Kristen VanderHoek | Cursor & Ink

Hi Reader, This email is part of my What’s Working Now email series, where I’m bringing in some of my internet friends to share their perspective on what smart service-based business owners are doing in their branding and marketing. You can check out past emails here, or invite your friends to join the fun here. This week we’re featuring Sarah Moon. Her Friday newsletter is one of my must-reads each week and I love her simple, practical, no-BS approach to marketing. Sarah is a Portland,...

Hi Reader, This email is part of my What’s Working Now email series, where I’m bringing in some of my internet friends to share their perspective on what smart service-based business owners are doing in their branding and marketing. You can check out past emails here, or invite your friends to join the fun here. This week we’re featuring Alyssa Downey. Alyssa is the owner of Amp’d Designs®, a brand, web, and graphic design business based in Asheville, NC, in the U.S. She works with growing...

Hi Reader, This email is part of my What’s Working Now email series, where I’m bringing in some of my internet friends to share their perspective on what smart service-based business owners are doing in their branding and marketing. You can check out past emails here, or invite your friends to join the fun here. This week we’re featuring Laura Jawad, who helps service-based business owners become more discoverable on Google and AI search through search engine optimization rooted in their...

Hi Reader, Little personal update for you: a week from today I’m getting married! That means I’ll be out of the office for the month of October, so I’ve put together a six-week email series in collaboration with some business friends to keep these emails coming while I’m away. They’ll be here every Friday to share what has been working for them and their clients — their best advice for smart, sustainable, and strategic marketing as we roll into the last quarter of 2026. At the end of each...

Hi Reader, QUICK REMINDER: Our next Brand Commons expert roundtable on “Back to school, back to sales” is happening Tuesday at 3pm ET / 12pm PT! Link here to register. It's free to join! I’ve been wondering — how do you as a service provider approach Black Friday? This is the time of year where all of the planning really starts to ramp up, so it’s been on my mind. And actually as I think about it, this kind of breaks down into two questions. Do you participate in Black Friday? (As a consumer...

Hi Reader, In addition to planning a wedding, I'm also planning a move. Not a big one (thankfully!), just 10 minutes down the street. But one of my big jobs last week was to get the movers booked for the end of October so I didn't have to worry about it until we're back from the honeymoon. So I dug up the name of the mover I'd used eight years ago, found a few recommended ones on Reddit, and filled in their contact forms. And this was where the brand experience diverged. The two...

Hi Reader, The beginning of September is always a milestone week for me. Yesterday I marked 7 years of self-employment, and today is 20 years (!!!!) since I left Vancouver for what was supposed to be a three-month internship in Canada’s capital. remember paper boarding passes? So to mark the occasion I thought I’d share 7 things I’ve learned since going independent — as a business owner in 2019 and as a human in 2006 🙃. 1 - Your people are out there (so don’t hide yourself from them). They...

Hi Reader, A lot of marketing strategies out there aren’t designed for service providers and experts. It’s for content creators and influencers — people whose content is their product and whose playbook for success is all about scaling and reaching as many people as possible as often as possible. Online marketing advice is often delivered with this 👆👆👆 goal in mind. Because content creators and influencers these days are, essentially, marketers themselves. They’re building for the creator...

Hi Reader, Last week we talked about how saying “no” more often leads to a more focused, differentiated, and discerning brand. But there’s another aspect of saying “no” that matters to your branding, and it has to do with your values. What you say “no” to is a HUGE indicator of where your values lie in your brand and what you truly care about. And when your “no”s are the same as your ideal client’s, you have a powerful point of connection and trust that will naturally attract the right people...

Hi Reader, How comfortable are you with saying “no” in your business? If you’re like a lot of my clients, deciding where to say “yes” and where to say “no” can make you feel… squirmy. Uncertain. Uncomfortable. I’d argue that most of us should be saying “no” a whole lot more than we actually do. Now in theory, it’s a great idea, right? Saying no to the wrong things means more freedom to focus on the right things. Who doesn’t want that? But in practice… it gets a bit trickier. And this is where...