ATKINSONWORDS

04/10/2025

So great to see this post—I loved working on this story.

10/31/2023

The latest issue of the magazine I enjoy editing so much is now online and in the mail!

NEW ISSUE ALERT: The digital edition of the Fall 2023 issue of PROfiles magazine has been released. The Featured Shop is Fairfield Woodworks and the Featured Associate (Supplier) is Designs of Distinction by Brown Wood, Inc.
https://www.cabinetmakers.org/news/volume-23--issue-4-fall-2023

03/28/2023

Long ago, a woman in a DC news bureau took a cold call from me and left a lifetime impression.

I recently came across a business card I had saved for many years for sentimental reasons. I now have it in a spot where I see it often. I want to be reminded of the story that goes with that simple black-and-white card with "Emily J. Friedrich" in the center. In the spring of my junior

02/06/2023

Friends of Dark Horse, a longtime employee, and friend, is in need of our support. Please consider taking a look at the GoFundMe and reading more about Ray's situation. Thanks in advance.

https://gofund.me/b70ab558

10/19/2020

Nice! He managed to squeeze in most of the worst offenders in the business jargon world. Which ones would you banish first?

“yes officer i would like to report a murder https://t.co/gC2P1M06w6”

05/09/2020

“The luckiest people tend to be those who create that luck for themselves.”

A crash course on creating your own luck in business and life.

05/01/2020

Wrote about the power of the stories we tell ourselves and others, and how they can help us in our professional lives at a time when everything is so precarious.

Also: The many good things that can come from keeping a professional quarantine journal (or "log" or "list" ... whatever description makes the idea more appealing).

Our favorite coffee shop, The Third Place, also gets a shout-out at the end.

How storytelling can help your business through tough times In my work, I get to tell the stories of small businesses for an industry magazine, as well as help businesses tell their own stories via websites, blogs, presentations, speeches, etc.  During my magazine interviews, we spend a g

10/10/2019

Just got my print copy in the mail this week; I feel fortunate to get to work on a print magazine these days, especially one that gives me a chance to talk to so many entrepreneurs and craftspeople who love their work.

The CMA and all of the business owners I interview are working hard to spread the word that a career in the trades is both financially and personally fulfilling. The person we interviewed for this issue is a case in point – he opted to join his family business and not finish college.

I'm definitely a believer that there are many paths to doing work you love that also pays the bills.

If you didn't receive a copy in the mail, you can still read the Fall 2019 edition of PROfiles magazine online. https://www.cabinetmakers.org/profiles.html

03/11/2019

"Words matter. Artists love to trot out the tired line, 'My work speaks for itself,' but the truth is our work doesn’t speak for itself. Human beings want to know where things came from, how they were made, and who made them.

"The stories you tell about the work you do have a huge effect on how people feel and what they understand about your work, and how people feel and what they understand about your work affects how they value it.”

~ Austin Kleon, SHOW YOUR WORK

Read more on my blog at ATKINSONWORDS:

Last year, I stopped by the Little Free Library a couple of blocks from my house and found a small square, inviting book titled SHOW YOUR WORK. The author’s name was familiar to me; Austin Kleon is probably best-known for his book STEAL LIKE AN ARTIST. After leafing through SHOW YOUR WORK , I h

01/31/2019

I'm fortunate to have the Cabinet Makers Association as a client, and working as managing editor for its quarterly magazine is one of my favorite assignments.

The Winter 2019 issue is out now, and its cover story features a business run by a woman, Lois Snyder, who has been working in what is still a male-dominated industry since she got her BA in wood design in 1983. After graduation, she moved to Brooklyn and cobbled together a shop of sorts in an abandoned building before moving on to more conventional set-ups. Snyder, now based in Florida, has been through tough times (like most small business owners), but she's happy to be doing work she loves.

"I have fun at work," Snyder told me. "That's one thing I demand of the people who work with me ... I've seen a lot of workplaces where they really suffer, and I refuse. As long as I'm having fun, I'll probably be doing this when I'm 80."

Amen to that.

01/24/2019

A quirky but wise Mark Twain quote:

"If it's your job to eat a frog, it's best to do it first thing in the morning. And if it's your job to eat two frogs, it's best to eat the biggest one first."