over Limits slogan. Somehow, I’d created an even more perfect logo.

I hated abandoning the original, but I was sure I’d nailed this one. So I began replacing the old logo everywhere it appeared behind the scenes, and this was the version that went live shortly after the website launched. It felt strange to launch a site with a logo I’d spent months developing, only to replace it within a couple of weeks. But I figured few people had seen the original, and most wouldn’t notice the change.

So, quietly, the new logo appeared in all its “beyond perfect” glory across the website and my social media pages.

Feeling pretty good, I invited a small group of people (possibly some of you reading this) to check out the site. I wanted honest feedback: What was good? What was bad? What was missing? What would you like to see?

What I wasn’t expecting was for someone to tell me my “beyond perfect” logo sucked. (I'm exaggerating — he didn't actually say “sucked,” but that's certainly how it felt. He may as well have stabbed me in the heart. LOL!)

My initial reaction was basically, “No, you’re wrong.” I hadn’t even asked for feedback on the logo. In my mind, that part was settled. What could this guy possibly know about logos?

Quite a bit, as it turned out.

He wasn’t a graphic designer himself, but he’d worked with several, including on logo projects. Interestingly, he’d once wanted to incorporate a globe into a logo of his own. At least he’d actually travelled around the world, so the idea made more sense for him than it did for me. Even so, he couldn’t make it work.

His concerns were that my logo was too busy, had too many lines, and would be difficult to reproduce on items like embroidered clothing. And those were just some of the issues he raised.

It took me about a day to think it all through. It wasn’t easy to admit, but he was right.

Summit

One logo had lasted about six months. The second had barely had time to dry (metaphorically speaking), and now I needed a third?

Back to the drawing board.

For so long I’d been fixated on “conquering the world” that I hadn’t seriously considered anything beyond a globe. What else could represent conquest, achievement, and overcoming obstacles in a way people would instantly understand?

After kicking around a few ideas, I landed on the idea of a mountain. It felt like the natural next step: a challenge, the effort required to overcome it, and the achievement of reaching the top. Add a flag at the summit to signify success, and the concept practically speaks for itself.

Done! Well, not quite.

There were weeks of tiny adjustments: trying different possibilities and considering what could be added, removed, or refined. Eventually, we found what I believe is the sweet spot: a clean, recognizable design that captures the spirit of Conquest Mindset without trying to say too much.

And that brings us to the logo you see today.

Turning Three Logos into Three Collections

So what was I supposed to do with the other two?

I didn’t want to discard them and pretend they never existed. I still liked both designs, and a lot of time and effort had gone into them. Besides, what would I tell someone who bought a shirt with one of those logos? “Oh, that thing you bought with my logo on it? Yeah, I decided it was garbage.”

Not exactly the best customer service strategy!

Instead, I decided to turn a potential negative into a positive. It’s a principle that applies to a lot of things in life: progress, not perfection. Rather than throwing the designs away, I gave them a new purpose as part of the brand’s story, each representing a different stage in its development. In a way, this mini-blog is the story behind that story.

• The Foundation Collection features the original globe logo. It represents the beginnings of Conquest Mindset and the ideas that inspired the brand as it was built from the ground up.
• The Expedition Collection features the second globe logo. It represents the exploration of new ideas and directions while still embracing that original conquer-the-world mindset.
• The Summit Collection features the mountain logo. It represents reaching higher, pushing further, and striving for the next level.

Three logos. Three collections. One evolving brand.

And now you know why we’ve gone through three logos in such a short time! It had absolutely nothing to do with yours truly being fickle or subconsciously indecisive because of my ADHD brain. I overthink practically everything else, including logo design, but once a design is finalized, I don’t change it without a reason. In this case, each change taught me something, and each version brought us closer to the brand identity we have today.

The Point Isn’t to Get Everything Right the First Time

Looking back, I’m glad someone was willing to tell me what I didn’t want to hear. It’s easy to get attached to something you’ve created, especially after investing so much time and effort. But being proud of your work doesn’t mean there’s no room for improvement. Sometimes an outside perspective helps you see what you couldn’t see yourself.

That’s as true for building a business as it is for just about anything else in life.

So the next time you see one of these three logos on a Conquest Mindset product, you’ll know there’s more to it than a design on a shirt. Each one represents a different stage in the journey, and all three have earned their place.

After all, the goal was never to create three logos. It was to build something worth believing in.

And we’re still building.

Thanks for reading! The next blog will be a proper one, I promise.