Brittany

A Freelancers Guide to Scheduling Your Year (in GIFS)

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Have you found your self asking… “Is it normal to be so slow right now?” “How in the world can I handle all the work coming in this month?” or maybe “Why does everyone wait till November 15th for their Thanksgiving promo requests?”

We have sooo been there before too! We (Kristen and Brittany) have both built very successful freelancing careers as website designers and marketing pros. We have loads of experience which is why we put together this freak out proof yearly calendar for what to expect from your freelance schedule!

Freelancing has just as much to do with running YOUR business by making sales, doing taxes, and keeping up with your calendar as it does actually completing the work clients hire you to do!

If you are newer to freelancing this yearly guide to freelance is something that we put together after years of tracking when we see traffic and when we see slow times. We also included our best tips to help you go through the slow times and what to focus on when you are waiting for that next big wave of requests. ????

January to February

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You might be tempted to get bored here because its gonna be slllooowwww…. These are good catch up and passion project months. Clients are just getting back from the Holidays and are focused on setting goals for the rest of the year. They are focused on their own business growth and so should you be! If you have resources you want to crank out, this is the time!

March

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This is when things heat up for freelancers. We have fondly dubbed March “Proposal month”! As a freelancer, you should expect to take a lot of meetings and book out your next couple of months in this time frame. Make sure that the forms on your website are working properly, your proposal software is updated with your new pricing and fresh language. Also, Make sure you block off time on your calendar for self-care.

April to June

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This is when you will be working on those projects you booked back in March. make sure you are getting good rest, working out regularly, follow a calendar and establish a healthy daily routine. The last thing you want to deal with is getting sick in the middle of the busy season. Try and avid tons of travel during this time as well, that will come in…

July

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Typically a little slower on the project front. Clients are taking time to go on vacation with family and focused on their personal lives. Plan to go on vacation, project catch-ups, and another “resource bump.” But get your butt back in the office by the last week in July because everyone will be back from vacation and ready-to-go! ????

August to October

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…and work some more. This going to be a busy time of the year for you. Project requests will be coming in and you will need to make sure you are prepared and rested! In October be sure to probe your waitlist and current clients about holidays and end of the year campaigns!

November to December 20th (ish)

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HOLIDAYS Y’ALL! This is when you are getting Holiday Promos complete for clients (and for yourself). Wondering how you can offer a holiday promo as a freelancer? We offer retainer packages at a reduced hourly rate for advanced payment. You can also make sure you have your waitlist gathering inquiries for the next year to come!

Mid-December to the New Year

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Take a break, honey. You deserve it! Take time to reconnect with family and friends, enjoy your holiday season, and maybe even take a cool trip. We also highly recommend turning on a vacation auto-reply and unplugging to connect face to face.

Hope this helped you plan for your best year freelancing yet!!

The best (NEW) email marketing software

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Updated April 14, 2020 with new info about our move from Convertkit to Flodesk!

Looking for the best way to deliver you free goods, keep in touch with your clients and customers, or how to DESIGN an email the looks as beautiful and branded as your website? Look no more my friends, we have the answer for you right here.

A few years ago when I began hearing about email marketing software, I immediately began asking myself but what is the best email marketing software? There are so many choices on the market and I found myself confused and lost!

Enter Flodesk

*cue angels singing and birds flying around my head chirping*

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When I say it was love at first sight, I mean it. Once I logged in and saw the clean and sleek way it was laid out and the simple to follow templates, it was a dream come true! The visuals on this platform are spot on. They help to make beautiful emails like the one below a snap!

So what are my FAVORITE features about this amazingly powerful email marketing software? Read on my friend and let me open up your world to a new way of emailing!

What I love about Flodesk (the best free email marketing software IMO)

Besides being a very visual builder, Flodesk has a host of other tools that make it so easy and fun to use. I have used a lot of other types of software before and Flodesk takes the cake. It is a balance between power and beauty, which is where so many other email software falls short.

Flodesk makes it easy to reuse template emails multiple times without having to copy and paste. You simply click on the draft email you want to use and BAM it’s in your workflow like magic!

You may be wondering “what is an email sequence or workflow?”

Simple, and email sequence (also called a workflow in Flodesk) is a series of automated emails that are sent based on time delays, or action triggers in your email marketing system. It basically tells your email marketing system, after we send this email… do this!

