Today, we’re sharing some insights from my recent conversation with Camille Gerrick. Camille is a neurodivergent artist living in Charlottesville, Virginia. And while her narcolepsy and ADHD present challenges to running a business and doing all the normal things grownups are supposed to do, she prefers to think of these conditions as her artistic superpowers.

What does it mean when someone is neurodivergent?
Being neurodivergent or neurodiverse means that the brain is wired differently from everyone else’s. Some conditions that might fall under this spectrum of neurodiversity are ADHD, autism, and dyslexia. When you think about neurodiversity, it’s important to acknowledge that just because that brain is different, it doesn’t mean that it’s any less than a neurotypical brain. Instead, it’s more about focusing on the strengths that neurodiversity will bring to the situation. For example, people with ADHD may be notoriously bad with time management, but they can also be very passionate and driven. And when we’re interested in something, we can spend hours on it and not even realize it—thinking of our differences as strengths. 

You grew up as a kid in the 80s and 90s; how has that affected your art style?
I remember having a lot of really obnoxious outfits like these crazy patterns with squiggles and triangles and loud colors. The big scrunchies, the side ponytails, and I guess I just never really grew out of that, to be honest. Colors just make me happy. When I was a kid in elementary school, Lisa Frank was a big deal, and everybody had the folders with the cute rainbow animals and the trapper keeper for all their school stuff. And I just never grew out of that phase. Maybe it’s childish, but it’s fun. And it’s harmless.

I just started reading the Aesthetics Of Joy by a designer named Ingrid Fetell Lee. The premise of the book is that we’ve been taught through ancient traditions that the source of joy lies within us. But, a growing body of research is starting to support the idea that tangible objects can also spark that feeling of joy. In the book, Ingrid embarks on this study to find out what things spark joy, and color was one of her findings.

How did you get started?
It always sounds cheesy to say; I’ve been creative since I was a child. But there’s really not a time I can remember not being enamored with drawing or painting or the creative process. Growing up, we had this little kids’ table with chairs that had pockets on the back full of all our crayons and markers. I remember sitting at that table and coloring away. My dad is a writer and a musician, and my mom is a teacher, so it’s just something we grew up with, being encouraged to be creative. My mom was very anti-TV as well so that probably helped, if we can’t watch TV,  maybe we’ll make something. 

As a kid, I was always given craft special interest books like learning calligraphy or origami with a dollar bill, and oftentimes, they came with all the supplies you need to do what was in the book. Specifically, there was one book about macrame friendship bracelets, and I latched on to that book; I learned how to do all these different knots. I actually started my first business when I was in elementary school, selling macrame friendship bracelets on the playground. I would take my little box of embroidery thread and pull custom colors for people to make them custom color friendship bracelets during recess. Around this time, my grandfather, who owned his own landscaping business in South Florida – landscaping was a big deal – started having conversations with me about charging for my products. He’d say you need to think about how much it costs you to make it and make sure that you charge the right amount so that you’re not losing money. And then you need to decide what percentage of what you make you’re going to invest back into materials or growing the business and what percentage do you want to save. So from a very young age, those conversations about entrepreneurship were had through my grandfather.

You’ve mentioned throughout your story (you’ll have to listen to the podcast to find out more) that you also cope with chronic issues like pain; how do you do art while dealing with those issues?
Yeah, I have a lot of chronic pain from when I was in the military and art helps me cope with that. With art, I get into that flow state where your sense of time, like physical sensations from your body, kind of cease to exist, and you’re 100% in the moment, focused on what you’re drawing or creating. I need that in my life on a very regular basis. It helps me feel sane. It’s something that takes my mind off these health issues – it’s a mental escape from really anything adulty in life.

Where You Can Find Camille:

• Website: www.camilovescolor.com
• Facebook: camillegerrick
• Instagram: @cami.loves.color
• TikTok: @cami.loves.color
• LinkedIn: camille-gerrick

This podcast and all past episodes are available to listen to now. You can also subscribe to Get Under The Surface podcasts on all major platforms (Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, etc.).

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In this installment of our Small Business Spotlight series we’ll be highlighting Matt Jacoby of Eleven Music Career Center, which offers music career coaches, as well as a team of virtual assistants to help musicians, DJs and producers develop business skills. They also provide more services, but I will leave those for Matt to describe below.

