I dare you to think of a better way to spend a Monday than tearing down JeanBaptistePointDuSable Lake Shore Drive at 10 miles per hour in the pouring rain to spend three hours basking in fluorescent lighting, waiting to hear the number that will send you to another room where you will bask in more fluorescent lighting, this time in front of a judge.

I didn’t think so.

Yesterday, Responsible Illinois Citizen Paige Worthy fulfilled her civic duty. (Still waiting for my medal to arrive.)

Savvy Business Lady Paige Worthy toted Ye Olde Laptop downtown, found a seat in the assembly room, and connected to the Wi-Fi.

Which…
omg 😳
Crawled.

I would charitably compare the speed to 56K.

🐢🐢🐢

How do I know? 
Almost as soon as I sat down, an email arrived:

My first peek at the brand photo session I did last Friday was ready! And I had to see it.

Months ago, I retooled the copy on my website, and as we work on a refreshed website to match my business’s fresh ‘tude, my work wife basically browbeat me into booking the shoot.

In her defense, the photos are stale as hell. (‘Rona years count for half again as much as dog years, so 2019 was basically 40 years ago.)

👵🏻 I’m wearing clothes I’ve long since outgrown (ope) and donated.
👵🏻 I’m writing on an oversized paper BrandScript worksheet I’ve literally never filled out with a client.
👵🏻 I’m holding a dead cat. (She wasn’t dead then. Miss you, River girl.)
👵🏻 I’m absent the facial lines and undereye circles that come with a pandemic, widespread police brutality, losing a beloved grandparent, a sweeping loss of reproductive rights, and a personal mental health crisis (ope again).

So, like 🎶 Anjuluh Bahsett 🎶 before me, I did the thing. I booked the session and actually followed through. I treated myself to a full face of makeup and spent four hours muggin’.

And as I watched those preview images unroll like stockings in a languid striptease — love you and your CoMpLiMeNtArY iNtErNeT, Cook County —  I saw it in the eyes first: Same PW, new level of IDGAF.

Through the half-inch of concealer and foundation (what it takes these days to make a woman look “natural”) and shellac of hairspray, I saw ME.

Me as I am today: Cross-legged on my favorite chair sipping coffee. Straight-up boss bitching with my feet on my desk. Smothering a new-ish cat.

People change. Businesses change. Messaging and brand voice change. Copy changes. And the visuals should too.

Can you imagine if Apple were still trying to sell this…

…with a photo of this?

Naw. 

You don’t even have to blow everything up and start from scratch. Refreshing what’s already there can make a huge impact. (I can still see traces of circa-1998 iMac even in 2022 iMac — can’t you?)

Evolution is cool 😎

✨ When you gift yourself the time and energy it takes to create copy that actually sounds like Now You™…
✨ When you get rid of the photos that make you want to throw your computer out your third-floor window (…just me?)…

The outside world gets to delight in that “ooh, something diiiiiiifferent!” moment. And see you with fresh eyes.

Our customers deserve to experience everything about us as it is now (in my case, minus about .48 inches of makeup).

Time to launch yo’ bad self out of beta — your next public release is gonna be spectacular.

Viola Davis, our woman king,
Paige

P.S. Said work wife, Jena, and I were featured last year on StoryBrand’s Marketing Made Simple podcast! Listen here to our episode all about the steamy love affair between copy and design.

P.P.S. Drinks are on me tonight… I’ve still got a cool $15 left from my jury attendance check.