VLOG: CONSISTENCY > INTENSITY

DOING LESS

Hi ladies! Today I want to talk about an article that I recently came across about saving time and doing less (you can read the full article here).

If you are starting a business, working as a freelance designer, building a brand, etc. you know that it can be completely overwhelming sometimes. I know that, personally, I struggle with answering emails and messages, and there are days when I feel simultaneously exhausted and like I didn't accomplish anything at the same time (not a good feeling!).

That feeling is usually caused by participating in too many time-wasting tasks, like:

- answering every single email and message, even if it's irrelevant
- running every single aspect of your business and being afraid to outsource
- overbooking yourself with meetings and appointments
- not prioritizing your to-do list

I think it's really important to remember, especially when you're first getting started, that you don't have to say yes to every opportunity and collaboration that comes your way (in fact, you shouldn't!). You also don't have to do everything yourself (see my vlog on outsourcing production here).

Your time is so valuable, and it's really important to be intentional about what is necessary, and to be continuously editing your weekday so that your time isn't being wasted.

Check out this article by we work for more detailed tips on doing less (in a good way), and let me know in the comments what time-wasters you will cut out to make your day more efficient.

PS - We Work seems like a genius idea for those of you who are starting a business - they're not in Nashville yet so I can't participate, but check out the website to see if they are in your location!

VLOG: OUTSOURCING PRODUCTION??

WHEN LIFE GETS CRAZY: 4 TIPS

I am not the kind of person who glorifies being busy. I always strive for balance. I enjoy working on things that I love, and then relaxing with the ones that I love: "work hard, play hard", if you will.

So, when I tell you that the past month has been crazy busy, you know that I am not saying that as a humblebrag.

On top of doing a partnership with zulily, taking a weeklong trip to visit family, working on reorganizing my shop with a new company, and having my website redesigned, Wes and I moved to a new place.

That's a lot of stuff for one little month!

Yes, we did move out of our house after having it for less than a year. And yes, we are crazy people (more on that later).

Now that we are all moved into our new place and my workload is calming down a little bit, I thought I would reflect on this crazy month, and let you know what I learned about keeping your head above water when you're totally stressed.

1. Work in "chunks"
When my to-do list is running off of the page, emails are awaiting responses, the dog is barking, and I have errands to run, I have this "fight or flight" response that makes me just want to throw in the towel and lie down! I get paralyzed by being overwhelmed with stress, so it really helps me to break my workload into chunks of time. I will set the timer on my phone for an hour and work non-stop at something for that amount of time, and then I'll take a ten minute break. This helps keep me from going from one thing to the next, checking Facebook, wasting time, etc.

2. Cut back where you can
I hated to do it, but for about a week and a half, I shut down my main shop as well as my Etsy shop. I just couldn't keep up with orders on top of everything else that I had going on. Sometimes, you just have to cut something out and come back to it later. I don't regret it one bit, and I would recommend doing the same if you can!

3. Prioritize
This is obvious, but you have identify the crucial tasks on your list, and tackle the most important things first. When we were selling the house, there were things that had to be done to prepare, and everything else had to be put on hold.

4. Identify what you're in control of
I am an anxious person anyway, so when I'm stressed, it just goes to another level. When my eyes started twitching from the anxiety, I realized I needed to take a stress inventory. It really helps me a lot to look my fears right in the eye, make a mental list about them, and identify which of them are in my control. Sometimes I  worry about things that are completely out of my control, which is such a waste of time! Identifying these fruitless worries helps me to make my peace with them, and then that's one less stressor on the list.

I hope that was helpful for any of you who are stressed out at the moment - I have learned a lot from this crazy month! Oh and if that doesn't work for you, I recommend wine. ;)

Let me know how you deal with stress and being busy in the comments below! xo

HOW TO WORK FROM HOME & STAY PRODUCTIVE

I hope you guys had a great holiday weekend! 

Today, I wanted to share some of my best tips for staying productive when you work from home. The more comfortable you get with working at home, the more tempting it can be to procrastinate and become really unstructured with your days. These are some tips that keep me organized and efficient. 

As always, these are just some things that have worked for me, and I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below. xo!

1. Play music at a low volume.
It is really tempting to keep the tv on "in the background", but tv and videos are super distracting. Stick to music or podcasts, which you can listen to quietly in the background while still keeping focused. Listening to quiet music has actually been found to increase productivity. I like to listen to instrumental music (acoustic guitar type stuff) on Pandora, and I find that it keeps me working hard without getting bored.

2. Step away from the sweat pants.
Chillin' in your sweatpants is part of the "working from home" fantasy for most people, but in my experience, when I have tried to work in sweats or pj pants, I just felt unproductive. Maybe it's a subconscious thing, but I think when you look like a slob, you feel like a slob. It just makes me feel like I want to go to bed! I'm not saying you have to wear a ball gown and full hair and makeup, but even just wearing workout clothes rather than sleep clothes will make a big difference. In other words, wear something that you wouldn't be embarrassed to leave the house in.

