When people ask when the best time is to get their website updated, my answer is “yesterday.” Your website is your home base, where people find out about you and your services, where they fill out your contact form, schedule discovery calls with you, and book your services. Your website needs to be firing on all cylinders to be doing what it’s supposed to be doing which is make you money.

For all the women wondering if you can have it all… I’m attempting to answer that question today. First off, Happy Mother’s Day. Whether you’re preparing for when you are a mother, or are already chasing toddlers, this post is for you.

Branding your business, or setting up your website is a big undertaking and finding the right person to help you bring your vision to life is no small task. That’s why I’m excited to share several things you can do to make the process easier - AND you can start NOW, rather than down the line when you want your website up next week. 

Ya know those brands that you just adore? Perhaps Starbucks, Target, Magnolia… there are some brands that have built a solid reputation and have raving fans and you can’t help but sing their praises. But how does one build a personal brand that people can fall in love with just as much as those bigger brands? Stick around, I have a roadmap for how you - as the face of your brand and business - can grow a dedicated audience that people are sure to follow along with.

I still remember those crack-of-dawn early mornings at my day job, with steaming coffee in hand at my computer, with one tab open on my work and the other tab open reading the blog of a designer I admired who was doing exactly what I wanted to do: branding and website design while working from home. Yawning, I would think, “I can do this.” But how?

Back in the day, growing your SEO sounded like something you needed to hire experts for. It was that mythical, vague thing that happens only if you have the right support, and enough money.

Have you noticed that one year in an online business is like three years in the outside world? It’s true! If you’re new to the online space that may come as a surprise. But if you’ve been here awhile you’re probably nodding along with me. Things move quickly online and that’s why a year can feel like a reeeaaalllllyyy long time. And if you’re in the online business world for more than five years you can feel ancient! (I know I do! Especially talking about how blogging used to be back in 2016).

Does the idea of reworking your website or sitting down to Canva to create an opt-in seem completely overwhelming? I understand the feeling. Making a huge improvement in our small business behind the scenes can seem so huge and so daunting that what can end up happening is putting your own small business on hold, and deciding you’ll get to it “one day.”

Before we dive in, I think it’s important to address that success is different for everyone. No two people have the same definition of success and it’s really important to get clear on what success is to you. 

Instagram is my favorite social media platform for lots of reasons but mainly because I connect with so many amazing people on the platform. Back when I first started my business in 2016 is also when I started my IG account and some of the people I met back then are still friends to this day!

During the last several years, Squarespace introduced an updated version of their interface, 7.1 and they made so many significant changes, the only way to update your current Squarespace site is to start over from scratch on the new version.

As I sat in my chair behind my iMac in my little home office, a wave of excitement shot through me. I was in charge of my whole day. Not only that, my whole year. 2019 would have so much to teach me, but in this moment, I felt freedom and joy at the expansiveness of the week, the work I would get to do, and the control I had over my life.

After over 3 years in business and talks with dozens if not hundreds of business owners, I’ve found common threads of struggle when it comes to getting the illusive “cohesive brand.”

Confidence plays a major role in how you do business. Confident people can easily talk about the benefits of their service, the investment to working with them and can help clients through their process with ease and certainty.

This month marks 2 years since I started R Artspace. It’s a little crazy to think about. It started as a side-hustle and that’s what it is today but I’m not as worried about it as I was back then. Ok, it comes and goes… but at this moment as I’m typing this, I feel great about it.

Let’s talk marketing, more specifically, let’s talk about your marketing PLAN. If you’re like me, you’re probably thinking, uh, marketing plan?! What’s that?! Let me tell you, I was in the same boat. Just weeks ago I had no idea what a marketing plan was or that you needed one. And I was thinking, Oh crap! Another thing to add to the to-do list! *cue the sobbing emoji.

I'm sure you've seen inspiration boards before. Aren't they fun to look at? But branding is more than pretty pictures, it's about strategy and how to communicate the right message to the ideal audience.