THIS MONTH, I celebrated the re-launch of a new business website. Okay, let me rephrase.
I joined 15 other driven small business owners, in the scenic hills of Rancho Cucamonga, CA, got spoil-uulled with hip swag from area sponsors, served mimosas, margaritas & amazing pastries, encouraged & nurtured by creative, intelligent, confident women, made friends with new girl bosses, all while stomping out one of my biggest anxiety driving hurdles – the technical back-end of web implementation. Oh, and how could this Kelly girl forget? Yep, this all happened at the start of St. Patrick’s Day, one of my favorite holidays. Ser-i-ous-ly folks.
Promise Tangeman, owner of Go Live HQ, is a creative design guru that I’ve admired for a few years now. Your eyes might get blinded by the twinkle in mine that appears when I marvel at how by just doing what she loves, has helped me transform from being a designer who just two years ago never shared her work with the public, to an individual who’s gaining more confidence to embrace all that’s waiting at the drop of a mouse click. Composed of a nationwide, tight-knit team of creatives, Promise’s driven mindset motivates her team to connect, advise, create, dream while helping small business owners implement the visual & business capacities they’ve expressed wanting to identify with. Basically, if you are picking split ends and biting nails over piecing the components of a site together, this Go Live Workshop site launch experience will help you knock-it-out, with a glass of champagne in your hand, in 2 days flat, all from the living room of Promise’s home. As of 2015, the Go Live HQ Experience team offers workshops in multiple cities across the U.S. So, if you’re intrigued now, check out if their team is bringing a workshop to a city near you!
You’re Already a Designer… Why Did You Have the Go Live Team Help You?
Good point. Good question. While yes, I already designed and branded my former & fairly recent website in the fall of 2013, as soon as it was live, I already swapped new goals in place of old, and couldn’t stop considering of how I intended to make it even better. Isn’t that a norm for ‘normal’ creatives? Ever changing with the seasonal Pantone fan deck. I wasn’t fully equipped with the knowledge of how to get from what I envisioned – to making it happen. I’m a firm believer that my creative (& technical) education should be set to a revolving door and continuing enrollment status. I enjoy challenging myself to learn something new in the field, whether it’s back-end navigation, social media marketing or what typefaces are hitting the sale rack. 😉 Whereas I craved feedback on my branding & design, the area I really needed assistance in, was in the build & launch portions of the workshop experience. That’s where the Go Live HQ team came in.
DAY 1 consisted of an introduction to the platform you chose. I specifically had decided to transition my former ModX site into a ProPhoto site. We were divided up into groups based on the platform we chose (SHOWIT, Squarespace, or ProPhoto) and hung out with an assigned mentor (Hi Fiving it to MEG LONG!), who introduced us to our platform and taught us the basics of getting acquainted with the back-end menus. I had actually met Meg back in the fall at Designer VACA in Palm Springs and I just had that feeling we were gonna see eye to eye through those ringlets of curls that framed our faces. Throughout the first day, head shots of the attendees were taken, and one on one’s with Promise were scheduled to revisit goals, visions and branding directions. By the end of the day, we were asked to implement all of our site’s content (which was required as homework weeks before the workshop even began).
DAY 2 was waking us up before we knew it and we dove right into filling in the rest of the site details. More in depth conversations were had between Meg and my ProPhoto comrades (Jenny Smith & Kathyrn Colby), as we made it towards the finish line, honed down on final decisions and crafted our vision into being. The day was rocking’ it with photographers Nicole Lapierre & Kristen Booth buzzing, Instagrammers streaming & chef extraordinaire, Josh Hager, once again, gifted us with his home made fresh fruit tarts & custom Go Live logo sugar cookies. #legit.
“The Creativity Between the Curls” (Meg & I)
I was psyched to room with Jenny Smith, an am-az-ing wedding photographer based out of LA, whom I met last year at the Pursuit 31 Conference in Georgia. ‘Kathryn’ just happens to be my middle name and that’s exactly how I spell it too. And why, in walks new friend & wedding photographer, Kathryn Colby, who was stationed right next to me throughout both days.
Overall, I’m really glad I took a fresh approach to implement the design of my site, while using the talents and knowledge of the Go Live team to assist me in the areas that I was not as fully equipped in. It was a successful personal and business experience and I cannot recommend a better team.
Throughout my new site, you will see some really great photos in Ybor City, Tampa, taken by photographer, Melissa Corta, owner of Contemporary Captures. More details to come on the blog soon on that photoshoot! Thank you so much Melissa, your work is awesome.
Below are a few candid shots of our celebratory Go Live moment!
Check out all these amazing business’ new sites that launched! Congrats ladies!
[ezcol_1half]http://lizmorrowstudios.com
www.loveandlightphotographs.com
www.BethanyPaigephotography.com
www.jeanettesanchezphotography.com
www.aprildiaz.com
www.liannamariephotography.com
www.projectwow.org[/ezcol_1half]
[ezcol_1half_end]
www.hustleandheart.com
www.womenkind.com
www.bcapturedphotography.com
www.hellodarlinghair.com
www.jennysmithandco.com
www.kellyteno.com
www.kathyrncolby.com[/ezcol_1half_end]
And mad props to all of our lovely swag bag sponsors – Check them out!
[ezcol_1half] @themusicbed
@showiteer
@nectarclothing
@thisbar
@museumnails
@dwcweb [/ezcol_1half]
[ezcol_1half_end]
@emilysteffen
@hanuelofficial
@jushuajhager
@sandiohbrien
@golivehq[/ezcol_1half_end]