I’ve known Matt for years, and he has a true knack for business and music, so I wasn’t surprised to see Eleven Music manifest into reality.

In case you’re not familiar, our spotlight series always highlights amazing artists and small businesses that stand out from the crowd for their all-around awesomeness.

So, let’s get to know more about Matt and his business …

1.) WHO ARE YOU?
My name is Matt Jacoby.  I am one of the 3 co-founders behind Eleven Music Career Center.  Eleven provides music career coaches and a team of virtual assistants to help musicians, DJs and producers develop their business skills, build a virtual business team, curate the array of tools and platforms available today, generate more revenue, and be more successful and happy in pursuing music as a real job.

Outside of Eleven, I give private drum lessons in the Sun Prairie / Windsor area to keep my own music skills fresh and help develop the next generation of drummers.

On the family side of things, I am a husband to my wonderful wife Emily and a father to our three beautiful children: Carter (9), Devin (6), & Aleyah (2).

Ever since high school, I have followed my entrepreneurial spirit and always had a side hustle.  In high school I taught myself how to build websites and landed a volunteer role in building our high school’s first website ever (1999 baby!).  Throughout college and beyond I funded a lot of my extracurricular activities and fun expenses with website clients.  In 2013, I started a new job as a website developer for a local pharmaceutical company in their marketing department.  From there I was introduced to HubSpot and digital marketing automation platforms.  Since then, building websites and deploying marketing automation solutions have gone hand in hand for me.

From 2004 on, I also started exploring how my musical interests could work with my entrepreneurial interests.  This lead to a small handful of music startup organizations in the Madison area that I started either alone or with colleagues.  It was from this trial and error period that I built a collection of sticky notes and digital notebooks that eventually started to help us shape Eleven Music Career Center in 2018.

2.) WHAT DO YOU DO?
Currently the only business founder / partner in Eleven that is able to make Eleven most of my focus as a day job (the other two still need their day jobs and make Eleven a side hustle for now), I have been busy educating myself with the Business Made Simple business operating system and the StoryBrand marketing frameworks.  These tools have allowed me to get excited about starting yet another company from the ground up and has given us the time and runway to figure out what Eleven should be, who it can serve, and how we’re going to do it.

What this means is that I’ve spent the past year developing our leadership strategy, our core mission and characteristics, our financial model, our music career coaching program, and have recently started developing our virtual assistant program.  My passion lies in working on a business, not so much in it.  I feel I’m at my best when I am sitting in the pilot’s seat in the cockpit, steering the plane in the direction it needs to go.  However I still have to perform some of the “in business” tasks, such as acquiring new customers, taking care of existing customers as a coach or a service provider, marketing, and manager duties for our existing contractor team.

What we do for Eleven right now includes career coaching and mentoring, Patreon fan club management, tour and event management, content creation, email marketing, livestream moderating, web development, project management, graphic design, and some music publishing assistance. We have other service ideas in the works but we want to make sure the need and demand exists.

3.) WHY DO YOU LOVE DOING IT?
Like I said earlier, it has been the perfect marriage of my “self employment ambition” and my music background.  As a drummer of 26+ years with 3 bands on my resume, I saw a lot of creativity but not a lot of business savviness.  The music industry has changed a lot in the last 20 years and the traditional music industry was built to confuse musicians.  Corporate record labels and other services grew up around the artist community to help them “get signed and get famous”.  In my opinion, this industry grew around the artists’ ignorance of how they should conduct themselves, how to negotiate and how not to lose control over their own work.

Luckily the Internet has challenged the traditional industry’s model and allowed more and more artists to find some level of stability and success on their own with direct-to-fan access.  The only problem with that is that artists now had to learn what record labels and other industry services could do faster due to their expertise.  So while artists can now go straight to fans and influence via multiple online platforms, they still aren’t very skilled at handling their business affairs that strengthen their creativity.

Most music businesses who help musicians still focus on their careers from a “music first” mentality.  Eleven Music Career Center approaches artists as small business owners first, building a more traditional small business that has music, merch, tours, and more as its products and services.

The last point I will say here is that we are focused on building a service that helps an artist get 100% of their revenue and then it’s up the artist if they want to continue working with us or not.  We operate under short term contracts, either 1 year or month-to-month.  This makes Eleven an investment in an artist’s business rather than a expense or debt that is difficult to repay or find value in.

