Creative Biz Rebellion

In this episode Caroline and Kelly talk all about how they rock instagram and why they love it.  They talk about the different accounts they have and how they use the different accounts they have.  Follow Kelly to see her 100 days of pattern challenge on Instagram . Managing Instagram for Your Business Researching and Planning Your Content:  Kelly talks all about how having a plan makes your posting to instagram is so much less stressful!  How do Caroline and Kelly plan for their CBR post on instagram? This planning method will make your instagram more exciting!  This method will help you also plan your photo session as well!  Caroline and Kelly keeps this plan in their Trello Board too!    Go brainstorm and get started on your Instagram posting plan!  Kelly talks about what great research tools will help you understand when to post on Instagram.  Caroline talks about her favorite tools she uses to help her determine when she needs to make a post.   Squarelovin-Free account for optimal posting times. Iconas

Happy Holidays Rebels! We are so thankful for you and all of our listeners. This is definitely a special Christmas because of all of you and the success of our podcast. We can't wait for what's to come! What do Kelly and Caroline want for Christmas? Reviews! If you have a second please jump over to iTunes and leave us a review! Follow us on instagram (@creativebizrebellion) and interact with us for a shop shout out!!! Join our Facebook Group and celebrate all your wins with us! YOU CAN FIND KELLY ONLINE AT: www.helloworldpaperco.comwww.kellyparkersmith.com www.helloworldstamps.etsy.com www.helloworldpaperco.etsy.com YOU CAN FIND CAROLINE ONLINE AT: www.carolinecreates.comwww.carolineannhull.com www.carolinecreates.etsy.com

What Do Rebels Want for Christmas? Caroline’s Wish List iPad Pro and Pencil A New Postal Scale Microphone Go To A Conference This Year (someone else pay for it!) Family Vacation More Newsletter Subscribers Take the Pattern Class Kelly Took (Pattern Camp By Jessica Swift) A Door to Her Office Fun Things: New pair of Toms Kelly’s Wish List All the Paint and All the Brushes Winsor &  Newton Brush Set Winsor &  Newton Paints - Dream set! Kuretake Watercolor Set - Love this one for everyday!  :) A Fancy Camera Sewing Machine 12 Hour Essential Diffuser For Office Noise Cancelling Bluetooth Headphones Family Vacation Increased Website Traffic The Land of Nod to License one of my Pattern Collections (Target as well) New Floor For the Office Fun Things :(Anything Harry Potter, Socks, Hoodies, Bras) Other Things we Chatted About Kindle Paperwhite This is the newest version of the camera Caroline has - Canon Rebel The Snowball Microphone (This is the one Kelly has) Going to conferences but trying to find th

Hey Rebels!  So today is our first interview episode and we are so excited!  We will be having interviews every once in a while to chat with other business owners who can help you on your journey.  We hope you get tips, tricks, insights, and above all the inspiration you need to keep rocking your product based biz!  Now to introduce our first guest EVER - Tisa Wills from the Onyx Feather!   Hold onto your seats Rebels because you are going to love this! Hi, I’m Tisa the owner and designer behind The Onyx Feather. I have been designing jewelry for the last 16 years. What started out as a personal collection of jewelry designed to suit my desires and the need to be just “a little” different from everyone else quickly became something different. As a designer my designs have evolved into a more personal statement style. I have found many people love this about my designs. They have shared with me “I feel a connection with the pieces I have gotten from The Onyx Feather.” My designs are inspired by circumstance, s

In this episode Caroline and Kelly talk all about celebrating your wins!   Sometimes we fail to do this and put it to the side, celebrate all big and little things!  Caroline and Kelly talk about how important it is to focus on the everyday things and not to get hung up on the big picture.   Owning a business is a marathon not a race -Caroline Don't wait to celebrate, just celebrate yourself -Kelly So What should You Celebrate?! Caroline and Kelly talk about what you should celebrate as a business owner!   Wait???? You are already a business owner…..that is something to celebrate!! From making a to-do list to tracking your numbers for your biz, Caroline and Kelly give great tips and ideas on how to celebrate the positive wins of the ins and outs for your biz.   Kelly talks about what she is planning on doing for celebrating her wins in her business!  Maybe you will do it to!? It doesn't matter what you, do there will be someone who doesn't like you -Kelly How did kelly handle going from a positive win to

