The Shift; What I’m Noticing As *I* Rebrand

As a brand and web designer, I am constantly walking people through brand strategy. Finding their voice, aligning their offers, peppering in personality to the brand that is about to be built mostly for their ideal clients. Doing the hard work, digging deep, and asking them questions that really make them think about their past, present, and future goals. But what about me? My clients know exactly who they are, what they’re doing, their website works for them and is their highest paying employee every month, out here being salesman of the year. But what about mine? Something I realized when sharing my website and my portfolio page, was it was coming with a disclaimer… HELLO!? That’s my whole sales pitch line: “Your Website Should Not Come With A Disclaimer.” I was doing it without even noticing I was doing it. (BTW you should check yourself and see if you’re doing that too). So I decided to put my big girl pants on and go back. Back to the beginning. What I should have done to start with. What I make all my clients do.

Here’s what I’ve been noticing during this process so far:

Now that I have been in business for a while, I have gotten more confident about being controversial. I no longer feel the need to say what other designers who are more experienced than me are saying because “they know what they’re doing, obviously.” NOR just doing whatever my client’s feedback is on the designs. I have gotten SO much more confident in my own design skin, enough to now be able to share my opinions and thoughts on certain trends, strategy for clients, or just being able to say, “that’s a bad idea” to client feedback.

I stopped hedging my expertise. I went from “here are some options for what you might say” to “this is what I’m saying.” The shift from “maybe” language to “this is what we build” has been real. I feel like I have really started owning my POV instead of asking permission for it.

I got clear about my differentiator. Thanks to some incredible questioning in this copywriting course, I was able to figure out what *actually* makes me different, and lean into the things that make my clients obsessed with my approach. I pulled out EVERY review I have ever gotten, I pulled EVERY intake form and questionnaire and figured out why people come to me, and then what they loved about working with me, and figured out that, from my client’s mouths, that I am The Problem Solving Brand Designer! Should I trademark that? My clients come to me wanting a “new logo” or “more cohesiveness” or “an easy to navigate website” and leave with compliments on compliments on compliments about these things from their clients!

This rebrand is less about “looking smart” or like all the other designers out there; elevated, refined, luxe, knowledgeable. And more about me. I got my colors done for this. I am leaning into my farm life, and mom life, without making it my brand’s personality. I am showing you the real, the how, and the why through this rebrand by focusing all the copy and aesthetics on how I operate in business, for you.

Finally, I stopped worrying about competing and started owning my lane. Do you see a theme here? YOUR BRAND SHOULD BE YOURS. Not Pinterest’s, not your industry’s. YOURS. I now know, that when I am totally, undeniably myself my people will come. The right people will come. Since I started this process, started sharing online about how I work, why I made certain choices, etc. I have gotten so many new clients that have truly turned into friends.

Figure out who you are. Align yourself with your ideal clients. Speak to that.

If you’re in the same boat as me, feeling misaligned from your clients. Looking to others in your industry on what to say or how to sell. Send me a message!

I’d love to see you to go from this:

to this:

No more feeling unrecognizable.

You already know what you do. You already know you are good at it. The only thing missing is a brand and a website that say the same thing. The longer you wait, the longer you keep explaining yourself to people who should already be sold. Work with me →