Ciera Holzenthal, Author at Ciera Design Studio

About Ciera Holzenthal

Hi, I'm Ciera! I specializing in visual brand development and adore working with passionate entrepreneurs to design captivating and cohesive brand identities allowing them to fulfill their greatest potential and skyrocket their businesses to new heights. I’m passionate about using my skills in branding, marketing, design & social media to help your business succeed.

Why You Need To Perform An Instagram Audit

October 15, 2020 by Ciera Holzenthal

Do you feel like you’re grinding your gears, putting hours into your Instagram feed, but not seeing the results and growth that you know are possible? You know you need to change something, but not sure what? The fix may be an Instagram audit.

An Instagram audit will help you to:

Keep your goals in check

As with all marketing for your business, you should be constantly evaluating your goals and results. Is your current Instagram strategy helping you make tangible progress towards meeting your overall business goals?

Stay up to date with any Instagram changes

Is the type of content that was successful in the past for you still performing well? Are you trying new features that Instagram rolls out? Instagram tends to favor people using their newest features so it’s usually worth working new features into your strategy.

Reassess and refine your content

You may need to reevaluate and realign your content from time to time to stay relevant with your current launches and offerings. Based on your insights you can also find content that has been successful in order to re-purpose or expand on.

With a frequent Instagram audit, you’ll no longer feel overwhelmed, you won’t be posting just to get something up, and you’ll have a strategy and plan that’s actually effective.

Not sure how to perform an audit? I got you! Your Instagram, Upgraded live training will teach you the same process that I use with my 1-on-1 Instagram Audit clients. This hands-on Instagram refining intensive will help you say goodbye to Instagram overwhelm and hello to a cohesive strategy that speaks to YOUR target audience.

I don’t want you to devote any more time to a platform that isn’t helping your bottom line.

It’s easy to forget your actual marketing goals if you find yourself rushing to make your random quota of Instagram posts.

This is one of the reasons why a regular Instagram audit is essential for pulling you back on track.

In this Instagram intensive, I’ll show you how to go over every aspect of your Instagram account and refine your content in order to reinspire your followers!

With the help of this training, you’ll have the tools and knowledge to view your feed with a fresh perspective to make sure it’s cohesive and speaking to YOUR target audience.

Why A Don’t Do List Is Important For Business

July 13, 2020 by Ciera Holzenthal

Forget a TO DO list, you need a DON’T DO list!

While I was pregnant with Asher I started a DON’T DO list. I knew I would have very limited time to spend on my business, and I was sick of wasting time on things that were not helping my bottom line.

My don’t do list includes items that I found myself doing because I was “supposed to” or tasks that really aren’t helping me to achieve my goals. I’ve found that it’s just as important (if not more important) as my TO DO list.

I encourage you to examine what’s working and what’s not working for your business and make your own DON’T DO list.⠀

Do you think you’ll try this idea? Leave a comment!

Why You Should Use Your Exact Brand Colors in Instagram Stories

June 26, 2020 by Ciera Holzenthal

I think it’s worth mentioning again – consistency is key to growth and getting customers/clients to trust you.

If you’re using Instagram as a part of your business marketing plan you may find yourself focusing on your feed graphics but being a bit haphazard when it comes to stories. Your stories should use a strategy as well. Not only do you need a game plan for your story content, you should also consider the design.

If you’re creating stories right in the app, your font choices are limited, but did you know that your colors can be totally customized?

It may seem easy enough to just tap on the standard color closest to your brand colors BUT taking one more step to use your custom brand colors will actually make a huge difference in your content being recognizable at a glance.

Research finds that color increases brand recognition by 80%.

If you want to take it a step further, you can upload totally custom designs that you’ve created ahead of time in your favorite design program (Adobe, Canva, etc.) but I know sometimes that is just not doable.

Not sure how to make using your brand colors a part of your story workflow?

Here’s a step-by-step how to use your exact brand colors in instagram stories:

1. Screenshot and crop a file that includes your brand colors (your brand board is great for this)

2. Save to your ‘photos’ then open your ‘camera roll’

3. Click the ‘share icon’ then ‘copy photo’

4. Open Instagram and start a new Story

5. Select the ‘text tool’ and press on the screen until the ‘paste’ button shows up – click ‘paste’

6. Use the eyedropper tool to use as many of the colors as you want

7. Before sharing the story – drag your color palette image to the trash

BONUS: Save the file from Step 1 to an album called ‘Biz’ for easy access in the future. Then you can just skip the first few steps next time!

And there you go!

With so many platforms these days, clients should be able to recognize you at a glance through your brand identity. Using your specific brand colors in stories is another chance to build on your consistency and in-turn, trust!

Tag me on Insta if you use this trick!

P.S. In the tutorial, you’ll see me using the brand board that I created for VenturePop. A brand board is a simple document to make sure that everything you put out into the world for your business is consistent. Don’t have a brand board? You can download this easy to update template for only $6!

How To Fight Overwhelm

April 10, 2020 by Ciera Holzenthal

I feel ya – the stress of doing it all is at an all-time high.

Here are a few things that have helped me out over the past few weeks.⁠

Pick ONE key task for each day – I used to have a top 3 of the day, I’ve slashed that down to 1 key task per day.
Ask for help – big or small, try to ask for help when you can.
Take a break from social media – try to set a time limit or certain time of day when you use your phone, then put it away.
Go easy on yourself – these are unprecedented times, you don’t have to be super productive if it doesn’t feel right.
Batch tasks – I am such a fan of batching, I think I’ll do a whole post on this!
Limit watching the news – we listen to the news on the radio in the morning and evening for about 30 minutes and then only listen to music during the day.

Is uncertainty in your business causing you to feel overwhelmed? Do you feel like your business needs to make a pivot? Like you’re in a rut? Or are always playing catchup?

I’d love to help you get reinvigorated and start each day confidently knowing what to do when it comes to your digital marketing.

Introducing: Brand + Marketing Audits

Your current approach, evaluated.

I’ll review your current approach to marketing including aesthetics, brand voice, website, social media posts, and your email marketing plan and provide feedback and suggestions for how to improve your strategy and better reach your target market.⁠⠀
⁠⠀
An audit is an economical way to get an objective, professional review of what’s working and where there may be gaps.⁠

Shoot me an email if this is something you may be interested in!

Why You Need To Be Using Pinterest For Your Business

February 5, 2020 by Ciera Holzenthal

Did you know that Pinterest is not just for personal pins like recipes and travel inspiration?

Pinterest is the top traffic driver to my website. It brings WAY more visitors than all other social media combined (yes, even Instagram).⁠

Pinterest is one of the easiest ways to get new people consistently coming to your site with EXISTING content!

Want work on your Pinterest strategy but don’t have a ton of time? Here are three easy steps to easily up your game:

MY TOP 3 PINTEREST TIPS:

1. The right graphics make a difference. Stop wasting your time fiddling around with design programs and getting frustrated that it’s still not what you’re envisioning. With a template, I do the design work and you just fill it in with your images, colors and content! Easy Peasy. Get more traffic to your site with less work. I have two styles available bright + bold or light + delicate.

2. Pin your own content. This may seem obvious for some, but many people don’t take this simple step. Create boards that are relevant to your business niche, and then pin your own blog posts, portfolio images and articles to them on a regular basis.

3. Use a scheduler. Pinterest doesn’t have to take tons of time or a daily commitment. Use a platform like Tailwind to spend an hour or two every month and knock it out. Get a free month of Tailwind here.

