Hey you! In this post, I’m sharing 5 things that have made my business a whole lot better and I think you need too. I hope you find this post helpful!
Disclaimer: This post contains some affiliate links. This means if you shop through my link, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting my blog in this way!
Email List
If you’re like me, you probably do a lot of your own advertising and marketing on Instagram or Facebook. What would you do if social media disappeared tomorrow? Or your account got deleted and you lost all your followers and everything you’ve worked for?
Another thing about social media is that it is so saturated with users and is growing daily. You probably follow way too many accounts to possibly keep up with and the same goes for people who follow you. Every time you hit post, you have no control over who will actually see it. This isn’t a “the algorithm hates me” type thing, this is just facts.
When you send an email, however, you can be sure it will be delivered right to the inbox of the person you are sending it to. And because they specifically signed up to be on your list, they’re more likely to open it and read what it says because they want to keep up with you.
These are just a few reasons to have an email list. I always make sure to send announcements about pretty much everything to my email list first, and this is where I always see the most conversions. Focus on growing your list and serving them well, and you will reap the rewards.
I can’t tell you exactly what platform to use, but I have personally tried MailChimp, ConvertKit, and Flodesk. I currently use Flodesk and it is my favorite for cost and aesthetics. If you’d like to try it out, you can use my referral link for a free trial + 50% off your subscription if you decide to stick with it!
Canva
I cannot sing Canva’s praise enough! It’s one of the best resources for any business and I use it daily. You can do a lot with the free version but I have the paid version because it gives you TONS of amazing options and will really set your business apart instead of just using the same freebies everyone else does.
You can use Canva for pretty much anything. Logos, blog graphics, pins, story templates, text posts, Etsy cover photos, YouTube intros and thumbnails, memes, collages, etc. I actually design all my pattern PDF files in Canva. If you have purchased one of my older patterns, I apologize that they aren’t very printer friendly – I was having too much fun LOL. If you’re an influencer and pitching yourself to brands regularly, they have great media kit templates, as well as resumes. Long story short, you can design pretty much anything on Canva without any type of graphic design skills. They also have a large photo library of pictures you can legally use for pins and graphics.
Check out Canva here! They also have a great app that syncs all your designs. I usually design on my laptop and then download things from the app on my phone.
Quickbooks
If you’re selling over $600 a year then you need to be filing taxes for your business. I’m not an expert so I won’t say anything more than that, but Quickbooks Self-Employed has absolutely saved my life the past couple years. You can connect your Etsy, PayPal, Credit Cards, Bank Accounts, etc. and it will keep everything organized for you. If you sign up now, it will even pull everything from the past year to make filing this year easier.
My favorite part about QB is how you can set it up to sort everything into categories like fees, materials, subscriptions, etc. to make doing your deductions quick and easy. You can also easily see how much your spending and what your profit actually is.
When it’s time to file your taxes, you can do it with TurboTax (they’re connected) if you choose, but you don’t have to.
You can try QB for 50% off with my link here!
Business Credit Card
Speaking of taxes and credit cards, signing up for a credit card and designating it for business purchases ONLY has helped me so much.
I know credit cards aren’t for everyone for a number of reasons, and that’s fine. If that’s you, I suggest at least setting up a checking account and debit card for business expenses.
This is 2021 and it’s just not practical to try to keep receipts for everything and sort through personal and business purchases while keeping it all organized. Having one card/account you use for business keeps all this in one place and makes your life a little easier.
Last but not least, you need to be on Pinterest. Pinterest is not just for inspo and pretty pictures. It is an amazing, free search engine. Social media posts die within a few days and not to mention, the only people who might see them are people who follow you. A pin lives on for years and has the potential to come up in searches over and over for millions of people. There’s lots of blog posts and podcasts for helping you up your Pinterest game so for now I’ll leave it to the experts. But I recommend going and creating a few pins right now while you’re thinking about it!
Good lucky! XO, Kalley
Brilliant! This post is a GREAT resource post for a wide range of businesses! Thanks so much Kalley for putting this together in one place. I plan to save & share it with other entrepreneurs who are working on growing their businesses 💁🏻♀️. Thanks again!!
Thank you so much, Dawn!