Joel Sousa on why being good at what you do is only half the job
I've been watching Joel’s work for a while now, and what kept pulling me back was the story behind it. Joel has been running his own business since university. He did what not many dare to do: bypass having a job, build a corporate career and create a safety net first. No, he went for his business head first and made it work. Clearly!
As a fellow Portuguese, that hits differently as we don't exactly grow up being told that's a viable path.
What Joel does at GrowingDesign is help solopreneurs stop looking DIY-generic and start showing up like the experts they already are. For him brand strategy, visual identity, social media are not separate things but as one connected system that works together.
This conversation is about that system and why branding is not a luxury you earn once the business is running. What social media is actually for when you're the whole business. And why so many talented people are invisible online because nothing about how they show up tells that story clearly, if at all.
Joel is joining us as an expert guest inside the Solo Accelerator, where he'll be running a live session on branding and social media for solopreneurs. If you're not in the program yet and want to be in the room, you can find out more and join
You've been running your own business since university, never had a job, built everything through your brand and online presence.
What role did showing up online play in that from the very beginning?
My online presence is absolutely crucial for everything I’ve been doing from day one. I’ve started on freelance platforms like Upwork (called oDesk at the time). My profile there was one of the top profiles in my field and I had to pair it with a kick-ass design portfolio on Behance (a platform for creative professionals). Without a strong online visibility, I wouldn’t be found by new clients. Being online is non-negotiable.
More recently (2020 and onwards), I’ve built my presence on social media platforms like Instagram and LinkedIn. I’m no longer on any freelance platform, and I’ve even deleted my Behance. Everything now happens through my social media accounts + our own website. I try as much as possible to not have a “middleman” between us and our clients.
I can argue now that it’s my personal brand that drives every opportunity I get. That being new clients for GrowingDesign (our business), but also opportunities like this one here.
Do solopreneurs actually need proper branding? There's a strong argument that if the work is good, people will come. What's your answer to that?
I challenge anyone to show me how true that claim is, today. How will people come to you if they don’t know you exist? How will people find your work, if you’re not showing it to the world? Referrals are great, we get a lot of them, but they will only take you so far. It’s an unreliable way to be running a business. Branding is the act, the intention, of building brand. “Brand” is often explained as your reputation.
That reputation is built either you’re intentional about it, or not. When you’re not, it’s left to chance and often grows quite slowly. If you’re strategic about it, you can make the most out of it.
Branding, social media, positioning. Most solopreneurs treat these as separate things. You see them as a system.
Why is that and what does that system actually look like?
Branding is any and everything you do to build brand - it’s not just design, that’s a small part of it. Positioning is figuring out how to present yourself to your very specific audience, in a very specific manner. It’s how you show up, compared to all the other options out there. Social media platforms (whatever platform) are communication channels, it’s where you’ll actually show up, to your specific audience. You can look at everything separately to “work on them,” but they’ll all have to work together, towards the same goal: growing your reputation. There’s an order to it, and they’ll all influence each other.
You do brand strategy before anything visual.
What are the foundations that need to exist first, and what happens when you skip that?
Brand strategy is the foundation that guides the decisions we make on how to communicate our brand (and even run our business). Some of the core concepts we work through are: who you are as a business, what you offer, why it matters, and very specifically to whom. Also, how we describe your personality, your voice, and your values. Without being clear on these foundational ideas, designing, writing, or marketing anything won’t any make sense. You wouldn’t know what you’re trying to communicate, or to whom. You’ll 100% be running on assumptions, which will most likely lead you to frustration and wasted resources.
In the age of AI, anyone can generate a logo and a website for free. Why does proper branding done by experts still matter?
Every AI tool only gets you a mashup of already existing ideas out there in the world. It can’t necessarily “create” anything new. You’ll end up with a brand identity that isn’t “unique” enough to identify you.
The other side of that statement is that most designers and creatives also work in that manner. It’s undeniable that we get inspiration from everything around us, so a lot of what we create can be argued as “unique” or not.
The difference here is the human behind it. Someone who isn’t in this industry won’t be able to assess or judge if the AI output is actually good. If it will do the job it needs to do. (Even when “good” is subjective, we can always look at technical execution.)
Similarly to a not-so-good creative, yes.
As of today, the biggest problem I see is copyright infringement. Even when it “looks good”, AI will most likely get you a “solution” that is way too close to a known competitor. When “good” can be argued, that’s what I land on. In a worst-case scenario, you’re getting something that can get you sued.