I hope these simple steps help you to better utilize Pinterest! If you see results from using these tips, let me know, I’d love to hear about your experience!

4 Tips From My First Few Months of Motherhood

August 7, 2019 by Ciera Holzenthal

This post is sponsored by Evivo but the content and opinions expressed here are my own.

I’m excited about sharing some more personal things on the blog again. As you may know, if you follow me on Instagram or subscribe to my newsletter. I had a baby in May! And needless to say, he has taken over my life (in a good way) for the time being!

4 Tips From My First Few Months of Motherhood Including Probiotics

I’ve been on a casual maternity leave (still sending emails, publishing blog posts and designing items for my template shop).

I’m loosely planning my return to work but want to be open to change in this transitional time in my life. So I’m leaving things a bit open-ended and trying not to have too many expectations for myself one way or another.

We’re getting used to our new normal around here. Keeping business goals simple for now: if I do one task per day I’m happy. That can be as simple as getting through a few emails. Because my little dude is priority right now.

But I won’t sugar coat it… it’s been HARD.

Zander works long hours and late nights so all of baby duty falls on me.

My thoughts go a little something like this these days…

which swaddle helps him sleep best… is he getting enough milk … is he getting enough tummy time… enough stimulation… too much stimulation… do I just live covered in spit up now… how can I protect his future health… wow, that was a SHORT nap… another dirty diaper… does he realize that it’s 3 am?

4 Tips From My First Few Months of Motherhood - don't be anxious to set a schedule too early

I’ve realized right from the get-go that things will not go as planned. He definitely didn’t enter this world as planned.

When I got to the hospital I was diagnosed with severe preeclampsia and was put on medication that basically turned me into a zombie. After a day of labor followed by 6 hours of pushing, I had to have an unplanned C-section followed by a recovery much harder than I could’ve ever imagined. The first few days I didn’t even trust myself or don’t think I was physically capable of picking up my newborn out of his bassinet in the hospital.

We had to supplement with formula for a few days in the beginning because he did not gain his birth weight back due to my milk not coming in because of the medications I was on.

Once we got home, one of the biggest struggles we’ve been having is with spitting up and gas at night. There was a point where I swear he was grunting the entire night – I probably didn’t get more than 30-minute chunks of sleep at a time because every noise he made I woke up and I still continue to wake up for every little peep that comes out of him. The exhaustion is real y’all.

So I started thinking of solutions… maybe it’s the swaddle, maybe he’s cold or hot, maybe I need to try infant massage, what about probiotics? I started looking into probiotics and found Evivo and it really stood out to me because it’s the first and only clinically proven baby probiotic.

By taking a proactive approach to your baby’s gut health now, you can set baby up for lifelong health down the road. Evivo is the first and only clinically-proven baby probiotic that restores the good bacteria, B. infantis that is critical for a healthy infant gut. There are other probiotics on the market, but Evivo is the only one specifically formulated to partner with breast milk. Evivo transforms the nutrients in breast milk into valuable nutrition for baby.

Good bacteria is critical for the development of a healthier metabolism and stronger immune system. Without B. infantis in baby’s gut, bad bacteria can thrive.

Bad bacteria in baby’s gut is linked to a higher risk of autoimmune and metabolic issues like colic, eczema, allergies, diabetes, and obesity later in life. When more good bacteria are present in the gut, it creates a strong, protective wall and crowds out the bad bacteria. Unfortunately, today, 9 out of 10 babies are experiencing a disruption in their gut causing more bad bacteria to thrive.

Here are a few myths that I found really interesting about baby health:

MYTH #1: Baby probiotics are only needed when symptoms appear.

FACT #1: Probiotics are not just for fixing symptomatic conditions. In fact, Evivo is the only probiotic clinically proven to repopulate baby’s gut with the good bacteria they are missing 100% of the time, every time.

MYTH #2: There’s not enough science to prove probiotics are really helpful.

FACT #2: Evivo is the result of over a decade of research and clinical trials studying the importance of B. infantis in the gut, and the many benefits it provides to baby’s gut health.

MYTH #3: All probiotics are the same.

FACT #3: Strain does matter. Evivo is the only baby probiotic clinically proven to be 100% effective in restoring B. infantis to baby’s gut while reducing bad bacteria by 80%.

One by one things slowly become better, so if you are in these beginning stages of motherhood, I want to give you a few tips for what’s helping me get through it!

1. Find A Community

Attend some sort of mom/baby group or get together with mom friends with children around the same age at least once a week. At around 6 weeks I finally felt the confidence to get out of the house by going to local mommy/baby groups. I knew this would be a safe place with other moms in the same stage of motherhood as me. While going to a coffee shop or the grocery store felt totally unmanageable in the early days, getting to one of these groups felt doable. This really helped to make me feel not alone and getting out to baby-friendly exercise groups to get my body moving again. It’s so important not only keep your baby healthy but to keep yourself healthy as well so you can be a good parent to your child.

2. Follow A Routine Not A Schedule

Download a tracking app to help you notice trends – but don’t be anxious to set a schedule too early. Try to pay attention to a routine or cycle (like eat, play, sleep) and your baby’s cues more than watching the clock. I really like the Hatch Baby app for this. It has a great hour by hour view to help you compare days so you can somewhat know what to expect.

3. Talk To Your Pediatrician

Talk to your pediatrician about things you are struggling with early on and talk to them about probiotics. Evivo even has a PDF you can provide with all of the important details. Keeping an open line of communication with your child’s doctor helps to provide your baby with all the support early on to set them up for lifelong health. The first 6 months of baby’s life is critical for autoimmune and metabolic development.

4. Don’t Overthink It

Try not to Google every little thing and TRY not to overthink things. This one is hard. Because when you’re up in the middle of the night, it feels like mindlessly scrolling Instagram or Googling every little thing are your only options. Now at 3 months, I’ve finally cooled out a little bit with the online forum rabbit hole. As soon as I let go of the stress of how something is ‘supposed’ to be it always seems to fall into place soon after without me forcing anything.

I want to know… have you given probiotics to your little one? Have any tips to add to help other moms in their first few months?

Learn more about Evivo and the benefits of B.infantis and how it can help keep your baby healthy for life. Make sure baby is set up from day 1 with the good gut bacteria needed with Evivo.

Want to try Evivo probiotics? Get $10 off a 4‐week starter kit with code: BLOGXQ8NP or $20 off an 8‐week or greater starter kit with code: BLOGC5TJ7.

4 Tips From My First Few Months of Motherhood

Simple Ways To Get More Done In Your Work Day

July 20, 2019 by Ciera Holzenthal

As a small business owner, you only have so much time in the day to get everything done. Sure, you could work overtime or start work especially early in the morning to give yourself a fighting chance, but this could lead to burnout if you push yourself too hard.

Thankfully, there are some simple ways to get more things done each day, without the problem of exhaustion affecting your life. Take a look at our ideas below.

Make a To-do List

Such a simple thing to do and yet so vital. If you have a to-do list in front of you, you are less likely to forget something important that you have to do, and you will be better placed to prioritize those tasks that need to be completed to a deadline. Download a to-do list app on your phone, or go old school and use a pen and paper to create your list. I reccomend having a top 3 for each day. You don’t want your list to become overwhelming so designate 1-3 items that MUST get done that day and make sure to do those first!

