I’m Back…(Or, How I Had To Stop Writing To Find My Voice Again)

I haven’t written a post or uttered even a single word on this blog since March of this year (about five months ago for those of you keeping count).

I have broken every imaginable rule of blogging…even and especially the ones I espouse (writing an absolute minimum of two posts/week, don’t even have a blog if you can’t feed it with content and on and on). I haven’t disappeared, because I am still running my business and my life on a daily (and I might add pretty productive!) basis.

But I have disappeared from my blog, from the blog that bears my name, and in my marketing mind, there is no good reason or excuse for that. Ok, there are some good reasons.

The truth is I have been on a ride. A major ride called LIFE. A ride I may have allowed, in some ways, to pass me by over the past 10 or 15 years as I built my business, gave  birth to my two kids, cooked dinner, paid bills, changed the oil in my car and went grocery shopping.

Those of you who know me personally know I have had lots…and lots…of changes in my life this year. And without exception, ALL of them have been amazing and wonderful changes. But big life changes nonetheless. In the interest of full disclosure and in no particular order:

My husband of 13+ years and I decided to split. It has been a totally amicable and, as much as this is possible, easy split. No lawyers, no nastiness, no ugliness. We are great friends, live 5 minutes apart and will continue to be the best parents we know how to be to our two kids.

Of course, it has been a transition period/phase and on in which I have tried to be more focused than usual on my kids.I am enormously grateful for the way this situation has played out and appreciative of every moment and every lesson and every laugh I have shared with this man. Given the choice, I would do it all over again the very same way and choose only this man as the father of my kids.

I made the decision at the end of last year, around the very same time, to give up an ongoing 4+ year fight regarding a trademark on the corporate name Get It In Writing. Someone with a company of the same name was consumed (some say obsessed) with me and my company name. Apparently, his trademark application was rejected while mine was accepted years back. From the reams of arguments and papers he produced, seems like he spent day and night fighting this and trying to get “his” name “back” from me.

While he spent what seemed like all of his time and energy on this, I was continuing to build my business, serve clients, make money and, oh yea, raise my kids too. And I was paying a lawyer very good money to fight this nonsense while he showcased his seemingly extensive knowledge on the way trademark law works. (FUN stuff, let me tell you!)Truth is/was, I could not have cared less if we shared the trademark or, quite frankly, if I didn’t have it.

To this day, I do not understand what he or his company does (doesn’t seem like much, given the massive amount of time he must have devoted to this non-issue). And if I did actually understand it, I probably would have done my best to refer him some business because that’s just how I am.

So late last year, after the latest round of tree-killing nonsense arrived on my desk, I sat myself down and saw it all very clearly: A total waste of my time and valuable energy. A total negative in what was mostly a very positive life and business. A road to nowhere. I mean, what was “winning” or “losing” in this case? And clearly, this guy wanted the Get It In Writing name waaay more than I did. I had my business and my name regardless of a trademark or any legal B.S.

And his ongoing assault on me? It wasn’t personal. It was/is something in him. I will let karma and his journey work that all out — not my problem!

This decision lifted a huge and ongoing weight from me. More importantly, it had me face something that I had previously avoided and had some fear around: My own name. As a corporate entity, I was not an I, I was a “we.” I was “A Company.” I had a team and we were all part of this thing. I was someone who had to “act; serious and professional and business-like.

Right?

Or so I thought…

This decision, along with some other “stuff,” prompted me to finally be ME. To introduce the Allison Nazarian my friends and clients knew to everyone. (The one who loves Howard Stern, the NFL and anything with the name Seth Rogen or Judd Apatow on it.) And of course, to continue growing the copywriting and consulting side of my business (whatever the f**k the name of it was) and also to start focusing on the speaking and coaching I really wanted to do. And to start thinking again about how I am going to continue writing books, which is one of the things that really gets me jazzed.

(Meanwhile the other dude, still apparently with tons of anger and lots of time on his hands, continues to be really weirdly into everything I am doing. Reporting me to Facebook because I use the Get It In Writing name. Asking GoDaddy to take my sites down for trademark infringement. It’s amazing how meaningless this becomes once you remove the emotion and meaning from it. Just wasted effort on the part of someone who has some real issues.)

So…I played with some names and finally, after some trial and error and “sleeping on it,” I am going with Allison Nazarian Unlimited.

Because I no longer want any limits on myself or on the clients I work with. Because what I do and offer today may not be what I do and offer next year or the year after. And because it’s time my name had its coming-out party (even if lots of people have trouble with the name: Are you Armenian? Is that like Jesus of Nazareth? Are you related to so-and-so Nazarian?).

There’s more to say but I have way exceeded the 150-200 words I generally recommend to clients and bloggers as just the right blog length/word count. There’s actually much more to say and I will say it. Before I go, I want to thank all of you who have shown me love and support. Without you, this ride would have been a heckuva lot bumpier. So thank you. Yes YOU.

Stay tuned…

P.S. This blog entry — and this blog entirely, for that matter — is about ME — my entrepreneurial adventure, my thoughts, my life, my truths – ME. It is NOT a copywriting blog.