*Spoiler Alert!* This article references the plot from the new Avengers End Game movie. If you haven't seen it yet, it's a must see!
The Avengers Infinity War ended on a bleak note. If our favorite superheroes were running a business instead of saving the world, we could say that it appeared they made a bad investment that resulted in layoffs for half of the company. In other words, things looked bad - really, really bad.
When something devastating like that happens in business, we only have two choices: keep pushing and overcome or throw in the towel and move on to the next venture.Sometimes the test is meant to teach you how to elevate to the next level and other times, the test is meant to steer you off course in order to steer you into a better opportunity.
We see this in Avengers End Game. Natalia or Black Widow was the company's interim CEO. She fought to keep the Avengers afloat and, she kept the team connected as much as she could while resentment, guilt, distance, and the memory of a bad investment ate away at team morale. She was the visionary. She kept her eyes on the long term goal and was willing to do anything to ensure they accomplished the goal. Her leadership is why the team managed to stay in touch for years following the devastating event.
What truly helped change the game for the Avengers, was Ant-Man. He didn't witness or experience the failure, so he brought fresh perspective and innovation to the team. He also brought fresh excitement and passion, which boosted morale and gave the team a reason to believe again.
With Ant-Man bringing innovation and fresh excitement to the team, they worked together to develop a solution to their problem. It took much trial and error, but persistence was instrumental in finding a working solution.
Now, it was time for extensive user testing. They had to be intentional about who would do the test, how the test would be conducted, how long the test would last, as well as when and where the test would take place. Even though they had a working solution, the work was far from over. Even after successful testing, they had to figure out how they were going to conduct a full scale launch. Each role and responsibility was carefully planned out; they got equipped with strategy.
Finally, it was time to launch the experiment. The launch was well planned, but they experienced set backs they hadn't planned for. Even so, they managed to be successful, because they took the Progress over Perfection mentality. They became adaptable and found ways to problem-solve issues as they encountered them.
After they successfully executed the plan and got the business back on track (i.e. got half the population back), you would think that they could rest in their success. Unfortunately, a new war ensues and they learn that, it is now time to maintain and manage the results they worked so hard to achieve.
Luckily, they knew the right people! They were able to collaborate and create a team large enough to handle the scope of work that lay before them (which was destroying Thanos). It is through collaboration, sacrifice, and faith that they were able to win the war against Thanos.
While it seemed long and depressing, we learn from Dr. Strange that there was only one way for them to have ever been successful. They all had to do something they'd never done in order to achieve something they never experienced before. The tenacity and constant innovation that helped the Avengers succeed, is the same kind we all need to Win at Life and Business.
Would you believe me if I told you I built this website last year?
Lol, no but really I did! ...It wasn't ready yet. So God had me sit on it... For A. Whole. Year!
Though if I'm being honest, when I saw my website this year, I saw my growth. I saw what God needed me to learn in a year, what He needed me to learn before I could officially launch my business!
My first website was cute and it was fun! There were videos and loud colors. I even built out the current menu that you are navigating through today. However, it was unorganized and lacked strategy.
2018 was THE year of strategy. I strategized the layout and execution for the 11/11 project for Singer / Songwriter Melissa Ashley. We dropped all of that content - 11 rows and 22 videos - each hour on the hour on Day 1 of 2018! Then, I started organizing my own Instagram layout to show off the creative work I was doing. That was the beginning of being strategic about my own brand. Soon, I was coordinating interactive networking events with the women of Boss Night Inn and had to be strategic about our marketing since we aim to target female entrepreneurs of color. I even took on a few clients who weren't just friends!
All in all, last year meant work and preparation. It meant thinking not just creatively, but more strategically.
This year, that growth shows in how I changed my website. Check out the comparisons below,
Original Website - Home Page
The home page of my original website was actually a video with me being fun, yet bossy with my camera. Videos were so trendy at the time, that I thought it may work for my brand.
