Today we’d like to introduce you to Natalie Brite.
Hi Natalie, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I have been working for myself for well over a decade now. I started as a life and business coach/consultant while living in Ohio, where I grew up. I previously went to college for Fine Art and Philosophy, yet struggled to envision what to do with that path in terms of a career. It wasn’t until the seed was planted in my mind that I could go into business for myself and start my own practice that things really started opening up, and the possibilities began to feel endless. After several years focusing heavily on coaching and consulting, I began naturally gravitating more and more toward the creative side of business services… where I started more regularly providing a more hands-on, immersive experience with those I worked with. This began to look like offering workshops, classes, and courses where I guided sole proprietors, entrepreneurs, and small businesses on how to shape their own brand and business ecosystems from a place of ethics, authenticity, and impact. Fast forward to when I relocated to Portland, Oregon, over 7 years ago, and my work has transformed into a robust creative studio. We are best known for our nature-based approaches to business and our signature marketing, branding, and small business frameworks that take an anti-capitalist, ethics-centric, and ecological approach to work. We offer everything under the creative services umbrella, from web design, branding, and service development to marketing strategy and marketing management, PR/outreach management and brand management.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Of course, it has not been a smooth road! Some of my largest struggles along the way have related to getting caught up in how others are doing business and what the dominant norms are within my industry. I struggled in this realm because there are a lot of things about business that I believe are quite toxic and harmful and there is a lot of room for improvement. We coined the term “Do Business Differently” for this very reason. I struggled off and on over the years with comparison and chasing superficial levels of success…having to regularly pull myself back to my values and vision. I have always been someone who doesn’t stray away from change or evolving the work I do… so another area that I’ve found challenging is navigating seasons of expansion, when I have felt called to change things up or go in a different direction but needed to also secure sustainability within the business. We have been able to shift and change many times over the years, bringing folks along for the ride in the process, which I believe has been largely due to our intentional approaches to how we navigate change.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
DoGoodBiz Studio is an ecosystem development and community-based business studio where I help small business owners, sole proprietors, and one-person businesses, movement builders, and impact- and values-driven causes become known and trusted in the communities they’re built to serve. Brand identity and web design are the foundation; outreach, content, and community-building are the ongoing engine that keeps that visibility growing. I call this a creative ecosystem because the businesses and movements I work with aren’t machines to optimize — they’re living systems, with seasons, relationships, and a specific nature of their own.
What I’m known for is treating that idea as infrastructure, not just philosophy. I’ve built out named frameworks (such as Creative Ecosystems, Ecological Roles of Care, Nature-Based Branding, Marketing in Your True Nature, Anti-Capitalist Business, and The Web, Not the Ladder) that give clients a genuinely different way to think about visibility than the standard growth playbook. Most studios hand you a brand and a website and call it done. I stay in it: ongoing partnership through Tend & Grow for the people ready for ongoing support, and Common Ground as a sliding-scale space for creatives and practitioners who want to learn this way of working directly.
What I’m most proud of is that the studio holds together as one whole thing rather than a service menu bolted onto a mission statement. Willamette Week recognized our work with a second-place nod, and the client work backs it up… from helping a wellness practitioner build a brand that finally felt like her, to leading book-launch marketing for an author’s debut with Wiley. But honestly, what I’m proudest of is the in-person side most people don’t see on the website: showing up for PNW Climate Week, Portland Business for All, and the queer business community through things like Rainbow Expo. Relationship-building is the actual practice, and the online growth has followed as a byproduct rather than the goal.
What sets me apart is that I don’t build audiences… I tend webs of relationships. That’s not a metaphor I use loosely; it’s the operating logic behind every service I offer, from a one-time brand build to an ongoing retainer. In a field full of studios promising to help you scale, I’m the one asking what your business actually needs to sustain itself (the individuals involved included) and building toward that instead.
Do you have any advice for those just starting out?
The best advice I can give to someone just starting out is to take time with themselves, their ideas, their vision, and their unique approaches. One of the most powerful things we can do right now is prioritize our own diversity and individuality. It is what makes us who we are that is our superpower. With AI coming in so strongly right now, we are seeing the diminishing of creativity and originality. Yet, it’s those very things that set folks apart and help you stand out. It is easy to just copy or replicate what others are doing, but that doesn’t do us any favors. We can learn from one another and grow together, but it is really our own unique angles and ideas that help us thrive in a sustainable way.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.dogoodbiz.studio
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dogoodbizstudio
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natalie-brite-2334b395/
