issue #142 The first false spring has come and gone, and we're officially into the third winter in our little more-cows-than-people corner of Western New York. This basically means the weather is cold, snowy, rainy, or muddy every day, and there is nothing to do. We don’t get much of a spring up here - it’s winter, then rain, and BAM, summer appears. So, in the meantime, Kyle and I have been filling our evenings with one of our favorite pastimes. Roasting the shit out of people on survival...
11 days ago • 6 min read
issue#141 Q1 was probably one of the hardest seasons of business I’ve had in a long time. Maybe you can relate? I know a lot of us were seeing fewer inquiries and sales, which meant everyone kicked things up a notch and pivoted strategies in real time. I can honestly say that Q1 made me think more about multiple income streams, side hustles, and getting a second job than I have in a while. I wondered if I would even make it out the other side of my rebrand. The root of the problem was I...
18 days ago • 6 min read
issue#140 I'm not saying that one week changed everything in my business, but it absolutely created a major shift in my creativity and gave me the momentum I needed for the final push on this rebrand. Since taking the week before last to focus solely on my brand, I've: Finalized my messaging Ideated updates for my lead magnets Beta-launched my Brand Brushstrokes offer (which has been my best-received offer to date—two new clients in the first 10 days, plus a handful of leads in my CRM - 2...
26 days ago • 4 min read
issue #139 I soft-launched my brand illustration-only package, "Brand Brushstrokes," in last week's newsletter and signed the first of four beta testers that same day - but what happened next revealed something I've been noticing for years. By Wednesday, my first beta tester, Ash, was in my DMs with second thoughts. For some context - the Brand Brushstrokes offer gives you three custom brand illustrations & a pattern... with an option to add on a brand identity refresh, including an updated...
about 1 month ago • 4 min read
issue #138 Quick Disclaimer! If you already got this newsletter, MY BAD! I missed a link, tried to edit - and somehow canceled! Let's try this again! I've never NOT been booked & busy. Not since I launched Cedar June in 2021. Sure, I've been fortunate with client referrals flowing in like clockwork. And yes, I've said yes to projects that weren't 100% aligned but still taught me valuable lessons (and paid the bills in the meantime... amiright?) That is, until now. I have the entire next...
about 1 month ago • 6 min read
issue #137 I was pretty clueless the first time someone asked me to build them a website. But like most things in my life, I figured it out — taught myself Kajabi, translated my design aesthetic into a website, and called it a day. 21 websites later, you couldn't pay me enough to build on Kajabi — and now I definitely know what I'm doing. Yet somehow, teaching myself a new platform over the last few weeks has felt like being a beginner all over again. 😅 When I first met with Pamela at Painted...
about 2 months ago • 6 min read
issue #136 "Your brain can't go from managing a to-do list to creating - it's too far of a jump... You can't expect yourself to manage two businesses, be a mom, and still take care of yourself all inside your head." That's the truth bomb I dropped on my brand bestie client via our weekly Zoom earlier this week. It was no wonder she was feeling scattered and stressed when she was trying to hold all her brilliant ideas, client projects, content creation, and family responsibilities in her mind...
about 2 months ago • 6 min read
ISSUE #135 "Can I have my cake and eat it too?" The copywriter on the other end of the Zoom audience research call I was conducting was wrestling with something I've seen lurking in my SEO research for years... A question and struggle that has come up time and time again—collecting digital dust under my content ideas tab in Notion. How to balance your personal & professional brand. More specifically: Whether to build a polished, "professional" business brand that appeals to established,...
2 months ago • 4 min read
ISSUE #134 I was sitting at the table in our little blue kitchen on Cedar Street, greeting Kyle as he took off his boots. He still hadn’t taken off his coat when he uttered a sentence I don’t think I will EVER be able to forget. “ I decided today that it’s just going to be easier for us to knock the kitchen down, but the foundation is good so we can rebuild on the same footprint”. But I’m getting ahead of myself here. Depending on how long you’ve been on my list, you may or may not know that...
2 months ago • 4 min read