4.) HOW DOES IT HELP PEOPLE?
The stereotype is the “starving artist” for a reason.  The whole world has come to assume that if you go into music, you are passionate about being in poverty.  It’s assume that music is never more than a hobby except for when you are Taylor Swift.

We find that a lot of tools and platforms that launch in the music industry claim to be the magic pill that will fix the music industry.  However, the only thing they are doing is adding another tool or platform to the music industry that will ultimately confuse the very audience they are trying to help.  At this point music creators don’t need another tool or platform.  They need a partner to help them navigate the sea of options, figure out a clear plan for their music and their life, and get re-focused on what is important: their career and their music.

One of my business partners, Nick Venturella, came into this business relationship with the idea that music can be a middle class employment opportunity just as much as being a store manager, doctor, manufacturer, or construction worker might be.  We like to think that Eleven is here to help make more middle class musicians.  You don’t have to achieve Taylor Swift fame to make it in music.  You just have to build a business that finds its audience of people, just like any other business in this world, and if it can make enough to build a sustainable lifestyle on, that should be the American Dream for music.  I know plenty of middle class musicians who have found music to be their primary or only source of income, some right here in Madison.  They buy groceries, pay their mortgage and utilities, and remodel their house using music.  That is what we want.

5.) FAVORITE BAND OF ALL TIME
That is hard to answer!  My tastes in music and choice of different genres over the years has greatly impacted my ability to choose just one.  But if you are going to make me narrow it down, I guess I would have to say The Offspring.  I discovered them in high school and they are the primary reason I was able to develop speed while playing the drums.  They were a major influence in my musical development, and to this day I still listen to them and keep them in my practice routine.  I’ve even used some of their songs to teach my drum students here in the area.

Learn more about Matt and ElevenMusic, or his drum lessons.

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In this installment of our Small Business Spotlight series, we’ll be highlighting 

One of the things that impressed me about Gary is the amount of knowledge in his brain about stationary-centric stuff, and his generosity in sharing this information without ever trying to “sell” somebody. He’s also pretty generous about including surprises in his shipments.

As I’ve mentioned before, during this pandemic it’s important to find HEALTHY ways to cope, and meaningful ways to help small businesses survive. This article (hopefully) does both.

That said, in case you’re not familiar, our spotlight series always highlights an amazing small business that stands out from the crowd for their excellent service, products — and all-around awesomeness.

Let’s find out a little more about Gary and Notegeist …

1. Who are you?

Hmmm…such a deep, existential question to convey in such a small space! But for your readers, I am Gary Varner and I live in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Most days I split time between writing and running the online stationery shop, Notegeist, when I’m not off hiking or sketching out in the wild. My career evolved through creative endeavors from architecture and graphic design phases, and finally into communications via media and print. For the last 12 years of the day job, I was a corporate communication specialist for a Fortune 50 energy company based in Ohio.

After retiring at the end of 2018, I chose the classic American escape option: sold my house, downsized into a small storage space, then bought an RV and spent a year wandering the back roads and exploring nature across America. I wrote about and shared images of those adventures in a travel blog you can find here. I’ve been in Ann Arbor since late 2019, when I relaunched Notegeist.

2. What Do You Do?

During the last few years of corporate life, I started the first version, Notegeist 1.0 if you will, on a whim. That lasted about a year when I realized doing an online shop on top of a demanding, professional day job was too much. So I reimagined the shop into a virtual pop-up stationery store model and renamed it Papernery. The idea there began as featuring only 12 different items as any time, mostly gathered across the globe or at estate sales, etc. Unfortunately, that also morphed into a full-load shop and after about a year of the same too-much-to-do result, I closed it down.

Since post-retirement and more time on my hands, I decided the idea of a stationery shop might work better. Hoping to provide joy and pleasure to other stationery nuts, and keep it reigned in to a controllable level, the shop follows a similar approach of offering interesting and hard-to-find goods at reasonable prices.

3. Why Do You Love Doing It?

As far back as I can remember, I’ve loved paper and writing tools, plus all those other curious objects and gadgets that fall loosely into the stationery category. During my time as an architect and throughout the other creative avenues across my career, I continued using good stationery materials to make doing the work much more enjoyable.

But beyond all that, I enjoy finding and sharing cool stationery things I use myself or discover in my constant seeking and awareness of what’s out there, both vintage, current, and coming goodies. My shop is a business, but honestly, it’s more a labor of love as they say, and definitely more avocation than vocation.

