I didn't start this business because I had it all figured out.
I started it because I had twins, no childcare, and absolutely zero interest in going back to a minimum wage receptionist job.
Dance classes aren't free. Neither is keeping the lights on. So I figured out remote work, built something scrappy, and told myself it was just a side hustle.
Then the pandemic hit and everything changed.
THE REAL STORY
Suddenly the scrappy side hustle was a real business, with real clients, real revenue, and absolutely zero systems to hold any of it together.
I was working all the time. Twin toddlers on one side, a laptop on the other, and a guilt that followed me into every room I walked into. I couldn't switch off. I couldn't step away. Traditional productivity advice wasn't working and I was too tired to pretend it was.
It took a summer in Japan to finally make me stop and ask the question I'd been avoiding: why am I running my business like this?
The answer was uncomfortable. I didn't have systems. I had habits, workarounds, and willpower, and I was burning through all three.
So I did what I now do for my clients. I went through every small area of how I worked, rebuilt it deliberately, made it repeatable, made it mine, until I was working exactly the way I actually wanted to work. Free. In control. Genuinely loving what I do.
That shift is what Vintage Isle Digital is built on. Not hustle. Not more hours. A structure that works so you don't have to white-knuckle your way through every week.
Let’s create something extraordinary!
WHY CREATIVE AGENCIES
Here's the thing about creative agency owners: they are brilliant at the work and often completely underwater on everything around it.
Systems are the least sexy part of running an agency. They don't show up in your portfolio, they don't win you awards, and they definitely don't make you go viral. But they are intrinsically woven into every part of how your business grows, how your team functions, and whether running this thing actually feels good.
I love this work because I've lived the before. I know what it costs to run a business without structure, not just financially, but personally. And I know how much changes when even the simplest systems click into place.
Creative agency owners deserve to spend their time on the work that made them start this thing in the first place. Getting them there is genuinely my favourite thing to do.
HOW I ACTUALLY SHOW UP
I'm quick. I'm responsive. And I finish things well before the deadline because waiting until the day before is not a personality trait I've ever had any interest in developing.
I'm laid back in the way that actually matters, you won't feel managed, you won't feel judged, and you won't spend our working relationship wondering where things are. You'll just know. Because I'll have already told you.
My clients tend to use the word "trust" a lot when they describe working with me. That's not an accident. It's the whole point.
THE PART WHERE I BECOME A REAL PERSON
I'm Jackie Murakami, I'm based in Honolulu, and I spend every summer in Japan, where I'm fluent enough to get into real conversations and real fun in equal measure.
I've been doing this work for 10 years. I started with twins on my lap and dance class money as my goal. Now I run a business I genuinely love, from a place I genuinely love, with a schedule that actually has space in it.
My elderly dog is my self-appointed assistant. Her turnaround time is inconsistent and her coffee is terrible, but her presence in Zoom calls is unmatched and she works for treats, so the overhead is manageable.
If any of this felt familiar, you're in the right place.
The before I described? A lot of my clients are still living it when they find me. They don't need more hustle, they need someone who's already been through it and knows exactly what to build instead.