Do you ship internationally?  Is the price holding you back?!  In this episode Caroline and Kelly talk all about international shipping! Stop holding back, people will pay to have items they love shipped! Tips to Get Started! Maybe you do ship to a few countries, maybe you are looking to ship to more, or maybe you are leary about shipping to other countries!  Kelly gives so great key tips on how you can start or find ways to make this process easier for you!   Step 1: Start Simple! Ship to those countries where they make it easy!  Start Simple, pick countries that are quick and easy to ship to!  How many countries has Kelly shipped to?!  Check out Etsy’s cool feature to see your stats for shipping to other countries! You’re Global Baby, you’re global -Kelly Step 2: Get Your Pricing Right From the Beginning Kelly Shares great advice, tools and websites to use to help you calculate the cost for shipping to other countries!  Know your ounces when shipping!!!  Kelly also shares how you can set up etsy for shipp

In this mini episode, Caroline and Kelly talk about their favorite social media phone apps!  If you are in need of some great apps for your biz or apps for fun, you will love these!!   Best of all the notifications for these apps do not have to be on!  You can just go in and check messages at your convenience!  What are your favorite phone apps?! Top 10 Fav Phone Apps: VEE- This app is great for recording videos! You can get it from the starbucks app (free until mid November) or purchase in the app store!   It rocked my world -Caroline Etsy App For Sellers -If you have an Etsy shop, this is a must!  Find out what you are missing with this app for etsy sellers, but be careful how you use the app---- remember your boundaries! Shopify App- A must have if you have a Shopify store! The updates for the app are kinda amazing! Trello App-This app is great for group boards, keeping yourself on task and chatting with your clients, especially if they are in different time zones.  Caroline and Kelly use this f

In this Episode Caroline and Kelly talk all about discounts-Should you or should you not give them and if so, what types of discounts should you offer? Caroline and Kelly share their ways of how they use discounts, what types of discount codes they use and who they offer them to! Percentage discounts Caroline and Kelly talk about the different types of percentage discounts they give to their customers!  Etsy shop owners, this can be set up automatically for your customers!  Caroline and Kelly talk about the all the ways they offer discount codes for repeat buyers, new orders, holidays, anniversaries and through newsletters! What's better??? Free Shipping or discounts?? Find out what Kelly has learned about free shipping and why it may be better than offering a discount!  I mean, who doesn’t love free shipping! I think when you offer discounts too much it devalues your product -Caroline For small businesses it is not a good strategy -Caroline Make it a treat, make it special -Kelly Just be careful on how you

In this episode Kelly and Caroline talk about shipping shit for your biz!!! When shipping your products it takes time. Caroline and Kelly talk all about how to figure it out effectively! From finding the right processes to the right materials,  so that it does not cost you time and money in the long run.  Find out what helped streamline Kelly’s process for shipping and the tool she lives by for printing shipping labels! Sometimes my brain needs a break -Kelly The Beginning When first starting out, it can be really freaking scary to try and figure out all your shipping costs and materials you are going to need and how much each item weighs.  Caroline and Kelly talk about how important it is to get your shipping shit down to a well oiled machine! They give great tips on how to start from the very first product you package.  From purchasing a usps scale (highly recommend)  to using spreadsheets, Caroline and Kelly give you all the beginning ins and outs for shipping your shit!!  Be sure you have your shipping

In this episode Caroline and Kelly talk all about how happy customers = repeat buyers!  Learn great tips and tricks that they use to keep their customers happy and coming back to their shop! Great Tips From Kelly & Caroline Kelly & Caroline talk about the great tips they use to keep customers happy! Want your customers to come back, want your product to be so awesome people can’t shut up about?  Follow these great tips Caroline & Kelly offer! Tips for Getting Repeat Customers Canned responses: Kelly and Caroline both include these to help with their response and shop process time!  If you use Etsy they have snippets you can use to respond, highly recommend, and if you have Shopify, they send emails automatically to customers.  If you find  yourself repeatedly typing the same responses over and over, stop, take the time to create a canned response for it! Dump them in a google folder if you have to and create it later! Kelly’s is obsessed with text expander - a new tool for you to set up text you

