Here’s a little secret: I’ve been self-employed for more than 12 years, but I’ve only been a business owner for two years. Yep, for a full decade I was “just a freelancer”.

My answer to the “what do you do?” question used to be, “I’m a freelance writer”. Not a business owner, not a CEO, not a badass boss babe. I was just a writer who happened to make a pretty good living doing it.

As an online business owner, it’s easy to get wrapped up in all the software, all the apps and all the things in general. But really, sometimes the simplest systems are the best to keep yourself organized. In fact, some of the most heavily relied upon systems are the ones that include the least amount of setup and have the highest return on that time invested. Today, I’m going to share with you a foolproof system for keeping content creation organized using Trello, Google Drive, and Butler for Trello, all of which can be used for little to nothing in the cost department. Perfect for the budget conscious boss, right?

When it comes to drafting up your copy for a Facebook ad, you can’t just one-and-done apply the copywriting techniques you’d use for Google ads, or the copywriting techniques you’d use for a sales page.

Facebook ads are a new bear, and here’s why you need to tackle them a little bit differently!

It pains my little copywriter heart a bit, but, unlike a lot of web marketing, your images actually count for more here: upwards of 75% of your ad’s conversion rate is all thanks to your image, show studies from Consumer Acquisition.

March already feels like decades ago, but so many important things happened that set us up for success in April that it would be a shame to just skip over the nitty gritty details. Inside this income report you will find out exactly what we have been investing in and spending time learning about behind the scenes, as well as our brand new tool to help automate some of the processes.

Why do we do income reports?

In an effort to be as transparent as possible in our own business, we have chosen to make 2017 the year in which we showcase the good, the bad and the ugly. That means we talk about money on months when we bring home the bacon and on months when we’d rather not discuss finances. We hope you learn a LOT from these reports. Replicate and tweak our strategies to use in your own business. Get inspired, learn from our mistakes and grow your own online business.

The day I discovered Kiwi for Gmail was the day I realized there really was actually a better way. If you are anything like me, you are constantly switching between different Gmail accounts, trying to figure out where you saved your last Google doc and just wishing that, for the love of all things bacon flavored, it would stop logging you out when you didn’t ask it to. Kiwi for Gmail is a simple application that allows people to utilize Gmail + the G-Suite right on their desktop… sweet, seriously.

Quizzes are so hot right now. Think of all those quizzes from Buzzfeed that fill your night. Wondering what kind of Starbucks drink you are. Finding out what type of home you should buy based off how you would make a burger. That stuff is deep.

Well, let’s use that quiz fever for good, shall we? Let’s provide value (gasp!) and grow our lists at the same time (double gasp!). Earlier this week we debuted our first quiz, Find Out Your Productivity Spirit Animal. Today, we’re walking you through how to make your very own quiz step-by-step.

Branded patterns are such a great way to make a statement with your visuals.

You can get some gorgeous patterns on Creative Market and Etsy, and Rachel from Haute Chocolate includes some gorgeous options in her monthly Graphics Pack.

Many of my website design clients aren't photographers, but they know they need great photos to make their website design pop. The trick isn't finding stock photography (it's all over the internet), but finding the right stock images and making them work for your website.  Here’s the thing: if you use the wrong images on your website, you’re going to run into problems.

As creatives, we never seem to be short of ideas and things that we want to try. Unfortunately, though, this can often mean that we rush into things too quickly and get caught up in the excitement, only to wonder what in the world we were thinking a little later on. I’ve been there too. I started my first Etsy shop in 2010 and literally just created things I loved and put them online. My shop had everything, from jewellery to leather bags, artwork, scarves, fashion and printed fabric. I sat and waited for the sales to come in, but they didn’t. It was so disappointing to not have any sales and sit wondering what I’d done wrong. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, so I thought I’d give you the benefit of my initial failure and hopefully get you started on the right foot