Sometimes You Gotta Know When to Fold 'Em

This is going to be a tough one. I'm pretty sure I warned you all that not everything was going to be rainbows and butterflies on this here blog.Well...case in point:

Over the past several years, I have been thinking about, creating and developing an idea for a website that would help grow and support the creative community. I quit my day job, invested money, time and passion and excitedly embarked on this incredible adventure.

Today, I am sad to report that I am pulling the plug on that adventure. As many of my friends and family will confirm, I've done my best to keep the project under wraps thanks to some legal advice early on. Trust me when I tell you this is not the way I imagined sharing my idea with the world.

Localivity, which is a fully developed website at the moment, was built to become the newest platform for funding and collaborating on creative projects and ideas.

I know what you're thinking: isn't there a website already out there doing something similar? Yup. There are a few. However, Localivity was set up to take a different approach. The goal was to support local creativity (hence the mash-up name of Localivity) by putting projects into geographical hubs. In my mind, you are where you live, work and play -- whether you like it or not -- and your community can play a big role in the success of a project. Localivity also offered a unique collaboration feature where people could come together to work on a project based on their skills, talents and offerings.

So why am I folding the business? Well, for many reasons. The bottom line is this: I ran the numbers, assessed the market, came to terms with what 'closing up shop' would look like and made the best business decision for me and mine.

While I tried hard to take emotion out of the decision-making process, I couldn't....and that's okay. To come this far and have to make a decision like this is heartbreaking, but overall I'm actually pretty okay with it. Starting a business is always risky. I knew going into this that it might succeed and it might not. Fiscally, it didn't succeed, but the venture was far from a failure. I learned more than I could have ever anticipated and for that, I am so grateful for my decision to jump in with both feet a year and a half ago.

I truly believe the website was and is a great idea and could be a success...just not with me at the helm. I'm not sure it'll ever get to the point where someone else would come in and take it over, but I'm leaving all options on the table at this point.

Looking forward, I plan to continue writing and editing on a freelance basis. I'm excited to expand my career options thanks to a newly....uh...wide open schedule.

The one thing I know for sure? Life is far too short not to continue changing, growing and moving forward; therefore, I will never stop taking risks. You can count on that.