Get Rid of Any Distractions

The more distractions you fall prey to during the day, the less work you are going to do. It’s simple logic, so think about those things that distract you and deal with them. So, you might install a website blocker on your computer if there are any sites that you are tempted to visit for personal and not work reasons. You might turn off your phone if you know you won’t be needing it for any business calls. And you might also declutter your desk, because not only will you be better able to focus on your work without any messy distractions, but you will also be able to find what you need when you need it, without having to waste time looking for something.

Let Technology Be Your Friend

You have much to do in the day, from managing your clients to generating leads for your business. Some of these tasks are more time-consuming than others, and if you’re reliant on manual processes, then you are going to struggle to get everything done. Thankfully, there are all kinds of programs and apps available to make light work of some of your most complicated tasks, so take advantage of them. As examples, Netsuite for your accounting, Copper to help you generate more leads, Dubsado for automatically sending proposals and Tailwind for Pinterest and Instagram scheduling. Take a look at my recommendations page for more apps and programs that could help you, and implement them within your business.

Stop Multitasking

You might assume you are getting more done when you’re multitasking, but according to psychology, this can actually be counterintuitive. Rather than speeding up your day, you might actually hinder your productivity as your mind and brain aren’t built for handling too many things at once, according to the study. You might disagree, of course, especially if you have nailed multitasking at home managing your work needs with your family’s needs, but if you have ever found yourself in a mental muddle in your business and if you have had to redo work because of some simple mistakes, it might be because you are trying to do too many things at once. Focus on one thing at a time then, as this might improve your productivity during the day.

Finally

There will be times when you do have to work longer than usual. It’s something that many business owners become accustomed too. However, this doesn’t have to be the norm, so follow our tips to better manage your work day, and if you have any ideas of your own, please feel free to share them!

Top 4 Things to Consider Before Ditching the 9 to 5

June 12, 2019 by Ciera Holzenthal

That idea that’s been germinating in your head is ready to be planted. You’ve finally reached your limit on what the world of a 9 to 5 office job can offer you and it’s time you spread your wings and soared.

Setting up your own business can be equal parts terrifying and liberating. That feeling of independence and of being in charge of your own destiny walks hand-in-hand with the very real fear of not being able to pay the mortgage on time and of falling flat on your face.

While conflicting, both feelings are in fact useful to spur you on towards success and creating a thriving enterprise that pays your bills and more.

For those of you who don’t know how I made the jump, I’ll give you a little background. I got a job right out of college at a great advertising agency and gained a lot of experience in my four years there. However, a time came when I was no longer growing or enjoying the type of work I was doing so I decided it was time to move on. Rather than looking for a position at another agency, I decided to go freelance and pursue the type of work I was interested in. I started getting connections by doing pro bono work while I still had my agency job and it transitioned into full-time freelancing in 2010.

In this post, we took a look at how to make it once you go solo, but today, we’re digging into the top 4 things to consider and prepare for before ditching the 9 to 5:

1. Isolation

Those first few days (even months or years) are tough and there is a lot of decision making to do that falls squarely on your shoulders. You’ll be deciding why to start an LLC, have the pressure of having to navigate your way through building websites, deciding on the cost of your services or product, not to mention figuring out your accounting and processes can seem overwhelming.

It’s quite natural to feel like that and chances are you’ve found yourself spending less time with friends and family as you throw yourself into setting up your new venture. While they may not be able to help specifically with your business, they can support you in other ways – so let them. They’ll lend you a listening ear, provide dinner now and again and help you to get organized. Don’t be afraid to call on them and other friends who run their own business to lend a hand if you’re struggling, they’ll want to help.

It may be that there are some who find it difficult when you’re in this early stage of setting up and can’t understand why you’re unable to spend time with them. These friendships, if they’re not helpful, may need to be parked until you’re able to devote more time to them again. Nothing is permanent and these early days will pass so bear that in mind.

2. Success

Guess what? You’re going to be a success, maybe quicker than you thought. When you are setting up, many people fail to prepare adequately for actually doing very well in their business. They assume those first few weeks, months and even years will be ones of struggle and getting by. This might be the case or you might just hit the ground running. If you’ve found the right niche, pitched your service to the right customer and made yourself competitive, then you might just have hit the nail on the head.

When your business does really take off, you need to be prepared for it. Look at your web provider. Can your website adequately accommodate more hits? If you have a checkout system, is it up to scratch in terms of the process and security aspects? Find an expert to take a look around and make sure that you’ve got a site that’s fit for purpose and for growth.

You’ll also need to take a look at how you’re managing your workload. If you’re keeping up just fine then just tune your day so you’re managing to fit in some breaks here and there and giving yourself time for some self-care. If you’re struggling, now might be the time to take on one or more team members.

This can feel like a huge leap, and in many ways, it is but recruiting a great team is going to be the difference between your business struggling on or growing into something impressive. Start the process early enough so you’re able to choose candidates who tick all the right boxes. Create specific job descriptions and person specifications and take your time interviewing until you find someone or some people who have exactly the right skills and character that you need.

3. Stress

It happens to everyone at one point or another and when you’re running your own business, stress can be a daily part of life. Unlike anxiety, stress is often focussed on or two specific things. You might be concerned about how your business is functioning, how you’re managing your team or trying to get your books in order. Stress can either bring you to a point of inertia, where you feel too overwhelmed to address the issues or it can be a great motivator to help you deal with and rectify the problem.

The very best thing you can do to combat stress is to face what it is that is causing the problem. By all means, have someone help you or even take care of it for you, but take action as soon as you can to rid your mind of the issue.

4. Time

It simply becomes a commodity. You’ll find yourself having to ration your time out very carefully as you try and balance your daily commitments. You may be lucky and find yourself making money with plenty of downtime thrown in but if not, then now it’s time to carve out some space for your well-being.

It may sound obvious, but it’s quickly forgotten in the hustle and bustle of daily life. Take time for screen breaks. Get up and walk around, take some time away from the computer and to fit in a little movement in your life. Make taking a lunch break a priority and try not to sit at your desk in front of a screen but instead have a complete break for at least half an hour, if not more.

I hope these tips can help you if you are thinking about ditching your 9-5 or looking to grow your own small business!

You’re in charge now, you’re going to make a great boss, run a great business and never regret the decision you took to spread your wings.

3 Ways Contracts Can Protect Your Business

May 30, 2019 by Ciera Holzenthal

If you're not sure about whether contracts are worth the investment, here are 3 ways a sturdy contract can protect you.

Let me ask you something: Do you feel protected in your business? Like, actually hold-up-in-a-court-of-law protected? Like, Elle Woods protected?

True story – I used to design my invoices and contracts in InDesign, export that contract as a PDF, email it to the client, have them sign, scan and send it back. My contract was pieced together from info I found across the internet, and truthfully, it was a hot mess and it scared clients off. And I don’t blame them.

Now that I’ve been running my business for 9 years, I have some much better practices in place like using The Contract Shop (where I get pre-written contracts) and Dubsado (how I send invoices and contracts).

ooof, that was painful to admit to you guys, I wish I could laugh about it since it’s in the past but there’s nothing funny about being unprotected and leaving yourself open to losing hundreds, even thousands of dollars.

If you’re not sure about whether contracts are worth the investment, here are 3 ways a sturdy contract can protect you:

1. When a client goes MIA

We’ve all had situations where the client could have been a little… clearer. But when a client just straight up ghosts you, what can you do? With a robust contract in place, you’ve collected the client’s address, permission to send them to collections, and you have all the resources you need to at the very least get paid even when the client has virtually disappeared.

2. For super late paying clients

Hands up if you’ve ever had an invoice paid late! 🙋 With a contract, you can clearly lay out your payment expectations right from the start so that your client pays on time, and if they don’t, you have the option to add on a late payment charge!

