Rise Up Designs

One of my commitments this year was to become more involved in the small business community. This weekend, I participated in another small market at a local coffee shop. If you’ve followed my journey for a while, you know that most of my larger events are 10x10 booth spaces filled with products, displays, and lots of foot traffic. This market was much smaller—a cozy 5x5 setup—but it reminded me of something important. Of course, every small business owner hopes for sales when they attend an event. But I’ve learned that showing up isn’t always about what you sell that day. Sometimes it’s about building relationships, getting out of your comfort zone, and becoming part of something bigger than yourself. As I walked around the market, I took photos of the other vendors and shared them on Instagram. I tagged their businesses and encouraged people to stop by and support them. My thinking was simple: if someone comes out to support me, maybe they’ll discover another amazing small business...

 Okay, let’s talk about Pinterest. You know, that platform we all use to save recipes we’ll never cook and DIY projects we’ll never actually attempt? (or is that  Just me? 😆 ) Well, turns out, Pinterest isn’t just for dream home inspiration —it’s a powerful marketing tool for small businesses. So, I decided to test it out for the past 30 days and see if it could actually drive traffic to my Etsy shop . Did it work? Kinda. Was it confusing? A little. Am I sticking with it? Absolutely. Here’s what I learned after one month of trying Pinterest for my small business. 1. Pinterest is More Like Google Than Instagram I went into this thinking Pinterest was just another social media platform. ❌ WRONG. Pinterest is actually a search engine —just like Google or Etsy. Meaning? People use it to search for things they want to buy, learn, or try. 💡 Lesson: If you treat Pinterest like Instagram (just posting random photos), you’re doing it wrong. Instead, you have to use ke...