Hello all!
A shorter note today—mostly to let you know I'm off on my publishing break and will be back in your inboxes early September.
This is my second year taking planned publishing breaks (one in August and one in January), and wow I'm so glad I do.
This time of year is when certain kinds of creative energy dip for me and I have a strong desire to pull back, review the landscape of my business, and make necessary adjustments before things speed up in the fall.
I tend to do “business development” stuff on my publishing breaks.
Here's what that looks like for me this summer:
- Business visioning & “ecosystem mapping”. What's the business I want 12-18 months from now and what do I need to start putting in place now to get aimed in that direction?
- Updating my website. I've spent the last two months casually making notes on the changes I wanted to make, and last week I started the process of updating my website page by page. I'm still playing with the design and page flow, but I've got an updated Home Page & Services Page. Working on FAQs, Values page, and my blog next. And of course overall copy editing and link checking (🤪).
- Entirely related: I'm learning about design! Big thanks to Sian Richardson's Summer Design Club. I'll hire help with branding/design in the next year probably (I've loved working with Anna Edell in the past)… but for now it's genuinely fun to learn more about this on my own. I want to learn how to visually communicate my ideas, especially now that I'm creating more presentations/handouts for workshops & speaking gigs.
- Onboarding admin support. I've hired an assistant! I could cry with joy! I started the year knowing I needed this sooner than later, and I'm so glad I was deliberate but unhurried in my search for the right-fit person. Prepping for our work together was… clarifying. It's helped me get more specific about what is and isn't worth doing, and what is and isn't worth growing. I value both of our time and energy too much to give us busy work.
- Developing a learning/workshop series. Hello Hi 👀! Cannot wait to share more information in September!
Basically, it's a lot of…
1. Checking in with my overall direction (what do you want & why is it important to you?)
And…
2. Setting up the routines, structures, and supports that'll help me grow in that direction (hiring support, updating my website & marketing materials, clarifying my services, adjusting how I use certain platforms, making it easy to pitch & promote the work I want more of…. etc.)
Directional clarity. Structural alignment.
Thanks the name of my game, folks.
>> Sidebar 💡
: Want help sorting this out for your own business? Book an intro call so we can chat about working together this August or September.
Looking forward to sharing more updates with you in September, including a few events I'm going to be a part of, interviews, and new workshops (!!).
Thank you for being here.
Take such good care,
