The Struggle is Reallllll.
But you don’t have to go it alone.
If you’re a small business and you’re struggling right now, you’re not the only one. It’s tough out there (understatement of the year). People are hesitant to spend. The cost of goods has shot up. Leasing prices are rising in most cities. Online marketplaces run by soulless billionaires don’t have your best interests at heart. And even your favorite neighborhood spots are quietly adjusting their hours or scaling back just to stay afloat.
There’s a lot of pressure to pretend everything’s fine — to keep up appearances, keep showing up, keep pushing forward like it’s business as usual. But the truth is, small businesses were never meant to do this alone. We’ve always been about community. About mutual support. About finding ways to keep going together.
So if you’re feeling stuck or uncertain or just plain tired, consider this your reminder: you don’t have to power through in isolation. You can reach out. To your people. Your peers. Your vendors. Your creative collaborators. To me. To the customers who’ve been in your corner since day one. You’d be surprised how many folks are willing to help if you just let them in.
And yes, I’m going to bring this back to branding. Because branding isn’t just how your business looks. It’s how your business connects. It’s the tone in your voice when things get quiet. It’s the way you remind your audience that you’re still here. Still open. Still part of the fabric of this community. It’s how you remind them that you’re still worth their attention. And if they want you around, they need to show up.
Now is not the time to go silent. It’s the time to show up with honesty and heart — to let people know what you’re going through and why you still believe in the work you’re doing.
Your branding materials can help you do that. They can give shape to your story, even when the story’s still unfolding.
And if you need a hand figuring out how to say what you need to say or look the way you need to look — whether that’s a reintroduction, a reset, or just a little encouragement — we’re here. This is exactly why we built our little design studio.
