Simplifying DIY Design, Author at Simplifying DIY Design

Canva Shortcuts | Must-Know Tricks to Design in Less Time

May 9, 2018 by Simplifying DIY Design 4 Comments

Last updated on June 9th, 2023

As bloggers, we’re always looking for ways to do things just a little bit faster. These must-know Canva shortcuts will help you design in less time so you can get back to growing your blog!

There’s a saying here at Simplifying DIY Design that we remind ourselves of from time to time… procrastination is the thief of time.

It’s true. As moms, wives, and entrepreneurs, we tend to run low on extra time. So when we do have a few minutes, we need to make them count.

Unfortunately, we sometimes let procrastination creep in every now and then. When we do, we know we’re doing ourselves a huge disservice regardless of how we feel in the moment.

But, on VERY rare occasions, we consider something else a thief of time; Canva. And judging by the emails we get from our readers, we’re not alone!

Ready to design and launch a digital product? Get our FREE Product Creators QuickStart Kit! You’ll get a checklist, cheatsheet, and Canva design template to help you nail your launch!

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Sometimes it’s slow, glitchy, or just doesn’t work right. We’ve noticed it happens more when using newly introduced features, too. Even the search function won’t give us the results we’re looking for.

Now, we just want to preface this by saying that we LOVE Canva. It’s an incredible tool, especially for bloggers and people that need to rock graphic design but don’t have time to master Adobe or take design classes.

It’s an internet-based design program, so while that is a blessing (work from ANYWHERE and ANY computer), it can also be a curse. I.e., server overload.

Our love for Canva will always outweigh any frustration.

Because of its easy-to-use design interface, the fact that it doesn’t take up gigs of space on our computers and how they truly care for their users, it’ll always be our most loved design tool.

Most of the frustration we experienced early on was totally our fault for not really knowing the tips and tricks to use Canva efficiently.

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As bloggers, we're always trying to be more efficient. These must-know Canva shortcuts will help you design in less time so you can get back to growing your blog!

And to be honest, the frustration from our readers is caused by the very same thing, which is why we want to help give you your time back and feel Canva-confident!

We’re sharing some favorite time-saving Canva shortcuts that helped curb our frustration as we learned more about this awesome design tool throughout the years.

MAKE FOLDERS

Cutting down on excess time has a lot to do with organization. If your designs are scattered about without any form of structure, you could be wasting precious time searching instead of designing.

Our Canva folder system is organized based on products, summits, brand assets, clipart, stock photos, etc.

Whether we’re searching for our Teachable course covers or product mockups, it’s always just a few clicks away.

And now you can have UNLIMITED folders whether you’re using Canva for free or have a Pro account. (Prior to 2022, free users were limited to only two folders.)

Try out Canva Pro FREE for 30 days and see why it was one of the best investments we’ve made in our business!

We get quite a few questions on how exactly to organize your Canva folder system, so here’s an example of how we organize our products.

One of our main folders is titled ‘[PRODUCTS].’ Within that folder are individual products. Click on any of those product folders, and you’ll find ‘[PROMO],’ ‘[TEMPLATES],’ ‘[SLIDES],’ etc.

Anything that pertains to that product is housed within that folder. This is especially helpful for outsourcing and even more so for those who bill by the hour.

CANVA SHORTCUT TIP: ‘Star’ your most used folders (click the three horizontal dots to the right) to add them to your sidebar for easy access

While this may not seem like a Canva shortcut to some, it’s been a complete game-changer for a lot of bloggers!

Case in point when you’re looking for that Pinterest template, and all it takes is a click instead of 15 minutes of scrolling. You’ll be glad you took the time to make that folder!

COMPLETE YOUR BRAND KIT

Brand Kits are available for Canva Pro users only. But don’t worry; you can try Canva Pro free for 30 days!

Your Brand Kit will house your brand color palette, seasonal color palettes (which we love!), brand fonts, logos, brand templates, and more.

Just click on ‘Brand’ from the left menu to add in your ‘Brand logos,’ ‘Brand colors,’ and ‘Brand fonts.’ It’s that simple!

A benefit of your Canva Brand Kit is that it’s quick and easy to brand your designs.

Hit the ‘Text’ tool to instantly add your brand fonts. Click on the color box to easily access your palettes. Add a logo with just a couple of clicks.

This is especially helpful instead of endlessly scrolling through your ‘Uploads’ to find your logo!

Honestly, this is just a fraction of what your Brand Kit can do to help save you time.

In terms of the most used, this is our favorite Canva shortcut by far. However, again, you need to upgrade to Canva Pro in order to use this feature. Try Canva Pro free for 30 days here!

Just being able to maintain brand consistency is HUGE. But the fact that:

Our colors are just a click away versus adding the hex codes every single time
We’re able to use our brand fonts, so our designs are instantly recognizable
We have dedicated ‘Brand Templates’ to design even faster

We’ll never stop recommending Canva to any and all bloggers. It’s that awesome!

KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS

Canva’s keyboard shortcuts took a little while to get used to. Okay, not used to it, but remember. It seems like every program has its own form of keyboard shortcuts, right?

Asana, Apple products, Canva… it can be a lot. But after about a week, we had them down pat!

Some commonly used Canva keyboard shortcuts include:

Hold ⌘ + -/+ to zoom in and out by 25%
< / > to move elements ONE pixel
Hold Shift + select or deselect elements (you can also click + drag over to select)
Alternatively, hold ⌘ + select elements BEHIND another element
Hold Tab + T to create a new text box
Hold ⌘ + ]/[ to move elements forward or backward

You can even ‘Tidy up’ your elements to space them evenly, horizontally or vertically, and align elements to the right, left, center, you name it!

The ‘Tidy up’ feature is PERFECT for things like checkboxes and line items on checklists, worksheets, etc. We use it every time we make page designs for our DiyDesign Creators Vault.

It’s so much faster selecting all of our elements, clicking ‘Position,’ and again on ‘Tidy up’ versus manually moving each individual element to where we think looks good.

Knowing how much time we spent on that before this feature came around makes us cringe.

Don’t forget the generic computer commands, too! Holding ⌘ + A selects text, C copies, V pastes, B bolds, and I italicizes.

TROUBLESHOOT

Nothing is more of a time-suck than trying to figure something out when it’s just not working. The fact that it’s an internet-based program is both a blessing and a curse, but again, its glitches are VERY rare.

