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My coach hosted Track Thursdays that culminated in a 5k time trial and, after threatening to quit running when I attempted 1200s at a 7:47 pace, I finished the summer with a 28:28 5k— a new PR (!!) Thank god for my friend Alle who paced me. I complained the whole time, almost threw up, thought I might pass out, but now I want to do it again. Running is addicting. Make it make sense.

If you’ve been on my email list since the Telltale days, you’re probably wondering why I’m talking about running instead of design and the truth is… I’m figuring out this space as I go. I used to think having a niche was the only way to run a successful business (or side hustle, in this case) but at this point, I only want to make time for things outside my full-time job if I really, really love them. so. a collection of all the things is what this will be for now.

I’ve pre-written a handful of field notes that have been sitting in my drafts for over a year, and they cover branding, running, reading, my time in iceland, and everything in between, so bear with me as I write whatever comes to mind (or don’t… no hard feelings ;))

Three things I’m dying to tell you about:

1. I’m newly obsessed with making sourdough thanks to a recent class I took in Denver— turns out, the carbs go really well with marathon training

2. I host a monthly run day in Denver for slow runners like me and it’s become my favorite morning of the month. 3 miles at an 11:30 pace, bagels after. Catch us next on September 12 at 9am in Rino.

3. My sister and I are on what our friends are calling a “concert bender”: Hilary Duff, Olivia Dean, and Noah Kahn in the span of something like 19 days? If you get the chance for any of these, I 10/10 recommend. If not, listen to the set lists and thank me later.

Currently:

• Training for: Boulderthon Half (ps I’m trying to help my sis sell her bib so DM me on insta if you’re looking for one)

• Reading: I just finished The Calamity Club and now I have book hangover (the good kind) so I’m frozen. Any recs?

• Planning: Japan in January— send me any faves!

• Listening to: Weather for Tennis on repeat

• Can’t get enough of: farmers market Salted Banana Matcha from

One last thing!

A little love for the brands that help make Field Notes possible. Some of the links below are affiliate links, which means if you shop through them, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Supporting them is a small way of supporting Field Notes, too. 🤍

• Shop my running faves from: FP Movement, Bandit, and LSKD

• Save 5% on Blue Car Rental for your next trip to Iceland

• Browse my go-to Brooks running shoes

• Slow your scroll (and save 10%) with Brick for screen time limits

• Get 20% off LNDR with my code LNDR_8577

Until next time!

xoxo,
Lyd

In 1999, I took my wirebound address book to kindergarten to stay in touch with my friends. in 2015, I was still taking college lecture notes by hand. And today, I’m constantly sending screenshots of my handwritten iPad notes to my team at work.

I’ve been writing some version of a newsletter/blog for 12+ years— first from the deck of the 88’ wooden ship I lived on in college, then for many years after that when I was running Telltale, my branding agency, full-time. But ever since I left the entrepreneur life and went back to the corporate world a few years back, it’s been a few-and-far-between situation.

So, without further ado, this is me (re)introducing my little corner of the internet: field notes.

An accidental nod to summer camp vibes, and a perfectly wide umbrella to capture all the randomness that this space has become post-telltale (IYKYK).

I mostly think/talk/write about:

• Running, who would have ever thought

• Iceland, not a shocker but I don’t live there anymore so this one ebbs and flows

• Denver, which I like a lot, but damn, it’s missing an ocean

• Branding/marketing… I’m such a nerd when it comes to this

• Books, my forever fave

What you can expect:

1. Field Notes— a bi-weekly-ish newsletter of sorts. think of this like looking into my notes app. what I’m doing, what I’m loving, and other ramblings

2. Field Guides— monthly-ish longer guides on specific things that I love to talk about (ie Iceland trip guides, Denver weekend guides, marathon prep guides, you get the idea)

3. The Field House— an online community for q+a, encouragement, and fun tidbits

To get access to Field Guides and The Field House, upgrade to a paid subscription

Upgrade subscription

I’m so happy you’re here.

More soooooon! And in the meantime, I’m most active on Instagram, so feel free to connect with me there.

Xoxo,
Lyd

Instead, I trained for (and ran) a marathon, scuba dived every weekend, and watched a more-than-usual amount of trash TV to decompress. Nonetheless, a handful of reads stood out as “read agains” (my measurement for a five-star read). So… let’s get into it:

Five star faves:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ The Correspondent

This is worth the hype and my favorite book of the year (even though the list was short). The main character’s life is told exclusively through a collection of her letters and emails and it was beautiful and so sweet.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ My Friends

I cried through half of this because it was happy and sad and hopeful and hopeless and poetic and magical and so many other things. Obsessed.

