5 Must haves EVERY business needs

2020

1= Having a Self–hosted Site- Self-hosted means you have access to all of your website files and the servers where those files are stored. This is a big deal for me because, If I need to delete a plugin, I can delete the plugin without having to call or contact my web host.

2= Mailing list set up with my RSS feed. Doing this means I do need to send out a newsletter about a new blog post.

3= A separate bank account. I think this is a must because YOU need to separate your business from your personal bank account.

4=If you sell physical products you need the following

A printer to print out labels, label paper, and Mailers, labels, and a scale and Tissue Paper to wrap your products if its medium size.

5= A positive attitude. This is important. DONT start a business thinking everything will go wrong. It won’t only business owners who aren’t positive  always end up flailing

Hello 2020

2020

Dang 2020 has so far been a huge “ wow” lmao. This is a short post I like my posts to get to the point  Starting February I will be taking on five web design clients and three branding clients each month so a total of eight each month. I decided this IS best for my business and going forward this is probably the best thing I can do in the fall and winter months. I’ve been busy design-wise this month I’ve started a “sticker shop”  or section I should really call it that for my handmade business Missevilkitty and it’s been fun. Trying to figure out what looks “ cute” but fun and very boho. Miss evil kitty is a handmade boho business. I make malas or “healing bracelets”. The website will be getting a new theme later this year and see you on Instragram and FB.

What your kitty and your business have in common.

2019

I was looking at a picture of one of my old cats and I  looked at his picture for a while. He was an awesome cat and he had a thing with eating has fleas Yeah gross so I had to put him in his carrier and head over to the vet so they could weight he’s cat butt and give us the right dosage for he’s flea meds. Just hearing him meow was heartbreaking and once we got back home I would put the flea meds on him and it was like I started world world three or something. He wouldn’t come near me for a good hour or so and I would just sit at my desk working and he would slowly work his way over and do this “sorry” meow. I would look at him and say ” See I told you it wasn’t going to be bad you punk ass” He would then come over and start purring. Our kitties have a lot of common with our businesses and here are just a few things.

 #1– As they age they learn from their makes but sometimes old habits are king.

#2-Both have a thing about doing their own thing and independence is a huge keyword here.

#3 – Moving tends to disorganizes everything they know.

#4 The Humans in their lives tend to be one or both an introvert or extrovert. The question is which are you.

 How does your business and your kitty or pet have in common?

4 things to get your first year of business

2019

Disclaimer– There are a few affiliates links.-Gabbie

 #1   A landing page or a website.

You need a place to send people to. Keep it simple start with a landing page. Make a basic account on Mail chimp and use their landing page  service which is free and

#2 Making a business PayPal account or account with square or Stripe or all three.

It’s a good idea to have different accounts that way you can give your clients/customers different options on how to pay you.

#3 Create separate financial accounts for you and your business.

Open a bank account for your business. Have all your $$ sent to this account. If you bank at a credit union for your personal banking you can always add an account. My bank allowed me to open another account for $5USD. I have this set up for my Etsy shop.. every sale I make  will be transferred to that account in about 3-5 business days and I can just go in and transfer money. Also doing this for your PayPal business account would be a great idea.

#4 A newsletter to give out freebies.

If you’re new to the game of online business starting an account on mail chimp is a good idea. The basic free account lets you have up too 2000 newsletter sign-ups. That’s not a bad deal for it being free.

 I hope this helps you get your duckies in a row.

3 Things all websites must have.

2019

These three are pretty much common sense but a lot of people it. them.

#1 A Privacy Policy- I think a lot of people tend to forget this. In simple terms, it’s a statement or a legal document and it pretty much sets what your views and also tells your customers you WILL not sell their information.  It’s required by law here in the states. Especially in states like California.When Europe added GDPR people were scrabbling to get something posted on their sites because people were scared if they didn’t have Privacy Policy page up that they could get fined. I highly recommend you google ” Free Privacy Policy template“. And people care about their privacy too.

#2 An about page– This is a no brainer. Tell people who you are. STICK to the basics like:

I’m a nerd and really into the basics. My design style is meant to be a rebel. I’m not big on super girly websites. I want something that grabs your attention and says ” Hi this is me and this is my deal” So again welcome to my spot on the net.

keep it simple don’t overthink it .

#3 FAQ- If your a service-based business this is a GREAT idea to have. If people keep asking you the same questions over an over again. OPen up google docs and  write them there and  copy and paste them to your FAQpage.

I hope these ideas will help you rethink your website and add these pages to your site.

5 misconceptions people have about graphic designers

2019

#1 Changing out things in  IE a logo is easy. It’s NOT easy IF we don’t have the original file it will take time IN  some cases we might have to recreate the logo from scratch. This is where experience is key.

#2 Anyone who learns how to use Photoshop, Illustrator, or InDesign is a designer. Not sure why people think this but its about the basics. NOT everyone who opens up Illustrator is a graphic designer.

# 3. People think a logo is a brand. NOPE. For example, When you walk into Target ( If you’re in the states you know Target is the holy grail for a few American ladies) You know that that cute little dog is part of the brand. The red shirts the crew wears .. yup that’s part of the brand. How the store is laid out .. you guess its part of the brand. It’s the elements that make up the brand. Not just the name.

#4. clients can always explain exactly what they want.

It does happen and sometimes in the past, I got a few of ” You think of something ”  This DOESN’T help us or you. We want to know what you want your brand to look like. Our job as graphic designers is to make your ideas are created into a reality and look professional online.

#5 Graphic design is an easy job.

Being a graphic designer isn’t an easy job at all. 2019 is my 10th year and me still to this day, have to adjust to client requests and sometimes I need to really think how I’m going to tackle the project. Not every client will be easy to work with.