My Final Goodbye to Small Business Branding

This post is by Michael Pollock, the original owner of Small Business Branding. Yaro Starak now owns and produces the latest content for this blog.

>> Return to the Small Business Branding front page <<

It’s funny. I have this feeling; it’s a feeling similar to the one you might get when moving out of a house or apartment you’ve lived in for awhile. You look around at everything one last time and realize how much you’ve become a part of the space; and the space a part of you. Perhaps you have some apprehension about such a change; about leaving behind this piece of your life that has become such an integral piece of your soul. Or maybe you just say seeya later and lock the door behind you as you look forward to an exciting new chapter in your life. Whatever the case for you, I feel a need to honor this moment with a few words before I walk out the door of Small Business Branding one last time.

First, a short story. My father, a horseman all his life, bought a horse a couple of years ago. He spent several months working with her day in and day out. He trained her, fed here, nurtured her and rode her around his property in rural central Ohio. Then spring came, and it was time for him to go back to work for the road construction firm that employed him eight months out of the year. That meant he’d have very little time to spend further developing his latest project. And to him, it made little sense to let this creature go for months with little human attention. So he sold her. He let her go to someone who had the time and energy to invest with her. As I lay awake in bed last night thinking about the sale of SBB, I had a similar feeling.

To me, Small Business Branding started out as a compelling idea; an idea around which I might build a thriving business. And the idea itself had all the makings of a solid small business brand. It was clear, focused, easy to grab onto, somewhat unique and at least slightly sexy. But all that doesn’t turn a compelling idea into a solid brand. You have to nurture the idea. You have to jump on the back of it and ride it around the world. You have to feed it, develop it and show it off a bit. A lot actually.

So I did that with SBB. I did that until a bigger, more compelling idea (Solostream) came along. And although it took me a few months, I eventually made the decision to start nurturing my new idea alongside SBB with the hope of integrating the two. Ultimately, it became clear that I couldn’t integrate them, and it was unrealistic to try and invest energy in both ideas at once. Just as it was unrealistic for my father to work 12 hours a day and then expect to have time and energy to devote to his horse. I had ridden the SBB idea as far as I could. It was time to let someone else take over. Someone with the level of excitement and energy I initially had for the idea. Yes, the idea will always be a part of me, but I need to move on.

As I said before, I know Yaro will do well with SBB. He’ll most likely ride the idea much further than I did, and frankly, my biggest fear is that six months down the road, I’ll look at SBB and wonder why I wasn’t able to get it to where it will probably be then. So it’s with mixed emotions and great appreciation that I say a final farewell to Small Business Branding. The appreciation is mostly about the people I’ve met as I rode SBB around the world. I hope to continue those relationships with you via Solostream.