2 years of Kaitlyn Ashlee Art & Design
I have been officially self-employed for 2 years this August! So I thought it would be a good time to share a few practical tips and resources I’ve used in my business.
(This is part 2, part 1 includes an overview list of my favorite resources, click here to read)
Now I will go through all of the different areas of a small creative business and make notes where applicable, share free resources, etc.
Admin work
First things first: setting yourself up as a real business, your business name, DBA, EIN
Your WHY / values / goals, etc.
What is your business? What are your goals? (short and long-term)
Who is your ideal client? What specific niche do you offer?
Are you a product or service business? or both? What considerations will that impact?
Do you want this to be a side business or full-time? How are you planning to invest (money and time) to grow it?
What are your core values? Personally and for your business?
DBA: Doing Business As (your business name)
If your business is your full name you don’t have to register I think. I did because I use my middle name instead of last
Depends on your location, but I had to fill out paperwork, pay, and go in person to the office in San Diego
EIN: Employer Identification Number
A free number from the IRS (go through their website, do not pay for this - there are some scam websites)
Will need when you file taxes, can use when you fill out w-4 forms for clients to avoid using your SSN
Decide on the type of business you want to be
Usually people (like me) start as a sole proprietorship (owned and run by one person)
There are 4 main types of business organization: sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation, and Limited Liability Company (LLC)
Here’s a simple graphic to help understand the different types - love this account for fun creative business graphics
Taxes, licenses, contracts, etc.
Depends on your location, industry, need, etc.
Branding:
Hire a branding designer or create this yourself (you can always invest in this upgrade later as well).
The bare minimum branding elements include: name, logo, colors, values
Set up a Google business page
This is easy to do, you don’t have to set your address to your specific address (if you work at home) - mine is just set to my city
You can collect reviews here. I currently have 17 reviews. I also will use some of them (copy and paste) onto my website here (using first name only)
And it’s just another way for people to find you on the internet. Here is mine
Communications
Email ($) : I recommend getting an email address with your domain name (hello@kaitlynashlee.com) - I did it through Google/ squarespace (my web provider)
Zoom (free) to conduct meetings, inquiry calls, screenshare, etc.
Calendly (free version): to set up calls with clients. I limit any new inquiry calls to 15 minutes so I don’t spend too much time on a project before getting paid. They select their time and it syncs with zoom and Google Calendar. You can check out how it looks here
Slack (free version): I love slack for quick, direct, and organized direct messaging.
Set up boundaries: don’t answer clients immediately, especially if it’s not during work hours, set aside separate times to deal with email, inquires, etc. or just do this during your scheduled client work time
File storage
Dropbox for business
Google Drive
(I use both, Dropbox is better for working directly in editable files) but I like shareable google docs and sheets, and the commenting feature for PDFs better on Drive
Workflow / staying organized
Asana (free version)
I’ve been loving this lately to keep track of different clients/ projects that I have, admin to do lists, and even plan out social media posts
I like to create “projects” for different aspects of my business and then view as “boards” to see elements further categorized in there
It’s great having one card per project and then adding subtasks, descriptions, other notes and updates in a thread.
Some of my clients have their own Asana boards that I join as well - its great for larger teams to stay organized and tag contributors
I have an image that shows what the tool looks like >>
Google calendar
I generally track my time via my calendar, planning out my days and making sure I stay within scope for service-based projects.
Google calendar also syncs with Calendly and zoom as I book meetings with clients - they won’t be able to double book or book a meeting during times I have blocked out
Advertising, finding clients, social media, etc.
Etsy
Both a selling platform and a way for your products to be found by a wider audience
Ads are also available starting at $1 per day (you can select one or multiple listings to advertise)
Etsy takes a 5% transaction fee and $0.20 per listing, but it’s free to set up shop. I think they have a premium version, upgrade but I have not used it
I did not take advantage of the Etsy platform at first, but over the past few months I added all the listings that I also have on my site to Etsy, and have gained more traction
I love how easy it is to buy shipping labels, fulfill orders. They offer discounts
I do not have a label printer currently, this is what I use to print labels (found here on my Amazon page)
They also auto- remind your customers to write reviews which is helpful. People can review each item separately now.
One thing that is frustrating is that you can’t put a listing in multiple categories so if I have a listing under “stickers” it can’t also be under “faith” in my shop. Squarespace does allow you to do this.
Have multiple pictures for each listing, and now they are emphasizing videos as well (they have to be at least 5 seconds long)
Email marketing
I use Squarespace. People can sign up on my website and then they are on a list that I can email, I have the basic package, which can send 3 emails per month
I do not have a lot of insight into this type of marketing but it is a good way to announce new products or services, cultivate relationships with existing clients, etc., send direct links and unique codes
Other email providers that small business owners use include Mailchimp and Flodesk
Here is a podcast episode about email marketing
Instagram/ Facebook
I do not have a lot of insight in this area either to be honest ;) Unfortunately, the algorithm constantly changes, there are censorship issues, and it can be hard to grow there. However, some things that help are: being consistent, good quality photos, informative posts (content that people will want to save, check back on later), captions with questions/ asking for feedback to prompt engagement
What I do like most about it - I have actually made a few good friends on the platform via connecting over business, art/creative accounts, faith, and/or politics
I love using the Lightroom app to edit photos for instagram, creating presets makes it quicker/ easier to edit especially if you take photos in similar places.
