Building A Fresh Start
If you’re reading this, welcome. This is the first entry in a blog I had no intention of starting. But sometimes life forces you to start anew, whether you’re ready or not.
It happened last week during a Zoom call with a local professional. I was explaining my work, talking through what I do, when he mentioned something that caught me completely off guard: my (then) website didn’t accurately represent my experience. Naturally, I brushed it off in the moment… but later, curiosity (and maybe a bit of panic) got the best of me. I checked the site myself and, he was absolutely right.
Not only did my website barely highlight my drone work or the actual scope of my business, but it looked, frankly, terrible. Poor formatting, weird spacing, non-fluid content, and an overall visual identity that had to be fixed. Anyone who has ever worked in marketing or creative fields knows this feeling. You look back at a design, idea, website, newsletter, anything you were once proud of, and with new eyes you realize how unbelievably bad it was. This was one of those moments for me.
Rebuilding my site from scratch wasn’t in my plans for that evening. Or that weekend. But I couldn’t stand the thought of anyone else seeing it in that state. So I rebuilt it, piece by piece, page by page, fully committed against my own will.
I’m sure in a year or so time, I’ll circle back to that thought, but I’m not sharing this to talk about my website. I’m sharing it because that moment reminded me of something bigger: life has a way of catapulting you. Sometimes in the exact direction you wanted, sometimes in the completely opposite direction, and sometimes into a totally random place you never expected to end up. Either way, if you want to grow, you have to move.
In a time of my life where I’m figuring out my professional direction, learning some uncomfortable truths about myself, and weighing the difference between “starting from scratch” and “making the most of what I have,” this catapult made something very clear: if you want a fresh start, you have to build it.
That’s been true far beyond the website. For a long time, I’ve had the intention to grow my business, build more connections in the area, meet new people, and expand my circle both personally and professionally but I wasn’t entirely sure where to begin. Rebuilding the site forced me to face that I can’t wait for everything else in my life to magically organize itself the way I want. I have to actively build those things too.
So I’ve been taking small steps. Working from coffee shops to stay productive and actually see people. Joining a pickleball and volleyball league to push myself into new environments and remind myself I’m capable of showing up. Reaching out on LinkedIn, connecting, messaging, taking chances I might’ve avoided before. And now, starting this blog, a place to document the process, the missteps, the progress, and the things I’m learning along the way.
If nothing else, I hope this space becomes somewhere I can be honest professional, yes, but also real about the process of building something worth being proud of.
- Joe C.