However, when those occasional hiccups come about, here are a few things we recommend:

SIDE NOTE: Remember to always save your work before trying any of the following, EVEN THOUGH Canva auto-saves

Make sure you’re designing your project while zoomed in at 100%
Reload the page
Clear your cache
Log out and back in
Switch browsers
Reboot your internet connection
Just walk away and try again later

As we said, it’s an internet-based program, and sometimes there will be things going down on the backend that is completely out of our control.

UTILIZE COMMENTS

Have you ever been working on something and had to step away because of a phone call, the dogs need to let out, or your husband can’t find the ketchup from the fridge door even though it’s clearly staring him in the face?

Of course you do; you’re human.

We love utilizing the ‘Comment’ feature on our Canva designs, so we know exactly where we left off if we have to step away for a little while.

SIDE NOTE: This design is from our DiyDesign Creators Vault, a monthly Canva template subscription for bloggers. Join now for just $15 a month!

We’ve even thrown in notes saying, “It’s missing something, but we’re not sure what,” or “maybe try a different font combination, a little more bold?” in the hopes that when we sit back down, it’ll spark that missing piece.

Again, this may not seem like a Canva shortcut. But if you can jump right back into a design without wracking your brain around where you left off, that sounds like a time-saver for us!

Other ways to use this feature are for collaborations, communication within your design team, or as a design note for your users if you’re selling Canva templates.

If you love these Canva shortcuts and want to learn more about how Canva can grow your blog and business, you’re going to LOVE our complete Canva course, Confidently Canva!

It’s EVERYTHING you need to know to feel completely confident in your designs because now you truly understand the tool you’re using and the design concepts involved.

Enroll now and get $20 off Confidently Canva today!

These Canva shortcuts will save you time!

We’re firm believers in the “work smarter, not harder” mentality.

Knowing and practicing some efficient tricks can help save you time throughout your day and in your business overall (not to mention sanity).

We know you’re busy, and we truly believe you should be sporting a cape because you’re a rockstar super mompreneur (even if you don’t feel like it some days).

Your time matters. Make every second count!

RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS POST:

Don’t forget our FREE Product Creators Quickstart Kit! You’ll get a checklist, cheatsheet, and Canva design template to help you nail your launch!

GET THE PRODUCT QUICKSTART KIT NOW!

TRY CANVA PRO FREE FOR 30 DAYS

Start your FREE Canva Pro trial today and unlock ALL of their incredible time-saving features that cut your design time to just minutes.

To be honest? It’s the best $12.99/mo OR $119/yr we spend on our business because that time we save with every design is put back into making MORE money in our business!

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5 Ways Design Templates Can Help Grow Your Blog Faster

May 1, 2018 by Simplifying DIY Design Leave a Comment

Last updated on July 26th, 2023

We’re all just trying to grow our blog in what little pockets of time we can find. One thing that helps us manage our time best is using design templates. This is what our audience loves most about using design templates to grow their blog!

There are just some things in life that, no matter what kind of mood you’re in, will always make it better. And for us, that’s design.

We LOVE the way designing makes us feel and how we can express our brand’s personality using only shapes and colors. We love to think outside the box and create something that’s totally unique.

After all, that’s what our audience loves most about our Canva templates!

But we also have families to care for, the I-forgot-until-the-last-minute school bake sales, dance recitals and soccer games, church groups, endless loads of laundry, and even other businesses.

Ready to nail your product launch? Get our FREE Product Creators QuickStart Kit with a checklist, cheatsheet, and Canva design template so you can create a digital product for your blog!

GET THE FREE QUICKSTART KIT NOW!

So when we say we’re short on time, we mean it.

We have to be as efficient as possible in the short blocks of time we have to actually be able to sit down and work. We have to sometimes stay up late and drink more coffee than we probably should.

We have to utilize every ounce of time after the kids go to bed, even if that means ditching our very understanding husbands and hiding out in our office for just a little peace and quiet.

And even though we can crank out blog graphics a bit faster than others, believe it or not, we still use templates!

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Increase traffic to your blog and grow your email list with design templates. Here are 5 reasons every blogger needs to use design templates to grow their blog!

Canva templates played a vital role in us growing our blog so quickly in just six months (along with a few other amazing blogging tools).

We’re all about finding quick and efficient (yet effective!) ways to grow our blog because we simply don’t have the luxury to wait it out.

With that said, there are other benefits bloggers may find when using design templates.

NO MORE BLANK PAGE PARALYSIS

Starting from scratch can be incredibly overwhelming.

Just having that blank white screen staring you in the face is enough to push even the most experienced blogger to their limits. They don’t know where to begin. They can’t picture the layout or how to make it happen.

Aside from design, we’re also obsessed with psychology and understanding how the mind works.

By adding something as simple as a border, it’ll completely change a person’s mindset from “Where do I start?” to “I’ll add a text box right here.”

When you have a place to jump off from, you’re no longer staring at a blank screen. It longer feels like an impossible task.

This was by far the biggest benefit of using design templates for our audience, specifically templates from our Complete Blogger Template Toolkit.

There are OVER 450 Canva + PicMonkey design templates for every aspect of your blogging business, from logos and Pinterest pins to worksheets, slide decks, checklists, workbooks, and SO much more.

Let our design templates do the heavy lifting for you, so you can stay focused on areas of your blog that you love!

SAVE TIME AND MONEY

Experienced graphic designs or not, design templates are a time saver!

We can pump out Pinterest pins like nobody’s business. But when we use a design template, we’re even faster.

Why? By using design templates, you’re cutting out about 80% of the design process

Once you have the template branded (changing the colors and fonts to match your brand), all that’s left is to add your images and text. That’s it!

Because of our drag-and-drop design templates, we’ve had some bloggers that went from spending one HOUR on a design template to less than five minutes.

Can you imagine what you could do with your blog if you had an extra 55 minutes? And that’s just from one design template!

Not to mention the price of design templates in comparison to hiring a graphic designer or even a VA to design your blog graphics and Pinterest pins is considerably different.

We sell a pack of 60 Canva Pinterest pin templates for $37 (with a 20% off coupon). That comes out to $.62 a template versus at least $15 a template if you were to hire a designer.

Some bloggers think that by using design templates, they’ll look like everyone else, which couldn’t be farther from the truth.

Once you edit your design templates to match your brand, they’ll look vastly different and unique to you and your brand!

ABILITY TO CREATE MORE = MORE MONEY

Want more pageviews? Write more content, design more Pinterest pins, and get active on social media.

Want more subscribers? Design more lead magnets, create more Pinterest pins, and get active on social media.

