The Freak Show

New year. Clean slate. Loud internet.

Word of the year, vision boards, goal setting, reflection prompts… If January already has you feeling behind & scattered, you’re NOT alone.

And whenever I start feeling out of control, I look at my circus & my monkeys.

In this episode, I’m walking you through 3 simple, practical ways to reset your brand without a full-on rebrand.

“Spring cleaning” belongs in the Spring, so think of this as an opportunity to clear the clutter and make your brand feel usable again right now, as it is.

Because when your brand is easier to use and lighter to show up with, you feel prouder to share it & visibility stops feeling like such a heavy lift.

Think of it as brand maintenance:

Less “new year, new you.” More “same you, but with fewer tabs open.”

(Also, take a shot every time I say “off-the-cuff”. Or don’t. We’ve got monkeys to manage.)

SPOTLIGHT MOMENTS

✦ Why you’re never “too late”, no matter the time of year

✦ Why creating a brand maintenance habit keeps momentum going

✦ The brand folder system that’ll save you hours of faffing

✦ How to reset your website in under 15 minutes (no overhaul required)

✦ Creating social templates that make showing up feel lighter, even on low-energy days

TAKE THE STAGE

Pick one of the 3 resets from this episode and do it this week:

• Organise your brand assets
• (Quickly) update your website
• Simplify your social templates

That’s it. One task.

Then DM me and tell me which one you’re starting with: I’ll be cheering you on from the front row.

——

Mentioned in this episode:

✦ ORGANISE YOUR CANVA WORKSPACE: Have your brand assets, templates and projects at your fingertips & save a lot of time!

✦ TUTORIAL: Automatically update the year in your website (in Webflow)

✦ BROKEN LINK CHECKER: Easily find broken links & get them fixed ASAP.

✦ UPDATE YOUR LINK IN BIO: Capture subscribers right from your social media profile (*affiliate link)

Follow & Connect with Eva:

✦ Say hey on Instagram

✦ Check out my Website

✦ Get my Uncaged emails

——

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 Welcome to The Freak Show

01:32 You’re Not Behind (And There’s No Prize For Starting on Jan 1st)

03:22 Reset #1: Organise Your Brand Assets

07:17 Reset #2: (Quickly) Update Your Website

08:54 Reset #3: Design Social Media Templates To Support You

12:10 Closing Thoughts & Next Steps

The holidays are here, Mariah's singing "All I Want for Christmas" on loop, and the internet's a snowstorm of slapped-on Santa hats & Canva snowflakes. You want your content to feel festive too (and take advantage of this massive sales season), but your branding doesn’t exactly scream "eggnog and elves"…

In this bite-sized, actionable episode I’m answering the question I get every single year: “How can we sprinkle our visuals with a bit of holiday cheer without it being off-brand?”

I’ll walk you through 5 designer-approved ways to bring some holiday cheer into your Instagram posts, so you can plan your content for December in a way that feels creative, festive and intentional while staying unmistakably YOU.

No rebrand. No last-minute panic. No meltdown required.

SPOTLIGHT MOMENTS

✦ Starting with your brand to keep holiday content intentional

✦ How to nod to the season without going completely off-brand

✦ Using fonts & colours as your non-negotiable to anchor your visual identity

✦ Taking advantage of seasonal & playful language to give that Christmas feel

✦ Getting inspired by holiday themes to turn everyday posts into seasonal ones

TAKE THE STAGE

DM me your one of your holiday posts @flyingcolorscreative on Insta, and I'll slide in with feedback on how to improve it. Or if Canva's sounding like your idea of a nightmare before Christmas, join my free community The Colour Circle, and we’ll get it sorted together!

