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Instagram Giveaway!

Enter our giveaway contest running on Instagram, and you could win a needle felted chickadee or owl family from Woodland Trail Studio!

It’s easy to enter, just follow these steps and cross your fingers:

  1. Follow @kbarlowdesign and @woodland_trail_studio on Instagram
  2. Click “like” on the first post
  3. Comment to let us know if you’d rather win the chickadee family or the owl family
  4. Get Bonus entries one of two ways:
    1. Tag a friend that you think might like to win too (extra entry!)
    2. Sign up for the Resources Email List below to get valuable worksheets and tips for your business (another extra entry!)

Contest is open to Canadian residents (except Quebec). Contest closes July 26, 2016.
See the full list of rules and regulations here »

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Did you know we have services specifically for makers to get their own online shop set up?
learn more »

Coming soon – Services for Makers!

July 5, 2016 update: Services for Makers is now live!

It’s no secret that I love making stuff. I often joke that I collect hobbies, and they’re virtually all craft related. Needle felting, knitting, sewing clothing, making accessories, jewellery, cross-stitch, baking, you name it, I’ll make it.

For years I’ve been wanting to work with crafters/makers, but most of the people I’ve been following on social media over the years are part-time makers, going to shows like One of a Kind, or local craft shows, and they’re not interested in having a completely custom built website for something that’s more “on the side/for fun” than for a full-time business. (If you’re a full time business and want a custom site – I’d love to hear from you!)

I thought about all the makers on Etsy and Amazon that were perhaps ready to move on to having their own self-hosted site to sell their goods, or run both simultaneously. I’ve been using Shopify for years with various clients and have been really happy with the ease of use. I decided it was time to offer a few special packages just for makers that want to move forward with their own site!

I’m so excited to finally get the opportunity to work with fellow crafters, and I can’t wait to browse Instagram and pretend it’s research 😉

If you’re interested in moving to a self-hosted e-commerce site, shoot me an email, or opt-in for the Resources list and stay up to date on when we launch the new packages!

Announcing a new site design!

We’re back! It’s been quite a while since the last post because we’ve been working hard getting the new site designed and coded, and we’re very excited to announce that we’re done! Inevitably there will still be updates, tweaks and testing over the next few weeks, but this was long overdue and it feels great to have it live.

The process of doing your own branding and design is always harder than doing one for a client, where you’re better able to look at it from an objective point of view. Making small updates and design tweaks over and over… and over… doesn’t help, but in the end, we’re really happy with how the site turned out, and the new features that we’re including – namely the Resources section! Right now it’s still “coming soon” as we write up the new content, but there’s still lots of great stuff on the blog, and this section should be finished in the next couple of months. For first dibs on all the resources, opt-in for the Resources Newsletter and get them delivered right to your inbox!

The focus of the new site will be more on providing visitors with the resources to ask themselves the right questions about their business so they can continue to improve it for their target market and see better conversions and greater success. Take advantage of the worksheets, checklists and tips and make sure to apply those insights to your own site and business goals!

FITC and the Definition of Insanity.

FITC and the Definition of Insanity

“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results.”*

While this may not apply to every situation in life, I think it can be applied to (aspects of) running a business pretty well. It is important to be consistent with things to see results, but after a while, when the results have plateaued – it’s probably time to shake things up.

When what used to work has stopped, continuing to do the same things and getting the same results, does become a little bit crazy… and will drive you crazy! A big part of running a business is being able to roll with the punches and change what’s stopped working, even if it’s a minor tweak.

How FITC fits in: FITC is a design and technology conference I’ve had the privilege of being able to attend in the past. One of the hardest parts of running a business is carving out time for learning, and taking the time to assess where tweaks can be made to stay out of that insanity cycle. It’s so easy to get caught up in getting all the client work done and never taking time to work on your own business improvements, skills, and what’s new in technology and trending! I would absolutely love to be able to carve out three days in my schedule for exactly that. Learning, improving, networking, and sparking new ideas!

