In the blink of an eye, summer is (unofficially) over. I’m glad I’ve done these recaps the past 3 months because they’re proving to be a great source of reflection since I spend a lot of my day head down and planning ahead.

Here goes…

 

>> Catch up on July’s recap here. <<

 

August 2019

This past month was one of total and complete abundance. From starting out in Hatteras on a big family vacation, to getting back into a groove after 3 weeks on the go, to heading to my first creative retreat at Camp Climb, to attending a local creative dinner here in Virginia Beach, to hitting my highest income month ever, to working with clients that have been on my dream list, to just feeling really grateful for this work. Phew. So very grateful. 

It’s also been one of my most stressful and consuming months.

I felt uber-confident most days and also very intimidated, scattered, and overwhelmed on others.

I felt super connected to clients and also challenged by certain project dynamics.

The way I see it, you don’t get the good without some of the bad. This entrepreneurship thing is the whole harvest – the perfect grapes and those that get removed.

Just as grapes go through a clarification process before they’re made into our favorite wines, we experience a clarification process of our own as business owners.

We just have to get good at filtering out the negative.

 

Team Updates

In turning my negative feelings of overwhelm into a positive, I took the plunge and decided to hire a bookkeeper and a very part-time virtual assistant to help take some tasks off my plate. I didn’t want all of the admin work to get to a point where it was taking away from my ability to give my best to client projects.

I’m so excited about these two ladies joining the Copy Uncorked team and will share more in next month’s recap as onboarding is happening the first week of September!

 

Latest Content & Offerings

The CU Wine Quiz

Early last month, I launched the CU Wine Quiz which was both fun to create and so enjoyable to hear comments from various people who took it and resonated with their result!

I recapped my full experience of creating the quiz in partnership with Interact (and how it boosted my subscriber count!) in the below blog post. If you haven’t discovered your brand’s wine varietal yet, take the quiz here!

Blog Posts

• The Monthly Recap: July 2019
• List Building Magic: Drive Results with a Quiz (Plus, a Free Copy Template!)

 

IGTV Channel

I also created a Copy Uncorked IGTV channel and added the first two videos – a #CUat5 recap and a quick copy tip on writing with specificity. You can check those out here. I’d love to hear in the comments – do you like watching IGTV videos? Do you prefer short Story clips? Or Instagram LIVE? Or even just watching videos on YouTube?

My video dilemma continues, but I am digging the simplicity of IGTV!

 

Podcast Episode

I had the opportunity of being featured on the TMB Women in Business podcast by Mahi Kolla – the 16-year entrepreneur and founder of a stationery company, The Minty Boutique. So impressive!

Listen in on our conversation about The Power of Persistence.

 

 

Education & Exploration

Books

I read Girl Stop Apologizing by Rachel Hollis en route to Iowa this month and honestly loved it. It put me in such a fired-up mindset going into Camp Climb, and I’ve found myself being more consistent with my goals and habits since reading it.

Rachel is a powerful writer, and I personally, love the peppy pace of her writing style. Consider it stamped with my recommendation!

 

Personal Projects

I also took some time this month to work on a bit of a personal project – the revamp of my life + style blog! If you know my story, my writing career started with blogging, so it only feels right to keep it as a fun outlet for me to share things that I love that may not totally fit with the “confines” of the Copy Uncorked brand.

I’ll share more in next month’s recap since it’s technically launching in September. If you’re in to travel, home decor, beauty, life, and faith – I’d love for you to follow along when I do!

Here’s a sneak peek in the meantime!

 

Community: Camp Climb

 

Okay, finally, let’s talk about Camp Climb(!!).

Honestly, there was so much packed into 3 days that I STILL feel like I’m trying to unpack everything in my mind.

For starters, Camp Climb is: AN UPLIFTING AND RESOURCE DRIVEN BUSINESS COMMUNITY FOR CREATIVE WOMEN CRAVING SUPPORT AND THE SPACE TO DREAM FEARLESSLY.

This was Year 2 of their annual Summer Camp held in New Liberty, Iowa. I had the blessing of meeting Emma through a Copy Uncorked giveaway during the rebrand. Once I saw what she was creating, I knew I had to be there.

I flew out to Iowa – by myself – eagerly anticipating a weekend of learning and community.

There was such a huge emphasis on self-care, personal development, and the importance of working on yourself in order to work on your business. At first, I kept thinking to myself “This isn’t really what I came for…”. But OF COURSE, as life would have it, it most certainly was what I needed.

Another big selling point for me was the line-up of keynote speakers. I couldn’t believe it! They were all women I’d admired from afar both personally and professionally.

Each speaker brought something so unique to the stage – Emma Hicks (Camp Climb Founder) couldn’t have selected a better mix!

