What It’s Really Like to Start Your Own Brand (When You Don’t Outsource a Thing)

When people imagine starting a brand, they often picture glossy campaigns, a creative team brainstorming around a whiteboard, and sleek product launches that just work.

The reality?
My “team” was me, a laptop, and an espresso machine that worked overtime. ☕️

The Truth About Doing It Yourself

When I launched Kila Siku, I didn’t hire an agency. No branding firm, no marketing team, no social media manager.

Just me — and a whole lot of grit, curiosity, and late-night Googling.

To be fair, my background gave me a head start:

• In my early twenties, I was an Executive Assistant to a CFO/COO — a crash course in how business really runs behind the scenes.

• Years in e-commerce and merchandising taught me how digital retail works, from conversion rates to inventory flow.

• Earning my MBA at UCLA Anderson gave me frameworks for scaling and a network that continues to be invaluable.

• Consulting for small and mid-sized businesses over the past five years taught me how scrappy founders make impossible things happen.

• And being married to a business attorney? Let’s just say that’s been… convenient. 😉

But credentials aside, nothing fully prepares you for the messy middle — the part where you’re learning design, photography, web development, marketing, and finance all at once, while still trying to stay true to your mission and values.

The Tools That Became My Team

I didn’t have a staff, but I did have a stack of tools that helped me build something real:

• My network: Reaching out to people I hadn’t connected with in years turned out to be one of the most powerful steps I could take. Every conversation opened a door.

• Shopify: The digital backbone of my store — intuitive enough to grow with me as I figured things out.

• Lightroom: Because I shot my own photos, and this little app made them shine.

• Klaviyo: To keep my email storytelling personal and human, not transactional.

• Canva: My go-to for design — from ads to line sheets to social posts.

• ChatGPT: For brainstorming, copywriting, and strategy (hi 👋).

• Excel: The unsung hero — still unmatched for modeling, tracking, and making sense of chaos.

• My espresso machine: No explanation needed.

It wasn’t glamorous. It was real. And real is what keeps you grounded when you’re building something from nothing.

Lessons From the Scrappy Path

There’s a kind of beauty in building slowly — in learning each piece by doing it yourself.

You start to understand your business from the inside out. You don’t just hire marketing; you feel it. You don’t just outsource fulfillment; you live it. You begin to appreciate the art, the operations, and the thousand little decisions that shape your brand.

There were nights I wanted to quit. Days I felt wildly unqualified. But every time I shipped an order, posted a photo, or saw someone carrying one of our bags, I felt that spark of this is working.

Not perfectly. But purposefully.

For Anyone Starting Something New

If you’re thinking about launching something of your own — whether it’s a brand, a service, or an idea that’s been sitting in your notes app for years — here’s what I’ll say:

Start small. Start scrappy. Start anyway.

You’ll never feel fully ready, but you’ll learn more by doing than you ever could by waiting.

And if you’re somewhere in the middle of it — feeling exhausted, uncertain, or just stuck — I’ve been there too.

I’d love to chat with anyone who’s walking a similar path, has questions, or just needs someone to say, “You’re not crazy. This is how it starts.”

Because the truth is — the scrappy path can still be a smart one.