4. How Does It Help People?

Everyone who gets into stationery typically starts with the basic paper and pencil brands, utilitarian tools but not necessarily nice to use. Those of us who live deep in the stationery world know the benefits and increased enjoyment from a pencil with a great core, or paper that our favorite pencil or pen glides across. Sharing with others what we’ve experienced and discovered helps raise their awareness of the quality that’s out there, and how that can make a difference in experience and enjoyment.

5. What is it about items like pencils and notebooks that “lead” you to open your own store?

I’ve been a techie since the early 80s with the appearance of those first personal computers. My skills evolved via developing websites and blogs, into expert levels at Word, PowerPoint, Excel, etc., and I always leveraged technology throughout my career. I embrace digital life as tools that can improve our lives if they’re managed well.

But honestly, over the last decade or so, combined with my continued use of analogue stationery tools throughout all that time, I’ve develop a deeper love and appreciation of unplugging and spending more time with simple paper and pencil, or a fine fountain pen in a favorite journal. That healthy shift of integrating more analogue ways and unplugging digitally is something I believe more people should do. Thus, my efforts to showcase these wonderful analogue tools via my shop to others, is one way I can help spread that message.

That reason plus having amassed way too much stationery stuff and needing to share with others led to the first shop back in 2014. Since I have a process-oriented mind, I also enjoy the mechanics of a shop and the process of order fulfillment and shipping.

6. What’s your favorite notebook of all time? Favorite pencil?

That’s like asking a parent “who’s your favorite kid!” A question that’s nearly impossible to answer. I use seven different notebooks/journals consistently for distinct tasks. But the more serious of the work occurs either within my primary daily journal, an A5, Tomoe River Nanami Paper Writer journal while using fountain pens, or my travel/work journals. Those are both Blackwing Slates, beloved by me because the paper works well with any kind of writing tool and I love the slightly different size (5.5 x 7.5) of these hardbound journals.

Tool-wise, while I admit to carrying a Rhodia mechanical pencil in my shirt pocket for whenever/wherever noting, I’m a devout Blackwing pencil fan, and rarely use any other. As mentioned, fountain pens get equal time, my top three favorites being my new Nakaya (swoon), a Diplomat Aero with an architect’s nib grind, and several Franklin-Christoph pocket 66s so I can enjoy a variety of ink colors.

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If you’d like to get to know Notegeist better, or buy some cool stuff from them*, feel free to check out Gary’s website.
(*Note: Cuppa SEO is not an affiliate of Notegeist, and receives no compensation for this article or for any purchases made on their website — we’re just big fans!)

You can also check out Gary’s stationary review blog Ink & Core, and other interesting bits on his blog, and at Medium. Gary’s also on Instagram @inkmuser and Twitter @GaryLVarner.

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In this installment of our Small Business Spotlight series, we’ll be highlighting 

I met Bill in a couple of the Facebook groups I belong to and eventually found out about Huckster Truck. In addition to his being a really nice guy, with an awesome online shop, I thought it was especially important to start highlighting businesses like Bills because of the pandemic.

On the one hand, Cuppa SEO wants to do its part to support small businesses (both clients and non-clients) during social distancing and the dilemma of COVID-19 . On the other hand, I believe (based on first-hand experience) that partaking in some old-school journaling — in a beautiful Field Notes notebook, along with a nice pencil (like a Blackwing) — can really help us cope with this unprecedented situation.

That said, in case you’re not familiar, our spotlight series always highlights an amazing small business that stands out from the crowd for their excellent service, products — and all-around awesomeness.

Let’s find out a little more about Bill and Huckster Truck …

1. Who Are You?

I’m just a regular guy that has always had an entrepreneurial passion. I’ve created and operated several small businesses over the years including an aircraft cleaning service, a tanning salon, a couple of restaurants, an IT company, a business consulting firm and Huckster Truck, selling little notebooks. When I’m not working, I enjoy relaxing with my dogs, an 8 year old boxer and a 1 year old terrier/tyrannosaurs mix, as well as spending time with family and friends.

2. What Do You Do?

At Huckster Truck, we try to create a unique buying experience for everyone that enjoys collecting notebooks, pencils and the other “office style” ephemera that clutters our lives and gives us joy. In the WWII pre-war years, my grandfather, father and uncle ran a Huckster Truck route though northern Kentucky. The Huckster Truck brand was born from their legacy.