3. When a client feels ‘wronged’

Effective communication and a proper contract are great ways to avoid any of the above situations. But, sometimes, we run into a nightmare client. It’s reassuring to know that your contracts clearly lay out what you expect of clients, and when, so they can reference this at any time and deliver what is expected as needed. On the other hand, if you have a vague contract that leaves your clients guessing, they could feel neglected, left out, and maybe even fearful that you’re not taking care of them!

So now that we’re on the same page, a good contract is a MUST… lucky for you, The Contract Shop is running a sale where you can grab up to 40% off their products until Wednesday, May 30 (that’s tomorrow)!

This is the PERFECT chance to get yourself a contract that protects your business and, most importantly, Future You 🎉

Click here to shop the sale!

Here are some of my top picks in the The Contract Shop store in the sale:

1. I personally use the Graphic Design Templates but they also have contracts in the 40% off sale for the following professions:

2. Turnkey Business Binder

For the first time ever, you can get your business organized, started and profitable in a matter of days, not months! This workbook is practically a done-for-you business plan that helps you create a roadmap for your business – a.k.a. the best gift you could give your biz!

Click here to grab the Turnkey Business Binder at 30% off!

3. GDPR Compliant Terms & Conditions + Privacy Policy Bundle

Did you know that without a privacy policy, you could be breaking federal law? And if you don’t have one with GDPR provisions, you could be breaking an international law?! When you are transparent with your readers like this, it builds their trust in your website, opinions, products and services.

Save yourself hours of head scratching and staring at a blank Google Doc and grab yourself this T&Cs + Privacy Policy bundle.

I use this for my own website and it’s super easy to customize and add to your website or blog!

Click here to grab 40% off this bundle!

If you have any questions about The Contract Shop or the best products for you, just email me and let me know! I’m here to help.

P.S. This post contains affiliate links. I receive a commission for each sale made through my link at no extra cost to you.

P.P.S. This sale ends on Thursday May 30 at 11:59pm EST so make the most of it while you can!!

Why You May Be Suffering from Impostor Syndrome and How To Combat It

May 2, 2019 by Ciera Holzenthal

If you have met other entrepreneurs before, you might think that they are all happy and content, and full of confidence. However, you should never try to compare what you feel with what people show on the surface. Chances are that they are full of self-doubt, just like you, but they are better at covering it up than you. Every entrepreneur suffers from imposter syndrome every now and then, and it is important that you focus on improving your mindset if you would like to overcome these challenges.

Lack of Confidence

No matter how much you fake it till you make it, it is important that you build up your confidence. If you are worried about what others think about you, chances are that you will never make it in the big competitive world of business. Use positive affirmations and make sure that you are able to manage your thoughts and deal with negativity before it takes over.

Unrealistic Expectations

You might have unrealistic expectations toward your business, and this is not healthy if you are looking to build something from scratch. In fact, you will need to make the most out of your opportunities, and accept that you have limitations, but you are still enough. Rome wasn’t built in a day, so you should ensure that you are sticking to a long term plan instead of looking for the easy button. You need to realize that it simply isn’t there.

Competition

You will also have to adopt a tunnel vision when it comes to building your business. The fact that there is a lot of competition only confirms that there is a profitable market out there. You might appeal to one type of customer, while another company will be perfect for another client. You might have a special certification or an executive online MBA, but others will have other competitive advantages like marketing experience. You have to focus on what you want to do, instead of trying to copy other people’s success. Not to mention that whatever they are showing on the surface might actually be far from the truth.

Comparing Yourself with Others

Whatever doubt you might have in you about your business, chances are that even the most successful entrepreneurs will have it. They just know how to deal with it. They might appear full of confidence, but this might be just an act. Try to fake it till you make it, and pay attention to your body language. Even if you suffer from imposter syndrome, you might want to hide your doubts from your potential clients. You don’t want to give out the wrong image about your business.

Not Believing In Your Value

The main reason for being doubtful about your abilities is that you don’t believe that you are offering something valuable to your clients. Collecting testimonials and feedback can help, and it is crucial that you create case studies not only for your potential clients, but also yourself. You have to list the benefits of your product and service and focus on how you have improved people’s lives or businesses, so you can justify the cost for yourself and your prospects. This way, you can also avoid non-payment from clients, as you can argue for the value you are providing.

Looking At Your Service as a Cost Not an Investment

It is important that you shift your paradigm and look at your fees and charges as an investment from your clients, instead of a cost. No matter what you do, you will enhance the lives of people by solving their problems. If you are an IT service provider, you might save hundreds of working hours for the business by making their systems more effective. If you are a business, coach, you might be the person who will help them double their profits.

Trying To Be Good at Everything

It is crucial that you accept your limitations, too. You might be good at some things, but absolutely slow and ineffective at things like admin or accounting. To make the most out of your earning potential, you should focus on the activities that take your business further, and generate the most results for your clients. For example, if you are a virtual assistant, but hate social media, you will need to outsource this work. You can find plenty of affordable social media management packages to choose from that will help you add value to your services without having to do the job yourself.

Paying Too Much Attention to Trolls

It is important that you keep your eye on the ball, and don’t allow other people to distract you in moving the right direction. You will have to make the most out of your business opportunities and learn to ignore the trolls. There will be some people who are jealous of you, even if you don’t know that it is their main motivation. You should know that most people are looking at the negatives and focus on them, because they have a problem with themselves. You have to take everything with a pinch of salt, and now where people are coming from when commenting on your posts.

Being Afraid of Success

Believe it or not; many people are afraid of success. They don’t visualize what will happen if everything goes according to their plans, and they will have all the customers they can wish for. You have to mentally prepare for success, and everything that comes with it. You will inevitably be able to earn more money per hour, and use other people’s time and other people’s money to take your business further. Once you are comfortable with this, you can make the most out of your mindset and follow your dream.

To make the most out of your business, you will need to get your mindset right and improve your confidence. After all, you are the driving force behind your venture, and you have to believe in your value before you can make your potential clients believe in it, too.

How to Get More Email Subscribers By Using Lead Magnet Freebies

April 19, 2019 by Ciera Holzenthal

A few years ago, I increased my email subscribers by 600% in 1 month by changing just one thing – I implemented content upgrades and strategic lead magnets.

I know first hand how drastically your list can grow by using this relatively simple concept: give something away for free in return for an email address.

Although the concept is easy, planning this free incentive can feel a little daunting… you have to come up with the content, design it and figure out how to deliver – it can start to feel overwhelming, in which case, it keeps getting pushed down to the bottom of your to-do list and your email list growth becomes stagnant.

Well, I’m here to tell you: your opt-in doesn’t have to be complicated, in fact, something simple like a cheat sheet or checklist often converts best!

Plus… I’ve made it EVEN EASIER for you to implement:

I’VE DESIGNED THE LEAD MAGNET FOR YOU!

Now, all you have to do is:

download the template (Canva and InDesign formats available)
paste your content into the ready-made file
customize with your brand colors, fonts, and photos
start sharing and watch the subscribers roll in

So what is this lead magnet bundle? It’s 10 mix and match pages so you can quickly create multiple opt-ins to help grow your email list.⁣

It includes ⁣cover page⁣ options, worksheets, text-heavy info page⁣s, cheatsheets, checklists and a thank you/contact page⁣ that you can edit and combine into numerous resources for your opt-in freebies. It’s available in my shop currently at a special launch price!

