I’m a Mac user and will likely be one for the foreseeable future. Their interface makes more sense to my creative brain; the clean lines & simplicity just mesh better with me all around. Plus I “grew up” with it being the standard machine used for the design industry, which is also what my formal education is based on.

That being said, I have the choice of using Safari, Firefox, Opera or Chrome, and I’m sure there are some others I don’t know exist, but I choose to use Chrome because of all the available extensions! Let’s dive into that list now!

I admit it. I've never been a podcast listener, until 2018.

To the point that podcasts weren't even on my radar; like they didn't exist at all. When I'd hear something like, "subscribe to my podcast," I'd roll my eyes and think 'pshhh, like I need something else to keep up with.'

Turns out I was wrong. I started listening to one, and I loved it so much that I went looking for more to add to my library, and I loved those too, so I went looking for even more. Now I subscribe to 50+ different podcasts, and I listen to all of them fairly regularly, some more often than others.

There's nothing to "keep up with" as it turns out, these podcasts are a little like books; you can pick them up and stop whenever you want. They're always available whenever you have free time to listen and many of them are not chronological.

Today I'm listing my favorite business podcasts that every female entrepreneur (or small business owner) should be listening to + 8 new ones I’ve found since my original posting!

Entrepreneurs wear so many different hats, it can be utterly exhausting; even if the work itself is still rewarding. Okay, that was the bad news.

The good news is that today I'm sharing 5 habits that will help you work more efficiently and be more productive with your time. 

You probably have a vague idea of what type of design services you need, and maybe you even know who you want to work with. But maybe you have no idea how much (if any) work you’ll need to put in or how much it’d cost to hire the help.

That goes for pretty much anything in the service industry, right? But there’s Angie’s List & HomeAdvisor for those kinds of professionals. So where do you go to find out more about design services? (Please don’t say Fiverr or Upwork. 😄)

That being the case, whether you have/haven’t worked with a graphic designer before, I’d be willing to bet you’re not sure what to expect, especially in a remote work or freelance situation.

It can be scary to hand over your trust & money to a stranger you’ve never met in person & don’t know. Right? I totally get that!

Because I know that there are a lot of you out there who have no idea what to expect, I’m gonna share my process since basically it’s industry standard.

This legal stuff is pretty boring, so I'm going to make this as simple as I can so you don't fall asleep on me! 

I've gotten a lot of questions about who needs to be compliant, and while I don't have all the answers (I'm certainly not an attorney, so I'm not giving you legal advice here), I do have some helpful info, suggestions, and resources to share with you that will help you figure it out.

My own Free Resource Library has evolved a lot since I initially set it up. It was password protected for most of that time and I never really felt right about that. 

I don't know about you, but I like to see the resources before I decide to sign up & grab one; ya know? (Confession! I'm on SO MANY lists! 😂)

So I decided to open it up to everyone. That meant no more password!

But how do those freebies still work as opt-ins, if the page isn't password protected anymore?

It’s a valid question, to be sure.

I'll walk ya through how to set up your own Free Resource Library on Squarespace that will still work as opt-ins, but without the pesky password protected page.

The first organization tool I ever heard about was Asana, and while I like what Asana can do, the way it worked just didn't mesh with how my brain functions. And as we all know, if we don't like how something works then we're probably not going to use it.

I wanted a more visual way to organize things. Then I was introduced to Trello, but I wasn't really sure what to do with it, or how I could use it. I set it aside to come back to later, and for months I completely forgot it existed.

Then finally, I ran across a mention of it in Think Creative Collective's Facebook group, or maybe it was their blurb about their online course for Trello during their podcast. No, I'm not an affiliate, but that super cheap course was worth. every. penny (& probably more).

Once I dug in, I found all sorts of fun ways to use Trello both for business & for home, so today I'm sharing 7 ways you can use Trello too!

If you've been following along for the last several months, then you probably already know I use Dubsado for my business. In fact, I'm kind of obsessed with it!

Dubsado has an online scheduler now, but I still haven’t gotten around to setting it up and since it's not ready yet, I’m still using Acuity because it integrates well with Squarespace and it also has a lot of features, like the ability to take a payment when a client makes certain types of appointments.

Acuity has a free plan, but it allows limited customization among other limitations. At first that was fine, but eventually I wanted the features that the paid plans offer.

I love to read, and because I don't have much time for my favorite hobby, I also love to listen to audiobooks. Gotta get my fix in somehow!

I don't love listening to self-help/nonfiction though, or at least I used to find the idea abhorrent. The idea of listening to someone talk on and on about how to "up your game," or become "more focused," ...blah, blah, blah... could have easily been a form of punishment for me.

That is, until I read a couple of business books (of my own free will, I might add!) this past fall. (I got sucked in, okay?!) They opened my eyes to a whole new genre which I can actually tolerate, as it turns out, and some of which I really (REALLY) enjoyed reading/listening to.

So, as with most things I get excited about, I dove in head first and created a list of books I want to read in this genre. And since I went to all that effort, I figured I should share the wealth of knowledge with you too!

A few years ago my old laptop was running a little slower than I wanted, so I backed up everything onto an external hard drive, uninstalled & removed all my software, and wiped my computer. Started over, fresh.

It was a lot of work, but that made things so much better. I reinstalled the operating system, put most of my files and software back onto my computer, and I was ready to move on.

