I got my paperwork sent into get my business account from my bank. I went in and talked with a banking staff. They gave me the forms. It’s good to have a business account to be able to track all your business expenses and tax purposes. I had to provide a business license and website to show that I’m legit.

I got more of my cards in. I need to get my line and whole sale sheets updated. My black and white cards came in. My stickers came in of my owls. I’m also decided I need to create a packing slip. Etsy auto can set up packing slips for you. It’s just a paper that lets you know what was in the order. I’m going to find out if Shopify or Weebly store can generate it for me.

For bookkeeping I’m looking into Quickbooks and Outright.  Quickbooks is about $7 per month. Back in the day I used it for my home bookkeeping. I’ll probably go with Quickbooks. I got this info off Olivia Haywood and Holly Casto’s Youtube video. I currently use an excel form to track expenses.

I found this info from Youtube from Fuzzy and Birch. She provides a template as well on the MORE section of the video. Scroll down. Has a photoshop template to get a preview of your Instagram as a whole. This was really helpful! Here is a screenshot of what my next 5 posts will look like. It gives you a overall view. I think people think of their feed as 1 post at a time. I think you have to look at it overall. What feeling or look are you communicating to your viewers? Does it communicate your brand? You only have less then 3 seconds on instagram to catch a viewers’ attention. Your photos have to be top notch.

Another tip is archive your stuff that doesn’t look good on instagram. Many of my early photos were dark and had a yellow cast. I archived them so if you need to go back and review your photos you still have them. It looked odd that I had so many bad posts compared to my newer lighter and brighter photos. I didn’t make my instagram feed public until much later. I had tons of not relevant posts. I like cooking and food. I removed those photos. Now there is a lighter/friendly feel. I’m getting better at taking photos. The photo booth I purchased really helped. I work full time so using natural light really doesn’t help me because I’m working during the day. I get home the lighting is just not there.  Here is the photo booth. FYI this is an affiliate link.

 

Just some free tips!

I was doing some more online research for ways to push and post timed messages on instagram. I’ve got a full time job, mom, and wife. My schedule is pretty busy. Then I’m doing this design and stationery business on the side. I found a program called Later.com. You register online and then you download the app on your phone. Then I post in advance for the next week. I like this better then Planoly. I signed up for that as well. The free plan only allows 15 posts per month. That’s not enough. Later allows you to do 30 posts, 50 Tweets, and 30 Pins. That’s much better. It is really easy to use. It pushes your posts through your phone app. Pretty cool stuff.  Here is a link to refer you to the site Later.com.  I do get 10 extra posts if you sign up via that link. I would appreciate it!

Hi All, I just used mailchimp to set up my enewsletter.
Link Cute Critter Stationery.
It will give you updates and behind the scenes info on my process. It’s been fun playing around with Mail Chimp it is a free (up to 2,000 emails). It’s a great way to get in touch with people that are interested in your art/products. It wasn’t too hard to learn. Absolutely no coding required. Drag and drop to design your landing page, and emails. Great product!

Feb. 2018. It seems to me there isn’t anything specific out there to tell you how to get a Georgia Sales and Use taxes. I need one because I want to sell a product online and at craft fairs in the state I live in. I went ahead and signed up with the GA Tax Center first for my personal taxes. Georgia Tax Center I visited their site registered for my personal taxes. I registered for a sole proprietorship. Now if you are already a LLC or Incorporated then this won’t apply to you. After I set up my personal tax login I went ahead and applied for a sole proprietorship. There is a section on the page after you login that says “see more links”.

Then once that clears. You’ll see it under your submission section. Then you go back to “see more links” again. This time you will select 4th from the top. Register a New Tax Account. Follow the directions. You need to know the your North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). There is a search field that you can type in some keywords and I was able to find mine. That was the hardest part. Then I answered the questions. It was pretty easy. Free.

The Sale and Use tax I can pay online with my account on a monthly basis. I have to report even if I don’t make any money at all that month. I’m going to call the GA Tax Center incase I have any issues. Super nice people on the phone. Don’t be afraid to call.

After that I went to my County Business Registration office and applied for my business license. The cost was on a sliding scale. Depends on how much you think you will make per year. They helped me out at the office to fill it out. Then each year I will have to repay the fee.

It had always seemed like a mystery how all this worked. It isn’t too bad. I asked lots of questions from the different offices.

I realized I never did this before because I never really treated my design and illustration work as a real business. I never did a budget. I do a personal budget for my final. I realized after reading and listen to so many vlogs about home businesses that this is really important. I did a google search for business budget templates. Microsoft had a free template for business. Here is the link for the one I’m using.
Office Xcel Business Budget Template I edit it as needed. So far I’ve got a clear idea of what I’m going to be spending for the month and a projection for the year.

