small business bedrock: how to start (a brand & business) when you have nothing
by jo baquiirin | 09 April 2026
this essay is long overdue. from the year i started writing & sharing my thoughts online, i’ve been wondering when i was actually gonna teach others do the same. it’s been a long time coming - an eventful journey, but i’m finally here. rolling my sleeves & sitting down with you, one-on-one, to talk about how to really start a business on your own.
and if you’re in the very, very beginning: the spot where you know you have skills but you’re stuck there? this is for you.
or even if you don’t think your skills are “enough”? this is for you.
or even if you don’t have skills “yet” but you wanna know if this path can still work for you? this is for you.
or even if you’ve always wanted to start your own thing or have a business but you didn’t really know what that was gonna look like.
or you’re stuck in the corporate world & you don’t really wanna be there but you’re doing it for the money ... wherever you are in this journey, whoever you are, this is for you.
i’m ready to spill everything i know about this overwhelming, confusing, frustrating, and exciting world of personal branding (& business). so before we begin: grab a drink, a snack, get comfortable, put some chill music on - this is going to be a long ride.
table of contents
01 how & where do you really start?
for those at zero, wondering how to pick a skill or where to begin
02 what if you’re in corporate and want to leave?
planning your exit while building your bedrock on the side
03 what if you’re lost & don’t know what to do?
real transformation example #1
04 what if you have skills but don’t know how to monetise them?
real transformation example #2
05 the very interesting world of personal branding
what a brand actually is (and why it’s not your business)
06 how do you show up as a brand, and where?
picking platforms, creating content, expressing your philosophy
07 final words
bedrock, intention, & what comes next
how & where do you really start?
if you’re wondering how to start but you don’t have skills, like you haven’t developed anything from your life experiences, and literally you’re at zero: it’s not a dead-end. in fact, i wanna say that this is the perfect place to start. because you’re a blank canvas, an empty vessel. this means your journey to learning so many new things begins soon. but how do you pick what you wanna learn? how do you know what skill?
our approach may not be what you’ve been seeing circulating around. it might not even be what you’re expecting. i won’t hand you a list of skills to choose from. instead, we begin your intentional journey with spring (nurture) - because this is where you need to spend a lot of time reflecting about who you are, what you truly want in life, what you can & can’t do, and what kind of work you truly value.
this is different in a way that i don’t believe in the “means to an end” approach in business. i don’t see it solely as a money-making machine. the goal isn’t to scale, or hit a certain number by the end of the year. this journey is walking down the path of my life’s work. the reason i get up each day & work on yōso is because i’m slowly building my legacy. this is the home to every philosophy i live by, my values, every novel idea, and the culmination of what life has offered me so far. see, it’s not just a studio to me, it’s literally the work i was born to do.
so now i wanna ask you, what do you want to value this much in life? what kind of life are you so passionate about you’d do everything, learn anything, try whatever, to get there?
why are you reading this newsletter? is it because one day you wanna be able to get up in the morning, feeling relieved, that you never have to answer to anybody again? or that for the first time ever, you’re inspired to spend every minute of your day chasing something you genuinely desire?
i ask because i don’t believe people “just aren’t passionate about anything”, or “aren’t talented enough”. i believe if you’re lost, like you don’t know what to do, or you don’t feel passionate about anything, or you “can’t” do anything, that maybe, you haven’t been experiencing life enough.
when was the last time you challenged yourself to learn a new skill? read a new book? argue an opinion instead of mindlessly absorbing it & calling it a day? tell me, when was the last time you got excited about doing a simple task?
imagine your life five or ten years from now, would you be happy to live the same life you’re living today?
if not, then you have to start somewhere.
and that somewhere can be as simple as learning something new.
in a more practical sense, let’s look at these examples.
you’re not a writer? learn how to write, but instead of looking for a course, start right now. write what you think about everything i’m saying. a word, phrase, sentence, idea, paragraph.
that’s how you actually “begin”. by doing more than consuming, theorising, thinking, and saying.
to learn new skills (offline and online), you have to actively try something. so, if i may suggest, start a hobby you’ve always wanted to try but felt like you didn’t have time to even start. if it’s truly the “time & space” problem, let’s try this:
learn how to sit in silence. wherever you’re reading this, pause. volume down. close your eyes. stay like that for at least 5 minutes. i honestly think this is a challenging exercise. sitting in silence in this loud, fast-paced world is one of the hardest things to do. but i’ve found that with these practices, you need to keep doing them, and over time you’ll feel more comfortable. this is one of the most essential offline skills, it’s funny how i call them offline skills. but actually i just mean live your life away from the internet.
