Creative design studio

“Doubt kills more dreams than failure ever will.” Suzy Kassem Self-doubt is an incredible thing that makes you question every decision you make. It can talk you out of trying new things, meeting new people, and advancing in many aspects of your life. As a small business owner, self-doubt can be the difference between success and failure. What is success actually? Success to many is an end goal with monetary rewards and maybe a little recognition. Many people feel as though no

#Communityovercompetition? In a community where there are so many thousands of individuals showcasing their work, expressing their ideas, and exploring their creativity, there is bound to be some overlap. No, you might not be the first one to have a certain idea. No, you might not be the first person who has ever said that, or done that, or taken that photo. Totally ok, but we need to understand that we must allow ourselves and others the room to explore their own creativity

So here I am, 25 years old. I have a small business, I have three degrees, and I have no idea what I am doing with my life. I have always pushed myself harder than most, and I have always aspired to do more and to be more. When I was younger, I was very ambitious, and that attitude carried into my adult years. Part of this relentless need to be successful or to "find my way" as they say, has led me to question so many things that probably should not have been my concern at th

Today I was getting ready to post a new photo to Instagram, and I thought to myself "wow, this takes a lot of time for one post!" I figured it would be interesting to detail how much actually goes into one post, and how much work it is to maintain a consistent posting schedule on at least one social media platform. How many of us also have Pinterest, Twitter, and Facebook? 🙋🏼 I see you, you hardworking guys and gals. 😉 Step one of this process is thinking up your content.

"The beautiful spring came; and when Nature resumes her loveliness, the human soul is apt to revive also." -Harriet Ann Jacobs 🌷 Spring is just about here, and that means beautiful blooming flowers, bright colors, and spring cleaning! Spring cleaning is a wonderful thing that offers us the chance to reorganize our spaces, embrace our creativity, and find new inspiration. Personally, spring cleaning is one of my favorite things, because I love to change up my style, start new

The last blog post was about gaining real followers. Today, I am going to be discussing something that is quite opposite. This morning I woke up and saw something that upset me a little. The numbers in the images below represent a slight fluctuation in my follower count that happened overnight. Nothing major, and it happens often, sometimes going up and down 20-30 in a matter of minutes. What really bothered me is what I noticed right before this. In the creative community th

When I first joined Instagram for my small business, the first 100 followers were the hardest to get. I worked hard to convince family and friends to follow my page, but with only a few posts it proved to be more challenging than expected. They also did not quite understand what I actually did. To this day, it is still difficult to explain that I make gift boxes or curate unique gifts, or however fancy you want to make it sound. At the end of the day, it is my goal to make pe

It's tough to never be satisfied. When running a small business, most days are spent trying to figure out if it is going to work. Even when you reach a certain level of success, and even if you are making money, you still have those days where you think it could fail at any moment. It is hard to start something from scratch and work so hard everyday to make it grow, and everyday not feeling like you are doing it right, or you are going to be able to to do it for as long as yo

Hello, Goodbye Today I had a thought. Sometimes I am happy as can be, and sometimes I feel like I am losing myself. I have experienced this feeling more so in recent years than now, but it still occasionally creeps in. Although it is easier to recognize at this point, it does not mean that I am immune to it. Today, I considered all of the ways in which you can lose yourself. One, you can lose yourself in loving someone, two, you can lose yourself in caring for your family and

Show your skin a little love, and it will love you back. Having a small business takes up a lot of my time, but one thing that I have to keep a priority is my skin care routine. I have pretty sensitive combination skin with occasional breakouts and my skin reacts to everything! When I stress, it shows on my face. When I eat the wrong foods after late nights of work, my skin reminds me why I shouldn't make that a regular habit. When I am having a week with a significant lack o

Not every day starts inspired. Some days I need a boost of motivation. Sometimes I am little discouraged that day. Sometimes it's an entire week. A week of wondering what am I doing with my life, or is what I am doing working? Being a small business owner is a lot of work. Definitely rewarding and awesome, but still a lot of work! There are good days and bad. There are tears, laughter, and immense joy. ( Sometimes on the same day!) Although these emotions are fleeting, when I

Anxiety. To some, anxiety is a made up condition that's all in your head. To others, it is a feeling that can manifest itself mentally and physically and destroy precious moments in your life. Anxiety takes away your control, challenges your happiness, and overwhelms your thoughts. I had an anxiety attack a few days ago and I am not even sure what caused it. I had just gotten home from a mini vacation and was on the way to pick up my dogs from the vet. Funny thing is, is that

Dear diary, Today was interesting. I cried. The problem is, is that this week, this week has been the best of my life. Wonder why? This week was the best, because this week, I finally felt like a business owner, I finally felt like I had some control, and I felt like things were looking up. This week I received a lot of praise for the things that I have done. The compliments, reviews, and sweet messages affirming that my creativity was well received and people actually enjoy

Cash. Money. Bills. Stacks. Whatever you refer to the green stuff as, we can all agree that society feeds off of it. Society tells us that we need more, that if we have more, we are superior, and that if we have less, we are lesser. I like to apply a lot of my understanding of these topics to my business because that is what I am currently enthralled in. The first thing that people say to me when I tell them what I do, has been weighing on my mind quite a bit lately. First I

Starting your own business is...hard? "Just go for it", they say. Start your own business! Be your own boss! It sounds exhilarating, amazing, ideal, and...entirely nuts and extremely intimidating! ALL AT ONE TIME. Yes that deserved capital letters and the equivalent of yelling on the internet. There is so much that you just don't know when you take that leap of faith and say ok, "I'm going to do this!" First off, you want to make sure all of the legal aspects are taken care o