3. Create a separate space for working.
I am very lucky that in our current house, I have my own office space, which is ideal. If you don't have the space in your home for your own office, just find some space somewhere that is only for you and your work. In our old apartment, I had a space in the corner of our living room. It's just important to have an area that is just for your supplies, computer, etc. so that you can stay organized.

4. Make a daily schedule.
One of the best things about working from home is that your schedule is so flexible, but I still think that having at least an outline of a schedule is a must. I am always trying to improve and  adapt my schedule to my current situation, and right now I seem to have something that really works for me. My schedule is flexible but still has blocks of time for certain activities. For example, every day, I do my exercising first thing in the morning. That is something about my schedule that never changes. I also leave Tuesday afternoons open for appointments and meetings. I will do a full post about my schedule at a different time, but thinking in terms of blocks of time has really helped me to stay productive.

5. Do things ahead of time.
You will find, as you start working from home, that you can actually get more done during one day than you could at a regular job or an office job. This is because you free up so much time from not having to actually drive to a different location or attending meetings and such all the time. Use this free time to take care of things that are coming up. I am not always the best at this, I'll admit, but I'm working on it. It's really tempting to use your free time for fun, especially since you're already at home and in a comfortable environment, but scheduling a blog post ahead of time or getting a jump start on the next day's orders will just make you feel like a boss. :)

HOW NOT TO START A BUSINESS

1. Compare yourself to a designer / stylist / professional blogger / (insert your own type of business owner) that you see on the Internet / Instagram / etc. ("her life looks so glamorous!") while eating ice cream on your couch.

2. Decide that you want what they have, and you think that you could replicate what they do pretty easily.

3. Spend weeks on Pinterest, analyzing the important stuff, like what your brand should look like and who should design your logo.

4. Start a blog, and write posts that replicate your favorite blogs.

5. Hastily announce on all of your social media that your shop / site / services will be coming soon and that it's going to be amaaaaazing.

6. Get lots of excitement and encouragement from friends and family, which feels awesome. Realize that this whole entrepreneurship thing is going to be a breeze.

7. Waste all day at your real job, dreaming about and Pinterest-ing the glamorous life that you're about to have ("maybe I'll just quit...").

8. Finally start doing the work / planning your product offerings / designing your products ("shoot, this is harder than I thought it would be"). Realize that coming up with something original is tricky. Consider making something verrrry similar to what your glamorous idol sells, using it as...inspiration.

9. Work really hard on the project for a few days, realize that this SUCKS and it's going to be way more work than you originally thought. The excitement and inspiration that you had before is quickly slipping away.

10. Decide that your glamorous idol must have super powers or a team of people or something. Eat ice cream on your couch.

I bet you know someone who has been guilty of this spur-of-the-moment "business planning" method...maybe that person is you? 

We live in an age where everyone feels like they need to do something MAJOR. That, combined with the power of social media, can leave us feeling jealous and desperate to do what we see other people doing.

I'm all about taking chances, believing in yourself, and being brave, but there's a difference between a calculated risk and just jumping off of the cliff with no plan.

Starting a business is a serious decision that requires major financial planning and organizing. It takes a lot of hard work. Like, years of hard work. The super fabulous people that you see wearing super fabulous clothes and living in super fabulous homes have worked really hard for many years before getting there. 

More importantly, trying to replicate something that someone else is already doing is just not the way to go. Ever. Inauthenticity is so obvious.

So before you go starting another fashion blog or opening another Etsy shop, come up with a plan to make yours different from what is already out there, and don't be afraid to grow your project slowly. If you really love what you're doing, you won't be in a rush to "make it big" right away.

DESIGN A LIFE YOU LOVE

I have been doing a lot of thinking lately about where I want to take Charm & Gumption, and how I want my career to look, long-term.

I started thinking about this word "passion". It's something that we're told we're supposed to seek and find and do in order to be happy, and the more that I thought about it, the more I realized that we maybe have been misled about its meaning.

Is your "passion" just another word for something that you love to do? By those standards, I discovered early on that I had a passion for performing. I also have a passion for good design. I am pretty darn passionate about the truffle fries at Burger Up. I am passionate about my dog and my husband. I really love shopping - does that make it my passion?

I think that you can be passionate about a lot of things, and the commonly-given advice to "find your passion" is misleading. I think we need to start thinking less about our action-based passions and more about our life's passion, which is typically more of a strong value in our lives.

For most of my life, I thought that I was meant to be an actress (as embarrassing as that is to type in this blog post) because acting scared and excited me in a strange way that nothing else did. It gave me butterflies and I loved it. I have sort of been pursuing it "on the side" for quite a few years now.