This makes for a more personalized approach to email marketing. It helps your readers feel understood and cared for by giving them exactly what THEY are interested in. This can be a game-changer for your conversion, but ultimately it is all about that copy baby!

If the words in your email do not resonate with your audience, boo thing, you have bigger problems that what email system to use! If you are curious about writing emails that convert, check out our blog post!

Pssst… we also have templates included in this blog post so now your emails are SUPER DUPER easy to write and get scheduled! 😉

Ok so there are about one million things I love about Flodesk, but I took a few screenshots of the ones I love the most so you can see it in action for yourself!

# 1 The triggers

I love that they have a trigger in your sequence for when people open the email and for if they do not open your email. This means you can deliver specific content to people based on if they actually opened and read your content! THIS is so powerful. This means that you can narrow down your list and only sell to people that are actually interested and increase your open rates!

#2 The email builder

This email builder is clean and easy to use. Just click the element you want to change and BAM… an editing panel opens up and you can change everything from colors to fonts.

I love how easy it is to navigate and how beautiful the images and layouts come out.

#3 The Templates

This is possibly my favorite feature. These templates are designed so beautifully and they take just moments to apply. they are click and replace and the copy is even really good, making crafting an email super simple. The colors and fonts are all editable within the building feature so it takes minutes to pul together a well designed and beautiful email.

#4 Plugin your Instagram feed

The connection from social media to email marketing can be difficult. Your users may only see you on one or the other. I love that Flodesk has a way to auto import your IG feed so that people can see your content on social media and it can potentially lead to a new fan or a sale!

The drawbacks to using Flodesk

Now we have talked about the best parts of Flodesk I do want to point out a couple of things to think about if you are going to use the new email marketing dream come true. Like all things, it does have some drawbacks.

  1. ????There is no way to add a subscribers name automatically (so your emails will have to be more generic) After learning more about how to use Flodesk, there is absolutely a way to do this! ????
  2. ????It doesn’t integrate with Weeknight Website directly (YET!) We will let you know once we have a solution for that. You can still embed forms on your site using an HTML block.
  3. ????The analytics for the email are a little weak. Pretty sure they will add more features as the company grows! 😉

That sums it up for the best email marketing software (IMHO)

If you are ready to give Flodesk a try, click our affiliate link and get yourself a special 50% off discount! That means you can get Flodesk with an unlimited number of subscribers for just $19 a month! #winning

Try FloDesk for 50% off

2020 Website Trends You Want to Know About!

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If part of your goals for 2020 is to upgrade your website this year, we are proposing a website challenge to help you level up your website design skills and make your site swoon-worthy in the new year.

Websites can easily go stale and look dated if you are not improving them from time to time. We love taking a fresh look at our website every few months just to keep things updated and make sure that we are staying on top of the trends. We also make sure to check our content is updated and reflects our current brand. If you want some content advice we have a whole series with free goodies for you on our Content 101 page.

3 Simple Things to Consider on Your Website in 2020

Here are some of the most popular design trends that we are seeing for 2020 and how you can execute these simply on your website without feeling crazy! ????

Remember that your website is an extension of your brand!

Website Design Tip #1: Break the Grid

So what does this even mean? When you sign up for a website builder and begin building a site you are going to, by default, get a really boxy feeling layout. The goal of breaking the grid is to think of the page as a whole and not JUST about the individual sections of the page. This helps the reader’s eye travel the page and keep scrolling on your website so that they become immersed in your story and feel compelled to keep reading.

Some great examples of breaking the grid are shown below to give you a feeling for what you can do to add visual interest to your website.

Design by Amy Martino
Design By Mike Kus

Website Design Tip #2: What the FONT is going on?

Fonts are super important when designing a website. Fonts create a flow within the content that causes readers to recognize when a specific piece of text is important. One of the most common beginner design mistakes that we see, is when someone is new to websites and they change the font hierarchy from page to page and it makes reading the importance of specific pages and information confusing for website readers.

We love to use a mixture of fun and classic fonts that represent our brand well. When you are planning your website branding is the #1 thing that will help you design a beautiful and cohesive site. If you need help with branding, check out our Branding Guide here!

PRO TIP: try not to use more than 3 fonts! ????

Fun Fact, one of the biggest trends in websites right now is colored backgrounds with BIG and BOLD headlines that are simply type-driven. This is awesome news for those of us with less than stellar photos (or none at all).

Check out some of our favorite examples of this website trend in 2020 below!