——

Mentioned in this episode

✦ THE COLOUR CIRCLE: Bring the Canva design you’ve been (over)fiddling with for hours

Follow & Connect with Eva:

✦ Say hey on Instagram

✦ Check out my Website

✦ Get my Uncaged emails

——

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 Welcome to The Freak Show

01:48 Brand Consistency Isn't About Being Samey All Year Long

03:26 Tip No.1: Start With The Story

04:25 Tip No.2: Subtlety Wins

06:14 Tip No.3: Keep Your Original Fonts & Colours

07:22 Tip No.4: Add Festive Cues in Your Copy

08:48 Tip No.5: Bring The Season Into Your Concepts

10:13 Closing Thoughts & Next Steps

We’ve all promised ourselves “next week I’ll get my act together.” And today, we’ll talk about how to actually make that happen. I’m joined by business strategist, best-selling author, speaker, and host of the Starting The Conversation podcast Alice Benham to dig into the truth about rebranding when everyone tells you you “don’t need to”.

From learning to trust your business-owner gut, handling (unsolicited) feedback to juggling all the moving parts of this full rebrand — brand, website, marketing, wardrobe, and office — one thing’s for sure: what keeps things moving is implementation. We also get digress (as always) into picky girl-lunches, former monochrome palettes, running a business out of Post-it notes, and how to keep showing up in the messy middle of… well, everything.

You’ll hear us talking A LOT about taking messy action and how real success comes from consistent implementation. But it can be difficult to find the time, structure & support to stay accountable to your goals. So this is your invitation to join me inside of ON IT, and finally prioritise your own brand & business.

SPOTLIGHT MOMENTS

✦ The micro-frictions that tell you it’s time to rebrand

✦ Filtering feedback & separate useful community input from noise

✦ What no one tells you about capacity for all the tiny updates that come with rolling out a rebrand

✦ How to market during the “messy middle”: building in public vs. big reveal announcement

✦ Why business growth comes from steady & boring action

——

Mentioned in this episode:

✦ ON IT: Cast vision, set goals, track progress & finally work ON your business *(affiliate link)

✦ THE COLOUR CIRCLE: Bring the Canva design you’ve been (over)fiddling with for hours

✦ Listen to “Forget Notion and Asana — Here’s My System for Staying on Track” on The Ordinary Business Podcast by Jess Freeman

✦ Listen to Alice’s “My experience of being bullied online” on Starting The Conversation

✦ Listen to how Alice suddenly lost 26K£ due to a software glitch on Starting The Conversation

Alice’s rebrand team:

✦ Branding: Hannah May, Maybe Design Studios

✦ Web Design: Danielle O’Reilly, Finding Design

✦ Photography: Chloe Maxwell, Stories by Chloe

✦ Personal Stylist: Sophia Bayly

✦ Hair & Makeup: Nicola Beddoes

✦ Office Interior Designer: Francesca Toman, Ches & Co

Follow & Connect with Alice:

✦ Follow her Instagram

✦ Check out her Website

✦ Listen to the Starting The Conversation podcast

Follow & Connect with Eva:

✦ Say hey on Instagram

✦ Check out my Website

✦ Get my Uncaged emails

——

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 Welcome to The Freak Show

03:52 Alice’s Freak Show Audition

08:20 How running a business on post-it notes can work

14:09 Micro-friction moments that added up to the big rebrand decision

20:23 How to deal with pushback on your rebrand & learn to listen to useful feedback

28:43 The engagement high vs. the come-down after the big reveal

32:49 Setting the right time & capacity expectations for after the rebrand

41:20 Showing up during the messy middle & creating momentum that lasts

54:36 Growth isn’t the strategy itself, it’s the implementation of it

Yeah, I’m not perfectly consistent. In fact, no one is.

Even so, I felt ashamed, guilty, and dare I say even hypocritical for missing the past couple of weeks of the podcast. So what better way to make a comeback than… to TALK ABOUT IT?

And while we’re at it, let’s talk about how we’ve got consistency all wrong. Because if we let it mean never missing a beat, we’re setting ourselves up for failure before we even start. Real consistency lives somewhere between “showing up every single day” and “disappearing for 3 months because life happened.”

