Brandon J. Hurst - BJH Brand

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Brandon J. Hurst - BJH Brand I help leaders build teams that scale. Multi-unit operator. Investor.

Author.
📙drops 01.26.27
Pre-order 𝙊𝙪𝙩𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠 𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛 Now ⤵️

https://brandonjhurst.com/outthinkyourself/

There’s something especially meaningful about hearing these words from Dr. Quinton T. Ross, Jr., because he leads the un...
10/08/2026

There’s something especially meaningful about hearing these words from Dr. Quinton T. Ross, Jr., because he leads the university that helped shape so much of who I became.

Alabama State University gave me room to grow as a student, a leader and a young man, so having its president now see those experiences reflected in my book means a great deal.
What really caught my attention was his use of the words “𝙥𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙡 𝙗𝙡𝙪𝙚𝙥𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙩.”

Dr. Ross has spent his career developing and educating people who are still figuring out who they want to become.

I wrote this book for those moments when you’re facing change, wrestling with your own thinking, or trying to make a decision without having everything figured out.

A lot of those lessons started for me on the campus of Alabama State.

Years later, I’ve been able to put language and frameworks around them through the Thinking Discipline™ System so someone else can apply them to their own journey.

For Dr. Ross to recognize both the reflection and the practical application in the book feels like a pretty special connection back to where a lot of my own development began.

Outthink Yourself · 01.26.27.
👉🏾 Pre-order at the link in my bio.

Before you ask whether you’re qualified to be an operator, ask whether you’re ready for the two things that actually dec...
10/05/2026

Before you ask whether you’re qualified to be an operator, ask whether you’re ready for the two things that actually decide it.

I’ve seen people come into this industry with years of leadership experience and quickly discover that leading restaurant talent requires a completely different muscle.

You’re managing different generations, experience levels, motivations and expectations, sometimes all on the same shift.

Your title won’t carry you very far if you can’t connect with people.

Money can fool you too.

Having enough capital to get into a business says very little about whether you know how to steward it once you’re there.

In restaurants, you’re constantly managing the tension between sales and profit. You can grow revenue and still create a financially unhealthy business if you don’t understand what it costs to produce those sales.

After more than a decade as an Operator, I’ve found that being “cut out for it” shows up in two places people underestimate: how well you lead people and how disciplined you are with money.

Everything else gets tested pretty quickly.

Whatever role you’re pursuing:
→ Know how to lead people your title doesn’t impress.
→ Know what it costs to produce a sale, not just how to make one.
→ Know the difference between a growing business and a healthy one.

Which one would test you first: the people or the money? Tell me below.

You can get the promotion, build the business, lead more people — and still be wearing something internally that no long...
10/01/2026

You can get the promotion, build the business, lead more people — and still be wearing something internally that no longer fits.

There’s a chapter in 𝙊𝙪𝙩𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠 𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛 I almost cut.
It’s called “Wearing an Outdated Wardrobe.”

I wanted it gone. The story was embarrassing, and even while writing it I kept wondering, do people really need to know this about me?

I kept it because leaders carry old things into new rooms all the time.

A mistake that shook your confidence.
An insecurity you learned to hide.
A leadership style that worked five years ago.
A version of yourself you’ve simply outgrown.

I won’t give away what happened in the chapter. But that experience forced me to confront something about myself that followed me longer than it should have.

Leadership growth requires you to recognize what you’re still carrying before it starts shaping how you lead other people.

When you read it, my hope is that you’re thinking about your own wardrobe too.

𝙊𝙪𝙩𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠 𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛 01.26.27 · Pre-order now, link in bio.

What’s one thing you’re still wearing that no longer fits?

👉🏾Want first access to what’s inside the book?Comment NEWSLETTER

Everyone’s saving their reset for January. October is a better place to start.January gets a lot of attention as the tim...
09/30/2026

Everyone’s saving their reset for January.
October is a better place to start.

January gets a lot of attention as the time to reset. I’d rather you use these next few months to get a head start on the transformation.

That’s why every pre-order of 𝙊𝙪𝙩𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠 𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛 comes with 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝘿𝙞𝙨𝙘𝙞𝙥𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙚: 𝘼𝙣 𝘼𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙅𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙩𝙤 𝙊𝙪𝙩𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠 𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛.

I want the reader to do more than agree with the ideas in the book.

I wanted to give you something you could start using now, instead of waiting until January to begin the work.

The book gives you the stories, frameworks and lessons behind the 𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝘿𝙞𝙨𝙘𝙞𝙥𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙚TM system.

The journal puts those ideas in your hands through questions that make you examine your patterns, work through real decisions and get clear about the success you’re trying to create for yourself.

By the time 𝙊𝙪𝙩𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠 𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛 arrives, you’ve already started doing the work.

🔁 Send this to the person who keeps saying “I’ll start in January.”

What’s one thing you’ve been saving for January? Tell me below.

𝙊𝙪𝙩𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠 𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛 𝟬𝟭.𝟮𝟲.𝟮𝟳

✨Journal included with every pre-order through 01.25.27. Link in bio.

Before you ask what a business costs to get into, ask what it costs to stay in.Traditional franchising 𝙘𝙖𝙣 offer signifi...
09/28/2026

Before you ask what a business costs to get into, ask what it costs to stay in.

