Hey everyone, hope you are having a great day and are staying safe š
Not too long ago, I did a poll over on my Instagram stories asking my followers what blog post they wanted to see next, and to no surprise, the winner was a post about my recent rebrand of my business.
I haven’t been posting as much content recently, and for a good reason. Itās my first post under my new business name, and so why not kick it off with a bang?
I’m excited for what’s to come, and can’t wait to start sharing content that has a focus to it. This isn’t the first time I’ve changed gears with my business, and is certainly not the first time I’ve rebranded my blog. If you want to learn more about my business journey, you can check out parts one and two of this series.
My Creative Journey Part One- The Origin Story
My Creative Journey Part Two- The Next Chapter
So without further ado, let’s get into the post!
Previously On Tori’s Creative Journey…
So if I found something that worked, why am I changing gears again?
In the last installation of this series, I shared how I embarked on several business endeavors, and how they led me to the current business I was running at that time. In 2014, I bought my own web domain, and The Confused Craftgirl was created. The website went through many different phases, or as I like to refer to it, a monthly identity crisis. However, in 2017, I landed on a brand identity that stayed the same for over five years. I was reaching my business goals, gaining new followers, and exploring new ways of creating content. On paper, it seems like everything was running smoothly, and it was. That is, until May of last year.
Why Do They Always Start Sequels With A Flashback?
Because I have to, okay? I need to set up the plot by explaining where the cracks started to form.
Okay, so back to May 2021.
It seemed like I had hit a peak, and was immensely proud of the progress and growth I was seeing. But with that growth came added pressure and new challenges. I was already in a bit of a slump creatively, and was having a hard time coming up with posts to write. I wasn’t sure what people wanted to see, and it showed in the content I put out. I wasn’t enjoying it, and wasn’t proud of the work I was putting out there. But at least I had one part of my job that I was enjoying, my #musicmondays series. Over on my Instagram, I would post either a cover of one of my favorite songs or share one of my own originals. The series performed well, and I knew that even if the rest of the week’s work was hard, I had that one task to look forward to.
In late May, I posted a cover of Delicate by Taylor Swift. It’s still my lowest performing cover, and I’m by no means surprised. It wasn’t my first choice, but it was the only song that I was able to do that day. It would be the last cover I posted for a while. I go into more detail about this situation and how I struggled with losing my singing voice for several months in an earlier post, which I’ll link below.
Hereās Why I Havenāt Been Doing Covers- And Whatās Next For Me As A Songwriter
With no motivation to post, deep creative block, and the one thing that was keeping my focus now gone, I had to take a break and reassess what to do going forward. I’d pop on social media to say I was working on new content, but that wasn’t the truth. I was busy working on dealing with the problem above, while facing a new-ish challenge of living with ADHD.
I took a prolonged break, and decided that instead of forcing myself to keep making content with no focus or intention, I would put my energy into reassessing my business as a whole, and make a decision about what to do going forward. And in the end, it was the best thing I could’ve done.
This break led me to make a decision that I am proud of, that of refocusing my business, and renaming it. So long The Confused Craftgirl, you had a good run. Now I’m ready to embrace this new chapter, and to welcome you to Stories From A Cafe.
Ready to learn more about her?
Finally, We Have A Plot!
Yeah yeah, now we finally get to the good part. (Mind instantly goes to that audio clip going around… CAN WE SKIP TO THE GOOD PART AHHHHH AHHH AHHHHHH… focus Tori, focus!)
One thing I wanted to make sure of going into this new chapter was that I didn’t rush it. I didn’t want to repeat my previous mistakes, and so I took my time to choose a name that reflected what I wanted to create now, as well as allowing me to grow creatively in the future. So, let me break down the vision I had, as well as what you can expect from Stories From A Cafe:
How I Landed On The Name “Stories From A Cafe”
When I originally named the blog, I didn’t put any real thought into it. Seventeen year old Tori was artsy and awkward, dealing with some heavy crap, and going through her “I’m not like other girls” phase (come on, we all had one). So she decided to pick a name that was unique and different, something quirky that no one else would have thought of. That was a mistake. Does anyone else often cringe at their younger self? Just me? Okay then, moving on…
After brainstorming several different name options, I landed on a few that I liked. I wanted to be sure I chose the right name to showcase the feel and focus I wanted to acheive. After letting the names ruminate for a bit, making sure that even after a little bit of time I still liked them, I settled on the name Stories From A Cafe. I wanted the theme to represent a small coffee shop, with a light academia aesthetic and writing as the main focus. I think this name does a great job at showcasing that. It’s clear that I’m sharing stories, writing, and my thoughts. I want it to feel like you are sitting at a cafe table having a conversation with me.
My New Brand Identity
In addition to renaming my business, I’ve made a lot of changes in my branding and aesthetic. I tend to gravitate towards the light academia aesthetic, and also love soft pastels. I’m an old soul at heart, and love anything vintage- specifically the sixties and seventies. Sepia tones were popular then, and it was the era of the singer songwriter. Lots of lace, flowers, etc. I wanted to include some of that in my branding, and took my time fine tuning it. I landed on what you see today- cafes, sepia tones, lace and wildflowers, ripped paper, and plenty of coffee cups. I also knew I wanted to include a typewriter font, since it’s both aesthetically pleasing and easier for me to see. Expect to see lots of typewriter fonts, soft and neutral colors, and anything related to coffee or cafes on both the website and social media.
The Content I’m Going To Create
The main focus in renaming was to line up my content with my brand identity. I have many interests, including art, music, writing, and more, so I wanted to allow myself to explore the different avenues of creativity while having a cohesive theme; I wanted a central idea that it call all refer back to. As I brainstormed names, looked at my content, and thought about the elements I liked in each medium, I came to a conclusion. No matter what form it took, I was most interested in the story. Stories can be told in different formats, and I’ve always been fascinated by how something came to be, what message it’s trying to convey, or the emotion behind a piece. Artists can tell a story by the brushstrokes and colors they purposefully choose, poets can capture a moment in time, and so eloquently present the complicated emotions that they feel. Songwriters can tell a whole story, beginning to end, and put it to music in a unique, memorable way. And cartoons, movies, and tv shows can share deep truths and present relatable characters going through the same struggles we do.
I had found the central theme- storytelling. No matter what I post, there will always be that element included. I want to share what inspires me, my favorite stories, my own stories, and the things I have learned about writing.
The Final Act
You guys want a sneak peek of what’s to come? I thought you might, so here’s some of the content I want to share, as well as what you might be seeing me post soon. My main goal is to inspire fellow storytellers, and give them ideas on what to create, and the tools to help them create it. Here’s a glimpse of what’s to come!
- Productivity hacks for writers
- My favorite writing tools
- Writing prompts and story ideas
- How to create original characters
- Original poems
- Learning from other storytellers- I have a post coming soon on this subject!
- And even more to come š
I’m excited to see what this new chapter holds, and am so thankful to those who stuck around through the journey, as well as any new readers who stumbled on my site! I have a lot of great ideas, and I already have some of them ready to share. This rebrand is still a bit of a work in progress, so for the time being, I’ll be doing one MAIN post on the blog, with the occasional small post as well. I’m also working on setting up a new patreon, and creating a new shop page. It’s a lot of work, but it’s becoming fun again, and I’m thrilled to finally be writing!
I’ll go ahead and tell you that the next bigger slice of content will be on my YouTube channel, and will be more of a show and tell on my writing process š I’m going to be posting content that is better suited for video over there, so make sure to subscribe to my Youtube channel.
Until next time š
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