But I realized over time that in order to really pursue it, I would have to either move or be willing to travel constantly, work 12 hour days on set, hundreds of miles away from my husband and family, postpone having children until I got to a certain "level" where I felt I could take some time off (what / when would this be exactly?), and most likely have to partake in romantic scenes with dudes who are not my husband. The life of a working actor is not glamourous, by any means, and only about .000001% of actors are "famous" or "invited-to-the-Oscars" actors. Most are just normal people who work regularly on TV shows, commercials, etc.

It didn't feel right, but it was my "passion"....wasn't it?

See how following an action-based passion can sometimes lead you astray? If your action-based passion doesn't match up with your life's values, then it's not your real passion. Let me give you an example...

If you have the action-based passion: of "cooking", your real passion may be for
"sharing the knowledge of the health benefits of organic, locally sourced food with others"
or it might be
"teaching people the simplicity and power of a home-cooked meal and eating at the table with your family"
or maybe
"creating a delicious masterpiece out of everyday foods with simple tools".

See how the cores of those three passions are different? Just pursuing cooking rather than the core of why you are drawn to cooking may lead you into a life that you aren't happy with.

So what the heck is the point?

I finally narrowed down that my passion isn't "acting" or "freelance graphic design" or even "entrepreneurship". My passion, and the core of what connected those actions, was the fact that they were all career paths that required taking chances, not settling for the status quo, choosing your own path.

That's what I love. I love people who don't do what other people want them to do, just because of social pressure. I love people who choose a scarier path in order to be true to themselves.

That might be the musician living in a studio apartment whose parents wanted him to be a doctor, the CEO who quit her stressful job to pursue teaching yoga full-time, or the 28 year old who was climbing up the corporate ladder when she realized that she wanted to devote her time to being a stay-at-home mom and raising a family. It isn't limited to one specific career or life path.

It's about designing a life you love.

All this to say: that's the direction that you will see Charm & Gumption going. I have a lot of new things planned for this blog and the site, including a new design and some new product offerings (more on that later). You can expect more posts dedicated to helping you design a life you love, and less beauty and fashion related topics...because I love beauty and fashion, but they're not my real passion.

Let me know what you think in the comments, and thanks for reading this super long post! Also, my goal for those of you reading is to start thinking about your real passion vs things that you enjoy doing. Is there an overlap that you could take advantage of in your career? xo!

5 SUMMER READS

I like to make reading a priority in the summertime. It doesn't always happen, but I try to make myself get off of the computer and read a real book out on the porch or before bed.

I'm not really into fiction books, though I have been known to binge-read a teen romance series or three (don't judge!). In general, I prefer reading non-fiction like biographies and advice books. 

This summer, I thought I would make it a goal to read these five books, written by women and for women to help inspire and reach goals...in other words, books for girls with gumption! :)

1. Thrive 

by Arianna Huffington

Summary Excerpt: As more and more people are coming to realize, there is far more to living a truly successful life than just earning a bigger salary and capturing a corner office. Our relentless pursuit of the two traditional metrics of success -- money and power -- has led to an epidemic of burnout and stress-related illnesses, and an erosion in the quality of our relationships, family life, and, ironically, our careers. In being connected to the world 24/7, we're losing our connection to what truly matters. Our current definition of success is, as Thrive shows, literally killing us. We need a new way forward.

My First Impression: This book seems to be about the importance of achieving a balanced life of health, career, and relationships. I love that a woman as successful as she is (co-founder and editor-in-chief at the Huffington Post) is able to keep life in perspective and learn from her past mistakes of focusing too much on career and letting stress control her life. I'm in!

2. The Skinny Confidential 

by Lauryn Evarts 

Summary Excerpt: Not sure how to keep it all together? Well, babes, you’re in luck. With my lifestyle tips and tricks you’ll be able to keep your bod, your love life, your personal style and everything else hot & sexy. Whether you’re trying to tone those bat wings, wanting to develop healthier eating habits, wondering about juice cleanses or curious about how to attain that Victoria’s Secret curl—I got ya covered. It’s all about learning to balance your life. 

My Opinion: I read this one first and finished it pretty quickly. I'm a big fan of the Skinny Confidential Blog (and the fact that Lauryn, who writes the blog, has one of my Hustle prints in her office!), so I couldn't wait to get my hands on this as well. It is a visual book, full of pretty photos, recipes, and lifestyle tips. I absolutely love the style of it, Lauryn's funny, down-to-earth tone, and the practical healthy-living tips that focus on balance rather than extremism. 

3. Do Cool Sh*t

by Miki Agrawal

Summary Excerpt: In Do Cool Sh*t, serial social entrepreneur, angel investor, and all-around cool sh*t–doer Miki Agrawal shows how to start a successful company—from brainstorming to raising money to getting press without any connections—all while having a meaningful life!

