About this column
I hear your business is under renovation.
How do I know this? Because when it comes to us creatively entrepreneurial types, renovation is more often the case than not.
Is your business under renovation?
As those of you who’ve been with me for a while know, I’m in a season of reno around here, too. Behind the scenes, I’m making some adjustments to my business concept and model. Abby Kerr Ink is nearly a year old — yay! — and it’s time for another shift. I recently shared with my advanced notification list that I’m no longer offering web copywriting services. {By the way, my advanced notification list, called Covered In Ink, is different from the list you can sign up for in my sidebar. It’s the insider insider list. If you really love what I do around here, you should get Covered In Ink here.}
The reason for this change? All the best reasons! I’m ready to further unfold my gifts and talents into my business concept. I’m ready to reserve my writing — my Ink — for my blog and my own projects both professional and personal. And best of all, I’m ready to accept the challenge my clients have put to me.
I’ve noticed that many clients who thought they were coming to me for copywriting were actually coming to me for something much deeper and more expansive.
And so, we went there. And it was great. Often, they’ve come back for more. So I decided, you know what? This is the thing that’s really glowing right now. This is where I’m really providing people with big, big value. Hence, the Renovation underway.
By the way, I’m still thrilled to be working one-on-one with clients in my Vision Coaching sessions, which are one-hour phone trysts in which we propel you deeper into your entrepreneurial dream, with clarity, purpose, and savvy.
If there’s one thing I’ve noticed about online entrepreneurs, it’s that our businesses are highly changeable entities. By nature, they beg us to renovate them!
That’s because our businesses are subjects of destiny, steered by our learning, our awakenings, our fascinations, our convictions. They change with us.
I’ve been reading deeply in this corner of the blogosphere for a while now, and in that time, I’ve seen countless business owners retool, reimagine, and reiterate their business concepts and model. And with each iteration, they seem to get more grounded and powerful, more attractive and compelling. People tend to reinvent toward more rightness, not more confusion.
I know you’re experiencing some shifting sands in your business right now. You may be wondering if, as the old adage would tell you, you haven’t built your business on solid ground.
To that, I say pshaw. We are human beings and we are meant for change. We each have different levels of change tolerance, so I think you have to find your set point — the level of change you’re naturally peaceful when moving through — and work up from there.
Our changeable destiny is good news for our businesses. Renovation is simply the road they take to get into optimal shape. A shape that works best for us and our right people.
They can take the change. So can our right people. We take them with us, and don’t get hung up on the ones who no longer feel they fit in the structure we’re rebuilding. They’ll find what {and who} they need elsewhere.
How do you tolerate change in your own creative business life? Is your business under renovation right now, and if so, how’s it going?
Hello, you.
{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Abby! I think I’ve come to realize that a creative business is always under renovation and that’s what I love about it. 2010 was a confusing year for me. I closed my brick and mortar store because I wanted to pursue other options, but I couldn’t figure out which options to choose. Reading your blog has helped me clarify my thinking and my goals. Getting niche-y is a little scary sometimes, but that what’s I’m trying to do. I’m letting go of what isn’t really me and focusing on the parts of my business that I love. One post you wrote included a quote from someone who mentioned that people often just nibble from the buffet instead of taking a bite (not an exact quote, but gist of it!) and that is so me! So I’m choosing the best bites for me and stepping away from the table.
Congrats to you on refining on your own business and much thanks for the inspiration!
Hey, Kimberly —
Ooh, I love your comment and am so glad to hear about your ongoing renovation. I so agree — creatives, thinkers, artists, we’re never at rest. We of course have to learn when enough of anything is enough and when to be satisfied with really good work, but I also think that entrepreneurship is one of the best mediums for personal growth. {Mediums? Media? Hmm.} Think of all you’ve learned even just since closing your B&M. You probably think differently now, see things differently now.
I’m rooting for your next incarnation!
My business (or more accurately, blog, as it isn’t *quite* a business yet) is under renovation at the moment and I’m loving the process. It started off as the wrong niche or tagline or whatever for me, and I just couldn’t sustain writing about that subject for a while, so I expanded…and then it’s just kind of meandered for the last year. I am SO ready to pull it all together with a kick-ass new design, tagline, bio, about page, and hang out my shingle as a freelance writer on my blog instead of maintaining a separate online identity. (Can you tell I’m excited?!)
Hey, Chelle —
I so can tell you’re excited. ;) There’s nothing wrong with finding your way into your Thing meanderingly. There’s purpose in all of it, I’m convinced. Lemme tell ya, one year ago I didn’t think I’d be taking my business in the direction it’s going — but I couldn’t have done then what I can do now. The unfolding is half the fun, if we can keep that perspective on it.
Looking forward to your eventual debut to the world as a freelance writer…on your blog!
Well, yes and no. Remember the change Coke made to their formula? It didn’t go well. So I think changes that we know our customers want are good, or changes that make life easier for us and don’t affect the customers.
Lots of changes are probably inevitable in the early days (which most blogs are, it’s a very new industry) but then we probably settle down a bit.
Hi, Evan —
You bring up a good point. It’s not fair to one’s audience to establish your biz as one thing and then have the expectation that they’ll go with your flow willy-nilly. When we make big {or even big-ish} changes, we have to expect to lose some people along the way who aren’t up for what we’re doing. And that’s okay. But I’m 150% in favor of entrepreneurs shifting regularly to become more of what they feel called to be, and to serve an audience or a clientele in ways that are more efficient, have more depth, have more relevance.
Thanks for coming by!
