If you're a regular reader of this blog, you may have noticed the new logo gracing the top of the page recently. I had developed a logo all by myself back in May which I loved for about 5 minutes and then I had this feeling that my logo looked like the girl with the homemade dress at prom. All the flaws glaringly stared back at me every time I looked at it. You see, I am NOT a graphics designer. I am not "artsy" in any way. I am an accountant: I can whip up some fancy spreadsheets and analyze the crap out of financial statements, but I have no artistic vision whatsoever. The process of developing my own logo involved copying various Googled artwork into a Word document, printing them out on my home printer, cutting (with scissors) and taping them together, then taking a photo of the finished piece so it was in a file format that would upload properly. Yikes. I don't know what I was thinking! I guess I was being frugal.... you know, the accountant in me.
A few weeks later at a Rely Local roundtable breakfast meeting, I met Elizabeth - Captain of Making it Happen at Aplomb PR. Chatting with her about my ideas and the services she offers, I realized I probably needed professional help if I was going to take this business to the next level.
We met again at a coffee shop where I talked about my business plan and services I'd like to offer while sharing stories about our dogs. I was nervous about taking this next step but she put me at ease, reassuring me that this would not be scary. As a female entrepreneur and fellow dog-lover, Elizabeth understood my vision and could relate to my fears, making it easy to work with her.
Within a month I had my finalized logo that I absolutely LOVE and am no longer embarrassed of! The website is finally launched although it is not yet finalized (and probably won't be for awhile). I have a habit of continuous improvement and will probably never be done tweaking it.
Lesson learned: When starting a business, you can't always do everything yourself. Sometimes it's necessary to bring in a professional and get things done right. Collaborating with other local businesses and networking is a good way to learn about services that you might need or that other people you know might need in the future... tuck the information and contacts into your memory bank so you can refer to them later. You never know when you might need them!
