Imagine this: you’ve just met someone who could be a potential client and it’s time to give them your social media and website. Your stomach drops and you think to yourself, Oh no, what do I say? Should I tell them it’s not up to date? What will they think of me?
Inevitably you end up prefacing it with, “Just a heads up, I haven’t updated things in a while, so just disregard that!” Of course, that says something to the potential client, but it’s also taking a hit on your confidence and your beliefs about yourself. Your thoughts spiral. I’m an amateur. I don’t look like a real business. I’m not good enough.
This loop is continuous and inevitable as long as there is no change. I love the quote, “Surrender to change, or suffer the loop.” It isn’t always easy to change. It can be scary, and in some cases it has a price attached, but cost should be the real metric. Even worse, cost compounds over time. Stop costing yourself time, confidence and, ultimately, how you show up, by pursuing the change.
Everything has a cost
Have you spent hours, days or even months wondering whether your branding is still working for you? Maybe you’ve even spent some of that time trying to DIY a new logo, and you’ve found a few palettes you like on Pinterest. These are key indicators that not only is it time for a rebrand, but it’s time to hire a professional to do it for you.
Surrender to change, or suffer the loop.
With my clients at The Ruth Society, I have found that many of them spend hours contemplating and never take a step forward, or struggle to create what they have in mind. This is what I call forcing a shoe that doesn’t fit, and it is very costly. Not only are you spending time outside your expertise and exhausting your creative juices, you are also spending time away from deliverables (the thing that pays the bills). At the end of the day, not only does your time cost money, but so does the way you show up.
Research from Capital One Shopping found that 88% of consumers only buy from brands they trust, and 55% of first impressions are based on visual information (aka logos and visual branding). A third of businesses report that brand consistency helps them boost revenue by 20% or more (Capital One Shopping, 2026).
It’s obvious that refreshing your branding has a price, but I think a better metric is cost. The word “cost” has more than one definition. First, “the outlay or expenditure (as of effort or sacrifice) made to achieve an object”, and second, “loss or penalty incurred especially in gaining something”. Both are useful. Use them to ask yourself this: “Is the price of upgrading my branding more or less than what it’s already costing me not to upgrade with professional help?”
If your answer is that you are losing both potential customers and time on deliverables, then it’s time to stop suffering the loop and make a change. If you’ve spotted a need for refreshed branding and you’re not making a move, you might be costing yourself time, money and what I would argue is the worst of all: confidence.
Confidence shapes your actions, and your actions shape how your time is used. Ultimately, the money you make will be based on your actions, and your actions will be based on confidence. Do I need to say it again?
What is confidence? Cambridge Dictionary defines it as “a feeling of trust, self-assurance, or certainty in your own abilities, or in someone or something else.” So if confidence is certainty in your own abilities, it will be shaping your actions whether you realise it or not. Don’t get me wrong, though. I’m not arguing that you need to be perfectly confident in everything about your brand before you start, or even before you refresh it.
Confidence shapes your actions, and your actions shape how your time is used.
Switch it. Change it. Rearrange it.
Everyone has to start somewhere, but adjustments are not against the grain, and I would argue they should be welcomed. Marketing and content strategy expert Grace Andrews, the former Brand Director for The Diary of a CEO, put it like this: “But when you can remove your ego from the equation, something very different happens. You can remain completely obsessed with making the best thing possible while being willing to throw away what you built. You can pivot, test, listen, and even change direction.”
Many of the big companies you see every day update their brand identity regularly. Taco Bell has had six significant logo changes since 1962, and Walmart and plenty of other corporations have changed their logos a number of times over the years. On average, big companies keep a logo for around seven to ten years.
Much like fashion, the economy and technology, your business changes with your customers. If you want to move forward with them, you have to keep up with the market. No business escapes the fact that the world will keep modernising. You can stay the same and be left in the past, or you can keep pace with the people who are moving the market forward.
It’s time to level up
So, if you’ve told yourself you’re ready to make a change, you might be wondering how or where to start. Let’s talk about it. Here’s to making the change instead of suffering the loop.
When you set out to find a designer to help you upgrade your branding, keep in mind what you truly want and what your brand stands for, and ask yourself whether that designer is the right fit. Here are a few questions to help you find the right designer for you:
- Do you like the vibe and aesthetic of their work?
- Do they have a process for getting to know you and your brand on a deeper level?
- Can they strategise, not just design?
- Are they good at communicating what they offer, with proof of their work?