Honorary four-star mentions:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ The Road to Tender Hearts

The sweetest story about a grumpy old man that ends up with two kids—Man Called Ove vibes and really sweet on audio book.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Atmosphere

A new Taylor Jenkins Reid fave. Collin’s grandfather was the pilot of Sally Ride’s second space voyage and it felt so iconic and cool to read more about this timeline in the space journey.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ A Marriage At Sea

This was on Obama’s favorites list from 2025 which says a lot. It’s a (true!) shipwreck survival story and I loved it.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Great Big Beautiful Life

I thought Emily Henry was losing her spark but this brought me back! Felt like Evelyn Hugo and I loved it. The title is cheesy, but the book was fab.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ The Exiles

Two different timelines and several women woven together across countries and experiences. I knew almost nothing about the convict ships to Australia and very little about Australia natives and this was a powerful story of both.

These are all hyperlinked (as non-affiliate links) to my favorite indie bookstores, The Bookshelf and Books are Magic—of course you can buy them on Amazon, but I’d recommend borrowing from the library, ordering from The Bookshelf, or sourcing from a local independent bookstore if you have a favorite near you.

I vividly remember somebody saying to me in middle school, “you guys probably won’t be best friends forever.” They were wrong. Here we are, still the dearest of friends, two whole decades later.

This spring, we went to Napa for my dear friend Kayla’s 30th—something I never thought we’d get to celebrate. When we were 17, Kayla was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma that came incredibly, dangerously close to taking her life within a few years. It’s a miracle that she’s here, and the most important birthday I’ll celebrate until the end of time.

And now for the travel guide:

We flew in and out of San Francisco and stayed at a beautiful AirBnB in Santa Rosa. I knew there were a lot of wineries to choose from, but honestly, the more research we did, the more overwhelming it felt. Everything is stretched out throughout the Napa and Sonoma valleys, so it’s important to get a driver or have a DD (we took turns driving which was great—everybody wanted a break from drinking at a certain point anyway).

Our biggest goals were to get a good balance of different vibes and avoid the big box wineries and I feel like we nailed it. We landed on 2-3 wineries a day, did tours at all of them (this is pretty much how it seems to work everywhere) with a chill day in between which worked out perfectly. We did have a pregnant friend with us and most of the wineries charged less for non-drinkers, so make sure to mention that if anybody you’re traveling with doesn’t plan to drink.

Napa Wineries

1. Schramsberg: This is a sparkling-only winery and the cave tour was amazing. Schramsberg opened in 1965 and the history was amazing—this felt like the most informative tour we went on and we all absolutely loved it.

2. Frog’s Leap: This was a winery + vineyard but it was a more unguided experience. We cozied up on the beautiful wrap-around porch and ran around in the vineyard—the wine was delicious and it was a nice break from “listening” and getting to just chat and hang out.

3. Goosecross: We had a private room here which was so fun for a group (there were six of us total) and several of us joined the wine club—this definitely felt like the best “deal” and was some of our favorite wine, in a smaller setting right on the vineyard property.

Sonoma Wineries

1. Hamel Family Wines: This felt the most high-end, and was one of our favorite experiences. The architecture was beautiful and we sat in the library overlooking the vineyards for our tastings. We didn’t walk through the vineyards here, but did get delicious cheese pairings.

2. Coursey Graves: This was the most expensive tour, and there were beautiful pictures of the property, but we were there in the off-season, so we didn’t get to see it quite at it’s peak. The hostess was wonderful and we sat in a casual kitchen-type area and got an amazing cave tour, but the wine wasn’t particularly memorable.

3. Jolie-Laide: This was our favorite wine, but it was purely a winery—not a vineyard. It’s in kind of a warehouse district that isn’t as “sexy” as some of the others, but we got to wander around all the barrels and see the wine-making process. The wine was the most unique and artistic and the founder guided us through the process which felt extra special and intimate. This would be my personal top repeat!

And a few amazing spots—

1. Little Saint: cutest lunch spot + bottle shop

2. Valley: the most delicious dinner

3. Sam’s General: adorable coffee

4. The Beacon: great cocktails

It was a fairly quick trip, but honestly felt like plenty of time—we flew in on a Wednesday and out on a Sunday and I honestly think more time would have felt like too much.

We had a magical time and I already can’t wait to go back one day!

xx,
Lydia

PS. Sadly Nick Parker’s house from Parent Trap (officially known as Staglin Family Vineyard) was closed, but we did climb the fence for a photo (oops!) and it’s open when you visit Napa, you must go.