but if that’s too hard, then the easiest (and one of the most effective) thing you can do - go on a long walk. start this “new skill” tomorrow, stick with it. enjoy the benefits that come after.
how about practical digital skills? well, go on a platform that requires multiple steps to reach a desired outcome. for example, here on substack, tinker on your website editor. change the theme, the font. experiment. go on your dashboard settings and understand what these options do. train your mind to handle complex thinking again - i feel like in this era of optimisation, somehow, we’ve lost the ability to even think (and i mean really think hard) about what’s in front of us.
so here’s an idea: the things you see as “complicated for someone like me” are the very things you should seek out. why? if you’re resisting doing something, almost always, it’s because it’s difficult, it requires thinking, it’s something you’re not confident about, and it threatens failing (in private and in public). i believe this is why others avoid starting completely. thus, ending in the same position as “i’m not good at anything”.
i taught kids for a good chunk of my life, and the thing about it is that “good at” is developed over time. like many things in life, getting good-better-best at something takes time. it requires deep focus, continuous practice, failing, and trying again. the more you practice a skill, the closer you get to the level of “good” you aspire. and look, i’m not saying “good” is the only acceptable result.
realistically speaking, there are things you genuinely can’t do. i can’t draw to save my life. and that’s normal. you don’t have to force yourself to do certain things. especially not things others merely suggest without knowing who you are inside-out.
my point is, how would you know if you never try?
now, before we go any further, let’s do another exercise.
if you want to start figuring out what skill to learn or what skill to “offer”, reflect on this:
if you want to start a brand + business today, don’t start with a logo.
instead, write down 3 things you would do even if you never got paid for them.
if we were in our 1:1 sessions, i’d ask you to share that with me. but since we’re not, display that somewhere you can see all the time. you’ll need that reminder as we go along.
because this answer is most likely something you’re gonna be comfortable doing, and that’s always a great starting point.
what if you’re in corporate and want to leave?
it’s tough. there’s something about knowing you have income coming in every month. somehow that makes us feel less anxious about our survival. i’ve been there, and until now i still struggle with the, “what if i can’t pay rent next month because i don’t have a traditional job?”
this fear is so real. it’s a valid argument as to why you can’t just up & leave. so i’m not telling you to if you don’t have the means. as a side note though, even without a traditional job, you can still survive. you will figure it out, something will come up.
how about this? acknowledge how you feel about your job. if you’re unhappy, exhausted, uninspired, or you don’t care about it (you’re just doing it for the money), plan your way out. because if you don’t start thinking of your exit plan, you could easily just be stuck there - with all the money...and the bitterness of not living the life you want.
but. if you truly can’t leave, then don’t leave just yet. still, start clearing the path to your exit. build while you’re there. of course it’ll take up so much of your time, but then again, how much more time are you willing to waste doing something you hate?
so, whenever you feel ready, you can start building your bedrock while you’re still employed:
figure out what you’d do even if you never got paid, or learn something new
start creating content (write, post, film, whatever feels natural)
build your portfolio (personal projects, freelance work on the side)
test your offers (1:1 sessions, small projects, workshops, sell something small)
once you have your practical foundation, then you can consider leaving.
we don’t always have to romanticise the leap (although it’s something i’d do). but we can plan it, build it, and make it as “safe” as possible.
honour your flow. build on the side. leave when you’re ready.
what if you’re lost & don’t know what to do
from what i observed on social media, most have this dilemma: they either know what skills are useful but confused about how to turn that into a source of income or they don’t feel like their skills are “valuable enough” to get paid.
meet j. let’s call them j. we started the journey with them feeling lost. they’ve got a background in computer science & engineering. although they never finished their degree, we knew they had valuable skills. but they didn’t believe that. they were very doubtful & were convinced their knowledge was so “basic” and “simple” that nobody would pay them for it.
they were wrong, but we had to prove it. so we got to work.
the journey started with the most basic thing: getting to know them. this is when we figured out who they were outside the technical know-how. this process is always fun because you start seeing the human being behind the “valuable skills”, and the deeper your understanding of the person, the better the journey feels. we spent a number of 1:1 sessions talking, visualising the life they wanted, and clearing the path with them.
soon enough, we were ready to “do” more than “say”. and i believe this was the most pivotal part of the journey: the build.
we had them do a concrete project for our studio. in technical terms we called it a diagnostic tool to filter out quality leads who share our philosophy before we start connecting or working with them. essentially this will save us hours of preparation & calls with people who do not fall under our value-fit. and guess what? they built this all using google forms. but instead of using plug-ins to customise the form to fit our needs, they learned new skills & took advantage of old ones to have the tool functioning the way we wanted.
