The Story Behind Carol Colman Creations

For 20 years, I worked as a transportation and management consultant in the public and private sector. Then:

• My daughter was born and I inherited “the box” of unorganized photos from my mother. • I became passionate about creating keepsakes to preserve the documents that serve as touchstones for our memories. • I started a business focused on helping my clients create keepsakes using their photographs and memorabilia. • I began selling invitations as a fundraiser for a local organization.

These worlds collided when one of my invitation clients showed me a framed invitation keepsake that her older daughter had received as a gift. She asked if I could make a similar personalized keepsake collage for her younger daughter.

When I first saw the original framed collage, my jaw dropped. I couldn’t believe how beautiful it was – and what a great idea.

• Invitations are loaded with emotion – that’s why they make such powerful keepsakes. • I already knew how to interpret invitations, and the collage showed me how the spirit of an invitation could be captured in a work of art.

So I said, “yes, I would love to do this for you” and went to work. The design came together easily and effortlessly. Making it was a joy. Then my daughter Zoe wanted one for her own Bat Mitzvah invitation, and I was hooked. My original business, named Purple Raincoat (after my favorite piece of clothing) was born in 2006. Purple Raincoat remained active as a business on the side, while I worked part-time as a fundraiser for a local educational foundation. Then came 2009. I got laid off from my day job in August, and was working frantically to get a new one in the midst of the deepest recession since the Great Depression.

In December 2009, I fell on the ice and broke my right forearm, strained my rotator cuff, and basically broke my wrist. And, of course, I am right-handed. Not only did this put a crimp into my job hunting, it also made it impossible to work on collages.

But it got worse. In January 2010, my father slipped on a patch of ice inside his house (don't ask) and that was the end of his independence, which he sustained for 99 years. We needed to transition him to assisted living, which meant convincing him to give up the apartment he had lived in for 20 years (with all of its accumulated clutter, and he kept everything). I spent a week cleaning it out with one bad arm, finding thousands of jokes in my father's illegible handwriting on tiny notes. He had every greeting card (plus the envelope) that had been sent to him for 20 years, as well as the yarmulke from every Bar Mitzvah, Bat Mitzvah, and wedding that he had ever been invited to – there were hundreds. He also had the receipts from furniture that he and my mother bought in the 1950s. You get the idea - there was a lot of work to do.

At the same time, my daughter was finishing her senior year in high school and going through the college application, acceptance, and decision process. And I needed a job to be able to pay her tuition. College was on the front burner. Collages were definitely on the back burner.

Zoe graduated from high school in June 2010. Shortly thereafter, I was offered a consulting position about one mile from my house. Purple Raincoat went on an even further back burner - I did the occasional collage, but couldn't really spare the time for marketing. My father passed away in late July. Zoe went off to school in late August, and I started my job in early September.

Fast forward to spring 2012. My day job felt secure and I was itching to get back to working on collages and promoting my business, with the hope that I could build a business that could become my full-time job by the time Zoe graduated in 2014.

I found advisors I could trust, did some soul searching, and began the rebranding process in my "spare" time, which was pretty spare until... September 2012. My rebranding work was coming along. My daughter was beginning her junior year in college. One day, I got called in and told that my day job was being eliminated immediately. Suddenly, there was plenty of time for my collage business. The Universe was sending me a message, and I listened.

I dedicated myself to doing the work required to rebrand, which would make it possible for the business to “kick it up a notch.” In the beginning, I was pretty attached to the Purple Raincoat name and brand. As I got more into it, however, I learned more about what made creative businesses successful. Most of them were using their names and personalities to distinguish their brands. It became clear that for people to know, like and trust me, I had to give them access to me. And the best way to do that was to” take off “the Purple Raincoat.

Although I felt a bit naked at first, with support from my branding advisors I found myself willing to throw my whole self into making my business authentic. Now my business has my name in it, my signature in the logo, and my face on the brand - how much more out there could I be? Every word on the website and the blog is written in my voice. I design every piece of artwork, using my individual eye and my experience.

In November 2012, I launched the rebranded website for my business, Carol Colman Creations. That's where you'll find my beautiful collages and my dedication to customer service, all wrapped in an updated, more sophisticated package: a beautiful new website and blog.

• Website: www.carolcolmancreations.com • Blog: http://carolcolmancreations.com/blog/ • Follow me on Twitter: @carolcolman • Like me on Facebook: facebook.com/carolcolmancreations • Follow me on Pinterest: pinterest.com/carolcolman • You can also find me on LinkedIn: Carol Gurvitz Colman, Carol Colman Creations

Your memories are my business. I look forward to the opportunity to create something beautiful for you!

January, 2013