You’re probably subscribed to this list from my Telltale days— I still take on an occasional branding project, but somewhere between going back to the corporate world, moving to Iceland and then leaving Iceland, I accidentally became a runner and most of my online content now focuses on travel + running. If that’s not your speed, feel free to unsubscribe, but if it is, I’d love to have you.

Ok, now onto running content… because somehow I ran a f*cking marathon?!

When we moved to Iceland in August 2023, I couldn’t run a single mile and decided to challenge myself to train for a 5k which somehow turned into a full-blown running addiction and here we are I guess??? I’ll spare you the details of my running journey over the last 2+ years, but two weeks ago I literally did what I thought was impossible and crossed the finish line at the 50th Marine Corps Marathon. Here’s how it went…

On my shakeout on Saturday, I thought to myself “my legs have never felt this tight before” but strides + stretching help and I went to bed excited and optimistic.

I woke up feeling good but at mile 1, I still felt a tightness I’d never had before. I started conservatively and followed by pacing plan, and by mile 5, I was really settled into race pace and on track for a 4:38 finish— twelve minutes faster than my goal time. My splits were almost perfectly even, the crowd was electric, and I felt like I was going to absolutely crush my A goal (sub-5), B goal (>11:59 miles / no walking), and C goal (cross the finish line).

At 18, the tightness was getting worse and I started to hit a wall— just like everybody prepared me for. But a friend surprised me and re-energized me and I was back on track by mile 19 with an eight minute buffer to my 4:50 goal. I didn’t feel good, but I was digging deep and pushed hard for the next few miles. Ran into another friend and we ran together for a mile or so which was the best.

At mile 22, though, my right hip and right knee were done for. I could barely pick up my right leg and I really thought “I can’t do this. I don’t think I’m going to finish.” I called my sister in tears, three different people asked me if I needed medical, and a few different people sat with me while I stretched and cried. A sweet EMT that was trying to BQ but got totally off his goal too stopped and looked at me and said “I’m not going to let you not finish. We can do this.” We hobbled through the next few miles and I had my sister in my ear telling me to take it step by step and walk as slow as I needed to.

At 26.1 I picked up a fake little jog for my finish line pics (hahaha I have a feeling they’re going to be hilarious) and MADE IT across the finish line of my FIRST FREAKING MARATHON.

I cannot count the number of strangers that shouted my name, cheered for me, sat with me, walked with me, and ran with me those last few miles. If you need some renewed faith in humanity, go to the back of a marathon—I’m emotional thinking about how magical it was.

Cheers to my C goal and the literal hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life. I’m in the 1%!!!!!!

Despite the last few miles going totally ~not~ according to plan, I could make a forever long list of all the things that went *right* so here are a few:
1) a comfy race fit
2) the atmosphere was absolutely electric
3) ended up running into two friends running and one cheering
4) I replayed @mike.nicastro’s voice memo in mind over and over to smile when it got hard and it really did help
5) @oliviadeano on repeat
6) the blue mile
7) the hills kind of didn’t bother me? Like I almost didn’t notice them, whatever, I’ll take it
8) my pace felt so so good for most of the race
9) no rain
10) …see above but literal perfect weather
11) the shuttle + metro to the start line was so easy
12) fueling felt absolutely perfect
13) I got the coolest ever fleece finisher blanket for the 50th anniversary instead of a disposable one
14) no sunburn
15) no blisters
16) my hair stayed put + didn’t tangle
17) SO many strangers cheered for me, best rec ever from @iz.bufton to iron on my name
18) post-race pizza in bed was 💯
19) @altrarunning spoiled me a massive hotel room
20) bib pickup was hella easy
21) no bathroom situations PTL
22) my feet felt great
23) garmin + oura + phone stayed charged
24) I laid on the sidewalk for two hours after the race and it was the best
25) ubering home was worth every surge-rate penny
26) post-race massage
27) post-race mezcal marg
28) unbroken electrolytes
29) the banana they handed me at the finish line
30) my handheld waterbottle
31) running past all the landmarks
32) a marine putting the medal around my neck
33) I felt so prepared and I really don’t think I could have done anything better or differently (shoutout to @charathoner!!!)
34) I had over 100 texts from friends and family when I finished and have literally never felt more loved and supported

+ literally a 1000 more. It really was a magical weekend and a perfect first marathon 🫶

If you’ve read this far, I’m so happy you’re here. I guess this post marks the official transition of my Telltale email list into more of a personal list—a little space to write about honestly anything because I’ve missed writing + sharing. YAY!

