What's Coming Soon to Anchored Creative Studio

This blog is going to be a little different than the type I usually share here - it’s a more of story, and I want to tell this story as a way to explain some shifts that are going to be happening here at Anchored Creative Studio. There’s some changes brewing, and I know they are going to all be for the better for both you and me!

For quite a long time, I’ve been ready to make a few new things happen here at Anchored, but I continued to waffle because I wasn’t sure these tweaks fell fully in line with the brand I had created. As an individual who prides herself on creating strong brand identities, I felt a lot of resistance in tweaking my own brand - after all, I preach the importance of consistency. There were a lot of ideas and options rattling around in my head, and I was feeling idea paralysis on following through with any of them.

It was with this scattered mindset that I attended the amazing Back Into Balance business retreat with Devan of Devan Danielle and Danielle of Function Creative Co. I came together with 11 other inspiring female business owners who were feeling the need to uplevel and streamline their businesses for a weekend of soul-searching in Charleston, South Carolina.

There were so many aha moments during our time together (more of which will be revealed soon!), but overall I realized that I needed to feel confident in my ideas. Instead of second-guessing, I’m ready to jump forward. Instead of wondering what people will think, I’m going to stop being so concerned. Because entrepreneurship is about following your vision - and I’m ready to make a few things up as I go.

So, what does this mean for you?

1. I’ve been downplaying my passion for brand strategy.
   At the end of the day, I want to set people up businesses for success. And the best way I know how to do that is through a holistic brand experience - and that doesn’t mean only design. Design is a huge part of establishing a brand, but so are the communication aspects: establishing how to speak about a brand, how to phrase social media posts, the lens through which to write website copy - the list goes on. I’ll be adding more communications work to my brand strategy offerings, and I am so excited for it.

2. I’m shifting my focus to serve people, places, and mindful organizations.
   This means I’m tweaking the types of clients I serve. This shift means I’ll be narrowing my focus so I can better specialize and serve the types of clients I really want to connect with. These are the types of clients I’ve found to have a beneficially fruitful relationship with my business, and the types of clients that I’m able to create real magic with. Here’s who that audience is:
   
   PEOPLE. Entrepreneurs.
   PLACES. Physical locations such as neighborhoods, cities, parks, and business improvement districts; real estate developments; and brick-and-mortar stores such as yoga studios, coffee shops, restaurants, coworking spaces, and more.
   MINDFUL ORGANIZATIONS. Organizations that are looking to innovate and create ideas that work better than what’s already out there.
   
   In addition to refocusing my audience, I’m also going to refocus some of my overall client offerings. This means starting all client relationships with branding. I’ll be narrowing my process and focusing on offering processes that I have seen work - as opposed to waiting for someone to come to me with a process. This will streamline my process and make things way easier for my clients.

3. I’ll be offering more for you, the business owner, through courses and products.
   Since the beginning of setting out in freelancing and creating my own business, I had dual ideas - offer services directly to clients, and train them on how to do it themselves through workshops and courses. As I retool my business, I’ll be shifting some more focus onto that second tier. Here’s what’s on deck for the near future:
   
   BRANDING YOUR BIZ. A relaunch of my workbook series from last year, with additional video elements. If you’re a business that isn’t quite ready to invest in branding, or have a business idea that needs to be fully formed, this course will help you get a head start on forming your own strategy.
   Estimated launch date: Summer 2019.
   
   BIZ FINANCIALS. A smaller workbook series about setting up for business financials for success. This will include information on money mindset and the basics of calculating what you need to charge to make a living off of service-based income. This has been my single biggest hurdle to overcome as a business owner, and I’m excited to share my wisdom.
   Estimated launch date: Fall 2019.
   
   YOGA FOR CREATIVES & BUSINESS OWNERS. In my other life, I’m a registered yoga teacher, and I want to start integrating both the mindful practice and physical benefits of yoga into Anchored Creative Studio. I’m not sure exactly what this is going to look like in terms of content (videos? a workbook? If you have thoughts, let me know!), but it’s definitely in the pipeline.
   Estimated launch date: Late 2019.
   
   MINDFUL PRODUCTS. I already launched Lunar Cultivation last week, a niche wall calendar centered around new moon intentions and the Jewish year. I’m planning to produce a few products for fun (such as wall prints), as well as productivity and centering (perhaps a planner or planning resources). I’m entering a phase of life that is all about streamlining and time resources, so mindful products are definitely on the rise with that in mind.

4. There will be more “me” in this brand.
   In case you didn’t know who was behind this business, hi! My name is Anna. I’ve always waffled between using “I” and “we” in Anchored Creative Studio pronouns; but I’m now deciding that it’s an “I,” and always has been. Anchored was a vision I had for years before starting it up, and is mine alone. Although there’s a possibility to bring other employees on board in the future, it will be just me for the foreseeable future. And because of that, I’ll be implementing in some additional ideas and processes I’ve been wanting to since the beginning.

And that’s just about it! There will be more news, tweaks and changes happening around the website in the coming weeks, and I’m planning on a grand brand introduction in mid to late April. Stay tuned for more, and don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions! And a huge shoutout to the amazing Back into Balance business retreat for inspiring these tweaks and changes, and for helping me best serve both myself and my audience.