Want to make money? Get more subscribers (see the previous point), and design more products!

See the trend here? If you want more of something, especially income, you’re going to have to CREATE MORE. Consistently.

Design templates give you the ability to do just that. You can create more in way less time. And because it takes way less time, you can create even more.

We use our own design templates to make 10 Pinterest pins per blog post. Because we can make them so fast, our Pinterest manager can add more content to Tailwind at a time, which helps her work faster using the batch method.

Because we used our own design templates to make slide decks for an outdated course, we were able to completely revamp it in just a few days. Now it’s bringing in sales daily!

To sum it up, more = more. Pretty simple, right?

PROFESSIONAL DESIGN

We get it. You became a blogger because you love to write. Who knew you’d have to be a social media manager, email marketer, copyright expert, salesperson, graphic designer… aka ALL the things.

It’s exhausting. And quite frankly, we think the process of starting and making money with your blog is often downplayed.

We can’t count how many bloggers (including ourselves) have jumped into blogging thinking it would be a heck of a lot easier than it turned out to be.

We get it, you’re not a graphic designer. And you don’t have to be! We’re giving you permission to take “graphic designer” off your blogging resume for good!

But this does NOT mean that your graphics don’t matter, because they 100% do.

The world of ‘online biz’ is extremely visual. If your graphics aren’t jumping off the screen, grabbing your reader’s attention, and pulling them into your brilliant content, then your blog won’t get noticed.

It’s as simple as that.

That’s where design templates come in. You don’t have to be a designer to rock the graphic design portion of blogging!

In fact, you don’t have to do anything other than swap out the colors, change the fonts, add your images (to match your niche/topic), and replace the placeholder text with yours.

There’s ZERO design involved because they were professionally designed to convert!

EASILY OPTIMIZE WHAT YOU ALREADY HAVE

Because design templates are so quick and easy to use, a lot of bloggers were able to give their blogs a little facelift to help boost their click-through rates for (much) higher traffic and email sign-ups.

Some were struggling to get traffic to their blog, so they used design templates to freshen up their Pinterest pins.

Related Post: 10 Must-Know Tips for Designing Your Blog

Some battled with retaining traffic, so they used design templates (specifically, our Five-Minute Brand, which is $20 OFF using this link!) to give their blog a professional look which helps establish trust with readers.

Some had the traffic but couldn’t get their lead magnets to convert. So, they used design templates to revamp their freebies and increase their tripwire product sales!

It’s not like these bloggers were creating something new. The content was already there, it just needed a little redirect using templates designed for bloggers!

Want to see what we mean? Join our 3-Day Design Your Blog Growth Challenge and find out for yourself.

Growing your blog through design doesn’t have to be a time suck of frustration.

You don’t have to waste that precious naptime again.

You don’t have to spend an hour designing a Pinterest pin or wondering how on Earth you’re going to build your email list or get more traffic to your blog.

Start rocking graphic design, one design template at a time.

RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS POST:

Don’t forget to grab our FREE Product Creators QuickStart Kit! Use the checklist, cheatsheet, and Canva design template to create a digital product for your blog!

GET THE FREE QUICKSTART KIT NOW!

TRY CANVA PRO FREE FOR 30 DAYS

Start your FREE Canva Pro trial today and unlock ALL of their incredible time-saving features that cut your design time to just minutes.

To be honest? It’s the best $12.99/mo OR $119/yr we spend on our business because that time we save with every design is put back into making MORE money in our business!

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10 MUST-KNOW Logo Design Tips for Bloggers

April 26, 2018 by Simplifying DIY Design Leave a Comment

Last updated on August 31st, 2023

In this article, you’ll learn why a logo design is such an important element for your blog, the top characteristics of an effective logo, and my top ten tips for making your logo and brand identity look professional.

This is a guest post by Erika from Erika Lancaster. See the end of the article for more information about Erika and her design business!

When a blogger is just starting out, it can be very difficult to decide what’ll require investing right away, what can wait a bit longer, and what we’ll be attempting to do ourselves.

These decisions will be different for all of us, depending on our personal wants and needs and our initial budget.

As bloggers, we have to be practical and strategic when choosing where to invest our resources, and, in the beginning, paying a designer to create our logo and overall branding may be way too expensive.

However, as creative entrepreneurs starting an online business, we KNOW how important image is and how it’s ESSENTIAL to stand out from our competition.

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Because I have a background in Graphic Design and Advertising, I’ve been able to fully create my own business identity, website, and marketing strategies.

Nonetheless, it took MONTHS to finally decide my niche and business goals.

I had always been a full-time employee or freelancer designing for someone else’s business, but never my own!

When you’re starting a business, you should NEVER jump into creating your brand’s identity without knowing what exactly it is you’ll be offering and to whom.

It’s imperative that you figure out what sets you apart from your competition and what your personal values are. This will be the foundation for everything else.

Related Post: Read This Before Making a Logo in Canva

Your logo and overall branding should look professional and transmit what your business stands for.

It’ll most likely be the first thing that your clients and/or customers will see when they learn about you.

WHAT EXACTLY IS A LOGO, AND WHY IS IT SO IMPORTANT?

A logo visually represents your company’s values, beliefs, and goals.

It’s a very important tool that’ll help transmit your brand’s identity throughout all media you produce.

And yes, you ARE a brand, even if you’re only one person!

TYPES OF LOGOS

Symbol/icon: A small design specifically created for the brand that’s made up of shapes and/or lines and has no letters or words
Word mark: Typographic arrangement of the company’s name
Letter mark: Letters arranged in a specific manner (usually the company’s initials or the first letter of its name)
Combination of typographic elements and a symbol

Which type of logo you create is up to you. It’ll depend on the type of marketing you’re planning for your business and the products and services you offer.

It’s important for you to understand that a logo is just ONE of the many parts that make up a brand’s overall identity.

When we speak of a brand’s overall identity, we’re talking about ALL visual aspects that make up a brand’s look and feel (logo, colors, used fonts, style of photographs/imagery used, etc.).

CHARACTERISTICS OF AN EFFECTIVE LOGO

SIMPLE

Most often, the best logos are simple. They’re legible, clear, and don’t include unnecessary elements. You want to get your message through efficiently and immediately.

RELEVANT

Are your chosen colors, fonts, and symbols appropriate for your niche? Is your logo meaningful, and does it connect with your target audience?

MEMORABLE

Is there anything you can change or add to your logo so that it can stick out in your potential customer’s minds amongst your competition?

If you can’t think of a specific thing to change in your logo, think of it in terms of your brand’s overall identity.

