Change is Good
Have you seen those memes and posts going around describing symptoms of ADHD? They all fit me nearly perfectly (I’m never late), yet I’ve never been diagnosed nor self-diagnosed even having earned two degrees in psychology. So mayyyybe ADHD is the reason why I’m always reinventing myself, giving up on old projects and starting new ones, constantly updating my wardrobe and my style. I can never settle on one idea or one hobby. Here I am, changing things up again.
I get bored very quickly. I’ve had the Rou Rags business for four years now (really three since I haven’t done much of anything this year), and I find myself struggling to stay interested. In reading up on small business tips and such, I’ve learned that you’re supposed to have a cohesive vision and a “look” for your brand and post post post! That just doesn’t fit me. My art and designs and styles vary wildly and I want to share all of them with the world. I like to draw and create and paint and make. I love trying new techniques.
It’s time to make my “brand” fit my personality. Welcome to Sarah Rou Design, where literally anything goes. Do I design shirts? Yes. Do I draw? Yes. Do I have a really neat Skoolie? Also yes. Am I obsessed with Gillian Anderson? Huge yes. Will I be sharing all of those things on my Instagram? Absolutely. I will also share pictures of my animals and maybe some selfies and vacation pictures. This is not the place for a curated feed that invokes a feeling or an ideal lifestyle. If you like reality, I might be your jam.
While I will still be designing shirts, I will not be printing them myself. It’s very time consuming and not exactly profitable. I do enjoy the printing process, but not to the degree that it takes to have a business. For the foreseeable future, I will be using Bonfire to sell shirts. Shirts will be sold in “campaigns”, similar to how I printed my shirts in batches. The shirts they use are the same kind that I use, so the quality is still there. I also sell merch over on Redbubble. I’m not sure yet how I’ll handle new designs, but I’m thinking I’ll sell apparel through Bonfire and other items such as masks and mugs through Redbubble. I’m not a fan of Redbubble’s print quality for shirts, so that’s why I picked Bonfire. Bonfire will also allow me to continue having fundraisers! It’s so much fun every year to raise money to adopt orangutans and I am happy to still have a platform to do so.
I have also switched my website from Wix to Squarespace. I don’t need the ecommerce portion of the website, so I intended to downgrade my plan on Wix. Unfortunately, their cheaper plans only come with 3g or 10g of storage. Womp. Squarespace’s cheapest plan costs less than Wix and has unlimited storage. Clear winner. I’m still deciding how much of the old website I will transfer over, but I’m leaning toward a clean slate. If it wasn’t obvious above, I love starting over!
I’m very pleased with my new logo, also. In Zen Buddhism, the enso circle is hand drawn and born of free-flowing movement. The enso represents enlightenment, strength, elegance, the universe, and the void. An open enso circle, like the one in my logo and the tattoo on my wrist, symbolizes the beauty of imperfection. Perfectly imperfect is exactly what this brand is all about!
Make sure to follow me on instagram, as that is where I will be posting. I switched Rou Rags to Sarah Rou Design, so if you were already following me, you’re all set! I’ll work on updating facebook, but it’ll probably just be cross-posts from instagram. I have two new designs coming out for the holidays! They’re updates of previous designs that were big hits. Stay tuned!
