But Why? Behind the Scenes of My Own Rebrand and Business Name Change
Well friends, after nearly 10 years as R Artspace, I'm practicing what I preach and I am rebranding to reflect who I am today and where I am headed. I have a new business name, a new website design, new photos, new podcast art, new music, new Instagram handle… truly it’s a fresh start in so many ways. In today’s episode I’m sharing a look into what went into this decision to rebrand, why now, and how this impacts you. Let’s dive in!
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Hello, World!
Today is a big day. I'm announcing my rebrand. just announced it yesterday over on Instagram and I changed everything over. My site is now live, my new website design and so many things. There's just a lot of new things and it's just so exciting because yeah, my business name has changed. I have a new podcast cover. there's new podcast intro, like new music.
Truly, it feels like such a fresh start in so many ways. This is my January 1st. And if you're new around here, I'm so happy you tuned in today because you're getting a really fun behind the scenes episode of what my rebrand was like. I'm going to be talking through the thought process behind all of this change, why I'm doing it all now. And if you're a returning listener, I just want to say thank you so much for tuning in, for hanging with me, for going through the ups and downs as you know I've had. I'm so excited to be here in this place, in this time, in this moment with you. I appreciate you being here. Where to start? There’s so much to cover.
In today's episode, like all of my episodes, it's just going to be a real casual conversation, a little behind the scenes look at what, how, why, and all of those things about my rebrand. All the major questions will be answered in today's show and how all this affects you as a listener and what you can expect moving forward and ways you can work with me to get your own rebrand and also if you stay till the end of the episode, I have a special announcement for those of you listening in real time as this is going to be airing beginning of March 2026. So stay tuned to the end of the episode because I have a special thing going on for the listeners.
So starting off the big question, why rebrand? In order to answer this question, I need to go back to last year because a lot happened in 2025.
I sprinted towards the agency model. And if you want the full story of that, you can go back and listen to episode 62, where I talk about how I was really hitting the agency model hard and ended up realizing it was not the season of life to make such a big business, business model shift. I am currently a stay at home mom with my three little kids under the age of five.
And so while in theory, in my mind, it seemed like the perfect solution. Like I would just have people doing the projects for me. I would be overseeing. It would save me time. It just ended up not being the right move. So like I said, you can go back and listen to the episode if you want, like the full story, but I scaled back and I have really been a solopreneur again, serving clients one at a time. And it's been such a slower pace compared to what it was last year and what it was building into.
And I'm really feeling a shift in that I wanted to highlight the fact that I am the face of my business. I don't see me going into the agency route anytime soon. And so I just wanted to embrace the fact that I am the designer for you. I am the one who's working with my clients. I'm doing the brand strategy. I'm doing the photo sourcing for the websites, I'm doing the websites, I am in it with my clients. And so I really wanted to embrace that fact.
So I also decided last year that I wanted new brand photos. And so those magically showed up in my life when a photographer reached out to me and she wanted to do a shoot with me. And I'm going to have my photographer come on the show soon. So stay tuned for that episode.
But that was all in the works. And then I think the biggest shift for me, honestly, was when we moved last fall. We moved from a neighborhood we had lived in for 10 years to our, so you're hearing a lot of 10s here, a of the things. We moved back 10 years ago. I started my business in 2016 and that was the same time that we moved into our little fixer upper home and we were there for 10 years. And anyway, so we moved into our dream home last fall and it's just a location that is, I just love it so much. And our home is like a dream home to me. And I think that was honestly, one of the biggest shifts from last year was yes, we did a big move, but it was also like an internal shift for me as well. And I can truly say it was like an up level in all, all the ways.
And so I'm going through all these internal shifts that I worked with my photographer. name is Ashley ice. And I worked with her in December and I got new photos taken and I truly felt like her photos captured all those internal shifts I was feeling and you can see those externally. I have to say I've never spent more time preparing for a photo shoot and the photos I got back. am so beyond thrilled with her expertise really helped me get the look I was going for.
