All of it turned out to be the same job.
Helping people understand what they're looking at, and trust it enough to act.
I studied business, then animation. I made sculpture. I built physical spaces people had to find their way through. I spent a season making costumes on The Hobbit. Different tools, same problem.
I've done that work in Canada, New Zealand, Singapore, Europe and now Tennessee. Before Nashville, home was Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Off the clockA fine art practice that never stopped. Pet portraits, a fashion line built on my artwork, gallery shows, and a live art channel on Twitch.
Twenty-plus years. One job, a lot of different tools.
Learning to see.
Business, fine art and animation school. Then years making things for other people.
Building a revenue line.
I built a design department inside an agency and ran it like its own business.
Running my own.
DLB Creative starts, alongside the agency work. Clients in Canada, New Zealand, Europe and Singapore.
Leading at scale.
DLB goes full time. Seven years leading creative for SweetRush and its enterprise clients.
Owners and their advisors.
Strong businesses that are hard to read from the outside.
Big-company discipline, without the big-company overhead.
Seven years leading creative for enterprise clients, most of it through SweetRush. The same standard now goes into owner-led companies, minus the layers.
Across all of it, I kept seeing the same thing.
Strong businesses that were hard to read from the outside. Good companies that looked average, usually right when it mattered most: before a sale, a raise, or a new market.
That gap is what I work on now.
Two rules I hold myself to.
Say the hard thing, kindly.
End the fight, don't start it.
“You have a very calming and even keeled demeanor in good times and in bad. And that... matters when you're partnering and collaborating with somebody.”
In the room with owners, advisors and people building things.
I speak to advisor groups and owner groups about brand before a sale.
Doug Belding. Chief Brand Officer and founder of DLB Creative. Based in Nashville, Tennessee, working with companies across the US and Canada. In business since 2010. Works with business owners and their advisors before a sale, before a raise and after an acquisition. Creator of Enid.
Is DLB Creative an agency?
No. You work with me directly. For a bigger build, I bring in the right people and run it.
Do you only work with companies in Nashville?
No. Companies across the US and Canada. Usually a video call, in person if you’re local.
When should an owner call?
Two to three years before a sale is ideal. Enough time to fix things and have results to show.
Start with a 20‑minute call.
Tell me where the business is headed. I'll tell you what I'd look at first.
Book 20 minutes