3. Why Do You Love Doing It?

It’s fun to imagine the little surprise when someone opens a Huckster Truck package. Just throwing in what you ordered is not enough for me, I have to fill the package with extras as a surprise. I’ve heard that being surprised causes us to freeze for 1/25th of a second and our emotions intensify up to 400%. If we can bring an intense feeling of happiness or joy for 1/25th of a second to someone, I call that success.

4. How Does it Help People?

A Huckster Truck package is designed to momentarily bring you back to a simpler time and give you a moment of curiosity and happiness as you explore the package.

5. What is it about items like pencils and notebooks that “lead” you to open your own store?

I found that my own passion for collecting these items could yield a lot of fun when I have the chance to share it with others. The business was a natural thought process for me, and I needed something to do to keep my business skills current.

6. What’s your fascination with the Field Notes Black Ice edition? Does it have to do with your name, or something else?

#BlackIce ! I’ve always been a champion of the underdog. Plus I like the shiny covers and exceptional paper. The PUR binding doesn’t bother me in the least. They could’ve called it anything, the name just happens to be a bonus.

7. What’s your favorite type of pencil?

Tough question. Dixon Oriole, Mitsubishi 9850, Musgrave Test Scoring are all at the top of the list. But my all time favorite is the Huckster Truck Blackout Pencil. Of course.

— — — —

If you’d like to get to know Huckster Truck better, or buy some cool stuff from them*, feel free to check out his website.

(*Note: Cuppa SEO is not an affiliate of Huckster Truck, and receives no compensation for this article or for any purchases made on their website — we’re just big fans!)

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I love notebooks and I cannot lie.

It’s true, and I especially love pocket notebooks, which is why I’ve been highlighting outstanding pocket notebook companies like Field Notes and Story Supply Co, on my blog as of late.

But there are more notebook makers out there that deserve some time in the Cuppa SEO Spotlight Series, so today we’re highlighting Justin Ryan books, creators and sellers of handmade pocket notebooks.

In case you’re new to our spotlight series, it always highlights an amazing small business or designer that stands out from the crowd for their excellent service, products, creations — and all-around awesomeness. It’s a small way for us to “give back” to the brands that bring us joy, and help us accomplish our work.

Without further profusion of words on my part, let’s get to know Justin Ryan books …

1. Who Are You?

Our team is made up of myself, Justin, and my wife, Krystal. We lived on opposite sides of the country and somehow found each other, moved to Texas, got married and we now have two beautiful children, Owen and Evelyn. 

2. What Do You Do?

We sell a variety of hand-made pocket-sized notebooks and log books. I’ve been a graphic designer my whole adult life, so I use my skillset to design all of our products. From there, Krystal handles all of the production. She is keen to details and makes sure each book set is made perfectly. She also handles all of our social media postings and engages with our customer base. All of our notebooks come with specially designed covers with your choice of 32 pages of blank, lined, graph, or dot grid inner paper. They’re perfect for journaling, note-taking, doodling, and lists!

Our logbooks are what initially got us started! We have been avid collectors of a few different pocket notebook brands. We also, for years, have been pizza lovers. We combined the two and created a pocket-sized logbook that you can carry along to all of your fave pizza joints and rate them based on taste and atmosphere! From there we just kept branching out and now have a total of 7 food/beverage related logbooks. Our newest releases being The Wine Logbook and The Beer Logbook!

3. Why Do You Love Doing It?

Our small book business is our side passion project. We both currently work full-time jobs and as I’m sure a lot of the world can relate, we weren’t feeling inspired creatively a lot of times. We wanted something to fulfill our creative side, but also give us something we could connect and do together with each other! We spend our evenings each night coming up with new ideas together and working on fulfilling orders that came in during the day.

Our favorite part of what we do and what makes us love doing it, is we truly believe in and USE our products. We take our logbooks when we go out for dinner with our family and get our children involved in filling them out. We’ve inspired our oldest son, Owen, to use his creativity and come up with his very own ideas for logbooks he would love to see in our shop. He makes prototypes of his own for us all the time and we are currently in the process of making his very own creation, The ABC Adventure Logbook. Seeing his eyes light up when he sees his ideas come to life in front of him is ultimately why we love doing what we do!

