“Do you remember the Shire, Mr. Frodo? It’ll be spring soon. And the orchards will be in blossom. And the birds will be nesting in the hazel thicket. And they’ll be sowing the summer barley in the lower fields… and eating the first of the strawberries with cream. Do you remember the taste of strawberries?” ― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King

As trite as spring cleaning sounds, that’s been my energy throughout April. I’ve been pulling things out, dusting them off, and deciding what goes and what stays. Some of it is literal, like selling off low-inventory cards in my shop. Some of it is administrative, like combining all my files on the cloud and sorting them, so I can lower my storage. Some of it is strategic, like choosing how to spend my time and what activities don’t make the cut.

Boring to write but thrilling to live.

Business Growth

In April, I updated the focus of my About page from me to we. As my projects have grown over the past six years, I’ve found myself working with the same people over and over again. Everyone has been with me for well over a year, and a few for several years. Now that I’m starting to add projects to my portfolio that we worked on together, I wanted to make sure I can include my team members in that story.

Who They Are

Rachel K.

When I met Rachel, I was excited to find a graphic designer who enjoyed illustration. Custom illustrations are a core part of my brand and always pop up in my projects. So, working with Rachel helps me expand these offerings. When we work together on projects, we have double the bandwidth for drawing — making for very custom designs without sacrificing the timeline.

Jess

I noticed Jess’s attention to detail when we worked together on a project where I was subcontracting. As soon as I needed someone to help me with campaigns, especially social media, I asked her to join me. We’ve worked on countless campaigns over several years

Rachel L

I found Rachel early in her marketing career — as someone who could assist me with data entry and content uploads. As we’ve worked together, I’ve trained her to help with campaigns and large projects. She often accompanies me for client meetings and photoshoots — where her presence from the beginning of the project. She has a strong writing voice and quickly adapts messages to target audiences.

Lynn

I never thought my mom would be working with me at The Shop Shop but, she’s an invaluable, reliable team member. My mom’s journey to working with me started as the business was growing and needed reliable part-time help. She had been working as an account coordinator for a graphic designer for several years and knew a lot about my business from talking to me. As I brought her in to help with content uploads and formatting, I also noticed a proficiency in technical SEO work. So, I’ve trained Lynn to assist me on big website projects — especially when we’re optimizing for search engines.

Me

In a practical sense, I’m the main marketing strategist and website developer for all the projects at The Shop Shop. I talk a lot about myself throughout the site. So, I won’t repeat my story right now. It’s my name on the LLC and I’m making it happen every day.

Bullet Journal Updates

If you’ve followed me for any time, you know that my planner is my life. I needed to start a new journal at the beginning of April so, I began it with a Q2 bucket list.

  • Plant a pollinator garden
  • Walk in the rain
  • Visit the Farmer’s Market
  • Go to an art gallery
  • Fix my red vest buttons
  • Clean old keys and maybe make necklaces
  • Bake mini muffins
  • Paint bedroom
  • Use Batter Bar gift Cards
  • Use movie gift card

In April, I enjoyed a few of these activities. I planted my pollinator garden. I already had butterfly bushes on each side of my front door. So, I’ve added pollinator-friendly wildflowers around them. The seeds are already sprouting and I’m hoping they’ll shoot up over spring.

I did clean the collection of old keys from my grandparents. I put several in Ashwood Manor Designs. They aren’t on necklaces but, they’re priced for someone to maybe use them in their own project. I also fixed the buttons on my red vest — although I have yet to wear it.

We baked mini muffins — banana blueberry. My son didn’t like them. So, I ate most of them myself.

Planning for May

Looking to May, I’m putting together an initial email blast for The Shop Shop. I’ll be introducing my team there, explaining our services, and teasing an upcoming giveaway. Stay tuned!