I read constantly as a child, but then I slowed down reading for fun when I was in high school and college because of all the assigned reading, and by the time I’d finished school, I was down to only a few books a year on vacation. At some point, I realized how much I missed cozying up with a book, and set a goal to read a book a month in 2020… but when the pandemic hit, I started reading a book a week, and I haven’t slowed down since.

I’m fairly strict on my rating system, and here’s how I usually track things:
⭐ — Actively hated or DNF (Did Not Finish)
⭐⭐ — Wouldn’t necessarily recommend, but was worth finishing
⭐⭐⭐ — A solid book
⭐⭐⭐⭐ — Loved it
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ — Can’t stop talking about it, on the re-read list

This year, I read 50 books, with a top six that made my five-star list. I read most books through Libby for free on my Kindle, but I loved every single one of these enough to go back and buy the hard copies.

1. Go as a River left me totally speechless. The writing is breathtaking and the story is heartbreaking at times and so healing and others and I’m in awe of how much I loved it. I knew nothing about it going in and immediately need to read again. Going to buy the hardcover now because this one cannot exclusively live on my kindle forever.

2. I bought Beyond That, the Sea in the airport for the title and the writing was absolutely beautiful. I was obsessed with first half and loved the second, just not quite as much once the timeline zoomed out but also growing up is just life and I wouldn’t have changed a thing. Will be thinking about how poetic and beautifully written this is for a long time and literally got a tattoo of the title because I couldn’t get it out of my head.

3. The Women wrecked me. Haven’t cried this many times in a book maybe ever. I also learned a lot about the Vietnam war, especially for having kind of known nothing about it before. Sometimes Kristin Hannah’s writing moves too fast for me, but by the end of this, I felt like the pace is what transported me into every scene. Don’t know that I could let myself be heartbroken by reading this again, but I absolutely loved it.

4. When the World Goes Quiet was phenomenal. The writing was beautiful, the characters had so much depth, and somehow everything was connected but nothing was expected.

5. Hello Beautiful was beautifully written and I hung onto every word, but also, it wrecked me. The sisters comparing themselves to the Little Women is the sweetest and I adored how their family love was portrayed, despite its imperfections. Putting on my forever faves list.

6. Mayluna reminded me of Daisy Jones and The Six but better. It might be one of the most romantic books I’ve ever read but it also feels so real and raw and emotional. It’s heart wrenching and I was unprepared to cry in a cafe in Greece finishing it but I loved every single page.

Other books I can’t stop talking about, but ultimately gave four stars:

1. I could not put Eight Bears down and I’m kind of obsessed with bears now. It read like a story more than science and I loved following the author’s journey. I cracked myself up writing this review because it’s literally a non-fiction book about bears but it was seriously so good.

2. I was hooked on The Echo of Old Books from the first chapter and captivated by the way the stories wove together. I tend to avoid books about books, but this one was different. I haven’t stopped talking about it sense.

3. By Any Other Name is a powerful book about if Shakespeare was really just a pen name for a female author. Nobody researches quite like Jodi Picoult and I love her for it. This was fascinating and such a fun read and most of all I just really she’s right about Shakespeare being a woman.

And a final two that I really loved:

1. The Frozen River was fabulous. I love Ariel Lawhorn’s research as much as her writing and I was fascinated to learn more about 1700’s lawsuits and trials through the lens of such an incredible main character.

2. I read Don’t Forget to Write in a day. The cover makes it look like a beach read and it’s so much more than that. Everybody needs an Aunt Ada.

In other reading-related news, I’m switching to StoryGraph and away from Goodreads this upcoming year. The aesthetic is way better, you can mark books as DNF, track way more info about your reads, share private lists, and it’s not owned by Amazon — instead it’s founded/owned by Nadia Odunayo, a BIPOC woman from the UK that’s the coolest. I’ve honestly only put it off for so long because I loved following friends reviews on Goodreads, but now I’m doing it and begging you to add me as a friend because I love nothing more than seeing what everyone else is reading.

Ok Happy New Year! Mmwah, bye!

This time last year was a little (read: a lot) crazy. I officially went full-time as Head of Brand at PBSCO on July 24 of last year, our Denver friends threw us a moving away party on August 8th, we moved the last few boxes into our storage unit on August 18th, and Collin took a one way flight to Iceland the next afternoon. My sweet dad helped me drive my car and our two dogs 1,700 miles across the country the same weekend, and after a tearful (but temporary) goodbye to the pups, I flew to Iceland to join Collin a few days later. In the span of a few weeks, I went from being a full-time small business owner living in the US to a full-time corporate girl living in Iceland. All good things, honestly, but a whirlwind nonetheless. Plus, I hadn’t accrued PTO yet since I’d just started my new role, so we did all of this while I was working full-time 40 hour work weeks during a huge sale at my company.

