Lettering Works Business Journal - July in Review
~ NOW BOOKING PROJECTS FOR AUGUST & BEYOND ~ If you’d like your brand to be expressed in a creative, real way to get the attention of your customers, let’s chat.
BUSINESS JOURNAL: A PLACE TO CELEBRATE WINS & REFLECT - 67TH EDITION
July’s highlights included participating in the Faire Summer Market, surprising a local food pop up with custom stickers, enjoying summertime in Chicago, completing my first 1:1 mentoring engagement through Adobe, completing another artist trade, and designing a new custom sticker for a repeat client.
Surprising Max and Gilberto with custom stickers
Custom Sticker design for Los Rogileros - the collaboration between Max of Pierogi Papi and Gilberto of Milo’s Market
Postcard sorting in prep for the Faire Summer Market
A favorite stop on the Lemonade Walk in Logan Square was Pixie & The Boy to see the vending machine stocked with my mini food stickers
The Big Wins
Participated in the Faire Summer Market. I fulfilled 10+ wholesale orders in a single week! Additionally, I restocked four Rally House stores in the Chicago area and also restocked the Peoria Airport with seven Peoria stickers!
Surprised Gilberto and Max with some custom stickers for their food pop up at Consignment Lounge. This was a passion project that I’d like to expand so I’m able to do more work with cool businesses in my neighborhood.
New “Everyday is a good day to read a book” embroidered patch
Family vacation at Post Lake, WI
We love going to live music and movies in Millennium Park!
Celebrating Daniel’s birthday with tacos
Special delivery to Lesley, our newest stockist at Squasht Boutique in Ukrainian Village
New Off the Grid podcast episode
Adobe Mentorship Program with Tori Mize - Photo from our fourth Zoom call together
General Updates + Accomplishments:
Restocked a handful of my most popular Chicago stickers as tourism season is in full swing. I also delivered two new stickers (Chicago Italian Beef and Chicago Mix Popcorn) to Flyover Chicago and added Squasht Boutique in Ukrainian Village to my roster of retailers.
Launched seven new embroidered patches thanks to my collaboration with Adobe. These are available for purchase on my website and wholesale page.
Created a new custom sticker design for a client. I also did some semi-custom designs for a few other clients this month! And started working on another project with the Logan Square Chamber of Commerce.
Traded a business consulting session for tailoring services as part of my Artist Trade Program. Applications continue to be accepted on a rolling basis. Learn more here.
Enjoyed summertime in Chicago by listening to music in the parks, visiting the Art Institute, eating delicious sundaes, celebrating Daniel’s birthday with friends, meeting my high school art teacher for lunch in the suburbs, catching a Second City show, enjoying the Lemonade Walk on Milwaukee Ave, and attending a small handful of creative meetups.
Spent a weekend at Post Lake in Wisconsin with family. Highlights included a ride on the pontoon boat, kayaking, a campfire, games, and lots of delicious food and drinks. We also hosted my brother and his girlfriend for a fun night in Chicago while they were in town.
Completed a four-week, 1:1 mentorship as part of the Adobe Creative Apprenticeship Program. If you’re looking for a junior designer, check out my mentee Tori’s work on their website or Instagram. They are looking for their first full-time design role after graduating this past spring, so any leads are also appreciated!
Scheduled three virtual presentations with the Society of Typographic Arts, Founding Females Mastermind, and a local library. We also booked tickets to travel to Spain in September.
Was featured in the “21 Tiny Pep Talks For You and Your Creative Business” episode on the Off the Grid Podcast. You can listen to the episode here as well as check out my previous episode “Grow Through Generosity & Collaboration” here.
As most months in summer in Chicago do, July simply flew by. We fit a lot in from celebrating Daniel’s birthday and spending time with my family in Wisconsin to fulfilling all of the wholesale orders as we hit peak tourist season in Chicago. Daniel was extra helpful and delivered a handful of orders to shops in Chicago on his bike.
In August, I’m looking forward to visiting my brother in Colorado and finishing up a couple new art stickers I sketched out this month. I am still working on increasing my service-based projects and have capacity to add more branding, creative marketing, and custom merchandise projects to my schedule. Reach out if you’d like help breaking through the noise with a hand-crafted design that allows you to express yourself and your message more creatively.
Thank you for being here, for supporting me, and for following along with my entrepreneurial journey.
PS - Have a project you’d like to chat about? Send me the details now to ensure your project gets on my calendar in 2025. Bring on all the logos, branded merchandise, + brand identity projects… let’s make some beautiful + impactful things together.
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