Why we love building service-based brands (Enneagram 2s, we see you)
If you run a service-based business, this question might hit a little too close to home: Are you incredible at helping your clients but struggle sometimes to help yourself?
The people who are best at helping others are often the worst at helping themselves. We see it often in our work. Incredibly talented professionals who can transform their clients' lives but struggle to articulate their own value, who pour everything into serving others but go silent when it's time to champion themselves.
This resonates so deeply with us because many on our team identify with Enneagram Type 2 energy—the helpers, the people who are naturally drawn to supporting and caring for others. Our founder Madeline is a 3w2, meaning she's driven to achieve but with a strong helper wing, and that two wing often gets the best of her.
(Not familiar with the Enneagram? It's a personality framework that explores nine different motivational patterns. You can find your type here if you're curious.)
If you're in a line of service or care about acts of service and have built a business around it, you're our people, we're your people, and we want to tell you why.
Service-based businesses have a beautiful authenticity to them.
You didn't start your business or organization because someone told you there was a market opportunity or because you had venture capital burning a hole in your pocket. You started because you're genuinely good at something that helps people.
You're dedicated and deliberate. You show up consistently, you put in the work, and that work speaks loudly enough that you start getting clients and building something real. There's no fluff, no fake-it-till-you-make-it nonsense. Just you, doing excellent work for people who need it.
Our client roster is proof: accounting firms keeping small businesses alive, healthcare practitioners healing communities one person at a time, community leaders creating spaces where people actually belong, coaches who see potential in others that they can't see in themselves.
But there’s often an upper limit problem for helpers
Explained in Gay Hendrick’s book, The Big Leap, the upper limit problem happens when we unconsciously sabotage our success because we don't feel worthy of it, or because we're afraid of what that success might cost us.
Here's the thing that breaks our hearts: we watch incredibly talented service providers hit this ceiling. You can only grow so much, serve so many people, or command the prices you deserve when you can't properly express what makes you exceptional.
The bottleneck isn't your skills. You're already great at what you do. The bottleneck is that people can't see your greatness clearly enough to choose you, trust you, or pay you what you're worth.
That very thing that makes you excellent at serving others (the focus on putting others first) creates specific challenges:
Self-promotion feels selfish, even when you know logically that visibility equals impact
The more visible you are, the more you might attract people who aren't a good fit, and you hate turning away people who need help
You chose this path because you didn't want to be "salesy," and promoting yourself feels like crossing that line
You're used to being behind the scenes, championing others instead of yourself
What we get to do (and why we love it)
This is exactly why we gravitate toward service-based businesses. We get to help pull out your true capabilities and translate them into language that actually resonates with the people who need you.
Take Collaborate Consulting. Founder Trystan Reese has an incredible depth of expertise in DEI consulting and leadership development, but his brand felt like it was holding him back from the high-profile opportunities he was ready for. His existing identity was too narrow for the sophisticated consultancy he'd built. We developed a comprehensive brand strategy that positioned Collaborate as the credible, professional consultancy it always was—just finally with the visual presence to match. Now he's pursuing those major conference speaking opportunities with a brand that aligns with his expertise and connects with his audience.
Or Connected Accounting. They were passionate about accounting (yes, really), but their overly feminine branding was limiting who felt comfortable working with them. We gave them a refresh that kept their personality while broadening their appeal—clean, modern, with just enough color to make them memorable in a sea of boring accounting firms.
Dr. Gertrude Lyons faced a different challenge entirely. She had twenty-plus years of coaching experience, but her customer touchpoints (her website, social media, even how she talked about her work) was communicating the wrong message. Her bright pink aesthetic suggested someone new to wellness when she was actually a deeply grounded, spiritual practitioner with serious expertise. We spent actual time at her home, getting to know who she really was beyond the surface-level branding, then rebuilt everything from messaging to visual identity. Now her entire brand ecosystem communicates the maturity and depth that her work actually delivers.
Our superpower is helping you get comfortable with your own expertise. We're not just designing logos or picking colors (though we do that too). We're taking all the things your existing clients love about working with you and making sure new clients can see those same qualities from the very first interaction.
Some clients know what they need, take their new brand and run with it immediately. Others need a little more support. The service providers experiencing the biggest transformation are those who are able step into their brand boldly.
Because it’s frustratingly easy to take a gorgeous brand identity that perfectly captures your expertise, and then find yourself defaulting back to an old, apologetic way of talking about your work. Or to love your new website but still undercharge because you haven't internalized that you’re worth premium prices.
That's why coaching became such a natural extension of our brand work. We realized we weren't just translating expertise into visual language, we were often the first people to help someone see their own value clearly. And sometimes that requires more than strategy sessions. Sometimes it requires working through the voice in your head that says "who am I to charge that much?" or "what if I'm not as good as my brand makes me look?"
The breakthrough happens when your internal confidence finally matches what’s been created externally.
You deserve to be seen clearly
The world needs more visible service-based businesses. When you hide your expertise behind DIY branding or generic messaging, you're not being humble—you're depriving people of the help they need. That you’re the best placed person to provide.
You deserve a brand that reflects the caliber of work you do. You deserve marketing that attracts your ideal clients without you having to chase them. You deserve to feel confident when you talk about your business because what you offer is genuinely valuable.
When you can communicate your value clearly, you expand your ability to help the people who need you most. And honestly? That's exactly the kind of impact we want to help create.