Moving Abroad

Living in Iceland was a dream come true, and it turned out to also be a hilariously great time to make the transition back into the corporate world. I (historically not a night owl) worked from 2-10pm Iceland time so that I could better align with daytime hours in the States, and I loved it. We moved to Iceland for Collin to coach basketball at a club in Reykjavík, so he was working an abnormal schedule also. Working nights gave us the illusion of having two days in one and we loved having wide open mornings to wander around the city, grab breakfast at our favorite coffee shop, or hike to nearby waterfall or hot spring. As the 16+ hours of August sunlight that first greeted us slowly turned into partial polar nights with four-ish hours of daylight in December, I was surprised by how quickly Iceland truly came to feel like home (despite still needing Google Translate at the grocery store). We saw the Northern Lights for the first time in our driveway in September, visited the more remote West Fjords in October, hosted an American Thanksgiving for our Icelandic and Polish friends in November, celebrated Þorláksmessa with fermented skate and the thirteen Yule Lads in December, and watched the best firework show I’ve ever seen over Hallgrímskirkja on New Years Eve.

Moving Back to the States

While we adored so much of our daily life in Iceland and made friendships that we’ll treasure for the rest of our lives, Collin’s coaching job was unfortunately becoming incredibly toxic, and ultimately we ended up leaving Iceland in January, many months earlier than anticipated. To make a long story short, we ended up moving in with Collin’s dad in the Atlanta area to take care of him while we goes through chemo treatments, so the chaos of this past year hasn’t slowed down a bit. I’ve been back and forth between the US and Iceland ever since we got back, and it’s been challenging, to say the least — but honestly, one of the things I’m the most grateful for in a crazy season of life is the consistency that working for someone else has brought me.

When I finish my work day, I don’t think about work until the next morning, and that’s a definition of work/life balance I haven’t had in a very long time. For me, losing a bit of the flexibility I had as my own boss has been immensely worth freeing my mind from the weight of what full-time small business had turned into more recently. For so long, running Telltale full-time was the freeing thing. It was the fun thing, and the exciting thing, and the right thing. But I’ve come to terms with the fact that pivoting isn’t failure, and my definition of success can evolve. Right now, my definition of success is taking three months off Instagram without even realizing it and working with a team that inspires me and challenges me.

One Year of Corporate

Lest this sound like it’s all been rainbows and butterflies, believe me when I say that my mind was an absolute roller coaster for the first few months. I went from “I love this” to “Wait I might hate this” to “I miss Telltale” to “Should I burn Telltale to the ground” within five minutes at least once a day, and Collin can vouch that that’s not an exaggeration. Though I’ve always been fairly confident in my work, it took me time to learn my role and the brand, and get comfortable with a new environment. There was a fair amount of blah work I had to do to get to the fun work, and while I knew that walking in, there were, transparently, some early moments where I wondered if I could ever feel as passionate about a working for someone else’s company as I could for my own. I also knew the flexibility would be an adjustment — especially when I was coming off working four day work weeks at Telltale. My company is fully remote and honestly very flexible (which was a big priority to me in my job search), but I still have responsibilities and a boss that I answer to and can’t take work calls on the ski lift on a random Tuesday quite like I used to.

As the one year mark of my role approaches, I finally feel like I’ve gotten in the groove of my role and working for someone besides myself. To be honest, I didn’t expect it to take that long, but in all my conversations with other corporate friends, I think a six-month timeline to feel truly settled into a new role is pretty standard. In the last few months, I’ve finally felt like I *love* my job instead of just liking it, and while I’m learning and growing every day, I also feel confident in the job I’m doing.

Full Circle

From where I stand today, I genuinely couldn’t feel more clear on the fact that Telltale makes me better at my full-time job and my full-time job makes me better at Telltale (and yes, Telltale is not only still here, but also actively accepting project applications ;)).

My work at Telltale is just as big of a priority to me as my “real job”, but it naturally looks different these days. Aside from my two retainer clients that I work with just a handful of hours each month, I took on almost no client work for quite awhile, and have only recently started to re-open my bookings. I’ve streamlined my services and process to include three clear offerings and now send all of the initial project information to inquiries via email and a custom pricing guide instead of scheduling intro calls, something that has reduced my time commitment to new leads significantly and helped clarify if the project is a good fit on both sides before dedicating too much time to it.

