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Inventory: The Reality Check-In

Updated: May 4



Track It Before You strip It

The Reality Check-In (Step 1 of the IDGAF Framework)



If you’ve ever spent two hours making a Canva graphic only to post it once and hate it… this is for you.


If you’ve ever opened your brand folder, stared at your 47 “templates,” and then just closed your laptop… this is definitely for you.


Welcome to the Reality Check-In—aka the first (and most boring) step of building a brand you can actually use.


But boring doesn’t mean useless.


This is where the work gets real. And by “real,” I mean: no more branding based on your fantasy workflow.



Branding Based on Wishes = Branding That Doesn’t Work


Here’s the trap:

You think, “I should be making more reels.”

You hear, “Everyone’s doing carousels now.”

You plan, “This quarter, I’m totally launching a podcast.”


And so your brand gets built around what you wish you were doing.

Not what you’re actually doing.


And when the real work shows up? You’re stuck. The layouts don’t fit. The templates don’t match. The vibe feels off.


That’s not a design problem.

That’s a workflow problem.

That’s what this audit is here to fix.



What Is the Reality Check-In?


It’s not a rebrand.

It’s not a content calendar.

It’s not a dream board of what your brand could be “if you had more time.”


It’s a branding audit for solopreneurs and small business owners.

A digital asset inventory of what you’re actually making, sending, posting, and touching.


Because if your branding can’t keep up with your real-life workflow?

It’s not working.


This step forces you to look at every single recurring content or design task you do, and ask:


  • What is this?

  • How often do I touch it?

  • How long does it take?

  • How much do I hate it?

  • Does it even perform?


This is the inventory that shows you what your brand needs—not what Pinterest told you to make.


What to Track (Yes, Even the Boring Stuff)


Don’t worry about making it pretty. Just make it real.


Start with your daily and weekly stuff. These are your brand’s MVPs—Minimum Viable Pieces.


Track things like:

  • Instagram carousels (get specific—text only? graphics? screenshots?)

  • Email banners and newsletter layouts

  • IG stories, reels, highlights

  • Blog headers or cover images

  • Slide decks (pitch vs. workshop vs. proposal)

  • Lead magnets, PDFs, and course slides

  • Welcome emails, invoices, checkout pages, dashboards


If it’s branded and reused more than once? Write it down.



What Makes This Different From a Content Calendar


This audit isn’t asking “what do you want to post?”

It’s asking “what are you already doing?”


That distinction is the whole point.


You’re building a usable brand—one that matches your current pace, tools, team size, and brain bandwidth.


So you’ll also track:


  • What tools you use (Canva? Notion? HoneyBook?)

  • How long things take

  • How you feel making them (fun, fine, soul-crushing?)

  • How they perform (do people care?)


It’s not about finding the perfect platform.

It’s about finding the recurring patterns that shape your design life—on purpose or by accident.



Pro Tips for Getting Through the Audit (Without Crying)


  • Break it down by frequency: Daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, one-off projects

  • Use tags: Like “marketing,” “internal,” “client-facing” to sort by use case

  • Track energy, not just output: If something drains you and doesn’t perform? Flag it. That’s a double no.



And if you’re extra like me, take screenshots of high-performing posts or layouts you like.


Drop them into your workbook (or Notion, or Google Sheets, or a napkin, I don’t care).

This helps later when you’re picking layouts for your Try-Some 16.



What You’ll Learn from This


Once you’ve mapped your real asset workflow, a few things will click into place:


  1. What needs consistency (aka: what should be part of your brand)

  2. What’s a waste of time (you hate it, it flops, no one cares)

  3. What should be easier (you’re remaking the same layout from scratch every week—stop that)


Bonus: you’ll also start to see your own taste show up.

You’re probably repeating shapes, colors, alignment choices without realizing it.


That’s not bad.

That’s branding.



Your Brand Is Already Showing Up—Now Track It


This inventory is the first draft of your visual brand standards.

Not the brand you dream about.

The one you actually live in.


So treat it with a little respect.


  • If a design task is used often, you’ll build templates for it.

  • If something feels clunky and you dread it, you’ll change it or cut it.

  • If something’s working beautifully, you’ll keep it and make it easier to repeat.


This audit sets the foundation for minimalist branding that doesn’t require constant tweaking.


Not because it’s basic.

But because it’s yours.



What You’re Actually Doing Here


  • Making a list of every design or content asset you use

  • Tracking frequency, tools, time, and emotional weight

  • Noting which ones perform vs. which drain your soul

  • Spotting layout patterns you already lean on

  • Getting ready to design for your real workflow



Next up? We define your Try-Some 16.

That’s where we pick the 16 visual ingredients that make your brand go.


But first—you have to know what you’re working with.


So do the audit. Then we’ll build something that fits.


And if you want a plug-and-play Canva sheet for this?

It’s all in there.


Let’s keep going.

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Hey I'm Sophie

Thoughtless Brand Advisor

My roots are in UX/UI and brand design. I’ve been doing it for 15 years in pretty much every environment you can think of — startups, in-house corporate, agency, self-employment, and beyond.

 

And ya know what I learned? Well, many things — but one of the most consistent is that everyone, no matter the size or shape, struggles with brand consistency. And that struggle has only grown with the added pressure of having an online presence on top of everything else they were already doing.

 

I also learned that I didn’t really like having every single tiny branding task on my plate… forever. I became hyper-focused on designing myself out of the job.

 

My WorkShy tendencies over the years are what forged the Thoughtless Brand — a system that simplifies, scales, and actually fits real life. Now I’m sharing it through the IDGAF Framework, 1:1 services, tools, and templates made for the way people actually work.

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