Behind The Scenes Lately: Business, Blogging & What’s Next!

Hi guys! It’s been a while since I shared a real-life personal/business post on here, but it’s about dang time. I was talking to a friend the other day discussing if anyone still *reads* blogs, and while it sure ain’t 2013, I know (think) there’s some of you who still read along! I’ve made a lot of changes this past year both personally & professionally, so I figured it was time to fill you in on the season of life I’m in right now and explain a little bit about why the blog was a little quiet.

Before getting into where things are at now, let’s backtrack a bit and recap the past few years. In June of 2015, I had been running my design business full-time for about 2 years and things were going really well. (For those not familiar, I have a web design business where I design custom branding & websites for Food & DIY bloggers.) I had doubled my corporate income and my business was on track to grow even more. But I found myself at a point where I either had to hire on a full-time web developer or scale back on what I was taking on. On one hand if I hired a web developer, that would mean that I would continue to oversee all aspects of development. And if you know anything about the tech world, you know that computers and websites are notorious for glitches and bugs – which for a web development company means lots of long hours and late-night emails fixing broken sites. I had (and still have!) the most amazing, supportive clients, but the shear nature of that type of business would always require around-the-clock technical support.

So I sat back and analyzed my life and business and got real about what a business of that size would require. I knew with 100% certainty that I *could* grow into a much larger web design & development company and do very well, but I also knew what that kind of lifestyle would realistically entail. So I made the decision to focus 100% on the design side of things and hand-off the development/backend of sites to someone who focused on that full-time. It was incredibly hard to give up that control and essentially take away )half of my business, but I knew it was something I needed to let go of. (What this basically means is that I still design websites & branding for Food & DIY bloggers, but now refer out all development coding to my trusted development partner!

It was also around the time I knew I had to restructure my business that I got the itch to move across the country somewhere random. (Ya know, a #QuarterLifeCrisis type of thing.) I was a few years out of college, felt a little cooped up in my Iowa oasis, and was honestly just a little exhausted from the hustle-and-bustle of managing the technical side of my business. That’s when an opportunity popped up to design for a large crafting company and I felt like it would be the perfect way to explore new parts of the country, grow as a designer – all while spending time reevaluating and restructuring my business from full-service websites to focusing on branding & design only.

So I picked up my entire life and moved to the mountains. And an adventure it was! I’ve spent the last 2 years in Utah inventing & designing crafting tools & products (like this!) for big box craft stores like Michaels, Hobby Lobby, and Joanns. I am so grateful for the experience and amazing people I had the opportunity to work with but that nagging entrepreneur in me kept pulling me back to helping creative entrepreneurs & food/DIY bloggers elevate their brand through design and visual storytelling. That’s what I’m truly passionate about and if there’s anything I’ve learned about myself in the last few years it is that I’m not good and doing things half-heartedly. I either have to be fully committed to something or not do it at all. So I knew it was time to go back all-in with my business.

So that’s the why behind my slight internet drought the past 2 years. I feel like so many bloggers & business owners are terrified of sharing the messy behind-the-scenes rollercoaster of running a business out of fear of being perceived as weak. Or that some might perceive an shift in direction as having failed in some way or another. But if there’s anything I learned the past few years is that no matter how successful or profitable my business is, my happiness and well-being needs to be #1. Which means changes had to be made to create a better balanced & healthy lifestyle for myself. I’ve come to realize that my goal in life isn’t to run some huge empire that makes run around at 500mph or makes me a slave to my business, but rather to have a business that best serves my clients while also serving the life I want to live.

So where does that leave us today? Well friends, there are LOTS of big things in store!

The Future of Design Eat Repeat

As you may have noticed, I’m back at blogging and am SO excited about the direction this site is headed. For a while, I felt a little stuck with the growth of the blog and was unsure how I wanted to move it forward. I’ve done a lot of brand definition work and really nailed down the type of content I’m going to focus my time on. So moving forward there will be a set schedule of posting which will consists of 3 posts a week. Monday, Wednesday, Friday. Playing off the ‘design, eat, repeat” theme, Mondays will be dedicated to a craft, DIY, or printable I’ve designed. Wednesdays will be recipe & food crafting days (aka EATS), and Fridays will be a mix of behind the scenes, photography, branding , blogging, and design tips. If there’s anything in particular you’d like me to post about, leave me a comment below and I’ll take it into consideration when scheduling posts!

My Branding & Design Studio
Melissa Rose Design

I’m back to designing blogs for food & DIY bloggers full-time and am giddy with excitement of the clients I’m working with. I’m relaunching my fresh new studio website this MONDAY after weeks in the making and am super excited about the new direction. Helping bloggers and creative entrepreneurs define their brand is something I’m really passionate about and this new site aligns with the direction I want to take that. I’ve also been so fortunate to connect with Lauren at Once Coupled who handles all the development for the site designs I create. She’s so knowledgable and has made it so easy for me to give up the reigns of development as I know with 100% certainly that I can trust her to take care of my clients and deliver an exceptional site.

For those curious: I’m now booking for summer & Fall projects, so if you’ve been thinking about taking your site to the next level then shoot me an email and let’s chat!

New Facebook Community:
The Branding Clubhouse

Along those lines, TODAY I launched a free Facebook community, The Branding Clubhouse, to help Food & DIY bloggers connect and learn how to beautifully brand their blog with confidence. Which I’m SO EXCITED about. I’ve been craving a way to be able to connect with the online community on a more personal level and I can’t wait to connect with like-minded bloggers there. (AKA: all of us work-from-home bloggers can have real humans to talk to during the day!) If you’re a Food or DIY blogger looking to define your niche and brand your blog, then hop on over to the community – I’d love to have you!

And that’s all for today! I’ve felt overwhelming grateful the past few weeks for all the support of my friends, family, coworkers, clients, and YOU – my online cheerleaders. The blogging world is pretty crazy, in that so many people support me – a total stranger. And for that, I am so lucky and grateful for those of you who continue to stop by and leave comments – even when I’ve been a no-good-very-bad-inconsistent blogger. So thank YOU for showing up here and letting me fill your screens with endless amounts of sprinkles. I wish I could give you all unlimited cupcakes for life.

XO – Melissa