Remember that story about the shoemaker, and how his children had no shoes? This is a metaphor that’s often tossed around in the design world cause the thing we do best for our peeps is make websites, and the thing we do worst for ourselves is, you guessed it, make websites.It’s an epidemic.
Today, I launched a mostly-ready website… my third (yes, you read that right) in under a year. As I’ve been growing, stepping in my position as a leader, and getting clearer on what I have to offer and who I want to help, my brand has shifted and grown along with me.
I’ve been in the game for over a decade now, and when I left corporate in 2009 during the recession, I had thought of marketing and design as something I could always fall back on. I explored loads of areas, many around alternative health and energetic healing, all the while doing freelance projects here and there, but it was only last October that I decided to get serious with it. And as most type-As, I didn’t want to take the time to plan something, I wanted to launch and launch NOW… so I did. With a kind of ugly Weebly website that I tossed together in about a day.
It was far from a labour of love, but it got the job done.
But here’s the biggest problem with Weebly… their seo is total shit. So anyone who found me, found me through my own marketing means… I was doing twice the legwork – the website wasn’t working for me, it was merely offering people a place to check stuff out. PLUS, it didn’t have the colours, language or images of my free-spirited, creative but still a bit woowoo self… it was kinda cold and corporate, and I hated it. So the second website got a bit clearer. It wasn’t perfect, but it was closer to expressing who I was and how I help.
And then I dyed my hair pink.
That’s me! Pink haired and bespectacled.
Normally changing your hair colour doesn’t really affect your brand, but mine REALLY did – in a way that hair colour had never done before. (I haven’t seen my real natural colour in about 23 years… so this was a shocker for me.) I was drawing people to me like never before. My posts were getting more engagement. I was comfortable showing up and being public. (After my anxiety attacks, this was new for me.) And the notoriety isn’t what got me in the feels… it was my new ability to serve and be seen in MUCH bigger capacities. It’s been thrilling, and I wanted to create a new brand that blended a bit with the second one, but that put the focus on me and how I could help. And so, the new website was born.
I should add a note here that this wouldn’t have been possible without the incomparable Maggi Woo. Her ability to capture someone in photos is pure magic. I am so grateful to have done another shoot with her.
So take a peek at the “new shoes” I’ll be rocking for the next little while. What do you think? Leave a comment with what you like best. And of course if you’re looking to have a site of your own made, I know a gal who can help you out. 😉
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