introducing Howdy Naomi: A Fun-Forward design Studio for Bold Female Founders
Howdy cowgirl, I’m Naomi! It’s a dream to have you here at my brand new brand and website design studio.
Howdy Naomi is all about creating colourful, unforgettable brands and websites for bold, fun-forward female founders throughout the UK and beyond.
I’ve been working with creative female founders on their brand and websites since 2021, but I’ve been in the design industry for over 10 years.
I’m super passionate about building people-first brands that attract your dreamiest ever customers.
Whether you’re starting from scratch as a small business owner or looking to revamp your existing brand to be more authentic and effective, I’m here to make sure your vision comes to life in the most vibrant, exciting way possible.
Through my studio, Howdy Naomi, I focus on harnessing the power of human connection and creativity to create mind-blowing, unforgettable design work that will drive your audience wild.
My mission is to strip away the unnecessary business & tech guff and focus on what truly matters: bringing your unique story and vision to the forefront of your brand. Let’s make some magic together!
about My Squiggly Small Business Journey So Far
2017: where small business ownership began
I kicked off my very first freelance design agency from a tiny corner of the living room in my one bed flat. I was overflowing with passion but had very little know-how, so I stumbled through the early days making plenty of mistakes along the way. I had no idea of the kind of clients I wanted to work with, how to appropriately charge for projects or how to market my business to make sales.
Unfortunately, balancing 40-hour freelance weeks on top of a full-time design job (plus all the stress of being completely clueless) was a recipe for burnout, and I quickly realised I had a lot to learn about running a business successfully and sustainably.
2018 - 2019: trial, error & finding my feet
Over the next couple of years, I took on the occasional freelance design gig with no real strategy or plan. I was starting to build my unique style and learning about how to use digital marketing to grow my audience and gather leads. I built my confidence with networking and cold-emailing, and found some amazing communities that I’m still a part of today.
Unfortunately, I started hating the work I was doing. With no clear boundaries or strategy, I found myself working with clients who didn’t respect my time or my craft. I was still working full time, earning hardly anything through freelancing, and struggling to understand what was going wrong. I was still incredibly passionate about running my own design studio, and I could sense that I was learning the skills, I just needed time and patience to make it amazing.
2020: do we even need to go there?
2020 was pretty much a write-off for my independent studio dreams. When the pandemic hit, my full-time job furloughed or made redundant 75% of its staff. I was not one of them. I felt incredibly grateful to still have the consistent income during such a chaotic time, but the stress and workload of this time were overwhelming.
While I didn’t have time or energy for building my business, I stayed tuned in with the community I’d built and was regularly inspired by the courage and kindness of so many female founders I was connected with. It was during 2020 that I started to realise that these were the kinds of people my work was calling for. Passionate, kind-hearted female founders who are bold enough to take on the challenges of entrepreneurship with good vibes and vibrant energy.
2021: The Seeds of Change
After the lockdowns, once my work life had settled (slightly) I started chatting with a developer friend about our shared dissatisfaction with corporate life. We dreamed of a space where we could work on passion projects with fearless female founders and make a real impact in the small business space. Late in 2021, we took the plunge and launched my first business Lucky Night Studio, eager to break free from the corporate grind.
2022: Hitting Our small business Stride
Lucky Night Studio quickly found its rhythm. We attracted visionary, colourful clients that we were super excited to work with and were fully booked within months. The projects were incredible, but financially, we struggled to sustain ourselves. As a duo, we needed to work on twice as many projects to make ends meet (or double our prices, which didn’t feel right to us). The burnout was real, and it was clear we needed to reassess our approach if we were going to make Lucky Night a success.
2023: The year of the Pivot
After tons of research, testing and soul-searching, we pivoted Lucky Night Studio to focus on selling Squarespace website templates instead of 1-2-1 projects. This shift played to our strengths as a team of two and allowed us to create unique, affordable digital products for female founders while maintaining a steady (and more passive) income. We, worked with a business coach to refine our strategy and grow our online presence, continued to build our online channels and became popular public speakers!
We were learning more business skills each month, and had finally nailed our brand positioning, messaging and design. Things with Lucky Night were ticking along nicely, but I was missing the deep human connections of bespoke project work. After almost four years, I was ready to get back in the saddle and start building my dream design agency.
2024: The beginning of Howdy Naomi
And here we are! I realised I was longing for a dedicated space where I could work closely with bold female founders to create custom branding and bespoke websites.
I wanted to build on design briefs, get to know other women’s businesses inside and out and feel the buzz of presenting my design work again. That’s how Howdy Naomi was born. My goal through this studio is simple: to focus on genuine human connection and deliver unforgettable design experiences that make your brand shine.
Thank you for joining me on my squiggly journey.
Keen to make your brand and/or website unforgettable? Let’s chat about how we can make that happen for your business!
