Christine Haynes Relaunches Her Indie Sewing Pattern Company and Focuses on Work-Life Balance
Sewing pattern designer Christine Haynes is relaunching her business with an eye towards creating a healthy work-life balance.
Organize your Desktop With This Helpful Computer Wallpaper (2020 Version)
Desktop wallpaper to help you stay organized with the year at a glance and division of space for keeping track of those things that clutter your desktop.
2020 Planners for Craft Pros
Paper planners are a great way to help boost productivity, and achieve big goals for your business. Check out our roundup of the best planners for craft pros.
Podcast Episode #157: Elise Blaha Cripe
Finish What You Start: Project Planning for Creative Entrepreneurs
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Save Time and Connect with Customers Using Instagram Quick Replies
Using a canned response can help reduce your time answering common questions from customers or prospective clients. It’s as simple as cut+paste, then customizing the message as you see fit.
How to Use a Content Calendar to Plan and Schedule Your Posts
Do the words “content calendar” induce an anxiety attack or make you roll your eyes? Although it may seem like an extra step, using a content calendar to organize and plan your posts and can help you think ahead and share content that’s relevant to your audience all year long. Most of all, using a content calendar allows you to reflect on your efforts and measure the effectiveness of your work so that you can improve over time. Here are some considerations to think through when choosing a content calendar for your creative business.
The Benefits of Limiting Your Time on Social Media
“Although getting hacked is a horrible experience, there could be a silver lining of sorts. Some creative business owners find that easing up on social media frees them up to focus on their primary handcraft, and allows them to plan, strategize, and research effective business practices, while still marketing effectively enough.”
12 Great Podcasts for Creative Entrepreneurs
Looking for an engaging podcast to listen to while you work in your studio? Need some motivation and perspective for your own entrepreneurial efforts? Check out some of our favorite business podcasts for creatives.
The Power of Daily Practice
Along the journey of my daily art creation, I did a lot of things right, many of them by accident, but together these tools helped me start and maintain a daily practice.
Spring Reading List for Creatives
Throughout 2018 we’ll be bringing you curated lists of books for craft business owners. Erin Dollar, founder of Cotton & Flax, a home decor products company based in California, is an avid reader with a library of books to share. She’ll be choosing a selection each season and describing what each book has to offer. Erin is here today sharing her spring book picks!
6 Great Apps for Boosting Your Productivity
As creative business owners, we have to keep on top of many things at once. Sometimes it can feel like we spend more time tied to the computer than crafting, and that’s not a great feeling! Fiona Pullen is the owner of The Sewing Directory and the author of Craft a Creative Business. She uses a series of apps to stay productive and organized and work more efficiently. Learn to use a few of these apps and you’ll free up the time to focus on what you really enjoy.
How to Use Gmail Canned Responses to Speed Up Your Workflow
Do you find yourself writing the same types of emails over and over again for your business? Programs Like Gmail’s Canned Responses and Text Expander can help you streamline your approach to answering emails, and free up more time for marketing, shipping orders, or anything else that might need attention your business. I use canned responses to speed up replies to wholesale requests, client questions, customer support, job applicants, and more.
The New Year’s ‘Not To-Do List’
New Year’s resolutions are a wonderful way to “should” on ourselves. Life coach Alissa Norton has stopped making these resolutions, and doesn’t recommend them to her clients, either. Not because they aren’t kept, but because she believes that to move forward, we must first let go. And sometimes, that’s the hard part.
She’s created a a Not to Do List instead and hopes to inspire others to do the same.
Winter Reading List for Creatives
Throughout 2018 we’ll be bringing you curated lists of books for craft business owners. Erin Dollar, founder of Cotton & Flax, a home decor products company based in California, is an avid reader with a library of books to share. She’ll be choosing a selection each season and describing what each book has to offer. To kick things off here is Erin with our winter book picks!
Paper Planners, Journals, and Calendars for 2018
Despite the advancement and proliferation of calendar applications, over the past few years good old-fashioned paper planners have made a huge comeback. Here’s our favorites.
Facing a Creative Slump? How to Overcome the Dry Spell
Slumps don’t last forever. There are concrete actions you can take to make the connection again. It comes down to taking a break or making a change.
How to Use Evernote to Organize Your Business Tasks
Evernote is one of the best organizational apps out there. Hanna Lisa shares her experience and expert tips on how to use Evernote to bring structure to your creative business.
Payroll and time clock software
Payroll services can keep you on track, keep you compliant, and save you time. Time card apps can help you and your employees and contractors keep track of their hours.
Catastrophe-Proof Your Handmade Business
The key to having a sustainable business (one that can survive anything life throws at you) is to plan for the stuff life throws at all of us.