This blog post was originally published on March 2nd, 2020. It has been recently updated with new information to help small business owners use their stories in their weekly nurture emails as part of their email marketing.

Once upon a time, there was a 15-year old girl who played harp and sang at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival. She was asked to make costumes for other performers, based on the ones she made for herself. The first year, she made about 5 pieces for other performers. The following year, costuming took up most of her summer.

This continued on, to varying degrees depending on education opportunities and access to sewing machines, for 15 years. Somewhere in there, she got a degree in Creative Writing and Theater. She worked various and sundry other weird jobs, some good, some bad, one involving large cats.

After that, she gave up costuming to become a full-time touring musician. (Instead of part-time, as she’d already been doing for several years.) That’s where she started her very first email list.

Then her life fell apart. (That’s a different blog post and one that may or may not happen in the future.)

So she went back to a “real job.” First, she made Muppets for Sesame Street Live shows. Then, she got a job in a totally new field, using the creative writing side of her degree as a copywriter, writing promotional text on websites for law firms. After that, she worked for a well-known Mar-Tech start up. Then, she launched her freelance copywriting career.

Now, she teaches business owners how to harness the power of email marketing to get more customers and make more sales.

That is a VERY condensed version of my odd work history.

But all of it has added to my current experience as a small business owner, helping other small business owners.

Regardless of your background and work history, you’ve got amazing skills that you bring to your small business too.

[Read more…]