TIMELESS

Stay away from visual trends to ensure that your logo can stand the test of time.

Refrain from using imagery, fonts, or colors that are specific to any one time period, unless this is specifically what your business is going for (vintage products, etc.). You want your logo to last for a long time!

VERSATILE

Your logo design must work on all types of media you’ll create. It has to be easy to use and legible at its smallest size.

UNIQUE

Is your logo aesthetically pleasing and easily identifiable? Does your play of color, shape, and style set you apart from your competition somehow?

10 LOGO DESIGN TIPS TO MAKE A PROFESSIONAL LOGO

BUILD FROM A SOLID FOUNDATION

Define your ideal audience, your business objectives (both short and long-term), as well as your values. This, in itself, requires a lot of thought and vast research about your competition.

Before you start designing, write down three words describing your brand’s personality/attitude and keep these in mind throughout the process.

USE REFERENCES BUT NEVER, EVER COPY THEM

Designers use references of all types to get inspired AND to ensure they don’t use an idea that someone else has already put out there.

Create a “reference” folder for yourself and include 3-5 logos that you like.

Pinpoint what it is, exactly, that you like about them. Is it the color, the font style, the placement? Try to apply the points you like in your own new way.

Look at what your competition is doing and think of ways that you can be different from them.

Don’t ever design a logo with a particular style just because it’s what all the popular business owners in your niche seem to be doing!

Try to stay as original as possible to YOU, and don’t allow yourself to be influenced by trends. This will help you attract the audience you want.

MAKE SURE YOUR FONTS COMPLEMENT EACH OTHER

If you use different fonts within your logo, make sure they play well together. Usually, fonts that pair well have a good amount of contrast between them but are also similar in some ways.

For example, a highly stylized and handwritten font could pair up with a very simple and mechanical font.

Or perhaps one word is a thick Sans Serif font, and the other is a thin Serif.

Related Post: 5 Easy Font Design Tips for Bloggers

However, just because two fonts are very different from each other, doesn’t necessarily mean that they will pair up well. There also has to be SOMETHING similar between them, which can be the kerning, proportions, etc.

Pairing fonts can be difficult for someone with an untrained eye. If you’re unsure, stick to fonts from the same family or simply use one.

ENSURE LEGIBILITY, OVER ALL THINGS

Stay away from fonts that are illegible. No matter how beautiful a font may be initially, if it isn’t legible when you use it to type out your company’s name, it won’t work!

Think about the smallest size you’ll be using your logo in. Will you be able to read it? Are there any letters that could be misunderstood by the public?

MAKE SURE SYMBOLS AND IMAGERY ARE SIMPLE AND CLEAN

If you decide to add any symbols or icons to your logo, make them simple. Use, at most, 2-3 different colors and stay away from gradients/effects.

Use grids and geometric shapes to ensure accurate curves and angles when creating your symbols or icons.

This will ensure a clean effect and that it’ll work at its minimum size.

MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THE RIGHT LICENSES FOR YOUR FONTS AND ELEMENTS

Always, ALWAYS, make sure you buy your fonts and any elements you’ll include in your logo (or make them yourself).

Also, make sure that the font and license you buy include the use you’ll be giving to it. The last thing you want is to get in trouble for using something in a way you shouldn’t!

FLIP YOUR LOGO UPSIDE DOWN

This is a trick used by the pros!

Turning your logo upside down will allow your brain to see only shapes instead of specific letters and/or symbols.

It’s a great way to ensure your logo doesn’t contain any imperfections or shapes you may not have intended to create.

DON’T FINISH YOUR LOGO IN ONE SITTING

Designing a logo is a process, and you want to end up with something you’ll use for years to come. Don’t rush!

Take at least a month from the moment you start brainstorming to the moment you finish your brand book (more about this in a moment).

Just because you feel you’ve come up with something nice one day, doesn’t mean you’ll like it next week.

I recommend working on it off and on throughout several weeks. This will ensure that the design is something that you’ll like for a long time.

Also, I highly recommend getting feedback from others before making your final call. Getting other people’s perspectives is extremely valuable.

ABOVE ALL, KEEP THINGS SIMPLE

Remember, your logo will be combined with many other visual elements that’ll make up your overall brand identity (colors, photos, etc.).

You don’t want to over-saturate and overwhelm your audience. Keep it simple, classy, and professional.

CREATE A BRAND BOOK

Brand books are important because they keep a company’s image coherent and consistent throughout all marketing efforts and products sold. They’re especially useful when a business starts growing, as they make sure a brand’s image guidelines are respected and enforced.

A brand book is not difficult to create. Once you have arrived at your logo, and defined the fonts, colors, and photo style you’ll use throughout your website/blog, I highly recommend making one!

To finish up, I want to say that creating your logo and brand identity is totally doable.

Yes, it requires research and effort, and you would definitely benefit from getting feedback from a professional designer. However, you shouldn’t let your lack of resources keep you from getting started!

RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS POST:

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Erika loves using traditional art media to create both commercial illustration work and decorative fine art. After having obtained her BA in Graphic Design, Erika gained experience working as both in-house designer for companies as well as advertising agencies. Years later, she left her last full-time design position to become a teaching artist.

Connect with Erika on her blog, Instagram, and YouTube!

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List Building: How to Grow Your Email List as a New Blogger

April 13, 2018 by Simplifying DIY Design Leave a Comment

Last updated on August 2nd, 2023

List building as a new blogger can be VERY intimidating, but the reward is SO worth it if you’re ready to put in the work. Here’s how we grew our email list to OVER 1000 subscribers in just four months!

Do you remember your very first email subscriber?

We do! It was the fall of 2015, and we were a few weeks into launching our first-ever blog without any type of strategy to make it successful. It was the textbook definition of ‘winging it.’

The truth is, our first subscriber was a random person from Twitter that only wanted us to subscribe to their blog in return.

Grow your email list with our FREE Lead Magnet Template Pack! Create high-converting lead magnets AND promotional graphics for lightning-speed list growth!

GET THE TEMPLATE PACK NOW!

We had no lead magnets to capture email addresses, and we definitely didn’t know our avatar, not to mention know what an avatar was!

Now, we knew it was important to have an email list. We just didn’t know what to do or how to go about building it.

Even after learning about list building, opt-ins, and welcome sequences, we still fought for every subscriber.

We couldn’t help but wonder, what were we doing wrong? There had to be an easier way!

