That’s because I decided to collaborate with my brother Zach Hollatz, who is an incredibly talented website designer and developer (exhibit A: my website), during the summer. We’ve been secretly working on my new website design between my other client projects and months of travel.

I’m usually the first person to create a whole launch strategy around new website redesigns, but this time around, I wanted to drop it Beyonce-style.

Now you may be wondering… Kayla, why did you invest in a custom designed website when you already had a website that was working for you?

While we kept much of the copywriting the same, I desperately wanted a website that visually represented more of who I was and how my business had evolved. After two years, my website was in need of a minor tune-up rather than a facelift.

I traded my previous editorial black-and-white layout for fun pops of color and highly interactive features. Interestingly enough, I kept all of the same visual branding elements I created with Allison of AllieMarie Designs in February 2017 (including my logo, patterns, and beyond), but I added a few more custom illustrations and icons when collaborating with Zach.

01: I wanted to switch website platforms (Squarespace to WordPress)

Although the overall strategy and messaging of my previous website were working well (meaning it continued to bring me dreamy clients that I love working with!), I knew I wanted to invest in a website with more custom functionality.

This website project is a culmination of all the things I’ve dreamed of doing with my website but never had the opportunity to do because I was working from a limited template.

I want to preface this by saying that I still think Squarespace is a great website platform for many creative entrepreneurs, but my business grew to a point where I wanted to invest in a custom designed website. It was even more important to me as a website copywriter to have a website that wows my clients and shows them the possibilities of what they can create with their own websites.

I have all kinds of plans for what I would like to do with my website and the different pages I’d like to add to it, but in the meantime, I can rest easy knowing that this will be my last platform change. It feels so good to say that!

Here’s what my website platform journey has looked like:

• 2011-2013: Tumblr
• 2013: Weebly
• 2014-2015: Blogspot
• 2016-2018: Squarespace
• 2018-Future: WordPress

Are you tired just reading that? I sure am!

I’m sticking with WordPress now that I have the capital to invest in ongoing updates and custom designs that will enhance my business. I wasn’t there just a few years ago, but I am now and very grateful for it.

02: I am a website optimization enthusiast

I was about to give myself the title of “website optimization freak”, but “enthusiast” also fits. There is always room to optimize your website or anything for that matter.

While I was continuing to get compliments on my old website, there were a few key areas I wanted to improve that I knew would make a bigger impact:

Mobile Website Design Layout

Many of you know that with Squarespace, you are really limited on the kinds of changes you can make to the mobile design without it compromising the desktop version. I always felt like when I built my website on Squarespace, I had to choose which device I cared more about. When building my new website with my brother, he assured me that all of the things we wanted to do solely on the desktop version could be done while keeping the mobile version similar but more optimized. This was a clear win for me!

Blog Layout

For years, I salivated over custom blog designs that were hosted on WordPress. Squarespace blog layouts are very limited, meaning there aren’t many customizations you can make to your layout to have it look different from thousands of other businesses who use your same template. Since I started my business from my blog, I always dreamed about having a custom blog homepage with a “letter from the editor” intro and a quick-start guide. Now that I have it, I couldn’t be more thrilled!

Website Footer Design

While you can create great footers on Squarespace and WordPress alike, I never took the time to create a dynamic footer, yet I always coveted my friends who had amazing ones… *face-palm*. When I worked with Zach on the new website design, I told him that I wanted a grid-inspired footer that mimics the look of my business cards, but otherwise, he could run with it. He created something that I’m massively in love with, and it’s become one of my favorite features of the whole website.

Personality Factor

While my website copy has a dash of Midwestern quirk to it, my old website layout looked more editorial. It worked for me when I wanted to position myself for higher budget clients, but now that I’ve solidified my brand’s positioning, people are buying into me and who I am as a collaborator. Because of that, I want to bring more of that high-energy spirit and personality to my design. Zach and I brought out my personality primarily by creating custom icons and incorporating fun fonts that seamlessly fit together.

03: I was thrilled to collaborate with my brother (#AllTheFeels)

While I love the final product Zach and I created together, it was even more rewarding to collaborate with him on a bigger project. We’ve always had a special bond as siblings but having a project to work on together gave us an opportunity to bond even more.

As a solo entrepreneur who doesn’t outsource much of anything in my business (not even my taxes yet!), it was incredible to trust his BRILLIANT creative vision for the website and see him bring it to life. I gave him some direction with my overall website strategy, but the vast majority of what you see is because of his amazing talent.

I’m trying not to be too sappy in this blog post (because as a high-feeling Enneagram 4, you know I can go there!), so I’ll just end by saying that one of the biggest privileges of growing my business thus far is hiring my brother to work on my website. I couldn’t be more proud of him and the final product you see today. *wipes tears*

Okay, back to business. If you are loving the full design and build of my website while dreaming of having something similar for your own business, let’s talk about what a collaboration could look like.

My brother and I are opening select client spots throughout 2019 to work together on custom websites – including website strategy, copywriting, design, and development among other conversion and SEO optimizations. Click here to tell us more about your project!

The post Why I Invested in a Custom Designed Website as a Copywriter appeared first on Sindie.

I’m a creative entrepreneur who’s been learning entrepreneurship along the way.

I wasn’t an entrepreneur from birth. It didn’t sell gum on the playground. I didn’t mow lawns in the summer for extra money. I once organized a lemonade stand in my neighborhood, but when I say organized, I mean I made the lemonade and gave it away to people who stopped by. One of the biggest reasons I didn’t join team sports was to skip the door-to-door fundraising. Well, that and all the running I’d have to do.

Not only did I not want to think about money, but I also avoided numbers at all costs. Math and I… we didn’t mix. As you can imagine, this didn’t prepare me for the cut-throat world we like to call “the marketplace”.

But I’m here anyway, building a business I love and still exercising my creativity.

All of this is to say that if numbers are your foe, you’re not the only one.

But here’s the kicker: numbers don’t need to be your foe. In fact, they shouldn’t be. Maybe we just need to fuse more of our creativity into them and reframe our mindset. When I decided 2017 would be the year of financial literacy, I had no idea how much it would change my business, future plans, and overall wellbeing.

Me, the creative, saying numbers changed my life… go figure.

Here are a few key money mindset tips I’ve learned in the past year of getting my ish together. I hope they help you on the path toward financial freedom!

01 //  SET (AND WRITE DOWN) YOUR INCOME GOALS

I’m so serious about this one. I used to think I had income goals but then avoided looking at my bank statements. Face, meet palm.

Now I look at my income statement nearly every day, which I think is important in knowing how much you’re bringing in (and what’s coming out).

So how do you set income goals that aren’t scary? The first thing is to not choose just one number. Of course, it’s downright terrifying if you only choose one! If it’s too high, you’ll feel like you weren’t successful even if you did well that year. If it’s too low, you may not push yourself to reach your full earning potential.

