Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Laurie Berglie. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Laurie , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Naming anything – including a business – is so hard. Right? What’s the story behind how you came up with the name of your brand?

I named my company Chestnut Pen kind of after my horse lol! While I am a jack of all writing/marketing trades, I would say the bulk of my business is editing and copyediting. When I think about how my teachers edited my work when I was younger, I always think of that dreaded red pen marking up my papers! I was thinking of naming my business Red Pen, but then I thought, why not make it horsey? I own a chestnut colored horse, (imagine a horse the color of a copper penny), but in the horse world, chestnuts are often called, “red.” Therefore “Chestnut Pen” really means “Red Pen,” but only horse people would be able to get that, but that’s okay! I love it because it makes me think of my horse every time I see the name or logo.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I have always loved reading and writing, so naturally, I was an English major in both undergrad and graduate school. I taught briefly at a local community college, and LOVED it, but unfortunately, I could never snag more than part-time work with them. I then landed a full-time job in marketing and communications for a staffing company, and while I enjoyed the work, staffing wasn’t exactly my dream industry.

While I was working for this company, I started blogging about my horse, just for fun. I needed a creative outlet that focused on my passion for horses and riding, and having this online presence allowed me to later connect with a variety of equestrian publications. Before I knew it, I was freelancing for Horse & Style Magazine, Sidelines Magazine, and Equestrian Living, among others. I was also putting my marketing skills to use by working with small equestrian businesses to develop marketing and web copy.

Also during this time, I was writing books. To date, I have published four equestrian fiction novels, all romance, each of which I am very proud. Thanks to my books, I was able to connect with other authors and started picking up copyediting projects. Copyediting is probably my favorite thing to do, and I’ve worked with numerous self-published and traditionally-published authors since.

In 2018, I left my job with the staffing company and began working with my husband to help grow our travel agency, Be All Inclusive. While I love travel, writing is still my passion. But this move allowed me the flexibility to really focus on and grow my freelance business, which at the time, didn’t have a name. In 2021, I decided to put all the bits and pieces together, and Chestnut Pen was born. My tagline is, Grammar Nerd + Horse Girl, and if you know me, you know it’s extremely fitting!

Today, I spend my time writing articles for Horse & Style, copyediting manuscripts, developing marketing copy for small businesses, and writing my own books. I still work alongside my husband with our travel business too, so my days are a nice mix of learning about tropical destinations and writing about my first love, horses.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

As much as I hate to say it – social media helped build my reputation. I say that because I think we all have a love/hate relationship with social media these days. But it’s a necessary evil.

The platform that really elevated my brand and my books was and continues to be Instagram. I started my @marylandequestrian account in 2014. It was just supposed to be my personal account where I could post about horses, riding, and general farm life. But I started to get follower and follower, and before I knew it, I had connected with a bunch of like-minded horse people who enjoyed the content I was sharing. I wasn’t doing anything special – just sharing some of my day-to-day adventures with my animals, what I was currently reading or working on, and farm projects/renovations we were tackling at the time.

Before I knew it, my account had grown to 22k followers, so when I started promoting my books, I had a built-in audience, of horse people no less, who were interested in the product I was selling. Additionally, I had also connected with small equestrian businesses by then, so when I started Chestnut Pen, these companies knew where to find me because we were already following one another.

I think the best advice I could give is that, whether or not you have a business or company, you are still a “brand,” even as an individual. It’s important to be you – your sincere, authentic self – and your followers will resonate with that and relate to you. I am so thankful to everyone who follows me and who has supported me throughout the years with both my books and my CP business!!

Any fun sales or marketing stories?

This isn’t a super exciting story, but it’s one that, I hope, encourages you to be brave and believe in yourself. I am very introverted, as I think most writers are. I have a really hard time with feeling salesy or promoting myself. I don’t know why, but for whatever the reason, I tend to get down on myself and talk myself out of things.

One of my local tack stores sells books by another local equestrian author. For years I wanted to see if they would be interested in carrying my books too, but I could never get up the courage to ask.

I was in the store shopping one day and thought to myself, “enough already. Just do it!” So I made my way to the associate up front, explained that I was a local author, and asked if they’d be interested in selling my books. And to my surprise, she immediately answered, absolutely! That was two years ago, and they have restocked my books four times!

While there was no real “risk” involved, I cannot tell you how hard it was for me to walk up there and, essentially, promote myself. I did not feel any of the confidence I was attempting to exude. But, I pushed myself out of my comfort zone, and it paid off. So I would encourage anyone reading this – don’t be afraid. Don’t talk yourself out of opportunities. If you don’t show up for yourself, no one else will!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://chestnutpen.com/ and https://themarylandequestrian.com/
• Instagram: @chestnutpenmarketing and @marylandequestrian
• Other: Our travel business is https://beallinclusive.net/ and @beallinclusive in case you need this too. :)

Image Credits
PC: James Berglie of Be Photography