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When we were ready to launch Simplifying DIY Design at the end of October 2017, we knew our very first goal was to get 1000 subscribers.

We didn’t care that we had zero traffic. We set a (very) big and scary goal for us, but we were determined to do it and do it RIGHT.

And by March, we exceeded our goal!

Fast forward just 60 days. We launched our first product, generating five figures with an email list of only 2,077 subscribers.

KNOW YOUR AVATAR

You MUST know your avatar. So much so that it becomes sort of creepy.

This was the biggest mistake we made when we first started blogging. We thought we’d be successful by talking to everyone.

We thought if we talk about this and share that, more people would be interested versus focusing on one specific thing.

We NOW know how detrimental that is to list building.

For this, we cannot recommend Date Your List enough. You’ll learn the art of creating a fool-proof avatar which makes blogging let alone writing emails, a breeze.

STALK YOUR AVATAR

To offer your avatar something they really need, you MUST pay attention to what they say. Join Facebook groups where your avatar is likely to be hanging out and go a little undercover.

Pay attention to their questions and read the frustrated vents they share.

Keep a list of their problems handy (we use Google Sheets) even if you don’t know how to solve them yet. See how those problems relate to your blog and your top posts.

We’re no strangers to thinking an idea is a winner and then putting it out there just to get crickets. They’re telling you what they want! You just have to listen.

Once we launched, we started actively replying to any questions about design and Canva. That way, we could send them straight to a blog post or freebie landing page if they wanted to learn more.

We eventually became so well known in these Facebook groups that members were tagging us in the comments on design-related posts.

PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR WORDING

While you’re in these Facebook groups, pay attention to the wording your avatar uses, especially when they’re frustrated.

This will help you write sales copy in their language so they KNOW your lead magnet is meant for them.

We can’t tell you how often our subscribers have said, “It’s like you have a camera on my computer because this is exactly what I needed.”

For this, we recommend the queen of sales page copy, Amanda Genther’s Sales Page in a Day.

You’ll know exactly what to say and how to say it that has your avatar reaching for the credit card every single time.

DON’T UNDERESTIMATE A SPECIFIC LEAD MAGNET

Getting specific is how your avatar will be attracted to your lead magnet. For example, “The Ultimate Budget Guide” vs. “The Ultimate Budget Guide for Busy Moms.’

You’ll get everyone under the sun signing up for your very generic budget guide.

While that may sound enticing, what happens when you send mom-specific emails? What about launching a mom-specific product? Low open rates, low CTRs, and very minimal success, if any.

Your email list gets more expensive the bigger it gets. Get started with ConvertKit totally FREE here!

Having a massive list won’t put you anywhere except in debt unless you’re making money with your email list.

Because our lead magnets were so specific and the copy we used on our pages was from our avatar research, we had subscribers actively promoting our blog, lead magnets, and products in Facebook groups.

If you’re having trouble figuring out what to create, take a look at your most popular blog posts.

Could you expand on the topic with a worksheet, checklist, workbook, challenge, template, or maybe something different?

We discuss this (and so much more!) in our Tripwire Deep Dive Workshop. Get it now for only $27!

DESIGN, DESIGN, DESIGN

While we believe content is more important than design in the long run, it does play a part in getting your lead magnet noticed.

It also plays a part in usability. People can’t get value from your freebie if it’s so disorganized or messy that they can’t even use it, no matter how good your lead magnet is.

Frustration: 1 | List Building: 0

Another reason that conquering design is important is that it causes a lot of bloggers to freeze up.

They’ll have an idea of what their avatar wants, but they’re unsure how to create it. You can’t see if it resonates with your avatar if you never put it out there!

Use our FREE Lead Magnet Template Pack to get started. Swap out the colors and fonts to match your brand, add in your content, and download. That’s it!

TRY AND TRY AGAIN

Not all of your ideas will be winners, and that’s ok!

Even those people with the “How I Got 500 Subscribers in My First Month” have also experienced failure. We guarantee it.

They’re also most likely not brand new to blogging or online business but fail to mention that in their content. They have a network of people that they can drive to their offer and are not beginners to list building.

Give a new lead magnet a few weeks to see if it gains traction. And definitely promote, promote, promote!

Related Post: How to Design the Perfect Pinterest Pin

Create Pinterest pins that lead to your landing page. Put it out there on social media. Talk about it in Facebook groups or wherever your avatar hangs out.

Be loud and proud of what you just accomplished!

UNDERSTAND THE STRATEGY

Strategy is so important when it comes to list building. And not only that, but a lack of one can greatly affect the other.

Design
Content
Welcome sequence
Tripwire
Promotion
Ads (Facebook, Pinterest, Google, etc.)
So much more

You can spend all the money in the world on ads. But if your lead magnets aren’t specific to your avatar, are disorganized, etc., you won’t get subscribers.

The same holds true for a killer lead magnet without any type of promotion!

Once we converted visitors to subscribers, we nurtured them with a well-designed welcome sequence. We ensured every email provided value that they could apply to their blog and see results.

Results equal trust. When subscribers trust you, they’re much more likely to open your emails, take action (ie., click to read a blog post), and purchase your products.

ConvertKit made automating our email list so simple. Because everything delivers automatically, we were able to focus on creating more lead magnets to pair with our most popular blog posts.

THERE ARE MANY MOVING PIECES INVOLVED WITH LIST BUILDING.

This can make it overwhelming when you’re just trying to conquer the email list hurdle of blogging.

Use Date Your List to get to know your avatar inside and out. Create a lead magnet specific to them based on their biggest pain points.

SIDE NOTE: Use our FREE Lead Magnet Template Pack to give you the perfect jumping-off point!

Design Pinterest pins that lead to your freebie landing page. Promote, promote, promote! Nurture your list with an awesome welcome sequence, and be sure to keep the love coming even after that!

Remember, don’t sweat the size of your email list. As we said earlier, we made almost $10k with an email list of just over 2000 subscribers.

Focus on writing quality content, designing specific lead magnets, promotions, and nurturing your subscribers. You’ll be a pro at list building in no time!

RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS POST:

Don’t forget to grab our FREE Lead Magnet Template Pack! These fully editable Canva templates will help you create lead magnets that build trust so they’re ready to buy!

GET THE TEMPLATE PACK NOW!

TRY CANVA PRO FREE FOR 30 DAYS

Start your FREE Canva Pro trial today and unlock ALL of their incredible time-saving features that cut your design time to just minutes.

To be honest? It’s the best $12.99/mo OR $119/yr we spend on our business because that time we save with every design is put back into making MORE money in our business!