In this episode, I’m unpacking why your bounce-back rate matters more than never falling behind, the difference between consistency in marketing vs. branding, and how your visual identity can become the system that makes consistency easier (not harder). We’ll also dig into why so many entrepreneurs mistake a shiny rebrand for a solution to inconsistency… only to stall when it’s time to actually use it (you guessed it… consistently).

So if you’ve ever felt guilty for dropping the ball, burned out from chasing the algorithm, or stuck in a cycle of redesign–retreat–repeat, this one’s for you.

SPOTLIGHT MOMENTS

✦ Why “perfect consistency” is setting you up to fail

✦ The real reason beautiful brands gather digital dust

✦ How improvisation becomes the enemy of implementation

✦ What consistency actually looks like for solopreneurs (and why it’s not about posting daily)

✦ Why memorability > frequency when it comes to branding

——

Mentioned in this episode:

✦ Listen to Ep. 002 “What If You’re Bored Of Your Own Brand?”

✦ THE COLOUR CIRCLE: Fix whatever design you’ve been (over)fiddling with for hours

Follow & Connect with Eva:

✦ Say hey on Instagram

✦ Check out my Website

✦ Get my Uncaged emails

——

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 Welcome to The Freak Show

00:33 The guilt of being perfectly inconsistent

01:46 Replacing “perfect streaks” with “bounce back rate”

03:21 The branding trap: beautiful visuals, no space for consistent implementation

05:56 Improvisation vs. intentionality (and why we default to winging it)

10:11 Social media frequency vs. brand consistency

13:07 Why consistent beats pretty every time

If you don’t know what to write your newsletter about this week (or if writing anything for your business makes you wanna scream), today’s episode is exactly what you need.

What do “The Unlikely Game Changer”, “The Embarrassing Moment”, “The Necessary Reframe”, “The Truth Comes Out”, and “The Unexpected Transformation” all have in common?

They’re the topics inside Sara Joelle’s Swipe File (out NOW) for October!! And in this episode, she’s giving you a FREE, behind-the-scenes walkthrough of how to use it. Yep, you’re getting a front-row seat inside Sara’s squirrel genius brain as she turns one of the topics into a ready-to-go newsletter idea you can send today.

And that’s just the opening act.

Because Website Girl came to overdeliver, and once she gets going, every sentence is a strategy, and every tangent a mini masterclass. And this conversation is overflowing with copywriting tips & newsletter strategies, that’ll make you want to open a blank doc before the episode’s even finished.

SPOTLIGHT MOMENTS

✦ Why “write like you’d talk to a friend" is not helpful copywriting advice

✦ How to turn boring stories into high-converting content your subscribers wanna read

✦ Free walkthrough of Sara’s October Swipe File (and ready-to-use newsletter ideas you can steal today)

✦ Newsletters vs. Sales Emails: including how often you should actually send them

✦ Why copy comes first and design comes second (always)

TAKE THE STAGE

Take “The Necessary Reframe” topic to write your next newsletter or blog post:

Share about a time you were forced to change your perspective about something you’d previously never considered changing your mind on. This can be a shift in mindset, a change in routine, a new perspective about an industry topic, or even something as simple as starting to like someone or something that you previously disliked.

Then grab Sara's brand-new Swipe File subscription ($31/month for 31 content ideas that fit any business) to get the other x4 topics, x6 angles per topic, and x7 subject lines per angle…

It’s a no-brainer: https://evacoutodesign--btlcopy.thrivecart.com/swipe-file/ (*affiliate link)

——

Mentioned in this episode:

✦ Keep listening to us on Sara’s podcast Point Of The Story: “Cold Pitches, Freak Magnetism, and a Brand Worth Using with Eva Couto”

✦ THE COLOUR CIRCLE: Bring the Canva design you’ve been (over)fiddling with for hours

✦ SWIPE FILE: Never worry about what to write on your newsletter again (*affiliate link)

✦ MAIN CHARACTER MOMENT: Confidently write about yourself in EVERY situation

✦ SITE SERIES SPRINT: An actually-easy-to-understand, self-paced website copywriting course

✦ SUCCESS STORY: 3-month group mentorship program for copywriters (*affiliate link)

