March 2013 Recap - Rebranding, Finding Purpose, and Custom Projects

Every time I get together with friends or family, they always ask "what's new", or "how's the business", and I always give the same answer "nothing new, business is good". But the truth is, there's a lot new, I just don't know where to start, and, since the questions are probably more courtesy than curiosity, I don't want to bore anybody with a long-winged answer about what's been going on with the business.

This month alone has been huge, so I thought I would do a recap, including things I already shared on the blog, and some of the things that have happened behind the scenes.

March started off with a bang, when I attended Jess Lively's Business and Life With Intention workshops up in Boston, MA. I met a group of amazing ladies and they encouraged me to take the next steps that my business truly needed. With their guidance and support, I decided to bring a more focused purpose to my business, change my business name, and start a newsletter. (ps - if you want to hear more about the business name and purpose, sign up for the newsletter). I've also been working with Jess on one heck of an awesome project, and I cannot wait to share the fruits of our labor in April.

With all of the new things going on, and adding a rebranding to my plate, my free time has dwindled to less than nothing. I have learned the beauty of outsourcing, and I have not been disappointed. My free time suddenly became very valuable, and hiring people to help me do the things I needed to do, but didn't have time to do, has been so nerve wrecking and rewarding. I didn't realize how much of a control freak I was until I decided to start letting go, but boy, I am so glad I did. I hired one of my most favorite designers (and friend) to create my new logo, and I cried when I first saw it. Guys, I just cannot wait to share it with you! I'm also going to be hiring somebody to rebuild/update my new website - I build the Believe Notes website myself, and I just don't have to time to fiddle with it. I'm also starting to think about hiring an intern, assistant, or marketing specialist to help free up some of my time for designing while still growing and marketing my business. (a formal announcement hasn't been made yet, but if you or somebody else you know is interested in joining me, please let me know!)

One of the biggest things for my new business is growing my portfolio. I want to offer brides the most stunning custom invitations ever, so I took a leap of faith and decided to waive my custom design fee in order to attract more brides. So far I have had mixed results, lots and lots of inquiries, but only a few bookings. The offer is still standing, so please continue to take advantage of it an spread the word.

Ironically enough, my #1 blog post this month was my curly hair guide. The post has gotten more than 10x my average views and was pinned over 200 times. I should have known that there were a ton of you curly girls out there, just waiting for the best tips ever - trust me, I've been there! I'm contemplating a monthly post dedicated to curly hair. Would you be interested in reading it?

Behind the scenes, my home is a wreck, my fridge is empty, and my eyeballs are so dry (from the constant computer screen exposure) that I started leaving eye drops next to all my hand lotions.

Speaking of outsourcing, my husband and I have decided it might be time to hire a cleaning service. Between my full-time job, business, and graduate school, and all of his overtime, we acknowledge that we just cannot keep up with daily maintenance. I'm a cheap chick at heart, so we've been waiting to see a groupon for a cleaning service.

But even thought our dining room table is covered in samples and my office has been taken over by orders and packaging supplies, I think it's all kind of great, because it means I am growing, growing, growing. Using social media efficiently has helped cut down a lot of my time during the day, but I think that once I add a few extra pairs of hands, I'll start to be able to breathe again.

Here are some of my personal highlights from March:

1- Finding my business purpose
2- Establishing a relationship with amazing specialty printers
3- Seeing my work in print in the latest issue of WellWed Hamptons magazine
4- Finishing up an amazing project with Jess Lively
5- Doing some logo work for a few local, talented photographers

So there you have it, my March recap. It's no wonder I sprouted my second grey hair! Thank you everybody for your continued support in my business and blog, if there's ever anything you want me to talk about or share, please let me know, as I want to give you as much value as possible - and, as always, I love comments, so please leave one if you're feeling the urge.

3 Ways to Bring Purpose into Your Business

Just the other day I shared my experience with Jess Lively's Business and Life With Intention workshops, however I did not share how my own purpose changed/evolved because of the workshop. While I'm not completely ready to share all of the details, I am excited to share a few insights along with three key learnings that I think you can apply to your business immediately.

 1- Make sure that your brand is truly your brand. Does your company name really fit that special thing that you do, and does it roll off your tongue with pride when you tell others who you are? This was huge for me - and where I spent the majority of my focus during the workshop. It's also why I will be changing my business name in the very near future. I can't share the new name yet, but I guarantee that it feels to me like a warm comfy sweater I never want to part with (thanks to Elizabeth, for suggesting it! And thank you Jess for encouraging the brainstorm session that it resulted from!)

2- Does your branding actually fit you? I'm not just talking about your name here, but I'm talking about the design. The colors, fonts, textures, packaging, logos etc - do they all look like things you'd have around your house? Are they something that you're friends would see in the store and know immediately that it's so you? For a long time I felt like I needed my brand to be different and unique, but after much trial and error, what I found is that I actually needed my brand to be just the same as everything else in my life. Luckily, my colors and branding are very much my style - and in fact, if you were to have attended my wedding or walked into my home, you'd find yourself surrounded by the same whites, creams, aquas and corals that are also part of my brand. Correction, the style is part of my brand, it's part of me and it just so happens that my wedding, home and brand are all also parts of me. Is your branding an extension of who you are?