Hi Abby, this article rang true for me. I’ve had my business presence online for just about a year now, and I’ve come to some conclusions about some things as well that have me inspired to re-tool things too. Some of the ideas that I had when I put my website up I’m beginning to realize don’t jive with me in the way I thought they would. I’m happy to be feeling like I understand with more clarity where my strengths and desires lay, but I find it daunting to undertake the actual process of revision & I worry about seeming fickle or unsure of myself. And even though I’ve been thinking about what needs to change, we’re one month through the New Year, and I can’t seem to get past the thinking stage. Time marches on and everything is a work in progress. Thanks for sharing and putting a positive spin on it!
Hey, Tammy —
Glad this post met you right where you are. You are so wise to really consider how the changes you want to make will affect your audience’s perception of you. I personally believe that some bloggers/online entrepreneurs are too revelatory and transparent about where they’re taking their businesses next and why. There’s got to be art in the revelation. The way you share your changes with your readership is key to establishing your new POV and hopefully reconnecting with some of your readers even more passionately. Consider that the changes you want to make will allow your NEW even more right people to come forward. They’ll witness you making this awesome change and will know they want to be a part of it.
I can tell from the thoughtfulness of your comment that you’re not a person who’d announce changes without lots of careful consideration. But don’t forget — your business is about you first and you’ve got to design it in a way that pleases you!
Ah yes, the evolutionary entrepreneur. In this age of integration our businesses can keep up with the reality of who we are and need not be stagnant. Great luck with the renovation.
I love that perspective, Alexis, and I so appreciate your work around this topic. Thank you for coming by and saying hello — and for RT’ing!
I enjoy change and renovations to my business but hate all the “dust” that is associated with it and right now it seems to be all over….My head is swimming right now from all the thinking. My heart and gut are telling me I need a change but not sure which direction I am going.
I have worked over 10 years at building my business up and like Tammy, I too worry about seeming fickle or unsure of myself, but I don’t enjoy it like I once did…
Hey, Rebecca —
Thanks for letting us in on where you are with your biz renovation. One tip I’d like to share with you and others in the same place of worrying about looking fickle or unsure of yourself.
But first, some reassurance: that is a very smart and savvy concern to have. If you were ready to leap into a change without any concern as to how it’d impact your audience’s view of you, then I’d be concerned.
So the tip is this: do lots of dreaming, thinking, freewriting around the shift you’d like to make. Most of all, look for how this shift relates to what you’re doing now. Is it an extension of some small part of your current biz that you just adore? Is it a new direction based on customer demand? Is it an outgrowth of something you’ve learned about yourself and your best work through your current bix? Finding that link is key to being able to communicate your shift securelly and powerfully to your people. So feel free to luxuriate for a while in the thinking-about-the-shift.
Then, commit to a date to make one small part of the shift happen, even if it’s something behind the scenes that doesn’t directly impact your customer yet. Just get yourself on the way to making this change.
Oh, so timely. Just what I needed to hear Abbey! I’ve had my brick and mortar for twenty years. I’ve made adjustments almost every 5-7 years. I believe it’s why I’m still on Main St. usa. Now, not all of my customers are always happy about it, and like you said, I’ve lost some, but gained others. I knew as a creative person I NEEDED to make these changes to keep going (but secretly kind of felt like I was a creative flake, that couldn’t stay with any one thing!)
I believe my passion is finally maturing and I AM so stoked! I believe full force that my current move will bring me what I crave, more income, less work and time to enjoy my life. so appreciate your work.
How excellent, Debra. Sounds like you’ve found a change rhythm that suits you well. In nature, nothing is stagnant. We’ve got to remember to give ourselves, as entrepreneurs, permission to participate in change!
And wow — congratulations on almost twenty years in B&M biz! That is a wonder of an accomplishment! What’s your secret? :)
It was great to read this post, as a decorative artist, involved in the physical reality of home renovation, and as a gemini, involved in the constant reshaping of who I am, I loved delving deeper into this subject. The funny thing is that my business concept had been the most static thing about me, until recently, when I FINALLY realized that when it is broke, you just gotta fix it. I haad been listening too much to the freakin’ media tell me how bad the economy was, and like a fool, accepting this reality. Well, no more! the only thing is, is it is taking me so much longer to get to where I want to be. Lacking funds and a new skill set has be bangin’ my head some time, but then, it also gets the creative juices going. I aslo have to be careful to stay focused, because there are way too many ideas that could be turned into something cool. For example on Twitter today, someone posted something about the Carlton dance, and if anyone has watched and loved the Will Smith show, you know what I mean. my son and I often referance the carlton dance. Well, then I thought, so it seems do other folks, so what about a website dedicated to the carlton dance? And I almost started to do it, but then, thought, no , wait, how many projects do you want up in the air?
So, I am learning to stay focused, and have come to understand, that when you keep going, the destiny of who we are, cannot help but be revealed. thanks for all that you offer.
Hi, Laura —
Sounds like you’re speaking for all the people out there with Shiny Object Syndrome. It’s common! :)
You said this: >I haad been listening too much to the freakin’ media tell me how bad the economy was, and like a fool, accepting this reality.<
I'm glad you brought this up. If we let the media and the reality of our current economy tailor our dreams, we'll be at a disadvantage when the economic tides turn. {And they will!} I worry about, for instance, retailers who have lowered their price points overall to compensate for a down economy.
Thanks for being here!
I find myself walking a fine line re: business renovation. Part of me LIVES for the creative, wide-open expanse of possibility that continual evolution brings. Part of me is immediately exhausted (p.s. thanks for saying “pshaw” to that niggling doubt that tries to convince that if change is needed then prior accomplishment is worthless). ;) Regardless, change is an inevitable part of life and business, and I’m always looking forward to moving on down the road toward the ultimate expression of my vision.
Sounds like you’re ready for an infusion of vision! ;) In my own biz life, I’m working on building on past accomplishments and letting them even more deeply and wisely infuse the next things I’m doing. I’m here to help you learn how to do the same!