Why does nobody talk about rebranding your own small business?

I finally sat down last month to refresh my roofing company's logo and colors, and it hit me how much harder it is to brand yourself than a client. My old logo had this weird clip-art hammer that I picked off a free site in 2019, and the color scheme was basically 'default blue'. I compared it side by side with a competitor's clean, simple black and orange setup, and mine looked like a yard sale sign next to a real storefront. Spent about 6 hours on a new wordmark and swapped to a darker slate gray with a bright safety yellow accent, matches our trucks way better. Has anyone else here tried to rebrand their own business and ended up second-guessing every tiny choice? What helped you push through that? (I swear, my next client's project felt easy after that.)

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brown.susan5d ago

...and I swear, the hardest part was not picking the colors, it was staring at 47 shades of gray for two hours like I was choosing a life partner. My first rebrand attempt ended with me googling "does my logo look like a prison sign" at 11pm. What finally helped was showing it to three customers I actually trusted, not my wife who loves everything I do, and asking them one dumb question: "does this look like a company you'd call to fix your roof?" Their honest faces did more than any design book could. Also, I promise you, the next client's project is always easier because you're not emotionally attached to their trash logo. Yours is your baby, theirs is just a job.