Caroline and Kelly talk #allthingsholiday part 2: getting yourself ready! Yes, it is only October, but it is never to early to be prepared!  Are you ready to tackle these next crazy holiday shopping months?  No worries!  In this episode Caroline and Kelly will help you get your holiday shit together by giving you great tips for preparing your etsy shop! Take care of your health Caroline and Kelly give great tips and ideas for keeping yourself and your family healthy this holiday season!  You can't run a shop during this busy time and be sick.  So How should you take care of your health?   From eating well, to keeping your same lifestyle routine, and using essential oils…..Caroline and Kelly try #allthethings to stay healthy this holiday season and so should you! I will be immune to all the things -Caroline. Schedule Your Holiday Calendar Caroline and Kelly talk about why it is important to schedule your holiday!  We all know how quickly the holidays approach us, but yet we never seem to be ready!  Well it i

Caroline and Kelly talk #allthingsholiday for getting your shop ready! Yes, it is only October, but it is never to early to be prepared!  Is your shop ready!?  Are you ready?  No worries!  In this episode Caroline and Kelly will help you get your holiday shit together by giving you great tips for preparing your etsy shop! Assuming that your product line is done, Kelly and Caroline give great tips on how to update your online shop by giving it a holiday makeover!  Etsy shop owners be sure to click on the link below to grab the new updated holiday merchandise guide! Etsy-Holiday Merchandising Guide Give Your Listings a Refresh! Caroline and Kelly give great tips to help you get the most out of using tags and give great examples of keywords to use for this holiday season. Setting up collections for the holidays are a great way to help your customers find what they need for their special someone!   Brainstorm, Brainstorm, Go to Etsy and see what's popping up -Caroline Line up Holiday Help How do you tackle the

Caroline and Kelly talk #allthingsblog.  Should you or should you not have a blog?  How important is blogging for your business?  Learn why Kelly is so excited to hear all about how Caroline uses blogging for her business.  Caroline talks about why she fell in love with blogging, how she uses it for her business, and how is planning on changing her blog.  Kelly talks about how she is planning to add blogging to her list of to dos! Key Tips to Blogging Caroline talks about how finding a balance is key.  Caroline gives great tips on how blogs can generate more traffic to your website.  With your blog you can showcase your product in many different ways and show your customers behind the scenes of how you package your product!  Your customers and fans love to see how things happen in your biz! Have a checklist, have a schedule -Caroline Ideas for Blogs What five ideas does Caroline give Kelly for her product based blog? Maybe these ideas will work for your product based business or maybe they will spark some n

Caroline and Kelly talk about how to be a creative rebel and how this is the basis for the entire podcast.  Learn how Caroline and Kelly work together as business owners and what they want this podcast to represent!  Caroline and Kelly talks about how they “never followed the crowd” and how they carve their own way for their business! Becoming Rebels! Break Rules and Take Risks: Kelly talks about how she was always a rule breaker even as a young child and Caroline talks about how she did not become a “rule breaker” until she became a young adult and got tired of following “the norms!”   Being a rule breaker is the leap you need to start your own business and be your own boss!  Are you ready to take leap? I truly believe every entrepreneur is a rebel -Kelly Being a creative rebel is just a little bit cooler -Kelly   How Our Journey Started: Caroline and Kelly talk about how to sparkle and stand out as rebel.   Kelly talks about her new love, creating patterns, and Caroline talks about how her business got st

