~ NOW BOOKING PROJECTS FOR MAY & JUNE ~ If you are interested in working together, I’d be happy to start the conversation and share more about how I can help you with your branding, design, and custom merchandise needs.

BUSINESS JOURNAL: A PLACE TO CELEBRATE WINS & REFLECT - 52ND EDITION

April’s highlights included starting two new logo projects, traveling to Florida and New Orleans, and recording two new podcast episodes.

The Big Wins

1. Launched a fiery new logo design for Frittata Consulting. You can see the new logo design in my blog post interview with Jessica here.

2. Celebrated the eight year anniversary of winning $10,000 in startup funding to start Lettering Works. I won first place in Bradley’s Project Springboard Student Entrepreneurship Competition when I was a college senior in 2016; read more about how it started and how it’s going now.

General Updates + Accomplishments:

• Spent a week in Florida on a special family vacation. Highlights included sunrise Easter mass on the beach, lots of beach and pool time, games of shuffleboard, pool, and pickleball, exploring the Wakodahatchee Wetlands, swimming in the ocean, a cruise on the Lady Atlantic along the intercostal waterway, walking along Ocean Drive, and exploring Delray Beach, even catching a bit of their First Friday.

• Opened a HSA and topped off my SEP IRA contributions, as well as paid my state and federal taxes.

• Started work on two new logo design projects as well as a custom wedding card for our wedding photographer.

• Completed a few creative marketing experiments, which I am introducing this quarter as a way to spend less time on social media. This practice was heavily inspired by Amelia Hruby of Off The Grid Podcast. This month, we recorded an episode together around the topic of generosity in business that will be released next month.

• Recorded another podcast episode. I’ll also be on Creative Chats with Mike Brennan next month. You can find all my podcast interviews on my press page here or check out this Spotify playlist I created.

• Attended EXPO Chicago with friends and decided I am going to do a little artist residency at my friend’s studio in Peoria sometime this fall to jumpstart some more tactile design ideas that have been rolling around in my mind.

• Traveled to New Orleans to celebrate a close business friend’s wedding! Highlights included eating all of the Southern food, celebrating Leigh & Dan and participating in my first second-line parade, listening to jazz in the streets, enjoying the most colorful bed and breakfast, witnessing my first crawfish boil with friends, and exploring the French Quarter with Daniel.

• Adobe invited me to attend a VIP Illustrator Summit in NYC in May. I’m looking forward to getting back to one of my favorite cities, eating all of the bagels, and connecting with other creatives.

• Reflected on the abrupt closure of Dom’s and Foxtrot. I’ve sold greeting cards and postcards to Dom’s since March 2022 and was saddened to see so many people lose their jobs unexpected and so many small businesses, including mine, lose a consistent client.

• Celebrated Independent Bookstore Day by realizing I have sold wholesale to over 30 bookstores over the years. You can see my book-lover-inspired sticker collection here and shop wholesale via Faire.

April was filled with some fun travel and a bit more personal things than work things. I’m leaning into this personal season as best I can, while also trying to keep business going strong and giving myself some grace as I’m not hitting my revenue goals.

In May, I am most looking forward to continuing to work on new branding projects, lining up more new creative work (reach out if you’d like to get something on the calendar for May or June), traveling to NYC for my very quick trip, and getting married!

Thank you for being here, for supporting me, and for following along with my entrepreneurial journey.

PS - Have a project you’d like to chat about? Send me the details now to ensure your project gets on my calendar in 2024. Bring on all the logos, branded merchandise, + brand identity projects… let’s make some beautiful + impactful things together.

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