Empowering Yourself to Start a Small Business
Getting a small business up and running can be challenging and overwhelming. Understanding the processes, navigating the paperwork and fees, and getting your structure legally squared away is a full-time job in itself. It is OK to ask for help with the early stages of your business (and the later stages, too!).
Navigating Self-Employment Tax for Your Small Business
The more I looked into self-employment tax, the more it became clear that I needed to consult with a tax professional, if nothing else to get some clarity on my situation and how to do it right for the next year.
Empowered to Overcome Imposter Phenomenon
In a highly individualized society, the idea of relying on a team can trigger imposter phenomenon. Many people think they must be perfect and do it all themselves in order to truly be successful.
“You can still be good at something but not perfect at it,” Gramann said. “If you don't have to be perfect it allows you to address your shortfalls.”
Reflections from a Former Bookseller: Empowering Your Book with Quality Covers and Content
The stark reality of self-publishing is that it's a lot of hard work and if it isn't done right (read: executed almost flawlessly) your book may never find the audience it serves. As an avid reader myself, I know two things to be true.
Crowdfunding: Five Tips for Creative Campaigning
Running a successful crowdfunding campaign takes more than just putting together a page and letting the campaign run its course. In some cases, you may want to hire outside help to ensure that you get the most possible out of your campaign.
Crowdfunding: Choosing a Platform to Empower Your Creative Endeavor
When Gramann was first exploring crowdfunding platforms, Kickstarter was what most people recommended to her. She used it to fund her example project, Just Be Books LLC, and has used it with clients to launch similar book and business projects over the years. She has found it to be an easy-to-use platform that her clients can utilize to successfully raise money. Her campaigns have raised up to $14,500 dollars for a single client, though most of her clients pursue a goal of $4,000 to $8,000.
Getting Empowered as a Pregnant Sole Proprietor
Being pregnant and maintaining a small business/sole proprietorship has required me to reconsider a lot of my life and work expectations and understandings, which has led me to five tips for navigating pregnancy and postpartum life.
Empowered Lessons from Trying Something New
Gramann learned that the education aspect of her business, while not a main focus now, is something she is very passionate about. It will look different, but Gramann intends to keep working with her clients to offer educational materials in relevant fields and topics.
Author Events to Empower Your Writing and Publishing Goals
No one can write your story for you. But you can enlist help from others to keep your motivation and excitement going through the writing process and beyond. And one of the easiest ways to do that is to find an author event that excites you and focuses on the part of the process you're working on right now.
Empower Your Small Business for Tax Season
When most people think of tax season, they think of April, when personal taxes are due. But businesses can have different tax deadlines, as well as different tax forms. So just because you've figured out your personal tax return doesn't mean the return for your small business will be a breeze.
Building a Better Business with the Best Business Managing Platforms of 2023
Among the myriad platforms out there, no two do exactly the same things. Some are much more heavily focused on customer relationship management (CRM), while others aim to streamline paperwork processes for you with customizable and/or automatic quoting and invoicing.
Knowing which pieces you can do on your own and which you want a platform to help you with can help you eliminate options quickly.
Creating Your Niche in Visual Art
Although sharing art online can be a vulnerable act, it's also a prime way to get noticed and extend a hand to other artists.
“I look to other artists for inspiration and hopefully people look at my art for inspiration,” Schlitz said.
Options to Empower Your Publishing Goals
With the rise of freelance and independent workers who disrupt industries, it is now possible for quality content to be created, edited, and published without the backing of a traditional publishing house.
Navigating Traditional Publishing: Why You Need a Literary Agent (and Where to Look)
Not all literary agents are equal and you definitely can't just accept the first agent who likes your book. In addition to regular and consistent communication, your literary agent will essentially be a business partner. She will be representing your business interests in conversations with traditional publishers and while looking over contracts. She needs to be someone you get along with and someone you can trust.
Project Managing: Why Do-it-Yourself Doesn’t Have to be Completely by Yourself
Passion projects can be very vulnerable pieces of ourselves, said Paris Gramann, owner of Empower Creative Agency LLC. Her goal behind the project management firm is to help people with projects move past fear and embrace self-expression and authentic living.
Empower Yourself with Positive Self-Talk
The importance of cheerleaders is something easily recognized. And yet, when it comes to inner monologues and self-talk, instead of being our own greatest cheerleaders we're often our own worst critics. That negativity quickly gets in the way of accomplishing goals and realizing dreams. When the negativity is replaced with empowering self-talk and encouragement, we're able to reach new heights.
Empower Creativity Through Vulnerable Activity
By its very nature, creativity is an act of vulnerability. While many people are able to disassociate their sense of worth from a spread sheet or certain work projects, creatives often find themselves pouring their hearts and souls into each work. To offer these bits and pieces up for consumption—even among trusted supporters—can be terrifying. The idea of having creative work rejected can feel like rejection of ourselves, cutting deep and hampering our bravery to share in the future.
How to Empower Success with a Personal Process
A one-size-fits-all approach to success is a sure path to failure—and not just failure, but often a path to giving up entirely. While we would like to believe all this pressure comes from society, the truth is that our own beliefs and perceptions about success are just as much to blame. Empowering ourselves for success starts with adjusting our own mindsets and behaviors to cultivate an environment of continual growth, no matter the specific situation or circumstance.
A long letter from the owner…
I picked the word “Empower” very carefully … “power” can be shared, it can be taken, it can be used for advantage. However, the word “empower” means to GIVE power. You have the ability, the RIGHT, and the responsibility to care of yourself and practice your kindness, strength, and wisdom. Every time I work with you, I hope you are reminded of your internal power… because YOU ARE POWERFUL!
Best YouTube Strategies for Small Business Owners in 2022
Small businesses must take advantage of every marketing and customer engagement opportunity available, and often this means balancing the cost and finding ways to do it yourself. When it comes to video marketing for business building, YouTube is a good place to start.