Jennifer Bourn

Building a business is hard work, but with the right information, resources, and support it doesn't have to be hard work.

Business sidekick like Yoads to Luke, Hermoine to Harry, and Samwise to Frodo

Build Your Brand And Business On Your Terms, And Bring Me Along As Your Trusty Sidekick

I’m the Yoda to your Luke, the Hermoine to your Harry, the Sam to your Frodo. When we work together, I show up with my bag of tricks and snacks, act as your sounding board, and offer up advice when you need it. I’ll be with you every step of the way, making sure you defeat the dark side, vanquish He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, and make it to Mordor safely. Or, at least feel totally confident in your brand, and achieve the business goals we define together.

Hey there, I'm Jennifer!

Because you're here, we can be friends and you can call me Jen. Just don't ever call me Jenny. That will earn you a spot in my black book — and yes, it's that kind of black book.

Entrepreneurial Emotional Rollercoaster

I've Been A Busines Owner For 21 Years — It's Freaking Hard!

You’re already extraordinary. You’ve got great clients and you’re doing work that that is transforming businesses and changing lives. But you’re so busy doing the work that working on your business has taken a backseat, and your brand that used to fit is feeling less and less like a fit.

Doing what you do is easy because it’s your thing. Building and refining your brand, and doing all the business things that come with it is another story…

  • Sometimes everything is amazing and you feel like a badass boss. You’re kicking ass and taking names, and you’re on top of the world.
  • Other times, you’re frustrated because you don’t have time to work on your brand, and OMG why is working on your own brand so stinking hard?!
The Bourn Family At Teddy Roosevelt National Park

Me Too! It's Normal. Trust Me: Been There, Sooooo Done That

In 2014, I almost quit the business I poured my heart and soul into for nine years.

Financially, I was doing fantastic and I loved my work. I built a strong agency brand, we were well known, and amazing clients kept showing up. To everyone else, everything was awesome. Behind the scenes, not so awesome. My agency grew organically, not intentionally. It got too wide and too unruly, and keeping up the “corporate Jen persona” was exhausting. Soon my business felt less like my business, and my life didn’t look like I thought it would.

I was working 16-hour days, pulling all-nighters, working weekends, and balancing two personalities — business Jen and real Jen. And I kept secretly wondering, “Where was all that mythical flexibility and freedom I thought I would have when I started my freelance business?”

The fix included:

  • Getting crystal clear on who my perfect clients are and why they hire me.
  • Ditching who I thought I needed to be, fully owning who I am, and being totally okay that’s I’m not for everybody.
  • Redefining my agency brand and narrowing my services to a strategic offer suite.
  • Ensuring my packaging and pricing supports the level of work I want to be known for.
  • Documenting and systemizing my frameworks and processes.
  • Setting clear expectations with clients and holding strong boundaries.
  • Shaping my business to fit my life and me at my best, even when I don’t feel my best.
  • Seeking expert support from coaches, mentors, and mastermind groups.
Jennifer Bourn

Today, I Run My Brand And Business My Way, On My Terms

The minute I let go of who I thought I needed to be and brought all of me, my personality, and my voice to my brand and business, referrals increased, growth accelerated, and new opportunities showed up. It reinforced just how important and powerful an authentic, aligned brand really is.

When you show up unapologetically as exactly who you are, the right people who totally get you tend to show up — and in business, that’s freaking magic. It’s your secret sauce.

I also felt like a total idiot.

I mean, it’s not like I didn’t know all of this. Hello — I build brands for a living! I tell clients these exact things and infuse their voices and personalities into their businesses so they can be more of who they are! I just couldn’t see it for myself. It took almost burning out and burning my business down to finally push my own baggage out of way… but holy nuggets, it was sooooo worth it.

Working in and on my business — in my agency Bourn Creative and my Business Your Way community — is now so much easier and more joyful. It just feels good because it feels like me, and my agency clients and community members are perfectly my people and my jam. I love the candid honesty, humor, openness, and connection we experience together while doing serious work on their brands and businesses. It makes everything so much more fun and rewarding that I don’t even mind doing the administrative crap I sort of (totally) hate.

