TO BE, OR NOT TO BE (or the story of our website)
“Let’s make a proper website,” one of us said, leaving the other two speechless. Yes, a website, with pictures and a portfolio, so the world could recognise us, and we could submit to its criticism, praise or indifference.
We started our journey three years ago. Imagine a real mix of shyness, skills still to be polished and perfected, and the will and boldness of youth. We couldn’t speak of our work without our pulses rising and at least one of us blushing all over their face. Sweet memories. We are long past that phase. Now we are in need of new challenges and new achievements. World, here we come!
“It’s not like the world is going to rush to talk to you or to put your services under a spotlight when you publish your website or Facebook page! You will have to run after it to get noticed,” we used to say to our clients who couldn’t make a final decision about their texts, and went over all the deadlines. And here we were feeling vulnerable ourselves — three copywriters who were faced with the necessity to state our values, publish our portfolio and describe what we do. It was time.
The first draft, written by one of us, came out three months later (a luxury we could never afford when writing for our clients). This is how we function — one of us creates a reliable foundation, inspiring the others to build on it. Another will take it to the “it’s soo great!” level of perfection and the last one will breath in the sparkle, which will make it a text worth sleeping on. And this is what we did, giving it time, attention, adding nuance and then sleeping on it a lot.
The question of “what to write and what not to” was answered easily — none of us thought of them as something unclear. For years, sometimes at very inconvenient and financially difficult moments, we have refused work on topics we have chosen not to write about. The importance that values have to you cannot be shown more clearly than when they’ve been paid for by giving something up, again and again.
Thinking of how to define our company and who we are was a much more difficult task. Should our slogan be about the quality of our texts, about our skills, or about something else? What makes a great text is something that we’ve continuously discussed among ourselves. At the end of the day, one might learn how to write by simply writing every single day — this is how many aspiring authors became celebrated writers. But a good text is truly unimaginable without originality and great taste that comes shining through it. So, personality it was then. “Lovably different, strikingly sharp” was born on a road trip, as we drove from the fairytale forests of eastern Latvia to the nation’s capital Riga. It sounded unusual to us at the beginning, but after repeating it aloud many times, we saw that it fitted well. It’s ours.
They say that it is impossible to ever really finish doing up your house. The same goes for websites. At some point, you just publish the version that you are most content with. And that will stand until you face this question again — to be or not to be? Do you dare to be born into a new, updated state, or will you remain in your old skin? The inconveniences of growth might be painful, but aren’t they what we all wake up for every day?
And, by the way, here is the website.