this may sound basic, but what matters here isn’t the complexity of their skill - it’s the fact that we had a problem, and they were able to solve it. and in an extremely simplified sense, this is what business is. where the whole brand & business revolve. your brand & business exist to improve others’ businesses and/or lives.
this process of taking a simple, vague idea and actually bringing it to life finally sparked that inspiration in them. the motivation to start learning again. not only did they want to keep their specialisation around building automated & complex forms, the experience encouraged them to learn a bigger umbrella field (web development).
and we were like, wow.
because when we started, they had zero motivation, didn’t know what to do, lost, and were very uninspired. by the end of the intentional journey they had a specialisation, online presence, and most importantly the drive to keep moving forward. and who knew that would happen? we didn’t know how it was gonna turn out.
but we tried anyway. they tried. they had a concrete plan, project, and goal. and that’s all it took.
sure, they built a tool, but they also learned how to translate their technical skill into a service that helped our studio. and that translation? telling the story of how your skill solves a problem? that’s one of the biggest layers of your personal brand.
what if you have skills but don’t know how to monetise them?
this is the other common dilemma. you’re good at something. maybe you’re a graphic designer, a writer, a photographer, a coach. but you don’t know how to turn that into income.
most of us go through this, because we’ve been trained to think inside the box of “hone your skills to get a job”, and not “hone your skills to start your own thing”. the latter sounds so contrarian.
but let’s look at another example, let’s call them s. they’re an amazing photographer with a collection of photos they’ve taken (as a hobby) over the years. through our lens, we knew that was like a landmine of opportunities. but to them, that wasn’t “special”.
i mean, that’s natural. i’d feel that way about, say, writing. because i do it so much that the feeling of it being special (as in an edge in business) is sort of subdued in my head. but someone who doesn’t do what i do (write long-form content for a digital business), would think otherwise.
now back to s, we worked with them with the idea of taking their existing collection & turning it into a source of income. and this came in the form of photo calendars. this was a great option for someone who has always wanted to try building their own thing, but was confused as to how they could do it at all.
s went from “i have a collection of photos” to “i sell photo calendars online” in about a month. and what can we learn from this? you can start with what you already have. a hobby, a collection, an unfinished project somewhere. take that and turn it into gold.
because monetising (for a lack of better term) doesn’t have to be complicated. your product or service also doesn’t need to be exceptionally unique. what matters more here is that (a) you know who and (b) how to help to improve their lives. in many ways your skills might spark joy - or any type of emotion - in someone (art is amazing for this). and that is more than enough “validation” that what you offer is worth betting on.
so, let’s say you’re a graphic designer. you can design logos, brand kits, social media graphics, websites, etc. but if you try to do everything all at once, that might overwhelm you.
first, start with:
what do you value in life?
what kind of life do you want?
what are the underpinning values that drive your brand?
how will your life naturally extend to your business?
yes, we always start with these.
because doing this will filter who you help, how you help them, and how you run your business. this will prevent you from chasing people you don’t truly wanna help or work with, doing work you actually don’t really want to do, and working in a way that doesn’t serve your natural flow.
only then do you narrow it down to the specifics:
who do you want to help? (women entrepreneurs? small businesses? coaches?)
what problem do you solve for them? (they need a brand that feels authentic? they need social media graphics?)
what transformation do you offer? (they go from “people don’t understand what i do through my content” to visual content that clarify & align with their brand philosophy)
once you’re satisfied with all of the above (or mostly clear), making a living from what you already have becomes easier.
because now you’re not just “a graphic designer.”
you’re “the designer who helps women entrepreneurs build authentic visual brand identities.”
see the difference?
the skill is the same. but the positioning makes you visible.
and from there, you can build your offers:
1:1 services (custom brand design)
templates (canva kits for diy entrepreneurs)
courses (how to build your brand’s visual identity)
memberships (ongoing design support)
all from one skill, a skill that you probably didn’t think would even matter to others.
now, let’s build a personal brand around it.
the very interesting world of personal branding
first of all, a brand is not your business. rather, it attracts the right people to your business.
how? through your philosophy, your values, and its ability to communicate the essence of what you do for the people that you serve (this is a brand’s bedrock).
there are questions that come up like, what exactly should a brand be? can a brand be broken down into parts? what are the components of a good brand?
actually, when i look at these questions, i always feel like there aren’t hard & fast rules. not to mention “right” answers. to make it very simple, when we work with people, we go into brand and visual identity. brand identity is the philosophy, values, essence. visual identity is the logo, colour palettes, theme. and both of these “parts” are shaped by the person behind the brand. that’s why it’s called a personal brand.
