No. You don’t NEED a professional logo. You don’t NEED a professional website. You don’t NEED to wear pants either, but it might not send the right message. I could really just end the post right there as the point has been made, but let’s elaborate…

Look – if this business of yours is worth a crap and it’s going to be around in five years, and ten years… you’re going to eventually have a professional logo. You might as well skip the early crappy stages of logo development, save the time, make the investment and just do it right the first time. In case you’re wondering…

Crappy Stage 1: Doing it yourself. The dreaded DIY logo. I bet you’ll pick ‘Papyrus’ font. And a default color offered by Word. No matter how great you think it is… I promise you it’s lame. (I say that with love).

Crappy Stage 2: Hire someone really cheap. Surely your kid’s best friend’s brother who charges $25 for logo design will do loads better than your DIY version, right?! Eh. Probably not. He might upgrade you away from Papyrus font and add some stolen clip art from google images, but it won’t be anywhere near the realm of ‘professional’.

Crappy Stage 3: Hire a professional to ‘tweak’ your not-so-good logo. Disclaimer: This is a designer’s worst nightmare. It’s the equivalent of giving a gourmet chef a frozen, gluten-free, sugar-free, veggie burger and saying, “Make this taste like filet mignon.” Don’t be that guy.

Crappy Stage 4: Head over to 99designs or similar site. After reviewing the 389 logo options from 2 talented and 200 untalented designers, your brain turns to mush and your original DIY Papyrus logo starts looking good again.

So now after wasting hours/days/weeks/months on this logo mumbo jumbo, you are essentially back where you started.

*Enter a professional logo designer*

Really good logo designers are hard to find. Unicorns if you will. They get snatched up quickly by agencies in big cities, or freelance from their ‘home offices’ on the beach or in coffee shops. They can ask a handful of questions about your business and have 5 concepts pop into their heads immediately that will blow your mind. They have real life super powers that actually make fonts and illustrations represent your business perfectly. They will create a logo that you are proud of and want to show off everywhere… your business cards, your website, your car door, your pillowcase…

I’m telling you – it’s worth it. Worth the investment, worth the saved time. Do yourself a favor and skip those four crappy stages and go straight to the pro. You can thank me later.