This is no news to you: I took a couple of months off from this newsletter. But here I am, getting back on the horse/bike/bandwagon (pick your metaphor) at a time when I would expect myself to want to be quiet and mourn the future I was anticipating. While what I was hoping for didn’t happen, I found it a good time to put my head down and focus on the work at hand. That includes figuring out what I want to do with this space.

Here’s a roundup of every candle I’ve ever recommended in my newsletter.

I was recently enjoying my nightly scroll through TikTok when I stumbled upon a user who was starting a fresh account with only one goal in mind: to read all of the books on the brand-new 100 Best Books of The 21st Century from The New York Times. She’d already read book 100 and not enjoyed it, but was so far having a better time with book 99, Bel Canto by Ann Patchett (no surprise there, who doesn’t love her writing). It got me thinking—while the furor around the list seems to have come and gone, it was still rubbing me the wrong way, and this account exemplified some of my feelings.

It’s that time of year in the U.S., a time that so many in our nation dread, yet is also so important: election season.

It’s a time that seems to divide so many of us, but I want to think about something that unifies us all. Our system is built so that we all have a voice, and I believe that if you don’t use it by voting, you are failing a civic duty.

Alas, today I write to tell you some news: I’ve come down with a fever. Not just any fever, but one that shall last a month and afflicts me every two (or four) years.

I kid, but a lot of us may be feeling this way right now as we sit and enjoy the Paris 2024 Olympics each day.

My family recently went through a major upheaval when my grandfather passed away, and I suddenly found myself trying to get work done while also having a major moment in my life happening in the background. It’s as if I was sitting there, on a call, while chaos was happening in slow motion over my shoulder. I wanted to stop and fix it, but I knew I also needed to continue forward. We can’t just pause life, and, man, that’s tough sometimes.

Today I'm honored to be sharing a guest post from my new biz buddies at MemoryFox. They are a company making waves in the nonprofit and social responsibility world with their innovative new technology making it easier than ever to capture meaningful video messages from your constituents. Carly, their marketing manager, shares some special insights below on why video storytelling is so important in this day and age.

In the realm of annoying online business advice (of which there is a voluminous amount, most fictitious or major oversimplifications), one piece that I somewhat believed all along was that if you can come up with a good enough online course, it will just sell itself, becoming the mythical ~~passive income~*~* that we all dream of.

To celebrate my birthday, I took real advantage of that freedom that I’ve given myself and decided it was time to take a girl trip to collectively celebrate our special year at our favorite place…Walt Disney World.

I know, I know. Some of you are rolling your eyes or thinking you could not think of anything worse. But for me, it’s exactly the opposite.

There, I get to embrace my inner child and say thank you to her for all of the ways she shows up for me in daily life.

This week alone, I will have written six newsletters. That doesn’t include the one I’m writing now.

You may wonder, how do you write so many and know they are all different enough? That you don’t write the wrong voice for the wrong client?

One problem seems to be a perennial issue for myself and my clients: Doing something for yourself is so much harder than doing it for someone else.

I still believe in the good of social media.

This statement feels radical nowadays when the mere mention of social media typically draws a look of disgust and our government is trying to dismantle social platforms.

As all of us so-called grown-ups face down Tax Season, I’m reminded of one subject I feel passionately about: There is no better money spent than on your own peace of mind. And yes, I mean peace not piece. I give you those bi-weekly (for free no less!), but the other kind is worth its weight in gold.

Did you know that some of the movies we see as seminal classics were failures when they were first released?

This could be true of so many films, but in this case, I’m thinking of some of the first films many of us enjoyed, those Disney classics, like Bambi, Fantasia, Dumbo, and Alice in Wonderland. These are just a few that almost plunged the studio into bankruptcy. Now, we think of them as seminal works of animation that show the beautiful touches of Walt and other key artists like Mary Blair and the Nine Old Men (despite some of the problematic themes that emerge within them).

When I became a small business owner, I knew I’d never have job security as it’s traditionally known. No one can ensure that a client will work with me as long as I would like them to, that they can afford a price that gives me security, or that I won’t have up and down months. I can work to mitigate them through my business model (see my newsletter last month about working on a retainer model), but these are all hard truths I’ve come to accept.

I get asked often how my retainer system works. This commonly comes as a surprise to me, as agencies in the entertainment world frequently use them, but as I expand my horizons, I’m learning that this is a new practice for many. So here I am, writing this email!

I’m back with another edition of Marketing I’m Obsessed With, this time about none other than the Queen of Christmas herself, Mariah Carey. Is “All I Want For Christmas Is You” my favorite Christmas song? No, that would be “Little Saint Nick” by the Beach Boys, but it is up there, and there’s little argument to be made that it hasn’t given Mariah an unexpected career turn in recent years.

As is expected with the theme of the season, it’s a time when I become particularly introspective and really think about all of the things that I’m grateful for in my life. Originally, I was going to write this newsletter about gratitude in marketing, and how it can increase your audience’s affinity with your brand and naturally share your authenticity.

Why am I listing out all of the major moments of silence that I regularly partake in? It isn’t just to make the parents of my readership jealous, I promise. It’s because I’ve started to realize how important that silence and stillness is.