Kathleen of Being Boss & Braid Creative shared some great insights for 5-minute journaling, creating a 100 goals list, and implementing the Chalkboard Method. All of which I did right away upon getting home. I also got to sit with Kathleen as she shared about the book writing process which was both insightful and encouraging. Not to mention, this woman is HILARIOUS. It’s impossible to not laugh out loud when spending even 2 minutes in her presence.

Natalie Franke of Rising Tide Society and Honeybook gave a keynote that felt like a great big hug. I so respected how vulnerable and honest she was with the audience letting us in on parts of her life you just don’t see on the ‘gram. She is a VOICE for building community over competition and lives it out so beautifully. I cried during her presentation in the most cathartic way. We’re both hardcore Enneagram 3s so I always relate to so much of what she’s talking about.

Jessica Zwieg of Simply Be Agency is a powerhouse with an inspiring story of success. She gave a very informative and actionable keynote all about personal branding. It reminded me so much of the Copy Uncorked brand messaging process so I loved hearing more about her approach, while also feeling confident in what I’ve created over the years.

Erin Loechner of Chasing Slow and Other Goose – aka the author of one of my favorite books. If I’m being honest, she’s totally the keynote speaker that had me booking my flight, and she’s also the keynote speaker that had me tearing up as I departed for my flight at the end of the weekend. I had a great conversation with her about life + writing and then got to sit across from her during a roundtable discussion she led. It was titled: “ONE THING” and it was all about not filling your plate with so many tasks, goals, and ideas that you could never take action on them all at once. Rather, she encouraged us to choose ONE thing to focus our energy on. For me, that was getting back into a fitness routine. I looked straight at her, told her my plan for getting on the move, and have never felt so accountable. She jumped up to give me a hug when I was leaving, and in that moment, I knew I was going to stick to my commitment. And I have.

Other highlights entailed getting to meet and spend lots of time with my client Brooke of Craft & Curate (who is now a texting-level friend).

There were handfuls of other creatives I absolutely loved meeting. I walked away with such a full heart and more faith in this business and online community than ever.

Camp Climb thought of everything – from craft coffee served all day long, to innovative workouts like Flobody, to this adorable shop and other vendors that set-up during the day on Saturday.

The pool party on the last night was a highlight of the trip for me. From sipping clean-crafted wine served by Allyson of Prosecco and Patchouli, eating wood-fired pizza, to having a mini mastermind discussion with fellow business owners.

I could make far too long of a post talking about every detail of the weekend, but I’ll just encourage you with this:

If you’ve been on the fence about attending a retreat like Camp Climb (or other) – just go. You’ll never know the impact it can have on your life and business unless you just show up.

A big, heartfelt thank you to Emma Hicks and the entire Camp Climb team for everything.

All of the Above Photos Are by Iron & Lace Photo (Quad Cities) via Camp Climb

 

Community: Creative Union Dinner

If Camp Climb wasn’t enough of a community highlight for one month, I was lucky to attend the Creative Union Dinner with my friend (and wedding planner), Katelyn Hadder of Haddy Ever After Events.

Creative Union is a Virginia Beach-based community that puts on seasonal dinners where creatives can come together for a night of networking and fun. This summer’s was hosted at Beachside Social in partnership with our local Anthropologie. It was such a cute venue with a yummy food line-up.

The 2-hour evening FLEW but I loved putting Instagram feeds to real faces and just spending time together in a relaxed atmosphere.

Thank you to Mary Kauffman and Zoe Grant for putting these on!

All of the Above Photos by Andi & Zoe via Creative Union

Clients

On the client front, this month’s launch was Collective Confidence – a project led by Drop Cap Design.

I had so much fun getting to jump in on this project starting with a full copy review, then landing page copy, and ultimately getting the final website copy draft in top shape.

Collective Confidence is a consultancy serving purpose-driven businesses and communities of women at all stages of their career as they discover and unleash their unique impact. I absolutely loved working with its founder, Pamela Harless.

Read more about this project on the Portfolio here.

Learning Moments

I’ll let everything I’ve already shared above serve as this month’s learning moments. 🙂

Goals for September

September’s project load is looking sweet as a Riesling! There are some really, really awesome things in the works that I’ll share more about when the client has officially launched them! #clientfirst

Other goals include:

• 3-4x/week workouts
• Successfully onboarding my Virtual Assistant / Project Manager
• Keep up with my daily 5-minute journal
• Ensuring every client has a 5-star experience

Around the CU Office: Things I’m Loving Lately

Here are a few things I’m loving lately:

• This classic trench coat in the camel color – (it’s so good!)
• This faux olive tree
• This leather phone case (in stone & mocha) for my new iPhone XR

 

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An August to remember. ? 

 

 

 

All of the Above Photos Are by:

Iron & Lace Photo via Camp Climb

Andi & Zoe via Creative Union