The foundations of working with color, type, and imagery (3-part video series)
If you’ve been needing to brush up on things like choosing a cohesive color palette, pairing up typefaces, choosing fonts, or how to incorporate photos, illustrations, or patterns into your work, this series is for you. Great for beginners to learn the ropes of design and lay a strong foundation for their style, AND great for seasoned designers to brush up on the basics, think outside the box, and maybe learn a new trick or two.
How the top design apps + programs compare to each other (+ free 20 min design tutorial!)
One of the most common questions I get is asking about how all the different design apps and programs compare to each other — sorry it’s taken me this long to finally write this post! I’ve been wanting to create an infographic (using Adobe InDesign, duh!), and thought this comparison post would be the perfect fit.
The ultimate guide to being your own designer in your online business (+ free design training!)
When you start out as a business owner or freelancer, you tend to wear a lot of hats. You’ve got to be the sales person, the accounting person, the HR person, and a lot of times, the designer. Depending on your skills and abilities, you may decide to pass off that role to another designer down the road, or you may continue to design your own materials once you see that you CAN actually do it yourself, without it looking DIY or homemade.
3 myths about using Adobe InDesign that are totally false (+ free beginner's design guide!)
I see so many people make assumptions and spreading misinformation about learning a program like Adobe InDesign. So today I want to clear up some of those big myths and misunderstandings. You might have heard one of more of these myths around the internet, and you might even be thinking some of them yourself as you’ve read any of my other posts or resources about InDesign.
The ultimate guide to growing your email list with lead magnets (+ free design workshop!)
In this post, we’ll cover what lead magnets are and lotsssss of examples, how to choose the right content for a lead magnet, how to design a lead magnet, and how to deliver your lead magnet to your audience so you can grow an email list that’s ripe with ready-to-buy customers and ready-to-book clients.
3 places to infuse quality into your business (+ free design training)
Today I’m talking all about infusing quality into your business, particularly in three specific areas: your craft, your content, and your conversations. Quality should be infused into everything you do as a business owner – this is just good business to provide quality to your customers — but these three areas are practical places we can start to put it into practice. Is that enough P’s for you? This post is a doozy, so let’s get started.
An intro to using parent pages (formerly master pages) in Adobe InDesign (+ video tutorial)
One of the most powerful parts of using Adobe InDesign is the master pages tool. It’s one of many ways in InDesign to speed up your workflow and keep your design uber consistent. Many of my InDesign students are blown away when they learn how to use this feature, and see how such a simple tool can revolutionize their design process. Check out this beginner's guide to master pages with InDesign tutorial.
5 tools you need to know to learn InDesign (+ free InDesign training!)
I’ll be frank — in Abode InDesign, if you’re not using these 5 tools below, you’re doing it wrong. These are essential to making InDesign really shine, and allowing you to work faster + smarter than any other design program out there. (Looking at you Canva and Photoshop.) Let’s cut the small talk, and get right to the juicy tools that you NEED to be utilizing if you want to really get your money’s worth with InDesign.
How I'm using Etsy promoted listings + ads in my shop
In the last couple years, Etsy has added an advertising component to their platform, allowing shop owners to purchase paid advertising space to show up higher on search results pages. They’re called promoted listings or sometimes, Etsy ads. This can be a controversial topic sometimes – do they work or are they a waste of money? In this post, I'll share my findings after 9 months of experimenting and what strategies I'm using going forward.
5 common Etsy shop myths busted (+ free Etsy training!)
Here’s a common email I get: “Dear Kelsey, I want to start an Etsy shop but I’m afraid of XYZ,” or “I don’t have XYZ in place first,” or “I’ll never stand out in such a saturated market.” These are roadblocks. Hangups, fears, uncertainties that keep you from moving forward with your goal – opening an Etsy shop, and sharing your product with customers who are eager to buy.But good news! These aren’t real, they're myths. They’re fears that have no basis, because they’re flat out not true.
How to practically survive a launch (+ free launch planner!)
Raise your hand if you’ve had a launch, are in the middle of a launch, are planning a launch, or have one on the back burner? I’m gonna guess your hand is up…? Thought so. Launching in online business is being talked about so much these days – things like strategy, and list building, and promotion, and all the things. But what about practical stuff that goes on during your launch period? Like, oh I don’t know, eating food and going to the bathroom?
35 things you can design for your business using Adobe InDesign (+ free InDesign training!)
Small business owners these days wear a lot of hats. We tend to be our own assistants, accountants, advisors, marketers, copywriters, and now even our own designers. When it comes to designing for your business, you’ve probably quickly learned that there are... 1 — there are tons of things that need designing within your business, and, 2 — there are tons of software options to make those designs.
The 10 types of pages to include in your ebook (+ new PDF design training!)
Are you new to the world of digital products? Or, maybe you've been thinking about adding some to your shop but haven't quite figured out what to offer? In either case, I've got one word for you: ebooks. These little babies are the perfect segue into the digital product world. Never created an ebook before, you say? I gotchu. I've designed many-an-ebook in my day. To make it as easy as possible for you, I've compiled this list of pages to include (and helpful tips!) so you're not just staring at a blank InDesign file. Get excited, you're about to create your very first ebook! (And stick around til the end, there's a brand new mini-class to help you learn even more about our good friend, Ebook.)
A mega roundup of platforms for selling digital products + how to choose the right one for you
If you’re creating a digital product to sell online, a big “ freezing” point for you might be choosing what platform to house it all on. I did SO. MUCH. research on this when I was working on creating my first online course. I got ALL the free trials and read ALL the reviews and clicked Next on ALL the Google pages. And lemme tell ya, there are quite a lot of options out there. They each have their pros + cons, and this is certainly not an end-all-be-all list, but I’ve rounded up some of the platforms I think are the best on the market.
7 uncommon how-to’s for Etsy sellers
A guide to open/close launches and evergreen (+ my formula to decide)
I’ve seen this question asked about a thousand times in about a thousand places, so I figured it was time to shoot straight. This topic can have some varying opinions, sometimes controversial about which way is better. But after trying both methods in the last couple years, I’ve discovered it all boils down to a few different factors to consider.
My notecard method to organize content for an online course
Online courses. Er'body's making them. They're a great way to share what you know about specific topics, while earning some passive income in the process. But online courses can be beasts. I've said it before – "passive" income is a bit of a misnomer because it glosses over the amount of work that goes into creating the product in the first place. For each of my online courses, I spent a good 4-6 months creating the content + promotion that went into those product launches.
How to stand out on Etsy when everyone is doing the same thing
Last week, I talked about a few reasons why Etsy is a good option for selling digital products online. But what’s the number one reason people shy away from selling on Etsy (at least from my unofficial research)? I’ve noticed that most people who are hesitant about selling on Etsy are worried that their product, whether physical or digital, will get lost in the shuffle. And by shuffle, I mean the literally millions of other product listings on the site, thousands of which show up every time a customer types something into that search bar.
Why I use Etsy to sell my digital downloads (+ free Etsy how-to guide)
There’s no doubt digital products are on the rise, and a common question among newbies looking to break into this billion dollar industry, is where the heck do you sell them? That question elicits tons of answers, and it all depends on your personal preference, your product type, and your selling style as to which one you should host your products on. When most online entrepreneurs list off the best digital product websites, there’s one that doesn’t get included very often but deserves a spot on the list – Etsy.