June is almost finished! It was a glorious first month of summer for us, in so many ways. We are absolutely loving the summer schedule, weather, green things, flexibility. I hope your early summer days were sweet and full and restful as well.

If you didn’t read my last TELL post, this concept is one million percent inspired by Rachel of Real Talk with Rachel Awtrey! This winter, she started a new series where she shares a bit of what’s going on in her life using the acronym JOYFUL. I immediately thought THIS is a way I can share monthly behind the scenes/ real life in a new way! I’ve used what’s saving my life, beautiful things I’m noticing (which I still am using, only quarterly!) but TELL posts feel like a wonderfully fresh way to talk about some behind the scenes things (because I am NOT only thinking about copy all the time).

If you don’t remember, the acronym T.E.L.L. is for Tell It Like It Is, of course! T  is for Talking About. E is something I am Energized By. The first L is for what I’ve been Listening to. And the second L is something I’m Looking Forward To.

(If you haven’t been around long, or don’t pay THAT close of attention to random businesses you follow on the Internet, let me just remind you that honesty and clarity are two of my Biggest Values here at Studio Tell, and have also really significantly impacted my everyday life aside from marketing things. You can read more about it in a post I wrote right here.)

TELL for June! Let’s get into it!

talking about:

If you’ve been paying attention, you maybe have seen me dropping hints here and there about an online course I’m working on building. I’ve had so many brainstorms for online courses over the years, but I finally have a concept that is Sticking, and I’m running with it. Bettter than Perfect will be a class all about how to market and write copy in the AI era. There is so much advice everywhere on this… use ai! Don’t use AI! The old methods don’t work anymore! But if the old methods don’t work, how do we know what works? Do I just have to air my problems and trauma on the internet to connect with people? I’m building out a seven part…course? Deep dive? Training? about what works, how to write copy in a way that makes sense and is compelling, but doesn’t sell your soul.

All that to say, I’ve been thinking about and talking about this lots! I have most of my foundational content drafted already, so I’m brainstorming more of the delivery methods. Video or audio? Workbooks? How can I make sure it is accessible and easy to get through, but also deep and thoughtprovoking and transformational? If you have strong opinons about online courses (I knowww they are a dime a dozen) I would be thrilled to hear and chat with you. Oh yes and the waitlist is here.

energized by:

I wouldn’t be surprised if this is green things, every time, from henceforth and forevermore. Summer is here, and I don’t think I can overstate how much I love it! Not just the green things, though, I suppose, I just love all the summer things. Slower schedules. More flexibility. Time outdoors. Evenings outside with friends! Working in the garden. Summer always just feels like a giant breath of air, the kind that fills and relaxes your whole self. I feel so grateful for every green and warm part of it, and this my favorite-of-Idaho-seasons truly has been fueling my weeks.

listening to:

I’ve been listening to audiobooks! I love podcasts usually, but haven’t been encountering very many that are resonating these days, so audiobooks it is. I learned to listen to memoirs on audio from Emily P. Freeman, and it is my favorite. I’ve listened to some inspiring and some heavy books (often they are both!) and just finished Finding Me by Viola Davis. (Shout out to my friend Sarah for the recommendation!) It’s read and dramatized in the author’s own voice and is absolutely mesmerizing. Send me all your favorite memoirs so I can listen to them too!

looking forward to:

We’re starting to make some travel plans for this fall, and I’m so excited!! Specifically: we’ll be visiting NEW YORK CITY IN SEPTEMBER LORD WILLING! Our dearest friends Ethan and Melody are moving to NYC for school, and we’re hoping to visit soon after they move. I’ve been saving clips of Autumn in New York for years now 😅, and in another life I think I would love living there. We’re making some other travel plans as well, which I’m sure I’ll talk about more at some point, but for now… send NYC recommendations over, we’ll be needing them. 🙂

That’s all for June! These sorts of lists are one of my favorite things, so tell me what you’re talking about, energized by, listening to, and/or looking forward to. Life is complicated and hard but also rich and lovely in a hundred ways, and I hope to demonstrate by “telling it like it is” the fact that those things constantly exist all in one place, all at the same time.