Resources
If there's one thing you should know about me, it's that I feast on resources and tools that help me accomplish my goals. I also love and enjoy recommending new products to those in my circle. (It's how I've found some of my favorite daily must-haves!)
I also recognize and acknowledge that because I'm multi-passionate, I attract readers and audience members with varying interests and backgrounds. So, this page contains resources and recommendations for:
- Internal communications professionals across varying tenures
- Part-time and full-time freelance writers (and those wanting to learn more about freelancing!)
- Readers who want to know what products I love and recommend (hi, mom!)
Grab your favorite beverage, settle in somewhere cozy, and browse around! Feel free to email me if you have any questions about anything listed on this page that I can help answer.
These lists were last updated in November 2024.
This page contains affiliate and referral links! If you click on or choose to purchase through one or more of the links below, I may receive a small commission or referral bonus. I'll also do a happy dance and toast in your honor. I only share products, resources, and tools I proudly stand behind and believe in. I have marked affiliate and referral links with a double asterisk like this: Title**
For Internal Communicators
Newsletters
Happy Monday Club is a practical newsletter about positive company culture and internal communications from the Workshop team. It's also the brightest, most energizing email that will land in your inbox at the beginning of the week—promise!
Kevin Blasko's Strictly Internal is the hottest newsletter roundup of new internal communications jobs and insights. Even if you aren't currently job hunting, it's an excellent resource for staying informed in internal and change communications.
Shaun Randol publishes Mister Editorial as the go-to source and authority on mixternal communications. Read internal memos, learn about artificial intelligence and communications, and explore best practices for corporate communication.
Published by well-known and loved internal communications expert Joanna Parsons, The Curious Route contains answers to hot industry-specific questions, practical advice, tactical tips for effective communication, and more!
Brilliant Ink's newsletter, The Inkwell, features ideas, inspiration, resources, and industry events about creating positive employee experiences and using communications to create better workplace cultures.
The team at Poppulo shares a wealth of knowledge through blog posts, guides, whitepapers, and more. Their newsletter is the best way to receive their latest resources. (I've found their guides to be exceptionally helpful!)
Communities
If you're a communications consultant, I highly recommend checking out CommsConsultants.com. Founder Ashley Dennison has 20+ years of experience in communications and is building a global directory of carefully curated communications consultants across specialties and years of experience at (what I believe) an extremely reasonable cost. Please tell Ashley I sent you if you apply!
Staffbase manages a global Slack community for internal and corporate communications professionals to network and learn from one another. I've met many wonderful and talented people in this community and received excellent advice from leaders worldwide.
CommsChat is a private LinkedIn group managed by the Workshop team. You can connect with communicators worldwide, share tips and templates, and ask others for advice. Please let me know if you're interested in joining, and I'll make it happen!
Founded by Mike Klein, a Communication Strategist and Consultant, #WeLeadComms celebrates communications leaders and professionals across geographies, career levels, and disciplines on LinkedIn.
Guides and Templates
As a former internal communicator, I know what it feels like to move a million miles per hour and wish you had more time in your day. I heavily relied on the templates and guides available on Workshop's website, notably the Internal Communications Editorial Calendar, Channel Matrix Template, and How to Manage Internal Communications as a Team of One playbook.
Joanna Parsons' Internal Comms Cheat Sheets
If you're looking for templates and advice to help you excel in your internal communications role, consider this bundle from Joanna Parsons.
Staffbase's Library for Internal Communication and Employee Experience
Staffbase offers an extensive library of ebooks, whitepapers, and templates on topics ranging from internal comms strategy development to intranet experience to comms ROI. Staffbase likely has a resource for you if you have a specific question.
Change Communications
Navigating Change: How Internal Communication Impacts the Success of Organizational Transformation by Poppulo
There's a growing need for internal communicators to upskill in change communications. This whitepaper is an excellent resource for understanding this need and how internal communicators can support this function.
