That Thing That Scares You: Dive In Head First!

For months now, I have been planning, working, designing, and creating a whole new purpose and business for myself. While I wanted to wait until everything was perfect, so that I could pull back the curtain and show you all of the amazing thing at once, I instead found myself holding back in fear.

On Friday, I kicked fear to the curb and I announced my new business name: Sincerely, Jackie.

I don't have my website ready yet (soon though, I promise!), I don't have the new items in the shop, I haven't finished the new Facebook page, and I don't even have all of my final business cards back from the printer.

But I feel amazing.

Before the announcement, I think I put so much pressure on myself to be perfect that I actually began setting myself up for failure. Nothing in life is perfect, so why was I trying so hard to do the impossible?

By letting go and diving in, head first, without over analyzing, over thinking, or over planning, I have managed to do the one thing that I have been afraid of. I have launched Sincerely, Jackie successfully.

Thank you all for your kind messages and words of support, it looks like we're all excited about this new chapter!

Sincerely,

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?

Why Orange? Believe Notes has a NEW LOOK! (again!)

Remember this post? I mentioned how frustrated I was with branding, and that I feel like every six months I need a new look.

That was in January. Fast forward exactly six months, and indeed I have sipped the kool aid. Time for another re-brand. Do you also remember this post? Because that's when the drinking really began.

And may I make one thing very clear, I did not drink pink kool aid, I drank orange kool aid....because orange is sorta my thang.

Orange has worked its way into my life in a really adorable and meaningful way. When I met Mr. Law  (over 8 years ago, yeesh) he loved orange. I wasn't crazy about orange yet, but as time progressed, so did I, and so did my adoration for the punchy hue. Then, I bought myself an orange rain coat. Let's say it was a turning point, because that coat was an investment, if you know what I mean. From then on, orange was not just a color, it was our color.

When we purchased our home last year, I spray painted an antique captains chair BRIGHT orange. It's now one of my favorite parts of our home - oh wait, the orange chair and the CRAZY ORANGE BUDDHA!

Yes, I almost forgot, I found a crazy orange Buddha statue at a sale once and had to have it. It sits happily on our antique china cabinet and watches us eat. When I sneak a cookie, crazy orange Buddha knows.

When we got married I wanted an all white wedding, and my hubs wanted - you guessed it - orange. When my girls and I went shopping for bridesmaid dresses, we all collectively gravitated towards one dress and one dress only - and as luck would have it, it was orange.

So, I have continued to sip my favorite colored kool aid, and now my business is going orange as well.

I hope you all enjoy the new punch of color!!!

Don't mind the mess, but that's our office chair :)

Miss Juliet and her orange toy

We even had orange at our engagement party! These were the favors that I made.

I discovered the way to get him to clean: an ORANGE vacuum!

Our wedding invitations

My beautiful girls and their orange dresses

Can you spot the crazy Buddha???? He's laughing at the "day after bridal shower" mess!

Ok all, enjoy!!!

Bringing back the space!!!

Alright folks, you've seen me struggle with my own personal branding in this previous post, but it seems I am not satisfied yet! There will be more changes coming, as I've decided pink is NOT my favorite color (actually, this isn't something new, I was never a pink person, so I do wonder why I decided to have pink represent me on all things "Believe Notes"). If you know me, you know what my favorite color is, and if you know me REALLY well, you too have taken a liking to this particular cheerful hue. Be on the lookout, as pink is going to be faded away fairly soon.

Another minor change: what was I thinking by making my business name grammatically incorrect? Believe Notes is now, officially, two separate words. Simplicity reigns, and there is no need for fancy pants spelling and grammar. Believe is not an acronym, so why did I put periods between each letter? I don't know, I don't know, and I don't think I'll ever know.

I've decided that since getting married and changing my name, it would be the perfect time to rework some of my business elements as well. After launching new business card designs, I figured I needed to get myself some fancy new cards as well! When I started designing my cards in pink, I said "whaaatttt!! Pink is so not me!" and so my new cards sparked the Believe Notes revamp. They are a new color, they are grammatically correct, and they have my new married name. They should be in next week, and pictures will follow!

Here are some things that made me giggle today....

Purchase this letterpress from Sapling Press on Etsy.

 <3