My First Impression: I just read the first chapter of this one last night and I can already tell that Miki is a girl after my own heart. I love her gutsiness and her attitude on life. I can tell that this book is going to be super motivational.

4. #GIRLBOSS

by Sophia Amoruso

Summary Excerpt: #GIRLBOSS includes Sophia’s story, yet is infinitely bigger than Sophia. It’s deeply personal yet universal. Filled with brazen wake-up calls (“You are not a special snowflake”), cunning and frank observations (“Failure is your invention”), and behind-the-scenes stories from Nasty Gal’s meteoric rise, #GIRLBOSS covers a lot of ground. It proves that being successful isn’t about how popular you were in high school or where you went to college (if you went to college). Rather, success is about trusting your instincts and following your gut, knowing which rules to follow and which to break.

My First Impression: Wow, Sophia's story is so inspiring! She founded Nasty Gal at the age of 22 for crying out loud! She seems to be all about going against the grain (in a good way) and paving your own path. I can't wait to read this one.

5. Lean In

by Sheryl Sandberg

Summary Excerpt: Sandberg is the chief operating officer of Facebook and is ranked on Fortune’s list of the 50 Most Powerful Women in Business and as one of Time’s 100 Most Influential People in the World. In 2010, she gave an electrifying TEDTalk in which she described how women unintentionally hold themselves back in their careers. Her talk, which became a phenomenon and has been viewed more than two million times, encouraged women to “sit at the table,” seek challenges, take risks, and pursue their goals with gusto.

My First Impression: This isn't a new book, but it's one of those books that is referenced frequently (not to mention it was a #1 bestseller!), so I felt like I needed to see what it was all about. It seems to be all about girl power and female leadership in the workplace, which is a topic that I think we all need to hear more about, so I'm excited to see what she has to say.

Do you like to read more in the summertime? Let me know what you're planning on reading this summer in the comments below! xo

MY EDUCATION & CAREER BACKGROUND / COFFEE CHAT!

A lot of you have asked about my educational background, and wanted to know what jobs I had before opening my own business. I will warn you: I wouldn't look at my story as a road map to get to entrepreneurship. haha - I kind of "took the long way around".

For me, my career has been a process of trial and error; narrowing down what I wanted to do based on trying things and identifying what I definitely didn't want to do. It's not the most efficient way of doing things! But I always find it interesting to hear other people's stories, and if this is of interest to you, grab yourself a cup of coffee and check out my casual "coffee chat" video below!

ONLINE SHOP PACKAGING BASICS, WHAT YOU NEED

When I was getting started with my business, one of the biggest challenges that I ran into was figuring out how to package my orders and where to purchase packaging supplies. I thought that a post covering all of the basics might be helpful for those of you facing the same thing. Let's get started! Here's an idea of what you will need, along with photos of what I use for my shop...

1. Inner Packaging

This is the more "pretty" packaging for your items. If your item was being sold in a brick and mortar store, this is the packaging that it would be shown in. The purpose of this is first of all to make the item look nice and professional, and secondly to protect it a bit as it's sliding around inside of the outer packaging / shipping materials.

Inner Packaging Ideas...

• Prints / Stationery / Flat Paper Items: clear sleeves (I get these ones)
• Jewelry / Accessories: jewelry boxes or small stamped bags
• Stamps / Other Small Items: stamped muslin bags, tissue paper with washi tape or a sticker

2. Extra Protection 
This is the stuff that has no "pretty" factor at all - it's purpose is simply to protect your items.

Extra Protection Ideas...

• Prints / Stationery / Flat Paper Items: Cardboard sheets to keep the item from bending (I get these ones)
• Fragile Items: Bubble wrap, inflatable protective stuff, recycled paper, kraft paper, newspaper, etc.

3. Promotional / Branding Materials 
This usually includes some type of card that portrays your brand and provides links and other information to keep your customer coming back and/or subscribing to your social media. It also might include a logo stamp or stickers for the outside of your packages. I design my own and have them printed by my printing company that I use for all of my shop items but there are lots of places online that can print these types of items for you, or you can contact a local printing company in your area.

Promo Material Ideas...

• Business cards
• Larger cards that tell your story / show photos
• Stickers
• Stamps
• Custom tissue paper
• Custom packing tape

4. Shipping Materials 
This is the outer protection for your package, and what will be arriving at your customers' doors. Depending on the size and shape of what you sell, this might be either a box or a flat mailer. Shipping materials also might include a shipping label printer (I use this one), sticky labels, and the invoice for your order. Rather than including an invoice with prices, I always just include a gift receipt. I get a lot of requests to not include prices in the packaging so since I already send a full receipt via email, I don't include the prices in any of my orders. This is your personal preference.

