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Seriously in Business: Brand + Design, Marketing and Business
Seriously in Business: Brand + Design, Marketing and Business episodes
- 277: The 5-minute Test for a Polished DIY Brand
You've built a DIY brand that looks professional, so what next? In this final part of Building a Brand Without a Big Budget series, I wrap up with two things that are often skipped entirely.
It’s a 5-minute quality check you can run on any graphic you create, and an honest conversation about the one thing that actually determines whether your brand works - your own confidence.
Watch Part One: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EPi38Iluns
Watch Part Two: https://youtu.be/Ll3VNXzqX1s?si=33USX18rnN4tiBnq
Free Canva Masterclass: Design Tools to $100k 👉 https://www.whitedeer.com.au/designmasterclass
What’s covered:
- The 5-minute polish pass that make a massive difference to your Canva graphics
- Why font size contrast is non-negotiable
- How to use alignment as a trust signal
- Why you need to stop tweaking fonts and colours
- What makes a well-executed DIY brand indistinguishable from a professional one
Timestamps:
Intro 0:00Polish pass 1:25Confidence Piece 6:10Too much tweaking 7:30PSA 8:45Wrapping up 10:55Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/fam8gSxyYoU
Read on the Blog: https://whitedeer.com.au/ep277/WORK WITH JACQUI:
// DIY Design My Biz: The best course for business owners DIYing their own brand and graphics in Canva. Learn more: https://whitedeer.com.au/diy-dmb// The Co+Creation Design Club: Design WITH the help of a professional designer in this high-touch coaching space: https://whitedeer.com.au/designclub// Design Studio: If you’re after fully done-for-you design services my studio team can help! https://whitedeer.com.au/designstudio13 min - 276: The Budget Brand Audit (Are You Building Trust or Losing It?)
You don't have to spend thousands on a brand to look like you did. But there are some things that can quietly signal "DIY" to your audience without you even realising it.
In Part 2 of the Building a Brand Without a Big Budget series, I share the visual cues that build instant credibility, the three places most budget brands fall down, and a practical self-audit you can do right now on whatever graphics you've already created.
The last question in the audit? It might be the most important one.
Watch Part One: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EPi38Iluns
Free Canva Masterclass: Design Tools to $100k 👉 https://www.whitedeer.com.au/designmasterclass
What’s covered:
- The real reason a consistent brand builds trust faster than a big budget one
- Why white space is one of the best design hacks you're probably not using
- The three brand mistakes business owners make when DIYing their graphics
- The 4-question brand audit
- Why your own photography (even on your phone) signals more trust than AI imagery
Timestamps:
Intro 0:00How to look established 3:25Where businesses can fail for branding 6:35PSA 11:48Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Ll3VNXzqX1s
Read on the Blog: https://whitedeer.com.au/ep276/WORK WITH JACQUI:
// DIY Design My Biz: The best course for business owners DIYing their own brand and graphics in Canva. Learn more: https://whitedeer.com.au/diy-dmb// The Co+Creation Design Club: Design WITH the help of a professional designer in this high-touch coaching space: https://whitedeer.com.au/designclub// Design Studio: If you’re after fully done-for-you design services my studio team can help! https://whitedeer.com.au/designstudio13 min - 275: The Hidden Cost of an Inconsistent Brand
For anyone who's been putting off their branding because they've told themselves they need more money first, I get why you'd think that. But it's genuinely one of the more expensive beliefs you can hold in business.
This podcast kicks off a three part series on building a brand on a budget, and today I'm tackling the myth head on. Because a strong brand isn't actually about how much you spend, it's about knowing what to prioritise and what can wait a while.
I'm walking through the four things your brand genuinely needs (spoiler, your logo is only one of them), the two things you can happily skip for now, and the hidden cost of not sorting your branding out at all.
Free Canva Masterclass: Design Tools to $100k 👉 https://www.whitedeer.com.au/designmasterclass
Free trial of CANVA PRO! https://partner.canva.com/prodeer
What’s covered:
- The belief that a professional brand requires a professional price tag isn't true
- Four things every brand needs: a logo, a colour palette, your fonts, and an overall visual style
- What you can skip for now
- Why an inconsistent brand doesn't save you money
- Design being the thing standing between someone scrolling past you OR stopping to actually read what you have to say
Timestamps:
Intro 0:00Preview of topics 1:19Things to consider 2:00Things to create 4:15Things that can wait 7:50Canva breakdown 12:45PSA 14:00Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/1EPi38Iluns
Read on the Blog: https://whitedeer.com.au/ep275/WORK WITH JACQUI:
// DIY Design My Biz: The best course for business owners DIYing their own brand and graphics in Canva. Learn more: https://whitedeer.com.au/diy-dmb// The Co+Creation Design Club: Design WITH the help of a professional designer in this high-touch coaching space: https://whitedeer.com.au/designclub// Design Studio: If you’re after fully done-for-you design services my studio team can help! https://whitedeer.com.au/designstudio17 min - 274: Raw maternity leave update. Cash flow problems, paying team & time off
I'm sitting in my trackies with a bump that's getting pretty big, and I wanted to give you the unpolished version of how I’m preparing for maternity leave.
