One afternoon you are hanging out with your family. Music is playing in the background and you are all enjoying yourselves. When a Taylor Swift song comes on your adorable daughter starts dancing and singing along. It’s just all too cute so you whip out your phone, take a short video of it, and post […]
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Are you worried about selling on Handmade at Amazon?
There’s been lots of buzz lately over Handmade at Amazon. And almost every Facebook group I’m a part of has a thread about this new service. These threads cover the potential plusses and minuses, but also include a couple myths. I don’t see my role as helping you decide if something is a good or […]
Learning the Ropes: Kate Koeppel
I met Kate Koeppel during my Makeshift Society residency shortly after I launched this site. I loved how she was super stylish, but also a little nerdy. And her line of wood dividers is a perfect reflection of those elements of her personality. Allowing you to get hyper-organized and a little nerdy, without sacrificing style. […]
Are you making this mistake when paying your employees?
No matter how much you wished it were different, you only have 24 hours in a day. And you are juggling at least ten different roles in those 24 hours. You’ve got to: deliver your product/service keep your customers happy find new customers do the bookkeeping feed yourself write your content answer all the never-ending […]
How to restrict how I can use your sewing patterns, legally
I’m a huge knitter. I’ve always got a project going. In fact, right now I’m working on this cowl. I’ve got a shawl going as well, but the pattern is a bit involved and knitting one row seems to take forever, so I needed a break. I knit because it keeps my hands busy. Over […]
How to get permission to use copyrighted material
Grab the “Can I use your copyrighted materials?” email template So you can quickly and easily ask permission to use someone else’s work. Your privacy is important to us. Learn how we protect it here. They told us to do a Google Search and download and print any pictures we wanted to use. And that […]
Learning the Ropes: Rachel Mae Smith
I can’t believe that Rachel Mae Smith of The Crafted Life and I only met in person late this summer. We met when I had the chance to take a joint workshop from her and Lisa Anderson Shaffer. I’ve been following Rachel’s blog for ages and am a big fan of her work. And proof […]
Do you know the answer to these 8 questions?
When I’m wearing my attorney hat, I see the nitty gritty ins and outs of lots of creative businesses. I hear successes, struggles, fears, and triumphs. I know about exciting things before you can share the news on social media. But also hear your frustrations when things go wrong. I’m the keeper of many secrets […]
Learning the Ropes: Brigitte Theriault
When I came up with this series, I knew that I wanted Brigitte Theriault to participate. Brigitte is a 10-year person chef veteran, but she struggles with an issue familiar to many creative service providers: the contract. For many creatives, presenting and negotiating a contract is a roller coaster of emotions. And I knew that […]
How to smoothly teach your clients about copyright
You are super proud of the work you did for a new design client. A couple months after you wrap up, you pop over to their website. You have a new project in the pipeline and so you want to take screenshots of your work in action for your portfolio. When you land on their […]
Are you breaking promises? Stop by creating a privacy policy
I can guess what your reaction will be when I start talking about the need for a privacy policy on your website. It’s usually feigned attention and eye rolling. In fact, when I ask people point-blank why they don’t have one, I usually hear the exact same answer: I don’t need one. This is wrong. You […]
The one change you need to make to your website terms of use
One of the keys to keeping your website visitors happy is to establish rules. These rules tell them what’s okay and what they can expect. You’d be right if you guessed that these rules go by the legal name of “terms of service” or “terms of use.” So you do the hard work, you brainstorm, […]