Shipping Material Ideas...

• Flat mailers (I get these ones)
• Bubble / padded mailers
• Boxes (I like these)
• USPS flat rate boxes and mailers (note: this can be a great option depending on the weight of your items. I recommend weighing the cost of shipping flat rate vs. using your own box or mailer and seeing what works for you.)
• Shipping Label Printer and Sticky Labels (Etsy offers a discount on this one, and it is the one that I use)
• "DO NOT BEND" self-inking stamp - this is a MUST for those of you who sell flat items that cannot be bent. I designed my own - email me if you would like the same one that I have, and I can have one made for you.

My Favorite Places to Buy Packaging Materials:

- Clearbags (Protective sleeves)

- The Boxery (Protective Cardboard Sheets, Boxes, and Mailers)

- USPS (Flat Rate Mailers)

- Amazon (Dymo Labels)

& check out my video on the topic as well!

4 TIPS TO GET NOTICED AND INCREASE TRAFFIC ON ETSY

Today I have a new creative business tip post for you guys based on questions that I have gotten recently regarding how to increase traffic and get noticed on Etsy. When you're first starting out on Etsy, it can feel like your listings are just drowning in a sea of other shops, and that can be really discouraging. Working your butt off only to see that no one is finding you can make you want to give up (DON'T!). These are 4 things that really made a difference for me when I was first getting started (and they still do today!) in terms of Etsy traffic and standing out in the crowd:

ps: to learn how to customize your Facebook page, click here!

1. Establish (& use!) at Least One Social Media Site 

Social media is obviously a very big marketing tool and something that is super prevalent among businesses these days, but you would be surprised how many people still do not have any social media pages established for their business! While it may seem like a lot of work, consistently maintaining at least one social media page really isn't very difficult and it pays off big time! Also, it's better to have only one page (just Facebook, for example) and post on it consistently rather than having 5 different pages that you never use. As far as how much to post, my advice is to try to post 1-3 times per day. This amount of posts keeps people interested and aware of what's going on with your business without being bogged down and annoyed at how much they're seeing you show up on their newsfeed. You can also link up your pages, so that you reach more people on different social media without doing any more work. For example, you can easily post an Instagram photo and send it off to your Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr. The social media that I have found the most useful and relevant for my business: Pinterest, Facebook, and Instagram.

2. Be Mindful of Keywords 

SEO can be really complicated and overwhelming but it really just comes down to keywords. The easiest things to be aware of in terms of keywords are your listing title and your tags. Create these two elements of your listing based on how a potential customer would search for your product. Do not create a listing title that is irrelevant because you think it will be clever because doing this means that no one will find it. If you are selling a blue necklace, be sure that your title includes the words "blue" and "necklace". Seems simple enough, but it doesn't always happen. In terms of tags, create the tag "blue necklace" rather than "blue" and "necklace". You can still separate them if you want to, but people won't find you in a search for "blue necklace" if it isn't tagged in that way (it's the same way that hashtags work on Twitter or Instagram - have you ever seen people who hashtag each word of a phrase? #you're #doing #it #wrong). :)

3. Take Advantage of Etsy Search Ads 

You can learn the ins and outs of Etsy Search Ads here, but basically you set a weekly budget to pay Etsy each week, and then Etsy makes your items show up more often when people are searching. When you're first starting out and making barely any money, it can be difficult to know if that investment will pay off, but let me just tell you...it does! Last year (2013), I spent about $250 on Etsy Search Ads that led to $1400 sales and 150,000 views. Those are the sales and views that were made directly in relation to my search ads. I don't know if it's improper to talk about money like that, but I thought that you guys would find it helpful to know the return that I had so that you can see how much it pays off.

4. Professional Looking Photos (!!!)

Hear ye, hear ye, underline, highlight, and boldface this tip: YOUR PHOTOS MUST LOOK GOOD. They don't need to be done by a professional necessarily (although if you can afford it, great!). They don't even need to be taken on a "professional" camera, but they need to be: 

1. clear

2. light & bright 

3. accurate

I will be doing a separate post on this topic in the future because I know that it can be complicated / overwhelming / stress-inducing / etc. but if you can't do anything fancy, the most important thing is to make sure you have good natural lighting. Please, oh pretty please, do not take photos of your products in your apartment at night time using the lights in your house (CRINGE!). They will look horrible. How do I know this? Because I did it way back when...(cue Mitchell from Modern Family: "SHAAAAAMMMEE!!"). 

Those are the 4 biggest tips that worked for me. I hope that they will help you! Let me know in the comments / on Facebook / Twitter / Instagram / via email / message in a bottle / etc. any questions that you have for me and I will be happy to do more posts for you guys based on your requests. xo!

