Consistency vs. Unpredictability

by Katie Hart | May 25, 2017 | Solopreneur

Consistency vs. Unpredictability

Some view consistent people as boring and unpredictable people as fun. Others have an opposing option, viewing consistent people as reliable and unpredictable people as irresponsible.

I’ve heard of people using only one filter on Instagram to achieve a unified look. And designers cull their portfolios and only display projects that fit their overall aesthetic.

When building a business, you need to have some level of consistency. But as a creative person, doing the same thing day in and day out will stifle your inspiration.

I know I’ve always been more consistent at things when I force myself to do them daily. Whether it’s journaling or learning a language, some things just need daily tasks to add up to something great.

Other things, not so much. For example, you may have noticed that I have been blogging every day in May. I wanted to get back into blogging, and I knew a daily task would keep me accountable toward doing so. I also wanted to see what types of blog posts I enjoy producing. And while topics have varied, I have tried to keep them consistently aimed at creatives who want to work remotely, possibly in other countries. I have been successful in those goals.

But other goals related to this idea have been less successful. I really would have liked to provide more long-form, in-depth content for my readers. But when I require myself to churn out a post a day, there isn’t time (not that short-form content can’t be valuable – look at Seth Godin – but I have shortchanged many topics this way).

Also, because I work fulltime, blogging has taken away from the time I wanted to spend working through Bucketlist Bombshells’ Design Skills course. You may have noticed my last review post was of their logo design module – and I still haven’t completed the mini projects for that module. To be fair, it is a complex subject, and I have spent several hours in Illustrator playing with different logo designs and techniques. But my goal of launching my business would be a lot further along if I wasn’t blogging every day.

I do plan to finish the month (since I am not working the next four days, that will give me some time), but after that, I will likely be cutting back my blogging schedule to once a week. Still consistency, but a type that will give me more freedom to be unpredictable in other areas of my life, and better at providing quality content for you.

And maybe that’s the key for creative work inside a business – finding the level of consistency that works for you. If you’re visiting a new country every month or two, maybe having your work be a bit more rigid will leave you more energy for adapting. If you’re working from your home every day, maybe try something new with your business.

There will always be someone who thinks you are too unpredictable, or too consistent. Find the balance that works best for you, and seek out clients within the same range who will appreciate the exact blend of creativity and structure you provide.

Want to hire me as a Pinterest Designer and Manager to help you get more traffic, leads, and income for your blog or business? Check out this page to see what I can do to help you grow!

Choosing a City to Work from Remotely

by Katie Hart | May 24, 2017 | Travel Planning

Choosing a City to Work from Remotely

One thing to consider when working remotely is where exactly you will be operating your business! If you’re wanting to work from home in your pajamas, the answer is easy, but if you want to use your new-found freedom to see the world, the possibilities are endless.

I’ll not be going into visa requirements, since that is different for every type of passport and every country, as well as constantly changing. It will also depend on how long you would want to stay in a country.

Most people have a vacation mindset when they travel. If they want to visit 10 countries in two weeks or go explore places without reliable internet, they can. But digital nomads need to be aware of how a change of location will affect their work and their clients. They can still go on a whirlwind tour or trek into the wilderness, but they do it within vacation time they’ve budgeted for themselves and build a more solid atmosphere for their daily lives.

But you can still build this solid atmosphere in amazingly cool places you’ve always wanted to visit!

There are certain variables you’ll want to consider when choosing where to go, and fortunately, a great site exists to help you gauge what cities are ideal for digital nomads! The Bucketlist Bombshells introduced me to Nomad List, a free site (though becoming a paid member has additional benefits) that presents many statistics to help you choose a city!

The main 4 variables the Nomad list looks at are cost of living, fun, safety, and internet. Each of these are further broken down into specific aspects, and they all add up to a Nomad Score.

You can then filter the results by your own preferences. Say you don’t really care where you go as long as you can live there cheaply – you can look for places under $1000 a month. Say you want to go somewhere in Europe – click on Europe. Say you only want places with very good internet – you can see the average bandwidth for the city, and find some coworking spaces with reliable speeds. Say you want to easily fly to surrounding areas – search for airport.