There's always a tension between what a solopreneur personally loves visually and what actually attracts and converts clients.
How do you navigate that with people?
The brand strategy process shows us that 9 times out of 10, we want to work with people who are aligned with us. Not just professionally, but also personally. We like to be surrounded by our own type of people. For some reason, we were conditioned to believe we can’t show up as we are and get the clients we want. That has been proven time and time again to be false. Humans are attracted to real humans. The more we show that, the more we attract the right people to us. In whatever industry, really.
Now, are there exceptions? Of course. But even in those, we’ve found success in building a bridge between both. Who the client is, how to show that, plus who the client is and what attracts them.
This work is around identity, that identity should show “you.”
At what point should a solopreneur stop DIYing their brand and invest in doing it properly?
I’ve found that to be a very personal choice. I used to believe it should be as soon as possible for everyone, but it’s definitely not the case for most.
I now value the exploration phase we all go through at the beginning of our businesses to understand what we want, who we’re for, and what we want to do. And whether we even want to be running a business.
It really depends on the person.
Some come in lock and loaded, ready to start a new business and a proper brand from day one. Some come with a million questions and uncertainties that need to be explored and given time to ponder before we work on a strategy for the brand.
A lot of solopreneurs treat social media like a necessary evil, or avoid it at all cost.
What do they get wrong about what it actually is and what it's for?
If you’re forcing yourself to do it and hate it, it won’t work, and you’ll stop eventually.
What I can offer is a mindset shift that will make you enjoy your experience on whatever platform, making you want to do it more.
Most people think it’s: “I’ll post 2 or 3 times a week and people will DM me, cash in hand, ready to hire me”
Wouldn’t that be wonderful?
And yes, it can happen, but it’s not going to happen every time, or for the vast majority of us.
Social media is an entry point. It’s where the conversation starts. It’s just a first step.
We need to see it as the first door into our “sales funnel”. It’s where people meet us and get curious enough to learn more about us and what we do.
We gotta offer them the next step, show them more to make it work.
Social media is a 24/7 networking event. It’s where you either join or start conversations (commenting or posting), and then hand out your business card to talk again later (show them your website or landing page to get in touch). Can they hire you right there at the networking event? Sure. But how many times does that happen?
You’re on social media to meet people. Go do that. No hard sales, please.
Meet people. Make friends. Get clients.
Most solopreneurs know they should be on social media but freeze when it's time to start. What's that feeling and how do you break through it?
Overwhelm is real. And no wonder: one head, two hands and an endless list of things to do.
When I feel I can’t carry any more, I stop. I go for a walk, work in the garden, get away from the screen. Because when overwhelm kicks in, productivity drops, creativity drops, while pressure and self-destruction go up. The longer we stay in that cycle, the worse it gets.
Sometimes the most productive thing you can do is create some space. Stepping away gives you the distance to see what actually needs your attention and what can wait.
And remember: you’re human, not a machine. Your energy, creativity and wellbeing are part of your business design too.
But if I had to give you one question to use this week, it would be:
“Is what I’m doing right now an investment in my future, and will my future self thank me for doing it?”
You’d be surprised how quickly that question puts things into perspective.
The cringe is real. Showing up, talking about your work, putting yourself out there. Where does it come from and what does getting past it actually look like?
See above + practice.
I really believe it comes from our fear of being judged.
The first posts are going to suck. The first videos are going to be terrible. There’s no way around it. You go through it.
And yes, you’ll most likely have close, real-life friends and family supporting you, others laughing, and others watching without saying anything.
That happens with everyone.
Take it as you wish.
The personal growth journey you go through as you become visible online is an incredible experience.
Social media is the start but it has to connect to something. What do you think about the relationship between showing up online and actually getting clients?
Absolutely correct. That’s what I was talking about earlier.
I see it as a very simple, natural sales funnel:
Social media > Sales page or website > First call > Hiring you.
And if we want to look more closely:
You post or comment on someone’s post. They visit your profile, or you visit theirs. You start a chit-chat in the DMs. You get to know this person, no hard sales ever. If you’re aligned and need each other, someone will visit the other’s website eventually. If that website speaks to them and what they need, they’ll reach out for a call.
What most people can’t seem to figure out is how to act like a fucking normal human being. They either jump right into sales mode or just can’t seem to find people they would like to talk to. For either, I believe it’s a brand strategy problem.
This is how I’ve been running GrowingDesign for the past 6 years. Most of our clients are people who know me from social media. And this is the simplest funnel you can build.
