Magical Postage

Add a little touch of MAGIC to your correspondence with adorable postage stamps by Disney from Zazzle. From holiday designs, weddings & celebrations, birthdays, and your favorite characters - there's something for everyone!

The Hustle Doesn't Sleep

This morning a friend sent me a message on Facebook to ask me what I was up to today. I told her a breakdown of all the tasks I had planned out: working on my e-book, a few client orders, preparing some send outs for my travel clients, adding some finishing touches to a new product line I'm working on, and a little SEO in my shop. She immediately responds back with, "But it's Saturday?" If you're a creative entrepreneur, a small business owner, run a direct sales company, or just have goals you want to achieve, I know you can relate to me when I say, The Work Doesn't End Because It's The Weekend. 

The Low Down On Hashtags

I know we've all seen a hashtag and we probably know someone who uses them to label every.single.thing they do. #perfectlife #livinglife #dranksomecoffee #atesomegrapes #pooped #goingtobed. But what the heck does a hashtag really do? Well, preceding a keyword with a hash character, or pound sign, (#) will identify messages on that keyword. So think of it like an archive of similar posts or pictures.

Branding to Attract Clients and Grow Your Business

We live in a time of rushing. Rushing around, rush shipping, we've become so impatient that we won't order something if it's not guaranteed next day. That mindset carries over into everything; Eating out – what's quickest? Traveling – which route gets me there fastest? Branding – will I have this tomorrow? We're in such a rush that we forget the most important part – quality! Sure you might get the gift you ordered on Amazon next day, but is it really on par with a handmade gift you could have purchased from an Artisan on Etsy? We've subjected ourselves to the rush mentality for so long, maybe we've forgotten that quality is important. People respond to quality; they notice it, they appreciate it, quality is what makes your brand stand out.

The Secret to Success

Recently I was having a chat with a fellow entrepreneur and she brought up a very important topic, "What is the secret to success?" At the time, I couldn't think of an appropriate answer. I went on about my day, but the comment kept popping up in my head; What exactly is the secret to success? What exactly is success? Am I successful? Who is successful? To figure that out, I decided to do my research on success itself.

Marketing Your Business With Pinterest

Social media has become a huge marketing source for many companies, big and small. Celebrities use websites like Twitter to endorse products for companies. Big brands use Facebook to engage with their audience and promote their new products. You can even purchase ads and start paid campaigns to increase your visibility on Facebook & Twitter. But what about Pinterest? This is a site where you can create individual boards and pin relative content within it. It's basically a digital inspiration board. People use Pinterest for everything to weight loss to decorating rooms in their homes. With all the amazing content available, it's no wonder Pinterest has become a go-to resource on what products to buy and what products to avoid.

Recovery Reflection Realization

There are days where I wake up and I feel like I'm moving backwards. Nothing I do seems to push me in the direction I want to be going in. This feeling could explain why I have a planner, six notebooks, and calendars on both my phone and my computer all with to-do lists of things I want/need to accomplish. If left to my own devices I would walk backwards all the time. When I make a plan, it means that I am committed to doing something. Whether there's a chance that I won't finish or that I might fail, commitment is big motivator. I really envy those impulsive people who lived life with no intention. No plans, no lists, no rules. I frequently wish I could be more like them. How freeing a life of spontaneity must be!

Small Business Talk | Lucky Charms

I recently saw someone make the remark that "small businesses just don't work and the ones that do just got LUCKY." Lucky? Luck? Granted I've only been a small business owner for 3 years at this point, but I don't remember being handed any lucky tokens or golden tickets. Willie must have forgotten about me that day. What I do remember about this entire process is a lot of work. I've seen plenty of people start businesses around the same time as I started Fancy Designs and I've seen a pattern. Lack of follow through. People expect to see immediate results and it just doesn't work like that. It's like when you're trying to lose those last 5 lbs. They don't just come off the day you decide to lose them. It takes a lot of work. A LOT OF WORK! If you start a business because you expect to see immediate results, you're living in a fantasy world. Sometimes that happens, but it's just not a realistic way to look at it. You can't expect to take shortcuts, you can't expect to have the same outcome someone else has had, you just have to do your own work, put in the time, and wait patiently.

I'm a contributor for IAWEO and one of the recent topics was "Why did you start your small business?" I started my business to bring a service to people that I didn't think they necessarily were receiving with varying budgets. Atleast that's what I like to tell myself. The day that I jumped head first into launching my business was when I realized that none of the people I expected to be supportive of my goal believed in me. I never once heard, "This is so exciting, I hope this goes well for you." I've learned over the years that if you want to see my full potential, all you have to do is not believe in me. I enjoy proving a nay sayer wrong but more than that, I enjoy proving to myself that I can do anything I set my mind to. I think that is the exact mind frame anyone considering going into business should have.

If you're willing to work hard, believe in yourself, and work EVEN HARDER, things can happen for you. Yes, that's going to mean looking in your bank account and asking yourself if you can survive off Ramen Noodles for the month. It's going to mean staying in to work late when your friends are out having a good time. There are countless sacrifices you are going to have to make, but if it's your true dream to own a business those sacrifices won't even be remembered 2 years down the road. All you'll see is what you've created for yourself.