My new brand photos are stunning, modern, clean, elevated, sophisticated, editorial… all of the things I hope to bring to my clients is kind of what my pictures capture.
And they also have a light, bright airiness, which is something I was really looking forward to. My last brand photo shoot I did, it was a really moody and artistic shoot, which I loved at the time, but I was ready for a new
but I was ready for a new look and this shoot gave me that. So I get these new photos back in January. I'm in love with all these shifts happening internally, externally, the new photos. like, I need to redo my website. think I was thinking I would just plug in my new photos, but after getting them back and like seeing
just how different they were from my last photos. was like, I think I just need to go through and kind of do a rebrand fully, like a full rebrand. So I went through my site and I have a lot of pages. You know, I've been in business for, like I said, 10 years. And so, so many of my pages were outdated. There was information that was no longer relevant. It was like spring cleaning in a way. And just making sure my messaging was cohesive throughout the whole site that it was updated, that it was on point, and making sure every page was set up to support one another. And in putting my new photos, it was just perfect. It was just the right time, I guess you can say.
And so anyway, I'm redesigning my site and I'm thinking, I think it's time to change my business name. My name for the last 10 years has been our R Artspace. And I loved it for such a long time because it was totally unique. It didn't sound like any other creative business out there, but I was feeling in the last few years, the last two years for sure, that I wanted to change it. And changing a business name is a huge step, especially when you've been in business for many years.
So I remember, I think this was right like four years ago, I was working with a copywriter way back and we were hashing out my messaging and I said I wanted to be known for rebranding because I love working with women who have DIYed in the beginning, or they just kind of piecemealed some stuff together and they're ready for just a real step up, a real like just embracing that new sense of authority in their space, expertise, they're embracing their expertise, they're really showing up as the professional that they are.
And so I really wanted to focus on the word rebrand and using that keyword throughout my website and stuff. And she looked at me, she was like, your business name should be Rebrand with RuthAnn. You should make that your business name. And I was like, no, I'm not, I'm not changing my business name. I mean, I like that name, but I liked my current business name. And so thank you, but no, thank you. She ended up forecasting what was to come for sure.
I feel like this is me with most change things, most things that involve change. I'm like, no way. And then I ended up doing it, you know, a little while later. but that's just how I am. Cause sometimes I need a warm up to the idea. And so that's how I felt with this business name. So in 2023, I launched my podcast with that name Rebrand with RuthAnn. And since then I have had so many people compliment me on the name of my podcast. And the more I was using the phrase, the more I was really liking it.
It's easy to say, it's easy to spell. It's still distinctive and unique. And it also has rebrand in the title. I mean, it captures where my business is right now, being a solopreneur, working with clients one-to-one. And it highlights my approach, which is being a design partner. And I'm not just a branding and website design studio, but beyond that, you know, I work with my clients for the long run and helping them in a monthly design support type of way.
And so the name change truly just made sense and it just felt like the exact right time. And something I wanted also to do with this rebrand is really highlight what makes me different as a designer. I feel like this is what's gonna help service providers stand out in 2026 and beyond is really highlighting what makes you unique in your industry and being loud and proud about that fact. And for me, I work with women exclusively and women coaches and service providers. I embrace a classic timeless design style. I don't follow the trends because I want my clients brands to last them five years plus. I also value partnership and collaboration with my clients, which is why I love offering ongoing month to month support should my clients need it after we launched their brand and website. And I wanted to highlight that I mentioned this, you know, a few minutes ago, but I wanted to highlight the fact that it's me doing the rebrand. I don't hand off your designs. I'm the face of the business, I'm the one on the calls, I'm doing the communication, the strategy, and I think it's different for lot of other design studios out there, but I just wanted to highlight the fact that it's me you're working with and you're not getting passed off to someone else. So with all that to say, with all of this change, all of this putting together my brand,
So with all of that to say, with all of this change in putting together my brand is just so much more clear and cohesive. And this rebrand is really the start of a new era. That's what it feels like. And I'm recording this in March, 2026, and it just magically lines up with my business turning 10. I don't think I was planning for it to kind of coincide how it did, but it just kind of worked out that way.