Strategically, it doesn't work because it puts too much focus on me instead of my work. As the landing page for new customers, it didn't show off anything that I offer or do. The navigation and name of my website was also hard to see.
New Website - Home Page
For the rebrand, I decided to keep the colors of the website simple. I used a white background with pops of color in the text. I added my sample portfolio above the fold (i.e., the top of the website, specifically the part of the website visitors see before scrolling down). I even included a prominent Call To Action. My logo is more prominent and the navigation is much more user friendly.
Original Website - Portfolio
The portfolio page of my original website was jumbled and unorganized. I was not as strategic about the images I added as I am now. There were low resolution photos and others that didn't showcase my strengths. Ultimately. it became more of a catch all than a carefully curated portfolio.
Website Rebrand - Portfolio
For my new website, I added white space to the background of the page and borders between the photos to create cleaner organization. I also removed weaker photos and added photos with more light to balance out the ones with heavy contrast. I reordered photos as needed to help ensure the flow was seamless and natural.
Original Website - Creative Work
In order to see my past creative work on the original website, you had to click on the Creative tab, which took you to a landing page that served as a gateway to three separate galleries. The image navigation for each page was poorly designed. I just picked a fun button template and then chose a funky photo background. Individually, they are great images, but together, they were incohesive. They didn't gel well together.
Website Rebrand - Creative Work
On the new website, I removed the landing page altogether and simplified the process by adding buttons to the portfolio page instead, steamlining the flow and simplifying the experience. I also created a new page called Campaigns where I put all of my most creative work.
Original Website - Branding
On the original website, I didn't have an official logo. I used what was provided in the Wix template. I also chose teal as my accent color while dark blue was my main color. I have no reason as to why I chose two different blues other than blue is my favorite color, so it personally appeals to me, lol! However, the contrast of the two were not strong enough to be a balanced mix or cohesive brand set.
Website Rebrand - Branding
For the new website, I kept the format and navigation that I built in 2018 and updated the colors to a strategically balanced set. I retained the blue, which represents my personality and added yellow, which represents the spark of creativity and brightness that I will bring to your project. I designed a logo that reflects creativity and thinking outside of the box. I also brightened the overall site with much more white space vs the dark grey in my original website. While I was initially going to launch with my podcast, I decided to hold off until Fall 2019.
Original Website - About Me
On the original website, I went for a more conversational bio. I wanted to keep it friendly and personable. I also tried using another animated button like the ones on the Creative Work landing page. This button was a short video loop similar to the one on the Home page. The colors and overall branding was a collection of things I liked, but lacked the strategy to bond them and create a cohesive experience.
For the About page, I prominently displayed the logo that I merely settled on, set the background to blue and used white text on top of it (despite that being harder to read), and formatted it to all fit above the fold.
Website Rebrand - About Me
For the new website, I kept it clean using a white background and black text to ensure easy readability. I used elements from my logo in the headline, which is the only place on the page (outside of the navigation bar) where my brand colors show. I changed the photo template to the circles you see below. I also dug deep and gave a more genuine history and authentic purpose in bio. (It helped that I also looked up a few bios from a couple of my favorite Black Women Entrepreneurs - CocoChanelFitness.com and Koereyelle.com.)
Final Take Away - Original vs Rebrand
What I learned last year truly set the tone for the brand that I was able to deliver this year. It was this spark of new knowledge that directed my steps for the services I offer on my new website.
I can certainly speak to how important it is to start by defining your creative strategy before your launch instead of building and hoping the strategy will come. What I know now, I want to pass on to you! Book your free creative consultation today!
Allow me to take you back to March 23rd, 2019 to a Boss' Fashion Show hosted by @BossNightInn in Atlanta. The video below captures some of the best moments from the event. Personally produced by me with clips from various sources, this recap video and the story that follows will take you through the divine story of an Evolution of a Boss.
Our goal in hosting this event was to showcase the characteristic journey of an entrepreneur as she pursues her purpose and becomes Queen of her God-given empire. We punctated this journey with four major entrepreneurial themes: Werk from 9-5, Dreaming of More, Part Time Hustle, and Head Boss Queen in Charge.