My organization queen of sister recently joined the Telltale team (so fun!) to help me with project management here and there and I’m working with my design associates I’ve partnered with for years and offering design services where they lead the projects at a slightly lower rate than a client hiring me directly. I’m selective with the projects we’re accepting, but 120% committed to an exceptional client experience for those that we sign on.

Easing back into booking design clients does mean that I sometimes work on nights and weekends and very often use my lunch break from my full-time job to do Telltale work. And, while I could not, I’m honestly loving it. The freedom of not *having* to “do Telltale” (book a certain amount of clients, make a certain amount of revenue, etc) has given me more energy and inspiration to want to make the time for client work. Telltale’s back in a place that feels fun and lifegiving and because it feels like a get-to rather than a have-to, I’ve loved working weird and infrequent hours on projects that I’m passionate about. For me, work/life balance doesn’t automatically equal nine to five and nothing outside of that. It more looks like working when work feels right and resting when rest feels right, and making sure to prioritize time for both.

The Dream of Working for Myself Full-Time

It was a dream. And I did it. And I’m proud of it. And who knows? It’s certainly possible I’ll do it again one day. But for now, that dream has shifted. I was ready to set aside the hustle of being my own boss and the pressure and anxiety that was coming with it — and I’m so glad I trusted my gut, despite how scary it felt. Me? The designer who taught other designs how freeing and wonderful working for yourself could be? The one who preached work/life balance and charging more and taking Friday’s off? To be honest, I felt imposter syndrome no more than when I quit the full-time self-employed life. But, I’m so grateful for the friends who cheered me on when I started Telltale and quit my full-time job to really pursue it… and who also validated how proud I should feel of knowing when it was time to shift. I hope that wherever you read this from, you find the freedom and the community to do what’s best for you right now. If that’s small business, I’ll be cheering for you and buying from you and supporting you however I can. But if that’s something new; I’ve been there, and I see you, and I’m cheering for you in the transition.

If you’ve read through all three parts of this journey, thank you for being here. I hope that reading someone else’s experience has reminded you that we’re all in this together and success can look for everybody and different at different stages of life.

And, if you’re reading this and you’re loving small business life but needing some strategic and visual direction — we’d love to work work with you at Telltale. My team is accepting projects for late summer start dates, and you can apply to work with us right here.

Cheering for you in whatever journey life is bringing your way these days!

Xx,
Lydia

The Marketing Dread

At the beginning of 2023, I found myself dreading going back to work after the holidays. I had incredible projects booked to kick the year off, so it wasn’t the client work I was dreading — not in the slightest. Instead, it was the finding of the clients. I’ve always hated the phrase “finding clients” but, as small business goes, marketing yourself is indeed an important part of the job. And I absolutely hate nothing more than the pressure of doing it for my own business. I didn’t always feel that way, but over time selling my services started to feel like selling my soul and I got so burnt out by the Instagram grind.

Meanwhile, The Brand Process, my year-long coaching program and favorite part of my job at the time, was coming to an end, and I was booking design clients more slowly than I had in the past. I knew I needed to be posting more on Instagram, sending more emails to my list, and just generally promoting my business at least a liiiiittle bit more, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it for the life of me.

When TBP ended, I could no longer justify the costs I was paying my Studio Manager and Community Manager — both of whom I adored working with — and had to part ways with them. I cried making the decision, but knew it didn’t make sense when the entire reason I’d hired them in the first place was because of how much time I was spending on The Brand Process. That decision was yet another piece the puzzle that started to make me think about shifting gears.

The Boredom

On top of the whole I-hate-marketing-myself rabbit hole I was spiraling down, I was also starting to feel just the smallest (read: concerning) hint of… boredom. In a lot of ways, my projects were all really different, but in other ways, they were starting to feel like they were all bleeding into each other. I literally remember having the thought “I cannot be bored at my job when I’m not even halfway to retirement”, and recognizing that I really wanted to be in a space that was more team-based and more challenging, while also letting me not only log off my computer, but also my brain at the end of the workday.

The Goals

So, between client work and on lunch breaks and on Fridays when Telltale was “closed”, I started scrolling LinkedIn and applying to potential jobs. My friends have always joked that I apply to a dream job once a year just to get it out of my system, but this time felt different. For starters, even though I was just browsing, I had clear goals for why I wanted a job and what I wanted in a job:

1. To never ever ever have to post on Instagram again if I didn’t want to

2. To learn from other people besides myself

3. To work with a team, strategize with a team, and be creative with a team

At first, getting a “real” job was just an idea and I wasn’t even sure if I was serious. But the more I started to look for and apply for jobs, the more excited I got. I knew I still loved Telltale and didn’t want to give it up fully, but the job descriptions I was reading online were energizing to me in a way that Telltale hadn’t felt in a hot minute.