I started my business in March of 2016, which is kind of crazy to think about because it was such a different time in the online space back then. But my business is like weathered the ups and downs. I'm still here. I feel more clarity than ever before. I feel so much more confident and more aligned. And I just feel it feels great. It feels great. And I'm just so excited to show up in this new way.
And it just reminds me that rebranding is a big deal and it kind of reminds me of the gravity of this. You know, you, you really are shifting your external to match your internal and your, how you're perceived, how you're viewed. And it really kind of matches that internal shift that you make in your business as well. Like you're ready to go to the next level. You're ready to embrace what makes you really unique and stand out as the expert. And so it's just cool to kind of go through the experience myself.
And I just, I love helping women and doing the rebranding and website redesign. It's been wonderful doing it, but going through it myself just reminded me of how big of a step it truly is and how much of an internal shift there is when you go through a rebrand. So that's the big why of behind the rebrand. And going into the how.
I started my website redesign in January and when you have a Squarespace website, you have the option of creating new pages and disabling them until you're ready to make them public. And so that's what I did with my website. I will mention the other option, and this is just for Squarespace users, but just really quickly, the other option is you can, if you're wanting to redesign your website in Squarespace, you can redesign it from scratch. basically creating a whole new site and then moving your like reconnecting your domain once the site is finished and That's what I'm doing right now with a current client and it's a lot easier in a lot of ways because if you're making any drastic brand changes like Color palette fonts. Nothing is getting affected when you are redesigning a site when the site is in your current site All the changes you're making are global. So they are getting they are connected. So
I will say, thankfully, my brand did not change drastically in terms of the style. I feel like my style is still kind of my same style. It's elegant, it's modern, it's clean. So thankfully, my style kind of stayed the same. I think I updated one font and my color palette was also extremely similar. I really honed in on limiting my color palette this time around instead of having, you know, I think I had 12 colors I was working with. I really just paired it down to like three. Like I have a burgundy red and then I have like a darker wine red. So I have two different reds and then I have black is color I really embraced in this rebrand and white. And so those were kind of my choices there for the color palette. But I will say it made global changes. when I was updating some stuff, even though some of the new pages I made were disabled, it was affecting the other pages because that's how it works in Squarespace. Everything is global. so that is just the path I chose to do with this rebrand. But there is the other option of creating a new site from scratch and then just relinking your URL and doing URL redirects if you need to do all that. that was a little backstory of how I updated my site. But some of the pages I was really looking forward to updating were my podcast page, my services pages, and my about page. will say I before, I think I was offering four, maybe it was five services, and now I've limited it down to two.
And so I'm really just offering my signature service and the essentials. And so I'm going to talk about those in just a minute. but it's just really streamlined and hopefully a lot more clear and, just easy for people to see which one would be a good, which would be the best for them. and it's just, yeah, it's really nice to have everything looking really polished and with the messaging where I want it to be. And it just feels really good to have it out there. So that was a little.
But how does this rebrand help you, my dear listener? So there are two things. Firstly, if you feel like your brand or website are off or maybe you're feeling like there's an energetic misalignment between how you show up and what people see online, maybe it’s time to decide if you’re ready to rebrand.
And I do believe that's always the first step in rebranding is making the decision. And I think you should decide one way or another. Like, yes, I'm ready to do this or no, I'm not. And I just feel like when you're in that indecision, when you can't decide, you're like, I'm not sure.
It just takes up a lot of mental energy and brain space. And you're just, once you make a decision, it's so much easier to follow through. So, I mean, that goes with anything that goes with dieting exercise. Once you make the decision, like I am going to do this. It just is easier. So, well, maybe not completely easier, but you know what I mean? Like you just, you just know where you're going and you feel more confident in going in that direction.