Because every mat leave I've taken has looked completely different, and this one's got more moving parts than the last two combined. A team on retainer. A course. A coaching program. A design studio. And a funnel I switched from live to evergreen a month ago that, if I'm honest with you, hasn't made a sale yet.
I'm walking you through what's actually happening behind the scenes. How I'm paying my team while I take two months off. Why I've pre-recorded content through to October. What I'm handing over to my team. And the bit nobody really talks about, which is what happens when the passive income you built your whole business around... isn't being very passive right now.
If you want to look at the exact funnel I’ve built, watch my Free Canva Masterclass: Design Tools to $100k 👉 https://www.whitedeer.com.au/designmasterclass
What’s covered:
- Why two months off doesn't mean what people think it means when you're already not working full days
- The difference between a live webinar and an evergreen funnel, and why one converts so much better than the other
- What it actually costs to keep a small content team retained while sales slow down
- How I'm training my team to run client calls without me
- My honest advice if you're a business owner heading into your own leave for the first time
Timestamps:
Intro 0:00Content plan and ads 3:28Budgeting and team 11:59Hand over 18:00Saying no (and yes) 20:35Baby plans 22:20Advice 25:40Wrapping up 28:45Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/5IPUBL16aX8
Read on the Blog: https://whitedeer.com.au/ep274/WORK WITH JACQUI:
// DIY Design My Biz: The best course for business owners DIYing their own brand and graphics in Canva. Learn more: https://whitedeer.com.au/diy-dmb// The Co+Creation Design Club: Design WITH the help of a professional designer in this high-touch coaching space: https://whitedeer.com.au/designclub// Design Studio: If you’re after fully done-for-you design services my studio team can help! https://whitedeer.com.au/designstudio32 min - 273: 3 Canva Shortcuts That Will Save You Hours
If you haven't caught the first two podcasts of this series yet (workflow and brand foundations), go back and listen to those first... they're honestly going to move the needle more than today's episode will. Today we get into the nitty gritty of time-saving shortcuts in Canva.
The exact clicks, the exact keys, the exact little habits that shave minutes off every single Canva session.I'm not expecting you to implement everything in this episode at once. Pick one or two, use them until they're second nature, then come back for more. That's how this stuff actually sticks.
Free Canva Masterclass: Design Tools to $100k 👉 https://www.whitedeer.com.au/designmasterclass
What’s covered:
- The three Canva keyboard shortcuts I use constantly (grouping, duplicating, undo/redo)
- What Canva Components actually are and how they save you from rebuilding the same thing over and over
- My 5 Minute Canva Session Reset to check before you close out of any design
- Why naming your files properly is the most underrated time saver in your whole Canva workflow
Timestamps:
Intro 0:00Shortcuts 2:11Components 6:15Session Reset 8:18Wrapping up 11:50Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/dApz-t78BDU
Read on the Blog: https://whitedeer.com.au/ep273/WORK WITH JACQUI:
// DIY Design My Biz: The best course for business owners DIYing their own brand and graphics in Canva. Learn more: https://whitedeer.com.au/diy-dmb// The Co+Creation Design Club: Design WITH the help of a professional designer in this high-touch coaching space: https://whitedeer.com.au/designclub// Design Studio: If you’re after fully done-for-you design services my studio team can help! https://whitedeer.com.au/designstudio15 min - 272: How I Use One Canva Design for an Entire Quarter
If you listened to part one of this series, you already know the foundations. Today's a bit more fun, I promise. I'm walking you through the exact system I use to cut my Canva workflow in half, and it's the same system that blows my students' minds every single time I share it.
It's called the Page Stack System, and the short version is this: stop pressing "new" every time you need a design. Stack your effort instead, building every new post from the last one you made, so you're never starting from a blank screen again.
