Why the Jester Brand Archetype Stands Out in Serious Industries

There's a moment in Dollar Shave Club's launch video where the founder walks through a warehouse, completely deadpan, pulls out a machete to cut the tape on a box of razors, and then throws the box at a bear. The bear doesn't catch it. Nobody acknowledges any of this. The video moves on. That video came out in 2012. People still talk about it. What made it work wasn't the machete or the bear. It was that the whole thing felt like a genuine point of view, like someone looked a

Identity

Apr 287 min read

Why Ethical Marketing for Small Business Is No Longer Optional

A couple of weeks ago, I was leading an in-person women’s networking group, and toward the end of the meeting one of the more experienced businesswomen in the room started coaching another member on how to close a sale. She walked through a role play. The scenario: a potential customer makes an appointment five days out, shows up, gets the full pitch, gets all her questions answered, and then says, “I need to think about it. Give me a few days.” Not in the mood to read all th

Apr 217 min read

Why Ethical Marketing for Small Business Is No Longer Optional

How Waiting Affects Brand Perception and Customer Trust

A few months ago, I found myself stuck in one of the most frustrating customer service loops I've encountered. There was a billing glitch with a subscription plan I was on, and instead of the organization fixing it, they gave me a phone number to call. I called that number. That organization couldn't fix it either, and sent me back to the first one. Back and forth. Over and over. The call logs tell the story better than I can: more than 20 hours on the phone across two weeks,

Apr 147 min read

How to Build a Minimum Viable Brand (Without Overthinking It)

If you’re starting a business, or even just thinking about it, it doesn’t take long to realize that branding can feel overwhelming. Part of the reason is that the word itself can mean a lot of different things. At its core, your brand is the perception people have of your business. The feelings, emotions, and experiences they associate with it over time. It’s what lingers after an interaction. It’s how your business feels to someone, not just what it says about itself. Bra

Jan 17 min read

Brand Clarity | The Foundation Most Small Businesses Skip

When you first started your business, you probably didn't have time to slow down and think about your brand. You needed a logo. A website. Business cards. Maybe a quick social media presence to look legit. So you built. Fast. You grabbed what you needed, made decisions on the fly, and kept moving because that's what starting a business demands. But now? You've got a brand that feels like it was scotch-taped together. Pieces that don't quite match. A message that shifts depend

Dec 5, 202512 min read