Hey Reader,

*AI Helped Me Write This. (You know the drill.)

TRAVIS20 ⬅️ Save This! - This is the discount code just for TOWsies. The Camp Resilience Blueprint resources have launched with the Less Overwhelm, More Impact: A Camp Director’s Guide workbook.
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I'd love it if you use this 20% off code - my Thanks for being a TOW subscriber.

🛡 Camp Resilience Blueprint TOWs:

• ​How to Shift Your Sales Mindset and Sell Without Feeling Uncomfortable​ - Carole Alalouf - This article gently reframes sales as serving the right people with the right help, not pressuring anyone. It walks you through spotting your ideal customers, reaching them at the right moment, listening hard, and focusing on how your solution actually makes their life better. For Camp Mavericks, it is a reminder that if your program truly helps kids and families, selling is simply making sure the people who need you most can find and trust you.
• ​Camper Retention​​ Checklist from Go Camp Pro - This checklist is a simple, practical tool that walks you through specific retention actions before, during, and after camp for campers, parents, and first‑year families. It gives you ready‑to-use ideas like welcome videos, counsellor check‑in calls, handwritten notes, and referral codes so you are not scrambling for marketing ideas in May. For Camp Mavericks, it is really about turning your everyday care work into a calm, repeatable system that keeps families coming back and telling their friends.

🔧 TOWs:

• ​⚡Teach Your Staff This Eval Technique rfn - @ErinRJackson - This Instagram clip shares a story about a manager who delivers a performance review in a way that feels caring, calm, and safe for a stressed employee. For Camp Mavericks and Intentionally Intentional Camp Directors, it is a reminder that how you give feedback can turn a scary meeting into an experience of being seen and supported, which builds trust and makes people want to stay.
• ​The New Satanic Panic Is Here - Taylor Lorenz - One of the most recently referenced books in our industry, "The Anxious Generation," is based on very flawed data.
• ​Hire a Generalist Job Board - bookmark for that Camp Pro you know. This page is a job board for “weird” generalist roles around the world, curated for people who never fit in one job box. It lists real openings where broad, cross-cutting skills are an asset, from AI and operations to community building and social impact. For Camp Mavericks and Intentionally Intentional Camp Directors, it is a helpful place to see how your broad camp-leadership toolkit could translate into other paid work or side roles that value systems thinking, people skills, and creative problem solving.
• ​The DIY pvc horn that every camp needs 10 of - @andrewsain1315 - This TikTok is a short DIY tutorial for making a loud PVC horn from basic hardware-store pipe. The creator shows step by step how to cut and assemble the pieces so anyone, including kids at camp, can build a noisy toy that sparks play and curiosity. Camp Mavericks could use this as a cheap, fun maker activity on a rainy day or as part of a sound, music, or “invent your own instrument” session.

🍁 AD - 4 Go Camp Pro Tools to Make Next Summer Easier (and Stronger)

✅ Simplifying Staff Training: A Quick & Effective Video Course for Camp Director

🧭 True North - Your Mission as a Compass (Staff Training Tool)

👩🏻‍🍳 Summer Camp Menu Planning Bundle | Recipes & Meal Plans for Camp Directors – Go Camp Pro

🤖 AI for Real Human People

1. ​Claude for Non-Profits - Claude is one of the top AI apps with very similar functions to ChatGPT and an interface that you'd recognize. Claude offers their app at 75% off to non-profit camps.
2. ​Claude - AI Fluency for Non-Profits (looks like any camp can learn from this) - This course empowers nonprofit professionals to develop AI fluency in order to increase organizational impact and efficiency while staying true to their mission and values.
3. ​Workflow Improvement Planner, Claude - Turn process pain points into structured improvement plans. Claude helps nonprofits define workflow challenges and design AI-powered solutions that save time and increase capacity.

👉🏻YouTOWs

• ​Blaze Today - I wanted to share a tool that I use that saves me SO much time for this exact problem. It's a Google Chrome extension that creates shortcuts for you to access pre-formatted emails. You can learn more about it here: https://blaze.today/ . Even the free version helps me so much!  (Erin Moses-Wierman, Camp Ocean Pines)

Can I feature your best Tool here? Submit: https://goo.gl/forms/dMRbbtftktuojY7W2​

👍🏼 Thanks for reading, Reader! If you like this newsletter and want to support it, forward it to a friend, follow me on Instagram (@zoic - personal stuff, @gocamp.pro - camp-y stuff), or check out my TEDx Talk on how one adult changed my life in just 5 seconds. 
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Take care,
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Travis

☕ P.S. Loving these TOWsday emails? Buy me a coffee to say thanks!

PS: Amazon, Libro.fm, bookshop.org links and some of the software links that we use financially support the work of Go Camp Pro.

🤘🏻😎🤘🏻 PPS: ​
(non-camp, non-work-related things that I enjoyed this week)

• ​CDK - Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen​ - Choreography by Sergio Reis
• ​ORION - Montreal's Ice Surfer - Winter River Surfing Short Film​​
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PPPS: Funny Thing About Travis

• When I was a kid, I LOVED mystery books and child detectives. I think it started with Encyclopedia Brown, went to a series called Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators, and eventually settled on The Hardy Boys, including reading The Hardy Boys Detective Handbook from cover to cover.

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