2021 The Year of the Pivot
We all have been through a crazy two years, as small business owners, as parents, and simply as humans. Many of us pivoted to adjust to the impact COVID was having on our society.
My small business Auden & Company, has gone through quite a transformation this past year. Our internal pivot has shifted our mindset, values, and blended the 3 missions of our sister companies into one social impact statement.
The Blurry Problem
Since our launch in 2016, we have grown to encompass so much more than branding. Those passions manifested as separate businesses. Creatively Stocked + Auden Creative Network. All three of our ventures operated as separate entities never truly colliding to showcase the beauty of how a business can be evolve.
That was our problem, no intersection, no cross promotion, no cohesive visual identity. I as the founder of my company was having a hard time communicating the mission, values, and purpose of Auden & Company because we had outgrown the simplicity of just being a branding studio.
A Multifaceted Collective
At the age of 23, I launched Auden & Company with an HP laptop, a la carte offerings, and big vision
On a whim, I invited college students into Auden & Company which ignited the start of the Audenship, our summer internship program.
Seeing an ignored niche within the stock image industry. I launched a BIPOC stocked image company, Creatively Stocked
Announced our plans to expand our internship program into a non profit organization focusing experience access and young creatives toolkit
Our Clarity Journey
The journey to alignment and clarity started with thought provoking conversations with friends and business mentors. I started with asking the question,
how do you view Auden & Company? Where do you see you Creatively Stocked fitting into Auden & Company?
Have you heard of a branding studio with a social impact mission?
What would say the pillars of Auden & Company are?
I was interested in seeing how people viewed Auden & Company. This also allowed me to see the disconnect in between what I wanted to be communicated and what was being communicated.
Then I Tore It Down
What I built since 2016 was no longer working for our big vision and 5 year plan. We were hitting every kink you could imagine in running a business that was reflective of our expertise and experience. The business I built required me to be apart of every aspect in order for it to run smoothly. My personal obligations were no longer reflective of that lifestyle. Mainly due to entering toddler mommyhood. There were aspects of our existing structure that we wanted to keep front and center in our new structuring.
I dismantled the and started to rebuild it all over.
I then figured out
Our executive summary for Auden & Company
Individual missions for Auden Creative Co + Creatively Stocked + Auden Creative Network
Core Values that could be applied to all three companies individually and unilaterally.
Our services that focused on our ideal client.
Our new processes that aligned with our team structure, my journey into creative director role, and our division of time in between the three companies.
The client experience we want to give our clients each and every time.
Our visual brand identity that would link 3 companies together while keeping them separate
The Solution
If you have been present on our social media since December, you have seen our slow and steady transition over to our new structure. I focused on Auden & Company as the roof and Auden Creative Co + Creatively Stocked + Auden Creative Network as the pillars. Meaning Auden & Company refers to all of our businesses, this allows us to position our company as socially driven enterprise and stand out within our niche when exploring avenues for expansion. We have renamed our branding portion of our enterprise to Auden Creative Company, which allows people to get a hint at what we do but give us room to expand our offerings. Creatively Stocked will be positioned as a marketing tool powered by Auden & Company. Auden Creative Network is an extension of the foundation of our internship program via a non profit path. Combining are three biggest aspects of what had been created over the past 5 years.
The Impact
The impact of tearing down what we built is that we are primarily starting from scratch and reeling from the lack of clarity and consistency from the past year. Our focus was on finding our footing in our new light which made it hard to maintain the old Auden & Company. So we slowed down on bookings and eased up on social media postings,
With the rebirth of the Auden & Company we realized that Creatively Stocked needed a deep dive and restructuring. So we are currently tearing CS down and rebuilding it as something truly incredible!
We didn’t hit the goals we set in January of 2021 but we accomplished something much better. We found ourself with our business again. Which means I can show up authentically as the founder of this multifaceted empire.
Thank you!
Thank you 2021, for allowing me to fall back in love with Auden & Company and allowing me to connect with my big vision. You have given birth to a larger social impact mission and I’m ready to make a splash in 2022!