Your email list is one of the biggest assets your business will ever have. You don’t own your search engine rankings or your social media sites. They can be taken away from you at a moment’s notice. You own your email list. No one can ever take it away from you.

Building an email list is crucial because it’s the best way to build a relationship with potential customers in an intimate way.⁣

Want to read the full story on how I increased my email subscribers by 600%? Read it here.

What is a Brand Board and Why You Need One For Your Business

March 29, 2019 by Ciera Holzenthal

A brand is many things (it’s an overall experience including perception, voice, values and visuals) but today we are mainly talking about your brand identity or the visual aspects of your brand.

What Is A Brand?

The core of branding your business is to first know your target audience. Your target audience is your ideal customer and client which is who is going to buy your products and services. Your branding needs to speak to THEM. You should put personal preferences aside and always put the people most likely to be interested in your product or service first.

You should have thought through all of this before designing a logo, picking fonts and colors and turning that into a brand board.

If you’re still working on your brand and visual identity, I recommend you check out these blog posts first, then come back here to build your brand board:

Once you’ve gone through that discovery phase and have your visual branding complete – we put all of those elements into a brand board which will help you to have a clear brand message as well as consistent brand visuals.

So you may be asking “what exactly is a brand board?” – Well, let’s dive into what it is and why you need one for your business.

What Is A Brand Board?

A brand board is a place to pull together all of your brand identity pieces in one neat place.

This is a simple document to make sure that everything you put out into the world for your business is consistent.

Why Your Business Needs a Brand Board

Being cohesive and consistent across all platforms is key to building trust with your customers.

Branding is one of the most important aspects of any business, large or small. Whether you hired a designer to create your logo and marketing items or you did it yourself – I know that you put a lot of time into this process.

Your website, business card, social media, and printed materials are often the first interface that a potential client has with your business. You have a few seconds to make a good impression and you should be proud to hand out cards and send people to your site.

With so many platforms these days, clients should be able to recognize you at a glance through your brand identity. Are your website, printed materials and social sites cohesive? They should be.

It can be tempting to stray towards a new trend or try out a new font but having your brand board created and front of mind will help keep your marketing items consistent!

It’s so easy to veer off in a random direction without this overall vision bringing it all back together.

What To Include In Your Brand Board

1. Main logo

Your primary logo is the main identifying mark for your business. This logo will be used the most and is often utilized on the header of a website and on-brand collateral, etc.

2. Secondary/Alternate Logos and Sub-Marks

From time to time it makes sense for a visual identity system to have an alternate logo or sub-mark. This could be a different orientation or a simplified version of the main logo to give your brand more flexibility. This logo can be helpful for social media profile images, on social media graphics, as a watermark and other places where you need to use a more compact version of your logo.

3. Color Palette

I typically create a color palette that consists of 3-5 colors. Your color choices should speak to your target audience, be relevant and memorable.

Elle and Company has a great post on creating a distinct color palette.

In addition to the colors themselves, make sure you include the color codes that you use most, hex codes for web and CMYK and PMS for print.

4. Fonts

My recommendation is to have two fonts for your brand identity.

By choosing fonts that reflect your brand’s values, you can attract the right kind of customers. A serif fonts tends to be more traditional while a sans serif has a more minimal and modern feel. You may also consider a bold slab-serif or a script font which can give a friendly and approachable feeling.

5. Supporting Pattern or Textures

This space is for additional design elements that will give your branding depth and interest. They can be used in social media templates or the background of your website, for example. Patterns and textures can add interest to your designs, support your brand message, gives versatility and helps your brand stand out even more.

6. Photography Style

You can also include photographs to make sure your content and editing stays consistent. This can be helpful to turn over to your photographer when to make sure everything stays visually aligned.

These elements make up a visual identity. Once you have the basics in place, you can use these elements to create social media graphics, PDFs, marketing collateral, website elements, and so much more.

Remember, being cohesive and consistent across all platforms is key to building trust with your customers and having all of your brand elements in one guide that you can reference at a glance is critical in keeping your branding on track.

Are You Making It Easy For Clients Not To Pay?

February 25, 2019 by Ciera Holzenthal

Going solo and shaking the shackles of employment has many benefits. Finally, you can control what you do, who you do it for, and when you do it. You can balance work and life in the way you never did before. For many of us though, these benefits are outweighed by one big con; you no longer get a steady paycheck.

It’s for this reason that millions of people still spend their lives in the office. And, there’s no denying the benefit of knowing what you’re getting and when if you have bills to pay. But, this may not be as far from freelance life as you’d think. When you have steady custom work, after all, you should still be able to arrange payments to meet your needs.

In theory, it’s the ideal compromise, but it’s by no means a foolproof plan. That’s because many freelancers, especially in creative fields, don’t get money when they’re owed. In extreme cases, they never get it at all. This could unravel your efforts, and it’s something you want to put an end to. But, you can’t do that until you ask whether you’re making it easy for those clients not to pay in the following ways.

You aren’t confident in the worth of your services

The worst thing we can do as creative freelancers is doubt ourselves. If you aren’t confident about the worth of your services, non-payments is inevitable. It may be that you feel awkward even asking for money. Or, you may not want to chase clients when they don’t pay on time. If that’s the case, you couldn’t make it easier for them to get away. Make sure that doesn’t happen by remembering that payment is your right as a creator. You’re providing a service, and you deserve a monetary return. Be clear about your rates. Make sure, too, that you chase unpaid accounts until you see results. How can you be sure of payment otherwise?

Using long-winded payment methods

Long-winded payment methods are another sure way to do yourself out of money. If you let clients leave on the promise of direct debit payments, it’s never going to happen. Make sure that no client can walk away by looking to payment product improvements like the Square Terminal. This is a new way of accepting payment which is easy to transfer and operates from battery and offline. By keeping something like this with you, you can kiss goodbye to those promises of ‘I’ll pay you later’. Instead, you’ll be able to get your money there and then.

Not stating a pay date on invoices

You may simply be failing to put payment dates on your invoices. Even if you’ve agreed a day with clients, you have no standing unless you put it in writing. By providing a date on the invoice, you create a reference for both you and them. You’ll then know as soon as that payment doesn’t come in, and take action the moment the client lets you down.

My Top Tip for Branding Your Business

January 29, 2019 by Ciera Holzenthal

I was recently asked, “What is your best tip for branding a business?”

And you may be surprised that my answer was not “hire a designer to create an amazing logo” or wasn’t really design related at all…

Here’s what I said:

My best tip for branding a business is to first know your target audience. Your target audience is your ideal customers and clients which is who is going to buy your products and services. Your branding needs to speak to THEM. You should put personal preferences aside and always put the people most likely to be interested in your product or service first.

Part of my job as a designer is to help clients achieve clarity about their brand identity. This means asking lots of questions before any designing actually begins. Before jumping right into a logo design, you need to have a clear vision for your brand.

The thought of having a new logo design and brand identity can be so exciting that many people want to skip right past the discovery phase. However, the knowledge gained in this phase determines everything that follows.

You may have an excellent concept in mind, but until you have a deeper understanding of why your business exists, who you are trying to reach, and what those people are like, it will be difficult for your designer to create a brand identity that accurately represents that.

If you’ve been thinking about a rebrand or hiring a designer for your social media or marketing needs, I’d love to walk you through the process, just reach out.

Still not sure if you are ready? A strategy session is a great place to start. Sometimes you just need to talk it out!