Change Communicator's Toolbox by Poppulo
In addition to the resource above, Poppulo has a centralized content hub with change communications resources. It contains webinars and blog posts to help you overcome change fatigue and facilitate effective communications.
Apogy's Change Management Training & Certification Program
If formal change management training is on your radar, Apogy's training program is a fantastic, budget-friendly option that not only teaches the basics of change management but also offers a framework that's easy to apply and adjust to meet your team's needs.
Creating a change management communications plan: a guide for IC and HR pros by Workshop
If you're responsible for communicating change and don't have any formal change management training but want to ensure your messaging is effective, this is the framework I used to help communicate organizational restructures, benefits adjustments, business strategy pivots, and more.
Events
I had the privilege and pleasure of attending Workshop's first-ever employee communications and culture conference in September 2024, and I can't recommend it enough! It's budget-friendly, engaging, easy-going, and inspirational. I appreciated the day's memorable events and real, authentic moments with like-minded peers looking to make a difference.
Staffbase's VOICES and Comms Club Events
I attended VOICES 2023 NYC and Staffbase's Comms Club events for Denver locals. I appreciate Staffbase's dedication to offering insights into the latest communications trends while creating warm and welcoming spaces for networking. I've even kept in touch with a few connections I met here in Denver!
For Freelance Writers
Newsletters
Kat Boogaard, a freelancer with 10+ years of experience, sends a newsletter with freelancer advice, gigs for writers and non-writers, and some of her favorite reads. It's the first freelancer newsletter I subscribed to, and I read it every week. (Plus, Kat is a fantastic human, and I am so fortunate that I've had the chance to work with and learn from her!)
Rachel Meltzer, a freelance writer and coach (my freelance coach!), sends a newsletter packed with bubbly freelance tips, free resources, tools, and templates. This newsletter is filled with strategic advice to help your freelance business succeed. (It's so good that it shouldn't be free!)
My friend, Kaitlyn Arford, works hard to compile a lengthy, quality list of freelance gigs and advice in her newsletter. It's one of my favorite places to check when looking for new clients and my top recommendation for new and veteran freelancers looking for more work.
Indie growth marketer Lex Roman shares tactical, applicable advice for reader-funded news subscriptions. It's a great read for journalists and writers who have a newsletter or want to start one.
Founders of Peak Freelance, Elise Dopson and Michael Keenan, send a newsletter that includes writing/freelancing tips, jobs, sneak peeks of Peak Freelance community content, and more!
Opportunities of the Week (Now Part of Study Hall)
Sonia Weiser's Opportunities of the Week is an excellent resource for finding freelancing opportunities. Receive lengthy lists of calls for pitches and other opportunities for a low monthly cost.
Jessica Walrack, founder of All Things Freelance Writing, sends a newsletter with new writing opportunities and other helpful resources for writers. It's a great email packed with high-quality gigs.
Chris Bibey emails a brief list of freelance writing gigs daily. The best part? It contains gigs worldwide, so it's not only for U.S.-based freelancers.
Marijana Kay from Freelance Bold sends a newsletter with tips to improve your freelance writing business, tips/tools of the week, favorite finds and resources, recommended social media follows, book recommendations, and more. It's a treat!
Tim Herrera's Freelancing with Tim on Substack is packed with advice, pitching guides, comparisons between freelance businesses and taco trucks (my favorite), and so much more.
Content Connect
Written by Ashley R. Cummings, Content Connect is a newsletter for freelance writers and content marketers that contains business tips, trends, and advice from industry experts.
Harlow**
Harlow's weekly newsletter for freelancers features new gigs and tips for building a sustainable business. It's a treasure trove for freelancers, creators, and entrepreneurs. (A great one for non-writing freelancers, too!)
Writing Tools
Grammarly provides writing assistance technology to improve your work. You can use Grammarly in Google Chrome as a browser extension or desktop app. Free and paid plans are available. I've been using Grammarly Premium since late 2020. Try Grammarly Premium for free for one month using the link above.