For myself, I’ll like to work from Europe and travel frequently to other countries. The cheapest places are in eastern Europe, but most cities I’d like to visit are in western Europe. Berlin is centrally located and a reasonable $2000/month, and has a very high Nomad Score (plus Germany has a freelancer one-year visa option for longer stays). I would prefer the UK, but prices range from $2500-3000, though that pales in comparison to Switzerland’s and Denmark’s $4000 a month!

And remember, as a digital nomad you’ll be able to change up where you live frequently – so you can balance out a more expensive location with a cheaper one part of the year.

Where would you like to base your business, at least for a few months?

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Online Communities: Bucketlist Bombshells vs. Skillcrush

by Katie Hart | May 23, 2017 | Resources

Online Communities: Bucketlist Bombshells vs. Skillcrush

Building a solopreneur career you can do from home or anywhere in the world can get lonely at times. Fortunately, you don’t have to do it alone! Hundreds of online communities exist, and today I’m going to talk about 2 of my favorites – Bucketlist Bombshells Tribe and Skillcrush Alumni.

The two communities have some similarities and overlapping topics, but with a different focus and style. I’ve been a member of Skillcrush Alumni for about 10 months as of this writing, and joined BB Tribe (formerly Globetrotting Girl Bosses) two months ago.

Platform

While Skillcrush uses Google Groups for their individual classes, after taking a blueprint (3-month course), graduates are invited to join the Alumni Slack. This was my first experience with Slack, and I love the platform! Everything is so clean and organized and searchable. It does set a business-like tone, but gifs and emojis are available to lighten the mood.

One of the downsides to Slack is that the free plan has a message limit. You can save resources and conversations within the community, but after a few months (depending on activity) they disappear. I set up a Zapier action to save messages to a Google Sheet when I star them in Slack to mitigate some of this downside.

BB Tribe uses a closed group on Facebook, a platform with which I am familiar and have had mixed results. The Facebook algorithms sometimes make it hard to find posts, but photos and videos are included more easily. They are also able to utilize live video within the group while Skillcrush needs to use an outside service.

Membership

Skillcrush Alumni are truly that – to be a part of the group, you must have signed up and completed (more or less) a Skillcrush blueprint. At a current price around $400 a blueprint, that is no small entrance fee, but they still boast nearly 1500 members! Not all interact on Slack, since joining is portrayed as an end-of-course bonus, but for me it is one of the most valuable parts of the blueprints. Because members have invested so much into starting a career in tech, topics tend to be more business-like and ask for specific advice. Questions generally are more intermediate or advanced.

BB Tribe is free to join, since part of its focus is to build interest in the Bucketlist Bombshells courses. It is a newer group, and recently grew by 50% (3000 members to 4500) thanks to a feature in Forbes. Much of the membership is more aspirational, and questions tend to be at a beginner level.

Side note: I was looking for opportunities to be a mentor within the Skillcrush group, but I wasn’t finding many since most members are at my level or ahead of it, since we all had completed blueprints. BB Tribe gives me more chances to help out, since I have knowledge from the Skillcrush blueprints that BB members may not have.

Bucketlist Bombshells courses also have their own individual groups, which are much smaller and focus more on class questions. I am a part of the newer two of the three.

Demographics

BB Tribe targets millennial women who want to travel the world and are willing to build a business that will allow them to do so. As an older Millennial, I feel a bit too old for the group, as most are fresh out of college or have only spent a few years in the workforce.

Skillcrush began with a female focus, which is still evident in its branding, but the blueprints are open to everyone and a small percentage of alums are male. It targets women in their 30s and 40s who are looking to make a career change.

Goals

Skillcrush wants to prepare you for a career in tech. While freelancing is a viable option and the best way to get started earning money with the new skills they’ve taught, a decent portion of the discussion in the Slack group revolves around resumes, interviews, and tech meetups. So this group is valuable whether you would like to get a remote job for a company or build your own business.

Bucketlist Bombshells wants to prepare you to earn money anywhere in the world. They focus on helping you create a profitable service-based business with skills you already know or can quickly learn. There is a strong urge to jump in with both feet, and they suggest staying in a low cost-of-living country when first starting out to minimize expenses as you grow your client base.

