how did you build your brand?

I met with someone the other day who asked me, "how did you build your brand"?  Truth is, I never thought about it.  It was a totally organic thing so I just told my story on why I started to write a blog and how I got here.  Timing in life can be everything and I am not so sure I could create the same thing today.  My runway was pretty damn long and started at a time when I was one of the first to the party. 

Eight years ago this past October I started blogging.  Why?  Essentially I was in between careers.  I was involved with a start-up in the mid-90's and saw the writing on the wall.  This pie in the sky valuation with minimal revenues was not going to last forever.  It was bound to implode.  Working with a bunch of 20 year olds who believed they would be the next NewsCorp and weren't interested in exiting at a super high valuation was not in the plan so I bailed. 

Once I bailed I chaired a non-profit organization that was able to ride the wave for just enough time to raise a lot of cash to allow us to build a platform and scale quickly.  That is why MOUSE is still around so many years later.  I sat on a few boards too but then I realized my kids needed me around.  Not during the day but on the way to school and when school ended so I packed my bags, per se, and landed in the role of being a Mom. 

I got on the school board, treating that experience like it was a start-up, taught a cooking class once a week for my daughters Hebrew school, did yoga every day ( I hate yoga now) and pondered about what was next.  I did not want to lose my "cred" in the internet industry, if I even had any so I figured if I blogged then I would remain connected in some way to the tech world. 

Funny enough the web 2.0 world is mostly new people and so once I began blogging I was actually building a new audience not keeping connected to the old one.  At first I blogged once maybe twice a week.  It was a great vehicle to write about what I wanted to write about.  I still do that.  I owned it and nobody else so that felt good particularly because at that time my role as a Mom and a wife, as much as I love it, made me feel as if I had no identity of my own.

Over time my audience grew.  I wasn't very good at linking to other blogs like you are supposed to do in order to grow traffic, I was just doing my own thing.  Fast forward about four years from then I start to look at all these interesting businesses that were starting to ramp up.  The bubble had finally ended and things were starting to pop again.  The businesses that I thought were really interesting were businesses that Fred wouldn't ever invest in so I decided to make a plunge and get involved, back in the game. 

Most things I dive into end up ramping up quicker than I expect and that is what happened.  Maybe because I write about something completely different every day from a recipe, to a restaurant review, theater review, business, musing, travel or Women Entrepreneur that I am able to keep my fingers in a bunch of different things that interest me.  I am not so sure that without the blog that I would have had the opportunity to invest and meet as many entrepreneurs as I have.  Could I grow the brand to something else, perhaps.  Do I want to, not really but never say never. 

So how did I build the brand?  Who would have thought when we (Fred and I) concocted the name Gotham Gal that it would have stuck. 

 

 

 

Comments (Archived):

  1. Rohan

    This quote keeps coming back to me these days. ‘Often we spend all our time thinking how we can change situations instead of letting them change us.’I think the concotion of the ‘Gotham Gal’ name is a prime example of that. 

    1. Gotham Gal

      Nice quote!

  2. Dan Wick

    Great post!  Insightful lesson on remaining true to yourself and the power of authenticity.

    1. Gotham Gal

      Thanks dan. Truly appreciated

  3. AnaRC

    I love the sense of freedom you have here.  Daring to move from cooking to business to travel is just amazing! reading your post today just gave me an idea.  I’ll send it over.

  4. kenberger

    Looking forward to your big event one day, “The Gotham Gala”.

  5. Sunchowder

    Great insight as always! 

  6. Suzan B

    I’ve been pondering what to do next with my own blog and life. Being true to myself and my own way of doing things has been a big focus so this is inspiring and just what I needed.

    1. Gotham Gal

      excellent. go for it!