I opened my internet browser and realized I had never backed up my bookmarks!! Who would remember to do that? I hope you would, but for whatever reason, I didn't even think about it, even though I tediously went through the entire contents of my laptop to make sure I had everything else, including old emails.

I had a few years worth of bookmarks saved, before I wiped my computer. I frantically logged into my Firefox account, and then Chrome... but they weren't there. I hadn't turned on the native backup so they'd be stored in my account. CRAP.

Months later, after building up important bookmarks again (and this time they are backed up) that major loss of info from before led me to also put my bookmarks in a new location. One that I can access anywhere, any time, from any device.

That's why I chose to use Trello to save my browser bookmarks.

PLUS: grab a copy of my Bookmarks Trello Board, and add it to your own Trello account! Includes all the lists, cards, links, and more!

Ever see a new business pop up, get let down when you see their branding and think 'what the...? Where did they get that done??'

Yep, happens to me all the time, and ya know what's definitely not socially acceptable? For a designer to contact that business and be all, "hey, I see you clearly need some serious help redesigning your logo; I can totes help with that!"

I'm sure 90% of those businesses have a reason for doing things the way they have, and that's fine if they're also fine with mediocrity, right? 

Bad branding usually happens because...

I was an absolute mess! I had physical AND digital sticky notes, notes on legal pads and in notebooks. Notes in documents on my computer and in the cloud, notes in Google Drive and in Dropbox. Plus I love stationery, but rarely end up using it, so I have a couple planners where I intended to put notes but never actually did... that...

I thought I was organized, until I realized I wasn't.

🙌🏻   Then I found Trello. 🙌🏻  
(it really deserves a standing ovation!)

Now before you say, "ugh... not another paid app to download." Nope!

This is FREE! 

As in: you-can-use-99%-of-what-they-have-available-without-ever-having-to-upgrade. Yeah, that kind of free.

Never heard of Trello before? It's okay, I hadn't either! I'd heard of Asana, and I tried it but, ...I didn't really like it so I never actually used it = ineffective.

You can use Trello to plan for pretty much anything going on in your life, whether that's for home or business related tasks. You can view those tasks in both a visual list view and in a calendar mode, so you can see which tasks in your board overlap with each other. You can also attach stuff, comment, tag and the whole system is drag-and-drop friendly too.

Does any of that sound good??? Awesome. Then you better keep on reading, because Trello could change your life! 😉

Getting started (or even just knowing where to start) with client onboarding can be tricky. I know this, because I've been there! My old process was cumbersome, unorganized and complicated, because I didn't really have one... at all. 🙈

I'd miss steps during client onboarding simply because I didn't have a system, or even worse, maybe I was so excited to get started on the project that I just bypassed all that "stuff." 

Luckily for me, I have wonderful clients and no problems ever came up because of my previous lack of onboarding organization. BUT I knew then, as I know now, that wouldn't last. Not that my wonderful clients would suddenly become something other than wonderful. No, no, no.

I'm saying my obvious lack of organization would eventually lead to an error SOMEWHERE, whether that was accidentally missing a client's deadline, or not getting paid on time because I had to manually set up invoices in PayPal and send them (or soooo many other possible scenarios).

As I mentioned (in detail) here, in Why Dubsado is My Favorite App, ...it's my favorite business app! I have many others on the list (I 💚  you too, Trello).

But in case you missed that (HINT: go back & read it too!), Dubsado is FREE to try, with no time limit on your trial; it just caps you at 3 clients before you'll have to upgrade.

SO WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU WAITING FOR??? 
LET'S GET STARTED!

Holy shit, you guys! When something is this good, you don't keep it to yourself; you share it!

I don't know if I've been living under a rock, or what, but I'd never heard of this company until a few months ago. I'm scratching my head now, trying to figure out what the heck took me so long to move forward!?

This is my favorite advice to share, really.

As a freelancer myself, I know we're always looking for tools that will do everything we need, all in one place, without shaving off large chunks from our profit margin as we grow and scale our businesses.

So, when I came across a podcast about this free resource where several things could be handled all in one place, for less than $20/mo, my interest was piqued. I did some research and found a few different ways to do this!

We're all SO busy these days! If you're keeping up with the trends then you haveto cook the perfect healthy meal with that new "superfood" ingredient, or complete this particular workout, or go take this particular class, or whatever the latest trend may be.

You may have kids and a full time job on top of it. Maybe you work at home full time, or have a 9 to 5, and then work nights & weekends on your side-hustle (whatever that may be).

No matter the details, there's still every day tasks to do (like cooking, cleaning, yard work, etc.) on top of maintaining a home life and keeping up with tasks at work. There's also the added task of not totally ignoring your SO or your friends and family while you work your little butt off!

So, who doesn't want a few apps that can make life a little easier?

You probably know the famous saying, "Que sera sera," or, "Whatever will be, will be." That's the advice I'm giving myself!

These are my Top 3 Tips for a Smoother start to the Design Process (they also happen to be pet peeves, just because they tend to be such time-sucks).

I've included a FREE CHECKLIST at the end too! It lists the types of files designers work with and what file formats to send us for certain types of documents when we ask you for them during a project.

These 3 points are essentially just tips to help the design process start moving along more smoothly. It will honestly SAVE each of you (designer + client) loads of TIME, if you both can avoid doing these three things when you start each project! Okay, here we go!