Hey Loves,

I’ve been moving furniture around.

Not literally, although if you know me, you know I’ve been doing plenty of that too. 😂

I’m talking about The Office.

Elite Administrative Consulting has been getting a little renovation lately. Pages have moved. Some things have disappeared completely. Other spaces finally have names and purposes that actually make sense.

And somewhere in the middle of deciding what belonged at The Reception Desk, what needed to stay tucked inside The Desk Drawer, and whether I really needed an entire Planning Room, I realized something.

I wasn’t just redesigning a website.

I was making room for the business I’ve grown into.

Sometimes You Outgrow What You Built

There’s nothing particularly wrong with the old version of something just because it no longer works for you.

That’s something I’ve had to remind myself.

When we build businesses, we make decisions based on what we know at the time. We create services. We build websites. We develop systems. We make folders and forms and processes.

And then we grow.

We learn what our clients actually need.

We discover what we actually enjoy doing.

We realize some of the things we thought were necessary aren’t necessary at all.

And eventually, if we’re paying attention, the business starts telling us:

It’s time to rearrange some things.

That’s where I’ve been with Elite.

I Wanted It to Feel Like Walking Into My Office

One thing I knew I didn’t want was another virtual assistant website that simply said:

Home.
About.
Services.
Blog.
Resources.
Contact.

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.

It just didn’t feel like me.

Elite has always been about more than completing tasks. I love organization. I love systems. I love taking the pile of stuff sitting in someone’s head and helping them turn it into something they can actually manage.

But I also believe business can feel warm.

It can feel personal.

It can feel like somebody pulled out a chair and said,

“Come sit down. Let’s figure this out.”

So that’s what I wanted The Office to become.

You don’t just visit an About page.

You stop by The Reception Desk.

When it’s time to talk about working together, we head into The Conference Room.

When you want to see what I’ve been thinking about lately, you can pull up a chair at Shawana’s Desk.

And when you need something practical to help you run your business, we’ll open The Desk Drawer.

Suddenly, everything started making sense.

And Yes, I Deleted a Room 😂

The Planning Room sounded like a great idea.

Until I realized I was trying to create a purpose for it instead of it actually having one.

Whew.

There’s a lesson.

Because how often do we do that in business?

We create an offer, process, page, product, system, or entire ROOM because we think we’re supposed to have it.

Then we spend more energy trying to justify its existence than we would have spent simply letting it go.

So The Planning Room had to go.

RIP, girl. You were cute. 😂

But removing it made the rest of The Office stronger.

And that reminded me that simplifying isn’t the same thing as shrinking.

Sometimes removing something gives everything else room to breathe.

The Desk Drawer Finally Makes Sense

This might be one of my favorite parts of the renovation.

The Desk Drawer has become Elite’s resource library, a place where I can share the checklists, guides, templates, and tools that help business owners create a little more order behind the scenes.

And THAT feels right.

Because I’m not interested in creating resources just so I can say I have resources.

I want you to open that drawer because you need something.

Maybe you’re trying to get control of your day.

Maybe your week keeps getting away from you.

Maybe you need to sit down at the beginning of the month and figure out what in the world you’re actually doing.

There’s something in the drawer for that.

Take it.

Use it.

That’s what it’s there for.

Your Business Is Allowed to Change

That’s probably the biggest thing this little renovation has reminded me.

Your business doesn’t have to stay exactly the way you originally imagined it.

Neither do you.

You’re allowed to change your mind.

You’re allowed to rename things.

You’re allowed to discontinue something.

You’re allowed to build something new.

You’re allowed to realize that an idea you absolutely loved six months ago doesn’t fit anymore.

And you’re allowed to rearrange the furniture.

Because the goal isn’t to remain loyal to an old version of your business.

The goal is to build a business that supports the work you’re doing now and the work you’re growing toward.

That’s what I’m doing with Elite.

The Office isn’t completely finished.

Honestly, I’m not sure any office ever really is.

There will probably always be something I want to move, tweak, rewrite, organize, rename, or stare at for three days before deciding I liked it better the first way. 😂

But when I look around now?

It feels like me.

It feels like Elite.

And more importantly, it feels like a place where another business owner can walk in carrying entirely too much, put it down for a minute, and know we’re going to figure it out.

So welcome to the newly renovated Office, Loves.

Have a look around.

And if you need me?

I’ll be at my desk.

— Shawana