I usually set three different levels to save myself from only having one number in mind. Here’s where I start:

• Floor goal: This income goal is the lowest amount you need in order to pay for your living expenses and all other basic needs.
• Desired goal: This income goal is determined by the lifestyle you’d like to live. It may not mean luxury, but it could allow you to take an extra vacation, meet friends for dinner every week, or invest in new equipment to add to your skill set.
• Reach goal: This income goal is the “dreamy” amount that you’d be over-the-moon happy with. While this goal is highly motivating, the other two levels ground us in reality so we know how to increase our profits over time.

If you want to read more about setting income goals and pricing, you can read through my post on How to Set Your Rates as a Freelancer on ConvertKit’s blog. #client #oneofthebest

02 //  UNDERSTAND THAT PRICING EVOLVES (AND WE DON’T ALWAYS GET IT RIGHT)

Some people operate under the “charge what you’re worth” motto but that feels a slippery slope toward an “I am what’s in my pocket” mentality to me. To take my identity out of work and money, I embrace another mantra: “No client should be excited to pay me.”

Okay, that seems like a joke, but really. If a client can’t wait for me to send them an invoice, it’s a good indicator that I probably priced myself a bit too low. Everyone does this from time to time, even the freelance vets.

Usually, I take this as my cue to revisit my pricing and understand where there’s room for growth. It helps to always stay tuned in to the reactions of your potential and current clients when you send proposals.

If you’re receiving multiple replies that say something along the lines of “we’re willing to stretch the budget for your talent”, you know you’re in a good range.

Oh, and I said excited to pay me, not work with me. There’s a difference there. A big one!

03 //  INVEST MONEY WHERE YOUR PRIORITIES ARE

How many times have you bought something only to regret it a few days later? My mind immediately went to the untouched crop top hanging in my closet and an unlit candle I’ve had for 5+ years. Le sigh.

By determining what your priorities are, you’re able to save yourself from impulse purchases because, as we know, they add up. First, write down all the things you enjoy spending money on. This can be a collection of things from your professional and personal life.

On the other side of your paper, write down the things you don’t really care to spend money on. Maybe these things are nice-to-haves, but you don’t have an immediate need or you’ve regretted the purchases in the past.

It’s even better if you can align your priorities with your business goals. Let’s say your top business goal is to grow your Instagram following. Buying a DSLR camera would help you meet your goal and would fall under your priorities category if you listed technology. Whatever you choose, make sure those stay top of mind as you invest in anything new.

The post 3 Take-Action-Today Money Mindset Tips for Creative Entrepreneurs appeared first on Sindie.

Good things come to those who wait, right?

Let’s just go with that.

I’ve been receiving SO many sweet emails from aspiring and new copywriters who ask me to mentor them or at least give them some tips on how to get started.

I always respond back, but sometimes I’m so flattered that I hardly know what to say. I’ve been answering emails and DMs privately for months now, but I wanted to start creating more a public resource for people who want to get started with freelance copywriting.

I decided to take five questions that I’ve received from different people through private messages and make my responses public so everyone can benefit.

Joyce: How do you get past the fear of putting yourself out there as a new freelance copywriter?

Before I began working as a copywriter, I published weekly blog posts for three years. Before that, I was sharing my (sometimes angsty) poetry online for hundreds of thousands of readers on a Tumblr blog. (If you look hard enough, you’ll probably find it… happy hunting!)

I mention this because it would be easy to say, “Well, I’ve always been good at sharing my work”, but it wouldn’t entirely be true. I had years of practice writing for myself before I ever thought about writing in someone else’s voice. This kind of practice is invaluable for writers.

That’s why I always recommend new copywriters spend time building and writing for their own personal brand before they start writing for others. This is how you’ll discover your style, build your expertise, cultivate a community, and start laying the groundwork for a successful business.

The more you understand the nuances of your own voice, the more skills you’ll have developed for writing in someone else’s voice. Your ideal clients will be the people who already resonate with the style of your voice, but they will bring a different tone, story, and mission that is unique to them.

To get past the fear of putting yourself out there, start cultivating your talent behind-the-scenes and share your work publicly. Just get started where you are and with what you have!

Faith: What is something you wish copywriters knew before becoming copywriters?

I would shout this from the rooftops if I could. Start detaching your value and worth from your work as quickly as possible. Seriously.

This piece of advice may seem odd, but when you work as a copywriter, clients will constantly be critiquing your work. Even the most talented copywriters receive edits from clients. It’s a part of the job, but it can be hard for some of us who are sensitive to criticism (like me!).

My friends and family know me as a highly sensitive creative who reportedly came out of the womb seeking approval. Maybe you can relate to feeling hyper-sensitive to the thoughts, emotions, and comments of those around you. But it doesn’t have to keep you from building a profitable, sustainable copywriting or freelance writing business.

The reason I recommend taking your value and worth out of your work is that you can’t go into a client project expecting perfection. This self-inflicted pressure is usually why most new copywriters either quit or never get started.

Be proud of the work you are producing, but don’t put your whole identity into it. Take it from someone who did and went through the roller coaster of a lifetime. I want to save you from that wild ride!

Helena: Where have you found most of your clients (outside of referrals)?

This is one of the most common questions I receive in my Instagram DMs! Here are some of the places I’ve been able to find clients. Some of them may surprise you!

• Good ol’ Google: Most of my client leads now come from Google, which is wonderful because that means my site is #winning at SEO. It’s also been a great selling point for my copywriting services because clients can see I know a thing or two about using keywords. *wink*
• Instagram Stories: Yes, that’s right. I’ve met some of my favorite clients not from my Instagram feed but instead from my (sometimes goofy) Instagram Stories. I share videos that show who I am, what I’m working on, how I’m building my business, and what a day-in-the-life looks like (even though it’s not glamorous at all). I’ve had a few clients say that my Instagram Stories sealed the deal when they were looking to work with a copywriter.
• Local groups and masterminds: When I had a consulting business, 95% of my work came from online relationships. Now it’s a little more 50/50 or 75/25, depending on the month. This is also great practice as you start to tailor your elevator pitch. The more you know how to sell what you do (in a non-icky way, of course), the better!
• And yeah, the rest are referrals!

Kelly: What are your best practices for choosing ideal clients?

Most people recommend niching down to a specific industry, which is a great move for copywriters who want to stay really specialized. It’s not good to be a generalist, but I’ve learned it’s okay to work with people in different industries, too.

Take me, for example. My most ideal clients are usually people who are visual creatives (like photographers, designers, artists, etc.), but I happily work in other industries too. I have a background in working with tech and SaaS companies, which I absolutely love throwing into the mix.

I’ve also found that working style and communication has a LOT more to do with how “ideal” a client lead really is. Too many of us focus on niching down in an industry rather than niching down audience characteristics. Both are important, but there’s always some wiggle room.

I learned quickly that I like working with people who are hands-on in the vision and voice development process, but who can also be hands-off when it comes to the actual writing process. I like to collaborate on items upfront, and then I like to be left alone to do my thing. It’s not a style for everyone, but that’s the point. It works really well for the right people, and that’s how I find the right clients.

I’ve had clients that say my month-long website copywriting process isn’t long enough since they are used to working with agencies that have a three month turnaround time. That’s fine! They just aren’t my ideal clients. The same goes for client leads who say my process feels too simple. It’s been streamlined for a reason!

