Made & Marketed: A substack publication

Welp, it’s time to start writing about Marketing again. And I’ve gotta tell you – this topic is one that used to muddy the waters for me a bit, too.

In reality, if you have a small business and are

Dear 43-year-old me,

I turned 42 last week. The year I spent being 41 was hard. I’d like to remember exactly how hard, because time softens things. It was also the year I stopped waiting for

The Carving Tools

The price is written in graphite on the outside of a splintered wooden tool box. $4.60. Sometime in the 1950s, Great Grandpa bought a Millers Falls No. 107 carving tool set. Based on

No picture, but… I know what Daniel Hippensteel looked like.

Five feet seven inches tall, dark hair, gray eyes. A farmer from Southampton Township, in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. Most of the

I’ve been keeping notes.

Not in a dramatic way. Just a running log of dates, direct quotes, and what actually happened afterward. It started because I needed to remember things accurately. It

A few days ago I posted this on my Substack Notes:

There’s a storytelling principle called the rule of three. Three examples make a pattern. Three jokes land a punchline. Three plot points make an arc feel complete.

As it turns out, my life for the

Before Kathryn and John R. Taylor married, John was listed as still living with his parents. I say “still”, because he was 24 at the time. He had completed his education through year three of high

This is a Finishing the Story episode. And this one is personal in a way that most of them aren’t.

I inherited a drawing. I’ve inherited a few drawings, though. This one was just a sketch study,

Detroit, Michigan. 1929. She was eighteen, pregnant, and living under someone else’s roof when this story picked her up last. Iola, Kathryn, and Judy shared