Looking for more posts about starting your brand? Check out:

The Importance of Defining Your Brand Personality

15 Questions to Answer Before Designing Your Logo

Top 4 Black Friday Deals To Help Grow Your Business

November 23, 2018 by Ciera Holzenthal

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you had a lovely time with family and friends!

I’m so thankful to have the ability to be creative on a daily basis and to be able to make a living doing what I love. I am super grateful for all the opportunities that have come my way in 2018 and I’m really excited for what lies ahead in 2019!

I’m also grateful for YOU GUYS! I enjoy sharing my passions and day-to-day with you and I love connecting with new people all over the world!

I have to be honest, I typically hate shopping, so I’m not always a fan of the after Thanksgiving shopping craze BUT I love a good deal, especially when it’s something that can save me money in my business.

I’ve come across some awesome deals for us running our own design biz or other small business that I wanted to share with y’all! Affiliate links used but these are all products that I personally use and LOVE.

1. DUBSADO – Client Management System

Dudsado is hands down, my favorite tool for running my biz. You set up a workflow once and then your systems are on autopilot. It captures leads on your website (your contact form, for example), can automatically send those leads a proposal, then a contact, then an invoice (in whichever order you prefer.) You can set payment reminders, there’s a client portal, bookkeeping, and just so much goodness. They also JUST introduced a native scheduler where you can have your clients set up appointments with you.

SALE DETAILS:
They will be raising their rates from $30 to $35 (monthly) and from $300 to $350 (annually). If you sign up now, you’re locked into these rates! PLUS get 20% off through the links in this post.

SALE DATES:
Prices go up on Tuesday, November 27th – the 20% off doesn’t expire.

CLICK HERE FOR THE DUBSADO SALE

2. TAILWIND – Pinterest Scheduler

Tailwind is a game-changer for Pinterest. The majority of the traffic to my website comes from Pinterest (and I bet yours does too). With Tailwind, I can set aside a few hours and schedule out content for the entire month. They also recently launched SmartLoop (their most-requested feature ever!), which helps you automatically recirculate your best Pins at the best time for engagement.

SALE DETAILS:
$15 credit towards Tailwind Plus

CLICK HERE FOR THE TAILWIND SALE

3. THE CONTRACT SHOP – Contract Templates

Gotta be honest, I had NO idea what I was doing with my client contracts until I grabbed my template from The Contract Shop!

Within 10 minutes, I had a contract template and was customizing it to suit my business. It was super easy to add in my own details and I feel waaaay more confident knowing my contract has been vetted by someone who actually knows what they’re talking about! I use their graphic design templates and their terms and conditions template.

SALE DETAILS:
40% off ALL products

SALE DATES:
Thursday November 22nd 10pm ET to Monday November 26th

CLICK HERE FOR THE CONTRACT SHOP SALE

4. CREATIVE LIVE – Online Education

Creative Live is an awesome platform for continuing education or just learning new fun things! They are an online education platform that broadcasts live classes for free. If you miss the live broadcast or want to watch a class again, you can also purchase all of the archives on their site. Enjoy up to 60% off all classes. It’s a great time to kickstart your goals and end the year strong by sharpening your skills in topics like crafting, design, audio, photography, video, music, and business.

SALE DETAILS: 60% off all classes at CreativeLive

SALE DATES: November 22-25

CLICK HERE FOR THE CREATIVE LIVE SALE

There are lots of other deals out there, but I just wanted to keep this short and sweet with the tools I think you’ll really find useful.

How to protect your rights as a creator, artist or innovator.

October 23, 2018 by Ciera Holzenthal

This post about copyright and how to protect yourself and your creative works is sponsored by the Copyright Alliance. All opinions are my own. Thank you for supporting this blog by allowing me to post occasional sponsored content. All sponsored posts feature products or services that I truly feel would be of interest to you.

How to protect your rights as a creator, artist or innovator.

My heart still races as I think back on this mistake.

He threatened to sue unless I paid $11,000.

I should have known better and it’s even embarrassing to tell this story.

But sometimes you have to mess up to learn the lesson, or in this case, hopefully, learn from someone else’s mistake.

Let’s go back in time… I live on a historic commercial street in New Orleans and, from 2009-2014, I volunteered to set up and run their website, blog, and social media. I’d post about special events, new shops opening, sales and other fun things happening in the 7-block commercial strip.

I would share images from the local businesses to help them get the word out or use photos from photographers that I thought were free to use.

One time, I used a copyrighted image from Flickr for a collage in a blog post. I should have known better but did not even look at the copyright or ask permission. The image was credited and linked back to the photographer’s Flickr page (probably how he found our site, through his Flickr stats). A few months later, I was contacted by him as he was looking for the owner of the site and looking for compensation for copyright infringement.

He sent email after email trying to get me to pay an $11,000 fee to avoid him taking legal action. I talked to an attorney, took the photo down and everything was resolved without a lawsuit or fees. But lesson learned. I’ve heard horror stories of people actually having to pay huge fees for using photos or art that they used without permission (something that no one should ever do).

Ever since that incident, I always ask for permission. Giving credit is not enough. And I try to spread this message to fellow creators, so they can also learn from my experience. I know that as a blogger, creator or small business owner, it’s hard to keep track of all the rules – but it’s part of running a business.

I know that as a blogger, creator or small business owner, it’s hard to keep track of all the rules – but it’s part of running a business.

I’ve also been on the other side of things, having my photos used without permission. Not only were photos that I took used without permission, but I’ve I found my headshot being using to promote courses and products that I had never heard of. And I’ve had friends who have had their work copied and stolen.

It’s sometimes hard to know what to do in these types of situations. But I recently came across an amazing resource that can help whether you are looking to protect your own work or to learn more about copyright in general.

The Copyright Alliance is dedicated to advocating policies that promote and preserve the value of copyright, to protecting the rights of creators and innovators, and to educating the creative community regarding copyright law and policies.

The individual creators that they represent rely on copyright law to protect their creativity, efforts, and investments in the creation and distribution of copyrighted works for the public to enjoy.

Are you a photographer, author, songwriter, designer, or some other type of artist/creator? Do you have questions about copyright and how to protect yourself and your creative works? Are you interested in joining a community of creators just like you who want to know more about copyright and how it can help you make a living and a career? If the answer to these questions is “yes,” then you should consider joining the Copyright Alliance!

They represent the interests of authors, photographers, performers, artists, software developers, musicians, journalists, directors, songwriters, game designers and many other creators.

The Copyright Alliance recently launched a Gold Membership plan to provide you with exclusive benefits that you’ll find helpful on a daily basis.

Their new Gold Membership plan features exclusive benefits designed just for creators, including: access to a private members-only website; access to a private Facebook Forum, where their team will respond to your copyright questions; webinars on copyright-related topics; exclusive copyright toolkits featuring info on topics such as copyright registration, copyright basics, online enforcement; exclusive discounts on worldwide hotels, Adobe Creative Cloud, Dell Computers and Electronics, Office Depot, and numerous conferences and events. To join as a Gold Member, or to learn more about benefits, just click here.

10 Ways To Make It When You Go Solo

October 8, 2018 by Ciera Holzenthal

When you’re trying to follow a career path that you love, it can be tough. You may doubt yourself along the way, and you may wonder if you’re even cut out for it at all. Or, you may even find that you’re just not happy. And that’s so understandable. Because not everyone is happy in their careers. This can often stem from not really being sure of what it is that you actually want to do when you’re a child. or teenager. If you’re someone that kind of left school and then went into a ‘good job’ that you know your parents wanted you to get or that your friends were going to do, then you may not be following your passion. And while passion doesn’t always pay the bills, it is important to be happy in your career. Because you’re a long time working.