Listen to what your client leads are asking for and see if it aligns with how you work. What you write is important, but I’ve found that the relationships and communication behind the writing can matter even more when you’re in the copywriting business.

It’s about the tangible product and the overall experience, so keep tweaking it until you find people who fit whatever your best work environment looks like. It takes some practice, but you’ll get there.

Read More: Digging Deeper Into Your Ideal Client Profile 

Obi: How did you determine what your copywriting style is?

I love this question! I often tell this story to new copywriters I mentor. When I was transitioning my consulting business into a copywriting business, I wondered if anyone would resonate with my style of writing.

Everyone around me seemed to fall into two categories of copywriting: (1) feminine, romantic, poetic, Mary Oliver-type copy or (2) sassy, explicit, in-your-face, no-BS copy. There didn’t seem to be an in-between at the time, so I definitely was an outlier.

I wasn’t overly witty or charming. I didn’t cuss, but I wasn’t necessarily super buttoned up and professional either. Instead of feeling like there wasn’t a market for my style of writing, I looked at the success of my blog as an indicator that other people loved what I was creating (which is another reason to write for your own brand first!).

To determine your copywriting style, you first have to accept that it won’t (and shouldn’t) look like anyone else’s style. If you try to emulate the way someone else writes, you’ll start to cultivate a style that doesn’t even feel like you. And who wants that?!

You will probably find that your style has aspects of different styles. For instance, my tone is very warm and welcoming (which I consider to be my “Minnesota Nice” charm rubbing off) but it’s also concise, purposeful, and story-driven. Oh, and I throw in a few goofy side notes to add some personality to otherwise educational, helpful content.

It’s a style that works for me, and I’ve been able to find 40+ clients (and counting) that it works for too. You’ll also be able to find a market for your style. Just keep cultivating your voice!

Record yourself speaking, ask your friends and family to look over your copy to see if it sounds like you, create your own writing project, find accountability partners as you begin to write, take yourself through your own brand voice development process… the possibilities are endless!

The post Ask a Copywriter: Freelance Copywriting Q+A with Minneapolis Copywriter Sindie appeared first on Sindie.

I’ve asked myself this same question over the last few years, and every season dictates a new answer. In high school, I thought “enough” was what you felt when you finally “had it all.” At sixteen, that looked like being the editor-and-chief of a street-style fashion magazine in New York City.

I used to think success was wearing high heels to work (which, in NYC, seems like a death sentence for your feet), living and working in a high-rise skyscraper, and grabbing happy hour cocktails with friends after work. Oh, and living in an apartment with a walk-in closet, even if I had to turn my small bedroom into one.

Although this definition of success was specific, it only took one semester in college to set fire to the dream. My friends joked that I gave up on fashion journalism because I discovered yoga pants, but I knew there was something deeper at play.

With fashion journalism, I wasn’t just losing a career path.

I was losing my grip on “success”, or at least my first definition of it.

All the things I thought were important and impressive didn’t seem as satisfying anymore. How could a six-month timeframe have changed my mindset so quickly? It was the first time I felt my ideals shift as I started to question what I truly desired.

That was back in 2011. Now, seven years later, I’m facing the same question.

What do I desire?

And what do those desires say about me?

The last question is what I’ve become more interested in, especially after recently reading The Year of Less and More or Less, two books I devoured in one weekend. The former details the personal journey of a binge consumer turned mindful consumer who gives away 70% of her belongings and pays off $30,000 of debt (who also happens to be a dear friend). The latter discusses our social construct of “enough” and what it looks like to shed the excess in order to live generously.

Surely, I don’t have to tell you my definition of “enough” has changed since high school. Simply revealing the books I’m reading right now already shows that.

But how has it changed my definition of success?

I used to think success had to do with your work, your output.

Now I think success has a lot more to do with alignment.

And that alignment leads to enough, no matter what we see in our closets, our wallets, or our resumes. Enough is less about what we can measure and more about good works that stretch beyond what’s quantifiable.

This conversation is well and good, but what do we do with it? How can we practically put this into action in our daily life? This thought inspired me to think about how I can not only adopt an attitude of enough but a practice of enough.

What better way to build a habit than through a personal challenge?

To make sure this idea didn’t just live in my journal, I wanted to create a game plan for how I could shed the excess, embrace enough, and give back in a big way. Along the way, I decided to write a blog post to document the process and let others keep me accountable.

It has a few different phases, so stay with me.

Phases of enough over excess challenge:

• Phase 1: Purge of Physical and Digital Space
  • Physical: Purge my closet, toiletries, office supplies, books, all media, etc.
  • Digital: Simplify mobile apps, file folder organization, transfer files, back up old files, establish digital detox, etc.
  • Rule: All money generated from secondhand clothing sales on Poshmark and miscellaneous sales on Craigslist will be donated to a local food bank. All additional items not sold will be given to Goodwill and The Salvation Army.
• Phase 2: Long Term: Create Intentional Consumption List
  • Purpose: Combat future excess (both physically and digitally) by creating an intentional consumption list. Start with my core values (already defined – yay!) and create an approved and not-approved purchases list. Use it as a master guide for well into the future.
• Phase 3: Short Term: Quarter-Long Enough Experiment
  • Rule: Every time I would have made a purchase on the “not approved” list (example: $5 hot chocolate while networking at a local coffeeshop), I will write it down and plan to donate that amount to a local food bank. I will do this for everything cumulated in the quarter and share.
  • Not Approved Purchases: No take-out coffee (err, I mean hot chocolate), dinners out, grabbing drinks, new clothing, new home decor, etc.
  • Approved Purchases: Groceries (hey, a girl has to eat!), gas, usual living expenses (rent, heat, water, internet, etc.)
  • Invitations: Instead of dinners out or take-out coffee, invite friends to my apartment. Suggest other fun activities (yes, even in the winter!) and things to do than spending money on other experiences.

To those of you who may be reading the details of this challenge and thinking “Wow, that seems a little excessive, don’t you think?”, it’s still something I’m excited to test out this quarter. (Also, did you see what I did there? *wink*)

Cutting my spending won’t hurt since I’m naturally a saver, but I’m excited to see how this challenges me with giving.

Sure, I’ve made room for some giving, like with the Your Own Way Conference last year, but I know I can do much more. Not only that, but I want to do more.

I’ll be posting my progress and personal reflections along the way.

And if you’re still wondering why in the world I’m writing about this and not creating more business resources, it’s because I already have a blog archive full of them. In this season of my life and business, I’m focusing on personal writing.

So here goes nothing!

The post Finding Enough in a Culture of Excess (and Personal Challenge) appeared first on Sindie.

Okay, maybe these topics themselves aren’t brilliant (even though I stand behind my Disney Princess result of Ariel) but using quizzes to drive leads definitely is.

Don’t believe me? Don’t worry, I get it. It takes time to create a new email opt-in, and you don’t want to spend it creating something that won’t perform.

But I mean it when I say quizzes are magical. Why?