Tips for avoiding getting stuck in a cycle that’s going nowhere fast:

  • take a look at all aspects of your business; admin/finances, marketing, customer service, and compare where things are to where they were last year – note any changes
  • where things have slowed/paused, list what changes/tweaks you could make to that area that might help, pick the one that seems like the best option
  • make sure that what you’re doing in your business is measurable and trackable so you can start to figure out what the tip offs are so your tweaks and changes are more likely to help the area you’re having trouble with.
    • for example: you’re not seeing any new followers on social media
    • how often have you been posting?
      • tweak/improve: could you post more often?
    • are you posting to/for your ideal client?
      • tweak/improve: do you know who your ideal client is?
    • where else on social media are you posting the same message?
      • tweak/improve: is your ideal client using that type of social media?
  • stick with it! if you aren’t consistent, you won’t get your measurable results!
    • reward yourself for getting it done! (blog post written = second cuppa coffee!)
    • set a time in your calendar every day for that task, make sure it doesn’t take up too much time, or it will be easy to put off (guilty!)
  • find conferences (like FITC) that match your interests, industry and skills that will help you get out of your office, out of your head, meet new people, and mix things up!

 

* This quote is often credited to Albert Einstein, however it’s not been confirmed.

Resetting in the New Year!

resetting-for-new-year

Yes! That’s right, I said New Year, even though we’re more than halfway through the first month!

Here’s the secret – it doesn’t matter what day it is! Any day you take the time to look at your goals and your business, is a great day to do it! Waiting for a specific day isn’t going to do you any favours. Get it done!

What you should be considering:

  • What needs to get updated?
    • If you’re like me, you probably took notes about things to update eventually. These would include things like your contract, your invoices, spreadsheets, fine print on your website – small, quick changes.
  • What did I learn from last year?
    • Good and bad here. While I like to frequently look at what I’m doing, and ask myself if I’m using my time wisely doing things this way, or if maybe there’s another way I should be going about things that could work better… it’s also really important to celebrate the good stuff! Give yourself a high-five for all your successes, and list them out on paper for those days you’re just not feeling it!
  • Business Goals for this year (whenever you start your year!)
    • What are the top three goals/objectives you want to achieve this year?
    • What are the top three biggest problems you’d love to solve with your business?
    • What are your revenue streams for this year? Are they different from last year?
    • How are you finding your potential customers? How would you love to actually find them?
    • Who is your ideal client? Be detailed!
  • Website Goals
    • Which elements on your current site are you really happy or unhappy with?
    • What do you wish your website could accomplish for your business?
    • Make an editorial calendar for blog posts and social media. Include special events like holidays, deadlines for event registrations, anniversaries etc..

For a handy PDF of these questions, plus a few more, sign up now for our monthly resources email, and get the New Year Planner right to your inbox!

If this list only served to stress you out, try looking at each answer and ask yourself “what steps can I take to make this happen, or change this?“. Didn’t help? Don’t be afraid to ask for help from pros that know how to get things done for you! I’m always here for your business, design and website needs – feel free to give me a shout and see how I can help you tackle that list!

FITC 2015: Eating the Frog

Sometimes, even when we know we have stuff we need to get done, even really important things that you should “eat the frog*” on, you still want to procrastinate it. As a business owner, it’s easy to put things off because there no one to tell you to just sit down and do it. (I’ve tried telling myself in a very stern voice to get it done, and usually it’s not very successful unless it’s something I’ve put off and feel guilty about.)

As I’ve mentioned in other posts, sometimes we think things will take longer than they actually will, so here’s a fun solution: eating the frog with owls. Owls eat frogs, (and they’re really cute) so we’ve got 4 owls in different colours. Place owls in a bag, grab your timer, and shake the bag! Let one owl fall out of the bag, or reach in and grab one if you don’t think you’ll try to cheat. Set the timer for 15 minutes, and see which frog-task awaits!

fitc-2015-owls

Finances/Admin: light brown owl
Marketing: light grey owl
Learning: dark grey owl
Creative: dark brown owl
Bonus: coffee cardinal

Each of the owls represents common areas where I might put something off, and having the task in a manageable 15 minute increments resolves the thought that it’s going to take “forever”. Plus, there’s a bonus! The coffee cardinal is your 15 minute break to gather your thoughts, and get ready to buckle down and get stuff done! (ie. a bit of hope that you can still procrastinate)

I’d love to go to FITC Toronto 2015 so I can meet with other business owners, share tips, stories, and learn how others deal with the day in and day out of running a business. I’d love to be able to attend a variety of presentations, to help balance out business vs. creative vs. learning vs. new trends, etc. I’ve met very cool people in the past at different sessions and networking events, and I’d love to reconnect with them this year, and meet new people!

The best advice I have for someone entering the industry, is to prepare for it to constantly change! It’s not easy keeping up with the speed that technology changes, so sometimes we need to make up silly games with needle felted owls to lighten the mood, and help us to figure out where to start when things seem overwhelming. It’ll all get done – 15 minutes at a time 🙂

 

*”eating the frog” is a term used to refer to getting the task you dread most out of the way first

Noted all the thoughts!

