i owe you an apology

Read time: 5 minutes

hey you :)

i’m so happy you’re here with me on your monday morning.

i’m so grateful for you whether it’s your first newsletter or your 42nd.

i started writing this newsletter in january with no experience in newsletters & no training in writing since my high school AP english class. i learn by doing so i’ve experimented with a variety of formats & topics including mindsets, metrics, love languages, big 5 personality, disc, enneagram, & many miscellaneous musings

i recently realized i skipped a very important topic:

my personal introduction.

so i hope long time readers will accept my apology & all readers will enjoy learning a little more of my story.

why are you telling me this now?

i’ve posted online every day for the past year, but i’ve barely talked about myself.

if i’m honest, it’s mostly due to a combination of my impostor syndrome & my belief that i’m not that interesting nor special.

but i recently realized my favorite content is from normal people. the ones that i could see myself being friends with in real life. the ones that share their failures, their wins, & their favorite starbucks drink order. i feel a real connection to these people.

i want to build this same connection with you.

i started my business, merry makery, last year with the mission of connection.

my initial focus was on connection through greeting cards (btw exciting new holiday arrivals at the end of this email, honestly my best yet!).

but overtime i’ve expanded the focus, especially for newsletter topics.

my current description is “a visual newsletter with data-driven insights into friendships & relationships.”

while these topics will still be discussed, i’m going to expand the focus more (against the advice of every marketing course to niche down).

because i want to build something personal, not just professional.

my new focus will be on giving you real world solutions to your messiest friendship, love, work, & life problems.

now let’s get into that introduction.

who the heck is MacK?

i’m MacKenzie, but you can call me MacK.

i’m from san antonio, tx.

went to ut in austin — hook’em.

then lived in sf for 3 years & nyc for 5 yrs. returned back to atx 3 years ago.

by personality typing definitions, i’m an entj. my love language is quality time. i’m high on c in disc. i’m highest on o & c in ocean. i’m an enneagram 8w9. i’m a projector. my big 3 are all leo. iykyk.

but if you don’t know these number & letter combos, don’t worry about it. the translation is that i’m passionate, assertive, diligent, & stubborn af.

i spent a decade climbing the corporate ladder at apple, classpass, & warby parker. and i attribute most of my professional success to my analytics, presentation, & people skills. i love solving problems & i always know how to add value.

with a combo of hard work & luck, i landed my dream job.

but like many, i realized it wasn’t really my dream. it was society’s dream for me.

with the help of a professional coach, i realized how badly i wanted to start a business & how silly the excuses were that were holding me back.

so i quit my job.

(not nearly this simple, but i’ll leave that story for another time)

i took the summer off to travel & decompress from a decade of corporate burnout (so many more stories here too, but also for another time).

what are you doing now?

i went back to work last fall.

on a mission to build merry makery, a greeting card company with a twist.

handwritten letters played a really important role in my childhood & i saw how apple, classpass, & warby parker all reinvented business models.

so figured i follow the path of these trailblazer & give greeting cards a glow up.

i didn’t have a business plan, but i knew i wanted to bootstrap my business.

likely due to a combo of ptsd from fundraising at other companies & my innate stubbornness.

once a DIY girlie, always a DIY girlie.

so i built everything for merry makery from the logo to the website to this newsletter myself.

does this slow me down? yeah.
does this make me learn more? hell yeah.

so then it should be no surprise that i didn’t want to spend money on paid ads.

i instead decided to pursue the cheapest option available — build a personal brand.

getting personal

i started building my personal brand by writing on linkedin for accountability, community, & help.

[psa: add me on linkedin or X as i’ll be sharing new content styles this week!]

linkedin led me an online course with matt gray on building your founder operating systems & personal brand. (i highly recommend this course & can get you a discount, so reply back if you’re interested).

matt was the guide i needed to navigate this new world. so when he told me i must have a newsletter, i obeyed.

i made this newsletter my number 1 content focus.

but along the way i’ve dated almost all the other social media platforms: linkedin, instagram, x/twitter, threads, tiktok, facebook, pinterest, youtube, bereal, & even lemon8 for a hot minute.

along the way, i’ve realized that building a personal brand online is business development & personal development rolled into one.

both dangerously powerful & addicting.

tbh idk what i’m doing

this is all a long winded way of telling you that i’m on the journey of figuring this path out & sharing my learnings along the way.

i think i learn more from writing these newsletters than you do reading them.

i know that i’ve grown more than in this past year than any other.

i know that i’m working harder than ever, but i’m happier than ever too.

my bank account balance is shrinking, but i can already see that this bet on myself has & will continue to pay dividends.

this isn’t to brag, this is to show you that while i’m far from claiming i’ve figured it all out, i’ve figured some things out & i want to help you figure things out even more quickly than i did. let me help you find the best ways to invest in your best investment — you!

we’re flying & building this plane together.

heck we’re still deciding the destination.

but i know that together we’re going make the most of this journey & by the time we get to our destination, we’re going to be our best & the best of friends.

LFG!

my pick

shameless plug here for my holiday stationery sets!

the holiday season is basically here:

so do yourself a favor & stock up on holiday cards! be prepared to write those thank you’s & partake in the holiday merrymaking.

these cards are truly special. embossed with gold or silver foil. all with simple timeless designs, including a few with city line art of nyc, sf, & la.

i will even customize the design for you for FREE!

sending you hugs & red lip kisses from the first time i put on makeup this month. couldn’t resist capturing this moment of matching merrymaking in red!

p.s. what can i help you with? respond here & i promise to reply!