You just need to get started ✷ The Humm

“One can choose to go back toward safety or forward toward growth. Growth must be chosen again and again; fear must be overcome again and again.”

― Abraham Maslow

⭐ Prefer to Skim? Just follow the stars ⭐

Hey there, Reader,

Maybe you're sitting on a business idea you know is real, but every time you try to move on it, you freeze. The name isn't right, the logo isn't done, the website's still a blank Squarespace template.

Maybe you've been meaning to set up a proper payment system for months, but got stuck and exhausted by all the options (I've been there).

Maybe the budget isn't quite there for the full brand build, and in the absence of doing it "properly," you've quietly decided to wait. Wait until you have more time. More money. More certainty. More something.

If you've ever sat down to 'work on your brand' and ended up closing the laptop twenty minutes later, feeling like you're right back where you started (and more confused), that's not unusual.

There's so much to sort through when you're starting off, and that quiet weight often shows up as overwhelm. And overwhelm is usually a helpful sign that you're holding too many undefined pieces at once.

Here's what I've found:

⭐ You don't need a perfect brand to start. You need a clear enough one.

Also known as the “minimum viable brand”. Not minimum as in cheap or half-hearted. ⭐ Minimum, as in just enough to get your foot out the door.

Just enough for someone to find you, understand what you offer, and say yes.

It has two layers, and both need to exist

⭐ The first is the strategic foundation. Clarify these first:

Your purpose. The real reason you do this work, not the polished version. When it's clear, every decision gets easier. When it's fuzzy, everything feels like guesswork.
Your person. Not a demographic, but a real human being with fears and dreams. When you know exactly who you're building for, you stop second-guessing everything you create.
Your difference. Almost always simpler than you think, and usually sitting right inside your own story.
Your voice. Write the way you actually talk. Impressive or "professional" is forgettable. Real is memorable.

⭐ The second is the operational container.

Because a brand with no way to be found, booked, or bought isn't viable yet. It's just a document. Here are some minimum operational needs to get you out there:

One page online. Not even a full website. Your name, what you do, who it's for, and how to reach you. Done is better than perfect to start.
A way to receive clients or sell products. If you offer services, a booking link (I use Calendly!). If you sell products, a simple shop page. Just the one thing someone can buy from you today. If you do both, start with whichever is generating revenue first.
A way to get paid. Venmo, PayPal, Stripe, Square. Set it up before you need it. Nothing kills momentum like a client saying yes while you scramble for an invoice.
A professional email address. An @yourdomain.com one. About twelve dollars a year, and definitely worth it.

I worked through both of these layers recently with a client, Seren, a somatic and Ayurvedic practitioner who had all the training and passion in the world, but no container to hold it together.

In our Brand Clarity Session, we found that in a wellness industry that keeps telling women to become more radiant, more healed, and more wild, her work does the opposite. Instead, she offers support to stop overriding what's already there: the spark, the magic, and the intuition.

Once her positioning clicked, the operational pieces came together, and we made a plan for what to prioritize. She wasn't guessing at what to put on her one-page or how to describe her offer in a booking link; she already knew.

She didn't leave with a finished website or color palette. She left with the clarity and the container to actually begin:

"I feel incredibly clear about next steps. Having the clarity of just a few simple things to focus on feels SO helpful and doable. Like I can just check off a list rather than not knowing where to begin and going into deer-in-the-headlights mode."

If you're ready to do the same, ⭐ here are five things to try right now.

Before you touch anything visual. Before you sign up for anything. Do these:

Write down why you actually do this work. The unpolished version, the one you'd tell a friend. That story contains your purpose, your differentiator, and your ideal client all at once.
Describe one specific person who needs what you offer. Not a type. A real person. What are they struggling with? What words do they use to describe the problem? Write it down.
Write three sentences about what you do. One for what it is. One for whom it's for. One for what makes it different. Read them out loud. If they sound like you, you're most of the way there.
Set up the operational basics. A page. A booking link or a shop. A way to get paid. A proper email address. Take an afternoon to set those up.
Do one visible thing before you do any more invisible work. Post something. Tell someone what you're building. The minimum viable brand only works when it makes contact with the world.

The brands that last are rarely the ones that launched "perfectly."

⭐ They're the ones that launched honestly, listened carefully, and evolved in response to real people.

Your positioning will sharpen as you work with more clients. Your voice will deepen as you write more. Your visual identity will come into focus once you understand what you're actually trying to express. It's all a work in progress, and that's ok.

The minimum viable brand isn't the destination. It's the beginning. ⭐ And the beginning can only happen once you start.

→ Read the rest of the article about the minimum viable brand on the blog!

→ Follow Seren and reach out to her for somatic & Ayurvedic sessions. I've done one, and they're really amazing!

→ If you need support getting your brand out the door or shifting as you grow, that's exactly what the Brand Clarity Session is for. A focused, deep session that surfaces all of this and turns it into a direction you can actually use. Book yours here.

→ Know someone who's sitting on a business idea and stuck in the overwhelm? Send this email their way.

ART SHOP

→ The new art shop is LIVE! I've streamlined a few things and added some fun merch like an organic printed tote bag and a hand-printed Humm House hat! Also BIG news that you can now order some prints framed and ready to go!

→ Here's a 20% off coupon for everything in the new shop! Use code: NEWSHOP2026

SHOP ALL

What I'm Into lately:

→ Trying new workflows: I hosted my first Design Day, where I booked out an entire day with a client to focus my attention on a specific project that they needed to get over the finish line. It was a new and exciting way to work, offering quick communication to collaborate effectively. If you are interested in booking a full Design Day or Half Day, just reach out.

→ Getting stuck in cat prison: I'm not mad about this at all! We adopted this very little girl about 6 months ago, and now it's hard for me to leave the house sometimes!