After a July and August of travel and community, it was a September of birthdays and getting down to business! I’ve never been someone who’s looked forward to fall, but this year I found myself craving cooler temps, and the all-around cozy feeling this time of year brings. Let’s recap!

 

>> Catch up on August’s recap (feat. Camp Climb here. <<

 

Team Updates

As I hinted at in last moth’s recap and shared on Instagram, Copy Uncorked now has a Communications & Project Manager, Kelsey!

She’s been working hard behind the screens this past month improving our project management systems to ensure each client has a smoother than Pinot experience.⠀
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She’ll be assisting with client communication, supporting all deliverables, and basically serving as our vineyard worker, which is a non-glamorous sounding title for a *highly* valued job around here. (Note: no actual manual labor involved.) ⠀
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Learn more about Kelsey on the About page. ?

 

Latest Content & Offerings

Published Blog Posts

• How to Build a Brand on Any Budget
• The Monthly Recap: August

 

Video

Video continues to be an always learning, ever-evolving element for me.

I’m feeling *a tad* bit more comfortable in front of the camera but still, I have a ways to go in terms of production quality and even just efficiency. They’ve been time-consuming – even just to upload a 2-3 minute video to my Stories since I have to splice them into 15-second increments.

Admittedly, I skipped them the first couple weeks of the month as I further thought through what I want the weekly #CUat5 concept to be.

My plan is to get away from the ‘weekly recap plus a quick tip’ format and have them become even more educational. I want them to be a 3-5 minute (max!) video with a clear focus and actually include wine!

I’m leaning toward publishing them on IGTV over LIVE or Stories, so stay tuned! I’ll still use Stories to just pop on for anything else I want to communicate but ideally, #CUat5 will be providing a lot of value and be videos you can refer back to!

Podcast

I had the pleasure of chatting with client and fitness studio owner, Emily Hudson, on her Injoy Studio Ownership podcast. The episode should be airing sometime in November and I can’t wait to share it with you all!

We talked about Facebook ads, copywriting in general, more of my story, and plenty in-between.

I’m really loving the format of a podcast interview/conversation and hope to continue doing more of them!

Education & Exploration

Books

I’ve been reading Jordan Dooley’s Own Your Everyday and just started a book a good girlfriend gave me called You Should Talk to Someone.

I recommend both and am absolutely loving the second one. It’s about a therapist who sees a therapist and pretty much shares everything we’ve all ever wanted to know about therapy, our lives, and the human condition – all while making you laugh out loud.

Personal Projects

At the very beginning of the month, I (re)launched my personal blog website. I finally migrated it over to the Showit platform with an all-new design but the talented Lindsey Eryn of Third Story Apartment and an updated domain that actually matches my married name!

It’s an extra outlet for creativity without pressure and somewhere I can simply share the things that bring me strength and joy. This past month I had fun writing about everything from Flobody fitness to my morning smoothie recipe.

I also shared my office design reveal across the blog and on both Instagram accounts. (Technically in October, but I’ll count it toward September so it doesn’t become old news.) 😉

Everyone had been so helpful in answering my endless design polls on IG and weighing in where needed – so thank you for all the interest and love on it!

It feels good to have it finished (for now at least) and to have a space of my own that can also represent the brand!

 

Community

There were no community highlights to note this month, other than grabbing coffee with the new Copy Uncorked Communications & Project Manager, Kelsey, for onboarding!

I was a bit of a hermit this month, working from home and remaining focused on a full load of client work!

Clients

I absolutely loved this month’s client launches and both were special in their own right.

Having been able to spend an entire weekend with client and now friend, Brooke of Craft & Curate, it made writing her copy and partaking in her new site launch that much more rewarding. She killed the design and it just goes to show again and again the impact of copy + design!

Way back when I was working for lululemon, Stacy of A Mindful Method was my first manager and we got to open the Baltimore store together! Flash forward to today—we’re both doing what we love and I had the role of guiding her and her talented business partner, Alessandra, through a rebrand.

Pretty cool to see how we all evolve and things come together isn’t it?
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Be sure to check out both of these projects on the Portfolio and of course, visit their actual sites!

Elanaloo has been another big project from this summer and fall that will hopefully be launching this October.

 

Learning Moments

September’s weren’t as crystal clear as other month’s but I did have some takeaways:

• Ask for help – Not only will it make your life easier but it will make things more rewarding when you share what you’re up to with someone else.
• “Fear is just a liar running out of breath” – I love this lyric from a worship song I was listening to and it’s so true. We give our fears and doubts too much power. Our fear isn’t as strong as we think it is and it weakens as we move toward it with a willingness to push past it. 
• Don’t be a slave to your inbox – This one was critical for me and something I’ve already started implementing for October. I so highly value responsiveness that I can’t stand the thought of an email going unanswered. But it was taking away from my ability to get focused, concentrated work done. I’m choosing one major client task for each day and trying to only check emails in batched intervals 1-2x/day or once I’ve completed (or made hefty progress toward) that day’s big project.

Goals for October

One of my major goals for October is staying on track with all projects and being as productive and efficient as possible. I have a very full load this month that’s going to require it! I’m feeling supported and clear on what I need to do, so it’s just time to do it!

On the health front, I’ve been a bit better about working out than I was all summer. I’ve been tracking it on a notepad on our fridge and don’t get me wrong, I’m happy to see some tick marks here and there, but I know I could be even more consistent and committed.

I’m bumping my goal up to 3-4 sweaty workouts per week.

Aside from that, I’ve also charted my Q4 income goals to put me at where I want to be by year’s end.

I’m so thankful for what these past 5 months of full-time entrepreneurship have brought and to continue growing it into 2020.

Around the CU Office: Things I’m Loving Lately

Here are a few things I’m loving lately:

• This neutral, plaid fleece that looks perfect for sipping wine by the fire this fall.
• This Becca lipstick in Bare – just that right amount of pigment to make you feel put together for videos & calls.
• These S&L bar stools that remind me of mornings in Paris with coffee and croissants

 

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Happy Fall, ya’ll!