✦ WRITE YOUR SITE: Co-working calls to help you start & finish writing your website

✦ WEBSITE COPY TEMPLATE: Wicked easy template for writing your website copy

✦ COLD PITCHING GUIDE: How-to guide to help you send the best, most professional cold pitch emails in the game

✦ Sarah Kleist, Sara’s Website Designer

✦ Mathilde Langevin, Sara’s Brand Photographer

✦ Smart, Pretty & Awkward newsletter, by Molly Beck

✦ The 3-2-1 Newsletter, by James Clear

Follow & Connect with Sara:

✦ Follow her Instagram

✦ Check out her Website

✦ Subscribe to Tuesday’s Table Of Contents

✦ Listen to the Point Of The Story podcast

Follow & Connect with Eva:

✦ Say hey on Instagram

✦ Check out my Website

✦ Get my Uncaged emails

——

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 Welcome to The Freak Show

04:09 Sara’s Freak Show Audition

10:46 The Reality Of Writing Your Own Website

14:58 Why Overthinking Kills Your Brand’s Tone Of Voice

24:05 Inside Swipe File: Write Your Next Newsletter Now

28:51 How To Tie Everyday Stories To Tips Without Forcing It

33:29 Newsletters vs. Sales Emails: Frequency & Content

42:10 Selling Without The Girlboss Sleaze

45:48 Why Copy Should Always Come Before Design

51:34 Audacity As The Key To Success

I know Sharpay Evans said “bigger is better, and better is bigger”, but is that the ONLY path to success? Well… I don’t think so, and this game-changing realisation not only flipped my business upside down, but also redefined what growth looks like to me.

What started with Paul Jarvis’ book “Company of One”, turned into me rethinking the whole myth of infinite scaling (and the pressures behind what it takes to make money while you sleep), the hidden costs of always chasing more & more, and why small businesses — like your local coffee shop or a two-person studio — often have more impact than corporate mega-brands. Which is why I’m forever inspired by the real stories of solopreneurs building thriving, human-sized businesses without chasing millions of followers or dollars.

If you started your business to define success on your terms: whether that’s free time, mental health, or a community that hangs on your every word… then I invite you to listen to this one! (and I pinky promise you I’m not sponsored or endorsed in ANY WAY by Paul Jarvis, I just really like this book, it changed my life, and I recommend it to everyone).

SPOTLIGHT MOMENTS

✦ Why “bigger is better” doesn’t fit solopreneurs

✦ The invisible costs of scaling: burnout, bureaucracy, and losing what you love

✦ How small businesses build trust and impact through intimacy and authenticity

✦ Real examples of solopreneurs thriving by staying small (and why it works)

✦ What if it’s about quality of life, not just revenue?

TAKE THE STAGE

✦ Is growth really worth it, if the price is your creative life itself?

✦ If your business’s success wasn’t measured by its scalability, how would YOU measure it?

——

Mentioned in this episode:

✦ Company Of One, by Paul Jarvis

✦ Emelie Sanders, from Pass The Queso

✦ Jess Freeman, from Jess Creatives, Thread

Follow & Connect with Eva:

✦ Say hey on Instagram

✦ Check out my Website

✦ Get my Uncaged emails

——

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 Welcome to The Freak Show

01:25 Why Scaling Didn't Fit My Business

04:27 The Trap of Infinite Growth & What You Lose With It

06:40 When Intimacy Beats Size (And Bigger Isn't Better)

08:52 The Practical Perks of a Human-Sized Business

12:09 How You Can Redefine Success

If you’ve ever felt trapped in a beige wardrobe (or brand), wondering how to break free without losing your nerve, this episode is for you. Eva & Brigitta dive into how the messy overlap of style and branding influences the way you show up online as a personal brand.

We unpack why the beige default is holding you back, how to start sprinkling colour into your wardrobe without ending up saying “I have nothing to wear!”, and why your personal style is one of the ultimate expressions of your values and personality. From cybersecurity to fashion, Brigitta is living proof that leaning into what makes you YOU is how you create your unmistakable brand.

