I’ve been designing for clients since 2006 and if there’s a single thing I understand 1,000%, it’s that sending proofs & getting feedback can be a challenge when our clients aren’t meeting with us in-person.

And the pandemic hasn’t changed that. Prior to Covid19 & social distancing, there were plenty of people freelancing & working independently for clients all over the world, myself included.

Even video calls weren’t as great as an in-person meeting, simply for the fact that they couldn’t literally point (with their finger) directly at something in the design & comment on it.

Instead it went something like this…

Excuses are the WORST. Many times we don’t even realize that’s what they are.

We use them to defend ourselves.

To play victim to our situations.

To keep from having to take a risk.

To keep from getting hurt, and many other reasons.

To keep from playing big, so we won’t fail.

But if you look back on those previous 5 sentences… what’s the common thread there?

FEAR.

Are you using fear & excuses to stay stuck?

How do we overcome our fears & how do we keep fear from ruining our lives, and our businesses?

Today I want to help set ya straight on payment processing fees.

I know, I know. It’s not a sexy topic. But hear me out!

I see and read and hear complaints about this all the time. So let’s walk through it in a way that makes sense.

You’ll learn why there are fees, what a standard fee looks like & where they’ll hide, how to work with them, who I trust (& who I don’t), and what you can/can’t do to work around them in your business.

All kinds of people are being forced to work from home now. Many of us LOVE this and are dreading going back to the grind once the pandemic slows & eventually things go back to normal.

But I also know some people weren’t prepared for this, mentally or otherwise. And that can be scary!

If you’re not a self-motivated person, or your an extreme extrovert, working from home will be hard for you.

If you’re an introvert, like myself, and even if you’re organized, it can still be hard if you don’t know how to prioritize, communicate with your coworkers or keep your workload organized.

After all, who wants a ton of phone calls, texts and emails throughout the day while you work?

Not me! ✋🏻

Following the previous post about how to stay productive when working from home, I’m sharing a list of 13 apps that should help ya stay on task and continue to be productive, even in a brand new work environment.

Let’s dive in!

The world’s flipped upside down during this global pandemic, and I know a LOT of people are suddenly working from home.

Maybe you’re asking yourself questions like:

How do I do this? My dog/kids/significant other keep interrupting me; how do I stay productive? What apps could make this easier? Are they free or paid? Do they work on my Mac/PC? How do I stay organized? What if I need to ask a coworker a question; do I have to email them & wait? Surely I don’t have to use my personal cell phone to communicate via text or phone call. HALP.

I get it. I was in your shoes once, many moons ago.

About 10 years ago, I was working in an office in Georgia (US) while my my then-fiance went out west to attend college in the mountains of Wyoming (US). He came home for summer break and proposed! About a year or so later we decided we didn’t want to wait the additional two years that I had remaining to graduate, so we bumped up the wedding and I decided I’d move out to Wyoming with him and finish college there.

That meant I was “quitting” my job, but when I told my boss that I was moving, just for shits and giggles, I gave him the option of keeping me around as a remote employee. I had no idea if they’d go for it, but since they seemed to like me a lot and I’d already been there over a year at that point, I was completely trained on everything. Plus, as a design student I already had the Mac & design software I needed to do the work at home anyway (because I hated being in the lab to work on homework 😆).

They went for it! So after we got there, got our internet hooked up and all that fun stuff, I began working from home. It was kind of a culture shock for me, never having worked at home before, but the office I’d been in only had 2-3 people in our small branch, so after I got used to a routine it really didn’t feel all that different. The General Manager was an old, friendly Grandpa type, near retirement; he and I had always gotten along really well.

I ended up just signing into the iChat or whatever it was called at the time & video chatted with him while I worked, for a few hours a day. It helped me feel less like I was the only human being in the world during the workday, –because even introverts can feel that way, eventually– and it let me ask him questions as I needed to without phoning in.

BUT there’s a better way!

Since I started doing freelance work, I’ve tried a TON of apps, soooo many different processes and found what works for me. Not only with my own long distance clients, but also implemented some of what I was learning at my 9-5!

