Part 3: Business Hot Takes

Whether you’re a small business owner or the CEO of a large corporation, I guarantee these tips will help you in this new year!

Continuing on with the Business Hot Take series, I bring you my next set of tips to help you as you navigate the great world of business ownership.

Tip 1: Charge for your time and do no underbid.

This is really important when you are a services based entrepreneur. It’s hard to gauge how much time some projects will take so keep some sort of record of past projects. As time goes on, projects will be a lot easier to quote upfront too. When quoting projects, be sure to charge what you need to. Don’t underbid because it’s a high amount and you feel guilty. Your time, skills and services are valuable. There’s nothing worse than working on a project you don’t feel you’re getting paid for – aka you charged for 10 hours but in reality, it will take 25 hours. Keep a list of standard rates and base those off of industry standard. If someone is not willing to pay for your time and services, there are plenty of others who are.

Tip 2: Use a credit card for all business expenses.

This will help tremendously when it comes to taxes. Credit cards have their benefits too! Earn rewards like free gift cards, travel points and other fun stuff! If you’re running a business, you will have several operation expenses. Make those purchases work for you! At tax time, you will have created a record of all expenses which makes things so much easier.

Tip 3: Create a professional profile on LinkedIn or other social media platforms.

Adding contacts on social media is a great way to stay connected and network. It’s also a nice way to showcase your new projects, services and offerings to previous clients. Whether it’s a LinkedIn profile, Instagram profile, Facebook page or all of the above and others, be sure to create a business professional profile for your business.

Tip 4: Find your favorite platform for brainstorming.

I am a huge fan of Pinterest! As you can tell by looking at my profile, I have a lot of curated boards. I am very visual so Pinterest helps me plan and get inspired. It’s an easy-to-scroll social platform that’s great for finding and searching a lot of content. From photography to color palettes, you can find just about anything on Pinterest. Plan for an upcoming ad campaign, photoshoot or rebrand by creating a board and adding your favorite finds to it. If you’re needing to keep it on the low, opt in for a private board where only you can see the saved pins.

I hope this helps! Stay tuned for part 4 and 5 and see the previous articles for even more tips!

Tip 5: Be quick to move away from things that aren’t for you.

Bad clients, weird brand culture, lack of interest – if something doesn’t feel like it’s a good fit for you, as a creative is so important to move on. Why? Being creative means you are mostly dreaming up ideas and then executing. It’s all about head space. If something or someone is interfering with your peace of mind, move on. No client is worth the trouble, and it’s important you set a standard for yourself which is ultimately the standard for your business. Refuse to deal with difficult clients who are late to pay, disrespectful, have weird motives, set up a catty culture, etc etc. There’s plenty of work out there, so never be afraid to lose a client or role if it’s simply not working. Simply moving on from things has been one of the best things I’ve done in my professional career.