The Slowness

And then, shortly after I started scrolling LinkedIn in my free time, I found myself nervous about my Telltale’s revenue in a way I’d really never experienced. From the moment I launched my business, it was profitable. It grew quickly and substantially, year after year and there wasn’t a single a time I didn’t have the next client booked. Until 2023.

I’ve always prioritized sharing my actual income and expenses because I think so much of the small business world holds things too closely, so here’s exactly what every year of Telltale’s revenue has looked like, straight out of QuickBooks (and, obviously, keep in mind that this isn’t what I paid myself, but rather the money that Telltale brought into the business):

• 2018: $31,385.79

• 2019: $81,077.88

• 2020: $137,796.63

• 2021: $231,948.16

• 2022: $266,017.92

• 2023: $130,486.66

Considering I only worked full-time for Telltale for seven months last year, I actually ended up feeling pretty good about the year as a whole, but it still felt like it was crawling compared to prior years where my business had grown almost effortlessly. Not to mention the insane tax payment that I was still paying off from 2022. I’d been booking projects 3-5 months out in earlier years, but during the spring of last year, I was finishing projects before having the next one lined up — something that caused me constant anxiety.

I’m grateful that I had the gift of starting the job search out of eagerness rather than desperation, but as it went on, I felt more and more confident in seeking a shift and less and less willing to continue the grind of a) marketing, b) starting to wonder where my next paycheck was coming from.

The Search

At first, I took an interview with any company that reached out, but soon I realized I wanted to be a little more picky. I started a Google Sheet (highly recommend) of all the jobs I applied for, and narrowed it down to a few that I felt really excited about. Though it was anxiety-inducing at times, I reminded myself that I had the gift of Telltale to pay my salary until I was ready to transition, so I didn’t see a point in settling for a job I wasn’t excited about. However, after two roles I was really excited about wound up ghosting me after four interviews each, I felt totally discouraged. The interview processes both dragged out for months on end, and I ultimately felt incredibly disappointed with the process on top of being bummed that I didn’t actually get a job offer for either role. Not to mention, it was tough to keep running Telltale not fully knowing what my next steps would be. I didn’t want to book too far out to not accept an enticing job offer if it came my way, but I didn’t want to close my books either.

After I finally got a reply that I didn’t get the second job, I slowed down my search and considered sticking with full-time small business life, but kept my eyes on LinkedIn from time to time. Then, around this time last year — almost six months after I started my job search, I applied on a whim for the job that I ultimately ended up accepting — Head of Brand at a tech company that helps create small business opportunities for event industry professionals. It felt like the perfect blend of my experience working both as a wedding photographer and with photographers and so many event professionals at Telltale, and I was immediately impressed with their company culture from their initial response to my application. Unlike so many of the other companies I had interviewed with, the process was clear and efficient, without weeks between replies, something that only made me more excited about the role. I had projects booked for Telltale until mid-July, so I freelanced for my new company part-time for about a month while I wrapped those up, then took a week totally off work before starting full-time in late July 2023.

The Timeline

December 2022: Scaled back from a team model to solopreneurship
January 2023: Started to think about applying for jobs
February: The Brand Process ended and I actually started applying for jobs
June: Applied for my now job and got an offer within 10ish days
July: Finished my last big Telltale client for the time being, took an unplugged vacation, and started my full-time job at the end of the month

The Details

In most of previews interviews I’d had, the hiring managers had asked if I planned to close the doors to Telltale for good. I was somewhat open to the idea, but not excited about it, and one of the things I really appreciated about my now-company was their support of my small business. Every single person on my team owns a small business in addition to their full-time role, and I was so grateful to walk into a company with a culture that was understanding of small business and side hustles.

I’m almost a year into my role now, and though I never thought I’d end up shifting away from full-time Telltale, I’m so happy I trusted my gut and made the jump. It’s been the perfect fit that’s checked off each of my three goals that originally prompted me to start considering a corporate job in the first place. In part three of this saga, I’ll share what the balance between working full-time and still running a small business looks like for me. <3

Thanks for being here!

