Sometimes you need to take your own advice

It’s funny how life works.  You may be the go-to person for advice from your friends and family and you may give the best guidance to everyone.  This is your thing, that’s why they keep coming back!  You know what happens though?  You tend to dish it out but do not apply it yourself.  This is exactly how I’ve been for the last two years.  Today I took a big leap and finally rebranded to Lauren Myers & Co.  This decision was years in the making, I was just holding myself back.  There are a few reasons that I decided to rebrand that I will be discussing today.

I’ve had various iterations of my Graphic Design company for over 10 years (3 different names in fact).  The last name that I used was Color Hug.  At this time, my business had switched from graphic design services to a colorful product line and custom event branding. This was great and the name made perfect sense for my audience, however, things changed and I began focusing on blogging more and selling digital products for bloggers and creative entrepreneurs.  As as result, the name Color Hug didn’t make sense.  I knew this, but I tried to make it work.  I tried to think of a way to make Color Hug fit into a market that it wasn’t even initially created for.  After around 1.5 years, I started thinking that rebranding would be inevitable.  I already knew it needed to happen...I even have a free course on it (The “Heck Yeah!” Guide to Naming Your Blog/Biz), so I knew all of the signs that point you in the direction of a rebrand.  I decided to take my own advice that I have given to those that had signed up for the course.  There were two factors that ultimately gave me the push to rebrand.

1. My former business name wasn’t relevant to where my focus and future direction is. I tried to mold Color Hug into something that didn’t make sense considering what it started out as. A paper goods company turned blogging +automation tips mixed in with digital products just don’t mesh well.

2. I chose to use my name because it literally represents me as a person, not just a face representing a company. This is more personable and since I plan to work with clients 1-on-1, they need to know, like and trust the person, not just the brand.

There are also things that I’ve come to realize during this transition:

• I can post and send emails on the weekend if I want. If that’s when my audience is available, it makes sense to post during those times. I shouldn’t try to capture their attention when they don’t have the attention to give.  As a result, blog posts on the weekend are not out of the question.
• A business Instagram account may be more beneficial for me in the phase that I’m in.  I know that I could have switched to a business profile at any time, but if I want to start running ads to get my name out there to more people that have yet to discover my feed/website, doing it under a name that makes more sense for my direction is a better choice.

So here’s what you can expect from Lauren Myers & Co.

• More time saving tips and strategies.
• Video training
• Weekly blog posts
• Bi-weekly emails (want to start getting the tips that I only share with my list? Sign up here)
• More digital resources in the shop (including mini email courses)
• More merch in the shop

So tell me, have you ever gone through a rebrand?  What was the driving force behind it and how did it work out for you?  Tell me in the comments below!

My Favorite Digital Organization Tools (AKA how I stay sane on the regular!)

If you have been following along all month, you know that I have dedicated January to blog organization (missed any of the posts? Check them out here, here and here).  To finish up the theme for the month, today I will be sharing my favorite digital tools that keep me and my blog organized...which in turn keeps me from pulling my hair out, ha!

Before I begin, I realize that there are many people that don’t trust digital tools and would rather use good old paper and pencil to keep track of things.  That’s cool, everything isn’t for everybody.  BUT, just know that there is a way to mix written notes with digital systems...I will be discussing that in this post as well :)

Evernote

This is the first place that my ideas go.  Evernote is a digital note system that you can do so much more with than just a standard note app that came preloaded on your phone.  You can save voice, photo and even hand drawn notes/images.  You can also organize your notes into Notebooks related to the same subject matter so that it’s easier to find what you’re looking for.  If you prefer writing notes, Evernote is still an awesome way to keep track of those notes.  Just write your notes, snap a pic and upload it to your Evernote account.  You can even tag items, so you can tag your handwritten notes by subject and still find them easily when searching within the Evernote app.

I keep all ideas for blog posts, products, courses, free worksheets, etc. in Evernote and since everything is organized, it’s easy to find what I need when I begin filling in my editorial calendar.

Related: The Easy Solution for Organizing Blog Post Ideas

Google Sheets

Another place that I get ideas for blog posts is by checking out the contents on the Google Sheet that I have for keeping track of certain hashtags in Twitter.  I perform market research on auto-pilot thanks to an IFTTT automated task that I created.  The task is set up to save any post that contains the hashtags that I specify into a Google Sheet, so I can check this at my leisure and see if there are any ideas for new blog posts there.  It’s basically a way to see trends in problems or questions that my audience has and if I notice them a lot I tend to create a blog post with the solution in it.  Market Research is very important when you’re creating content for people because you need to know what they actually want to know and/or struggle with.

Related: 3 Smart Reasons Why You Need To Automate Market Research

Trello

My editorial calendar lives in Trello.  Every blogger needs to have an editorial calendar so that they can keep all of their tasks and posts together and scheduled (that hair pulling thing that I mentioned earlier? Yeah, you need an editorial calendar to keep your hair in tact).  Trello is a tool that you can keep workflows, lists and things to do organized in and you can schedule due dates for tasks. I used to use Asana for my editorial calendar contents, but when I started using Trello I stopped using Asana as much because there were some things that Asana was lacking (mainly the workflows and boards with flexible options on each).  I love the easy drag and drop feature on Trello boards, I love that I can have multiple checklists under one task and I love that I can use Trello on the go even with no internet connection (gold!).

In Trello, I keep all blog posts for the month with their scheduled live date, email contents for my email list, weekly tasks and monthly/annual goals.  I also have various boards for product launches, my blogging workflow, bi-weekly sprints (focused projects for two week time periods), collaboration info and travel plans.  Trello can be used for anything...like, seriously.

Related: The Ultimate Blogging Workflow

Google Docs

All of my content is scheduled in Trello, so when it’s time to start working on creating content, I hit Google Docs to create my blog post.  I use Google Docs to draft all of my posts before moving them over to Squarespace for final editing and publishing.  I have been using this method for a few years now and it has not disappointed me.  I mainly use Google Docs because of their auto-save feature that is pretty much immediate.  This makes it difficult to lose an entire blog post that hasn’t published yet (this has happened to so many bloggers and is heart wrenching every time!).  I also love that I can work in the Google Docs app with no internet connection.  I tend to work on posts when I’m away from home, so that flexibility of not needing the internet means that I could work on a post from the park, a coffee shop, a car, etc.  It has helped tremendously in keeping my blogging process flowing smoothly.

Related: The Key to Never Losing an Entire Blog Post Ever Again

UNUM

Once my blog posts are live, I tend to promote them on my Instagram feed.  To keep Instagram organized, I use the UNUM app in which you can plan out your feed.  Your existing feed is shown along with space to upload images for the future.  This way, you can see how your feed will look before posting the new image, and you can edit the photos and add the descriptions/tags in advance.  I have been using this app for almost a year now and I love it!  There is a free and paid version, but for what I want to do the free version is perfect.

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I really love digital tools and systems because you can access your information from anywhere, it’s hard to lose your ideas and a lot of these systems/tools interface with each other so you can set up automated tasks as well (another awesome way to keep everything organized).  The ability to use these tools on-the-go and not need to bring your laptop with you is also a huge bonus.  I have the apps downloaded on my phone and iPad so that I can access them anytime, anywhere.  As a blogger with a 9-5, content creation tool flexibility is necessary.

What are some of your favorite digital tools?  Let me know in the comments!