The Slowdown

The Creative Small Business Survey results are in! Get the full report right this way → One thing about me: I freaking love marketing metrics. The only thing better than you handing me the keys to your email dashboard or Google Search Console is the thrill of uncovering a hidden gem in the data that can change everything. Like discovering that your newsletter is driving way more sales than you thought (true story, happened in the last cohort of the Decelerator). Or that organic search is...

This week’s edition of The Slowdown is dedicated entirely to tabs because I’m currently eating copious amounts of Easter chocolate somewhere along the 401, on my way to Montreal. My long weekend plans include floating around a spa built on a boat, eating fancy chicken and many, many bagels pulled fresh from a wood fired oven. a.k.a. Having the time of my life. We’ll be back to talking about metrics next week (if you haven’t yet taken the 60-second survey please click right here - it’s just...

“So on your website it says that you’re a…” The business coach pauses to check her notes. “Growth Marketing Strategist.” Except her voice kind of goes up at the end, so it’s actually more like a question. “Yup, that’s right,” I reply, smiling wide, proud of my new job title and the work that I do. “I support solo, creative small business owners with growth marketing strategies.” “Okay, but you grow what exactly? I don’t get it.” Reader, here’s a screen grab of my face from the call: Honestly,...

Need help making your metrics make sense? I can help with that → Data is the backbone of a Just Enough Marketing Strategy – because the right metrics tell the story of your business… and show you where the gaps and opportunities are to grow. Especially in times of uncertainty, having quick insight into your business can help you make decisions and adjust your strategy or approach to respond to the moment. It can also be incredibly grounding. When it feels like everything is on fire, it’s easy...

I’ve been spending all my available free time staring into the little dirt cells where I’ve planted the first wave of seeds for my cut flower garden. Which also means that I’m thinking, once again, about how what’s true in the garden is also true in our businesses… I was reflecting on this email I wrote at the end of last summer (around the same time that I started to blame myself when a batch of notoriously difficult seeds didn’t germinate) and it seemed like a good time to reshare it with...

Those Barbie memes get me LOL-ing every time I see one on my feed. There’s Barbie, looking like she just crawled out of the rubble; hair all over the place, clothes stained with soot, dark circles under her eyes. Sometimes she’s smoking a cigarette which really makes me laugh. And in the background there will be a picture of a raging fire, a bombed out building, a screenshot of a White House press conference with the headline "more bad news!" The caption will be something like me still...

In the recent State of Online Business Survey, 27% of respondents identified not having enough clients as their current biggest struggle. But interestingly only six percent of respondents identified "marketing" as a struggle. And this really stuck out to me because if you don't have enough clients, then I've got news for you: Marketing is a challenge, babe. Because if you're not converting clients or customers, or you're not converting enough clients or customers, you've got a leak somewhere...

“So let’s say you decide you want to make chicken soup…” It was November 30, 2022. I was teaching the very first Slow & Steady workshop, ironically titled Simplify Your Marketing. Ironic because what came next was an elaborate, convoluted, ~10 minute analogy that compared planning your marketing strategy to selecting a recipe for chicken soup. And yes, there were complex, animated slides to match. The point I was trying to make was that you’re not just going to pick any old recipe, you’re...

Week two of the Decelerator. I’d just opened our first live support call when a participant dropped this into the chat: “I want new clients… but how do I bridge that with what I’m doing day to day?” We’d just finished a 90-day planning session and she now had a solid marketing plan: writing SEO rich blog posts. Sending regular newsletters. Connecting and collaborating with peers in her space. Her goals were clear: book four new one-on-one clients, grow her email list and enroll a handful of...

Analog life and hobbies are trending — big time. Gardening. Knitting. Film cameras. Pottery wheels. Anything that gets our hands (and hearts) off screens and back into something tangible. With everything *gestures vaguely around the planet* going on, it makes sense. Many of us want less time online. Less time reacting. Less… whatever the AI slop of the week is. As a gardener, an artist, and a crafter, I’ll take any chance I can get to put my hands in the dirt or make something I can actually...