3- Just because you can do it all, doesn't mean you should. Find other experts that are able to do what you want to do, but can do it better than you could ever do it yourself. Delegating and reaching out to other talented people is a tool to use. For me, I built my entire website myself because I didn't have the budget to hire somebody, but now that I am going to be rebranding, I'm reaching out to people that I know can help me way better than I could help myself. Plus, but letting other people help, I am freeing up my time to focus on other aspects of business. Anybody out there a marketing pro and want to help me get my brand out there more?

Are the above things that you thought about when setting up your business? Are you thinking about them now?

Growing a Business With Intention

This past month has been huge for me. Not because of high sales or profit, but because of direction, purpose, inspiration and growth. For the longest time I felt like I was clawing along for my business, but that all changed a few months ago when I decided to stop clawing, to stop trying, to stop forcing and to start being true, honest and confident in myself and my business. My new direction was solidified after this post, when out of the blue Jess Lively called me to talk about a new collaboration (more on the collaboration to come in a future post!).

After talking to Jess on the phone, I just sat at my dining room table, perfectly still. My stomach was doing flips and the big-blue-peaceful-pool inside my gut was filled with the kind of joy that comes just before something life-changing is about to happen. I knew at that moment of stillness, something big and amazing was happening and that I would never exactly be the same.

Attending one of Jess's Business With Intention workshops has been on my radar for some time now, and collaborating with her offered me the opportunity to attend the Boston workshop. I was terrified to be traveling by myself, to a place where I didn't really know anybody, and to meet somebody that I really admired. However, keeping true to my goal for networking, along with the feeling of big things coming, was enough to motivate me to face my fears and just do it. Boy, am I so grateful that I did.


Not only am I kind of convinced that Jess is a long lost friend that I never knew I had, but she's one hell of a genuine person too. She's generous, giving, open, honest and she is passionate about serving others. Her workshop was exactly what I would have expected from such an amazing person - it was filled with purpose and intention, and it was 100% focused on helping each person build a more purposeful business.

We had an intimate group of 4 ladies plus Sophie, our Boston Foodie and Allison, Jess's Boston Assistant/stylist attend the Business With Intention workshop, and every single one of us came out with 6 new friends and allies in our purposeful business ventures. Jess led the group beautifully and spent a lot of time with each of us on our businesses. I can tell you that some amazing things are going to be happening for us 6 ladies - Elizabeth is about to blow the world away with her amazing statement jewelry and personal style; Ashley is finally taking her branding expertise and investing in her own perfect couture branding; Ashlee is helping guide GenY-ers find their purpose and change their lives; Sophie is going to teach all of us how to cook just as we'd like to; and Allison is helping us all through interior design and styling (and she's already working with me on a new project of my own!)

The first day was focused on business, while the second day was the Life With Intention Workshop. Again, we had an intimate group of 4 plus Sophie and Allison. Elizabeth joined me for the two day journey, by also attending the Life With Intention workshop, in addition to Sheerly and Patrick, who were such a pleasure to get to know! Just as she had done on the first day, Jess spent significant time with each of us, talking about our lives, dreams, goals and intentions. It was intense, but it was the good kind of intense - the kind of intense that leaves you on a high for weeks and weeks.

After the workshop was over, Jess hitched a ride back with me to NYC - we chatted about everything from our pups (her adorable Franklin and of course my Miss Juliet), to ice-cream sundaes and smoothie cleanses. Jess is one of those people that just makes life better (and long car rides) - she's contagious and I feel honored to have had the experience of getting to work with her and to know her better. If you ever have the chance to attend one of her workshops, I HIGHLY recommend it. However, if you can't attend a workshop, you should absolutely follow her website, which is filled with tips and purpose for life and business.

Over the next few weeks you will see all of the changes that I plan on making as a result of attending the workshops. While I would love to share it all now, I'm leaving it for a future post - but know that it's major, and positive, and filled with intention and purpose.

How do you bring intention and purpose into your business? Is it working for you? I'd love to hear all about it!

Helpful Resources for Stationery & Creative Small Businesses

 I’m the first person to admit that I don’t know the first thing about running a business. My undergraduate is in psychology, and while my Master’s in I/O Psychology, think of it as business psychology, I really have no educational background at all on marketing, managing a company, finances and so forth. And since I also don’t have a formal background in art or design (one year of interior design school, almost ten years ago, really doesn’t count) I feel like I’m sometimes fighting an uphill battle.

One thing that has helped me immensely is the wealth of knowledge that’s already put out there by others who have paved the way. It's inspired me to continue to blog about my own business growth - I have hope that I'm helping others out on their own that are going through what I've went through. I also rely on the design community to help me when I have questions, when I want to bounce ideas around, or when I just need a pep talk and some encouragement. But, at the end of the day, I know I’m a classroom learner, so as generous as people are in sharing their insights, sometimes I feel like I just need to take some time and attend something more formal.

Which is why I am so glad that some awesome ladies have put together different types of classes, conferences and seminars to help encourage and grow other small businesses. While I currently don’t have the budget to attend some of the trainings, I keep my eye on them, wishing, hoping, that someday I can attend. Here are a few options out there for those of you that may be interested in attending:

The Stationery Academy – Hosted by Whitney English & Natalie Chang
Making Things Happen – Hosted by Lara Casey, Emily Ley and Gina Zeilder
Business With Intention – Hosted by Jess Lively

In addition to workshops – there are also a bunch of really awesome conference type events that are out there, here are the ones I love (and the ones I hope to attend soon)

Altitude Design Summit (Duh)
National Stationery Show
New York International Gift Fair

I’m sure there are a lot of other great resources available out there, so please feel free to share them in the comments to this post. I’d love to hear about anything else!