Expect history lessons, nerdy tangents, and a spicy take that’ll have you rethinking everything about what “professionalism” looks like.

SPOTLIGHT MOMENTS

✦ The overlap of branding & style as a tangible expression of identity

✦ Why beige became the go-to (and why it’s time to exit that curve)

✦ The difference between choosing neutrals vs. defaulting to them

✦ How to add colour to your wardrobe without tipping into overwhelm

✦ Why your outfit can’t fake confidence (but it can amplify it)

✦ How the rise of quiet luxury, old money and trad wife aesthetics repackage conformity as “taste”

——

Mentioned in this episode:

✦ THE COLOUR CIRCLE: Bring the Canva design you’ve been (over)fiddling with for hours

Follow & Connect with Brigitta:

✦ Follow her Instagram

✦ Check out her website

✦ Subscribe to The Show Notes

✦ Listen to The Style Curious private podcast

Follow & Connect with Eva:

✦ Say hey on Instagram

✦ Check out my website

✦ Get my Uncaged emails

——

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 Welcome to The Freak Show

02:10 Brigitta’s Freak Show Audition

13:35 The Overlap of Branding and Personal Style

22:56 Trust Yourself Over a Colour Analysis

25:46 Different Contexts, Different Clothes, Same You

44:13 How to Start Adding Colour Without Getting Overwhelmed

48:41 How to Navigate Fashion Trends

57:55 The Problem Pith “Quiet Luxury”, “Old Money” & “Tradwife” Aesthetics

01:05:10 Self-Expression Won’t Scare Off Your Dream Clients

01:06:32 Closing Thoughts and Next Steps

September is the unofficial New Year’s 2.0, and after a much-needed August break (that I hope you took too, by the way), we’re all ready to shake off the summer haze and get back into business mode with fresh energy, but without the pressure to hustle ourselves into the ground.

I’m sharing three actionable ways to reconnect with your brand, spark your creativity, and make fun a part of your routine so that showing up feels exciting again. And this is your invitation to bring more clarity, play and intentionality back into your brand, so you can stop leaving it for last in the to-do list & find the consistency you’ve been searching for.

SPOTLIGHT MOMENTS

✦ Why September can be your ultimate fresh start

✦ The reason you keep pushing your own brand to the bottom of the to-do list

✦ How to find clarity & purpose within your brand values

✦ Pausing to play and experiment as the key to consistency

TAKE THE STAGE

Ready to go from vacation mode to back-to-business and feel inspired by building your own business again? Here are some prompts:

✦ What do you want your brand to make people feel right now?

✦ What’s something new you could try for your brand, just to have fun with it?

✦ How can you make your brand content recognisable from a mile away?

——

Mentioned in this episode:

✦ BRAND DESIGNER GETS (RE)BRANDED: listen to episodes 027-029 for the mini-series

✦ THE COLOUR CIRCLE: Bring the Canva design you’ve been (over)fiddling with for hours

Follow & Connect with Eva:

✦ Say hey on Instagram

✦ Check out my Website

✦ Get my Uncaged emails

——

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 Welcome (back) to The Freak Show

00:54 September Feels Like New Year’s 2.0

02:30 Rest Is Productive (and Hustle Isn’t Mandatory)

03:54 Step 1: Find Clarity in Your Brand’s Core Message

05:32 Step 2: Pause, Play, and Get Inspired

06:42 Step 3: Stay True to Your Brand (Not Trends)

Something about rags-to-riches stories always rubbed me the wrong way. ‘Cause most online business journeys don’t fit that shiny (and predictable) arc. They’re pretty… normal.

Take my own story for example: I followed everyone’s expectations until I said “f*ck it” on Christmas Eve 2019. That was over 6 years ago, and in honour of my 6th Brandversary, I wanted to tell you the real story. From a nightmare internship that had me designing menus in PowerPoint (yes, really) to building a business that lets me own my weird, I’m taking a trip down memory lane. Whether you’ve been here since the very beginning or just started tagging along, here are two big reminders:

1) Sometimes all you have to do when you want something is send a DM.

