Today marks a great day for me. At last, a new chapter of my blogging career is starting. Starting today, At home with Kim Vallee becomes a blog about Making life easier for entrepreneurs and parents.
I passed half of the year reinventing, redefining and rebranding what is, at the end, the new At Home with Kim Vallee. The funny thing is that a key element changed last night. That important detail makes today’s reveal possible thanks to my mentor and to my little boy.
I took this rebranding seriously. I took some time off from blogging to allow me more time to think about what I really care about at this point in my life. I talked to people, read business books, write down my priorities, consider my strengths, etc. I put on paper the mission statement several weeks ago. I designed a new template. The programming of the new design is still in the making, which is why I call today reveal a pre-launch.
Over the course of all this branding operation, I wanted so much to differentiate the new blog from what it used to be that I forgot the basics. Remember what I was telling you back in March. I knew that something was wrong since I have headaches all weekend trying to cope with the fact that I would launch under a new name and with a new URL. How can I leave 6 years of work and start all over? It didn’t sound like a good business decision.
Before midnight last night, my mentor (the editor of MOCO LOCO) put me back on the right direction when he texted me that I must continue as At Home with Kim Vallee. He got a point: this is where my audience is. Still, I had problems figuring out how I will make it work. Then, my son cried for some comfort. As I held my beautiful toddler boy in my arms, listing to a soothing lullaby, my mind was free to relax. Eureka! I recalled that when I started the rebranding of my blog, At Home referred to our personal life. All the new topics that I wish to explore, even the work related ones, are linked to work/life balance and happiness. I didn’t need to let my old identity go.
The business lesson is that it is important to surround yourself with advisors that will enable you to bring you back home when it is necessary, and that know when to push you forward.
Let me share the story behind the new At Home with Kim Vallée. I always did more than talk about good design ideas and time saving tips for the home on this blog. Yes, I still enjoy design but after 6 years of blogging about home décor and entertaining, I wish to discuss other topics. In fact, I started On the Web with Kim Vallee (my social media blog) in 2008 with that intent but never fully pursuit it. I reached a point where I care more about how the digital world is changing how we live and work than to talk about home design products. I decided to go for it with a new mission statement for my blog.
Like many of you, I don’t look at my personal life and my business life in silos anymore. This way of thinking is an emerging trend. All the business books that I read and conferences that I attended lately made that same point. If you care about that topic, you will enjoy reading my blog from now on.
What to expect?
You can say that my blog reflects my life. I am an entrepreneur and a parent in this digital age. Through my writing, I aim to fuel your imagination, to talk about things that matter and to interview people who are embracing change.
The new editorial will be centered around work/life balance, living in the digital age, creativity, education and entrepreneurship. They are the topics that I follow the most these days. I hope that you will continue to read and comment on At Home with Kim Vallee. You can bet that you will encounter tweets and shares on Facebook of home decor and entertaining ideas that inspire me.
To conclude this post, what do you think of my new identity? Depending of your browser settings, you may have to reload the page to see the new logo in the header.