Well, my own quiz drove over 2,500 email subscribers in just 9 months.

That’s what we like to call a *crazy* number.

But generating more subscribers isn’t the only benefit.

Just think about it. Not only are you collecting data from your ideal audience members, but you’re making it more interactive and enjoyable than a typical survey.

You’re also adding the extra benefit of giving the quiz taker a specific “personality”, which is determined by a set of characteristics.

Quiz personality is decided based on the specific answers the quiz taker chooses, making them feel understood and known.

Once you’ve assigned your subscriber a unique personality, that’s when the real magic begins: converting them into a client or customer.

But I’m getting ahead of myself (which I do, a lot). Let’s take a step back and go step-by-step into all that is needed to build a successful, lead generating quiz.

01 //  Niche specific topic and title

If I put a quiz on my website on “What Hipster Style Fits You?”, people would be very confused. Why? Because I’m a copywriter for small businesses in the visual industries, not a well-known stylist with crop top swag. My glasses may look hipster (at least that’s what my brother says…), but it doesn’t give me the authority or desire to talk about this subject.

Instead, I want to choose a quiz topic that is more aligned with my copywriting niche. Your own topic will depend on what industry you’re in and who you serve.

Not sure what your quiz topic should be? Here are a few prompts to help you out:

• What are the most common questions you’re asked from people outside your industry? From people inside your industry? From the clients you serve?
• What are the key elements of your process? How do you educate your clients about the importance of each of these steps?
• How would you describe your ideal clients? What traits and quirks make them a great fit for your business? What do they want to learn about?

When you have a list of potential topics, ask a few of your business friends and people who match your ideal client description which topics they’d be most likely to take a quiz for. This is the best way to test out which topic is most relevant before putting in the real work.

Once you’ve chosen your quiz subject, it’s time to craft an attention-grabbing title. The most important rule here (and this one is not meant to be broken) is for it to be clear over clever.

This is one of the biggest hurdles I hear about from clients. They spend hours trying to come up with a clever name when clarity is more important. Clarity = action, which is all we care about in lead generation.

The name of my quiz is “What is Your Brand Voice Style?” I know, super clever, but it works. People who are interested in taking the quiz know exactly what they’ll learn about, especially since it’s consistent with my website copywriting and ghostwriting niche.

02 //  Connection to your email list

What’s the point in creating an awesome quiz if it doesn’t lead to anything? Without connecting your quiz to your email list, it won’t have the power to turn visitors into leads. Since that’s the whole draw of using a quiz to build your email list, you’ll want to do this from day one.

I personally use (and highly recommend!) ConvertKit for my email marketing, but there are other email service providers that quiz building tools like Interact connect with for easy automation. I only had to hook up ConvertKit and Interact once, meaning for the last 6 months it’s been running on its own without any extra work from me.

03 //  Unique quiz personality results

While your quiz answer options need to engaging enough to entice audience members to keep going through your quiz, your big goal is for them to make it to the end. That’s where the lead capture happens.

It takes more than an interesting quiz title and relevant topic to keep people engaged throughout the quiz. Enter in unique quiz personality results. When you start to brainstorm quiz personalities, think about what labels may make sense with your niche.

If you want the quiz to introduce your graphic design services, your personalities may be focused on different kinds of visual aesthetics like “Minimalistic Maven” or “Sophisticated Solopreneur”. With each quiz question, your audience member will get closer to understand what their branding style is like.

I recommend creating 3-5 personality results with 4 being my personal sweet spot. If you create too many potential personalities, you’re creating a lot of extra work for yourself. It could also get confusing for your audience because there are too many options, which deters them from continuing to take the quiz.

04 //  Personalized email sequence for each quiz

The highest performing quizzes are actually a lot less about the quiz and a lot more about the email sequence that follows after. After you create the quiz, your work is only partly done. Now it’s time to focus your attention on crafting an email sequence that introduces who you are, what you offer, and how you can help.

First, let’s make sure we’re on the same page (copywriting pun!) when we talk about email sequences. An email sequence is a fancy term for an automated series of emails that are delivered directly to your email subscriber.

Email sequences usually include a combination of educational emails with soft and hard pitches. Soft pitches introduce your product or service in a relevant way in between educational information while hard pitches feature sales copy that’s solely dedicated to making the sale. ConvertKit has an amazing formula for email sequences that you customize to your own business.

Now you’re starting to see how beneficial an email sequence can be to your quiz. You might be thinking, I should just use the same email sequence for every quiz result because I’m selling the same product or service, right? Nope. Granted, it’s better to have one email sequence than no email sequence at all, but the real power lies within personalized marketing.

Many people who create quizzes skip this part because they assume it takes too much work to personalize each email sequence. They think personalization means writing every email from scratch, but I’ve discovered a trick that helps me cut down on my writing time while still personalizing my email marketing.

It’s all about creating a theme for each email and then using a fill-in-the-blank template for each personality. Here’s an example I used from a section of my own quiz:

“Thanks so much for taking my brand voice style quiz!

Isn’t it nice to know what your superpower is so you can weave more of your [personality type here] personality into your content?

To review, this is what your quiz results said about you:

[personality quiz result here]

Does it fit you to a T? I thought so!

So now that we know you’re a [personality type here], let’s take it a few steps further.

Throughout the next week, I’m going to pop into your inbox with some action-packed lessons to help you make more of an impact with your [personality type here] superpower through your copywriting and content creation.

[personality type specific prompts here]”

In my quiz, there are 4 different personality results with the most popular being the Educator and Connector. Naturally, the way I address an Educator personality is different than a Connector.

They have different desires, values, and levels of interest in what I offer so offering personalized emails to each type helps them feel known and understood.

From the example above, you also see these personalized email sequences are totally doable. Not only that, but it doesn’t take much time to create for as big of an impact as it makes.

The more personalized you get, the more powerful the email sequence becomes.

Then your quiz can go from an interactive exercise with a fun result to your best lead driver. Who wouldn’t love the sound of that?

The post 4 Key Elements of a Lead-Generating Quiz for Better Email Marketing appeared first on Sindie.

(Before I jump into my 2017 brand review, you can read up on my 2016 brand review if you’re interested. It will give you a more complete look at my first two years of full-time business.)

My biggest wins of 2017:

2017 was oh-so-sweet to me. Between reaching sustainability in my business and pouring my energy into client work, I kept myself busy while taking an intentional step back from working as many hours as I did in 2016 with my consulting business.

In December 2016, I ran way past burnout and found myself needing to scrap my whole business to have any chance of gaining my sanity back.

In December 2017, I was shocked when I met with my mastermind group (looking at you, Melanie and Allison – love you both!) and said I didn’t feel I needed to change anything radical in my business. I just needed to make a few simple tweaks to my process and I’d be satisfied.

Going from hustle mode to refining mode took a full year, but what a year it was. I’m excited to share some of my highlights of 2017 as well as my biggest lessons.

