It started with a football meme

It started with a football meme. Specifically, a David De Gea meme we both hated.

I was ranting about Manchester United’s backline on Twitter when this guy from Boston replied. A fellow fan, a fellow designer.

Back then, I was making posters for fun. He was freelancing full-time. We got talking. Design, football, dumb clients. The usual.

And then, casually, he asked: “So what do you do other than making fan posters?”

I said, “I’m a brand strategist. I run a small design agency.”

Pause.
He was stunned.
“Wait... people pay for that?”

He thought branding was just a fancy word designers used to raise invoices. I laughed. Then said something like: “Well, I used to think like that too.”

Back when I started, I believed strategy was fluff.

A logo = brand.
Clean font = good work.
Mockups = the value.

That belief set me back me 2 years and countless underpaid projects.

So when he offered $750 to teach him the strategy game, I didn’t hesitate.

Over the next couple of months, I showed him the playbook.

The parts that actually matters.

— Finding the core story
— Positioning that sells
— Designing for conversion, not compliments

And slowly, his pitch changed.

From:
“I can make your brand look cool.”

To:
“I can make your brand work. And mint revenue.”

The result?

He quadrupled his charges. (basically 4x)

Not by working more. Just by offering more value. And clients stopped asking for “just a logo.”

They wanted a game plan. He no longer sold decoration. He sold direction.

Because here’s the truth most designers miss: Good design is not what looks good. It’s what works.

And strategy makes design work harder — for longer. It’s the compounding engine behind pricing power.

If you’re a creative, a freelancer, or a founder:

Don’t just make pretty things.
Make things that make revenue.

Start thinking like a strategist.

Not a stylist. That’s the shift.

And if you want to learn how, my course The Brand Engine might be your next step. We go from purpose to pricing — with strategy that sells.

No fluff. No Canva hacks. Just the stuff that makes clients pay attention.

If you want strategy that makes design sell — signup to the waitlist.

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