Freelance holding a fan of cash from her profitable freelance business

I Build Brands That Build Businesses That Put Money In Your Pocket

If your brand is scattered and all over the place… If your business is running you instead of you running it… If you are chasing clients instead of being chased…

You’re in the right place and I’ve got your back.

I can turn your businesses into an extraordinary brand and you into an unignorable expert, so you can exit toxic hustle culture, ditch overworking and under-earning, and say “Hell No!” to 24/7 marketing. And instead, enter your abso-freaking-totally-you-I-love-this-sh!t brand era.

  • Ready to hire a branding pro? Check out my agency, Bourn Creative, and my done-for-your services for businesses, founders, and experts.
  • Want to do it with me or do it on your own? Join the Business Your Way community and gain access to my entire course library, asynchronous and live support options, weekly Q&A sessions and storytelling sessions, and more.

All The Cookies, Hold The Cookie Cutters

Rest assured there’s nothing cookie-cutter about my approach, mentorship, or business courses.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I Meet You Where You're At With Frameworks, Scripts, And Tools

I give you the recipe, the ingredients, samples, and my insights from making the recipe boatloads of times in different kitchens, so you can put your unique spin on it and customize the recipe to your liking. Why? Because how you do business and how I do business might not be the same. That means what works for me might need a bit of tweaking for it to work for you. That’s what makes the asynchronous support and live Q&A components of my community and courses so valuable!

My Business Your Way community and freelance business courses will help you:

  • Feel confident and capable stepping up as the boss of your business.
  • Build a brand that feels like a perfect fit and attracts perfect-fit clients.
  • Do work you’re proud of and enjoy your business and your clients.
  • Earn fees equal to the value and impact of your work.
  • Skip the “hard way” and avoid frustrating and painful mistakes.
  • Elevate your client experience and get better testimonials and referrals.
  • Define your work style, client management approach, and workflows.
  • Do business your way without sacrificing your life.
  • Experience more ease, freedom, fun, and flexibility.

And because I’m a multi-passionate person who LOVES everything I do, I still do branding, copywriting, design, and workbook creation services for select clients. I mean really, anyone advising and teaching you about freelancing and working with clients should actually be freelancing and working with clients, right?!

Bottom Line: I want to help you build the brand and business you want on your terms, in a way that is doable, stickwithitable, and enjoyable.

Tony Perez

"I love listening to Jennifer. She has that thing we all strive for, the uncanny ability to weave a delicate needle between her expertise and the expectations of her audience. She will leave you feeling smarter than when you arrived, and empowered to take on whatever obstacle stands before you. She's eloquent in her approach, articulate in her delivery and charismatic in her presentation."

Tony Perez | Sucuri Inc.

The More Serious Professional Stuff

I've never had a massive career pivot. I've been in the design and copywriting trenches my entire career and I still love it. While I tweak my bio all the time, here's the current version:

Jennifer Bourn build brands. That’s her whole story. 27 years ago, the moment she learned this work existed, she switched her major from electrical engineering to graphic design and has been focused on branding ever since.

Most people who say they “do brand” mean one slice of it. Not her. Jen’s a freaking unicorn. She used to shy away from it because most people don’t believe unicorns exist. Now, she owns it. She does all the things, because brand is part of everything.

Every business and person has a brand, whether they’ve defined it on purpose or left it to chance. It’s how businesses, founders, and experts shows up in the world, and showing up well takes all those disciplines working together. That’s why she’s spent her career adding one skill at a time, and each skill — brand and graphic design, web design, brand strategy and messaging, copywriting, and content writing — took years to develop.

Jen has worked with solo business owners, SMBs, and enterprise organizations in seven countries and 37 industries. While most clients start with a single project, her longest client engagement lasted nine years, the shortest lasted just three days, and the average is 3.6 years.