Raising around $5000 for sex trafficking survivors through my charitable business conference

Giving back in a BIG way was on my list of intentions going into 2017. I think it’s safe to say I crossed that off the list with Your Own Way Conference. I was an event planning novice (which is a nice word for n00b) so it taught me a lot about stepping way outside your comfort zone to create an experience worthy of the attendees who invested and the important cause it supported.

I self-funded the conference so 100% of the ticket proceeds would go straight to Mission 21, a Minnesota based non-profit and anti-trafficking service provider. Seeing the founder’s face light up when I said no funds would be taken from the top will be a moment I always remember.

While the experience of hosting, speaking, moderating, and planning a conference took a LOT of my energy this year, I can see now that it was one of the most rewarding seasons of my life.

Replacing my previous day job income (and then some)

After working 80-90 hours/week with virtually no time off with my 2016 consulting business, I knew I had to scale back when I refocused on copywriting in the beginning of 2017. I was afraid I would take an even further dip in income but what saved me was my pricing strategy and ability to stick to my boundaries.

Now I work about 30-40 hours/week (and a little extra if I need to) but ALL of those hours are hyper-focused on writing client work. There are no hours wasted on social media (I do that in my off time) or scrolling through RSS feeds.

I’ve found my rhythm, which I believe was the “sweet spot” that helped me double my 2015 cushy day job income as compared to earning almost half of what I did at the agency in 2016. I still can’t believe it!

Notable mentions:

• Winning a 2017 Minnesota Young Entrepreneur award from Minnesota Business Magazine and being featured in their August issue.
• Speaking on five panels and hosting two workshops (beyond all the speaking and moderating I did for Your Own Way Conference).
• Turning down what I would have considered “dream job” opportunities years ago because my business gives me more incentives than the jobs can offer me. (Can someone say surreal?!)
• Many more that I won’t bore you with. *wink*

My biggest Lessons of 2017:

From the outside looking in, it seemed as though my business was growing at a rapid pace. I started receiving “overnight success” questions from other entrepreneurs and more people began asking if I could be their business mentor.

I laugh a little to myself when it happens because I started blogging in 2013 (hardly an overnight success) and I still get tripped up over entrepreneur tasks, rules, and lingo. Remembering to pay quarterly taxes, updating your contracts over time, learning the rules behind tax deductions – it’s all a learning process (and a big one at that)!

As a creative turned entrepreneur, I think it’s important to not only celebrate the wins of last year but also talk openly about the biggest things I learned along the way.

Tackle the “boring” stuff first

One of the best decisions I made in 2017 was not jumping right away into the “sexy” stuff. When I relaunched my brand, I wanted to start with my new website design and planning my brand photoshoot. What I didn’t want to look at was pricing, operations, and processes. #yawn

But I knew I couldn’t go into my rebrand without a solid foundation, which meant digging into the not-so-fun parts of owning a business. I told myself in November 2016 that I couldn’t touch anything creative until everything boring was done.

And it worked! In a big way, might I add. By tackling all the things I didn’t want to do, I was able to build my confidence and see that things like bookkeeping and creating client management systems weren’t as hard to build as I thought. All of the creative stuff, then, became my reward for a job well done.

Treat your business like a #1 client

I started 2017 by saying I would commit 100% of my energy to my copywriting and content creation clients. I was in “do or die” mode in my business, meaning I had to give it everything I had to see if entrepreneurship could sustainably work as my long-term career path.

While spending all of my energy on client work did help me prove my business model and level up my income, I didn’t have energy left to draft blog posts or even make updates on Instagram. I’d just collapse after writing for 6-7 hours straight (which may not seem like a lot, but it tires you out).

So has my business grown in terms of client work and income? Yes, but I took a few steps back in terms of growing my personal brand. I also gave up blogging for most of the year, which is how I got started in online entrepreneurship in the first place. I’ll be making some changes this year to get back to my blogging roots.

It’s okay if you don’t want to scale right now

This is not only a lesson but a huge mentality shift I adopted late last year. Since I refer about 80-85% of the leads that come my way, friends in the industry have told me I’m straight up c-r-a-z-y for not building a team of writers.

In a way, they’re totally right. Scaling is the natural next step for most business owners when they hit a certain level of growth, but I’m building a lifestyle business. I want to be the one writing for clients rather than managing other writers and living in my inbox (well, at least more than I already do).

Following what I desire for my business was a hard decision when I had so many friends I admire tell me I was missing out on a great opportunity. But in the end, I have to do what feels right for me.

So where does that leave me in 2018? Surely I want to keep growing my business, but it’s going to look different than it does for most. I may or may not be exploring other ways to potentially scale (#tease), but I’m content with what I have right now. I think that’s what most of us are striving toward anyway.

The post 2017 Brand Review: Biggest Highlights and Lessons appeared first on Sindie.

Hosting a full-blown conference was never a part of my plan.

As a copywriter and ghostwriter by trade, planning events is way outside of my zone of genius. You can imagine my surprise when six months ago when I woke up on a normal Saturday morning with the idea that inspired Your Own Way Conference. I quickly grabbed my journal and a few minutes later, I had five pages full of notes.

The idea: to host a 100% charitable business conference for entrepreneurs in Minneapolis to inspire them to build a business their own way while giving back all the ticket proceeds to sex trafficking survivors in our city.

The idea came to be with such clarity and power that I knew it was meant for me. Even though I felt spiritually called to explore this idea, I also had a ton of doubt rushing through me.

I wasn’t an event planner so wouldn’t it be a better fit for one of my friends who is? Would anyone even want to come if they knew I was a novice at this? Did other people care about this taboo cause as I did? The more I wrestled with doubt, the more I clarified my purpose for the event.

I discovered that maybe I wasn’t the perfect person to plan this event, but maybe I was the *right* person.

This mentality shift changed everything for me. I set boundaries around what the conference would (and wouldn’t) be and set bigger goals to propel me forward. I made a commitment then and there to pursue the idea to the end. I had no idea that the next six months of event planning would challenge and change me in monumental ways inside and outside of business.

To my surprise and delight, other people understood and bought into my vision for this charitable conference when I launched tickets months later. As I made all the preparations for the event, it was time to host it at 514 Studios, our venue in North Loop Minneapolis.

The whole day, I had multiple conference attendees and speakers sincerely ask me, “How are you feeling?” My response every time was, “I’ll feel chill after I finish my welcome speech.” As a writer who spends most of the day behind the computer, sharing my story (my real one) on stage in front of 70+ people isn’t just outside of my comfort zone. It shatters it.

With the warm support of so many incredible entrepreneurs in the room, I was able to deliver my speech with ease and a little bit of my quirk.

I remember talking to my friend and day-of volunteer, Akua, afterward and telling her with a toothy grin, “Didn’t I just beast that speech?!” We both laughed as I said I could just kick back in my panel moderator chair on stage for the rest of the day.

After my welcome speech, it was time to introduce the upcoming panels. I decided to break the message of building a business your own way into three key parts: Find Your Own Way, Transition Your Own Way, Expand Your Own Way.

