You just got engaged, you’re all over Pinterest, in a frenzy of planning and booking and enjoying the journey and that’s fantastic, but there are a few social media traps you need to be aware of and avoid. Come along!
Read More20 Lessons I Learned About Business (and Life) in 2020
Entrepreneurship is a wise teacher.
Read MoreCairn // vol. 22: february 2020
February was a good slow down. I changed my workflow to include a regular time of housekeeping every month, I learned more about QuickBooks, continued to build relationships with local businesses, and I discovered that the Simpsons character whom I am most like is Lisa.
Read More3 Temptations to Avoid on Social Media
Social media is known for being fake, essentially a collection of people’s highlights and what they’re having for lunch. Studies have shown that people who spend an excessive amount of time on social media are more prone to depression. It’s a great place to go if we want to feel like our insecurities are being exploited. But what if, instead of trying to hide our insecurities, we just got real about them?
Read MoreThe Myth of the Solopreneur
A solopreneur is typically described as an entrepreneur who runs their show on their own. Google defines solopreneur as, “a person who sets up and runs a business on their own.” I understand we’re getting into semantics here, but I think this definition is lacking. I am a solopreneur and I do most of my work in solitude. It becomes very easy to forget that I am not alone in this, and that I didn’t get where I am solely on my own efforts. I am the sole worker at Emma Lee Creative, but don’t call me a self-made woman. I am mostly others-made, and I owe my success to my support network.
Read MoreOnward // 2019 in Review + Goals for 2020
Here we are: the end of a month, a year, a decade. I’ve been running my company for three and a half years. It was a hard year, but I have learned a lot. I guess that typically comes with hard experiences. There were days that shook my confidence and days that showed me just how capable I am of doing this. There were a lot of things that weren’t great about 2019, but I am in a great place because I have a fresh start ahead, and know what I need to do differently.
Read MoreCairn vol. 18 // Feeling Like a Fake
I’ve been a business owner for 3 years. I’ve been a designer on a professional level for 5. I’ve been a photographer for 11 years and doing it professionally for 7. I started my life as a creative in 2006, thirteen years ago. And you know what? I still sometimes feel like I’m not enough. I still feel like a fake and a fraud. This month, all of these feelings came to a head and I was forced to confront them. One of these moments came in the form of a creative breakdown where I realized that I hated what I was shooting, erased the card and went and cried my eyes out in the bathroom till I felt sick.
Read More3 Lies I Believed When I Started My Business
You have your degree, you have some work experience, and you’ve decided to make the leap into self-employment. You went to conferences and networking events and you’ve been cleansed of the 9-to-5 by inspiring speakers, waxing poetic about “the grind,” “the hustle,” and how your product will sell itself if it’s worthy of the market. You’re beaming with starry-eyed confidence, you’ve been inspired by people who have made it, and you’re ready to dive in. There’s only one thing: the inspiring people who’ve been there may have misled you.
Read MoreIn My Bag // Graphic Design Edition
About a year ago, I promised a look inside my bag and what I carry as a graphic designer. Amazingly, I got to how I travel as a freelancer before I got to posting that. What I need as a designer varies from day to day, depending on the project and what I am working on, so this post could really be a short chapter book. To narrow it down, I’m going to cover what I take to a meeting where I will be working at the meeting location afterwards.
Read MoreThe Traveling Freelancer: My Failsafe System for Working On The Go
I’m not one of those freelancers who is always on holiday, but in the past few years, I have gotten to visit some pretty interesting destinations, and see some new places. As a freelancer, I’m always taking my work with me, and this makes traveling with work a little different than traveling with a regular job. I’m going to walk you through how I successfully travel and work from anywhere.
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