10 Ways To Make It When You Go Solo

For a lot of people, the dream has always been to work for themselves. Maybe you want to start your own company or be a freelancer? Or maybe you’ve just always wanted to be your own boss and enjoy the freedom that comes with setting your own hours and doing your own thing? Then what are you waiting for? Maybe now is the time that you change careers and get on track by doing your own thing? If you’ve always been afraid of failing and that’s stopped you from going ahead, don’t panic, because here are ten things that can help you to make it when you go solo.

Do Your Research Beforehand

The first thing that you will need to do is to make sure that you’re doing some research. Because when you want to go into business for yourself, you need to know what you want to do and how you’re going to do it. So do some research into the business field that you want to go into, who your target audience will be, and what you need to do to get your business off the ground.

Just Start

And then, you absolutely have to just start. Because there’s only ever so much research that you can do. If you’re not really sure on how to do this, these tips from The Muse are so important. Because you really do need to just get going. You’ll want to think about how you can start working on your business idea, building a website, and generating interest just right off the bat.

Fill Yourself With Self-Belief

If you know that you’re doubting yourself, or that fear or your confidence levels are holding you back, you need to work on that too. Because if you want to be a success, you absolutely have to overcome imposter syndrome to do that. You can’t worry that you’re not good enough. Or chase perfection. You just need to believe that you can do it.

Do It On The Side First

So just do it. But do it on the side first. As you’re still working in your job and on the career that you already have, you’re going to want to start things on the side. So have a go at getting your site together, start doing some work, build your product or sell your service. Spend any spare time you have working on the business to see how it gets going.

Market Like Mad

But you also have to make sure that you’re really marketing yourself. And get serious about it. Think about how you can come up with a marketing strategy that’s going to get you the traction you need. You may even want to turn to experts, like Marbury Creative Group, to help you here. Because you will want to work on your specialist areas of marketing with those that know it best.

Be Authentic

And when it comes to actually making this work out for you, you have to be authentic. There’s just no two ways about it. If you’re trying to copy someone else, you won’t win. You need to double down on who you are, where your strengths lie and really play to that.

Really Push Your Activity

Then, when it comes to the marketing and activity and business that you’re doing, you need to go all in. You do to as much as you can as often as you can. Stay consistent with your marketing and social media posts and really try to ask for as many sales as you can get and you will find it works for you.

Network

It’s also going to be a huge help for you if you can network. Networking is a HUGE part of working for yourself. So constantly look to be making connections. See what you can do to try and make friends with people in your industry, go to events, and just try to be as present as possible in the industry. This is not only a great way of getting known (and landing great PR), but it can also help you to generate more business too.

Put Yourself Out There

And as much as you may find this hard at first, you just have to put yourself out there. You really do. Because when you start your own business and when you’re doing your own thing, you absolutely have to make sure that you are selling yourself. You need to put your skills and your business out in the world and ASK for the business and the sales. If you can’t believe in yourself and what you’re doing, why will anyone else?

Have Something To Fall Back On

But then, before you decide to do this and to go full time with your freelancing or business, think about getting a financial safety net together. Because if you’re worried about how you will pay the bills while you’re trying to bridge the gap with your money, The Balance has some great tips on how to get some money together. That way, you won’t have to worry that you can’t pay your rent when you’re doing things alone.

Getting Started as a Freelancer

July 9, 2018 by Ciera Holzenthal

Today Margaret Latham shares advice based on how she got started in the freelance graphic design world.

Working as a freelancer gives you lots of freedom, but it isn’t always easy to get started.

Going into business for yourself can be tough at first. You might have trouble getting clients and making sales. Working as a freelancer gives you lots of freedom, but it isn’t always easy to stay busy.

Once you get started, it can get much easier, but taking those first steps is the trickiest part. I want to give you some guidelines for starting out and hopefully help you take your first steps as a freelancer.

Know Your Niche

If you are going to be a freelancer, then you need to be doing something that you love. You will be setting your own schedule, and if you don’t like the work, then you are unlikely to put in the hours. You need to pick a freelance job that you get some joy out of. Many people take their favorite hobbies and turn those into regular jobs through freelance work. Doodlers become artists and fanfiction writers become copywriters.

Once you have settled on a niche you want to get into, you need to get good at it. You may not be an expert at that particular skill in a way that will make you steady money yet. So, read up on how people are monetizing that skill and turning it into a job. Read their blogs and find out how they work from day to day.

For instance, if you are going to be a freelance writer, you need to know how people write for websites and search engines. That’s far different from writing novels and screenplays. You need to learn the ins and outs of your niche.

Find a Job

Now, here is the hard part. Finding someone who will hire you is probably going to take a lot of work in the beginning. You will often be rejected and run into people who are not going to treat you fairly or who demand outrageous things of you. You have to know when to turn down job offers and when to accept, and you will likely only learn that through some trial and error. You have to watch out for scammers too, and you are going to have some bad experiences, but that’s part of the learning process. I’ve had luck using freelancing sites like Freelancer.com, UpWork.com and Fiverr.com. These are great starting points to find your clients. Put out as many feelers as you can, apply for all the jobs you can handle and be prepared to not get a lot of the work you apply for. These are very competitive marketplaces, but they are also the best place to find legitimate clients. There will be lots of people looking for freelancers on these sites and lots of freelancers trying to find work there, so they are very busy marketplaces.

It also helps to make some friends on both sides of the work pool. Maybe a potential client doesn’t need you for one job, but they may want to keep you in mind for the next one. Connect with them through professional and friendly application letters that make you stand out. You can also connect to other freelancers in the same niche as you. If you make friends with some of them, then they may send you some extra work every now and then. That can lead to a lucrative and successful partnership with clients that the other freelancer has acquired.

Make Yourself Competitive

You have to make yourself stand out in some way when you are competing with other freelancers for the same job. One of the best ways to do that is to make yours a bit lower. Don’t make them so low that you are working for peanuts, as that can make you seem unqualified. Instead, look at what people are offering on average for the work you are applying for and cut your price just slightly. You might not like working at such low rates, but you need to keep in mind that you are simply trying to enter the marketplace.

Once you get your foot in the door, then you can start asking for higher rates. Getting started means making sacrifices at first and working for wages you might not feel are worth your time, but once you build up a reputation and a client base, you can quickly grow from there. Your clients will recommend you to their colleagues, and before you know it, you will have a whole network of clients to work with. This is how we ended up with one of our first clients, a cleaning service called Diamond Cleaning Calgary. They could not afford the more expensive graphic design companies, so they went with us. They were so pleased with the work we had done, that when it came time to increase our rates, they were happy to pay. They knew they needed us to keep working with them if they were to continue seeing the same level of success.

Of course, you will only be able to leverage for higher rates if you do excellent work. Even though you may be working for low rates at first, you need to put your best efforts in. This will pay off later when you go to increase your rates. Your clients will be willing to pay those higher rates because they love the work you do.

Another way to make yourself competitive is to advertise. You can get your application boosted on some of those websites we mentioned earlier to make it more visible. This is really only necessary for very competitive job offers, but you can take the same concept and apply it to your business as a whole. You make yourself look more professional by having your own smartly designed website and by doing some marketing on platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Get your name out there, and the little bit of money it costs to do so can be richly repaid.

Thanks again to Margaret Latham for sharing these actionable methods to start freelancing.