The first panel was focused on finding your differentiator, combatting comparison, and working from a place of abundance while connecting with like-minded professionals. I loved having Jo from Branding Babes, Melanie from My Billie Designs, and Allison from Allie Marie Design on the panel to share their knowledge. Since all three panelists work in the same industry, they had a fantastic perspective about owning what makes you unique and prioritizing community over competition.

The second panel was our most vulnerable panel since we talked all about what happens when business projects don’t go as expected. Wynne of Creative’s Counsel, Chaitra of Pink Pot Studio and Creative Convex, and Laine of Laine Palm Designs gave us a rare inside look into some of their biggest transitions and how they pick themselves up after a “flop”. Hey, we all go through it!

The last panel was geared toward business owners who had already reached sustainability and are looking for ways to expand their business. There’s no one-size-fits-all business model so it was great to have a diversity of income streams represented through Ashley of Simply Elegant Group, Josey of Sixpence Events MN, and Chaitra (who had a chance to speak on both panels!).

If you want to browse through the biggest takeaways from each panel, I highly suggest taking a peek at this panelist tips blog post from one of our panelists, Josey.

In between each panel, there was ample time for networking between our attendees, speakers, and sponsors alike! We had a totally full house with 70+ people in the space but was intimate enough for people to make real connections with others around them.

Throughout the day, we had a chance to highlight the great work our non-profit partner, Mission 21, is doing with helping sex trafficking survivors find the support and guidance they need in their next chapter of freedom.

Having the founder of Mission 21, Stephanie Holt, present at the event to further educate us about the prevalence of sex trafficking made a huge impact. She also came up to me after the event and told me how excited she was to have some of the attendees mentor survivors on business and career opportunities at a later date. Seeing the long-term impact of a one-day event like this was so rewarding for me as the day came to a close.

The conference wouldn’t have been possible without some of our incredible sponsors! They generously donated their time, gifts, and talents to the cause. I’m so thankful for their fierce support of all we were doing.

Here’s a full list of the event sponsors and a little love note about each one:

The Caterers MN – This incredible family run business was an absolute joy to work with! Not only were they accommodating for over a dozen attendees who had different dietary restrictions, but they also provided boxed lunches everyone was buzzing about. Highly recommend them for any Twin Cities events, conferences, weddings, retreats, and beyond!

Willows Coffee – Patty had two events on our conference day and still supplied us with the best Costa Rican coffee we’ve ever had! She had enough coffee for over 20 more people but our attendees drank it all before our second panel, it was that good. She was an absolute rockstar and if we host Your Own Way Conference again, we’ll definitely have her and her brews back.

Minny Spoons – Ashley launched her cashew butter and protein bites business earlier this year and we adore her. Attendees were eating her spreads long after breakfast and our panelist, Chaitra, even contemplated trying to smuggle cashew butter with her back on the plane to Seattle! We love how Ashley is building a business her own way, too.

The Arise Box – Cassidy traveled from Missouri to be with us – talk about dedication! She curates quarterly subscription boxes of sustainable, ethical goods from artisans around the world. Every purchase provides a care package for a sex trafficking survivor in need. Can someone say perfect fit?

Fair Anita – Their handcrafted, fair wage, fair trade jewelry was a huge hit with our attendees! Many entrepreneurs walked out sporting a new necklace, ring, or pair of earrings. Fair Anita employs sex trafficking survivors to empower the women to find financial independence. Even better, our panelist Allison designed their visual branding – so cool!

Champagne Press – Instead of printing bulky programs, Julie helped us create one-of-a-kind bookmarks with social media tips (from our volunteer, Akua) along with a full list of our sponsors and speakers for easy tagging on social media. I’m still swooning over the design. So thankful for her!

My Billie Designs – Not only is Melanie one of my business besties in Minnesota, but she also created all of the gorgeous visual branding for the conference! Every design element at the conference was based around her work so we couldn’t have been more pleased.

Kristen Dyer Photography – All of the conference photos you’ve seen today were captured by Kristen! She hosts the evening meetup of Tuesdays Together and is so generous with her time and gifts. It doesn’t hurt that her visual aesthetic is to die for, so much so that I did a brand photoshoot with her last week to celebrate 2 full years in business!

Pretty Prints and Paper – Everyone at the conference was *loving* their handlettered name tags, which was such a special touch to heighten the experience of our attendees. This was all thanks to Jessica who also created the gorgeous program boards we had around the venue.

Ahava Creative Co. – I recently met Kaytee through Jessica since they both have a heart for lettering, art, and using their craft to stand behind social justice issues. She worked her magic while creating all of the table tents and sponsor signage. We adore her heart for the cause!

A Spoonful of Faith – Jena is an incredible artist who generously provided ten (yes, TEN!!) prints for our first ten attendees who checked in that morning. One attendee said she was going to hang the print in her office and another attendee said hers is going in her kid’s nursery room. Love!

Beth with Thirty One Bags – Beth is the beloved sister of one of my closest friends, Douglas. When she heard about the event, she wanted to donate a few custom embroidered Thirty One bags for our conference giveaway even though she’s located in Texas. We were feeling the love all the way up in Minnesota because of her generosity!

There are so many more stories I could share about the conference but I’ll try to wrap it up. I learned some big lessons throughout the planning process and executing my vision. Here are some of my favorites:

Take time off after you host a big event. I say this as someone who only had two days of rest afterward which was NOT enough. If I was to do it all over again, I would have given myself a week off to decompress and slowly get back into work.

If it’s not easy, you must be doing something right. This passion project was by far my most challenging one yet, even more than the poetry collection I self-published years ago. Sharing my story on stage and being solely responsible for everyone’s experience produced a fair amount of stress, but each time I reminded myself it was worth fighting through. Sometimes the best seasons of your life are the toughest, but that’s how you grow.

Don’t get caught up in the centerpieces. Or the name cards. Or the stage design. Since I wasn’t planning a for-profit event, I had to base my top priorities around what mattered most. I felt guilty a few times about not having the perfect event design, but luckily I had friends around me that reminded me people were coming for the cause and the panels, not a photo backdrop.

It’s okay if you change your outfit five minutes before going out the door the morning of your event. You’ll feel and look better if you wear something more comfortable that feels like you.

Learn how to delegate early. 95% of the event planning was done solo (which I realize now is totally insane) but accepting help when it is offered is huge. In order to build something bigger than yourself, sometimes you have to let go of “your baby” and allow others to come along for the ride.

Savor the affirmations you receive before, during, and after the event. I took screenshots of everyone’s social media photos at the event and wrote down some of the sweetest comments I heard throughout the day in my journal. It’s too easy to forget just how impactful your event was if you don’t document it.

Phew! I think that’s it for now. I’m cheering you on as you uncover how you want to give back with your own business. Let me know in the comment section below so I can support you along the way!

The post Your Own Way Conference Recap + Giving Back as an Entrepreneur appeared first on Sindie.

I see you, watching webinars featuring strategies that were guaranteed to double your traffic and triple your social media following.

You find yourself constantly consuming, pushing creative work to the side. Doesn’t your creativity know you have more to learn before diving in? Silly creativity. It doesn’t understand how business is supposed to work.

