I canceled personal plans and got as many meetings off of my calendar as possible so I would spend time focusing on absolute priorities and nothing more. My walls went up and it was time to “protect the asset.”

Why? I’m sick. I mean this in a literal and metaphorical sense.

If you haven’t figured it out by now, I’m a big nerd. I’ve always loved school and learning and am still connected to a handful of teachers who made a difference in my life. Feeling their continued support and seeing their joy at my success is something I will never forget each time I reconnect with them.

One of my favorite ways to wind down at the end of the day lately has been by watching the Baumgartner Restoration channel on YouTube. Watching someone take such great care to preserve these gorgeous paintings and all of the history they represent is soothing. With each painting, Julian, the owner/restorer always takes great care, but the thing that often stands out to me is that he always treats the back of the painting just as well as the front. As he delicately folds and tacks any extra fabric he often says, “It’s not required, but it’s how I do it, because I like to do it…paying tribute to the front by doing the right thing on the back.”

Los Angeles was recently hit by a hurricane. Depending on what part of the internet you live on, we were about to be hit by THE BIG ONE—or it was all much ado about nothing.

Virtual out-of-home (OOH, i.e. billboards, experiential) experiences are taking the marketing world by storm. Or maybe I should say by surprise? I’ll admit that as a digital marketer, I can get blinders on. I sometimes get to thinking that traditional marketing is dead, and brands should stop spending their money there. Then, the universe always seems to take me by the hand and show me why I’m wrong.

Today I'm so excited to share the very first guest article to appear in my newsletter! I hope to bring you more as I encounter exciting and new perspectives from other brilliant business people who have great insights to share. This one comes from Serena Manna, a colleague who is not only incredibly thoughtful in everything she does but also an inspiring entrepreneur. She currently works in the social enterprise space, which is something that I find myself constantly interested in and looking to join.

I’ll be honest: One of the worst and best parts of my business is that all of my clients thus far have come from referrals.

I recently spoke with a family friend whose business acumen and advice I greatly respect about my business and she gave me some critical feedback. “I still don’t totally get what you do, she said. “Make it even more obvious.”

Now, I bring you something different. I never thought that I would be the business owner who is asking you to download their free resource, but I thought wrong! On this journey of business ownership, I thought I would be someone who would grow through word of mouth, and because what I do is so personalized, I didn’t know how to create a resource to share with others.

I recently updated all of the copy on my website with the help of the amazing Theresa at Little Flame Creative.

This wasn’t just an exercise in sharpening my Squarespace skills (although it’s always good for me to continue to brushing up). It was the broader work of understanding my clients and what they need that drove me to this.

This past Christmas, I realized three things at once: I’m lucky to have such good friends and clients, MasterClass ran a good holiday deal, and, clearly, I’m known for loving to learn among those who matter to me.

At least a few times a month, I have clients who apologize to me for needing to reschedule something, not having a moment to review something, not getting back to me in a timely manner, or any number of other “problems.” My answer is always the same, “Don’t worry, I’m here to support you!”

Why are my clients apologizing to me? First, they are just kind people who respect my time as much as I respect theirs. Second, they are parents and they have bigger things going on in their lives than their work. At least 75% of my current and past clients are parents.

I recently tried an exercise of writing a letter to future clients I hope come into my life. Typically, this would not be my type of thing. While I sometimes believe it’s important to put things out into the universe, I would say that I don’t fall into the stereotype of the typical LA resident—I can’t tell you what your zodiac means, or if Mercury is in retrograde, and I don’t have any crystals in my home.

I used to think I wasn’t creative. If you asked me to design something my answer would be mumbles of, “Oh, no, no, I’m not a creative, you’d be better off with a designer. I’m a strategist.”

Often, my work asks me to copywrite, but I would tell people that I can write the core messaging, but you’ll need to tweak it. I’m a strategist. I’m not a writer, designer, artist: I’m not A CREATIVE.

Often, when people joke about corporate America and how horrible it can be, we joke about jargon: quarterly reports, net-new, to ping someone, and synergy—it’s so bad project management software company Asana even published a cheat sheet. But I’m here to tell you that when synergy works, it’s a beautiful thing, and all products end up cross marketing each other.

"It takes a village."

While this quote is typically about children (and I’m proud to be a part of a few villages, Auntie Maddie at your service), it really is universal. It’s about the things you are most proud of. Is my business my child? No. It’s nowhere near as precious as kiddos are, but it is the thing that came from me and only me. Not only that, but my services are a literal reflection of myself—what do you get when you work with Maddie Tudor Consulting? Me.