Let’s hear it for introductions.

🙋🏼‍♀️ Well. Here we are. I said I’d never start a newsletter — but I also said I’d never not live in New York and I’ve spent the last decade below the Mason-Dixon Line and I’m now raising kids who literally shiver when it’s below 70º…

Never say never, right?

I’m going to get right to it: I’m obsessed with startups. Like legitimately obsessed.

And my agency, Carter House Copy, is obsessed with helping them succeed.

(A little context? I’ve worked as a freelance marketing consultant and copywriter for the last decade. Covid-19 happened. The world shut down. I had babies. Lots of ‘em. I left my corporate job to go full-time as a freelancer. My business grew faster than I could’ve ever expected — so I launched an agency. In a span of 3 years, I went from a solopreneur matching my salary as a church Marketing Director to an agency owner managing an all-star squad of EIGHT marketers. We’ve worked with over 50 brands since 2020 — and we’re just getting started.)

While CHC may be a baby in the eyes of many — I’ve learned a lot — we’ve learned a lot — in just three years of official business.

And the truth? We get asked the same questions over and over again by the same people:

• 😫 Stretched-thin startup founders who are burning the candle at both ends trying to secure funding, scale, accelerate growth and increase market share… all while trying to “figure out” marketing.
  

• 😬 Marketing savvy CEO of organizations in high-growth mode who know marketing matters – but have no idea how to execute or determine if their current strategies/teams are making an impact.

So, I’m launching The Bootstrap. A newsletter that’s one giant regurgitation of everything I’ve learned and everything I’m continuing to learn — made digestible and actionable for startup founders like you.

Each edition (save for this first one 🤪) will be scannable in 4-minutes or less. (Because that’s probably about how much time you have between meetings each day.)

I hope you’ll stick around — and if you find it helpful, share with your founder friends.

🚀 Today’s Bootstrap Boost

Pick my brain — but without adding another meeting to either of our calendars.

📖 The power of your startup’s brand story (and how to create it)

💰 The perfect pitch deck formula to secure funding

 📈 Is it time to engage a fractional CMO?

Your weekly marketing freebie.

The leg up you need to scale your startup.

Been putting a ton of effort into your LinkedIn and not sure how to determine if it’s actually working?

Snag your copy of the exact LinkedIn metrics tracker we use to track the impact of our LinkedIn content strategies for the founders we manage it for.

(I use it for myself too! 🙋🏼‍♀️)

🥤You thirsty?

What got my strategic juices flowing this week…

🚀 Jet-Powered Marketing Plans: HubSpot’s top tips for tackling your marketing plan.

🤷🏽‍♀️ Finding YOUR Audience: The key to segmenting your audience — why it matters and how to do it.

🧐 Algorithm Shmalgorithm:  How LinkedIn’s algorithm really works. (Pro Tip: Tagging other creators and brands is a HUGE way to readily increase impressions — AKA, more eyeballs on your posts!)

👀 I’m definitely stalking you on LinkedIn

LinkedIn posts I loved from founders I can’t get enough of 🫶

ASHLEY LOVE | Founder, FullFraction
Congrats on launching your business in 2023! 🎉

🔩 More than Nuts and Bolts

The section you read only if you’ve got more than 4-minutes to mess around on your phone…

🔢 By the numbers: Did you know that about 85% of small businesses in the health care and social assistance business survive their first year? We’ll take those odds!

🕸 Mini Boost: “The smallest company in the world can look as large as the largest company on the web.” - Steve Jobs

🤓 Worth the Read: Content Marketing for Startups

Your feedback helps me nail it every week.