4. How Does it Help People?

We believe our product can be useful in day to day tasks. Putting pen (or pencil) to paper is said to help with retention when compared to typing. Journaling can also play a huge role in helping those currently struggling with anxiety or depression. There are positive benefits to putting goals, plans, feelings, and thoughts on paper. We hope, at the end of the day, something as simple as a notebook can make a small difference. 

5. How do you find inspiration for the art you create?

I feel like inspiration can be found anywhere and everywhere! Our first books were born out of my love for pizza and the classic winking pizza chef. For our coffee books, I combined my love of coffee with my east coast roots and I heavily referenced the anthora, which is a hugely popular paper cup design that is used in New York City. A lot of what I do is nostalgia-based and can eventually be traced back to something from my childhood.

6. I see that you currently offer a “Coffee Log Book”

•  What’s YOUR favorite coffee?
  I love an espresso over ice, cold brew or – when I’m looking for something sweet – I like an iced mocha made with oat milk.
•  Any plans for more special coffee-centric art anytime soon?
  We definitely have plans to expand our offering in the coffee category. Currently, we’re in talks with a couple of shops around the country about offering custom books for them and we also have a custom cold brew book that we make for Cold Brew Crew from San Diego, California. In 2020, I hope to have more coffee offerings on the site, including more books, art prints, and other accessories.

If you’d like to get to know Justin Ryan books better, or buy some awesome notebooks from them (use coupon code coffee10 for a 10% discount), feel free to check out their website or their Instagram page.

(Note: Cuppa SEO is not an affiliate of Justin Ryan books, and receives no compensation for this article or for any purchases made on their website — we’re just big fans!)

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In this installment of our Small Business Spotlight series, we’ll be highlighting 

In case you’re not familiar, our spotlight series always highlights an amazing small business that stands out from the crowd for their excellent service, products — and all-around awesomeness.

Let’s find out a little more about Amanda …

1. Who Are You?

I’m a West Coast girl with a love for design, travel, and our natural world. I run a small business outside of my 4-day a week in-house design position selling my designs on stickers, patches, buttons, & stationery.

2. What Do You Do?

My background is in print & promotional design which I have over 15 years experience doing. 3 years ago I started my small business working for myself, experimenting, and having fun. It’s been amazing to experience building something of my own from the ground up. You can find my goods all over North America in small brick and mortar shops and online through my own shop. You might even recognize some of my designs on wood stickers if you’re browsing REI and MEC.

3. Why Do You Love Doing It?

Art, design, and entrepreneurship is something I’ve always been drawn to. There’s something pretty awesome about taking an idea, or something you can only see in your minds’ eye, and bringing it to life. Then being able to see it take on a life of its own with people who are interacting with it or sharing it. The best is when I can apply my design skills to the greater good; Bringing awareness to an important issue or working with companies that are making positive impacts.

4. How Does it Help People?

7. Any plans for a special coffee-centric art anytime soon?

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In case you’re not familiar, our spotlight series always highlights an amazing small business that stands out from the crowd for their excellent service, products — and all-around awesomeness.

Let’s find out a little more about Sarah and her business …

1. Who is WeberMarketing?

I am WeberMarketing. I am the receptionist, IT staff, bookkeeper, business development rep and everything in between — but my day job is a function similar to that of a marketing director for my clients. I partner with a select group of area creative, media and digital specialists to bring my client’s vision to life.

In 2010, WeberMarketing started off as a marketing project manager for small-to-medium sized businesses for single projects such as brand development, website build-out, event planning, and other common marketing initiatives. Since then, my value has evolved into a marketing director type role for clients. Instead of focusing on single initiatives, I now help at a higher strategic level that then rolls into multi-tiered marketing initiatives over a period of time. And this sometimes includes partnering with HR to write specific marketing related job descriptions, participate in the interview process and onboard new marketing resources.

2. What Do You Do?

I come in when a client has a gap or lag in their marketing efforts. Prior to me coming aboard, a company’s own marketing efforts are either stuck or stalled with no clear vision or (sometimes) understanding on how to get on the right path. During an initial visit with a potential new client, I often hear, “I know we need to be doing something, but I just don’t know what.” This is the sweet spot for WeberMarketing to come and provide value. I like to bring the scattered parts and pieces of marketing together for a brand new view on a client’s approach to marketing.

