The brand ‘GuysGirl’ was born a decade ago. But after some recent career decisions, I was left in a tough spot of what to do with the future of a blog that lead to a work from home gig. I have a pretty good idea of where I want to go but I also want to hear from you on the changes I have coming up. VOTE in the poll at the end of this post. 

At the end of football season in January (for the Jaguars, at least) I like to audit my schedule and see if I can measure the mental/financial ROI of where I spent my time for the last year.

But after choosing to leave radio at the end of December and my first international trip scheduled in mid-January; that audit took a bit more time than anticipated.

I thought by avoiding non-emergency work during an 8-day excursion to Peru would clear my mind and allow for greater clarity to decide on the next phase of my career.

I mean, just look at this hopeful life update video recorded the day before we left.  

Who is this person that now vlogs.

But the trip only complicated my planned next phase:

  • Will my voice still be credible if I’m not part of a perceived legitimate platform?
  • Will I be OK not getting the media perks I had become accustomed to? (SN: this sounds super egotistical but some of them perks are pretty damn legit!)
  • Though it’s never been my intention to portray it this way, the “GuysGirl” name will likely be seen as sexist sooner rather later (if it isn’t already). Should the brand evolve regardless?

My nostalgia for the baby blog which had grown into an adult company created more doubt which crippled my auditing and creative skills. How can I stare at a GuysGirl koozie in the middle of a Peruvian rainforest when it was that brand which got me here in the first place?

When I got back, I kept up the status quo by busying myself with client emails of their projects and goals. I could feel the anxiety building as we got closer to March and I still didn’t have a good plan for how I was going to tackle the next phase of my career. Hell, I’m speaking at a conference in May with Gary f**king Vaynerchuk and I have only a slight idea of what I’ll be discussing.

Then it dawned on me to do what I’ve always done: push through the creative block by ditching the distractions and controlling what I can control.

With the help of a couple of new podcasts,  I’ve built a new schedule and morning routine to tackle the most important item of the day, first. I’ve pledged to spend less and less time on social media and building communication boundaries with clients. Plus adding time blocks for things I should be doing but know they can be easily dismissed such as continuing education and analyzing my own analytics.

This isn’t a magic brush solution but it will help with the unique challenges self-employment brings with the importance of time management and how to have a productive morning.

The podcasts mentioned above that helped:

So what is next and why should you care?

I laid out the new ideas in my latest podcast…which will also undergo a rebrand soon. It’s only 10 minutes-ish long so give it a listen here:

In the coming months I’ve got:

  • Expansion to Digital Dispatch; which is my website dedicated to web design/development/marketing in the trucking and logistics industry.
  • Tweaks to the Brumleve Brands website to incorporate our new marketing/digital products STORE!! (more info on that coming soon)
  • GuysGirl→Bonjour rebrand + relaunch.
  • Preparing to speak/demo/attend at Freightwaves’ Transparency Conference in Atlanta.