In mid-2023, Brandon McLean woke up one morning, looked around, and realized something: he wasn’t just running his businesses—he was spending all his time marketing them.

🏡 Real estate hustle? Needed marketing.

🏕️ Vacation rentals? Needed marketing.

🎸 His rock & roll jam band? Needed marketing.

💉 His wife’s medspa? You guessed it—needed marketing.

So, like any good entrepreneur, Brandon set off on a quest to find a marketing system that didn’t suck. Something that looked slick, converted leads, didn’t cost more than a mortgage, and didn’t require a PhD to use.

Spoiler alert: it didn’t exist.

Instead, he found a parade of overpriced marketing agencies charging $3K to $12K just for setup, with ongoing fees that could fuel a Harley-Davidson dealership—per business!

And worst of all? They were all using the same tools and boring strategy pitches.

So, after a few deep dives into the internet (and some soul-searching), Brandon cut out the middleman and went straight for the gold—the best marketing tools in the world. The catch? These tools were built for agencies, not individual business owners. In fact, you literally couldn’t sign up without an “agency name.”

So, what did Brandon do? He invented one. AJNC1.

Why AJNC1? Because after a few failed attempts at long, clunky names, he realized "Agency One" said everything he needed it to—and it sounded cool when abbreviated.

Enter: The Handlebars

For a while, Brandon quietly worked behind the scenes, fine-tuning the best marketing systems for his businesses. But everything changed with a single DM from Zechariah Williams.

Zech, already knee-deep in the marketing world, saw the same opportunity: small businesses need great marketing, but they don’t have the time, the tools, or the patience to figure it out. They needed someone to handle it.

At first, AJNC1 was nameless, faceless, and... let’s be honest, kinda boring. They needed a brand identity that actually had some horsepower.

And then? Fate (and facial hair) stepped in.

The Handlebar Revelation

At the time, both Brandon and Zech were rocking some impressive Handlebar mustaches. (Like, Wyatt Earp and Hulk Hogan levels of impressive.)

One day, Zech joked about leaning into the Handlebar aesthetic for branding. The next thing they knew, they were firing off beard and mustache puns.

Then the motorcycle jokes kicked into high gear.

And then?

The engine never stopped.

Two days, one late-night text exchange, and about 300 motorcycle metaphors later, the decision was made: Handlebar Marketing was officially on the road.

And as for what’s next?

We’re just getting started. Buckle up, butter cup.