My 20 years of marketing experience is a mix of ad agency experience as an Account Executive mixed with roles in Product Marketing and Campaign Management on the client side. When you work in an agency as an AE, you are the liaison between the client and agency team. You are responsible for turning the ASK into the RESULT. You have the luxury of having a pool of creative and marketing specialists at your finger tips. When you work client side in a marketing department, your marketing task is more focused (and you don’t need to track every 15 minutes of your time!) but you also feel the pinch of a limited budget and limited creative resources. You learn how to do more with less. As a small business owner, you really learn how to do more with less. And, you learn how important it is that you provide value to each and every client interaction because you respect your clients leap of faith of bringing you aboard.

3. Why Do You Love Doing It?

I love doing what I do because I get to bring best practices from my experiences (both good and bad) to benefit my clients and their goals. I don’t feel like a contractor. I act and conduct myself as a member of the team. In some cases, I even get my own office and name badge!

4. How Does it Help People?

Simply put — I get their marketing efforts moving. Whether it is a new marketing initiative or age old “this is the way we’ve always done it” environment, my job is to catch on quick and provide the best recommendation to move the organization forward. When I have my client’s marketing initiatives and resources organized and set up to be self sufficient, my job is done.

5. What are some of the most common ways you help businesses move forward with their digital, and analog, marketing?

The most common way I help a business is I get their marketing department, initiative or plan organized and moving forward. This can be assisting with marketing resource staffing, conducting a mini-SWOT analysis and providing recommendations for moving forward, building out a marketing plan, designing a marketing project workflow for internal (and external) efficiencies. The most common type of marketing tactics I help with is quite the range. I work with a community of creative, digital and media specialists in the area with website design and development, marketing communication material (collateral, newsletters, etc), digital campaigns, event planning and coordination (I have a lot of experience here), brand development, media planning and execution, development of TV and radio campaigns, SEO, PR efforts, social media planning and execution. The best thing to do is, just ask!

6. Favorite type of coffee?

I take my coffee straight up, no cream, no sugar. I do like hazelnut or a slight flavored coffee (but just not chocolate or pumpkin spice).

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If you’d like to learn more about Sarah, feel free to check out her LinkedIn profile, or get in touch at (608) 576-9187, or info@webermkt.com.

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… which is why we’ve started highlighting American-made pocket notebook companies like Field Notes, and now Story Supply Co., on the Cuppa SEO blog.

In case you’re not familiar, our spotlight series always highlights an amazing small business that stands out from the crowd for their excellent service, products — and all-around awesomeness. It’s a small way for us to “give back” to the brands that make us smile, and help us do our work (yes, even web designers like using pencil and paper!).

As you’ll see, Story Supply Co. doesn’t just offer an exceptional product. They’re also using their business to help underserved kids in the highest-need cities and neighborhoods.

Let’s get to the interview!

1. Who is Story Supply Co. (SSC)?

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Yes, we love notebooks, and we can not lie, which is why we’re honored to be able to spotlight Field Notes, a US-based company that creates pocket notebooks, notepads, journals, planners & more.

I sat down with Bryan from Field Notes over a virtual cup of coffee (he’s in Chicago) to gain some insights into the brand and mythology …

1. Who is Field Notes?

Field Notes (the company) started out when Field Notes creator Aaron Draplin (in Portland, Ore.), teamed up with Jim Coudal and ten more of us here at the FN Midwest HQ (in Chicago, Ill.). We used to be an advertising agency called Coudal Partners. We met around 2005, while Aaron was making Field Notes for friends, when we saw them, we decided to work together to share them with the world.

2. What Do You Do?

We make memo books and accessories inspired by Aaron’s collection of promotional memo books distributed by agricultural and industrial companies in the 20th Century. All of our paper products are designed and manufactured in the U.S.A. with domestic materials.

3. Why Do You Love Doing It?

At first, we were simply attracted to Aaron’s original design and wanted to get more of them out into the world. We were also hoping to do less client work, and do something more creatively rewarding. That all came to pass, we stopped doing client work several years ago. In the meantime, we’ve developed a huge base of users (and subscribers!), and seeing their reaction when we release a new edition is probably the most rewarding part of the job for most of us.

For me, personally, I just love working with new materials and processes and seeing the finished books; knowing we’re making something tangible that people can get excited about.