You tell yourself you’re only one investment, one strategy, one “silver bullet” away from massive success.

We often forget successful entrepreneurs have shown us otherwise.

Mark Zuckerberg started Facebook as a college dropout in his garage with some friends. JK Rowling wrote Harry Potter as an impoverished single mother. Oprah went from a local TV news anchor to owning a TV network.

What if each of these successful moguls came out and said, “This is EXACTLY what you need to do to reach ultimate success?” We’d laugh because their success looks so vastly different.

We intuitively know success comes in all different forms, but it doesn’t stop us from looking for a prescription to help us reach it faster or better.

Instead of looking for a silver bullet to help our business grow, let’s look at the grassroots efforts that will help you become your own brand of success.

Know that you have everything you need to succeed already within you

Actually, can you write this down on a post-it note or in your journal as a daily affirmation? It will serve you well.

Most marketers don’t want you to know that you already have all you need to get started. I say that as a business owner with a strong professional background in marketing.

That’s not to say you can’t learn something from the products and services other professionals offer. Our businesses can be enhanced by these new collaborations and content, but it’s not the sole factor of our success. Not in the slightest.

The bravest thing you can do is start where you are and with what you have.

Decide WHO you want to learn from

When I wrote this one down, I felt it in my belly. Instead of looking for the silver bullet information, look first at who it’s coming from.

Who are we taking business advice from? What if it’s coming from a business owner we don’t identify with or even respect? It’s so important to do research on each thought leader you gain inspiration from before following someone else’s recommendations.

Women like Maya Elious and Alisha Nicole, two powerhouse personal brands who aren’t shy about their faith and priorities, have inspired me from the start. I love reading their content and considering their advice because I love the people behind it.

Embrace the experiment

Nothing can prepare you for the wild ride of online entrepreneurship. It’s one big experiment after another. Heck, I deemed my first year of entrepreneurship my Year of Experimentation before taking the leap.

Everything must be tried and tested. Only then will you know what truly works for you and your business, and what doesn’t.

In order to be successful in your craft, you have to be an eternal student of it. This is true not only for your craft but also in other areas of business. Some of them might make you groan, like setting up your taxes or creating expense spreadsheets, but each task moves you forward.

When I first started my business, I was terrified of sending the wrong invoice or screwing up my contracts. The best thing I did was jumping head-first into the storm where I found that the waters were far calmer than I imagined them to be. Now I sent contracts and invoices with ease (thanks Dubsado!), a daily reminder to not fear what you haven’t tried before. It often becomes your new normal.

You learn, you grow, you learn, you grow… it’s a constant cycle that helps you build your way toward a successful business. Sprinkle in some grace and humility along the way.

The post There’s No Silver Bullet to Business Success (and What to Do Instead) appeared first on Sindie.

This is more of a personal reflection behind why I’ve chosen a different route that works for me.

I’m all about building a business your own way so I hope this post helps you use some of the same techniques and questions to help you determine the right fit for you.

Okay, enough of the boring disclaimers.

Let’s get into it.

Writing is a very personal thing for me.

Honestly, this is the biggest reason why. It’s not uncommon to find me writing blog posts, poetry, personal essays, and journal entries all throughout the day. It has been my longest and most beloved vocation.

When I write in someone else’s brand voice through my copywriting work, I have to really connect with the person before we begin. I’ve become highly selective with the projects I take on because of that reason, which has served me incredibly well.

If I was building an agency model, I’d either have employees or contractors writing things for clients delivered under my name (which does not feel good to me), or I’d have to create a whole new company entity to do my work.

Sending client referrals helps me work in abundance.

So you may be wondering what happens if I find a client project isn’t the right fit, which happens fairly often as a selective copywriter. When it does, I love sending those quality leads to other copywriters. Wait, you send them to your competition? Absolutely.

I almost feel like a creative matchmaker, helping to connect leads with the best copywriter for them based on style, niche, timeline, and budget. I’ve built some incredible referral relationships this way and the client lead is happy when I go the extra mile to help them. It’s a win-win!

I attribute much of my business growth this year to sending most of my leads elsewhere. That may seem backward, but working in abundance has given me a whole new perspective on client relationships and ensures I spend my time with people I naturally click with. I want the same for other copywriters in my field, too.

If I worked within an agency model, I’d spend nearly all of my time managing my writers and all the client communication rather than writing. No Bueno!

It’s a lot less messy and time-consuming to just send a personal email introduction detailing the copywriting project and let both business owners take it from there. And I get back to writing in record time – my favorite!

I’ve worked in an agency setting before, and it wasn’t for me.

Between the long hours (I’m talking 70-80 each week), short lunches, and the constant churn of work, agency life was not as glam as I once thought. The honeymoon period of the job wore off fairly quickly. There were many reasons why but I’ll cover a big one.

I’m a words-of-affirmations girl. It’s my primary love language so it’s something I need to be fulfilled in order to produce my best work. I know, I know. You shouldn’t put too much emphasis on what others think but it’s how I’m naturally wired.

In an agency setting, I never quite got full credit for the work I was doing. I understand why since I was a part of the team, but I often missed that individual recognition to know I was growing in my position. I used to guilt myself into thinking I was lame for needing outside encouragement like somehow it made me an “entitled Millennial”, but those fears have since been put to rest.

Time tracking was a time suck in agency life.

Time tracking had to be done in 15-minute increments, too. Writing it down throughout the day and staying 15-30 minutes later in the day or week to input your time into the system was awful.

Time tracking worsened my creative process because I was always worried I got done with projects too fast. I’m a pretty quick worker and usually way overestimate the amount of time I need to get something done. This may sound like a good thing, but when your agency is being paid by the hour, you need to be wary of hitting your billable work hours.

Not every agency is like this, but it’s largely why I don’t work with hourly rates for my freelance copywriting and content creation projects. I’d rather get paid a flat project fee based on the value of my work rather than the time it takes to get it done, something I talked about on ConvertKit’s blog last month.

Don’t worry, I did enjoy some aspects of agency life.

While running an agency isn’t for me, at least not at this stage of my life, I think it can be an incredible fit for others. Heck, there were even parts about it I liked before I quit my agency job to pursue my business full-time.

Here are some of the winning qualities of #agencylife:

• You’re able to tap into more skills and specializations. Let’s be honest, there’s only so much you can do on your own. I’m a pretty good writer but I’m not the first person you’d come to for custom website coding or creating Pinterest ads. By starting an agency, you can hire people who are strong in the areas you’re weak, and vice versa. The same is true for choosing a business partner.
• The people you work with will be interested in what you like to do outside of work. When I published my poetry collection, my coworkers surprised me with a cake and asked me to recite one of my poems aloud (kind of scary but mostly awesome). My boss even got me a journal for National Poetry Day that year. Most days, I felt cherished and loved.
• If you start an agency, you get to provide employment opportunities. Hello! That’s the coolest thing ever. Knowing that your business is providing income to a well-deserving employee who shares a similar heart for your business is amazing.
• You can prioritize what projects you want to work on and outsource the rest. You are your own boss so you can say which projects go where. Just don’t let all the power go to your head. *wink*
• You’ll build a tight-knit team of talented creatives. Teamwork makes the dream work. Having the opportunity to team up with others helps you build community within your organization. As a solo entrepreneur, I have to work much harder at building a “work” community that takes the place of what I had at the agency.

