Are you rebranding? These creative rebels will help you make your rebrand smoother and more effective.

'cos they helped me do it.

If I hadn't had access to their wisdom, my brand could be different now.

And I am NOT saying that I ignored myself (again) so that I can listen to a bunch of experts tell me what I'm supposed to do. You know me better than that.

I'm saying that their rebelliousness gave me great rebellious ideas.

That's just how rebellion works. It's contagious.

So let's look at the 5 rebels who helped me relaunch my site and rebrand it, and bring to you this new site that is the most authentic I have ever been. Hopefully you can see I put my soul into it and a lot of my sleep. But it was worth it.

1. caroline kelso zook (made vibrant)

Did you notice Caroline now carries Jason's surname. *cheers*

And did you notice they're now selling their future?! (Just not their kids.)

Back when I had no idea what to do with a website - especially those pesky colors and fonts - I purchased Caroline's Better Branding Course. (The ebook cos I didn't have money because of buying too many books.) I kind of skimmed it until a couple of weeks ago, when I was deep into rebranding, I remembered I had it, and thank God I did because it saved me on the fonts front.

Truth is, I just didn't understand why. the. hell. fonts matter so much.

Well, now I do, and I also know how to combine them (sort of), how to arrange visual information (yay!), and where to go when I need to do some branding-related things done. Such amazing resources in her course!

So thanks, Caroline, for making me better at branding.

And for making your classes so affordable.

2. cerries mooney (cerries mooney)

The minute I learned about Cerries Mooney, I was hooked.

She's basically a version of me, the version that is excited about branding and that is dying to have one of them archetype systems. She's also more spiritual than me, which a huge plus because I am just not spiritual enough.

(What I mean is, I don't show you my spiritual side enough.)

So when I was rebranding, I remembered a great resource I got from Cerries, and that was her archetype test. I took it a while back and found that I was an Alchemist / Creator, which is my archetype blend.

(Have I told you already how much I LOVE archetype systems?!)

This time I went back to her archetypes to find some inspiration for the imagery. I was just all over the place with photos from Unsplash, and I couldn't find a focal point for all of them. I couldn't find the "angle" and the string that held them all together. Which happened exactly after reading about The Alchemist.

Suddenly, I had a better idea of what images I wanted to focus on and I finally felt like I'd found the final piece of the puzzle.

Thanks, Cerries, for your amazing insights on soulful branding.

3. ash ambirge (the middle finger project)

I did just say I found the last piece of the puzzle, right?

Nope, turns out it was waiting for me in Ash Ambirge's book -

Sometimes when I buy things it feels like I'm just spending money. What can I say - I enjoy spending money. But this time I knew I had made the right decision the minute I started reading it. While Caroline taught me a new skill and Cerries took me to the spiritual realm, Ash slapped me back into reality.

(That's sort of her superpower. That, and making you snort.)

You Don't Need a Job, You Need Guts (her book) is probably better suited to people who are thinking about starting their own business or people who have no idea what marketing is. Since I am neither, I felt silly buying it, but now I am happy I did because one of my best ideas came from reading that book.

Truth is, when you have questions in your head and your heart is open to the answers, you start to see them everywhere. >>

What Ash reminded me is that I needed to target different groups of people.

And I'm not saying that I wanted to create a brand around them, because I've already said a million times, your brand starts from YOU, not THEM. I'm saying that different groups of people will come to your website and find value in your content and offerings, so why not to address and help them individually!

EUREKA.

It had always bothered me how I wrote posts for side-hustlers, multipassionates, and creative business owners, and how I didn't know how to address them all together, but actually, talking to them separately is SO much better.

Thanks to this insight, now I have a page for each group.

Phew.

So thank you, Ash, for your help with that.

And you guys, her book is super practical if you really have no idea how to brand and market yourself and how to make money on top of it. So if you need this sort of funny, rebellious, and super practical perspective, Ash is yo girl.

4. sian richardson (fresh by sian)

I've always admired - and frankly drooled over - Sian's designs.

But mostly, I've been so tired of everybody's blog images. There are so many creative things to be done and everybody's blog images look like either a) they're not blog images or b) they're a compilation of block letters. Yawn.

It's a personal pet peeve that isn't necessarily more than an opinion.

And yet, it prompted me to be braver with my own blog images, and who was there to inspire me to be creative? Sian Richardson. The rebel who helps other rebels win on their own terms. The creator of my favorite digital magazine in the whole world, I mean Internet. The person who plays with her pictures and words so bravely that she inspires a design revolution everywhere she goes.

Now I don't just like my blog images, I enjoy creating and building on them.

So thank you, Sian, for inspiring creative rebels and business owners to be themselves and be more creative with our creations.

5. meg kissack (that hummingbird life)

Meg *did* help me personally, and I just wanna say that our friendship and accountability partnership for the past I-don't-know-how-many-months-feels-like-years has helped me become a better everything - person, business owner, you name it. It is SO important to have someone in your corner. Someone to give you feedback, to complain to, to share your goals with. It's vital.

Meg is such a colorful person (online and off) and I'd like to use this space to THANK her for being the best "biz buddy" I could have found. And for specifically helping me see things more clearly for the rebrand. (Cheers, lovely!)

Check out her rebellious site and amazing podcast. :)

conslusion.

I just have to admit something here.

I've heard this sort of advice thrown around and I sort of agree:

“Don’t consume too much content or buy too many products from people who are similar to you and offer similar things.”

Thing is, we all offer similar AND different things in our own way.

So consuming a lot from Caroline, Cerries, Ash, Sian, Meg, and every other rebels on my list, has been my greatest joy and inspiration.

You can make your own decision whether this advice holds true for you and in which cases you should follow it. Every situation is different, and I have to admit that consuming too much of anything, skews one's perspective.

Also, consider what you DO with the stuff you consume - do you let it inspire you while you hold onto yourself or let it sway you in a different direction? Do you interpret it in your own way/context or just repeat what they say?

This all-time true adage is best remembered:

Create more than you consume.

Period.