Website By Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Website By Collate

Website Design Tip #3: Think About Content

Websites run on content… Everything from Google Search Engines to your users needs your content. While paid ads are a great way to help generate traffic, organic (AKA free traffic) is the best way to actually drive qualified leads.

The more content that you add to your website that is keyword friendly the more likely it is that Google and other search engines are going to send you larger amounts of traffic and keep you in front of readers and BUYERS that are looking for you and what you offer.

If you need help with keyword research we have a free resource for you… Get our completely free guided tutorial on how we do keyword research and rank for some really competitive terms on Google!

Get the Free Tools

psst… we also use this same research to get traffic from Pinterest and Youtube as well. #bonuspoints (Check out the Free Guide + Get the Spreadsheet)

2020 Website Trends to Try… Right Now!

Keeping up with the world best and brightest in the design world can feel intimidating but the good news is we have searched all the new trends and these are some of our faves that are also… super easy to imitate and use in your personal design strategies going into 2020!

2020 Website Design Trends #1: Hand Drawn Elements

Websites: Book Festival Website (front), Cravings by Chrissy Teigen (back)

These are super simple to do. If you want to add these to your website you can do a few things…

You can use Canva Pro (one of our fave beginner design tools) and add hand-drawn elements from their stock section and export them as a .png which will make the background transparent so you can lay them over things on your website easily.

You can also draw your own elements on an iPad pro and using an apple pencil add your own amazing and personal touch to your website that will help you stand out from the crowd.

Lastly, we love using Envato Elements for downloading thousands of amazing photos, audio clips, graphics templates (can you say social templates, anyone?!?!), and even exclusive website fonts. and at $33 a month, this is a killer tool for any designer or online profesh to have in their arsenal!

2020 Website Design Trends #2: White Space

Design By Zhenya Rynzhuk

White space is a blank space that leaves space for your eyes to rest and draw attention to the elements you care about the most.

White space allows you to create a pleasing and easy to read and consume site with less busyness and more meaningful content and images that draw the reader in!

Don’t feel like you have to fill every inch of the canvas.

– Kristen Estes

2020 Website Design Trends #3: Microinteractions

Website By Defy

Microinteractions are just what they sound like. Small ways that the person using your site interacts with your site in a fun or unique way that keeps them interested and focused on your website.

Some simple ways that you can add Microinteractions are to add hover effects on your buttons and to include some delayed animations on your images.

Keep in mind that we want to be tasteful and not have too many things going on for your audience. You never want to overwhelm them and leave them confused as to what they need to do on your site. Remember, a confused mind always says no.

Last Tips for Our Favorite 2020 Website Design Trends

Ask yourself these few questions as you review your site to see if there is something you need to change or update.

” Am I guiding my user through my site?”

“Are there flat buttons or clean and boxy lines that I can add some visual interest to?”

“What is the intention of the page and is it clear what the next step is?”

What are some of your favorite 2020 website trends?

Website Inspo You Will Love Actually

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Anyone here a Love Actually fan? I mean really, there is nothing like watching a cute 10-year-old run through the airport to the “love of his life” to get you into the holiday spirit and remind you that at the holidays … anything is possible. Even making a website that makes you feel like dancing through your house like this…

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The trick as a designer is not always in the nuances of the design itself but knowing what language to speak so that you create something that turns out looking original AND beautiful… and not like you were speaking a different language the whole time… which does happen. #cringe

So in all of our fave examples below, we give you our tips on how you can make something similar using Weeknight Website. With us, you never have to feel like tech hates you and you are out of your depth with the design you fell in love… anyone else been there too?

Check Out Our Favorite 2019 Website Designs Below

Seasonal Favorite

Otherland Candles

Kristen Loves:
This brand is BOLD but set against a muted cream and black color palette, with careful pink and gold details and a retro font, you don’t feel overwhelmed by it. I love the use of animations as you explore the product pages. So delightful!

Make something like it on Weeknight Website…

  • Pick a groovy font on Creative Market and use the Custom Font plugin to add it to your site as your header fonts.
  • Create your Shopify store and use the Weeknight Website Shopify integration to make beautiful product pages and categories.
  • Enable hover transitions on your buttons

Best Homepage Award!

Bucketlist Bombshells
*Built with Weeknight Website*

Kristen Loves:
I worked on this website in the Spring of 2019 with the Bucketlist Bombshells and we had a lot of fun reimagining their existing brand and color palette for the site. There are so many aspects to the brand and we wanted to showcase that in every detail. With all the options to create custom feeds, affiliate product galleries, and blog layouts, we had a lot of fun! 