I recently wrote about noting every thoughts in a previous post, which inspired me to do a much needed “brain dump” to help organize my current digital to do lists and free my mind.

So here it is! It’s not beautiful, or prioritized (yet), but it’s all out there. I’ll make improvements, maybe get some fun coloured post-it notes and find a way to avoid using painter’s tape (but still protect the wall), but for now, it’s all there! Look! It’s all my “to do” items! Great… um, wow, there’s a lot there, and most of them aren’t going to be quick to complete.

to do lists

The picture is blurry, because that’s how it kind of feels right now. There’s a lot to get done. Some items I’m really excited about, others, not so much. After spending all that time getting the important to do items down, I realized today that I’m missing something really important on the wall – balance. I’m missing the positive, inspirational pieces of paper that remind me that although there’s a ton to do, I can (and will) get it done, and do it to the best of my ability. Pinterest has an infinite amount of this type of stuff, but it’s all digital, and short of taping my iPad to my wall, I need to find some new stuff to remind myself that it’s not all bad, and I’m excited about growing my business so I don’t get lost in the infinite to do items.

Cheesy? Maybe a bit, but there’s always days when you need a cheesy little reminder that you’re awesome and can do anything – besides, cheese is delicious.

Note Every Thought

It’s no secret that I like lists, I make tons of them, everywhere – all the time. Lists make me happy and organized – I even wrote a post about it last year! I categorize my lists, and the prioritize within each category. It helps me to get a better grip on what to tackle first.

Lately I’ve been creating a new kind of list, a list of items that don’t necessarily have a solution/task associated with them. I’m calling it my “Note Every Thought” list. I’ll often have a passing thought like “wouldn’t it be awesome if there were a solution to problem xyz?”, so I write it down, or even a passing thought about an issue that came up in my business, not even necessarily a problem, but a thought that drifted in, but held enough of my attention that it was worth writing down. I may never come up with a solution, one may not exist, but the thought is at least out of my head, and written down to be pondered later. I find that I’m best at coming up with solutions when they’re written down, as if writing it down somehow releases my brain from the task of remembering it to be open to the task of solving it.

I’ve only just started this list in the past couple of weeks, but it’s already helped me to come up with some new ideas for how to better serve my clients and streamline my business practices (more on this in February!). One passing thought that was almost completely separate from a sudden new idea, but somehow by writing it down, I managed to form a connection between the two, and it opened up a new world of possibilities. Despite the name, not every silly little thought will be written down, but when confronted with one that holds some promise of using it as a stepping stone for something bigger/better – I’ll be writing it down and letting my brain work on it while I’m doing other things!

FITC Toronto 2014

FITC 2014: BALANCE

Balance is one of the most important aspects of our lives, and one that I believe keeps me sane.

As a professional that works in design and technology, I tend to have most of my hobbies as “tangible” crafts to balance out the time spent in front of my computer. Sewing, knitting, baking, and most recently, needle felting. (Needle felting uses wool roving and barbed needles to tangle the wool fibres to create shapes). Balance is also important within each aspect of the balanced parts of our lives too – it all trickles down. Within work for example, it can be hard to balance each project with the design, timelines, budget and the list goes on.

The bonus of projects like this one, for the FITC women’s initiative, is that I get full control over where things go! No balance required! I can go from this:

fitc2014-1

to this:

fitc2014-2

and enjoy making things as crazy as I like! … but these are few and far between.

Balance within work can be particularly difficult when you’re in the design and technology industry. Finding the balance between keeping up with design trends, technology that advances seemingly daily, and the day-to-day tasks of managing clients can be tough.

Going to FITC 2014 is so helpful in finding those balances. The variety of presentations available is what makes FITC so ideal. Web dev, creative code, business, and inspirational presentations – it’s the chance to go to learn more about each of those important aspects to keep them balanced and decide which aspects of each are worth pursuing, like new code trends.

I’m hoping that on March 5th, I’ll get an email that means I’ll get to go meet up with a bunch of other cool people that are doing their best to find balance too 🙂

Thanks!

Tackling your “to do” list, and outsmarting procrastination!

One of the best things about being an entrepreneur is being able to work on things on my schedule. I’m so much more productive when I can work on the things that I’m feeling really motivated to at the time. As a business owner, there’s also an awfully big list of things to do that, let’s face it, you never feel like doing. Often they’re important things. Things with time limits that you put off as long as possible, until you finally suck it up and do it, but only because you ran out of time. All that procrastinating can be quite stressful. It’s a huge weight to carry around so many tasks in your head. I always feel better when it’s all written down because I don’t have to keep worrying about what to do first, or if I’m going to forget something – it’s all written down in front of me.