Xx,
Lydia

The Background

Seven-year-old Lydia that designed postcards in Microsoft Publisher and then embossed them with her stamp collection and sold them door-to-door in her small town North Carolina neighborhood would have been so proud that she grew up to own a branding studio. And not only that, but a branding studio successful enough to survive a global pandemic, provide for her family while her husband was in school, buy a house in Colorado, and launch a high ticket year-long coaching program that taught others how to do the same.

But… almost thirty-year-old Lydia is equally as proud that she was able to recognize the need for a shift that ultimately led down a path back to the corporate world.

Let’s rewind.

In 2017, I started Telltale… accidentally. After designing a few sets of free wedding invitations for friends and family, and a $200 website, I announced “LK Creative” to the world. It was the sidest of side hustles, but with a lot of luck at first, and then a lot of hard work after that, it grew into something that felt massive: a brand + web design studio, an entirely separate education business, and two courses/coaching programs. With every year that went by, my business grew significantly. I quit my old marketing job in the summer of 2018 when I matched my income of $35K, and just a few years later, Telltale was bringing in multiple six-figures of revenue. I adore Telltale. She’s my proudest creation to date and has been successful beyond my wildest dreams. And also:

Work/Life Balance

When I first started my business, it was tough for me to set work/life boundaries. I was balancing a full-time job and building a business and working around the clock. I fought hard to take a step back as the years went on, and ultimately cut down to working a four-day work week— something that I’m still so proud of. I noticed, though, that while I cut down the time I was actually working on and in my business, it was near impossible for me to cut down the time I spent thinking about my business. Something I love/hate about myself is that when I have an idea, I act on it. I’m decisive and passionate and I hate to procrastinate and so, I hustled hard in the early years of my small business life, even when I wasn’t actively behind my computer screen. I cranked out content and projects and resources constantly — and it honestly felt so easy. Until it didn’t.

When Life Flipped Upside Down

In the summer of 2021, my family’s world was flipped upside down when my husband’s brother was unexpectedly killed in a car accident. I took a week off, and then another, and then another. When I finally decided to ease back into work over a month later, I felt completely numb. I was grateful for the work and for the income and the distraction, but our world was spinning, we were about to move across the country from Georgia to Colorado. Though I adored my clients, I didn’t feel the same drive and passion to work that I did before Ryan’s accident. I wanted to be present and creative while I was working, but totally unplugged at the end of the work day… something that is near impossible as a small business owner. I found working feeling more like work than it ever had before, and it felt like pulling (my own) teeth to post on social media or follow up with leads that didn’t book. I loved the projects I was working on, but didn’t have the drive to go out and find more of them. I worked hard through the rest of that year, and then took the next summer (2022) off work almost entirely, thinking and hoping that I’d come back to work feeling energized with fresh ideas again.

And on some level, I did. I worked on some of my favorite projects that year and I shifted Telltale to focus even more on strategy and creative direction than ever before, all while growing my team to really operate more like a boutique agency than a solo-led business. Some of my favorite clients became retainer clients, and with the consistency of that monthly guaranteed income on top of the coaching programs and courses I was teaching, I felt the freedom to take the step back from social media that I’d craved.

The Education Side of Telltale

Around the same time, the second year of The Brand Process, my signature coaching program was coming to an end, and I wasn’t sure I felt confident in re-launching it. To date, The Brand Process is probably the single thing I’ve felt the most passionate about in my business — I woke up so freaking excited on the days I had TBP calls, and nothing has ever felt more natural to me. Even as I’m typing this, I miss it in a big way. But, it was a high ticket program, and I found myself dreading the actual launch of it. I didn’t want to sell it (or anything else). I wanted to help and teach other designers, and also I felt that interest had died down and stress had gone up with so many designers expressing anxiety over bookings and income. In part, that’s exactly what I taught in TBP, but on the other hand, I was feeling a slowing down as well, and it felt like one of the few problems in a design business that I only had so much advice for. Ultimately, it felt like a tone deaf time to re-launch the program as I looked around at the fears that designers were sharing, so I decided to take a pause.

Education and designer mentorship was about 50% of how I spent my time, and therefore also where half of my income came from — so when I decided not to re-launch The Brand Process, I needed to increase client bookings if I was going to keep my salary.

Starting to Consider a Shift

All of that that brings us to late January 2023 — which is exactly when I started casually browsing LinkedIn for full-time positions.

As I started typing this out, I realized it was much longer than I initially intended, so I’m going to split this in multiple parts. I’ve moved my newsletter to Substack mainly so that past newsletters can be viewed easier, so this will be followed by the details of actually going “back to work” shortly and then a third part of where I am today. ;)

Thank you, truly so much, for reading. I’m glad to be back to writing and sharing!

Xx,
Lydia