A love letter to small business and freelancers
Nikki Neale • July 23, 2025


You are not failing. Even when it feels like it.


You’re just in the thick of it. And the thick of it is where most of us spend most of our time - but no one tells you that. You’re told to pick a niche, find your purpose, raise your prices, write a personal brand strategy, become a thought leader, optimise your funnel, outsource your admin, scale faster, scale smaller, scale something. There’s a formula, apparently. But no one seems to want to tell you what it is without paying £27.99 a month and let’s face it, you know it’s crap!


Meanwhile, you’re doing strategy one minute and chasing an unpaid invoice the next. You’re fixing the printer. You’re covering reception. You’re trying to forecast VAT payments that land like a piano falling from a window. You feel like you work for HMRC more than you work for yourself.


You look around and everyone else seems sorted. Confident. Clear. Making money.


You’re wondering if they’re faking it. You’re wondering if you are.


And it’s lonely. Deeply, quietly lonely. Even when you have people around you, even when you have a team, even when things are ‘fine’. Because no one else really sees it the way you do. The weight of it. The relentlessness of it. The thousand things a day that pass through your mind that don’t pass through anyone else’s. The pressure to keep it together for everyone else while wondering how long you can do that for.

But also: the moments. When it’s flying. When you win something unexpected. When you say something that makes a client’s eyes light up. When you see someone on your team grow. When you remember why you started. When it feels like maybe, just maybe, you’re on to something.


Feast and famine. Elation and fear. Boredom and adrenaline. The cycles are weird, and unfair, and rarely make sense. But they’re real.


If you’re in a hard patch right now, it doesn’t mean you’ve done something wrong. It doesn’t mean you’re not good enough, or smart enough, or ambitious enough. It means you’re doing something difficult and you’re still here.

Maybe you don’t need to pivot. Maybe you don’t need to burn it all down. Maybe you just need to take a breath. Look again. Reassess. Strip it back to what matters. And know that this stretch won’t last forever.


Running a business is the best and hardest thing you can do. It will teach you more about yourself than you ever asked to learn. And it will stretch you in ways no job ever could.


If you’re tired, you’re not weak. If you’re stuck, you’re not broken. If you’re still trying, you’re already doing more than most.


We see you. You’re not alone. And even if no one’s said it in a while - you’re doing brilliantly.


Love Equipt x
 

Feeling stuck, or just a bit off track?


If the business isn’t quite behaving, or your own energy’s taken a hit, a reset might be exactly what you need.


We run Perspective Analysis Reset Days for businesses – a chance to step back, cut through the noise, and leave with a forward-focused, achievable plan. £1,500 for a full day of clarity and direction.


Or if it’s you who needs the reset, Perspective Mentoring is the personal career development version. £500 for a focused 1:1 session to get your head straight and build a plan you’ll actually stick to.


EMAIL US FOR MORE INFO
man with funny faces

A little more reading.