SELLING ON ETSY: PROS AND CONS

Hey guys! This is a something that I receive a lot of questions about so I thought I would address them in a post. I have been on Etsy for a few years now and overall I love it and would definitely recommend it to those of you who are interested in opening your own creative / design business. However, as with anything, there are some negatives as well.

PROS:

1. It's User Friendly Etsy is super easy to set up and to use. Some other sites that I've used have been pretty tricky and have taken a week or two to set up but with Etsy, you can really have it all set up in as little as one day. Other steps in the process of running your business are easy too, like printing shipping labels, uploading photos, and communicating with customers.

2. Reputation Etsy is a super popular, global website that has a great reputation so you know that you're not going to experience any major problems. It has proven itself over time.

3. Advertising Etsy makes advertising super easy! You just set your weekly budget and they do the rest. It is really effective too and has paid off several times over for me.

4. Community When you join Etsy, you really become a part of a community of buyers and sellers who love to support small businesses and that is really fun! I love how easy it is to communicate with other sellers and with my customers, and I think that Etsy makes the experience feel really personal.

5. International Selling on Etsy means that your products will be in front of a worldwide market, reaching people that would be difficult to reach on your own without that platform.

6. Digital Products Etsy makes it really easy to sell digital products, like my digital prints. You just upload the file, list the product, and then people can buy it and instantly download it. Money comes in - you do nothing! Pretty great.

CONS:

1. Competitive There are a countless amount of shops on Etsy. Getting your listings to stand out from all of the others can be tricky, especially in the beginning.

2. Customization It can be tricky to put your personal stamp on the look of your shop. With the exception of the header on top of the shop, there isn't any other area to customize so shops all tend to look the same. Which brings me to...

3. Brand Recognition People often say "I got ___ from Etsy" rather than mentioning the name of the specific shop. This can make it really difficult to get your name out there, and for people to recognize your brand. I find this to be the biggest negative when it comes to selling on Etsy.

4. Fees Add Up As Your Shop Grows Etsy charges per listing and transaction, which is great when you're first getting started but as your shop grows, it becomes much more shop effective to use an E-Commerce site that charges a flat rate per month.

You can check out this video that I made for more details, and subscribe to my Youtube channel if you haven't yet! :)

Do you sell on Etsy? Do you agree with my pros and cons? I'd love to hear in the comments below! Have a great weekend!

GETTING CONSISTENTLY ORGANIZED

Oh, hi there. It's me...Holly...remember me? If not, it's okay. I haven't blogged in like a trillion years. 

Things with Charm & Gumption have been going really well lately. And when business stuff goes well it means that things are also really busy. So, on my list of things to do, writing a blog post always falls to the end of the list. But I'm going to get better! I promise (I know, I've said that before). 

How you ask? By dealing with my busy-ness the only way I know how: making lots and lots of lists. What I realized my schedule needs is more consistency. Any of you who work from home will know that having a consistent schedule is one of the hardest but most necessary parts of it. And lately, I just haven't been very consistent. 

So yesterday I made a list of all of the things I need to get done each week by category: blogging, order filling, emailing (you'd be shocked at how much time per day I spend sending/reading emails), as well as housework type stuff, like getting the groceries and doing the laundry. I realized that I could work a lot smarter (and not so hard) by spreading out all of these chores and things throughout the week rather than being a sporadic mess who's always running around like a chicken with her head cut off (duh). 

I got out my handy keyboard memo pad and wrote color coded to-do's for each category on each day and just doing that made me feel, like, ten times better. Cause I'm a weirdo like that.

How do you maintain a consistent schedule (or do you)? Any tips?

aristotle quote via Pinterest | keyboard memo pad

DELETING MY EMAIL APP

A few weeks ago, I came upon this blog post by Lara Casey and it really spoke to me. She talks about the importance of setting boundaries for yourself and your time, and the cycle that you can fall into if you don't. I realized I was definitely in that cycle of working inefficiently all the time, rather than working efficiently during the week day and relaxing / spending time with family & friends during the evenings and weekends. 

While I haven't completely made all of the changes she recommends (I still like to post pictures on Instagram over the weekends), the one major change that I made was taking the email app off of my phone. It surprised me how scared I was to do this, but you guys...

this has changed my life.

I was worried that I would miss important things without email, but the truth is that with email on my phone, I was missing everything! Even though a lot of my emails are junk, just hearing that beep go off a million times a day caused this tiny bit of stress that just accumulated. I would check my phone when I was at restaurants with Wes or playing fetch with Chester or trying to design something for the shop. It was just a constant distraction. 

Now, I check my email for the first hour that I'm working in the morning (around 8-9am) and the last hour (around 5-6pm). If I'm waiting for an important email, I may check it from the computer a couple of additional times, but that doesn't cause the same reaction in me as that demanding BEEP on my phone. And clients don't expect instant messages back if you don't set up that expectation. 