WANT TO SAVE THIS FOR LATER? PIN IT TO YOUR FAVORITE PINTEREST BOARD!⬇

Textured Font Tutorial | How to Design Font With Textures for FREE

April 10, 2018 by Simplifying DIY Design Leave a Comment

Last updated on May 16th, 2023

In this post, we’re going to go over the exact step-by-step design process we use to bring our designs to life by adding textured font in Canva for free! Textured font is the best way to stand out and get your designs noticed, increasing traffic, email sign-ups, and your blog’s income!

You can only get so creative with your designs until you find yourself off-brand and unrecognizable to your audience.

As a blogger, you’re always looking for ways to get your content to stand out in the sea of sameness.

Or worse, looks more like every other blogger in your niche with each passing day.

What you need is a way to make your words jump off the page. Something that instantly grabs your reader’s attention to where you are all they see.

Yet, is simple to create and won’t bust through your blog’s budget (if you have one at all).

If you’re looking for free Canva templates and business resources, check out our FREE design library now! Just click the button below to get instant access!

CLICK HERE TO GET ACCESS!

Adding textured font to your designs is one of the easiest ways to stand out among the rest.

And when you stand out, you get noticed.

If you’re ready to boost your blog’s traffic, increase email signups and ultimately make more money with your blog, you need to incorporate textured font in your designs.

Please note that this tutorial uses Canva and Preview (Mac-specific software). We’re sorry for any inconvenience!

REMEMBER THIS POST LATER! SAVE IT TO YOUR FAVORITE PINTEREST BOARD! ⬇

Creating textured font in canva is such an awesome hack for making your social media graphics jump off the page! Creating stunning pins is a big way to increase blog traffic and get more pageviews so when your pin can stand out against the rest, you have the advantage! #socialmedigraphics #socialmediadesigns #socialmediaimages #bloggraphics #canvagraphics #canvatutorials #designtutorials

WHAT IS TEXTURED FONT?

If you’ve spent any kind of time on Pinterest lately, we’re willing to bet you’ve seen a few pins with textured font.

And we’re willing to bet it was either glitter or metallic. That’s because these two are the most popular font textures on the market.

Why?

They’re both incredibly eye-catching!

Just look at the difference between these two Pinterest pins. Which one would grab your attention first?

Create textured font using Canva and Preview to make your graphics pop, boost your traffic, and increase conversions to make money blogging!

Now, glitter and metallic aren’t the only options we have to create textured font.

We’ve seen paper, paint, marble, grit, plastic, fabric, watercolors, brush strokes, even marker!

Anything that gives your design dimension can be considered a texture.

This makes textured font the perfect solution to create jump-off-the-page designs in any niche!

FIND A TEXTURED FONT THAT MATCHES YOUR BRAND

Even though you may want to go with the brightest, boldest texture you can find, you need to make sure it matches your brand.

This is key to establishing recognizability and trust with your readers.

If your brand is more modern and edgy, plastic or marker textures will pair better than, let’s say, marble.

As for light and airy brands, watercolors are a great match because they’re naturally soft and muted.

There are a ton of different options to choose from on Creative Market and even right inside Canva!

You can search for a specific texture (like grainy or marble) or browse Canva’s entire collection by going to Background from the left menu bar –> Textures.

This is a great option if you don’t have the money to purchase a textures bundle on Creative Market just yet.

However, Creative Market offers texture bundles in their weekly Free Goods every now and then (along with a ton of great design resources)!

CREATE TEXTURED FONT USING CANVA AND PREVIEW

First, you’re going to create a new design, so we have a place to add our text. We like to go with the Facebook Ad, which is 1200px by 628px.

This gives you plenty of working space to play around with different style fonts and see what looks the best.

Side note: There’s also a really cool (and FREE) font generator to help you choose the best font combinations if pairing really isn’t your thing.

Add a textbox to your blank page and type whatever you’d like to texturize.

Make your textbox fairly large, and be sure to keep the background white. Oh, and don’t forget to center it!

When you’re done, download your design as a PNG.

Next, you’ll need to open up your download in Preview. (Remember, this tutorial is only for Mac users!)

USE THE MAGIC TOOL INSIDE OF PREVIEW

First, select ‘Show Markup Toolbar’, which is to the left of the Search box.

From here, click ‘Instant Alpha’ or what everyone else calls the ‘Magic Select Tool.’ It looks like a magician’s wand, doesn’t it?

This next part can be quite tedious depending on how long your text is and if any of your letters connect, like in the example above.

You want to click on the first letter of your word and drag until the entire letter turns red. Then, hit Delete.

Don’t forget to remove the color from the i’s or exclamation points!

There may be some color lingering, so I recommend trying that same color-removal process again.

Once you have all of the black removed from your text, hit Save.

We’re now going to upload that design back into Canva so we can create our textured font!

As a side note, if you don’t have a Mac computer, you can use pixlr.com to do this as well.

ADD TEXTURE TO CANVA DESIGN

If you haven’t uploaded your texture to Canva yet, now is the time to do it.

Add your desired texture to your blank page and adjust as needed.

Sometimes, we prefer a certain area of a texture more, so we’ll manipulate the design, so it shows through our text.

Once you have your texture right where you want it, upload and add the text you just edited in Preview.

You can also drag the text around to find the perfect spot. This text will be totally custom to you, so have fun and get creative!

When you’re done, download your design as a PNG once more.

BACK TO PREVIEW FOR THE FINAL EDIT

Once we have our second design opened in Preview, you’re actually going to be doing the opposite.

Instead, you’ll be removing the background of your design instead of the actual text.

Click anywhere on the white background and drag until it’s completely highlighted.

Ensure you don’t accidentally highlight any textured font you just created. (We say that because it’s happened to us a few times!)

Once that’s all said and done, crop your image to remove the extra texture around your design. Then, hit Save one last time.

ADD TEXTURED FONT TO A PINTEREST PIN USING CANVA

We tend to add textured font to our Pinterest pins the most because we’re finding it harder and harder to stand out.

Pinterest is, unfortunately, becoming oversaturated and we found textured font to be the easiest way to overcome this.

You can also use your textured font on YouTube thumbnails, social media graphics, and more!

Our textured font now acts like any other image we’ve uploaded to Canva.

We can rotate it, change the size, or move it anywhere on our page design.

Side note: If you’re looking for an easier way to design pins, you can find new pins every single month in our DiyDesign Creators Vault!

It’s such a simple and easy way to make your designs pop. And, get noticed!