2) It takes a village to build a business & keep it running for 6+ years.

SPOTLIGHT MOMENTS

✦ How regular beginnings get lost in rags-to-riches funnels

✦ When a nightmare internship led to starting freelancing

✦ Making less than an orange juice an hour (and other corporate red flags)

✦ Why it takes a village to build a business that lasts

✦ Redefining what "professional" looks like

——

Mentioned in this episode:

✦ B-SCHOOL: Online course for for entrepreneurs who want to build a meaningful, profitable business, by Marie Forleo

✦ THE BREAKTHROUGH DESIGNER: 3-month coaching program to take you from frantic freelancer to badass business owner, by One6Creative (*affiliate link)

✦ ON IT: Cast vision, set goals, track progress & finally work ON your business, by Alice Benham (*affiliate link)

✦ LIFE OF THE PARTY: An all-encompassing social media strategy course to grow an invested community that outlasts the algorithm, by Xanthe Appleyard (*affiliate link)

✦ Follow Joana Galvão, from GIF Design Studios 

✦ Follow Vix Meldrew, Online Learning Expert

✦ Follow Ceels Lockley, Offer Strategy Coach

Follow & Connect with Eva:

✦ See what my very first website looked like

✦ Say hey on Instagram

✦ Check out my Website

✦ Get my Uncaged emails

——

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 Welcome to The Freak Show

00:30 Why Rags-to-Riches Stories Feel Off

03:42 My 6th Brandversary & Six Years In Business

04:27 The Post-Grad Panic of a Passionate Designer

07:56 Rules That Didn’t Make Sense & Internship Red Flags

12:41 Quitting on Christmas Eve as My Gift to Myself

14:32 Toying with Freelancing and Finding a Mentor

16:53 The People Behind Six Years of Success

The grand finale of our rebrand anniversary series is here, with the third ring of my Three Ring Confidence framework: Development. And THIS is where all the work, effort, energy and time you’ve put into this massive project actually starts working for you & bringing the results you crave (instead of just a shiny Google Drive folder).

In this episode, we’re unpacking how I brought my rebrand from Eva Couto Design to Flying Colours Creative® to life, touchpoint by touchpoint. From having fun with Instagram (yes, it’s possible) to website rollercoasters, I’m telling you everything that worked, what needed tweaking along the way, and why implementation is where every rebrand hangs. If you’re sitting on a rebrand (or dreaming of one), this is your sign to stop planning and start doing — because a brand isn’t something you have, it’s something you use.

SPOTLIGHT MOMENTS

✦ Why your rebrand doesn’t exist until you start using it

✦ How social media became my low-stakes playground for testing new visuals

✦ The mammoth task of a website overhaul

✦ Why backend assets matter just as much as the front-facing flair

✦ How this rollercoaster ride helped shape The Extravaganza experience

——

Mentioned in this episode:

✦ THE EXTRAVAGANZA: A 12-week, all-inclusive brand transformation that gives you all the visuals, website and marketing assets it takes to succeed with Flying Colours.

People I worked with for my rebrand:

✦ Katie Pannell, Naming Expert & Founder of 26&thensome

✦ Ceels Lockley, Offer Strategy Coach

✦ João Nogueira, Website Developer

✦ Adrienne Cruz, Podcast Manager

Follow & Connect with Eva:

✦ Instagram

✦ Website

✦ Get my Uncaged emails

——

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 Welcome to The Freak Show

01:36 Why Implementation Is Where Your Rebrand Lives or Dies

05:35 Why Instagram Was My First Touchpoint

11:47 Revamping the Newsletter: From Rebel’s Corner to Uncaged

13:03 The High Stakes Of Tackling the Website

16:39 Launching The Freak Show Podcast

18:39 Email Signatures, Client Portals, and More Backend Implementation

21:25 A Brand Is a Tool You Use, Not a Thing You Have

23:12 Rethinking The Extravaganza