Now, when I'm working I'm working. When I'm at the gym, I'm at the gym. When I'm eating dinner with Wes, I'm engaged and focused on the conversation.

I highly recommend taking email off of your phone, even just for one day, and seeing how you react. I bet that, like me, you will feel instantly more relaxed and have an easier time focusing. It's a small change that makes a big difference in your efficiency at work as well as happiness with your family.

PS. 6 Signs your smartphone is stressing you out

ALL ABOUT FACEBOOK APPS

I recently did a post about how to make your Facebook page pretty, which has been really popular with other small business owners who are working on customizing their social media. But I had several people message, comment, and email me with more questions, mostly about Facebook Apps.

What are they? How did you get that little link to your shop and your Pinterest page? I know how to make them pretty, but how do I get one there in the first place? Well, wonder no more, because today's post is all about apps!

Click through for all the info!

HOW TO MAKE YOUR FACEBOOK PAGE PRETTY

Hey guys! I gave the Charm & Gumption Facebook Page a little makeover this morning, and I realized that a lot of you bloggers / small biz owners may wonder how to make these changes to your page (because I didn't know how to do this either at first). Click through for a step-by-step guide!

WORKING FROM HOME / OWNING A BUSINESS

I've been working from home, running my stationery business for almost six months now and I thought it might be a good time to talk about what I've learned so far. I think a lot of people have a certain idea about what it means to work from home and own your own business that isn't completely accurate. I wanted to give you a bit of information about it in case it is something you have considered.

One major plus? Setting up an adorable home office! (via Chic Sprinkles)

THE GOOD

Control: When you own your own business, you are in charge. You can take on clients that you want to take on and turn down clients that aren't a good fit. You decide if you want to expand the business, slow down the growth, change your logo, change your website, change your business direction; it's all in your hands. This is good for control freaks (which I tend to be) or people who always dreaded group projects in school (also me). 

Motivation: When you work for yourself, work becomes so much more important to you. Incoming work directly affects your pay. You want your work to be good because it reflects badly on you as a person and a brand if it isn't. Because of this, you also appreciate work so much more. Sometimes working for a corporation doesn't inspire much motivation, as Peter Gibbons explains because you don't feel that what happens to the company directly affects you so you just do what you have to do to get by and go home (but I realize this isn't the case for everyone).

Flexibility: Not a morning person? You can sleep in and work late into the night if you want. Need to take the dog to the vet today? You don't have to worry about telling anyone. Hate wearing heels and dress suits? Wearing makeup? Showering? You get the idea (though I do recommend showering...). When you work from home, you can work in whatever makes you feel most comfortable and productive. All that matters is that you get the work done.

THE BAD

Stress: With having all of the control comes having all of the pressure. If a customer or client is unhappy, there's no one to pass the blame onto: it's on you. If a deadline has to be met, you've got to get it done no matter what. On top of that, you've got to know the in's and out's of every part of the business. You know that commercial where the business owner has to take his computer to the IT department, and the IT guy is the same guy as the business owner, just dressed differently? And then he goes and checks with finance, and it's him again in a different outfit? When you own a business by yourself, you have to wear many hats. Just because you started a photography business because you enjoy photography, for example, doesn't mean you'll be taking pictures all the time. Actually it means you will cherish the moments that you get to just take pictures but the rest of the time is spent doing finances, marketing, IT, customer service, etc. In other words, it's not just fun.

You can't turn it off: One of the main reasons that it's not for everyone is that some people want to completely leave work when they leave the office (makes sense), but when you own your own business, the work is always there. Sure, you can watch TV at night, but that pile of work isn't going to get any smaller. It's quite literally like having your desk and computer at work be with you all the time because chances are if you work from home, your office is always staring you in the face. There's always more work you could be doing and this makes it hard to relax. The flexibility that I mentioned before is true, but the work still has to get done one way or another.

The "respect" factor: To me, this is probably the biggest negative about working from home and owning a business in a creative field. A lot of people do not take it seriously. In my case, people often think that I'm sitting at home playing on the computer making pretty little cards all day and they say "wow that must be nice". While that is partly true, and I feel so blessed to be able to do something that I have a passion for, there is so much more to it than that (as I previously mentioned) and a lot of people don't consider that part. Expect people to think that you have all the time in the world to go shopping, hang out, or even take a trip just because you have a flexible schedule. Worse than that, expect people to say rude things without realizing it. I have seriously had people say varieties of the following things to me:

(After explaining what I do) "So what do you do all day while Wes is at work?" 

"Now that Holly isn't working..."

"So I know you have your little business, but what do you do with all your time?"

