There’s no denying that social media came into our lives and completely took over. For both personal and business use, 7 in 10 Americans are on some form of social media platform.

Businesses are turning to social media as their main source of traffic with most solely focusing their marketing efforts on platforms like Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram. But can you blame them? Just take a look at the numbers.

Facebook has 2.8 billion active users every month.

416 million people are using Pinterest each month.

1 billion people are active on Instagram every month.

That’s a LOT of people and a huge pond to swim in that will only continue to grow, but that just means nailing down your social media marketing game is as important as ever. We know how scary that sounds, which is why we want to give you our top 6 tips to boost your social media marketing game for 2021!

We’re no stranger to Instagram Stories, and we’d venture to guess that you might not be either. Even if you aren’t utilizing Stories in the way that you could, they’ve been around for almost 5 years now, and over 500 million people use them each day. (source) Their popularity is only increasing, regardless of the new takeover by Reels. Stories are, you could say, a classic!

They’re the perfect way to connect with your followers on a more personal level than just a static feed post, or really even an IGTV video. Stories are more real-time, with photos and videos posted having usually been taken right there on the spot. The plus of also being able to see your face and mannerisms and hear your voice gives your audience the opportunity to see the face behind the brand, which can be so essential for small businesses.

They hold a great power for business owners to build relationships and trust with their followers. But sometimes, they almost seem like a strange artform that some have perfected and some haven’t, so that’s why we want to share with you 8 ways to use Stories to boost engagement for your business!

Starting a product based business is stressful enough. You have to brainstorm ideas for a product to sell, figure out how to bring it to life, develop a marketing strategy, and basically leave the space left on your calendar wire thin.

More often than not, packaging is the last thing you’ll think about because, let’s face it, it’s simply just a way to deliver the product to the hands of your customers, right? Wrong.

In the world of online transactions, the packaging your product comes in may very well be the only physical interaction your customers have with your business, so it’s important to make it a great one.

The time may come as your business grows to invest in some branded packaging. We’re not talking about when you have your own warehouses across the country and are rolling out hundreds of orders per day. In this day and age, branded and unique packaging can be more affordable than you might think.

Keep reading as we dive into the effects of product packaging in today’s world and how to use it to communicate your brand messaging and impress your customers!

Owning and operating your own business generally means that you end up wearing lots of hats, especially when you haven’t yet formed a team. You’re not only the director of pushing out and creating all the content, but the one who markets it, organizes getting paid, communicates with clients, and so much more.

Needless to say, all of this can be beyond overwhelming, unless you have the tools and systems in place to help you save energy, time, and money. If you know anything about us at all, it’s probably that we’re all about tools and systems. It’s like therapy for us knowing that we have a system for every part of our business.

Today, we want to share our top 10 favorite productivity tools for 2021 and how they impact our business, in hopes that they can help you in your business, too! And, yes, we actually use and love the tools on this list!

In the age of Myers Briggs and the Enneagram, personality types have never been more of a topic of conversation in the online business world than they are now. This increased popularity is leading to more talks about strengths and weaknesses, which we think is absolutely wonderful!

Knowing this information about yourself allows you to learn how to leverage those qualities in the way you do business. Not only that, but you’re also able to find business companions that you fit along with really nicely, which can be especially useful when growing a team.

But in what other ways does your Enneagram affect your life and business?

If there’s anyone that knows a thing or two about launching, it’s us. In the past 5 years we’ve been in business, we’ve launched more times than we can count with a multitude of different products and services as our business transitioned and grew.

During the different seasons of our business, we’ve had big launches, small launches, and everything in between, so we’ve also picked up on how to do it without being so stressed. We think the number one important thing about launching is that it’s fun and simple. Otherwise, who the heck would ever want to launch anything?

So, today, we’re going to share with you a little about our plan for launching simply, and show you our little secret for making launching even easier.

2021 is right around the corner, and last week we talked all about the never-ending cycle of being super super motivated to crush your goals in the new year, and then as the year goes on, momentum starts to fade ever so slowly.

We even talked about the importance of reflecting on your goals the week before and how doing so can help you plan strategically and intentionally, so you aren’t just writing down goals that aren’t realistic or reachable.

Now, what about the actual planning process? At the end of 2019, we tried a new technique that helped us plan for 2020 tremendously, and we’re going to break that down for you today.

The month of December (a.k.a. the month of goal-setting) is one of our favorite times of the year. Nothing fuels us more than to sit down with each other and discuss our aspirations for what we aim to achieve in the new year. For some reason we’re especially fueled this month, probably because we can’t wait to leave behind the chaos that is 2020 (or soon to be was).

However, a struggle for many of our fellow creatives is actually staying motivated all year long. We know the feeling– you’re pumped to crush your goals while you’re planning them, and you still have the ball rolling through Q1, but then.. it slows down.

And it keeps getting slower.. and slower.. and slower until you reflect on your year, realize how shitty it’s been, aim to change that in the next year, get all pumped up again, and the cycle repeats.

So, how do you break the cycle?

With the new year right around the corner, you may already be thinking about all of the things you want to accomplish in 2021. Will this be the year you launch that new product or service? Will this be the year you bring in enough revenue that you can hire a web designer? Will this be the year you reach 6-figures?

It’s so fun and refreshing to list out all of the goals we want to accomplish in the new year. The thing is, cooking up new goals and ideas is easy, but unless you’re reflecting on your past goals, you’ll have a harder time bringing them to fruition, if at all.

We think one of the biggest mistakes you can make in your business is not dedicating recurring time to reflect on what you’ve accomplished (or not) in the past. It’s imperative to look back on previous years before jumping the gun and setting new goals, and here’s why.