Getting the ketchup flowing: How I get ideas out of my head and into the world

If you've ever watched Friends (and honestly, who hasn't?) you might remember the scene where pregnant Rachel says:

"Sometimes you have to bang on the end of it to get it to come out."

Honestly? That's exactly how brand design feels sometimes.

I can see the perfect brand identity in my mind - how it should look, feel, work - but getting it out of my head and into the real world? That's where things get stuck. Like thick ketchup in one of those old-school glass bottles. And just like with ketchup, sometimes the solution is a little... bang.

It's not just me

I see this exact same stuck-ness in almost every female founder I work with, just from the other side of the bottle.

You know what you want your brand to say. You can feel it. But somewhere between "I know what I mean" and "here's my actual logo," it gets stuck. Maybe it looks like a Pinterest board with two hundred pins and no clear direction. Maybe it's a Canva file you've opened a dozen times and closed again without changing a thing. Maybe it's a brand brief you've rewritten so many times you've lost track of what you actually meant in the first place.

Same bottle. Same ketchup. Just a different kind of banging needed.

Why it gets stuck

For me, it's rarely a lack of ideas - it's translation. I can see the finished thing clearly, but pulling it out of my head and onto a page takes a process, not just inspiration.

For you, I think it's something similar but one step earlier: you're brilliant at your business, but being able to describe a vibe to yourself in your head is a completely different skill to turning that vibe into colours, fonts, and layouts that actually hold together. Without the design language for it, every attempt just adds another idea to the pile instead of narrowing things down. The bottle doesn't get less full - it just gets more shaken up.

What staying stuck actually costs you

And a stuck brand doesn't just sit there quietly waiting for a rainy afternoon.

It's the client who lands on your DIY site and hesitates, because it doesn't quite match how seriously you take your work. It's the launch date that keeps sliding because "the branding's not ready yet." It's you, showing up in your business every day, in a brand that doesn't quite feel like the business you've actually become.

My tricks for getting things flowing

To be clear, I'm not literally hitting myself on the head to get ideas out (that would be weird - even for me 😂). But I do have a process:

Sometimes I step away and let my brain breathe. Other times, I pick up a pencil and just sketch - rough, fast, messy. Anything to start the flow. Because once it's out? It's everywhere. Not in a bad way. In a "suddenly everything is clicking" kind of way. Ideas spread across pages, brand strategy taking shape, the big picture finally coming into view.

And when I work with clients, it's the same process - just with two of us shaking the bottle instead of one.

You're part of the magic

Creativity isn't just about waiting for lightning to strike. A huge part of what gets the ketchup flowing is you. The client.

It's the research, the questions, the conversations. That "I've been doing this DIY thing and I'm ready for professional branding that actually works" energy. That's the good stuff. That's what gets things moving.

Because the best brand design for you comes from listening, asking, and being open to the mess before the magic.

Ready to shake things loose?

If you're feeling stuck - like you know what you want your brand to say but it's just not coming out right - you're not alone. I promise, it happens to me too.

Let's bang on the bottle together and turn all that bottled-up brilliance into bold, professional brand design that's impossible to ignore.

Ready to ditch the DIY look for good? Book a call and let's talk about what a full brand package could look like for you.