What is a flatlay and how it could be useful to your brand.
Read MoreSaying 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.
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 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 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.
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 MoreBlack 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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