My Favorite Tools and Resources for Growing a Creative Business

Making the Leap from Side-Biz to Full Time Artist

DISCLAIMER this post contains links that provides my business with affiliate credits and rewards (at no extra cost to you, of course!)

I had been doing the side-business thing for over four years. Juggling a full time job, painting and running my business at night while also raising my young family. I’m not gonna lie… it was exhausting. But I’m proud to say, as of October 2020, my business is now my full time gig!

The Lighthouse Sketchbook simply started out as a little personal project/adventure - something to keep me busy at night, but once I found my niche in painting custom watercolor house portraits and wedding venue illustrations, everything sort of took off pretty fast. As I continued to take on more and more orders and custom paintings, I had to learn new skills in time management, editing, copywriting, social media, marketing, finance… as a small business owner, you take on EVERYTHING. Thank God for Google, Podcasts, and free (and some paid) online resources!

Through this business journey I have found a true passion for watercolor painting and a desire to push others to pursue their passion too. All you need to do is START. Along the way, I’ve researched, experimented, studied and learned all about tools which would help my business grow and keep me efficient and on task. One of the reasons I was able to take this side business full time was because I used these tools to build a foundation for my business. I also invested in some quality resources and learning opportunities that were well worth the money and helped me make the leap from side-biz to full time.

Trello

Trello is a free online project management app that has literally been a life-saver! I use this tool not only for my business, but to keep me organized in my personal life and in my full time job. The app is so user friendly and great for a highly visual person like me. Trello allows you to create boards and cards to help keep track of items, ideas, resources and information.

Trello is free to use! Sign up here.

Quickbooks Self Employed

I KNOW I’m not the only side business owner who has no idea how to keep track of finances, right!? I’m an artist, I have no interest in numbers and my brain just does not function that way. So, it was pretty much essential for me to get an app that could do the numbers for me. Any income that comes from my business automatically gets tracked in my account and any purchases I make for my business get added and categorized. I do have to manually go in and swipe a few times in the app to help categorize items, but seriously, it’s so easy! When the time comes to do our taxes, I simply upload my information from Quickbooks Self Employed and everything is tracked.

Sign up for Quickbooks Self Employed here and get 50% off!

Tide and Tree Membership

Take a peak at my Instagram page from about a year ago and you’ll notice a difference. No lie, when I first started on Instagram, I thought it was a photo editing app - I had no idea I was posting photos out into the universe (thankfully I was just “editing” photos of my cat). Once I started to get the hang of things and created a page for my business, I realized my photos just never looked professional. I started researching stock photos, but those always seemed so staged and never went with my brand. When I discovered Charlie at Tide and Tree, I felt like her stock photos matched the “brand” I was going for! Once she finally came out with a membership program, I was in! It seems like there are new stock photos to choose from every week! And I love the fresh, natural and organic feel that they give to my brand.

Check out the stock photo membership here.

Canva

You may have heard of Canva by now, but this online design tool has been essential for me. I’m fairly proficient in Adobe Photoshop, but Canva is so user friendly and allows me to quickly and easily create a graphic. I have the basic plan (which is free), but a business plan would allow you to upload your brand colors and fonts which would definitely be helpful. I use Canva to design my Instagram posts, Pinterest pictures and Etsy cover or listing photos. The template dimensions are already created, I simply plug in my photos and text.

Sign up for a free Canva account here.

The A-Z Directory

This resource has been great to give me ideas for products as well as help me connect with fellow creatives. I got hooked on business podcasts a couple years ago (I spent long hours in my car for my day-job = lots of podcast listening) and I discovered the Biz Bash Podcast with Cami and Elizabeth. These two hilarious creative business owners created a directory with a huge list of approved and recommended vendors. Along with the membership, you receive access to their private Facebook group, which has been so helpful for me to reference, ask questions and build relationships with other creative business owners.

Sign up for the A-Z directory here. And use the code LIGHTHOUSE20 for $20 off your first year!

Flodesk

I love a pretty, clean and simple marketing email. And I’ve heard all about how “important it is to build your email list to grow your business” but honestly, I had used Mailchimp and ConstantContact for my day-job and it just… was not easy.. and the emails didn’t look good! I heard about Flodesk from a few other creatives and decided I’d take a look. Oh my gosh, it’s so easy. Literally within a week of using it, I had created an email, built a very small list of recipients and sent out my first email by Christmas.

Check out the beautiful templates and sign up here to get 50% off!

Digitizing Watercolor Course by Simply Jessica Marie

You can only get so far creating custom artwork. Eventually, you’ll cap out on how much you can charge and how many paintings you can do. I realized this when I was booked up 3 months out and was having a hard time keeping up. I wasn’t burnt out yet, but I didn’t want to get to that point. So I invested in this course so I could learn the proper and efficient way to digitize my watercolor artwork. Since taking the course, I have created greeting cards, art prints and digital downloads which has helped increase my revenue. I’m also able to offer high quality, archival prints to my customers and have worked with several wedding stationers to create, digitize and license venue illustrations to be used on custom stationery.

Sign up here and use the code LIGHTHOUSE10 to receive 10% off any of Jessica’s courses!

Business Coaching with Kristyn Burney

This investment was what gave me the confidence to raise my prices, quit my day job and take my business full time. I spent 6 weeks during the summer of 2020 working with Kristyn and a few other women through group business coaching. I don’t have any “real-life” connections with entrepreneurs and I knew I needed a little kick from someone outside my personal life to help make my decision. What drew me to Kristyn initially was her “no-nonsense”, laid back attitude. Warning: she does have a bit of a potty mouth… but don’t let that fool you, she is the kindest person! I knew after chatting on the phone with her for a bit that I needed to work with her. She made me feel so comfortable. And during our coaching, she pushed me to evaluate parts of my business and realize I was in a good position to move forward. The last day of our coaching call, I announced I was quitting my day job.

Check out Kristyn’s website here to see all she has to offer!

These are just a few of the tools that have helped me along the way. I’m still learning and growing each day, so as I find new ways to streamline my business, I’ll be sure to keep sharing!