why i almost gave up on my business — and what shifted

Nobody just starts a business and it magically flows. We all start at zero. We all fumble, we all overwork, we all stress. There are nights of doubt, mornings of anxiety, and months where nothing seems to move. That’s not failure, but it’s part of the journey.

And while it’s messy, it’s also the crucible where clarity, resilience, and truth are forged. My path was no exception. In fact, it was fuuull of detours and breaking points ... and yet, every single one brought me to where I am now.

Wait, let's go back to when I started ...

After university, I knew one thing: I wasn’t going to follow the “safe path.” A secure job, a career ladder, a steady income… none of it felt like me. I needed utter freedom. Freedom to travel, to work from anywhere, to live differently. So, I packed a backpack with everything I owned and left my home.

Like many freelancers, I started on Fiverr. It was unglamorous ... designing logos for a few euros, offering odd copywriting services, even writing a complaint letter for someone about mould in their apartment (true story!). Looking back, my design work was clumsy, and I cringe haha! But my clients were happy, and I was learning. I said yes to everything, because I didn’t know yet what my thing was. And slowly, design started to claim me.

It wasn’t much, but it was enough to fund three nomadic years in Central America. I moved country to country, chasing freedom. Until freedom became unsustainable.

Costa Rica was the breaking point. The jungle was beautiful, but life there is eeexpensive!! My €10-an-hour work couldn’t sustain me anymore. My savings evaporated. Anxiety kicked in.

I remember lying awake at night, panic coursing through me, wondering how I could keep going. The last thing I wanted was to go back to Germany, the place I had left behind, intentionally, defiantly. Returning felt like failure and regressing.

But I had no choice. My family lent me money. I promised them I’d use it to settle somewhere close by. For the first time, I felt broken in my pursuit of freedom. Back in Europe, I drifted between friends’ and family’s homes, couch to couch, carrying not just my backpack but a crushing sense of shame.

One day I visited some friends in a little Austrian mountain town. While I was basking in its lush nature, something in me knew I needed grounding again. I needed this. So, I found a shared flat. I swallowed my pride. And for the first time in my life ... I took a full-time job. It was terrifying. The night before I went to work, I cried. I almost ditched everything, almost packed my bags again to run. Being rootless and independent had become my norm. Now I was bound to an employer, a routine, an apartment. I almost thought it would crush me. But it didn’t.

One and a half years later, everything looks different. I quit that job last week. I am leaving the shared flat and moving in with my partner, deeper into the mountains. And my business - the thing that once felt like a constant uphill battle - is flowing like never before.

But here’s the truth: the shift didn’t come from working harder. It came when I finally came home to myself, and sat down and positioned myself. I created a brand. Because branding is not just a logo. It’s not the font you pick or the aesthetically pleasing colour palette you choose. It’s positioning. It’s clarity. It’s knowing your truth, your why, your people... and turning that into a presence that feels like you.

But when it finally clicked, I felt a deep shift. Confidence replaced self-doubt. Clarity replaced overthinking. Flow replaced resistance.

For the first time, my business felt like home again. I needed every messy chapter in those 5+ years. The €5-an-hour logos. The nomadic years. The broke life in Costa Rica. The tears before every day at a job I thought I’d never take.

Those roadblocks gave me a deeper understanding of myself, of the creative journey, of the fears and longings we carry as business owners. And that’s what I carry into my work now: gentle structure, deep human understanding, and a soft rebellion against the idea that branding is surface-level or mere service. Because your brand isn’t just a design service. It’s the mirror that reflects your essence, your deepest why, and when it feels like home, everything - truly EVERYTHING - begins to flow differently. Welcome home.