Make something like it on Weeknight Website…

  • Use negative margins to float objects on top of each other when desired
  • Create a quiz on your site! 
  • Use the Instagram module at the bottom

Most Fun!

Jenessa Wait
*Built on Weeknight Website*

Kristen Loves:
This website feels like such an expression of the artist behind it. Jenessa creates custom hand-lettered designs for products and regularly pulls fresh ideas for banners, icons, and pop-ups from her art into her website. It just goes to show you how truly creative you can be –  little details are EVERYTHING!

Make something like it on Weeknight Website…

  • Create GIFs for your website banners
  • Export hand-drawn .pngs as images and icons to use on your site!
  • Integrate your email list on your site

Best Blog Layout

Marie Forleo

Kristen Loves:
To be honest, Marie is my hero…so I’d probably love her site even if it were a bunch of Times New Roman blue links on a white background. Thankfully, that is not the case and this site is an incredible wormhole to get lost in! The way the Marie TV Archive is segmented (including the little “Marie TV Oracle” feature leads you through what could be a blah-g experience into a Youtube-status binge…on her site!  

Make something like it on Weeknight Website (all using Themer Layouts)…

  • Create a custom Blog Archive and Single Blog Layouts
  • Use the Header and Footer Layouts to make wow-worthy navigation on your site! 
  • Create a “Part” and place it “Before Header” to make a sleek Notification Bar (you can even include images and a Countdown Timer!)

Fan Favorite

Jenna Kutcher

Kristen Loves:
Almost every client I’ve worked within the last 3 years has referenced this site, so I gotta give it a shout out! Every page layout is so beautifully attended to, and the colors welcoming. Even though as you bounce around, you’ll technically find yourself several different sites, Jenna’s brand is so consistent that it never feels jarring to move from her main site to her podcast or her landing pages. Nothing feels random, which makes the most important aspect of this site, its content, truly stand out. 

Make something like it on Weeknight Website…

  • Get a great brand photoshoot
  • Have a clear and consistent color palette
  • Use Parallax and Video Backgrounds
  • Use one of the Posts modules to create a custom feed of your Blog or Podcasts

Bonus: check out Jenna’s new Podcast Specific site, https://jennakutcherblog.com/goal-digger-podcast/ for more inspiration!

Well, ladies and gents, that wraps this one up for us with a nice neat bow. (See what I did there?)

If you are looking to sharpen your design skills and become an in-demand website designer… we gotchu! Check out how Weeknight Website can help you reach your designer dreams help you launch a biz land grow it while doing what you LOVE… actually!

How to Run A Successful Black Friday or Cyber Monday Sale

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The holiday season is FAST approaching and this is the most wonderfully busy time of the year for businesses everywhere.

If you are a designer or marketing pro, requests start pouring in and you find yourself working on everyone else’s projects completely forgetting to work on your own sales.

Or… maybe you are a musician who is TRYING to get your “ish” together for a Black Friday or Cyber Monday sale.

Good news my friend, in either case, you are not too late!

You can still run a successful Black Friday Sale using these strategies!

Also, if you have a service-based business… we got you! Kristen shares some of her best tips for running a holiday promotion for your products AND services. Catch the full video below!

Create Your Offer (For Products)

There are a few options for creating an offer… here are some of our tips:

Create a bundle

If you are opposed to (or can’t) offer a discount on pricing, try adding in a complementary product that is slightly discounted but feels like a great value! Your products in the bundle should be a larger “flagship” product that is your best seller with something you want to showcase in a new way.

Give a discount

You want to make sure that the volume of your sales are going to make up for the discount and leave you feeling as happy as your customers will be. If you are worried about getting traffic, we have some awesome resources in the blog below that can help you out. Keep in mind that Black Friday is ALL about getting good traffic to your offer to increase sales.

How to Get More Traffic to Your Website

How to Attract The Right Customers

Create Your Offer (For Services)

Pre-Sell Time for a Discounted Rate

If you are planning to increase your rates for 2020 and beyond, you can try offering a special pre-buying package for buckets of time. Your clients would get your hours at a discounted rate for the year by pre-paying for your time in advance. Alternatively, you can . do a waitlist for them to lock in their desired dates for your upcoming calendar at the current rate and for a deposit amount of your choosing!

