If you’re a product based business, chances are you’re already on Instagram (if you aren’t yet, you should be!). Being a predominantly visual platform, Instagram is a vital business tool for those of us who are makers and creatives.

So you’ve made some beautiful things and you’re ready to take the photos and share them with the world... But what do you actually SAY?

Ultimately you want people to buy your work, but you need to write something other than “I made a thing, go buy it” for every post.

I’m going to let you in on four super-secret golden rules of using Instagram as a maker.

In preparation for working from home once we our babe was here, I did a lot of Googling. I mostly found articles that said stuff like “work while she sleeps!”, “time block your tasks!” or “don’t expect to do anything for at least 4 months!”. I hated all of that advice.

First, let’s get real for a second. I’m freaking napping while she sleeps (especially in the early days) or staring at her or hosting yet another person who has chosen to stop by to meet her. The thought of hammering out a blog post at that time was laughable

It’s no secret that wholesale has my heart. While there is a LOT of work involved, one of the many reasons I love wholesale is that it has the ability to substantially grow your business! 

That said, how do you go from dreaming of big sales to seeing your product on the shelves of your favorite store when a Google search is enough to make your head spin?! Well, m’dear, it’s time to get excited because I’m giving you a step by step guide to setting your wholesale biz up for success! 

So you spent your energy, a shiz load of time, and a whole lotta hope on creating a business with no borders. The idea was that you get to live the dream and work from home, on your own schedule, with just you as boss. You get to take coffee dates, sleep in, work late and have more flexibility than Simone Biles. You also know there’s some wiggle room for when you decide to bring a baby into the mix…..but how do you actually prepare for that?

When I was preparing our business for my own maternity leave people kept saying, “You can’t ever prepare for a baby.” Even though that’s true with regards to your little human, I wholeheartedly disagree when it comes to your business. You don’t have to go into your leave (whether it be for a baby, a sabbatical or time off for health) blind. In fact, you can go into it with a solid blueprint and business manual for how things will run while you’re away.

LeadPages, LeadPages, LeadPages.

Here’s the thing – as a WordPress user, I don’t personally use LeadPages. I choose to build sales pages/landing pages with Beaver Builder and/or Divi (for clients whose sites are built that way), BUT I used LeadPages for a long time and I loved it, just like most of the small business world.

So, what is it?

LeadPages is basically just a system to help you build landing pages and sales pages EASILY.

How I got ranked on the first page of Google within 2 hours of publishing my post! Learn to use Yoast to maximize your SEO; with just a few tweaks you too can rank highly! 

We adore ConvertKit over here at ThinkCreativeCollective, but we always wish we could make it prettier! Our guest blogger for today, Jessica Stansbury, is giving us a quick tip to create customized quote boxes in your ConvertKit emails. Time to enjoy some prettyness in your inbox!  

You just launched your online store and you’re excited about all of the possibilities that having an online business brings, like more money and more freedom. You’ve worked hard to create a really great product and stock your store full of inventory that you know your customers will love. But when your website goes live, all you get is crickets. Here's how to get massive traffic to your online store (even without a marketing budget!). 

Getting to work from home and making your own rules (and breaking them too) is the dream, right? We’re our own bosses (usually for the first time) and the freedom tastes so good. Until you look up and realize you stopped for a “mind break” and ended up catching up on an entire season of Criminal Minds on Netflix. Here's how to lazy-proof your day, plus get 22 time-saving hacks!