Saying No: Boundaries in Small Business

I’m sure you’ve heard this saying or seen it floating around the internet. Personally and professionally, I tend to agree with it. I believe it is a powerful statement on the greater concept of setting boundaries. There are many ways we set boundaries in our businesses. Be it contracts, deadlines, or clear communication, working with customers and clients is going to be difficult if you don’t set boundaries, or don’t know where the boundaries are.

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Cairn vol 20. // this is fricken hard.

Welcome to the last Cairn of the year, the last little entrepreneurial trail marker that comes before the new year. As this year wraps up, I find myself wrestling with a few things. I owe these wrestlings to my boyfriend, who is constantly challenging me and keeping me accountable. Just as my dad would, he is challenging me to do the work, and do good work. December has brought a few tough tasks business-wise.

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In 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.

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The 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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Black Sheep // dealing with the naysayers.

When I started my own company, I fully expected to meet resistance. I didn’t expect who it came from. I expected it would come from people who think I’m overpriced, who think I don’t have a real job or that freelancing is just a fancy word for lounging around all day. Some of those lines of thinking were true, but they didn’t come from people in my professional life. They came from people closer to me in my personal life. I’m not writing this to air my dirty laundry about what people have said. My purpose in sharing these things is to offer people a way to deal with the people who push back, because it can be really hard to deal with sometimes.

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