5 stars
By Nikki Neale July 9, 2025
Most writing about client service follows the same well-trodden path: say yes more. Smile more. Show up and serve. Think Nordstrom, Ritz-Carlton, or any other brand that made its name on “the customer is always right.” And while that works beautifully in retail or hospitality, in a strategic consultancy or marketing agency, it’s completely the wrong model. The best client service doesn’t come from being agreeable. It comes from being useful, honest, commercially aware, sometimes awkward and a little bit brave. SME News just named us Most Innovative Brand Growth Consultancy and gave us an Excellence in Client Impact & Service award, and it’s not because we do whatever we’re asked. It’s because we always try to give the best advice, even when it’s uncomfortable. In honour of our win and for anyone working in or looking for a crack client services team, here’s what we think great client service is really about. Clarity, Not Pleasing Clients don’t need us to agree with them. They need us to make things clear. Clarity is one of the most underrated skills in client service. It means being able to say: here’s what’s in scope, here’s what’s not, here’s what will move the dial, here’s what’s just noise. But to do that well, you need real marketing knowledge and that’s something not every client services person starts with. If you didn’t come from a marketing background or have formal training, it’s on you to learn. Read. Ask questions. Understand the why behind the work. Because without that strategic depth, you risk becoming a project manager, just delivering what the client asked for, rather than what they really need. And right now, that’s a dangerous place to sit. If you’re only executing instructions, AI can do that faster and cheaper. Your value comes from seeing what’s not being said. Reading between the lines. Knowing the market context. Spotting the bigger picture. That’s what clients will pay for and what will set you apart. A brilliant client service lead sets the pace, defines the shape of the work, and keeps everyone pointed in the same direction especially when things get busy or messy! Challenge with Care Good client service means being able to say, “That’s not right.” Internally and externally. Because if we don’t challenge the work, the strategy, or the thinking – who will? Inside the team, that challenge needs to come from a solid place. Not just “the client won’t like blue,” but grounded commercial thinking. If there’s no strong reason to push back, then creative and strategy teams deserve the freedom to be bold and radical. Externally, it’s about equipping the client to be brave, with proof points, with clarity, with the kind of rationale they can use to fight for great work inside their organisation. This is where Radical Candour comes in: care personally, challenge directly. You challenge because you’re invested, because you care enough to stop something going out into the world that isn’t good enough. Junior team members often worry that challenging might upset someone, but real client partnership is about honesty, not harmony. Creative work is a classic example. A client likes two ideas, asks to blend them, and the result is a compromise that feels inoffensive – and completely forgettable. It’s our job to ask the uncomfortable question: “Does this make anyone feel anything?” If it doesn’t, then it’s not doing its job. The role of client service isn’t to protect the relationship at all costs, it’s to protect the impact of the work. When we avoid challenge, we don’t just risk bland output, we also waste time, money, and momentum. Clear, brave, respectful challenge is part of what builds trust. And without it, the work – and the relationship – suffers. Commercial Awareness We’re here to create impact – not just output. For years, agencies have run on time and materials – a model that’s increasingly hard to defend. Not just because it’s clunky or hard to forecast, but because it’s reductive. If someone with 27 years of experience can crack something in a few hours, is that worth less than someone who takes three days? Of course not. But time-based pricing suggests it is. And that’s dangerous – because it erodes the value of experience, judgement, and the very thing clients come to us for. Add to that the fact that most people genuinely don’t know how long things take – a known issue in behavioural science, where planning fallacy and optimism bias skew how we scope, quote, and plan work. And now we’re in a world where systems can do things faster, briefs are changing mid-flight, and the “just get it done” mindset puts pressure on people, not quality. If we don’t reframe how we talk about value, we’ll end up getting cheaper – not better. Commercially aware client service isn’t about becoming salespeople. It’s about getting braver at talking about value. Because yes, clients might say something’s “expensive” – but ask whether it’s worth it, and you’ll often get a different answer. When you can explain why something matters, where it moves the needle, and how it creates return – that’s when trust deepens, budgets unlock, and relationships shift from transactional to strategic. And in marketing especially, this matters more than ever. Because everyone thinks they’ve got a good eye or can use a Canva template, but brand, positioning, strategy and creative direction are serious commercial tools. And when we don’t treat them that way, we end up underpriced, undervalued, and under pressure.
By Nikki Neale July 1, 2025
