Sometimes in your business, and even in your life, you have to let go of things that you feel connected to in order to keep moving forward.

The relaunch of Indie Shopography has been a huge lesson in letting go. Purging. Streamlining. Preparing myself for what's to come by dropping some extra baggage.

Some of it wasn't easy, but I feel more free already.

The Great Reorganization

Seven months ago I realized my little web design business had hit a ceiling. I had just completed my first Indie Shopography ecourse, which had been a larger success than I'd expected, and I knew I needed to reorganize my business.

I couldn't take on more web design clients, as I couldn't work any more. I wanted to pursue the Indie Shopography branch of my business, but wanted to keep web design an option.

I needed to reorganize.

I spent months jotting in a notebook. I had sitemaps and webpage sketches. I had mindmaps of how I could bring all my businesses into one, or how I could divide them and still make sense.

Long story short, I hooked up with Braid Creative, and those ladies changed my life.

The End of emmarie

emmarie has served me well over the years. The name is a combination of my first and middle name - Emily Marie. I started using the name many years ago when I took my metal-stamped jewelry business from Etsy to it's own website.

emmarie Designs began as a jewelry shop and blog. A few months later it expanded to include emmarie Web Design, and when I shut down my jewelry shop a few months after that, emmarie Designs remained as the name of my blog.

emmarie is the foundation on which Indie Shopography was built. And we almost kept her alive.

While consulting with Braid Creative on how I would pull emmarie Designs, emmarie Web Design, and Indie Shopography into one business we almost kept emmarie. This site was almost called Indie Shopography by emmarie. This would have paid homage to my roots, remaining true to the foundation that I wanted to continue building upon.

But really, who was emmarie?

emmarie was sometimes a thorn in my side. She was me, but not me? She was needlessly confusing, and so we decided to drop her.

It was time for me to drop the shenanigans. Drop the needless name combo. It was time for me to make a name for myself.

So, welcome to Indie Shopography by Emily Thompson.

That's me. Emily. Plain and simple.

A Streamlined Service Offering

emmarie Web Design was founded - not so knowingly - on the principle of helping any small business who wanted to get online.

I've worked with swim schools, jewelry designers, property managers, wedding planners. I've done logos, informational websites, blogs, eCommerce, product photography. I've designed business cards, post cards, soap wrappers.

I was kind of all over the place.

Sometimes it's just time to commit to your calling and carve out a niche for yourself. (Click to tweet.)

When I started The Great Reorganization, I knew that I never again wanted to design another logo. I knew I could certainly live happily if I was never asked to design another business card. I also knew that I only wanted to work with creative entrepreneurs, like myself.

I'm not an all-encompassing graphic designer. I'm not a brand strategist.

I'm a web designer. I'm a web developer. I'm a web strategist for creative entrepreneurs.

I committed.

What I've Learned

Streamlining is fun. Purging all the I-don't-really-want-tos gives you the freedom to do what you really want. (Click to tweet.)

I thought I would feel guilty about ditching emmarie. I thought I would feel icky about removing services from my business model.

What I really feel is relief. Sweet, freeing relief.

What about you? Are there any things in your life and/or business you feel you could benefit from ditching?