The Hemingway App helps writers eliminate fluff and edit sentences, making them easier to read. Free and paid plans are available. It's super easy to use!
ProWritingAid offers actionable advice for improving your writing and detailed writing reports. I love that it provides sentence rewrite suggestions for communicating with clarity.
Do you struggle with active and passive voice? You aren't alone! This free tool analyzes passages for passive voice to ensure you're meeting your editor's requirements. I started using Passive Voice Detector in early 2022 to check my drafts.
Business
Groove**
Groove is a work-from-home coworking community for creatives and business owners who want more connected and productive weeks. It is hands-down my favorite community. Grooves are hour-long, structured work sessions with five minutes to share what you're working on, 50 minutes of focus time, and a five-minute regroup to share how your tasks went. Groove with me for free for 30 days using the link above.
Freelance Bold Project Planner for Freelancers**
Manage your workload and track your income with this incredible project planner from Marijana Kay at Freelance Bold! After seeing so many freelancers post about this resource on Twitter, I didn't hesitate to snag it, and it delivered.
Data Vault for Freelance Writers**
Finding high-quality statistics and sources is one of the most time-consuming parts of freelance writing. Marijana Kay at Freelance Bold created a data vault filled with reports and data across sectors, including commerce, content marketing, customer experience, remote work, social media, workplace, etc.
When I left my 9-5 and started freelancing full time, I hired Rachel Meltzer for 1:1 coaching. For three months, she helped me work out my business logistics (legal, financial, pricing), and we worked on breaking out of the traditional workday mindset. I am so freakin' grateful for Rachel and her support during those first few months.
Pop Club **
Pop Club is a supportive micro-community for freelancers led by Rachel Meltzer. It's a tight-knit group and a safe space to ask business, client-specific, and freelancing questions.
Authory**
A piece of advice I received repeatedly in my early freelancing days was to save copies of my work. Authory does that for me! I love that Authory notifies me of new content published with my byline and creates backups automatically. Check out my self-updating portfolio.
Kat Boogaard offers courses, tools, and templates that will save you time and energy and help you launch your freelance business. My favorites are the Pitch Pack and the Freelance Fundamentals Bundle.
Kaleigh Moore offers various products in her shop, and one of my favorites is her Freelance Writer Template Bundle. These templates will elevate your template library, increase efficiency, and improve your processes.
Peak Freelance is THE community for freelance writers. Get access to expert interviews, premium products, a community Slack group, a members-only podcast, job postings, and so much more.
Harlow is a platform that centralizes the ins and outs of a freelance business (to-do lists, invoicing, proposals, contracts, and more). It's super easy to use and great for streamlining processes. The site has the latest pricing.
Workspace Accessories
This desk mat takes up most of my desk and is bright, adorable, and fun.
Pink Rotating Office Desk Organizer**
This organizer holds ~50-60 pens and pencils, Post-It notes, paper clips, pencil sharpeners, and more. (And it looks great with the desk mat!)
Bluetooth Wireless Headphones by BERIBES**
An affordable (and pink) option for those seeking over the ear headphones.
Rose Logitech MK270 Wireless Keyboard and Mouse Combo**
My workspace wouldn't be complete without a pink keyboard and mouse. These wireless accessories work great with my Mac!
I've been a Passion Planner fan for many years. Whether you need a paper planner, journal, notepads, stickers, or pens, Passion Planner (in my opinion) offers some of the highest quality stationery at an affordable cost.
Creating All The Things Scented Soy Candle
This grounding, earthy musk candle fuels my deep work and creative sessions (and it fits nicely below my monitor).
Just for Fun - Things I Love
I've been a Book of the Month member since December 2020, and despite the fact that my bookshelf has plenty of unread books, I can't turn away from this piece of happy mail each month. One of the best parts is that you can skip a month any time you want! (BOTM is how I learned about Abby Jimenez, and my life has changed.)
As a writer, it's no surprise that I love words. And I love how powerful and inspirational wearing words can be.
