Starting a business is like having a baby.  At least that’s what all of my friends who have had babies tell me.  I suppose there are some similarities, though.  I have spent months going over and over different questions.  What do I like about what I do? What would I like to change?  What would I want my new company to be like?  How would I differentiate myself within the industry?  Is this the right time to start a new business?  And then months making all of the plans.  First, there are the formalities, all the things that are needed to actually have a business – articles of incorporation, business licenses, insurance, etc.  Then there are the operations, all the thing that are needed to function as a business, which my mommy friends related to “nesting” – creating a home office, creating a brand, developing a web site, getting business cards, etc.  All of these things are tangible goals, ideas that I could easily wrap my head around.  The one thing that none of the books or blogs or friends prepared me for was determining the name of the company.  I believed that I needed a name that was creative, something that would encompass all that I am, the standards that I set for myself and my work and everything that I could ever hope my new company would become.  Of the small group of friends and family that I decided to talk to about the “right” name, there were some definite camps.  Some agreed with me, but others made very compelling arguments for simply using my own name.  After all, I had spent six years in the event planning industry and had built great relationships.   This decision was agonizing.  I tried everything I could think of to determine the process that would make the “right” name just appear in a moment of clarity.  Time alone, time with people, exhaustive Google searches (in multiple languages), being surrounded by creativity, being creative, going on vacation to one of my most loved places, France.  I wish I could say that I had a moment of clarity, and, perhaps in some small way, I did.  Of all of the creative, beautiful names I identified, not one jumped out and declared itself as “the one.”  Of all the processes I tried, none of them really worked.  It was on the plane ride home from France that I finally embraced the fact that I already had the perfect name, something that completely encompasses who I am and everything I want my new company to become.

So, without further ado, I’d like to introduce you to the new joy in my life:

I look forward to sharing more about what inspires me and the events that I am working on in the coming weeks!