I didn't want to write this email. When I was prepping the newsletter last week, I wanted to share an article on how to "survive and thrive" in Q4 from a marketing perspective. I was hoping for a great article that would sum up some nice action items, because frankly, I didn't want to write it, and I came up with...zilch. But I know that info is exactly what you need right now, and I love you all enough to do things I don't want to do if they'll help you. So I'll attempt to share a few...
8 days ago • 6 min read
In the first reading and the Gospel yesterday, the theme of competition came up. In the first reading, Joshua is jealous on Moses' behalf that others are prophesying. In turn, Moses responds that he wishes everyone would be blessed with prophesy. Likewise, John "tattles" to Jesus on someone who is successfully driving out demons in His name. And what does Jesus reply? "Whoever is not against us is for us." The same is true for you. You know that church or school down the road from you? You...
15 days ago • 2 min read
Last month, I went on an AMAZING weekend silent retreat. It was truly the best retreat I've ever been on, mostly because I didn't have to run it. 😝 The second I found out about it, I knew I had to go on it. I'd been looking for a retreat, I grew up volunteering with the sisters who were going to be leading it, it wasn't too far away, and the theme was on a topic I'd really felt drawn to grow in. And it didn't disappoint. I know the word "life-changing" is thrown around a lot, but this was...
15 days ago • 3 min read
She handed the paper back to me and my heart sank as I saw dozens of red marks streaked across the page and a lot of sentences that looked like this. My favorite college professor had just handed back my paper, and I couldn't decide if I was more crushed by the fact that I had let her down or that those marks definitely meant I was going to fail the class. What she was pointing out? A mistake that's now my favorite to intentionally make in my marketing writing. (Spoiler: She actually only...
22 days ago • 4 min read
I recently came across a marketing concept that, while not new to me, I thought was boiled down quite nicely. It goes something like this: Problem Aware These are the people who know they have a problem, but aren't aware of what the solution might be or that there even is one. This is what we call a "pain point" in marketing, and we spend a lot of time on getting to know these and talk about them for our audience. And remember, that problem doesn't have to be big — it could be as simple as...
29 days ago • 3 min read
I was feeling really good about where I was with youth group planning for this year. I thought ahead and had our "what worked and what didn't" meeting right at the beginning of the summer instead of waiting until the end. We had a few outings scattered throughout the summer to keep the friendships going. I'd already decided the first meeting date for the fall back in June. I was set, I thought. And then the pastor emailed me two weeks ago with a request for something to put in the bulletin...
about 1 month ago • 4 min read
There I was, schlepping my 3.5 year old through the AC-less mall, dripping sweat and writing this newsletter in my head. Last week, I took my daughter on a Mommy/Daughter Day to pick out a first day of preschool outfit and spend some one-on-one time with her. I learned a few important things: Shoe shopping with a toddler is not fun. Bell bottoms are apparently back?! Literally every pair of pants they had for toddlers had bell bottoms. My daughter is as indecisive as I am. Every time I'd ask...
about 2 months ago • 4 min read
When I worked in higher ed, we would produce a magazine three times a year and it would CONSUME me for weeks. As a contributing writer and copyeditor, I'd read the magazine at least 10 times before it went to print, including an infamous roundtable where myself and two of my colleagues would sit at a long table and pass the pages around for a final grammar read for at least 3-4 hours. As the hours would wear on, we'd get more and more punchy — we'd laugh until we cried at least once per...
2 months ago • 2 min read
When we first went to our parish, we went in incognito mode — aka, I didn't tell anyone about my background in church work or Gloriam or my master's or any of that. I just...went to Mass. After almost a decade of working for a church, it was GLORIOUS. I knew that someday I'd want to get back into volunteering and being part of groups, but I needed to just tend to my own spiritual life for a bit. And somehow, I managed to remain incognito for almost a year and a half. Until I made the fatal...
2 months ago • 3 min read