So if that's you, if you do feel like a rebrand is on your horizon and that's something you would like to do maybe next quarter, maybe this year, I would love to connect with you. So I do have two branded website packages. I have the Essentials and the Signature. So the Essentials is a streamlined, efficient brand and website service where we create the Essentials for your brand.
So it's brand strategy, it's logo, color palette, and we create a website based on one of the templates in my shop. You get to choose which one. And I put all of your branding into the site and you walk away with a new brand in just four weeks. And then the second package I have is the signature brand and website redesign. And this is a comprehensive branding and custom website solution for women who are really ready to level up.
and let your online presence display how you are feeling and the level of service you provide. It can really catapult you into your next era with so much more clarity and alignment while helping you increase revenue and opportunities for impact. If you are interested in either one of these services, you can head over to rebrandwithruthann.com and fill out an inquiry form on my contact page. And then we can hop on a discovery call to see if working together could be a good fit.
But if you're curious about what's in store for Rebrand with RuthAnn for this new era, I'm embracing my words for the year: simplicity and calm.
And it's really nice to kind of have that as a gauge in my motherhood, and decision-making, and in my business.
I am working with one rebrand client at a time and I am committed to this podcast in the two episode a month format. And I'm just truly embracing an ease-filled way of working. And it's been really, really nice actually. And something I also wanted to incorporate more in my messaging is that business is not life. Your business should support your life, your interests, your callings, and it should ebb and flow as you go through different seasons. And it should be enjoyable, hopefully enjoyable every step of the way. And if it's not, find out how it can be, you know, more enjoyable because life is too short to be hating the work that you're doing or dreading what you're doing.
And so that's something I also wanted to kind of really bring into my messaging was like, I'm all about having a life-first business and having your business flow with you as you go throughout the different seasons of your life. Okay. So that's my little soapbox moment. As we wrap up today's episode, I wanted to share with you that I am doing a giveaway for my listeners, my audience in celebration of my business turning 10 and of my rebrand you have the chance to win design hours for free. So basically these design hours are normally exclusively. So usually these design hours are exclusively reserved for past clients, but I'm opening this up to anyone for this month only. So you need to be listening to this in March of 2026. And this is basically giving you a taste of what it could be like to work with me inside my month to month design support container.
And the way you can enter is by booking a discovery call in March. And in this discovery call, I want to hear where you're at in business, if you're ready to rebrand and how we can make that happen for you. This is not a commitment to work with me. This is just starting the conversation to see how we can align where you're at in your life and business with your online presence so it's unified.
And if you are a past client, keep an eye out for your inbox because you have special instructions for how to enter because we have already worked together. But you have the opportunity to win design hours as well. this could be anything. These design hours can be anything you need help with. This could be Instagram graphics and opt in redesign website, website updates, slide deck design, whatever you need designed in your business. I can help you.
I am so excited to give this to someone who enters the giveaway. I will mention this, these design hours do not include branding or website design. This is strictly brand or website assets that can help you market or promote your business. And you will be automatically entered into the drawing if you book a discovery call in March. And you can do that by clicking the link in the show notes or heading to rebrandwithruthianne.com slash contact.
And like I said, if you're a past client, keep an eye out because you have multiple ways to earn extra entries. So stay tuned for that. But thank you so much for tuning in today. Thank you for hearing all about my rebrand and being excited for me and cheering me on. And I'm just so grateful for you being here. And it truly means so, much. you
Feel inclined to share this episode with someone if they are going through a rebrand or are thinking about it. I would just be honored if you would do that. And until next time, I hope you have a beautiful rest of your day.
Are you ready for your own rebrand?
If you’re interested or just curious about working with me or the process, I would love for you to check out my 2 offerings for women who are ready for a clear, cohesive, and striking online presence that matches their expertise. The Essentials is perfect for the woman getting started or the woman who needs the minimal experience but one that still makes a big impact, and the Signature is for the women who is ready for a more comprehensive service with thorough custom details.
