We're working to LIVE ✨

​We lost Dolly Parton last week, which truly feels like the end of an era. The woman was an icon, and for good reason: She was a once-in-a-lifetime talent (she claims to have written Jolene and I Will Always Love You on the SAME DAY); she was a genuinely good human (she founded the Imagination Library, which has gifted over 300 million books to children across five countries over the last three decades); AND she was a ton of fun (have you seen her wigs??). When you're that kind of rare triple threat, you deserve to be remembered with all the warmth and joy you brought into the world.

She was also both extremely wise and hilarious. Some of my favorite quotes of hers include:

“Find out who you are and do it on purpose.”

“People always ask me how long it takes to do my hair. I don’t know. I’m never there.”

"I'm not offended by all the dumb blonde jokes because I know I'm not dumb — and I'm not blonde either."

But the quote of hers that's been resonating with me most deeply as I move solidly into my 40s, work to build a business, and try to keep up with my kids is this one: “Don’t get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life.”

When I worked for other people, I felt like I was always being pushed to seek the next raise, the next promotion, the next opportunity. There is this uniquely American gamification of success where we're always supposed to want more, like life is a video game where we're always trying to get to the next level. But that was never what I wanted. (FWIW, I don't like video games either 🙃) I just wanted a quiet, comfortable life. I knew I would have to work for money, but I was happy with work that challenged me as long as it paid the bills and didn't stress me out.

That’s why I started Golden Poppy Digital — because I believe that:

🧡 Time is our only non-renewable resource. We deserve to spend it doing things we love, with the people we love. (For example: Booking a last minute trip to the midwest to watch women's baseball with your kids!) (No, I will NEVER stop talking about this.)

🧡 Working for yourself allows you the freedom to choose new ways of being. I’ve never been interested in conforming to hustle culture, and working for ourselves allows us to reject it entirely. I'm not performing surgery. I'm not saving people from a fire. NONE OF THIS is that deep, or that urgent. (My ADHD's manufactured urgency doesn't count.)

🧡 We can build a better future together. In order for us to keep moving forward, in business and in life, optimism (and joy!) is a necessity. That's why it is so important to take the time you need to do the things and be with the people you love. Life is so hard for so many of us right now, but we can make it bearable (enjoyable, even!) by intentionally seeking out positive and fun experiences.

Take it from me — and Dolly 😉 We should all be building businesses that support our lives; not the other way around. Sometimes, that means outsourcing the parts of our work that don't bring us joy, or, worse, actively cause us stress. If social media is one of those stressors for you, I would love to support you and your small business. Keep reading to learn more about how we can work together, or just respond to this email and let's talk it out! You deserve to make a living that lets you LIVE, and I’m here to help you do just that 🧡

📻 Unpopular opinion: I don't think every platform needs to be all things to all people. I think it is good, actually, for different platforms / apps to specialize in different things. So when I saw that Threads was ​testing podcast transcripts, I was forced to ask: Why?? To be fair, this is great for accessibility, but I just don't understand why Threads — an ostensibly text-only platform — is suddenly hosting podcasts?? Especially when they won't even let us post voice notes anymore?? BRING BACK VOICE NOTES, YOU COWARDS!

🦋 Along similar lines, BlueSky is now ​allowing videos up to 10 minutes on their platform. This one kind of makes more sense to me, since BlueSky is, in a word, desperate for users, so they're out here looking for anything that will entice people to stay on the app.

📽️ Instagram has introduced First Draft, which allows you to quickly splice together a Reel and work from there. But Instagram users, understandably, have questions, like are you going to label this as AI, too??

Let's take the question mark out of "what to post" with a Content Lightning Round! These virtual sessions can be 30 or 60 minutes, and give us time to brainstorm tangible content ideas for your socials.

What you'll get:​
⚡ A list of actionable content ideas
⚡ A strategy on how to implement them
⚡ A recording of our session that you can come back to again and again

Plus: When you book a Content Lightning Round between now and the end of October, 10% of proceeds will go to No Hate in WA State, a campaign fighting anti-LGBTQ+ legislation in Washington state that will be on the ballot this November.

Book your Content Lightning Round ⚡️

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OTHER WAYS TO WORK WITH ME 👇🏻

🌼 For the small business owner who doesn't want to deal with socials AT ALL, my Super Bloom package is full-service done-for-you social media management that includes content strategy, creation, scheduling, and community engagement!

🌿 If you like personally responding to comments and DMs but don't have time for all the content creation and scheduling, my Big Bloom package offers social media support to take the content component off your plate!

🌱 If you just need help getting photos and videos off your camera roll and turning them into content that converts, my Lil Bloom package is for you!

Pick your package!

🐕 We have an extra puppy guest this week! Our family friends have to travel to Kansas City for a funeral, so the kids and I (and Ramona, I guess) have been entrusted with the care of Muenster. Some of you might recognize Mun from my IG stories (I visit him during the week while his parents are at the office). Ramona is very excited to have him here. The cats ... less so. It'll be an interesting few days, but at least we'll get some cute pictures out of it!

👯‍♀️ My bestie and her eldest are coming into town this weekend! Current plans include a Mariners game and a pasta bar that she found on Instagram. I'm excited to give my niece a full Seattle experience while they're here, and for us to get some LONG overdue family time 🧡

🍎 As I write this newsletter, I am anxiously awaiting further updates on the negotiations between Seattle Public Schools and SEA (the teacher's union). You'll be receiving and reading this on what is supposed to be the first day of school, but will that actually happen? Who knows! 🤗