2ND EDITION | ISSUE #160

The amount of stress I impose on myself with self-imposed deadlines is kinda over the top.

What is it about making time for our own brand that's so damn hard? That makes us spiral out a little?

It's a question I've been grappling with since I started my business four years ago—but really focusing on in the last year as I've taken myself through my own slow branding process.

Is it that updating our brand is personal, and it challenges us to embody and up-level how we see ourselves, which can bring up some... well, stuff?

Yes.

But also—there's the whole piece of learning how to manage your time as a solopreneur. Even if that means rewiring your brain after being conditioned to work in the service industry, for an hourly wage, or in the corporate world.

And on a deeper level—working on your brand means defining what productivity and success actually mean to you.

This is the stuff that I think gets in the way of making progress on the goals we have for our brand.

So naturally, when I was attempting to queue up 5-ish hours of content before tucking my garden away for the winter and stumbled across "Slow Productivity" in the Spotify audiobook section—written by one of my favorite authors, Cal Newport—I was immediately hooked.

Slow Productivity:A philosophy for organizing knowledge work efforts in a sustainable and meaningful manner, based on the following three principles:

1. Do fewer things.

2. Work at a natural pace.

3. Obsess over quality.

And it's that last piece that really got me.

Because the endless tweaking. The rewrites. The edits.

Sure, it can be productive procrastination.

But what if it's also part of the process? Is obsessing over quality so bad after all? What if getting comfortable with letting go of self-imposed deadlines is how you redefine your own brand's timeline?

And if you want to see what slow productivity actually looks like in practice—what it means to obsess over quality, work at a natural pace, and focus on one thing at a time—let me introduce you to someone I've been studying for years.

Jonna Jinton has 5.42 million Youtube followers, she has been recognized by the King of Sweden, has two art studios, a cottage in the mountains, a camper van, and owns a home overlooking a lake on the same piece of property in Northern Sweden where her ancestors settled 400 years ago (seriously).

But here's what i'm most jealous of...

It's how much control she has over her time. And how she focuses on—and documents—one project over a long period without apologizing for it.

I've been watching Jonna Jinton's videos for the past eight years. I couldn't tell you how I found her—but as soon as I did, I was hooked. Since then, I've been such a fan that I full-on ugly cried when her dog died.

She's the definition of a multi-hyphenate entrepreneur. Started as a blogger and photographer documenting her life in Northern Sweden. Then began creating vlogs while starting a jewelry business, painting, recording music, and even creating four-hour ASMR videos of ice cracking that are on repeat for me all winter long. (I can get so much done while I listen to them.)

At just 36 years old, the content creator and artist has amassed a worldwide following equal to half the population of her home country of Sweden. She released her own debut album. And she recently opened the doors to approximately 400 people on her flagship store's opening day in Sollefteå, Sweden, on June 27, 2025.

Her resume is impressive. She's clearly very successful.

But here's what makes her different:

She documented the process of opening that store for nearly two years. Openly pushed deadlines over and over again. Shared every behind-the-scenes twist and turn. During that time, her focus was on the store and documenting that journey. That's it.

Before that? She documented the seven-month-long process of remodeling her art studio—from stripping floors to painting walls. (Obviously we'd be best friends in real life.)

She's all in on one project at a time. The definition of slow productivity.

Sure—she's published 672 videos on her YouTube channel. But that's over 14 years. Roughly one video a week. And if you're a subscriber, you know she'll often go quiet for a month or more at a time.

Same with Instagram—sometimes five posts in a month. Sometimes none at all.

And while we can't all live in the middle of the wilderness and create dreamy vlogs in the midnight sun—why can't we create more focus in our brand?

In the words of Jonna Jinton: to "get shit done."

So what can we actually learn from Jonna's approach to slow productivity and slow branding? And more importantly—how do you apply it to your own brand when you're not documenting ya know...life in the Swedish wilderness?

Building in public, even when it's messy

Here's what struck me most about Jonna's approach: her transparency about long timelines.

She didn't pretend the store would be done in six months when it took two years. She documented every setback, every delay, every moment of "okay so this didn't work out how we planned."

Her audience watched her push deadlines. They saw the process get messy. They followed along anyway—because they were invested in her world, not just her timeline.

This is what building in public actually looks like. It's not perfectly curated "day in the life" content. It's honest documentation of real timelines, even (especially) when they're longer than expected.

The lesson: Your audience doesn't need you to have it all figured out before you share. They want to see the real process—delays, pivots, messy middles included. That's what makes them trust you're actually doing the work.

World building: Creating an immersive brand experience Jonna Jinton's brand isn't just about selling jewelry or getting YouTube views. It's about inviting people into her world—the forests of Northern Sweden, the midnight sun, the quiet solitude of creating in the wilderness. This is what the marketing girlies call world building. World building is the intentional creation of an immersive universe around your brand—one that goes beyond selling products and creates a lifestyle, experiences, and stories that authentically express your values and connect deeply with your audience. Think about Jonna's physical store. It's not just a retail space—it's a destination where people can step into the world she's been documenting for years. The store design reflects the aesthetic of her videos. The products feel like extensions of her creative practice. Every touchpoint reinforces the same atmosphere: hyyge, icy, unotuched by the rest of the world. The lesson: Your brand world comes from your actual environment, constraints, and life—not manufactured vibes. Jonna's not trying to create a Northern Sweden aesthetic. She lives there. Her brand is the natural expression of her real world. What world are you already living in that could become your brand's immersive experience? P.S. This ↑↑↑ is exactly what we do inside brand brushstrokes.

Learning to take your time (and obsess over the quality) So how do you actually do this? How do you create the kind of sustained focus Jonna has—not just making time for your brand, but actually taking your time with it? Because here's the thing: Jonna didn't rush the store. She didn't panic-launch the album. She didn't force a timeline that didn't serve the vision. She took her time. She obsessed over the quality. She saw her vision through—even when it took longer than expected. This is what gets lost in the "just block an hour" advice. It's not just about finding the time. It's about giving yourself permission to work at the pace your creative vision actually needs. Whether that's a website redesign, a rebrand, an offer suite overhaul, or any creative endeavor—the work deserves more than whatever scraps of time you can squeeze between client calls. Here's what taking your time actually looks like: Focus on one project at a time. Not three half-finished things. One thing you're seeing through to completion—even if it takes months. Protect dedicated time for it. Block it like it's sacred. Make it non-negotiable. Whether that's 90-minute deep work sessions or shorter focused sprints—eliminate the distractions and actually be present with the work. Let it take as long as it takes. Stop apologizing for the timeline. Stop comparing your behind-the-scenes to everyone else's highlight reel. Your brand deserves the time it needs to be what you're envisioning. Obsess over the quality. The endless tweaking? The rewrites? The "is this actually right?" moments? That's not procrastination. That's the process. That's you caring enough to get it right.