Traditional franchising 𝙘𝙖𝙣 offer significant equity and the ability to scale.

It 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙖𝙡𝙨𝙤 require substantial capital, debt, and fixed obligations: leases, real estate, equipment, remodels.

My path gave me a different risk profile.

Instead of borrowing millions to build a portfolio of restaurants, I could focus my energy on operating, developing people, and building culture.

One financial discipline has stayed with me: 𝙄 𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙤𝙗𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨 𝙗𝙚𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙄 𝙜𝙚𝙩 𝙚𝙭𝙘𝙞𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙪𝙥𝙨𝙞𝙙𝙚.

Revenue can change quickly. Fixed obligations usually don’t.

Whatever business you’re building:
→ Know how you make money.
→ Know what can take you out.
→ Understand the risk you’re agreeing to carry.

What’s one obligation in your business you’d want to fully understand before you scale? Tell me below.

You can have the opportunity, the resources, and the right people around you, and still be the one making it harder than...
09/25/2026

You can have the opportunity, the resources, and the right people around you, and still be the one making it harder than it needs to be.

I don’t know if I ever had a moment where I said, “My book belongs in the same lineage as these authors.”

What I do recognize is that we’re all wrestling with some version of the same thing: How do you get out of your own way?

I’ve had enough experiences now as a leader and entrepreneur to know that the external challenge is rarely the whole story.

I’ve seen people who had the opportunity, the resources, and even the right people around them, but their own thinking was making the situation harder than it needed to be.

Mel Robbins approaches it through action.
Barry Habib through opportunity.
Thomas Koulopoulos through how we think about the future.
Terrell Carter through his own lived experience.

My contribution is the Thinking Discipline: learning how to recognize when your own thinking is working against you, and having the discipline to do something about it.

Being part of a body of work that helps people fight the battle between their ears? That means something to me.

🔁 Send this to someone who has everything they need except a clear head about it.

Which way in do you need most right now: action, opportunity, future, story, or thinking? One word below.

𝙊𝙪𝙩𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠 𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛 𝟬𝟭.𝟮𝟲.𝟮𝟳
Link in bio to pre-order.

👉🏾 Want updates on 𝙊𝙪𝙩𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠 𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛 as we get closer to 01.26.27? Comment NEWSLETTER and I’ll add you to the list.

Your culture isn’t tested in the planning meeting. It’s tested when the plan falls apart.In my restaurants, we can have ...
09/24/2026

Your culture isn’t tested in the planning meeting. It’s tested when the plan falls apart.

In my restaurants, we can have multiple callouts in a single day.

Suddenly leaders are moving people around, covering positions, and making decisions we didn’t expect to make that morning.

Then we sit down for our weekly leadership meeting and talk through it. We don’t always agree.

Sometimes I’m challenging their decisions, sometimes they’re challenging mine, and sometimes we’re dealing with the nuances of people, performance, and business that don’t have a clean answer.

Restaurants may be where I experience it, but every industry has its version of a callout.
A client changes direction.
A deadline moves.
A deal falls apart.
Someone misses the mark.
The strategy simply doesn’t work.

I’ve found that culture becomes clearest in how people communicate and treat each other when those moments happen.

You can write your values on the wall.

Your response when the plan falls apart tells people what the culture really is.

What’s your industry’s version of a callout? Tell me below.

👉🏾 Leading a team through the days that don’t go to plan? Comment 𝙂𝙪𝙞𝙙𝙚 and I’ll send you my 𝟓 𝐒𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐆𝐮𝐢𝐝𝐞.

“𝙊𝙪𝙩𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠 𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛 𝙞𝙨 𝙢𝙪𝙘𝙝 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣 𝙖 𝙘𝙤𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙤𝙛 𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙖𝙨.”That’s Dr. Kimika Samms, after reading the book front to bac...
09/23/2026

“𝙊𝙪𝙩𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠 𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛 𝙞𝙨 𝙢𝙪𝙘𝙝 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣 𝙖 𝙘𝙤𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙤𝙛 𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙖𝙨.”

That’s Dr. Kimika Samms, after reading the book front to back.

I built the book around a system I call The Thinking Discipline: SEE, BECOME, BUILD.

SEE forces you to get clear about what’s actually happening.

BECOME makes you examine yourself honestly, including the parts you may have avoided.

BUILD takes that clarity and turns it into a plan for where you want to go.

Reading the principles is one thing.
Doing the self-work is different.

What Dr. Samms put her finger on is exactly what I hoped for: a book people don’t just read once.

If someone comes back to it in a different season, I want them to find something new, because they’re not the same person who opened it the first time.

That’s when a book stops being something you’ve read. It becomes something you keep coming back to.

Right now, every pre-order comes with 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝘿𝙞𝙨𝙘𝙞𝙥𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙚: 𝘼𝙣 𝘼𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙅𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙩𝙤 𝙊𝙪𝙩𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠 𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛, the companion journal built to walk you through SEE, BECOME, BUILD in your own life.

Available through 01.25.27.
Link in bio to pre-order.

What season of life are you in right now? Tell me below.

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