New rucksack, new shoes, new pens. September may well signal the start of a new school year but that's just my shopping list! With the kids back at school, the start of a new school year also feels the start of a new year for my business.
We're used to thinking of January as the start of the new year, but when I think about it, does coming into the gloomiest months of the year off the back of the post-Christmas blues with more pounds in my clothes and less pounds in my pocket really set me on fire creatively?
Ever since I was a child, September has been all about a fresh start - a cleaned out and restocked pencil case, shiny new shoes and a blank canvas to make the year ahead whatever you want it to be.
And now I'm an adult, I don't see why that should be any different.
Perhaps I'm influenced by the fact that Autumn is one of my favourite seasons. I've come to realise that while summer can be a bit hit or miss in the UK, Autumn rarely disappoints with long sunny days that are warm enough to put a spring in your step but not so hot they render you weary and idle. As I write this, I'm looking out on a moderately blue sky (certainly bluer than the one I saw for most of this summer), with enough greenery around to convince me that summer's still hanging on in there. And as the weeks roll on, there's that inexplicable feeling you get when the sun is a little lower in the sky, the landscape's colour palette is slowly changing and you just know the seasons are in transition, which also gives you a little burst of energy.
Perhaps I'm just feeling a renewed focus because my time is once again my own and I'm no longer the minute-to-minute referee between my two warring boys or the Eternal Gatekeeper of the Screen Time. Either way, three decades after leaving school, I just can't shake the feeling that September is the new January; the perfect time to reinvigorate yourself, your business and your brand.
This September, I will be using my 'new year' mindset to knuckle down and put into place all the development plans I have for my business for the year ahead, and that starts with getting my new visual brand launched with a new website to boot. As much as people have always been kind to complement my existing branding, when I came up with a plan to launch two new services, I felt that what I had wasn't quite hitting the spot anymore and it made me feel limited in how I could communicate. So it's definitely been the right time for a refresh. You'll frequently hear me say that your brand should be a living, breathing entity. Building a brand is not a one-time activity that you can tick off your list, throwing a set of brand guidelines into your desk drawer and considering the job done. The world around us doesn't stop changing, the markets we operate in evolve and therefore the way we communicate with our customers must evolve too if we want to stay ahead of our competitors.
If, like me, you're feeling energised and want to capitalise on that September feeling to get your brand into tip top condition before the year is out, then get in touch and let's have a chat about how we can take your ideas and vision and translate them into something that resonates with the audience you want to talk to. Although I haven't quite launched all the new 'stuff' just yet (any day now!) there are more ways to work with me than ever before, providing flexible support for you, whatever stage of the brand-building journey you're at.
In any case, no matter what your September looks like, it's always a great excuse to buy new shoes:-)
