It's a busy time of the year. So, we're going to make this newsletter short but sweet!
#1- Read below to get a little direction on where to go with your seasonal promotions and to deal with holiday insanity.
#2- Black Friday is almost here! ... Keep a lookout for new graphics and products from Laughingbird Software that'll motivate you and inspire your creativity!
It's obviously simple enough... rrright? Or maybe you're thinking too hard. Or maybe you can come up with more than one answer.
Having your own business often feels like you're doing a puzzle just like this. Your great ideas make you feel bright and cheery and you dream of taking a tropical vacation once you've made enough money!
But, maybe it's been more difficult to achieve your goals than you thought (definitely feeling this way today!).
So, here's one word of advice... "engagement".
Get visitors to engage with you or your offer... without person-to-person interaction, sales will come in slowly and you can forget that vacation!
A brain teaser puzzle like the one below is a super-easy way to engage with your visitors. Because it only requires a short answer and it's actually fun to solve, wayyyy more people will respond than if they're asked to click a link to your site.
Yes, without a doubt, logic puzzles and brain teasers are a great way to get more engagement on social media. If you're in our Facebook group (we'd love to have you join us here), you've likely seen us post them and get tons of responses!
As you can probably guess, Marc is a Photoshop expert. He worked with Photoshop long before I even met him (trust me, that's a super long time... I don't have enough fingers and toes to count the years).
But, let's face it, most of us don't understand Photoshop and/or have no desire to spend the time to learn it and use it. Lucky for me, I can just ask (well, beg) Marc to edit a photo or graphic for me (and begging isn't really any fun either).
Plus, I'd rather save my time and his! Still, I don't want to spend the money to hire someone to do it for me.
Instead, I recently spent my time searching for options. This is how I found the Creatorpreneur Tool of the Week!
September is not too early to start making goals for Holiday season. Holiday decor is already being put up onto the shelves. In order to compete, you should be starting now!
Your first goal should be to make sure you're visible. The tools we're talking about today will help!
Lisa and I have been running the website on WordPress for almost 17 years (!). Everybody knows WordPress, because it's free and it's probably what you use to run your own website.
But over the years, it's caused a ton of headaches for us. Crashed sites due to conflicting plugins, incompatible themes that don't look consistent page to page, lots and lots of plugins that slowed down the site.
It was too much and honestly, I got tired of being an IT guy instead of creating graphics for Laughingbird.
So, after meditating on what to do (...okay, maybe I shouldn't call it meditating, I'll call it 'staring in front of the computer and looking at 12,000 other websites to see what was working), I came across a YouTube video that changed everything! I've included it below.
It helped us jump from WordPress and onto a different platform called:
Laughingbird Software can now sell software AND "Print On Demand" items like customized Wall Art (you can personalize the text and have it packaged and shipped right to your door in a matter of days)!
We can also create customizable t-shirts and hoodies and coffee mugs that YOU as a customer can personalize!
You can create a shop too - and you don't need to store any of the items in a warehouse! They're only printed after your customer orders them.
In my humble opinion, Shopify is SO (so!) much better, easier, and just more fun to use than WordPress... and it opens up a new world of possibilities.
You can decide to start a "print on demand" business on Monday, get your website up and running by Tuesday... and start making sales by the end of the week.
Welcome to another super informative edition of The Creatorpreneurs Newsletter! (If you've missed any back issues - Check them out here. ???? )
Today my friendly neighborhood entrepreneurs, I'd like to talk about a website called "AppSumo.com".
AppSumo was created by well-known entrepreneur Noah Kagan in 2010. The platform has expanded since then and today is well recognized in the marketplace as the “#1 software deal site for entrepreneurs”.
If you’re like Lisa and I ... automating busywork, social media management, SEO craziness, video creation... etc. AppSumo helps us quickly discover really cool products that help grow our business and save us time.
Hop over to AppSumo and check them out.
(if you click my affiliate link, we'll both get $10 for your first new tool!):
Marc, our 3 kids, and I just spent a week in hot, humid Florida visiting family (for the first time in 2 years!). Naturally, we thought we'd get some work done while we were there. But, not surprisingly, we didn't accomplish as much of our to-do list as we planned.
It's hard to get a lot done when you're "on vacation".
The truth is that some businesses find that sales slow down as summer heats up. That's how it is for us... especially as late July and August hit. Businesses need a way to keep moving forward.
So, as we head into higher temperatures and distractions that keep us away from actual work, here are some ways to keep your customers engaged:
Welcome to issue #3 of the Creatorpreneurs Newsletter. (if you've missed past issues, take a look at them here).
Every week, Lisa and I will show you some awesome tools that'll make your online life easier and show you some unique ways to grow your business... with graphics!
This week, I was asked by one of our awesome Laughingbird Creatorpreneurs if The Graphics Creator could ever import Photoshop files. (alas, as of now... no. But it's not impossible one day ????).
I've been writing for a new niche blog that I'm really excited about. I can't wait to share it with you (I'll give you the details soon)!
Now that I'm more focused than ever on writing, I'm digging deep into the world of blogging and learning a ton during my journey. Along with visual content, keyworded content is also essential to blogging!
That's why this newsletter offers up a free tool that'll help you make more of an impact with your writing, whether it's for blogging, creating ads, or website copywriting. And, be sure to watch Marc's video to find out how to create and use visual content on social media!
Developing products or services, advertising, and blog writing are completely separate jobs when it comes to growing your business, aren't they?
As a small business you know that they SHOULD be individual jobs, but yet you're doing several of them or possibly every one of them by yourself (unless you can pay $$$ to hire help)! And, unfortunately, the #1 way to afford to hire help is to get more traffic and more buyers.... total Catch 22!
When you're selling a product or service online, the most important thing is getting people to click on your link and buy what you're offering (this is called "a conversion"). It can be tricky to get people to buy from you when they can't see or touch what you're selling, but with the right approach, you can make it happen.
A while back, I hinted about my new side venture... and mentioned I'd tell you more soon. I've learned so much more since then that I want to share with you.
By sharing, I'm hoping it will inspire you, give you some creative ideas, and help you take action in making things work for your business.
Check it out to see what I've been doing (or perhaps because you're actually interested in electric bikes... Marc and I have so much fun with ours!).
Honestly, I feel as though I've learned a whole new skill set that I can apply to Laughingbird Software and the Creatorpreneurs Academy blog (more to come on this).