Having trouble finding boundaries between your life and biz?  Caroline and Kelly talk all about boundaries for your biz and how important they are in your life.  From working from and working with people in boundaries are an important necessity!  Caroline and Kelly talk all things boundaries and how to set them in our lifestyles! Let's Talk Schedule First up, Setting office/shop hours: Do you have office hours, if so how do you set them?  Despite working from home and the need to be working all the time, set hours for yourself and keep them. Customers will expect you to be there for them if no times are set.  Learn how Caroline and Kelly set boundaries for their shops and how they stick to their schedules!  Don't forget to set your shop policies, this is very important for setting boundaries!  Don’t stress out over responding immediately to your customers, it is physically impossible to answer everyone. Learn how Kelly takes care of her etsy convos and why it is working so well! I am not Amazon….I don't have

Are you overwhelmed by all the online tools there are to choose from to help you be more productive and run your shop smoothly?  From productivity tools to shipping tools and everything in between Kelly and Caroline break down what they love and why so that you can save a ton of time trying out #allthethings. Here are our favorite online tools. Trello We had a Trello love fest.Kelly and Caroline talk all things Trello and why it works so well for them.  Keeping everything in one place keeps us on track while organizing our businesses and working on the Creative Biz Rebellion Podcasts. It was love at first sight - Caroline Resources for Learning Trello: Get Trello - Think Creative Collective - Trello for Business CourseDana Malstaf - Boss Mom - Free Trello Course ShipstationShipstation works will many platforms including Shopify, Etsy, and Squarespace.  You can print labels directly from their website and they will even alert you when you can combine orders. Etsy RankAnalyzes your Etsy shop and helps you to

Being a boss and a mom can be a little crazy.  Caroline and Kelly dive into a discussion about the back to school craziness.  Caroline home schools her kids and Kelly’s sons started high school and kindergarten this year.  Between orientations, first days of school, sports practices, carpooling, worrying about what’s for dinner, and home school lessons, how does your business not take a backseat to the looney toons schedule? Having a plan and giving yourself grace is key.  Listen in to find out how Kelly and Caroline handle on the craziness and also what they do when they have an epic mom fail. You have to be very intentional about your time. - Caroline You don’t have to be on 24/7 - Kelly I’m trying to give myself more space. - Kelly You just physically can’t do it all.  - Caroline Sometimes you will not get everything done and your to do list is a mile long, but just give your life a little perspective and realize that the next day isn’t so far away and we promise it will all get done.  Deep breaths. LINK

I don’t want to explode or anything - Caroline Are you overwhelmed by all the blog posts, FB posts, and articles about the various platforms you can use? Etsy, Squarespace, Shopify, Wordpress, maybe a custom build, where do you start?  What is best?  Who should you listen to? Let’s break it down… Starting with perfection is too hard.  Just start with something, somewhere and then learn and grow to where you want to be.  You will make mistakes.  It will be messy, but you will learn and grow along the way. Why do we love Etsy? I wanna be where the people are. - Kelly (In her best Little Mermaid singing voice) Caroline and Kelly chat about why they love Etsy and why it’s a great place to start.  Millions of people flock to Etsy everyday without you doing a thing - it’s up to you to get them to notice you. Sign up for Kelly’s free Etsy Course here:  http://www.helloworldpaperco.com/etsy-seller Everything costs money.  No matter what platform you use or if you build your own site, they all cost money.  You can

Caroline and Kelly had a secret long distance relationship that neither one of them knew about!  They stalked each other from afar and finally started to chat through their mutual love of stationery and running in the same biz circles including Society of Creative Founders and Black Sheep Bride among other biz groups.  They are so excited to chat with you about all these product based business.    And then the planets aligned. - Caroline  Kelly’s Back Story  Kelly was a third grade teacher who started making handmade cards and charity favor cards on Etsy in 2009 as a hobby for friends and family.  She fell in love with wedding stationery and stamps and in 2014 opened another Etsy shop which took off so fast she was able to quit teaching that same year.  Now 10K + sales later and she’s not stopping.  Like ever.    It felt like it was a good idea, but it turned out to be an awesome idea! - Kelly  You can find Kelly online at:  www.helloworldpaperco.com www.kellyparkersmith.com www.helloworldstamps.etsy.com www.