Beyond client work, Jennifer runs the Business Your Way community and course library for freelancers and solo business owners who are building brands and growing businesses, but don’t want to do it alone or figure out all the things on their own. Her courses — Brand Clarity Blueprint, Packaging & Pricing, The Client Conflict Cure, Profitable Project Plan, and Comms Club — teach the frameworks she’s spent her career developing, refining, and using on client projects.

She also volunteers with Capitol Creative Alliance in support of Design Week Sacramento.

This Isn’t My First Rodeo

Everything I do and teach are things I’ve been doing for a long time, because I walk my talk!

2026 Professional Creds:

  • 27 years as a professional designer
  • 21 years as a micro agency owner
  • 18 years as a speaker and workshop leader
  • 17 years as a blogger and content creator
  • 9 years as a course creator
  • 7 years as a professional copywriter
  • 6 years as a business consultant/mentor
Jennifer BournJennifer BournJennifer BournJennifer Bourn

I'm Always Game To Talk Shop

Yeah, I get around — the internet, that is. From interviews and podcasts to articles and videos, here are some spots you can find me telling stories, revealing secrets, and sharing insights.

Michelle Schulp

"Jennifer is not only smart, capable, and successful at running a digital business. She is also one of the rare people who has a talent for translating complex or abstract concepts into something relatable and understandable. And the fact that she can do it with excellent storytelling, humor, and approachability is incredible. She is an engaging, dynamic, and personable speaker that would be an asset to any event. I, for one, never miss an opportunity to hear her present!"

Michelle Schulp | Marktime Media

Fun Facts To Get To Know Me A Bit Better

I work hard but play even harder, aiming to live inspired, embrace imperfection, seek satisfaction, and impact others in a positive way.

I got married the day after I turned 20 and have been married 26 years. I've also got two kids — a daughter who graduated from Chico State and a son who is a sophomore at San Diego State. There are no pets in the Bourn family because I don't need another job.

I'm a tea lover, not a coffee drinker. I've tried drinking coffee several times and just can't get into it. I'll take a hot or iced tea of any kind anyday, and while my go-tos are are peach or raspberry herbal teas, Teaoli's French Caramel Crème Brûlée is so my jam.

My family and I are road trippers on a quest to explore all 63 U.S. National Parks. We are 47 National Parks and numerous National Monuments into our quest, and are working our way west to east. Mount Rainer, Rocky Mountain, and Death Valley are my top three!

A good book, a good beverage, and a good snack is my preferred way to disconnect. While the hubs says my estimate is too low, I read about 65 books a year. Some are business but most are fantasy, murder, romance, and mystery. Vampires, fairies, homicides? I'm in.

I workout because I love food: Potatoes, tacos, lemonade, Dole Whip, cookies, and breakfast all day. I put Cajun seasoning on almost everything, adore french fries, have a massive secret stash of SweeTart Hearts, and never turn down dairy-free chocolate.

Whether it's work or play, my compulsive personality means I always go all in. From building Lego and playing board games to crafting, cooking, and reading, there is no such thing as unfinished or halfway. It's a blessing and a curse, but it's also what makes me me.

When I was little, I wanted to be a ballet dancer. Then I got realistic and set my sights on teaching. While that wasn't my career path, it's amazing to have come full circle with teaching courses, leading workshops, and hosting events a core part of my business.

I started freelancing in 2005. I then hired my husband to do everything I didn't like, and we grew our agency to a team of five. When that model no longer fit our lifestyle, we went back to just the two of us, and now I'm once again running a company of one.

In January 2023, I turned my business into a side hustle and became CMO at Motivation Code. Our assessment reveals the why behind your thoughts, decisions, and actions and the Motivations you must tap into to do your best work and be your best self.

Jennifer Bourn Speaking About TypographyJennifer Bourn SpeakingJennifer Bourn Speaking At the D8 American Advertising Federation ConferenceJennifer Bourn Speaking ABout The Importance Of Taking Breaks
Jennifer Bourn

Build A Profitable Freelance Business Without Sacrificing Your Relationships, Health, Or Sanity

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