Create Awareness

EMAILS: Make sure you have emails prepped with graphics and text ready to go. Have it scheduled in advance to help you keep on top of it without interrupting turkey time with family!

BONUS TIP: position your offer as a gift for the holidays. BOGO offers and free shipping by Christmas are great ways to promote this!

How to Create Great Email graphics

Get the complete tutorial of how we made this super cool giph below and learn to make your own for your emails too. Watch the video from 10:40 to 14:00

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Ads: have little to no text on the images of the ads. Vidoe is best if you can get that together in time!

Create Urgency

Create deadlines and stick to them. There are many times when we have offers and we are tempted to extend it just for a day. But DON’T do it!

If you want to have an automatically expiring page, we love and recommend using deadline funnels to get the job done. It is super easy to set up using Weeknight Website and you will be able to create urgency like a pro marketer without all the fuss.

If you need help setting up your store on WordPress, check out our How to Set Up Your Shop blog (or if you are a member get a step by step walkthrough with click by click instructions!)

Designer Nightmares: A Few Minor Changes

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If you are a designer, this nightmare story may sound really familiar. Check out our fun Halloween inspired horror stories for our designer friends everywhere!

Friday 13th October 2017…

It was a dark and stormy night. A young designer is finishing her work for the day when she decides to check her email one last time. She sees just one unread email simply titled “A few minor changes.” 

She opened it, and told herself that if she just got these changes out of the way now, she could wake up to a carefree Saturday. So, she reopens photoshop, picks a font that “feels more like a hug.” She exports and sends.

“That wasn’t too bad.” She said to herself. She put on her “relax” playlist and gets up to make a cup of tea.  On her way to the bedroom, she walks by her computer and noticed another new unread message. From a different client. He had drawn up something for her in MS Paint and wanted her to do “this but better.” A chill ran down her spine as she opened the file. It was the most grotesque design she had ever seen. A true abomination.

The clock struck midnight. A normal person would have gone to bed but she knew the only way to get that abomination out of her mind was to fix it.  She opened up photoshop and worked. 2 am passed. 3 am passed. But by 4 am she was finished. She exported and when she opened Gmail to send the file she saw yet another email simply titled. “Make it pop.” She tried to ignore it. It couldn’t have been important anyway. Plus, it was 4 am. She had brunch at 9, she needed to rest. But as she looked at her screen, trying to convince herself to look away, another email came in… and then… another. 

Now, she had THREE unread emails. 

Thunder shook the house. The rain was pounding on the roof.
She tossed her laptop aside. Enraged, she paced her bedroom. She could feel her heart pounding inside her chest. She was scared to open them. What could be in them? Another MS Paint Abomination? Another request to make it “like this but different”? Oh god. 

These projects just kept crawling back. It seemed that no changes were final. She kept thinking these projects were over but they just WOULDN’T DIE. They were feeding on her energy and her brainpower. Like undead psychic vampires. She couldn’t stand the fear of wondering when the next project was going to reach its decaying hand from its grave and grab her.

That’s when she made a decision. This would be the weekend that it all ended. She was putting her foot down. She was going to wrap her little fingers around the necks of these projects and use all of her strength to finally finish them. She wasn’t going to stop until they were finally exercised from her life. 

She sat at her desk and she started revising. She was able to respond to all three emails with their revisions just as the sun was rising. It took all of her strength. She was so exhausted she fell asleep at her desk. When she woke the next afternoon, she was still in the same clothes as yesterday. Her hair was wild and unkempt. Her eyeliner and lipstick were smeared across her face. For the first time in a long time, she felt hope. That is… until she saw her computer.

Her inbox was full again. She read their subject lines.

“Can we dial up the fun?”
“Will purple add pizazz?”
“I like it, but the board doesn’t.”
“Hey, this shouldn’t take too long”
“Can you make the logo bigger. It’s Important”
“I’ll just go to Fiverr.”
“A Quick Change”

They just kept coming. 

She tried to exercise her projects, but instead, they were possessing her. First, they controlled her, then they overtook her.  No one ever had brunch with her again. No one saw her at the dog park. She was just a ghost of who she used to be. Some say that they’ve seen her at the grocery store, buying boxed wine and pizza rolls. But the legend says that to this very day, she’s still trapped in her apartment with hair as wild as cobwebs. She paces the dark halls of the house lit only by her computer screen.

Sometimes at night, if you listen real close you can hear her whispering,
“A few Minor changes. A few minor changes.”