Hey buddies! Sorry for the extended hiatus… I’m still over here… doing things.
Lots of writing, in fact. Just not so much writing Riptidings updates. After this edition I’ll continue to focus on the latest in digital marketing, remote working, freelance, and other online things.
🚗 We’re on the road again!
Back in August (after a leisurely summer) we decided to cancel our Toronto lease as of October and slowly start making our way out west.
My partner is now able to work remotely and is not tied to the physical location of his running store, so we decided to peace out ✌️ before mobility becomes more difficult.
Canada is likely to face more COVID restrictions in the winter and so we wanted to head somewhere with a little more space where we have easy access to outdoor activities.
British Columbia, here we come! And yeah, we’re driving 🐕
PS. if anyone has any capsule wardrobe tips (that include an entire athletic run/hike/bike gear wardrobe) please respond… I would love to talk to you.
☀️ Summer stuff
After making the extremely tough decision to leave the startup I cofounded (due to some less-than-fun bureaucratic hurdles) I decided to return to working for myself while taking it relatively easy over the summer.
This included running an average of 50-60 KM weekly, many standup paddle-board (SUP) sessions, and some kayaking on the deeper parts of lake Ontario. This royally freaked me out because I hate deep water, but it was fun to experience these little thrills.
I assisted Ben (my partner) as bike support for his virtual marathon later in the season and started 10-mile Fridays. Which is exactly what it sounds like. I’ve let this slide as my client work has increased over the fall, but am hoping to get my schedule back to working four-day weeks and enjoying these Friday morning feats.
I haven’t decided whether I’ll create a community around 10-mile Fridays or include this weekly tradition in one of my other projects.
🍄 Just for fun
I’ve always got projects on the go… in fact, one of my toxic traits is starting projects and never finishing them because I get distracted by something else. (Hello, unused domain names 👋)
Honest Running Co. is a (not yet launched) free community for new and seasoned runners across the globe. The reason for the hold up here is I’m exploring a few no-code options for hosting the community. The path of least resistance seems to be Facebook groups, but I want something a little more refined. Maybe you have a suggestion?
Sneak preview: honestrunning.co
Freelance Oasis launched last month. This Shopify site is designed to host a number of digital downloads and eventually, courses on freelancing and building your independent career. For now we’ve got a few drop-shipped products available, and a neat habit tracker I designed and have been using all summer. The goal for this site is to grow organically through Pinterest marketing… basically, I’ll be becoming a content machine for the next few months.
The habit tracker definitely slaps though.
Check it out here: freelanceoasis.com
I’ve been pairing down my personal website to include some writing examples and a few case studies of client projects. This is by no means exhaustive, but I’m still deciding on the direction I want to take with this site.
The writing section has grown a bit — I’ve written over 117 articles for clients since August 🤯
You guessed it: oliviahoskin.com
I’ve been taking on SEO and blog writing as kind of a quick’n dirty way to keep doing things I actually enjoy, and it’s been working well for me! Always interested in chatting about new projects, though.
I hope you all have had an excellent summer and most of fall. I’m excited to get this newsletter going again while learning more about what you’re up to. If you find any cool ~things~ (literally, anything) send ‘em my way.
I also looove hearing your suggestions on topics for this newsletter, Instagram, or Twitter.
And in case you didn’t know, I really appreciate you saving some of your inbox real estate for me. If you know someone who might like this newsletter, please feel free to send it to a friend!
Cheers,
Olivia 🤙