Free Canva Masterclass: Design Tools to $100k 👉 https://www.whitedeer.com.au/designmasterclass
Discover my AI/Claude + Canva workflow 👉https://www.instagram.com/reel/DYRJ4CVInsF/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
What’s covered:
- Why pressing "new" in Canva is quietly costing you hours
- The Page Stack System, and how I run an entire quarter from one Canva file
- How to copy pages between designs in seconds (even on Canva free)
- The AI step I add on top once my templates are built, and why I still do the editing myself
- Why this only works once you've got the system sorted first
Timestamps:
Intro 0:00Mistake you're making 1:20Page stack system 2:20Design duplication 4:08Copying pages 6:30Using Claude 8:25Wrapping up 9:59Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/H6Jc_W-6jso
Read on the Blog: https://whitedeer.com.au/ep272/WORK WITH JACQUI:
// DIY Design My Biz: The best course for business owners DIYing their own brand and graphics in Canva. Learn more: https://whitedeer.com.au/diy-dmb// The Co+Creation Design Club: Design WITH the help of a professional designer in this high-touch coaching space: https://whitedeer.com.au/designclub// Design Studio: If you’re after fully done-for-you design services my studio team can help! https://whitedeer.com.au/designstudio13 min - 271: This Canva Brand System Setup Saves Me Hours Every Week
Free Canva Masterclass: Design Tools to $100k 👉 https://www.whitedeer.com.au/designmasterclass
Free trial of CANVA PRO! https://partner.canva.com/prodeer
If your Canva session regularly turns into a 45-minute spiral that ends in frustration... this week’s podcast is for you.
In part one of this brand new three-part series, I'm breaking down why so many business owners are losing hours inside Canva, and what to do instead. Spoiler: it's not a creativity problem. It's a systems problem. And the fix is simpler than you think.
I'm introducing you to my Set and Forget Brand System, which is built around three layers that work together to take the mental load out of designing. Once these are in place, you stop remaking the same decisions over and over, and you start actually getting things done.
What’s covered:
- The two types of Canva struggles most business owners fall into (and why both are costing you)
- Why starting from a blank canvas every time is the root of the problem
- Layer 1: Your Brand Kit: what it is, why it matters, and how to set it up
- Layer 2: Your Element Library: what brand elements are and how to build yours over time
- Layer 3: Your Template Library: the smartest thing you can do if you're posting more than once a week
Timestamps:
Intro 0:00Setting up 2:41Tip 1 7:07Tip 2 11:05Tip 3 13:48Wrapping up 16:33Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/9arYaBpOOoY
Read on the Blog: https://whitedeer.com.au/ep271/WORK WITH JACQUI:
// DIY Design My Biz: The best course for business owners DIYing their own brand and graphics in Canva. Learn more: https://whitedeer.com.au/diy-dmb// The Co+Creation Design Club: Design WITH the help of a professional designer in this high-touch coaching space: https://whitedeer.com.au/designclub// Design Studio: If you’re after fully done-for-you design services my studio team can help! https://whitedeer.com.au/designstudio19 min - Episode 270: Emily Built a DIY Brand So Good, People Ask Who the Designer Is
Want to join Emily and I inside DIY Design My Biz? Join today: https://whitedeer.com.au/diy-dmb
(DM me “secret squirrel” on Instagram (@whitedeergd) for $200 off 🤫)What does it look like when a student actually follows a design process? Today I chat with Emily Richardson, founder of Holistic Dermal Clinic, who joined DIY Design My Biz with zero brand and a very clear idea of how she wanted things to feel. She's since built a brand so polished that her suppliers and clients regularly ask who her professional designer is... and she gets to say, "actually, that was me."
Emily is a skin therapist and university student who runs her clinic half-days so she can give every client her full attention. She's creative, detail-oriented, and unapologetically a control freak when it comes to her brand, which is exactly why she wanted to learn the skills herself rather than hand it all over to someone else. This conversation is a really honest look at what it's like to build a brand from scratch when you're also running a business, studying, and trying to make everything feel cohesive.
In this episode, we cover:
- Why Emily built her brand before she had clients (and why that decision paid off)
- How the online modules gave her the knowledge... and how the calls gave her the edge
- The moment she realised Canva had become a time-saver
- Emily's take on when to DIY vs. when to outsource, and how to think about investment when you're starting out
- Three skin care non-negotiables you actually haven't heard a million times
Timestamps
Intro 0:00Interview 1:49Wrapping up 35:51ABOUT GUEST:
Emily Richardson is a Dermal Therapist and owner of skin clinic, Holistic Dermal Clinic located in Townsville QLD. She helps women love their skin with non-invasive, gentle methods that embrace both modern advancements as well as holistic wisdom. This involves treating the skin through getting to understand the person as a "whole" to truly create custom, personalised treatments for the individual. Outside of all things skin related, Emily’s a wife, a dog mum and a former professional dancer. Plus she juggles all things business alongside uni, because life long learning is crucial to stay ahead of the curve!CONNECT WITH GUEST:
Holistic Dermal Clinic:Insta: https://www.instagram.com/holisticdermalclinicWebsite: https://www.holisticdermalclinic.com.auEmily’s Insta: https://www.instagram.com/thedermalskintherapistWatch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Uq8TLVFVC08
Read on the Blog: https://whitedeer.com.au/ep270/WORK WITH JACQUI:
// DIY Design My Biz: The best course for business owners DIYing their own brand and graphics in Canva. Learn more: https://whitedeer.com.au/diy-dmb// The Co+Creation Design Club: Design WITH the help of a professional designer in this high-touch coaching space: https://whitedeer.com.au/designclub// Design Studio: If you’re after fully done-for-you design services my studio team can help! https://whitedeer.com.au/designstudio38 min - 269: Graphics That Sell vs Graphics That Just Look Good
Free Canva Masterclass: Design Tools to $100k 👉 https://www.whitedeer.com.au/designmasterclass
Is your brand looking good but not converting? There's a reason for that.