How To Use Fonts To Improve Your Branding

June 23, 2018 by Ciera Holzenthal

Creating a strong brand is the key to successful marketing. The content of your marketing materials is important, of course, but the way that you present it needs a lot of thought too. People always put time into color schemes, good use of pictures and the layout but often, the fonts and typography that you use is chosen without too much care. We often underestimate just how much difference the font can make but it has an effect on your customers. These are just some of the great ways that you can use typography to improve your brand.

People always put time into colour schemes, good use of pictures and the layout but often, the fonts and typography that you use is chosen without too much care. We often underestimate just how much difference the font can make but it has an effect on your customers. These are just some of the great ways that you can use typography to improve your brand.

Send the Right Message

When you create a brand, what you’re trying to do is send a message to the customer. You’re trying to give them an understanding of what your company is about and what your core values are. Telling them is one option but people aren’t interested in a long wordy advert, you need to send that message visually. The typeface that you use is a good way to do that. For example, if you want to tap into an older demographic that is attracted to a traditional company, you shouldn’t use a modern looking minimalist font. You should also think about what the purpose of the words is. If, for example, it’s a call to action, a more angular font that conveys a bit of urgency and stands out is a better choice than something more ornamental. When you’re mixing fonts, make sure to put proper consideration into how well they go together, otherwise, everything will look a bit out of place.

Be Aware of Readability

Even though you’re trying to convey a message through the font, you still want people to read the information that you’re putting out there for them. The font can really help to keep their interest until the end. Some are a lot harder for people to follow, particularly more decorative ones. There are some different choices depending on what you’re trying to do. On a website, you should use a font that is specifically designed for reading on computer screens to avoid eye strain. Helvetica and Georgia are some of the best; they might be fairly simple but they’ll improve the readability of the site. You’ve got a bit more freedom when you’re creating physical marketing materials but you need to make sure that you don’t sacrifice readability for style. You still want to express something about your company but you have to strike a good balance between the two.

Be Unique / Create Your Own Typeface

If you want to know how to market your company well, look to some of the biggest companies in the world for inspiration. Coca-Cola and Youtube have both created their own custom typeface which customers will instantly recognize as theirs. If you create your own corporate typeface, it makes your marketing materials more unique and iconic so they’re far more likely to stick in customer’s minds. It also means that similar fonts and typefaces used by other companies will make customers think of your company.

Don’t underestimate the power of a good font when you’re trying to build a brand.

The Best Teacher Is Yourself: How to Develop Your Self-Education Skills

June 5, 2018 by Ciera Holzenthal

An education is priceless; it gives you the skills necessary to progress in life and in business, from keeping your finances straight to effectively running your social media. But if you don’t currently have the finances to invest in continuing your education, learning how to develop your self-education skills are key. Getting into a learning mindset is pivotal for any budding businessperson. It’s dangerous to think that you know everything, and it’s far better for you and your business to view yourself as a work in progress. So, if you are keen on developing yourself in one way or another, either for your benefit or for the business, here some fundamentals to keep in mind.

Remove The Word “Study” From Your Mind

Studying is a very dangerous concept for many because it forms blockages in the mind. If you view self-development and learning as sitting down at a desk, opening a massive encyclopedia, and not getting up until you’ve done X amount of hours, you’re setting yourself up for failure. A lot of people didn’t enjoy school, and arguably, you became an entrepreneur, because, in your youth, you thought outside of the box, which contradicts most common educational formats. As a result, you might have been different, or you might not have been academically minded, no matter how much you applied yourself. Don’t view educating yourself as a long, difficult walk, because you won’t learn anything.

Everything Is An Education

Instead of viewing the act of educating yourself as setting aside a certain amount of time to sit down and study, it’s far more beneficial to get, firstly, an idea of how you best learn, and secondly, get into that frame of mind where are you want to understand why something works. If you tell yourself, “right, I need to pay attention to this” you’re not actively focused on the task itself. Instead of forcing yourself to pay attention to something, let it come naturally. This is why understanding how you best learn is an invaluable tool. You might not learn things properly by sitting down and reading, but rather, have someone explain it to you. You might need to think out loud to get an understanding of how something works, but don’t go against your instincts. And while there are so many learning materials around, you can glean information from any resource. Learning isn’t just about the information from a book, it’s about learning by doing, and by living.

Remember To Fail

You learn best by making mistakes. But we all fear to make mistakes, and as a result, we can stumble through situations blindly. In business, it can be argued that time is money, so there’s no room for mistakes, but when you are pursuing your own education, failure is unable to be avoided. And in business, failure is most definitely an inevitability. So why are you so scared of failure? Instead, it’s far better to have tried and failed. Try better, fail better. It’s the only way we all learn something properly. Those big lessons in life are what sticks.

The Wealth of Information Out There

In many ways, we are spoiled for choice now. Going back 20 or 30 years, the internet wasn’t used as a way to get information. You would seek out your own education by going through various books and recommendations, but also by doing. If you want to learn how to build a house, build one! The internet is a wonderful tool if you use it right! And for all of the amazing information you can find online, there are also resources that are questionable. When learning the ropes, and forging your own education, it’s much better for you to trust your instincts and decide if a specific resource is worth your time and effort. 20 years ago, you would pick up a book, and see if it spoke to you. If it didn’t, you would simply find another one. You can do this when trying to round out your self-education. There are online courses now, which is great because you don’t have to go to a class, which gives you so much more time to develop yourself. In business, there are so many different courses to take advantage of, in each small sector, you can participate in a supply chain management program online to give you the relevant knowledge you need of that specific sector. With so many accredited courses available online, you can develop your knowledge in whatever spare time you have. If you are still at the outset of developing your business, and money is an issue, it’s at this point where you need to make the most of who you know, not just what you know. This is where the internet is great, on sites like LinkedIn, you can get advice from people who have been there and done that. The internet is a fantastic communication tool, and when you are developing your own education, it’s something you have to make the most of. But it’s important to choose your resources wisely when scouring the internet for information.

Expand Your Interests

There are those people who have their finger in every pie, and you might look at them with a little bit of jealousy. Do you wish you were like that? The solution is very simple: expand your interests. For people who are looking to develop themselves, an active interest is what fuels their enthusiasm. Elon Musk is someone who seems to have an interest in almost everything, but it’s that unwavering enthusiasm that is providing him with that focus, not a desire to make money. This is something that many business people can become confused with at some point in their journey. Instead of focusing on business as a way to earn a pretty penny, emotions and feelings are the overriding aspects of starting a business and pushing it into new and exciting territories. You started a business in a specific area because you knew something about it, in other words, you had a passion for it. It’s exactly the same thing when it comes to learning. Look for what sparks your imagination, because it’s these things that you will soak up like a sponge. We can spend years, or decades even, going down the wrong business route, and the reason is, usually, because our priorities weren’t set in stone. No doubt, a desire to make money overtook everything else. So look around you, and see what intrigues you in life, and makes you question why something is the way it is. It’s these instances that will help you to develop your own knowledge and skillset and become, not just a better entrepreneur, but a better person.

We start out in life trying to emulate our heroes. When it comes to developing any sense of knowledge, this is actually a great place to begin. Once you look at your heroes, burrow beneath the surface and see what made them tick, you can integrate this knowledge into your own practices. Developing your own self-education can be done in so many different ways, but in order for it to be effective; you have to overcome your own personal barriers within yourself. There’s a wealth of information out there, but it depends on how you take it onboard. This is the key to developing yourself in every aspect of life, not just in business.