We’ve spent the last few years analysing SMEs across ten critical areas of growth – from strategy and brand to operations, finance, people and customer experience. It’s part of a tool we built called Perspective Analysis, designed to help businesses grow and build in a more agile, intentional ways. Now that we’ve used it with dozens of founder-led teams, agencies, charities and commercial ventures, the data’s starting to speak. And the same themes keep showing up - they cut across sector, size and leadership style. What’s most interesting is that what holds business back isn’t always obvious, even from the inside. Here are seven of the most common blind spots we’ve uncovered – and what they mean for growth-minded organisations today. 
By Becci Pell June 16, 2025
For many small and medium-sized businesses, 'brand' often stops at logos, colours, or fonts. While these visual elements are crucial, they're only scratching the surface of what your brand truly is and can achieve.  In Britain, SMEs represent a staggering 99.8% of all businesses, yet close to 45% unfortunately don't make it past their first five years, which is why it’s critical to build a robust foundation from day one. Shifting our perspective of brand as a mere ‘identity’ to being a strategic and commercial asset, that should weave through every part of business, will help to secure long term success and hopefully beat some of those ‘early days’ odds. Why does this shift in thinking matter so much for long-term growth? It Builds Tangible Value: When you start treating your brand as a commercial asset, something wonderful happens: it’s worth grows! Simply having a consistent presentation across all your platforms can lift your revenue by up to 23%. Strong brands naturally command more market value and can become a real magnet for potential investors. Ultimately, it's about building equity that extends far beyond just your physical assets. It cultivates deep customer loyalty: At its heart, branding is all about building trust and forging a genuine connection. When customers truly trust your brand (roughly 81% need to trust a brand before even considering a purchase), they're far more likely to come back to you repeatedly. Not only do loyal customers spend more, but they're also your biggest cheerleaders, keen to try new offerings and acting as powerful advocates for your business. Just a 5% increase in customer retention can significantly boost profits (normally anywhere between 25-95%!). It Drives Strategic Decisions: When you embrace a commercial view of your brand, it naturally encourages a smarter, data-driven approach. You'll begin tracking how your brand performs, understanding customer sentiment, and pinpointing your market position. This valuable insight unlocks much smarter decisions about your marketing efforts, where you allocate resources, and your overarching business strategy. It Fosters Internal Alignment & Motivation: A strong, clearly defined brand isn't just for your customers; it inspires your team from within. When your employees genuinely understand and believe in your brand's mission and values, they feel a deeper sense of pride and become much more engaged. This, in turn, translates into better performance and an even richer customer experience. It Creates Resilience: Think of a well-established brand as a powerful shield, protecting your business against unexpected market fluctuations and tough competition. It provides the agility to adapt more effectively to changing trends and evolving customer needs, ultimately ensuring long-term sustainability and peace of mind. For any SME aiming for sustained success, embracing this commercial lens for your brand isn't just a nice-to-have – it's fundamental. It's the key that unlocks real growth, builds unwavering loyalty, helps you attract top talent and investment, and ultimately creates a business that's both more resilient and valuable. Your brand is so much more than just how you look; it's how you operate, how you connect, and how you grow. Finally, if you're reading this thinking "it all makes sense but I have no idea where to begin", then get in touch! Our business reset days are designed to help businesses build growth plans, one step at a time.  Send us an email
By Nikki Neale June 10, 2025
Back in the 90s, Sex and the City was a breakthrough. Whatever you think of it now, at the time no one was writing young women as they really were. Flawed, complicated, ambitious, messy, funny, obsessed with friendship as much as relationships, a bit self-absorbed, a lot hopeful. Under the gloss, it felt real. And crucially, it didn’t just reflect culture. It shaped it. Before Carrie Bradshaw, hardly anyone had heard of Manolo Blahnik. After SATC? Sales jumped 300%. No one went to Magnolia Bakery for overpriced cupcakes. One episode later? Queues down the road and the global boutique cupcake trend was born. Cosmopolitans weren’t the signature drink of the era until SATC made them so (they’re still bloody good by the way). Bar sales soared, and suddenly everyone was sipping pink cocktails. SATC didn’t just tell stories. It made culture. It sold shoes, cocktails, cupcakes and more, but more importantly, it sold possibility. It put women’s lives, conversations, friendships and experiences centre stage and brands followed the cultural mood it was setting – we all wanted a piece and we felt seen like never before. Which makes it more depressing that And Just Like That, the SATC follow-up, a programme basically about middle-aged women, has landed with such a dull, stereotyped thud. Rabid mums gaming college admissions. Sad single women with cats. Women who’ve ‘given it all up’ to work in charities and don’t start us on the ham-fisted portrayal of anyone and everyone who might be labelled LGBTQIA+. Where’s our moment? Who is writing our lives now? I'm getting to the point, honest.
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