2ND EDITION | ISSUE #159

There i was, standing on a little circular pedestal, with both of my fists under my chin & swirling like a little girl back and forth. But ya know, as a 31-year-old adult.

And just like that, I had officially checked “buy wedding dress” off my to-do list, and added it to the list of WINs inside my current 12 Week Year.

Now, if you know of the 12 Week Year by ****Brian P. Moran, Michael Lennington, you may have just tensed up a little thinking of all the trackers and weekly check-ins and the number of times you have tried and failed to keep up.

And honestly. Same. Don't worry. You can unclench that jaw.

This 12 Week year is an adaptation of the framework inside that book, with a sprinkle of the Artist's Way - as taught by my friend and Mentor Maegan Burke.

Without burying the lead, Mae is also our brand highlight this week, so keep reading if you want to learn more about her & her personal brand.

But back to the 12 Week Year. Mae’s version inside the Design Your 12 Week Year Workshop simplifies something I have always wanted to be great at, but really struggled with.

Goal Setting.

But more specifically, systems over goals for longevity.

So, on September 1st, I created a super simple plan for the next 12 weeks, before mapping out a daily habit tracker in the back of my LEUCHTTURM1917 hardcover notebook.

I’ve had three focuses since then (and until the end of November)

1. Money
2. Wellness
3. Stability

Within those three focuses are the daily habits that I track, including:

1. Walking 10k steps a day
2. Working on my money mindset & manifestation
3. Keeping a daily done list (instead of tracking my time)

I also have a morning stack and an evening stack that includes

1. 4 pages a day, ah la the Artists Way
2. 10 things I am grateful for (without repeating day to day, ah la Jillian Minter)
3. Chores around the house
4. AM & PM Skin Care

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All of these little things work together to help me to step into my next chapter so to say.

My next income goal.

And ya know. My wedding dress.

A wedding dress that was a lot more than I initially thought I was going to be able to afford.

So did my 12 Week year help me manifest my dream wedding dress?

I think so.

After 8 weeks, I’ve also reached my goal of booking out 3 months in advance.

Booked over 15k in revenue

And now launch my CCO week freebie

More than a resource, the CCO week is a creative system for making time for your own brand & goals.

Even if it is Q4 already.

Even if those goals are really big.

And even if you only have an hour a day.

what you get

5 Prep Emails (Nov 4-9) to help you choose your focus and block the time (Pick Your Track: Website refresh, offer suite clarity, brand strategy, or content creation)

5 Daily Challenge Emails (Nov 10-14) with guidance for 1-hour, 2-hour, or full-day work sessions

Progress Over Perfection: Done list templates and optional Instagram accountability to be entered to win a 1:1 Studio Sesh

And now on to the girl behind the version of the 12-week year that is helping me reach my 2025 goal of launching my website by the end of November. Maegan Burke (or maybe you know her as Mae) has built a personal brand that has given her the freedom to evolve and constantly be creating opportunities for herself.

She's a pitching queen, workshop extraordinaire, podcaster, consultant—you name it, there's a good chance she's done it in the digital space.

Her magic, secret sauce, whatever you want to call it, is that she has positioned her entire brand on her. Creating a personal brand umbrella with the space underneath to let her business and content-related projects ebb and flow.

Mae is her brand. She started out by building a community and is literal proof that a huge audience is not necessary. Just needing an engaged audience. Most people who follow her know her for her stories, and trust her because she shows up and talks to you as a friend.

She is radically “authentic” (a word that is becoming so overused) and adds value every time she opens her mouth. She owns her personal brand fully. It is probably my favorite thing about her and what I find the most inspiring. The level of unapologetic there means she attracts people that are aligned without even “trying” because she shows up in a way where that is the only option.

The girl has even sold out multiple retreats from her newsletter alone.

In a world where there are SO many people telling you the right and wrong way to do things. Someone like Mae just creates her own rules. And guess what. It works.

Here are some of what you can learn and apply from Mae's brand to yours.

When it comes to personal brands, positioning takes on a different dimension.

Instead of positioning a product or service, you're positioning yourself—your unique combination of skills, experiences, and perspective. And unlike product-based brands that can pivot their positioning with a rebrand, personal brands need flexibility built into their foundation.

Mae's approach to personal branding shows how to create that flexibility while maintaining authority. By focusing on who she is rather than what she does, she's built a brand that can evolve without losing its core identity. Let's break down how she does it across three key areas:

Not sure what your plans are long-term? If you are someone who is constantly on the move, or in need of something new, and loves to educate and create offers that evolve over time. Then I hate to break it to you, but a personal brand is the way to go.

When your brand is just you. Your name. That means that your title. What you do. Is less important. Last I checked, Mae identifies as a “communications specialist”. But really. She is just really fucking smart. And I trust her. She is someone whose processes work for me and my brain, and that's all I NEED to know.

To do that. Mae creates a lot of content that not only showcases her authority. But shows you. From her stories to podcasts, Mae’s POV is always front and center, communicated confidently, and you better believe you are going to learn something/ 10+ things.

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Most of the time when we talk about identity over here at CJ we are talking about visual identity. And while I can take credit for helping Mae with a lot of her colors and identity choices, today I want to talk about a different piece of your brand identity. Your brand voice. Something else that your audience IDENTIFIES with you. I know that the line between brand strategist and copywriter can het blurry enough. So I don’t often mention copy related brand terms like brand voice. But Mae’s voice is just too good not to point out. Her brand voice is just as personal as her content and how she sells. Most of her audience knows her as someone who is not only bilingual but fluent in multiple languages. She integrates this into her brand voice, including “Hola! Bonjour. What’s up?” in her about page copy. The world hola is even a part of her business email. She also uses her name, Mae, as a play on words within her copy. As a person who is often on screen in stories talking one-on-one, her copy reflects that in its conversational tone, back-and-forth questions, and rhetoric.

So you want your brand to be more about who you are than what you do. So now what? Where do you start? One thing Maegan is amazing at is always flexing her resume and what she accomplished for who and when. As a fellow freelancer - I think it can be really easy to look at a project you did or job you had years ago and feel like because it isnt exaclty what you do now - you cant talk about. Maegan is a pro and zeroing in on the skills she had that helped x do y and translating that to how she can help you now. Keep your resume close to home. Your work experiences and your processes is what people are paying you for. You have to build that authority in order to have more creative freedom in the offers that you sell.