Site Name

What is in a name?

We own several websites and chose the names for all of these sites very quickly. Within a day or two we had completed our research of available names, registered the domain name, and were up and running. We did not rush the process, but took the time we needed to determine the best site name that met our requirements and matched the concept of the website. Most of the time we had this process completed within a couple of hours from start to finish.

Choosing the name for this project was very different.

In our culture the word small has a negative connotation, it is a derogatory term in many ways that is used to minimize or reduce the importance of an object or person. Bigger is better is the mantra of our society, where the norm is for bigger cars, bigger T.V’s, bigger meals, and bigger businesses.

We compare the size of our possessions with those of our friends and families and cast judgment based upon these results. We believe that the person with the 60 inch T.V. is more complete and more successful than the person with the 15 inch. Our small things are insufficient, not worthy of the attention and respect of our fellow mans large stuff.

So if this is true, then why did we choose the name My Small Life for our website?

There is not a short or easy answer to this question, and thus the difficulty we found choosing the name for this website. There were many reasons we felt this name was appropriate, but in the end we simply felt it resonated with us and described our life’s purpose and the lifestyle of our family.

1. My Small Life is our family’s small business. It is a business dedicated to providing Personal Development resources for those interested in changing their lives through articles, eBooks, online courses, hands-on workshops, and one-on-one coaching. We want our business to remain small so that we can continue to provide high quality, caring, personal service to our clients. So much in our society is without authenticity these days and we want our business to be different, we want to give our clients a chance to get to know us personally and to provide real value by remaining small.

2. Both Sean and Gina came from corporate careers, Gina having spent 16 years as a Pharmaceutical Sales Rep. and Sean an equal amount of time in Management positions. The credo within these organizations was growth and getting bigger for bigger sake. We gave up our careers because these messages no longer meant anything to us other than more hours with fewer resources. We chose to change our lives, to remove ourselves from the corporate environment, and to embrace our small life.

3. Seth Godin wrote a remarkable book in 2006 titled “small is the new big” that discussed why being big is no longer an advantage. At the time we were considering making major changes to our lifestyle, namely, to leave our big business careers for a simpler life. The themes in the book struck a chord with us and helped shape our decisions during the next couple of years.

4. Another book that shaped our business thinking was Chris Anderson’
“The Long Tail” which is a manifesto for small internet business owners and we believe will prove central to the movement’s taking place to reduce, simply, and improve the quality of our lives.

5. The decision to change our lifestyle has a foundation of embracing that which is small, to abandon the big house, the big cars, the big consumption, and the big hours at work in favor of a simpler life. This transition from big to small represents a chance for our family to reconnect, to share this time we have together that is precious and fleeting, to follow our passions, and to chase our dreams. We lived a ‘big life” but found that it did not provide the balance we needed, and in a larger sense do not believe that “big” is sustainable.

So, for all of these reasons we think that My Small Life fits. In Romeo and Juliet Shakespeare wrote, “What is in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet”. In the end it matters not what we call our website, it is the substance that is important. We are committed to sharing our journey and sharing our pursuit of personal development with anyone that is interested in getting their financial lives in order, designing a lifestyle to meet their needs, or finding ways to live a healthier and happier life. We are glad you found us, welcome!