🌻 My new job (well, sort of)

We're rebranding

Hi friends!

I’ve been away for a few weeks working on something really fun at work. But I’ve missed you, so I decided it was time to let you in on it!!!

As many of you know, I’ve been doing freelance writing, editing, and marketing work since the start of 2021 when I moved to Kansas City. (And before that, science journalism, and before that, ecological research.)

It’s been going well! I love my job. And lately I’ve been spicing things up! 

It all started earlier this year, when I had two revelations: 

1. The closer a clients’ work relates to plant ecology, the more I enjoy the work.

2. By far the most valuable thing I’ve given my clients is vision and strategy — rather than the individual deliverables (that is, writing a blog post for somebody, etc.) 

The plant thing might seem obvious. I love plants! Everyone knows that. I have it on a t-shirt. But as a freelancer, I never billed myself as a “plant writer.” In fact, two years ago, I would’ve prided myself on the fact that I wasn’t “just” a plant writer, that I can write about literally anything if you give me a couple hours to brush up on the subject. I’ve written about concrete flooring and fusion energy and the math of fire. I never wanted to be “only” a plant writer. But as a result, I ended up hardly ever writing about plants at all. 

The other piece came along when I started to think more about how to grow my business earlier this year. Not just how to get more individual writing assignments, but really thinking about where I saw myself in the future, who I wanted to work with, and so on. One of the more interesting exercises I worked through was this 20 Stories Exercise from Freelance Cake. Essentially, I listed out my last 20 clients and assignments and reflected on: how did we find each other, what did they want from me, how much did they pay, and — most importantly — how did it go? Did I like the work and why?

It became very obvious that there was a clear convergence of the work I was best at + the clients that seemed to appreciate me the most + the work I most enjoyed doing. The more science the better, the more ecology the better, and especially the more plants the better. But honestly, I’m not even convinced that this is because of plants themselves — it might be that ecology type people are just wonderful. It’s a stereotype, yes, but I do think there’s a certain type of person that becomes an ecologist or decides to spend their career working for a conservation organization: They tend to be really nice, fun, genuine people. (Also above-average odds for Subarus, manual transmissions, board games, and craft beer. But I digress.) 

The other trend that surfaced from this exercise is more strategy and planning work. It’s something I’d been noticing for a while. For example, whenever I was in discussions with a potential new client, I’d spend for-ev-er working on my proposed scope of work. I’d do research into what made them tick and where they were falling short and what they needed the most help with, and would lay out my recommendations, priorities, and maybe even a timeline. In short, my “proposal” was actually a really stellar strategic plan. For free.

Also I love this work. I love sitting down with all these disparate bits of info and drafting a plan. Mapping out all the problems and solutions and tasks for solving them. 

One of these accidental-strategic-plan moments was a big turning point in my mind: I gave an existing client a really, really good year-end report with recommendations for the upcoming year, full of data-driven insights and suggestions for the big and little changes they should make to better align their actions with their actual goals. And they ghosted. They took the plan and ran with it — with their own team! 

You’d think I would be mad about being ghosted, but the only thing I kept coming back to was: I should’ve charged for that dang report!! 

Anyway, after stewing on all this for a while, I decided to make it official in April. Since then, I’ve been billing myself as something like an ecological communications specialist, and generally ditching “freelance writer” for “communications consultant.”

But the farther I got down this path, the more my old website at itsdrfunk.com didn’t feel right. It had done well housing my writing portfolio and other odds and ends, but it didn’t really feel like a business. I sometimes used “Funkyard LLC” (my actual LLC) but found myself making names up at random times when “Funkyard” didn’t feel right, like saying “Anna Funk Marketing & Communications” as if it was a brand name. After a giving out a number of fake brand names, I realized, I needed a real one.

So, one day, about two weeks ago, in a burst of motivation and creativity: I rebranded!

Drumroll please…

I present to you, Ampliflora.

https://ampliflora.com/

Let me tell you, this feels so good. It’s been so fun working on this. (And I’ve been working on this A LOT.) 