I’ve learned a few tricks to help tackle my to do list over time:
(disclaimer: these work well for me, but you may want to figure out a system that works best for you)

1. Organize your to do lists into categories, and prioritize them with items that are time sensitive or most important at the top. I often use sticky notes cut into strips or small pieces of paper and magnets stuck to the fridge so that I can rearrange the priorities if necessary. (I also colour-code them… but I recognize that I might be a bit crazy about organizing lists.)
Examples:
a) Spring Cleaning To Do List
b) Business Admin To Do List
c) Business Client To Do List
e) Shopping To Do List
e) Hobbies/Fun To Do List (can’t forget fun stuff!)

If we look at the Spring Cleaning List for example, I like to break down the list into individual items. Realistically, I’m not going to be able to do it all in one go, so having smaller chunks helps to show you the progress of what’s left, and decide what to do based on that.

Spring Cleaning To Do List:
Living Room:
– dust
– vacuum
– tidy clutter
Bathroom:
– windex mirror
– clean shower
– clean sink
– clean toilet
– wash floor

By writing out all the items to be done in each room, I can see that the Living Room probably won’t take up as much time as the Bathroom, so if I’m feeling less motivated, I’ll tackle a section that has less items or, pick and choose which items to do individually.

2. Once the lists are organized, take a look at what needs to be done in order of priority and decide what you feel like doing. If you try to force yourself to do something and you’re just not motivated, you won’t do it, or you’ll do a half-rate job at it. Look at your priority item #1. Feel like doing that? No? Ok – let’s move onto item #2. Go through until you find something you wouldn’t mind doing. Sometimes tackling something can make you more motivated to tackle one of the more important items.

3. Recognize that the items that you’re putting off the most are the ones that will take away the most stress and weight off your shoulders. Usually there are only one or two items that really weigh on me on the list. They’re the ones that I put off the longest and dread the most. HOWEVER – I’m only putting off feeling better about it by not doing it. It’s a lesson I know from experience, but it still doesn’t stop me from procrastinating. I even start to try to get stern with myself through Google Calendar reminders.

google-cal

Have I called Bell? Nope. I know what’s coming. I’m going to sit on hold for 20-30 minutes, and I really don’t feel like it, but I need to do it. I’ll do an update of when I actually call Bell – maybe I’ll have had an epiphany about procrastinating after doing it?… ok probably not, but you get my drift. I’ll feel better once it’s done, and that will eventually motivate me into doing it.

4. Part of putting things off is assuming that things are going to take so. much. longer. than they actually will (except that call to Bell). Try adding a time estimate to each item. How long will it take to windex the mirror in the bathroom? Probably less than five minutes. Items can seem more arduous than they really are, so by putting a time estimate on it you can psych yourself up by saying “Ok. It’s going to take me 30 minutes to call Bell, but then it will be done and I’ll feel so much better that the task is done.” or “it will take me 5 minutes to clean that – I can clean for 5 minutes.”

5. Some people give themselves a reward for doing a task. I tried that once with candy. I ate the candy while promising myself I’d do the task. I did not. Doesn’t work for me, but it may work for you. To me it makes it feel as though the task is more negative than it really is by having the reward at the end and makes me want to do it even less. (The reason I included it in the list is because this does work for a lot of people)

6. Be realistic. This is all about prioritizing. What are you really going to accomplish in a day? a week? two weeks? I have a list called “Eventually”. Some of these items have been on the list for two to three years. Clearly, they’re not important or vital, but things I need to do eventually. These are guilt free items. If you’re realistic about what you can actually accomplish, you’re less likely to feel guilty if you don’t manage to complete the tasks when you’ve scheduled them.

7. Scheduling using Google Calendar or a similar calendar system can be helpful if you’re in front of your computer as much as I am. I try to schedule tasks for a time when I’m most likely to actually do it (for example after I’m done work for the day, but not so late in the day that I’m too tired and put it off). Having the reminders show up in my inbox helps to keep the important things fresh in my mind and adds some pressure to get it done.

As I said at the beginning, this type of thing won’t work for everyone, but organizing it in a way that helps you get it out of your head and in a realistic schedule for getting things done can make you feel a lot better. Find out what works for you and start tackling those items! Good luck!