4. How Does it Help People?

The obvious answer is that we’re getting quality memo books into people’s hands so they can remember their big ideas, shopping lists, and their new boss’ kids’ names. On a deeper level, people tell us our books inspire them to be more creative and write more, and use their smartphones a bit less. On top of all that, there’s a subset of our customers that collect our books, so we’ve given those folks a hobby and the community that goes along with that.

5. Any plans for a special quarterly coffee collection in the near future?

Strange you would ask, ha, we started a big coffee-related project around the same time we started Field Notes. Field Notes took off pretty quickly, so we never got the coffee project off the ground, despite having ordered a pallet of coffee beans. We have done a few collaborations with Starbucks, and, if memory serves, we’ve made promotional books for a few local roasters. Personally, I don’t drink coffee, but everyone else here tells me it’s wonderful, ha.

Thank you, Bryan, for taking some time to share the Field Notes story. To learn more, or to order some Field Notes notebooks for your self, visit FieldNotes.com.

(Top) Joe, Jim, Erica, me (Bryan), Shea, Dawson, Michele; (Bottom) Steve, Matt, Trina

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In case you’re not familiar, our spotlight series always highlights an amazing small business that stands out from the crowd for their excellent service, products — and all-around awesomeness.

I’ve known Scott for many years, and have seen him help many businesses and individuals in meaningful ways.

Scott is a consultant who is an expert in the arena of leadership, team development and conflict management — in both the private and public sectors.

He also leads a men’s group called Acumen that provides a safe space for men to gain support, insight and healing.

Who Are You?

1. I am a man, a survivor and a healer. I’ve been single, married, unmarried and then married right. The father of two young men. A fully-flawed, fully-whole and fully-human person. I am a listener, and a truth teller. Trusted colleagues have said that I have developed wisdom in the last decade. That sure took a long time. Humble and proud. Excited and reserved. Compassionate, loving and challenging. An eclectic background with years of experience and study with masters in the field. Always one theme. Helping people to endure and thrive with change; whether driven by external forces (e.g. job loss, divorce) or internal (becoming true to oneself) forces.

2. I believe in science and research, along with spirit and heart. We are whole beings with rich possibilities to live well. I am devoted to the belief that a person can pursue his/her destiny whether it is becoming an executive or vegetable farmer, starting a business, or making a great relationship.

3. I know that the most successful businesses are run in ways that sustain and engage the people who work there.

4. Regarding Acumen, men have problems and hurts too. Even those with privilege. They were boys once, and things happened to them. By helping men heal, we help women, children and society to enjoy healthier relationships and workplaces.

What Do You Do?

I help people with change. What kind of change? Psychological. Sociological. Roles, relationships, jobs, careers. I help leaders lead more productive, respectful and satisfying organizations. I help individuals lead better lives — by their own definition.

I do this with coaching, teaching and facilitating; individually and in groups. I serve as a sounding board. Someone I coach who was recently promoted calls me his CPO, “Chief Provocation Officer.” He loves how I challenge his paradigms and beliefs. In groups I provide the process and structure to bring out the genius of the group.

As a coach,I do not sit passively and ask obscure questions that engage you in navel-gazing. Rather, I connect with you as a person, feel your pain and hope, share perspective and wisdom, and ask good questions to help you address your concerns and get forward movement on your journey.

In Acumen, the Men’s’ Group, I help men discover their true natures, deepest selves, and navigate along life’s journey.

Why Do You Love Doing It?

Everyone from the highest lord to the lowest peasant has the seeds of greatness within them. I nurture that seed and get to watch the unfolding, the flowering occur.

Human beings have been evolving for many, many thousands of years. We have old instincts and we have a developing self. We cooperate, and we compete. We take the high ground, and we can go low. It is so gratifying to watch as someone grows from their old habits and into the more advanced person they are destined to be, paving the path for their best future.

Our myriad of human differences conspire to make trouble between us. But they are also gifts that, when understood and appreciated, present us with gold.

How Does it Help People?

People feel understood, inspired, heard. They develop clarity about their dreams and their realities. They accept that which must be and challenge that which can be. They outgrow old, ineffective patterns of behavior. I help them to discover, enact, and express their true and best selves and to achieve success in relationships, work and life.

To get in touch with Scott about his consulting services, or his Acumen group, feel free to contact him at:  Scott@SavageGroup.biz or 608-215-4254. You can also visit his website.

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