Canva is also a good platform to get quick design templates for posts or stories
Remember this is primarily a visual search engine not a social media platform
Set up a business account to view analytics, see what pins gain traction
In many ways, it’s better than IG/ FB because you can link directly to your website or Etsy and pins can gain traction months after the fact
It is free, there are tools such as Tailwind to help schedule pins, I have not paid for that yet
You can find templates on Canva as well, pins should be sized 2:3
Keywords are super important here
Upwork
A freelancing site where I find a good number of graphic design / data visualization graphic design clients
There are no fees to set up an account (unless you upgrade), the fees are baked in when you book and bill a client. They take 20% until you make $500 with the client, and 10% after that. They direct deposit every week for amounts over $100.
Companies post project descriptions —> and then you apply via a proposal —> and then they reach out to interview, ask questions, or hire if they are interested —> they hire you via hourly or fixed price —> upwork facilitates the payment —> they give you feedback/ reviews
When you share a proposal you can (should) include a link to your website/ portfolio. So even if they don’t book you, they’ll get eyes on your site and may reach out again in the future.
Art, design, etc.
I use the Adobe creative suite for most of my designs - primarily Adobe Illustrator
I use the Procreate app for lettering on my iPad
Other resources include:
Creative Market: a great tool for buying fonts, and other creative elements
Icon libraries (monthly, yearly subscriptions)
For art supplies, I buy from Amazon, Blick, Michael’s, and more
Other data visualization resources include:
I will be writing a full blog post about data visualization graphic design soon!
client management
I love using Dubsado for this. I already shared info about it in part 1 but will share it here as well:
Click here to get a discount (use code KAITLYNASHLEE20 to get 20% off your first month or year (a better deal ;))
The invoicing feature links with Stripe and PayPal. Their invoices look clean and professional.
The forms are embedded beautifully into my Squarespace site
There are 13 options for building a form, the responses auto-populate a client/project page as well - so all information about a client is easy to find in their dashboard
From the forms, clients select how they found you, which is helpful for analytics, insights
You can categorize by stage in your booking process. sub-categories for leads and projects
You can also add workflows and automations to make your process run efficiently
See my graphic below to get a few sneak peeks into the platform
I few more things to remember with client management:
Contracts
Manage expectations for clients - for timing, your offerings, communication
Be clear about rounds of edits included in the price of your services, timing for responding to requests, and what you do and don’t offer (for example I make it clear that I don’t offer branding services or illustrations for my data visualization clients, so that they don’t expect it from me and so they can provide those elements beforehand or during the project).
Finances
Separate out your personal and business finances immediately (I did not do this at first, but would recommend doing it ASAP to avoid headaches later, for tax purposes, bookkeeping)
Open a business bank account
Get a business credit card
I do not currently pay for any automation or services like Quickbooks, I use Mint (free) to keep track and categorize income and spending and my own spreadsheets and/or hire a bookkeeper or tax person.
Pricing: some things to consider include
Your time
Your experience, expertise, skill
Industry standards
Expenses, supplies, taxes, insurance, retirement, etc.
Payments
I accept payments via:
Credit cards (processed through Stripe)
Etsy (direct deposit for me and credit cards, apple pay, or Paypal for the customer)
Apple pay on my site
PayPal
Bill.com (I use this with some of my business clients who are set up already usually, there are no fees, better for higher priced projects, ongoing work)
Checks (in person, by mail, depending on the situation)
Credit card fees
I’ve learned that you just must accept them ;) It’s all about convenience and smooth and professional processes for your client. I was annoyed and wary about this at first but we must work it into the cost of doing business.
Etsy fees: 5% +
A few notes on money mindset, management, etc.
It’s tempting to jump into everything all at once / invest in things that you don’t need at the outset of your business. I am guilty of doing this for sure, but I’ve also learned that keeping your expenses low is so important so be prudent about what you invest in or automate as your business is starting out and when it grows.
I have not yet hired a bookkeeper, accountant, or tax person - I’m not recommending not to, but depending on your business - see what you can do on your own first, and educate yourself on self-employment taxes (what you can write off, etc.) and then hire out as needed
I set aside 25%-30% for taxes each month, you can also pay quarterly if you’d rather
Next time, i’ll discuss:
Printing & production
Product v. service-focused businesses
Shipping
Website maintenance
Reviews
Other: community and education
Let me know what your thoughts are, questions, personal experiences in business, etc. Thanks!