Fun fact: The dream of someday running my own PR agency is what even inspired me to start this blog. WHAT? I know. Wild.

My business looks different than 2013 Kayla would have imagined, but I think she’d be pretty darn happy with how it’s ended up.

The post Why I’m Not Pursuing the Agency Business Model appeared first on Sindie.

I’ve always been a bookworm. Some of my earliest childhood memories consist of Saturday morning reading sessions (or, back then, flipping through the pages to look at photos).

My life is heavily influenced by literature, which is why you’ll see a list of 8 books I hold near and dear below.

Each has held different lessons, some that knocked me down so I could pick myself back up and others that embraced me from page one.

All are equally important to me.

If I could only keep a small library of books, these would make the “keep” pile…

Simply Tuesday by Emily P Freeman

You know when a book finds you at the perfect time? This was one of those books. Its subtitle is Small-Moment Living in a Fast-Moving World, which could not have been more applicable to my previous 24/7 hustle life.

This book was not only good for business but for all other areas of my life including my faith, friendships, family, and communities. It’s a healthy blend of scripture and authentic storytelling which aims to reverse our reliance on the “I’m busy” excuse.

Here is one of my favorite quotes from the book:

“But Tuesday teaches me that part of living well in ordinary time is letting this day be good. Letting this day be a gift. Letting this day be filled with plenty. And if it all goes wrong and my work turns to dust? This is my kind reminder that outcomes are beyond the scope of my job description.” 

Doesn’t that make you want to rush to the library to check it out? I SO highly recommend this book for entrepreneurs who find themselves in a perpetual state of “busy”.

Read Simply Tuesday here.

The Crossroads of Should and Must by Elle Luna

We let the “shoulds” in our life win far too often. We “should” get a stable job, even if we loathe it, to pay for a lifestyle we “should” want in order to impress people we “should” connect with. #blech

I’ve chosen the path of “should” many times before, especially when I first started my online business.

I thought I “should” ditch words for the sexier medium of video marketing, create a podcast with weekly episodes I couldn’t sustain as a one-woman-show, and spend time creating digital products that didn’t fit my bigger vision.

But my “must” of helping clients tell their true stories always came back. It wasn’t until I leaned into my “must” that I found my direction in copywriting and content creation.

This book is fantastic for all entrepreneurs whether you’re in pre-launch or have been in business for a while. It’s also illustrated beautifully so it’s nice to look at. Love!

Read The Crossroads of Should and Must here.

Brave Little Bones by Sindie (that’s me!)

Okay, this probably seems like a very odd addition, especially since Brave Little Bones is my memoir poetry collection, but there’s SO much I learned about myself during the process of writing this book.

It’s been just over a year since I published my first poetry collection but as I flip through the pages, I feel as though a different person wrote it.

It’s a snapshot, a moment in time, the anthem of my childhood put down on paper so I could heal, cry, and embrace others who have experienced similar things.

Poetry has made me the writer I am today. I attribute it to my success on Twitter (my knack for haikus comes in handy when I only have 140 characters!), my personal growth through blogging, and my easy vulnerability in all forms of online writing.

Sweet friend, if you are considering writing a book, even one outside of your industry that doesn’t totally fit “your brand”, do it. Start with an outline, grow the plot, dig into the characters, and go anywhere with it. It’s one of the best things I indirectly did for my career.

Get your own copy of Brave Little Bones here.

Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert

This book is meant to make every person to wear the title of “creative” proudly. While I never saw myself as an artist growing up, this book changed how I view art and where those limiting beliefs came from.

Elizabeth Gilbert shares many personal tales of her own relationship with creativity and packs the perfect amount of magic and whimsy into its pages. The hype is grand, but the book is even better.

I mean, just look at the cover. The beauty doesn’t stop there! I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to write their own permission slips and get back to creating work that matters.

Read Big Magic here.

Rising Strong by Brene Brown

Just like Elizabeth Gilbert, everyone seems to know (and love) Brene Brown, and for good reason.

While I enjoy her speaking most, I’ve read nearly all of her books and find Rising Strong to be my favorite. As a writer who loves storytelling, it’s probably not surprising since Rising Strong is basically putting Daring Greatly’s principles into action.

I deeply connect with the Theodore Roosevelt quote Brene bases her research on, so much so that I’ll paste it here so you can see what I mean:

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” – Theodore Roosevelt 

That’s goooooood, right? Ah, I love it dearly. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to own their vulnerability, create something beautiful that’s within them, and put their work out into the world.

Read Rising Strong here.

The Art of Asking by Amanda Palmer

I am the worst at asking for help. I constantly worry about being a secret burden to someone I care about or just hearing the word “no”, a painful rejection after building the confidence to ask in the first place.

I’ve always been like this too, not raising my hand in class and trying to figure out the answer on my own instead of simply asking someone who could save me minutes to hours of time.

It’s something I’m working on, especially as a community leader because I know intuitively that a community cannot reach sustainable growth and consistently pour into its people if you do it alone. It takes a village!

This beautiful memoir from Amanda Palmer, a street performer and statue turned most crowdfunded Kickstarter musician in history, was exactly what I needed to hear. Not only does she talk about our need to ask for help but also how she’s put it into action.

I first listened to Amanda Palmer’s TEDTalk on this subject and after hearing she wrote a book, I knew I needed to pick up a copy. It did not disappoint.

Read The Art of Asking here.

Manage Your Day-to-Day by 99u Contributors

Whenever I see this book title, I always shake my head because I remember how warped my mentality was around routines before reading this book. Here’s what I mean…

I’ve never considered myself a morning person or someone who does well under rigid routines. My creative process has always been somewhat scattered, a skill I’ve learned to sharpen over time.

While I may not have thought my personality type was bred for routines, this book whipped me into shape.

After hearing short stories from all kinds of successful writers, authors, and bloggers, I realized that while everyone’s routine may look a bit different, there is a common thread: the need to consistently show up and do the work.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is struggling with making room to do what they love AND what they need to get done too.

Read Manage Your Day to Day here.

The Desire Map by Danielle LaPorte

Let’s end with the mother of all books. You know I’m talking about The Desire Map. It’s pretty much impossible to be active in online communities without someone mentioning this book one (or fifteen) times.

While there’s a lot to love in this book, the best takeaway is the importance of figuring out FIRST how you want to feel, and then set your goals around those emotions. We often set our goals the opposite way but Danielle urges us to reinvent our goal setting process.

She calls these central emotions our Core Desired Feelings, or CDFs for short. Mine are Encouraged, Light, Rhythm, and Ease. These CDFs then drive what opportunities I say a big YES to and which ones earn a “not right now.”

This book is half storytelling and half workbook so it’s a great one to dive into during a long weekend of soul-searching.

Read The Desire Map here.

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