So we have a new business website.
It’s up and running at https://minimalchaosweb.com/.
It was created and launched during a 2-day intensive sprint between Christmas and New Years. Daniella took the kids up to her parents’ house in Irvine while I stayed at home to work like a man possessed. In one of my probably-not-so-brilliant moments I decided to live tweet the thing.
Daniella and my 2 kids are 90 miles away with her parents. I'm 4 hours into a planned 24-48 hour sprint to create a new business website for us.
I might fail at this, but I'm going to live tweet it anyway so I don't get too lonely all by myself over here.
— Evan Scheingross (@evanwebdesign) December 26, 2018
Daniella and I did some brainstorming and drafted some words before she left town. I thought we had a good idea of what the heck we were going to say on that website, but I thought wrong.
The site was launched with content I was embarrassed about, but I put it online anyway because I felt like we had to move forward. (And truly, only like 6 people a day visit my website anyway so who the f__k cares?).
This past week I was able to make some significant updates to the site. I feel a lot more comfortable with what it says, but the writing process was difficult and took way longer than expected. At one point (and I’m paraphrasing here) Daniella basically referred to a couple of paragraphs I asked her to edit as total garbage. And you know what, she was right.
I’m still processing how I feel about the whole thing.
I thought I was kind of good at writing. I mean, these blog posts seem to come to me easily enough, right?
Why is writing easy for me sometimes and super difficult at others? That’s weird.
Evan: The Hypocrite
On on hand, I feel like a hypocrite. Here I am, selling ourselves as “writers” and “content strategists,” and yet, I struggle to write about my own business. I’m supposed to be able to help people “communicate effectively” and “clarify their message,” and my words were a hot mess.
Evan: The Difficult Problem Solver & Eloquent Communicator
On the other hand, I feel even more encouraged about our decision to focus on content and communication with our business.
Because writing is freaking hard! And writing about yourself when you are so closely tied to what you do is even harder. (In fact, I’m now convinced this is the most difficult type of writing you can do!)
If I’m struggling with this stuff, then I’m sure many other businesses owners are too. And people frequently pay for help with stuff that is hard. So that means that we have a real business opportunity to help people communicate effectively on the web… even if it means we struggle through it at times.
I have no illusions that it will be easy, but I also know that the best way to learn is by doing, and that we’re not going to give up just because it’s hard.
Writing is therapeutic when you finally say what you are feeling, what is on your mind, and what remains a mystery to all your brain cells. YOU are doing an EXCELLENT job as a writer when you are putting your inner thoughts in black ink. People appreciate your HUMAN nature. You, Evan, are a writer, and a talent!