Planting the flag; defining a brand

It’s been a bit of an embarrassment to have a business going for six months, yet not having time to establish the brand.

Part of the issue has been the way that the consulting business crowds out the time to develop the product / service business.  The other part has been trying to get a clear view of what I am in business to do.  What is the purpose, product, value of my business concept; what is in- and out- of scope for its activities?

It takes a big, uninterrupted think to sort these qualities out, and time has been at a premium for months.

It also takes a willingness to move the first shovel of dirt, to make a start at the foundations even if the construction won’t be complete at the first sitting.

I’ve had some good consultation with friends over the holidays and by email since, and felt determined to make a stab at it.  The company web site is on the Microsoft Small Business hosted site, free for the first year, good service and reliability, but just awful website building tools.  I struggled through with it today for six, eight hours until I got a credible draft finished.  It’s aesthetically unappealing (the tool’s color palette is based on olive and purple), but the content is accurate and organized.

Still work to do, the appearance needs help, the continuity of the look across pages is weak, I’m lacking consistent linkage to social networking sites, and I want to build in some dynamic content.

Nonetheless, it’s a good start, and exciting to finally have a  public presence.