Not to mention it gives the I’m-a-graphic-designer impression when in reality it was the I-spent-5-minutes-using-Canva kind of day.

THINGS TO REMEMBER

Because you’re using textured font to grab your reader’s attention, try to use it sparingly. What we mean is one to two words at most.

It can easily make your designs noisy and difficult to read if used too much. There are some things in design where less and more, and textured font is definitely one of those things!

Another thing to note is the style of font you use. If it has extra details, you’ll end up spending quite a great deal of time removing the color in Preview instead of going with a simpler font.

Lastly, don’t be afraid to try a few different variations (as long as it matches your brand) or just manipulating the image to create a different look.

This can be done by rotating the textured image or simply by changing the size.

Now, get out there and start creating eye-catching designs using DIY textured font!

WATCH THE VIDEO!

As always, showing is easier than explaining, so please watch the video below. Resources discussed in the video will be linked beneath it and make sure to join our Facebook group!

RESOURCES DISCUSSED IN THE VIDEO:

If you’re looking for free Canva templates and business resources, check out our FREE design library now! Just click the button below to get instant access!

CLICK HERE TO GET ACCESS!

TRY CANVA PRO FREE FOR 30 DAYS

Start your FREE Canva Pro trial today and unlock ALL of their incredible time-saving features that’ll cut your design time down to just minutes.

To be honest? It’s the best $12.99/mo OR $119/yr we spend on our business because that time we save with every single design is put back into making MORE money in our business!

WANT TO REMEMBER THIS LATER? SAVE IT TO YOUR FAVORITE PINTEREST BOARD! ⬇

Honest Truth About Blogging | What You Need to Know Before You Start a Blog

March 16, 2018 by Simplifying DIY Design 25 Comments

Last updated on April 17th, 2023

It’s so frustrating when you read articles claiming overnight success with their blogs just to get clicks to their website. Here’s the raw, honest truth about what you need to know before you start a blog and how we REALLY went from zero to a five-figure launch in just six months.

As bloggers, we often use search engines like Pinterest, YouTube, and Google.

We’re always adding content to Pinterest and Tailwind to boost our blog posts’ traffic. We reference YouTube and Google regularly for popular keywords to spark new content ideas.

We even search for things to learn more about, so we’re constantly providing up-to-date information for our own readers!

But there’s one thing we simply don’t do. In fact, we NEVER did, even when we were starting this Simplifying DIY Design journey.

Don’t forget our FREE Product Creators Quickstart Kit! You’ll get a checklist, cheatsheet, and Canva design template to help you nail your launch!

GET THE FREE QUICKSTART KIT NOW!

We don’t spend any time reading posts about “How I Get 50k Pageviews After 3 Months with No Experience!”

We don’t read “How to Start a Blog in Under 5 Minutes.” And we definitely skip right over “How I Got 1k Subscribers My First Month Blogging!”

REMEMBER THIS POST LATER! PIN IT TO YOUR FAVORITE PINTEREST BOARD! ⬇

Starting a blog isn't as easy as some articles claim to be. Here's the real, honest truth about what you need to know before you start a blog.

If there’s one thing that makes our blood boil, it’s when people make online business seem fast, easy, and free.

Business isn’t supposed to be quick and easy. Unfortunately, people write these blog posts because it gets others to click. This is also known as clickbait.

What’s ‘clickbait,’ you ask?

According to Merriam-Webster, clickbait refers to “something (such as a headline) designed to make readers want to click on a hyperlink, especially when the link leads to content of dubious value or interest”

We can’t tell you how many times our readers have expressed frustration about how blogging was much harder than they thought. And we totally agree!

Most who aren’t familiar with the stark reality of blogging think they can write nonsense about THEIR life, and the masses would come.

All they have to do is slap up a few ads, and poof! They replaced their full-time income in a few months.

To be fair, we don’t blame them because that’s what those posts led them to believe.

Here’s the honest truth about what it’s really like to start a blog.

Setting up your blog shouldn’t take five minutes. It should take five minutes to install WordPress, maybe… but the rest of it?

The theme, the logo, the pillar content; That all takes time.

It matters what your site looks like. It matters what your logo looks like. The quality of your content matters. The overall foundation of your blog matters!

If you’ve launched your blog but still have minimal growth, always revert back to your foundation.

What’s your brand personality like? Is your content packed with the value your audience wants to learn more about?

Are your titles easy to read, or are you writing sentences in a fancy script that can’t be read on a giant computer screen, let alone a mobile device?

Are you using all the “free” stuff because you don’t want to invest in your business?

You have to spend money in order to make money. Even something as simple as a stock photo membership (we chose DepositPhotos) can make a world of difference.

#1: Know your audience FIRST

Instead of focusing our blog on a topic that’s centered around $$$, we combined our love for design with a common problem in the blogging world. In other words, we chose passion over profit.

We created our blog FOR our avatar.

Because we did the research right from the get-go, we already knew our avatar and had a crystal clear focus on what they needed.

A common mistake with starting a blog is choosing something you like FIRST and then trying to figure out your avatar and who you’re speaking to.

We spent literal months getting to know our audience FIRST through Facebook group research and surveys. Lots of surveys!

That’s actually how we mapped out our first product, which generated $10k in sales in just one week!

#2: Focus on content OVER products

You didn’t get 1k email subscribers in your first month?

Well, that blog post you read probably forgot to mention that they already had an established network (like a Facebook group) to which they could drive their offer.

They weren’t starting from scratch. And they probably didn’t mention that they were knowledgeable about Facebook ads or had a decent ad budget.

Oh, and we’re sure they conveniently forgot to get into the nitty-gritty details of a fantastic lead magnet that people want.

After we knew exactly who we were writing to, we jumped head first into our content.

We started with 10-15 pillar posts (aka cornerstone or very in-depth blog posts) centered around our main topic – blog design. Then, we created a resource library to hold all of our lead magnets as our primary opt-in method.

Next, we made sure our lead magnets were heavily promoted in our pillar posts AND that it was super easy to sign-up thanks to our eye-catching forms.

#3: Shout from the rooftops

Because we were determined to make our blog successful, we pulled out all the stops, including stepping out of our comfort zone.

For some, just the thought of telling other people about their blog makes their stomachs turn. What will people think? What if they think it’s silly, right?

You should be so unbelievably proud of this and want to shout from the rooftops!

We told everyone about our blog. Family, our favorite Facebook groups, and even other blogging friends we’ve met while researching our avatar.

