Starting a business can be challenging, especially in the beginning when doubts creep in, "There are so many people doing the same thing. What can I offer that’s different?" The key is recognizing that every person has something unique to offer. If your product or business isn't an exact copy of someone else's, then you bring your own energy to the industry, making your brand distinct.
When I started Elebea back in 2007, my main goal was to express myself through graphics. Although my style has evolved over time and the end products have changed shapes, the vision has remained the same. At the beginning, my urge to create was stronger than the outside noise. I wasn’t concerned about the opinions of teachers, family, friends, or classmates. I simply wanted to express myself, and I went for it.
Define Your Vision
It's important to clarify your ideas from the beginning. Once you have a clear vision, it's easier to focus, avoid overwhelm, and explain your concept to potential clients, investors, or team members. At this stage, I'd recommend limiting the time spent telling people who aren’t directly involved in your business, or browsing too much online. This can prevent confusion or distraction from your own vision.
Just Start, Even if You’re Scared
It doesn’t matter if you're afraid or worried about failure, just start. The fear of what might go wrong has to be weaker than your need to create. When I work with clients on branding development, I always begin by organizing key elements.
Name and Tagline: Choose a brand name that reflects you, your product, or your service. Find a word that’s unique and check if a matching domain name is available. Your tagline should clearly define what you're offering.
Theme: Identify a few key words that represent your product or service. For instance, playful, dynamic, or vibrant. This will guide you in choosing fonts, elements, and color palettes later on.
Mission: Define what you aim to accomplish with your brand.
Product: Focus on one product or service at the beginning. If you try to do too many things, like selling crochet accessories, making sculptures, and offering tattoos, none of them will get the full attention needed to grow. Choose one area and commit to it fully.
Goal: Have short-term, medium-term, and long-term goals. They don't have to be grand, but they should make sense to you. Adjust them as needed.
Target Audience: Define your potential customers. Think about their age, gender, occupation, and interests. Understand why they would connect with your brand, what need you are fulfilling or problem you are solving.
Strategy: Plan the steps you’ll take at each stage of branding, considering your budget, time, and resources. Be realistic about what you can achieve.
Concept: I usually define three concepts for clients to help refine the vision. This is useful if you're unsure what aligns best with your brand. Visual choices often make the direction clearer.
Elements, Images, and Color Scheme: Once you have a clear idea of your brand, start identifying the elements, images, and color scheme that represent it. Use platforms like Dribbble or Pinterest for inspiration, but don't spend too much time consuming other people's work, stay focused on your vision.
After defining these elements, create a concept board to make your ideas more tangible.
Developing the Brand
With all the input and visuals gathered, you’ll be ready to create your logo. If you’re familiar with vector tools, I recommend using Adobe Illustrator for flexibility and the best results. If you're not comfortable designing your logo, consider hiring a professional designer for a custom logo. I offer services where I create concept boards and organize branding briefs. Feel free to contact me for a consultation I'm always open to helping brands at the initial stages.
For those on a tight budget, services like Fiverr Logo Maker can be a good alternative, allowing you to create a custom logo in minutes by choosing fonts, colors, and visual elements.
On the links below, you’ll find some of the most popular choices available on my page. I constantly add new graphic elements for a variety of industries, making this a fast and affordable way to get a custom-quality logo that truly reflects your preferences. These options help you avoid the typical stock designs that can make a brand look generic, ensuring your logo stands out with a professional and unique touch.
Grow Your Brand
Once all these elements are in place, you’re ready to move on to website creation. This can be as simple as a landing page. I built my own site, but I’m not an expert, so I suggest asking around or checking out some tutorials if you want to tackle it yourself.
After that choose the channels and social platforms that best suit your product, and focus on creating relevant content to help your brand grow.
I recommend using a mix of pictures and graphic elements. Adding personal photos of yourself and your team can make your brand feel more relatable. Also, incorporating text and phrases that align with your product adds great value. Customers will engage with and share the quotes you post, so make sure they’re personalized and match your fonts and color scheme.
I included some images from my Adobe Stock collection below. I update these weekly, so they’re always fresh and easy to customize. You can download them and easily add your own text in Photoshop or even on Instagram. Any editing tool will work, and all files are high quality.
I hope this post helps those looking to start a new business, as well as designers working with clients who want a clearer vision of what they can offer.
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