now when people say “good brand”, most likely they mean...a brand that’s successful, almost always, success related to monetary gains. i will keep telling you that these metrics are very shallow, although they are valid. sure, a brand can be successful because it does what it’s supposed to - generate income. money. or have thousands if not millions of followers on social media. infinite traffic on their website. all these exponential gains. i won’t discount that these wins should be celebrated. but i will say, again, that this lens from which we view success is so...bland.
to me, a successful brand is one that’s transformational to the people it serves. where the unwavering philosophy is what pulls people in, the values make them stay, and the essence transforms their life in some way, shape, or form. to me, these transformations don’t necessarily need to be extremely huge, fast, and loud. i believe that the most moving transformations are the ones that happen over time, subtly and quietly, because they leave lasting impact.
that’s why i keep going back to the point of it being a journey. we can’t just have a list that identifies what a brand is and tick away. no, a brand is brought into existence by the person or people behind it, living a life that’s aligned with what they’re trying to nurture & cultivate. because then, the brand’s philosophy is shaped from their experiences, values, and what matters most to them in this world.
this is why our journey starts with reflections - going back to the internal so we can express that into the external fully.
and so we go into the types of “expression”.
how do you show up as a brand, and where?
so many options. social media platforms, website, writing platforms, youtube, digital stores. short answer is: pick what you want. i don’t wanna tell you to go on social media if that doesn’t honour your flow. but be somewhere, so your people can find you.
a little precaution on websites, you have to drive traffic to your website by either being on social platforms and point them there, or by optimising it for google (think writing blog posts so when people search something that your business offers, they will land on your website) this is the oldskool way, but it still works. i do this.
now choosing which is which depends on what you can do, or what you wanna learn to do. if you can’t do videos, then maybe start writing posts or newsletters or blogs or creating art & graphics. the main idea here is to start attracting the right people, your people, to your brand & business through your content. so, one more time: you have to be somewhere.
as you know, i’ve been writing for a couple of years now & written content has always been my go-to. i write these newsletters and social media posts. but i’ve added youtube videos now, which includes writing scripts (my newsletters) and then filming + editing the videos.
meaning how we express our brand’s philosophy is through long-form and short-form content, written and/or video, art, aesthetic graphics, etc. on platforms like substack, youtube, linkedin, instagram, and threads. touching on content, this is why we always begin with shaping the more abstract part of your brand, because the philosophy will inform your content.
the message you reiterate into the world will be informed by how deep you went into the core or the bedrock of your brand. this informs your positioning, voice, and offerings.
for example, when i write about topics like this, it will never be the same as other personal branding articles or essays out there. because all of my concepts flow from yōso’s pillars. when i write a linkedin post, it’s the same. i weave the intentional pov, the slow business & anti-hustle mindset, the way we live our life, all of that. that’s why i say it’s both a business and a lifestyle. our brand is the way we live. and that overflows onto our content, no matter if it’s a long essay like this or an instagram carousel.
key point: show up where you’re comfortable, and express your brand the way you know how. honestly, that’s how you stand out. don’t pay too much attention to the ones who give you quick solutions and misleading tips.
finally, visual identity ties everything together. it’s not priority in the beginning but it does complete the package. we believe that external beauty (imperfect & honest) is equally essential to your brand. this is subjective but visual identity reflects the genuine beauty within you. there’s no strict way to blend photos, colours, fonts, and shapes.
like i always say, honour your flow, honour your natural beauty - and let that carry your brand through.
final words
remember that things change over time. your brand will grow & evolve with you because this journey never ends. so accept the impermanence of life. some ideas might be good today, but won’t feel right next year. so many moving parts that you need to think about.
but you have to be intentional with every decision.
it’s not about having it all figured out before you start. it’s not about being an expert. it’s not about having the perfect logo or the perfect niche (don’t find your niche) or the perfect pitch.
it’s about knowing why you’re building what you’re building. it’s about being clear on who you serve & how you help them. it’s about staying true to your values even when it’s hard.
that’s what separates brands that last from brands that burn out. so start somewhere. anywhere. sit in silence. go on a walk. write down 3 things you’d do even if you never got paid.
that’s bedrock.
and from bedrock, you build everything else.
finally, if you’re tired of feeling lost, stuck, or like your skills aren’t “enough”, we’re here.
live an intentional life: nurture an intentional business workshop (22nd april)
60 minutes. 8 women. we’ll figure out what an intentional life looks like for you, and how to build it step by step without burning out.
1:1 sessions (brand & business conversations)
60 minutes. talk about your business, your frustrations, your wins, your questions. anything and everything.
the intentional journey (12 weeks)
spring. summer. autumn. winter. 4 seasons of building your brand, your business, and your life’s work.
要素 yōso — essential elements only.
stay soulful,
jo from 要素 yōso studio
