If you’ve ever been on my website you know I have a clear colour code, consistent fonts and a professional-looking logo. I invested a good amount of money into these 3 elements, even before having a business registered.
The brand design process was great, but I should have done things differently. Here’s why:
What I thought a brand was
In the first 6 months of working as a solopreneur, things were good. I had made over €78.000 and I was convinced that things would keep growing (spoiler alert, they didn’t).
In February 2019, I started looking for a designer to create a brand image for SalesLabs. My understanding of a brand was that you needed a logo, some consistent colours and fonts on your website, swag to give away, and nice business cards.
That’s why I got in touch with a Berlin-based designer that I met through Factory Berlin.
How I got my logo designed
We met for a first time to discuss the project, and after a few hours of brainstorming, I agreed to pay €800 for the following elements:
A logo
A colour code for my website
A font recommendation
Designs for business cards
Design for tote bags
Design for notebooks
It sounded like a good deal at the time, and these are the deliverables I got:
These deliverables look pretty simple, but we went through multiple iteration around colours, fonts, and how they would be used and displayed.
In total, the project took 4 weeks to be done.
Why it wasn’t as impactful as I thought
I was so excited when seeing the deliverables as they were the representation of my company and brand. In my opinion, they look really professional and I’m so happy of the value I had for €800.
But as time passed, I noticed that having a nice logo and consistent font and colours weren’t really contributing to additional revenues. They were nice to have when getting started and building a consulting business.
At the time, I was finding new contracts through word-of-mouth and referrals. I didn’t need to have a strong online presence as I wasn’t prospecting or generating leads online. A simple website and basic logo would have done the job.
On top of it, I was delivering value through in-person meetings and working from my customers’ offices. You don’t need a logo when doing that.
Still it was a good idea
Yet, I’m really glad to have a professional logo and a consistent brand image.
I’m now operating with multiple revenue streams, and most of my business comes from my online presence. I have online sales funnels and payment flows set up, and most of my customers do not interact with me, but with my online products.
If you look at my website and the many landing pages I have, you can see a consistent pattern. The font is always the same, the colours are consistent, and the logo is everywhere.
This creates a professional-looking brand, and it contributes to the success of my business online. It was a good idea to invest €800 in my brand image, I should just have done it later.
What I should have done earlier
As I reflect back on this early investment, I feel like it turned out to be a good decision, but I could have invested these €800 in other things. For example, creating an incentive referral program for existing customers. I could have invested in building an online funnel earlier, and grabbed some expertise around lead generation with online courses.
In the end, I learned these skills through trial and error, and a pretty challenging 2020. These brand deliverables would have been useless if I hadn’t figured out how to recover from a challenging period.
Key Learnings
Through this experience, I learned a few things:
Keep in mind that eternal growth doesn’t exist. Even if your first months are great, your trajectory will change.
With time, you’ll have urges to invest in things that aren’t critical to your success. Make sure you can afford them.
A brand isn’t just a logo, colours, and fonts.
Nothing is more impactful than revenues. If it’s not directly contributing to revenue, consider postponing it.
Even if it’s not essential at the beginning, a professional brand kit is handy as you grow your presence online.
If you ever have a reserve of cash, invest it in knowledge (online courses) or growth experiments.
Now that my business is stable and running well, I have way more opportunities to invest in nice-to-haves. I still consider each expense before committing to it, but I have more margin for error.
Want to escape the hamster wheel too?
If you’re interested in going further, here are 3 ways I can help you:
Go listen to my podcast “Escaping The Hamster Wheel“