We never “hid” our blog with a coming soon page because we wanted Google to have to find us and our keyword-rich content. Google can sometimes be a bit slow, even through your requested indexing!

#4: Add a well-thought-out tripwire

Soon after we ‘officially’ launched Simplifying DIY Design, we were ready for our first product!

It wasn’t long until we quickly realized our lead magnets were converting well with the traffic we had, so we made a tripwire product.

Related Post: Tripwire Product Ideas for Your Blog

Tripwires are a product you can offer to new subscribers after they sign-up for your opt-in.

Because our lead magnets were very specific (just like our pillar posts), we knew what tripwire products to start with – product templates!

We created a planner and workbook template using Canva and bundled them together for just $7.

If you want to learn everything there is to know about creating, designing, and setting up a profitable tripwire product, check out our Tripwire Deep Dive Workshop for just $27!

#5: Utilizing ads for faster growth

Once our tripwire was complete, we started with Facebook ads (we recommend Pinterest now, though) and promoting in Facebook groups that offered promotional content on specific threads. Always make sure to reference group rules first!

Because our tripwire was bringing in about 2-3x what we spent on ads, we were already making money while we worked on growing our email list.

Now, before anyone jumps to any conclusions, we started with a VERY small ad budget ($2 a day) because we didn’t have a ton to start with.

We went into this fully prepared to invest for faster growth, so we did set aside a little each month leading up to this point.

#6: Email list, email list, email list

While location means everything to a realtor, an email list is a gold mine for a blogger.

You own your email list. No matter what happens to your email service provider, the list you export every month is YOURS.

Can you say the same about Instagram or Facebook? You’re at the whim of the algorithms, which, as we all know, is a complete mystery and changes with the wind.

Not to mention the dreaded #Instagramdown that conveniently happens right when we want to go live…

Within the first six months of starting our blog, we spent 100% of our time growing our list by writing newsletters that focused solely on value (even when it was just a handful of people).

We wanted to provide them with useful information while getting to know them (and vice versa) at the same time. Every morning we’d wake up to replies with a simple “this is so good, thank you!” to “My pins weren’t converting until I found your blog!”

It’s things like that that give us the motivation to push forward, even on our worst days.

#7: Time for product surveys

Once we hit about 800 subscribers, we sent out a survey (using SurveyMonkey) to see what products they’d be interested in.

Surveys work because people love to be heard. They love to tell their story and share their opinions, whether good or bad.

Don’t believe us? Go into a business-related Facebook group and ask, “what’s your favorite planner?” You’ll be turning off notifications within 15 minutes – guaranteed.

We even added a survey to our welcome sequence, so we always had a full content bank. This is huge when you’re struggling to come up with something new to write!

#8: Listen, create, launch

A couple of weeks after our original product survey went out, we knew exactly what our audience wanted.

Every blogger needs this COMPLETE Blogger Template Toolkit! With 450+ Canva AND PicMonkey templates, you'll create everything your blog needs without learning design!

They wanted a product that took the stress of design completely off the table.

While it wasn’t an easy feat, we created our Complete Blogger Template Toolkit with, at the time of our first launch, had 250+ Canva templates that covered every facet of a blog.

We have since grown that product to incorporate 450+ design templates available for both Canva AND PicMonkey users because we never stopped surveying our audience!

We spent another few weeks designing the product, writing the copy, and creating a sales page.

Because our readers already knew that we were in the works on a product they specifically asked for, we didn’t spend a ton of time on our sales page.

In fact, we were selling it before the product was even done because we had built so much hype around it.

The sales page came after when the testimonials started pouring in. What better way to write copy than using the exact words and phrases from the people who bought it from you? With their permission, of course.

After our incredibly successful first-ever launch, we knew we had to put this product into an evergreen sales funnel.

So, we turned to our email service provider ConvertKit and got to work.

#9: Automated email funnel

ConvertKit has been our choice of ESPs from the very beginning. It’s simple enough for even the most non-techy blogger all the way up to fully customized, automated email funnels with segmented offers.

We wrote a handful of promotional emails within a ‘sequence’ and then added them to specific ‘automations’ within ConvertKit. (Try ConvertKit free for 30 days here!)

This now converts our product into an evergreen launch which means it’s on constant promotion to subscribers who hit a certain point of our sales funnel.

To put it simply, it means less work for us!

Simplifying DIY Design wasn’t our first blog. It wasn’t our second or third.

We weren’t new to the blogging world, which meant we had a competitive edge. We knew what didn’t work so we could cut out a lot of the trial and error most bloggers have with their first blog.

Because of this, we can help YOU create a clear line of focus and get results a lot quicker!

Blogging is anything but easy. We laid out our exact game plan to help you and also show that it was not an overnight success.

The first six months had a lot of (very) long nights, dinner-less evenings, missed get-togethers, LOTS of tears, and many finger cramps.

Why do those EASY ‘start a blog’ posts bother us so much?

It bothers us because it’s discouraging. It’s discouraging to those that work so hard and don’t understand why they aren’t seeing those same results.

It’s discouraging to have the resources and money to get that success, but you never knew you needed to do those things because people weren’t honest about what it takes in the first place!

It’s discouraging to read posts about quick success and think, “Yeah, I DO all that, so what the heck?!”

What happens when people get discouraged? They give up. They succumb to defeat, and they never see success.

We want nothing more than for you to be successful, which is why we’re sharing the real, honest truth about what it’s like REALLY like to start a blog.

You need to invest time, money, energy
You need to believe in yourself and have the confidence to put yourself out there
You need to sacrifice – any moment you have to yourself, you blog
You write, create, learn, and don’t stop

And if not, that doesn’t mean you won’t be successful eventually, but it’ll take longer, and you need to be okay with that.

You can’t look at others’ success and wonder, “why not me?” But we know you, you’re not like that. You do the work. You have what it takes.

We’re not saying to burn yourself out or that you need a lot of money to succeed.

Instead, you need to trust the process. Don’t give up. Stop comparing yourself to others. There’s always another side to their story!

RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS POST:

Don’t forget our FREE Product Creators Quickstart Kit! You’ll get a checklist, cheatsheet, and Canva design template to help you nail your launch!

GET THE FREE QUICKSTART KIT NOW!

TRY CANVA PRO FREE FOR 30 DAYS

Start your FREE Canva Pro trial today and unlock ALL of their incredible time-saving features that cut your design time to just minutes.

To be honest? It’s the best $12.99/mo OR $119/yr we spend on our business because that time we save with every design is put back into making MORE money in our business!