I don't want to get on a soapbox about my work ethic, but I have had a lot of jobs. I've worked in retail, office environments, administration, customer service, corporate offices, restaurants...and I have honestly never worked as hard as I work now. I also make more money now than I made at my previous post college jobs, but some people think that I'm just doing a fun hobby, Real Housewives style, and living off of Wes' income. I know it sounds like I'm ranting, but the point I'm trying to get across is that if you want to do something like what I do in a creative industry, you have to develop a thick skin and realize that some people just aren't going to get it, and that's okay. You have to be happy on your own and lose the need to impress people or get their respect.

THE MAIN IDEA

It's not for everyone: While people like me thrive on the excitement of work and being inspired, some people just want their job to be their job and that's okay! There's nothing wrong with having your job be the thing that makes you money and then having fun when you go home at night or on the weekends. In fact, it's much easier and more secure. I really think that you have to have a certain kind of passionate personality to own your own business. When I was in 2nd grade, I made my own magazines and sold them to kindergartners for 50 cents each. In fourth grade I sold friendship bracelets. From 5th-8th grade I had a babysitting business with a friend of mine that kept me really busy (we put promotional magnets in people's mailboxes and everything). My point is, I think some people just are born with that desire to be their own boss and some people aren't and there's no right or wrong way to be.

I love what I do and I've never been happier. I feel so blessed every day that I get to do something that I'm passionate about. I also feel now that I'm on a career path that can grow into whatever I want it to be. The stress that comes along with it also means that I'm never bored and I love the control and flexibility that I have at work. 

Have you ever thought about starting your own business or working from home? If so, I hope that you found this helpful. Feel free to post any questions below and I'll try my best to answer from the little bit of experience I have! 

Also, 8 Questions to ask before launching a business 

an infographic about working from home

and an inappropriate but hilarious cartoon by the oatmeal

DIY SCRATCH OFF COUPON

I was recently asked to contribute a grab bag item to a local bridal show and I found this tutorial for creating scratch off cards that I used as inspiration. I decided to make my own but with a few changes. 

First I printed and cut several cards with a design that included a 1" circle with 1 of 3 different discounts on it. My one piece of advice for this project: make sure the word or picture that is underneath the scratch off sticker is in a dark color. At first, I printed blue circles with white words and it was not very visible beneath the scratch off sticker.

Then I placed these 1" scratch off circle stickers over the circle in the design that included the discount and code.

 It's as easy as that! The scratch off stickers are not very expensive, and this project is so simple but unique. They would be great for the holidays or for a creative gift project.

TOO MUCH INSPIRATION?

Today I want to talk about being what I call "over inspired". It sounds like a contradiction because being inspired is a good thing, so how can you have too much of it? Here's what I think:

The Internet is an amazing source of inspiration. If you are planning a wedding, building a home, or just trying to figure out what you want to wear today, it doesn't take much time online to find beautiful pictures and ideas to help you decide what to do. Not to mention the addition of Pinterest (which I love, don't get me wrong), which brought Internet inspiration hunting to a whole new level. So, what's the problem? To me, all of this "inspiration" can harm us when we start to feel a few different ways:

1. Every good idea has been done before.

2. My ___(wedding, home, family, closet, etc.) will never be that beautiful.

3. Everything creative I have attempted is terrible compared to this so why even try?

The effects of feeling any of those three ways are obviously negative. A little bit of inspiration to get the creative juices flowing and trigger new ideas is a good thing, but so much that you feel defeated before you even begin is very sad. 

This is something that bothered me for quite a while, especially being a small business owner. I would get what I thought was a good idea, and then search online for it, usually just to make sure it hadn't been done before. There's nothing wrong with a little competitive analysis, but usually I would find something similar that was done in a different way that already had about a million pins on Pinterest and I would think, "Why bother with this idea - this person has already done it so much better than I could."

To me, the saddest example of this is with weddings or family. A wedding, for example, is supposed to be one of the happiest days of your life. I'm sure brides have always had pressure to create a beautiful wedding, but now I wonder how many brides set impossibly high expectations based on pictures they've pinned to their "Dream Wedding" board. A day that could have been fun and uniquely them becomes a disappointment because it's not blog or Pinterest-worthy.

So, how do we keep this from happening? I think the best thing to do is to use inspiration sites like Pinterest sparingly and just for fun. If you have a good idea, just do it! Find out if other people did it later. This way you will carry out the idea your way rather than being influenced by the ideas of others. Also, don't compare yourself to people on these sites! Listen to Teddy (above) - he was a smart guy. A picture of a perfect room probably took hours of staging and styling and lighting to make it look perfect. Who's to say that the gorgeous wedding you have been drooling over ended up being a perfect marriage? Focus on you and do your own thing!

Can you relate to this feeling of being over-inspired?

PS. 13 signs you spend too much time on Pinterest :)

(Photo Source)