(re) invention
We’ve talked about the idea of reinvention vs. rebrand before. Why one over the other? Today we’re going to focus on reinvention and why, sometimes, you need to reinvent yourself to get where you’re going.
Take Madonna, for instance. She’s reinvented herself more times than I can count, and most recently she did it again, coming BACK to the forefront of pop music with her new bangers like ‘Danceteria’ pumping into airpods of folks who’d never heard of her before… (Were you living under a rock? No? ok.) We’ve had so many versions of Madonna that that’s actually her natural state, reinventing herself with the times.
There’s a version of reinventing that everyone conjures up, the phoenix rising from the ashes, but let’s be real and say that most reinvention is something smaller than that. A nod to something new, an added service, a shift in focus. Most businesses have reinvented themselves to some degree if they’ve been in business for at least a little while. You’ve got to change to stay relevant* (I don’t think this is necessarily true, it’s just a common ism on the topic) so how do you do that while also remaining true to exactly who you/your business are?
Reinvention can also come because it’s a force, an employee leaves, your building is sold, your neighborhood makes big changes, the barrier to entry becomes huge in your locale, a large client goes a different direction. Any number of reasons could push you to reinvent yourself.
Recreative has gone through many reinventions ourselves, from humble beginnings in a basement apartment on Long Island, only serving those I met on the train, to a full time business in Connecticut primarily focused on senior living, to the current iteration, our bold design era in Kittery, Maine. Though significantly less dramatic than many of the forces above, they were reinventions none the less.
I’m a bit of a ‘jump and the net will appear’ type of person. Of course, I’ve always made plans for any big moves I’ve made, but ultimately I believe in myself and the work I do. When I made the move to CT from NY, it made sense for me as an individual, but I saw the portrait photography side of my business disappear into thin air. This was a natural progression, both from a location standpoint but also from what I wanted to do. From CT to Maine was a sort of accidental reinvention, but a reinvention nonetheless. Recreative went from a 600 square foot mill space in Winsted, Connecticut with five employees, to a work from (my parents) home in Maine with three employees, spurred on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Once moving myself and the business to Maine, I started strictly as a WFH business (as most businesses were in March of 2020), to renting a coworking space in Portsmouth, NH, to moving to Kittery’s Foreside neighborhood, in the heart of downtown Kittery. These were all physical moves, and not reinventions, but with each move I settled in a bit more to who Recreative really is.
If you’re looking for your own reinvention, think about the reasons why–Will it help your business? Are you stuck in a rut you don’t know how to get out of? Do you just like the idea of change? Is your business suffering or not doing as well as you’d hoped? It’s your business – so at the end of the day you do what you want with it. Reinvention can be small steps that lead to a big change, which will hopefully change your business for the better.
We’re reinventing ourselves again soon. Any design studio will tell you the same, each day we learn and grow from the things we see and interact with, your business should do the same.
More soon. See you on the flip side.