I’ve been in a “Business Redesign” program since the beginning of July, and have been workshopping the new business (even before it had a new name) with a coach and a cohort of other freelancers-turned-solopreneurs. And I’ve joined a Women’s Leadership Collective in KC that starts next week called The Thread.

Everything’s coming up Ampliflora!

Had to share.

Oh, before I go: What’s with the name? Botany nerds will like it (I hope). Plant species will often have scientific Latin names that describe them in some way, like a Quercus alba is a white oak (alba = white) or a big-flowered southern magnolia is Magnolia grandiflora (grand = big, flora = flowers). 

So what’s the species epithet for the person holding the loudspeaker for organizations doing research, education, or conservation with plants? Ampli - flora. Get it? 🤓 Teehee.

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Field work

I really feel like I’m hitting a groove with work. Besides the big rebrand, I have a number of balls rolling right now. Botanical Belonging, the local nonprofit I’ve been serving for the past couple years, now has me on payroll. And I have one other new client I’m excited to tell you all about — but that will have to wait till we’re ready to unveil their new website. (Soon!) 

I’m still working with Holden Forests & Gardens, my longest running client — I’m their Science Communications Specialist. It’s an absolute delight working with them to tell stories about their research. Plus I get to work with one of my old ecology collaborators!! It’s so fun.

In case you were worried (ha, ha) that I haven’t written anything lately, here’s an article I wrote the other day about Holden Arboretum’s awesome new seed bank:

> Celebrating the Holden Seed Bank: One Year of Growth for FreshWater Cleveland.

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Goodie bin

Can someone back me up that “goodie bin” was ever an alternate name for like a prize box, treasure chest, the sort of container where a child might select a yo-yo or candy or a small toy as a reward or prize? Or am I just mixing up various other phrases? I’m gonna run with it — here’s my goodie bin for the week.

• Last week at book club my girlies asked what my favorite read lately has been. I have to go with Starling House by Alix E. Harrow. My Goodreads review: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ W-O-W this is my kind of book! I LOVED it. Can't believe it has less than a 4 average, I can't imagine why you all are grumps. I laughed, I cried, I was slightly creeped out (but not TOO creeped out), and I was fully sucked into the mystery, this book has everything, and I loved the ending. This would make a great Stephen Spielberg movie. Or maybe M. Night Shyamalan. 😁 Would re-read. Put this on your list when you’re ready for spooky season!

• Have you heard “Beautiful Things” by Benson Boone? I am abysmally not tapped into new music, and heard this song exactly once in an Instagram reel and fell in love. Only looking it up now did I learn this is, in fact, a major hit — it peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 earlier this year. Kelly Clarkson covered it, so you know it’s a big deal.

• I listen to a lot of ambient music while I work. If you do too, you’ve gotta add my new favorite to your playlist: Cyberpunk Blues: Smooth Ambient Music For Weary Blade Runners!! 

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Funk files

We went to the Lake of the Ozarks last weekend, for the first time ever. (This will only be noteworthy to our Columbia Missouri friends, who have mostly been a million times.) Despite a rather serious thunderstorm that hit around 10:45am, we had an incredible time. 

As for a destination, I wouldn’t rank it above any closer lake with rentable houses and boats. The lake is long and narrow and very developed with mansions and the occasional bar/restaurant that you can visit by car or boat. They’re all the type of establishment where you can get a Rum Runner or a jell-o shot or a “cocktail” made with Red Bull. I spotted lots of t-shirts and hats with sayings like “beer tastes better at the lake” and “I got wet at [establishment]” and probably every other lake/water/alcohol/sex pun you could possibly think of. There was a bar literally called The Glory Hole (that we did not visit). It was definitely… a vibe. Mom and Dad you can probably cross this one off your list 😂

But I don’t mean to be a hater, did I mention the incredible time? We are so blessed with our friends here in Kansas City. We sang, we danced, we swam, we pontooned — what more could you want?

✌️