To launch each theme, we had a guest performance by four talented women who are all in their own lane of the full-time entrepreneur grind. We witnessed powerful stories and reminders from the Purpose Producer @GeorgiaDawkins, Speaker @BrandiBrownSpeaks, Poet & Author @MorganBullock, and Singer & Songwriter @MelissaAshleyMusic.
We were also fortunate to partner with four incredible designers - @JenksFashionique, @BrickXLace, @ShopBlakeOlivia, and @FaithPlusWerk, who each added compelling outfits that added dynamic flavor to the show.
Food was catered and provided by @SugarPoshSugarPosh and drinks and Hookah were made available for purchase by our venue @iLoungeAtlanta.
When I tell you, we were so grateful to execute such an incredible event, it truly was out of our league at first... but God pulled it all together spectacularly! Here's how it all went down...
How Evolution Of A Boss Came To Be
In the Fall of 2018, after hosting our first ever Sleepover Conference, the women of @BossNightInn began planning for our next big Boss Event.
The Sleepover Conference was such a huge success that we wanted to continue to deliver extraordinary opportunities for Boss Queens to genuinely connect and mastermind.
A vendor from our first event, Sunset Social, reached out and asked if we would host an event catered around their sunglasses, something like a Fashion Show,
When we heard the idea, it was a foreign concept. Why would a women's empowerment group for entrepreneurs host a Fashion Show? We didn't see the vision, so we decided to table the idea.
A few months later, we were entertaining the idea of Boss merchandise and needed a way to really push our proposed product. As I meditated on what we could do, God spoke to me and said host a Fashion Show. Initially, I expressed doubt in my spirit, so He told me to continue to meditate on the idea for a week or so.
That week came and went and the Experts behind @BossNightInn were due for a conference call. I planned to tell the ladies what God said to me, but Mademoiselle @CocoChanelFitness beat me to it!
She proposed we reconsider hosting a Fashion Show. Clearly God had already spoken to me about it the week before, so I was now very much on board! @BrittaniKrystin got on board as well, so we set out to host a Fashion Show.
We began reaching out to vendors, sponsors, designers, and other volunteers to help us. We ordered our merch and scheduled a date at the end of January. We started to get interest from designers and volunteers, so we began promoting the event.
And then we ran Into issues. We had issues with the venue, securing sponsorships, ticket sales, and just about everything else you can think of. We tried to push through, but as the date drew near, we felt unprepared to launch. We had to have a tough conversation about whether to cancel or reschedule the event. Ultimately, we thought about our brand, and realized the legacy we wanted to leave didn't involve us quitting. We are Boss Queens and it was time for us to Boss Up!
In the end, we agreed to reschedule the Fashion Show. We had to reach out to everyone that had agreed to participate and notify them that we were rescheduling. The worst part was having to tell our previous vendors that were planning to feature their pieces in the show. We were doing this show for them and now, we were inconveniencing them. It was tough.
We swallowed our pride and pushed forward. We had a goal to accomplish!
As the new date drew near, things started to look up. We lucked up and found a chic venue that was a way better price than our initial venue. Although we did lose the designer who initially gave us the idea, we secured a few new designers that we hadn't met. We relaunched the new date with a brand new photoshoot which was Lit! It drove instant ticket sales.
Before we knew it, our event was SOLD OUT! We sold over 50 tickets making it our largest event to date.
The night before, we met the models, designers, and volunteers for the first time. (Yes! Just the night before the big event.) We gave them the run of show, began fittings, and had the models show us their walk. That night, we stayed up until 5am finishing the work needed to set the event off.
In the end, it was all worth it! The Fashion Show was a huge success! We even surprised ourselves! It taught us that if we remain persistent in the things that God has asked of us, He will always make sure we are successful. We feel confident that our events will only get bigger and better - but now we know that nothing can stop us!
Click the video below to see a recap of Evolution of a Boss!
