A month of edge-meeting
Rough seas, rebrands, and writing circles
Hey friends,
As usual, the year feels like it's flying by. It's hard to believe we're almost at the end of May, already.
May has been a big month here at Lemonade HQ. It's one we'd been preparing for for a long time, but it still hit my partner and me harder and in different ways than we'd expected.
His sailing race to Indonesia went a bit rougher than planned, and I, left alone to my own devices, decided that I umm… don't really like having a personal brand for my business (cassiewilkins.com) and that I actually want to start over with a new name.
And have brownies for dinner, stay up way too late binge-watching Dying for Sex and crushing Gina Chick's phenomenal book, We Are The Stars, because balance?
So yeah, just a few things.
Anyway, now we've got that out the way, I guess I should zoom out a bit. Especially on the Indo race. We've been prepping for this trip for so long it feels a bit like old news, but I know it's actually a big deal - and a heck of an achievement.
I’m someone who loves context (probably too much). I’ve also been talking to a surprising* number of people recently about the joys of rediscovering childhood hobbies as adults, and, as this is one of those success stories, I’ll give you a tiny bit of backstory.
*Probably not really that surprising that the things we used to find fun we still find fun as adults, but for some reason it still feels kind of revolutionary.
Basically, Ed sailed when he was a kid, loved it, got caught up in life and lost it, and then rediscovered his passion for it during COVID. Mostly thanks to YouTube.
His big dream was (is?) for us to eventually buy a boat and go cruising around Australia and maybe even the South Pacific. With the cat, of course.
I get pretty seasick, but the adventurer in me still thinks it sounds like a pretty epic idea.
Still, he doesn't have much experience in offshore sailing, so when the opportunity came up for him to crew on the Fremantle to Indonesia race (which FSC runs every few years), he jumped at the chance.
He started planning a year ago, fixing up the boat, researching EPIRBs and PLBs and life jackets, and waiting eons for everything to be shipped to WA (they don't call it the wait awhile state for nothing!)
But, when that boat dropped out with not long to go, it looked like that dream was dead in the water.
Still, instead of giving up or putting his dream in other people's hands - trusting them to ask their friends and put in a good word for him - we decided to throw everything we had at it and make him a sailing resume to print and share around.
It was bright coloured and eye-catching, with a photo of him and a list of his skills and experience. It also lent into his particular strengths: mechanic, electric vehicle technician, good at fixing things, and macgyvering tools and solutions to problems, especially under pressure.
It makes me laugh when I look around and see things like a stick zip-tied to our lawn mower. If it works, it works.
Fortunately, the resume did too.
A few more months of prep and paperwork, and suddenly they were off. And I was home alone.
Both were strange.
He’d been pretty optimistic and felt prepared, but the reality fell a bit short.
Their 11-day odyssea (sorry) involved encountering whales, sea spouts, bad weather, intense swells, even more intense seasickness, and electrical issues that caused their fridges - which were jam-packed with pre-cooked meals - to stop working.
Still, they made it safely. They even got to see some Komodo dragons, but honestly, I think they were happier just to see dry land.
It was definitely type 2 fun, rather than the type 1 he was hoping for.
In my case, I ended up going deeper into the chrysalis I touched on in my last post.
I used the space and time to do a kind of “audit” of everything, think about what is and what isn’t really working for me right now - in life, home, and business - and re-imagine what’s coming next.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, this led to some massive realisations.
Including how having most of my services under my actual name has made me feel trapped. Like I keep losing track of where my own identity ends and the business one begins.
Being Cassie the traveller and travel writer was one thing - especially back when being a traveller was pretty much my whole identity.
Now, though, it isn’t. And being Cassie the traveller, travel writer, Alzheimer’s daughter, creative mentor/business coach, copywriter, photographer, workshop/circle facilitator, and even occasional trip planner, is too much.
It also doesn’t leave much room for this Cassie. The one who, after spending two weeks home alone, ended up feeling kind of lonely and wanting to post random shit on Instagram, but then felt crippled by it technically being a business account.
Honestly, though, this was my dream for so long that it feels really weird to admit it isn’t working. Especially after previously writing about why I chose to use my name as my business name.
But still, like Ed and his sailing dreams, I figured I could just leave it bobbing in the water - with me not really wanting to show up for my business and trusting referrals to be enough - or I could actually do something about it.
Being alone also made me realise I don't actually want to do all this on my own, either. Not anymore.
So, I’m rebranding and rebuilding. And I’m working with others, like the incredible brand designer and mentor,
from , to take what I’ve learned and build something bigger and better.Something that will pave the way for more collaboration, rather than feeling like I have to be the face of it all.
I think this is type 2 fun, too.
Very messy and uncomfortable in the moment, but good in hindsight.
And on that note…
I’ve also realised that as much as I love running the Lemonade Factory co-writing sessions, I really miss running writing circles.
I love creative writing circles. I love the interaction and seeing everyone’s confidence grow as they speak their words aloud. I give prompts in the co-creating calls, but I miss hearing everyone's different answers to those prompts, and how they give words to the depth and breadth of the human experience.
I'm also in the middle of an actual circle facilitation training program, so it seems kind of silly not to be putting those skills into practice.
So, I’ve decided to make the Lemonade Stand an actual proper gathering place, and introduce monthly writing circles into the Lemonade Factory membership.
The first one will be at the end of June.
If you sign up and join us now, you’ll also be able to join the next two weeks of twice-weekly co-creating calls, as well as the monthly circles. These are currently held on Mondays at 9.30am AWST and Thursdays at 5pm AWST (10am BST). Subscribers also get access to the replay and the prompts.
After June 16th, the co-writing calls will be twice-monthly, instead.
So there you go.
A big month, and some big changes ahead - including Ed potentially rethinking the sailing dream - and me trying to teach myself web development for “fun”. At this stage, it honestly feels harder than learning Mandarin (but will hopefully end up with me having a shiny new website, not getting kicked off my uni course).
Speaking of, I'd better get back to it.
Catch you next week, in the comments, or maybe even on a co-working call?
You can also always reach out if you have any questions.
All my love,
Cxxx
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Looking forward to your co-writing calls. The co-creating ones have been so lovely and helpful! That sense of accountability really works for me.
Also excited to dig into your branding together 🤩