29 March 2010

10 Things I'm Loving About My Post-Shopkeeping Life


By Way of Explanation to Those Who Loved My Shop:

I LOVED my shop, too. I love the relationships it brought into my life--among them, several amazing new friends, thousands of really great customers, a handful of powerful career-influencers, and {not the least of these} my boyfriend of over three years. I love the interesting opportunities it has opened up to me. I also love that the person I became through shopkeeping knew when it was the appointed time to let my shop life go, and could go ahead and do that without fear. And I love that my shop paved the way into my new adventure with Abby Kerr Ink, as a freelancer who connects other niche-y enterprises with the people who'll love them most.

Now, that said, maybe a better title for this post is 10 Things I'm Loving About My New Life As a Freelancer Working From Home:

No. 10 Utter flexibility in planning my day

No. 9 80-minute exercise breaks {and having the time to take them}

No. 8 Going back to grad school: that is, the self-made, Abby Kerr Ink School of Deeply Satisfying Intellectual and Creative Adventures. I'm studying effective ways to help other niche-y enterprises rock their one thing the way I love rocking mine, through copywriting, brand ideation, and DIY marketing and PR.

No. 7 Re-discovering Twitter as one tweeting for herself, rather than for her brick-and-mortar

No. 6 Discovering and falling in heavy like with new career inspiration mentors, including Danielle LaPorte, Naomi Dunford, and Sarah Bray.

No. 5 Feeling more anonymous as I move about town, yet more connected because I'm more connected to myself and what really matters to me most

No. 4 Visiting other stores, like Anthropologie and the Marketplace at Gervasi Vineyard {one of my retail consulting clients!} as a rapt shopper, not one critiquing, analyzing, or deconstructing

No. 3 Podcasts--a new brain food group for me. Contemplating the possibilities therein.

No. 2 Lovingly slaving over the content of my new website, soon to be debuted. This keeps me up at night, tapping out my ideas as text messages to an imaginary someone named Muse, which I then save as drafts 'til morning.

And the No. 1 thing I'm loving about my new life as a freelancer:

No. 1 No matter what the outcome, I get to say the thing I've always wanted to be able to say of myself: "I am a writer working from home."

About that last thing: I just decided not to wait any longer to do the thing I've always wanted to do. Thirty-two years of waiting was time enough.

To all the dreamers and aspiring _________s out there, what is it YOU have always wanted to be able to say of yourself?

When will you start?

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04 March 2010

Start Ups Are Good, Starting Up Just Right is Better


Just a couple weeks ago, I announced the birth of my new copywriting agency. {So psyched!} And it's really important to me that I get it right--the whole thing. The vision, the relationships with clients and partners and peers, the services I offer, and oh yes, even the name.

That's why today I'm here to tell you that start ups are good. Anytime anyone takes a chance on a dream, it's a gorgeous, glow-y thing. And starting up just right is even better. After a couple weeks of immersing myself in visions of my new vision, essentially putting myself through grad school again {Abby Kerr's Self-Made Course on Launching a Copywriting/Brand-Refocusing/Creative Entrepreneurial Inspiration Business} I've found what feels better to me. And that happens to be a new name for my work in the world, a name that feels like a better fit than the one I first announced.

So here it goes, the official official name of my new biz...

Abby Kerr Ink

And this one's for keeps.



Abby Kerr Ink
{and my not-to-be-announced-quite-yet tagline--oh, I am so a fan of taglines!} allows the business to grow and evolve with me and my clients and clients-to-be. It allows room for all of my writerly interests: not just copywriting, but blogging, web content creation, fiction, creative non-fiction, {dare I admit it?} poetry, articles, teaching and leading workshops and courses on writing and branding and niche-y entrepreneurship, and just about every other type of thing you do when you put pen to paper {or finger to keyboard}. Abby Kerr Ink feels expansive, personal, and very me--and I just like how it rolls off my tongue.


So that's what's new. If you want to contact me about copywriting {and I hope you will!} you can now reach me at abby AT abbykerrink DOT com. {Just replace the DOT and the COM with, well, you know. Trying to get around those spambots who suck the Web for e-mail addresses and then fill your Inbox with all kinds of interesting things.}

By the way, soon enough I'll be writing to you from a brand new fully gorgeous spot on the Web. {I can say that with confidence because Rebecca and Matt at à la mode designs are creating it for me, and you've seen what kind of work they do.} I'll update you here as soon as my new site goes live, so please keep watching. Change is good.

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