Rise Up Designs

You know that moment when you’re scrolling through social media or walking through a market and suddenly you stop. Wait a minute. That looks…familiar. 👀😂 Well, I had that moment recently. Twice. At another market, I saw someone selling Blind Dates with a Book. No big deal—lots of people sell them. But the card they were using to describe the book looked very similar to the cards I created for mine. Then I came across another shop online with merchandise curated and presented in a way that also felt awfully familiar. And I’m not going to pretend my first reaction was: What a wonderful compliment! 😂 There was a little frustration. Because when you run a creative business, you know how much time goes into the things customers never see. You experiment. You change packaging. You move things around. You create something, decide you hate it, and start over. You listen to customers. You figure out what works at markets. You tweak the little details until something finally feel...

Grab your coffee, because Mother Nature decided she wanted to be part of my market planning this week. 😂☕ Yesterday I returned to a market that was one of my best last year, so I was really looking forward to it. Then came the weather. We’d had a lot of rain in Texas, including flooding in some areas, and San Antonio had gotten enough that the organizers moved our market from the park to the parking lot because the ground was too wet. Immediately, I started thinking: What if it rains? What should I take? What could get ruined? And, if I’m being completely transparent, there was also a little part of me thinking: But if I don’t bring everything, what if I don’t do as well? There it was. 😂 That small-business-owner voice that convinces you the ONE THING you leave at home will absolutely be the thing everyone wants. But I couldn’t control the weather. I could control how I prepared for it. So I edited. I left my carpet at home. I focused on products that were already protec...

Running a small business means wearing approximately 47 hats. 😜 You’re making the products, buying supplies, answering messages, packing orders, doing markets, updating listings—and somewhere in there, apparently, you’re also supposed to be a social media manager. 😂 I’m definitely not a social media expert, but I’ve learned a few things about using it for Rise Up Designs without letting it take over my life. Show up consistently, not constantly. You don’t need to post three times a day. I’d rather post something that actually shows what I’m making, where I’ll be, or what customers can order than post just because I think I’m supposed to. Show the real business. Some of my best content is simply what’s happening: setting up for a market, a new Blind Date with a Book, a custom order, something I’m working on, or even something I learned when things didn’t go exactly as planned. People like seeing the person and process behind a small business. Make your content useful. Not ever...