It was time. It was probably past time, but I knew this year I wanted to make an investment in my business and there was an obvious answer I needed to consider. When I started Simple Local Life in 2015, I bought my domain name, got set-up and did a lot of DIY and figuring things out as I went. This has worked fine….but once I turned this little ole blog into a business, I knew there were a few things I needed to do. A Simple Local Life refresh was in order. 🙂

Simple Local Life has grown tremendously over the past few years and we are so thankful for this community and support. We love highlighting and celebrating life on the South Shore. We live in one of the most beautiful areas of the province, with some amazing businesses and people here.  How lucky are we? 😉

I’m going to be straight up and tell you that I made a couple of ridiculous attempts at a design and logo for Simple Local Life. I was just trying to cobble a few things together in the beginning…and then before I knew it 2 1/2 years flew by. If you have one of my old business cards…please accept my apologies…LOL! I quickly ordered those once right before I was attending an blogging conference. (I cannot believe I passed those out…good grief) I’ve learned a lot in the past 2 1/2 years…but I am still not a designer or expert. Luckily I knew some people who were.

I reached out to Meg from Skysail Brand last fall when things were going crazy and I needed some advice. After a business coaching consult, I asked her to set up a time in the new year so we could begin working on some branding for Simple Local Life. It was a relief and a challenge at the same time. Deciding on colours, fonts, logo design, website theme….oh my word…none of this is my strong suit…and they all felt like major decisions. But, I am so happy…and relieved…to have this done and couldn’t be happier with the results. 🙂

Simple Local Life will continue to as a place you like to come to grab a recipe, get some gardening advice, and enjoy with your Sunday Morning Coffee. 😉 We will keep celebrating businesses here and love sharing what is happening as far as festivals and major events. Of course our Facebook Live’s with our sponsors are a big part of what we do and our views and reach on these continue to go up each month. Wow…who knew live video was going to be such a game-changer?

It was exciting last year to begin to add contributors to Simple Local Life. Vicki joined us and continues to share much-loved recipes twice a month, and recently Margaret has begun sharing her writing and thoughts on zero waste living. They inspire me, and I know many of you as well. Adding both Vicki and Margaret, came about out of desperation…and a conversation. I’d like to say it was a well thought out plan…it wasn’t…but it seriously could not have worked out better.

Simple Local Life has developed into more than a blog. If I was honest with myself, building Simple Local life into a media company, with contributors and sponsors,  was something I imagined and dreamt about from the beginning. I’ve shifted my thinking from looking at myself as just a blogger, to seeing myself as a content creator, writer, business owner and entrepreneur. I have some pretty big plans and goals that I am working towards and I am so thrilled to be doing this work I enjoy and love.

So we’ve updated our website to have a fresher look. We have new colours and a logo to reflect our South Shore focus. We even have some merchandise we are giving away  to celebrate our brand update and Simple Local Life refresh.

None of this would be possible without YOU! My readers and followers are the ones who have allowed Simple Local Life to grow and be successful. Every comment, share, message, suggestion, visit to a sponsor, etc…are a huge help…and contribute to us being able to produce content each and every week. Thank you…thank you…thank you!

I’d love to hear your thoughts on the new look! What are your favourite things that we do? Have ideas for a topic or series you would like to see cover? Places we should try to get to? Leave a comment and let us know.