So...What's Next?!?

I Work for Concept Hub, Inc

I have been working on separating my "personal" brand from the Concept Hub, Inc brand.

The past 3+ year journey has taken me from the "idealist' brand who was bound and determined to create a company to simply the "Sherry Heyl" brand which I learned early-on that in such an adventure as this it is simply impossible to  separate the personal brand of the "visionary" from the brand they are trying to develop. I mean look at Steve Jobs and Apple, Bill Gates and Microsoft, Sir Richard Branson and Virgin (Airlines, Records...)

I am not saying I am a Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Richard Branson...yet :-)

However, each of their brands are separate from who they are. Bill Gates has slowly stepped away from Microsoft and Microsoft carries on. Unfortunately Steve Jobs has stepped away from Apple, and that did cause some heartache amongst many, but Apple will carry on.

No I am not saying I am stepping away from Concept Hub, Inc - but I am looking toward bigger visions - which I have from the beginning, but now I guess you can say I am mature enough to understand how to take things to the next step.

Throughout the years Concept Hub, Inc (formerly What a Concept!) was NEVER just me. I have had some amazingly talented people support me and work alongside of me throughout the years. Many have contributed to the corporate blog and have worked alongside me at client sites and contributed their knowledge and insights to  Concept Hub's products and processes. This agency has never been a one woman show.

Recently  Mallory Perkins has joined the team as our Account Manager. We are now partners with Fuzebox Inc and share office space with them. We have also formed partnerships with i3 Logic, iFive Alliance, and are in the process of a creating a couple more strategic alliances.

I would not say I have "aggressive" growth plans for 2009 - but I am ready to put together some aggressive growth plans to be implemented late in 2009. This includes separating the "Sherry Heyl" brand from the "Concept Hub, Inc" brand.

I am also toying with the idea of another business idea. Something that I have launched once before...which if you know my background - that is a pretty HUGE hint....I will let you know more as or if that thought continues to bloom or grow wings.

In the meantime - you can join the Concept Hub Facebook Group Here

Follow the Concept Hub Twitter updates here

Join the Concept Hub Flickr photos here

Join the Concept Hub ATL YouTube here (Yes I am thinking of a local brand and a national/international brand...)

Follow Concept Hub's Delicious bookmarks here

AND of  course the blog is still here.

Thanks everyone for all the support, guidance, belief, recommendations, and advice - even the advice I did not follow. I hope you will continue to stay on this ride with me.

Sherry Heyl,
CEO Concept Hub, Inc

I Need Help With My Brand

Let's start with the name What a Concept!

Here us the origin.

It is 1998. I am finishing my Marketing Degree and my husband is finishing his Interior Design Degree at FSU. In the 2 years we have been in our respective programs, I was the type who got my work done and turned it in "good enough" and he was the type who stayed up for 2-3 nights straight to make sure his projects were perfect so that they would be displayed as a work of art. Once he even reached the point of tearing his work up the day it was due because it was not good enough (and that is why I have grey hair today!)

His last semester (I still had one to go because I reached "over achievement" status by double majoring), his professors tell the class that their senior project is a retail space in San Francisco.  As far as the rest of the guidelines, they were lacking. This lack of information is not healthy for a perfectionist. (Pefectioanist? Yes even I wonder how he married me - opposites do attract apparently).

Me, being the young "idealist" had the perfect solution. An Xtreme Sports Restaurant - similar to Hard Rock but better.

He argued with me - the nerve! So I had to bring out some marketing data and challenge him to come up with something better. He went with my idea and for his final, senior, big-time project, he won best design and best concept.

Naturally I took the credit for the concept and my reaction..."What a Concept!"

The next thought was ...what a great name for a company. I figured I could come up with concepts for companies and he would provide the designs. It was perfect!

But then real life took over. He became a designer, I became a sales person.

But the idea and the name stuck with me through the years.

When I started getting the overwhelming urge to start this company, I knew I had to name it "What a Concept!"

A social media strategy can be as complex to launch as a many various new companies. The ideas worked perfectly.

What about the logo?

I was overwhelmed, lost, and confused. I turned to the only two things that help me when I can no longer help myself. Spiritual books and the ocean. 

I picked up a used spiritual/metaphysical book at my church. I no longer remember the title and I no longer have the book. It was one of many. My husband took me and the kids to the beach, leaving me alone to read my book. There was a line in the book. Something about how a single drop of water from the ocean contains all the properties of the ocean. The point it was trying to make is we all come from the same source; We are all made up of the same stuff.

I told my husband that is what my logo had to represent. A drop of ocean water.

This is what he came up with...

See why I married him!

Originally I wanted to promote small businesses and talented individuals - the under-privileged. Which is how I came up with the tag line "Taking Ideas, Innovation, and Talent to the Next Level." The problem was that I could not pay my bills by representing the under-privileged - but the dream/idea is still there.

Here is the current problem....

I was not able to incorporate What a Concept! because apparently there is a company in the area called What's the Concept. I also could not get the url, which is why I have the url www.empoweringconcepts.net - So I thought maybe Empowering Concepts was a good name, but there is a company that is called Empowerment Concepts, so that was not available to incorporate.

Tim Moenk and I received the call from the attorney recommending that we come up with another name. I know we were driving somewhere - not sure where. However, we started brainstorming, trying to describe who we were, what we represented. We were definitely about ideas - aka concepts. Concept had to stay in the name. We were also about relationships, networks....hubs - and so we came up with Concept Hub.

I am good with the name Concept Hub - I think it works on many levels.

However, it in no way ties to the current logo - or the tag line "Taking Ideas, Innovation, and Talent to the Next Level."

Fritz and I came up with the tag line - "Creating Your Competitive Edge" -I am still not sold on that - it is as exciting as "A Full Service Social Media Agency" which is at least more descriptive.

So - because of companies that do not have  the same name as What a Concept! or Empowering Concepts! and are not really making themselves well known, I am having to re-think my entire brand, and I have very little to work with...

Any ideas and helpful suggestions are welcomed.