Interaction

Both groups are fairly active. Currently BB Tribe has more activity, thanks to the Forbes article, influx of new members, and ramp up to their once-a-year relaunch of their signature Work Online and Travel the World course. They also host weekly live coffee chats about important topics and interviews with other solopreneurs, with plenty of Q&A time. They have different sharing and challenge posts every week, and are doing a book group discussion.

Both Bucketlist Bombshells founders are actively involved in the group, and they have a great community manager. The vibe of the group is positive and upbeat, if a little naive. I hope that it keeps its same happy, anything is possible spirit as the group grows and matures.

Skillcrush Alumni has busy days and quiet days. Many members spend their time working on their own portfolios and gaining new clients, so they may only pop in occasionally with a question. There are monthly Alumni Hours, which offer training and information on different topics.

The company founder stops by occasionally, and instructors and mentors jump in frequently to answer questions. There is also an Ace program (of which I’m a part) where alums earn points for tech-related tasks, sharing Skillcrush posts and events on social media, and posting resources to Slack. The points are added up monthly, and winners earn prizes to help them on their tech journey.

I love both these groups and am so glad to have found two great communities for help and encouragement as I look to build a business!

What is your favorite online community?

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Digital Libraries

by Katie Hart | May 22, 2017 | Resources

Digital Libraries

I grew up a bookworm. Books were my escape and I reread my favorites every year. As a result, I’ve amassed quite a collection – 35 boxes’ worth during my last move (and that was pared down a bit).

I do, of course, have additional books in my Kindle library, and even some duplicates. I haven’t been able to justify the cost of rebuying digital versions of books I already own, though I will snatch up free ones and some 99 cent favorites. I also don’t read as much as I used to, and prefer physical copies. I love staring at my bookshelves and remembering all ups and downs of emotions that came from reading those books.

It’s especially true on my classics and children’s books shelf, which is closest to me as I type. These are the books that I have loved for decades – books read to me by my parents, books I got lost in when I was lonely, books I read aloud to my younger siblings, and books I’d hoped to read to my own children one day.

As a future digital nomad, I know I will have to give up some of these books, and put all but a couple of the rest into storage. Fortunately, there has been no better time in history for taking your library with you – digitally!

And it’s not just books. All media is available for download or streaming. I uploaded my music library to Google Play Music and donated my CDs. I do still own a decent collection of TV shows and movies on DVD, but they are mostly just backup to Netflix and Hulu’s ever changing collection, and to lend to friends (but are used for those purposes less and less every year).

So someday, when I leave all this behind, I’ll be a little sad to say farewell to my books, but I won’t miss out on reading a single word, since I can take whatever I want with me.

Which of your possessions would be the hardest for you to give up as a digital nomad?

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Creative Market and Logo Design

by Katie Hart | May 21, 2017 | Resources

Creative Market and Logo Design

In the Logo Design module of the Bucketlist Bombshells’ Design Skills Course, Cassie mentions Creative Market as a great place to buy unique fonts for logo design. I was already familiar with Creative Market, and for a good reason:

They give away design elements every single week!

I don’t always remember to download the files before the week ends and the 6 (yes, SIX free items every week) items are replaced by new options. But over the past couple years I’ve amassed a pretty large library of graphics and fonts that I can now use in my design business!

You’ll want to read through the license terms pretty thoroughly to make sure you’re using the files legally, but you can use the free items and any ones you purchase for clients. They offer bundles all the time, so you can get a great deal and support other creatives at the same time!

But the free items generally are full and complete versions, and you can build beautiful things with them in Adobe Creative Suite.

Thanks to the BB course module on logo design, I was itching to try making a new logo for this site! So I installed some of the free fonts from Creative Market that I thought might be a good fit. I also tried matching them with a few different free Google fonts, with the idea that I could use that font on this site for a more cohesive look. One of the fonts even came with some watercolor elements!

Here’s what I came up with:

I used the Island Style font from Creative Market, and paired it with the Merriweather Sans Serif Google font. I then added a watercolor element that came with the Pleasures font from Creative Market. All free!

That isn’t the final version of Create Wherever’s new logo, but it was really fun to make, and I can’t wait to try out new variations!

What is your favorite place to find new fonts?

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