I never learned this in college. When I got a lot older I read Dave Ramsey and Jim Collins “A Simple Path to Wealth.” Then I learned how to budget for myself. I realized this is really important especially starting a new business. Who knows maybe they teach it now, but not once did anyone mention learning how to use Quickbooks or Microsoft Office. I just learned when I worked as a graphic designer. Then I never really applied it to my freelance work. Now I am. Hopefully this will mean a better start.

I so wish I could do this. But it is really hard to get the hubby and child to see the worth of it. I enjoyed this youtube video with Joshua Fields. I have a small room in my house that is full of my art and creative making things.

This was super cool! I got featured on #calligrabasics for my Namaste. I love the lettering by the other featured artists.
@airyfairyletters
@kaish_calli
@maddy_letters
It makes me feel like maybe I’m going in the right direction for my work. Lettering has been too much fun and I’m continuing to learn and grow. #namaste #handlettering #lettering #illustration #illustrator

As I get older I’m more patient in most aspects of my life. I find that everything takes time and time saves you money. I recommend using your public library. It seems old fashioned in this day in age when you can purchase a used copy of any book on Amazon. Don’t get me wrong I do make purchases on Amazon. Unless I really want to add to my small library. Space is limited in my home. I really have to want it and know that I’m going to use it beyond a simple read through. Love my public library. Got 2 books on hold. I’m inching up on the hold list. I’m doing research on selling my work.

I decided to get on my computer and do some research about getting my cards printed. I’m going to try and take my illustration work and get cards, stickers, pins, etc made from them. I’m also looking into t-shirts and I’m going to document my findings here on my blog, youtube, instagram, FB.

I found a great article from Dolce Press Blog. To finding different vendors for packaging your cards. I’m looking into Clearbags. The cost is inexpensive. I don’t want the card jackets. I don’t really get that, but I like the flat bags that seal.

I ordered a sample pack of printing from FinerWorks. Costs approx. $20.00 plus $3 for shipping from FinerWorks. They do small runs of cards on fine art papers. It’s interesting you can go to some of the larger printers online like OvernightPrints and get cheaper cards, but the only offer glossy. I’m not a fan of glossy when it comes to artwork on cards. The gloss is distracting for me.

Another company I found was Smartpress, but they really are expensive to me. They cost is probably not that bad if you do a large order. I’m just starting out and don’t want 500 cards sitting in my house collecting dust. You can check them out for yourself.

The photo included in this post is from a photo booth I purchased. An investment I just made I am thrilled about is a portable light photo booth. Gosh good lighting is key and it really improves my work that I’m posting on social media. $145 from Amazon.com It is a little heavier then I thought. Sturdy and it reminds me of those art portfolios that you bought when you were in art school and toted every where. The set up is easy and there was no cast shadows from me! The photo I posted has no color corrections on it. Just needs the yellow taken down a notch in Photoshop. Not bad. The booth is big enough if you wanted you could put a small pet in it.

I will be shooting some set-ups for myself and then I think I might be able to shoot some things I an sell as bundles for other artists that want to use it in photoshop to put their work in it. I’ve been seeing those templates for sale.

I also thought about investing in a Epson Archival Inkjet Printer, laser printer, iPad Pro/pencil. Those things I need to research some more. I’m thrilled that 10 ysr ago I researched this stuff and the prices are much more reasonable these days. More to come. I will post the sample pack that I get from FinerWorks. I got that info from the FB artist group I’m part. I highly recommend anyone trying to get into an art market try and join a FB group to get insight. Very helpful. Nice people too.

I just changed the setting on my blog, so now I should be sharing to my NMillerIllustration Facebook page versus my personal FB page. Sorry for all the double posts folks. Trying to work on that. How annoying!

I am seriously thinking about opening a store on the creative market and also getting some other things in the works for side hustle. I figure it won’t hurt trying to get my art out there. I also just joined the Savannah Artist Association. I also joined a artist FB group and an childrens book author and illustrators FB group.

Seriously looking into trying to do more with my art. I have a wish list of tech art things I would love to invest in. We will see…

I’ve been really lucky to get a chance to judge at the Bulloch Co. Regional Technology Fair. I’ve learned so much about what students are capable of doing with digital technology. This is my 3rd year judging. This year, myself and 2 other judges had the Graphic Design Category. I really wished I could post some of the digital art that I saw today. They were younger students 3rd-8th grade. I teach high school and it really amazed! Truly blessed to participate in the event.