These are my top tips for staying productive while you work from home.

There’s a lot to be said for pretty emails these days. It can make you stand out from the crowd, for sure.

But what’s the cost? If there is any.

If you’re in the entrepreneurial space at all, you may have heard about FloDesk: the beautifully style email marketing tool that doesn’t limit you to a subscriber amount. It’s one flat fee no matter how many subscribers you have, which sounds great. So what’s the catch?

Feel like maybe I’m about to give ya some negative feedback? I am, actually! And it doesn’t seem to be the popular opinion, but here goes.

Are you manually taking a screenshot from your tablet/phone/laptop/desktop to get these kinds of screenshots? Are you piecing together multiple pages yourself to get the full page? 🤦🏼‍♀️

There’s a much better way, thankfully. It’s not hard, or lengthy, or terribly complicated, so let’s walk through it.

I’m a solopreneur & that means it’s just me around here. I don’t have a VA or any other team members, so it’s a do-it-all-myself kind of routine around here, which I actually don’t mind, for now.

That being the case, I write the blogs, I schedule the emails, I write & schedule social posts, I update the website, I do all my own graphics, I do all of my client work, etc. etc. etc.

For my newsletter, I started (back in 2016) with ConvertKit. While I could plainly see how robust it is, it was WAY more juice than I needed with just 12 people on my list. 😂

So I switched to MailerLite, which I used for free until early 2019 when they changed their pricing structure. I built my list with MailerLite, and I do still like their platform, …but it was just lacking some design-y features I wanted.

Cue FloDesk. Y’all. It is effin’ gorgeous!

Easy to use. Simple, clean UI and the site is mobile friendly too! I tried it out with the free trial and liked it, even though it’s missing a few things MailerLite does, but FloDesk is still in Beta. So it’s new & it’s still evolving, which I actually like.

Then I found a coupon for 50% off and I decided to jump in, head first. Why? Let’s dive in!

We all hate that little number icon on our email. Whether you stress about getting to inbox 0 or ignore that growing number as you only check the emails that feel relevant to you, there’s a better way!

Imagine having control over your inbox again and removing that pesky number badge on your email app that may be causing you stress.

Wouldn’t it be nice if you could be reminded of emails you CANNOT forget about, schedule emails to send later, delegate emails to team members, setup canned emails, manage multiple email accounts and more, all in one place? For FREE!

Then PLEASE keep reading, because I cannot wait to share this with you!

*There are NO affiliate links in this post!

There are SO many Project Management tools out there that are worth a look, but which one is the right fit for YOU?

I’ve taken the time to break down the ones I’ve used & organize them into feature lists so you can search for what you need and see which apps offer those things.

Now, let’s see which app is the right fit for your productivity needs!

As a business newb (or even a business pro), you’ve probably heard other entrepreneurs tossing around phrases like “client management” or acronyms like “CRM” or “PM” and you might not have any idea what they mean.

Maybe you bought something like Dubsado or Honeybook and now you’re confused because you don’t understand why people are also using a PM/Project Management tool –and how do they integrate? Why do you need both?

I think when people hear the word "designer" they sometimes think of one (or several) of these descriptors: nerd, techie, IT person, hard to communicate with, quiet, introvert, not personable, weird, unorthodox, etc.

While some of those things may be true, the main purpose of today's blog is to provide tips on how to communicate effectively with your designer, despite the personality differences that may exist.

If you’re new to the entrepreneurial world, then you might be kiiiiinda sorta flyin’ by the seat of your pants. Yeah?

You never went to business or marketing or even design school, so you’re probably a little overwhelmed with your business.

I totally get it. When I first started, I had about 10 years of print design experience and some light freelancing experience under my belt, plus my college design education, which in no way prepared me to run a business of any magnitude. Back then freelancing just meant we agreed (verbally or written in an email) on a price, I did the work and they sent me a check. No written invoice, no contract. YIKES.

Don’t be that person! Let’s get you started with a few apps I wish I’d been using right out of the gate.