Don’t be afraid to change things up
Part of being a functional adult is taking the time to assess what's working in your life, what's NOT working, and making changes for the better.
The very same principle is true of your business.
I started my business as a part-time hobby back in 2004, when I was asked to consult on public relations for a Buffalo Board of Education campaign. I was working as a full-time newspaper copy editor (and occasional writer) at the time, and the jump from journalism to public relations wasn't that much of a conceptual leap. Even after the candidate won, I still wasn't thinking about starting my own business.
However, after the campaign, I was asked to consult as an editor on a series of textbooks. In the years afterward, between working as a journalist, editing various books, and taking on the occasional PR job, I started to realize that, "Hey, I might have the framework for a business!" Paradoxically, I didn't see myself as an entrepreneur, so I repeatedly shoved the idea aside.
The idea, of course, would not be silenced. It bided its time, and waited until a moment when it KNEW I couldn't ignore it. Shortly after I'd left journalism, it pounced. I had some hard thinking to do. What had worked for me as a journalist? What hadn't? What made me happy?
In January 2019, I registered MB Ink! in New York State as a DBA (Doing Business As). However, since no one knew anything about "MB Ink!," whereas I already had a reputation for professionalism, I named the website that I designed and built melvinbankhead.com, in order to capitalize on my reputation.
As word of mouth is a wonderful thing, it worked. By January of this year, I'd taken on enough clients, completed enough projects, that I decided to take a hard look at my business. What was working? What wasn't?
I determined that it was time to expand my services a bit; that I needed some more legal protections; and that the website I'd so proudly designed wasn't flexible enough to meet the new demands. I carefully chose what new services I would offer. I hired a designer (Persimmon Development) to redesign and upgrade my website. After that was done, I hired an attorney (The Coppola Firm) to register my business as an LLC (Limited Liability Company). And so, MB Ink! evolved into MB Ink Media Relations.
Last month, I performed another evaluation of my business. After all, the business had changed in the past 21 months. For that matter, so had I, as I had new goals I wanted to meet. What was still working? What wasn't? What was I doing now that wouldn't work if I changed things up? The business and I were evolving, and that meant making necessary changes. After thinking it over, and talking with people I trust, I made some decisions.
It's my pleasure to announce that, over the next two weeks, my business will be migrating to MBInkMedia.com. The new site will house the editing, writing, and strategic communications services that my business offers.
MelvinBankhead.com will eventually be relaunched as the home to my personal projects. More on those in the weeks to come.
A regular assessment of how your business is doing is vital. If you start it out as one thing, and refuse to adapt to changing conditions, you're dooming your business to failure. My business started out as one thing in 2004. A year later, it had changed. Today. 15 years later, it continues to evolve, even as I evolve as a man, a father, and husband, and as my goals and ambitions evolve with me.
After all, change is the only constant in life. Accepting that simple truth, and adapting to meet it, is one of the most stable paths forward to success that exists.