You've done the work. You've built a brand, you're making graphics, you're showing up consistently...and people are liking and saving your posts. But they're not getting in touch. They're not purchasing. And it's making you wonder what's missing.
In this podcast, I get into the difference between graphics that look good and graphics that actually sell, and why those two things are not the same. The prettiest graphics aren't always the ones that convert. The clearest ones are - you'll learn exactly what that means in practice.
What’s covered:
- Why clarity beats pretty every single time
- Four psychological tools you can use to stop someone mid-scroll
- Why your graphic is just one part of your sales sequence
- Four questions to audit every graphic before you post it
Timestamps:
Intro 0:00The elephant in the room 0:56Tool 1 2:45Tool 2 3:45Tool 3 4:14Tool 4 4:39Remember this 5:33Questions to ask 7:43PSA 9:44Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/8m7YwJMXP_4
Read on the Blog: https://whitedeer.com.au/ep269/WORK WITH JACQUI:
// DIY Design My Biz: The best course for business owners DIYing their own brand and graphics in Canva. Learn more: https://whitedeer.com.au/diy-dmb// The Co+Creation Design Club: Design WITH the help of a professional designer in this high-touch coaching space: https://whitedeer.com.au/designclub// Design Studio: If you’re after fully done-for-you design services my studio team can help! https://whitedeer.com.au/designstudio12 min - 268: The mindset shift that makes DIY design actually work
Free Canva Masterclass: Design Tools to $100k 👉 https://www.whitedeer.com.au/designmasterclass
If you've ever spent an hour fiddling in Canva and walked away wondering whether it actually... worked, this video is for you.
The problem with DIY design usually isn't the tools or even the skill level. It's that nobody taught you to think like a designer. And that one shift changes everything about how your graphics perform.
I break down the difference between decorating and designing, why pretty graphics aren't always strategic ones, and the three questions to ask yourself before you start any graphic from here on out.
Once this clicks, design becomes a genuine competitive advantage for your business rather than just a time sink.
What’s covered:
- Why DIY graphics sometimes deserve their bad reputation, and when they absolutely don't
- The difference between decorating and designing (and why it matters!)
- Why your graphics need a job to do
- The three questions to ask yourself before you start any new graphic
- Why knowing how to DIY well actually gives you a speed advantage over businesses that outsource to designers
Timestamps:
Intro 0:00Where DIYers get stuck 3:08Things to ask yourself #1 7:00Things to ask yourself #2 7:47Things to ask yourself #3 9:00PSA 11:58Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/mcsS6X0rCDo
Read on the Blog: https://whitedeer.com.au/ep268/WORK WITH JACQUI:
// DIY Design My Biz: The best course for business owners DIYing their own brand and graphics in Canva. Learn more: https://whitedeer.com.au/diy-dmb// The Co+Creation Design Club: Design WITH the help of a professional designer in this high-touch coaching space: https://whitedeer.com.au/designclub// Design Studio: If you’re after fully done-for-you design services my studio team can help! https://whitedeer.com.au/designstudio14 min
About Seriously in Business: Brand + Design, Marketing and Business
From the publisher's feed
(Previously: "Design Hacks for DIYers") The podcast for all things branding, design, marketing and business strategy for your small biz. Hosted by Jacqui Naunton, pro graphic designer and coach at White Deer Graphic Design.
This is the podcast for small biz owners (aka, entrepreneurs) who love to have fun AND take their biz seriously.
We'll be diving into DIY graphic design and the crucial role it plays in building a successful business... a business that is not only your passion but is taken seriously by the world.
You'll also get to learn key branding insights from yours truly, as well as glean marketing, strategy and business advice from epic industry experts.
I’ve supported HUNDREDS, if not thousands of women over the last 10 years to transform their brand & design, and in doing so helping them to build successful and sustainable businesses while living the life they love. And in this podcast, I get to do the same for you.
Join us every week for a new episode ready to fuel you with inspiration, equip you to thrive, and get you looking "seriously in business".