The last couple of weeks have been nuts.  And it only occurred to me this week, that I may have cultivated a tiny infant of a business after a year of very focused gestation.  This tiny business has yet to be defined, branded; and don’t even talk to me about incorporation yet.  But I think it’s got some substance to it and I can’t wait to start talking about it a bit more over the next weeks.

In the meantime, I thought I’d share some of the amazing resources that are helping me get there.  A couple are great reads and perpetual scrolls and clicks. Another is a brilliant class taught an idol in the blog and design world.  They are all by an amazing and diverse group of ladies who are all about sharing and caring.

Victoria McGinley is designer, business advisor, branding consultant and pretty much bi-coastal.  She shares all of her loves, recipes (this one’s has been on repeat in our house for the past couple of years), and also business advice on her blog.  Her latest one is geared towards clients of designers, but has been incredibly helpful in the way I work as a designer (though I definitely cannot be calling myself one yet).  The way I position myself for clients, communicate with them and at the end of the day, truly help clients attain what the need at the end of the day.  One of my big values as I build this biz is to be client-driven and really attuned to their needs. I feel like having these in the toolbox will help me get there.

I’ve been following Alt Summit and Create & Cultivate for the past year and while I don’t see my intercontinental travels coinciding with their stellar conferences in the near future, it’s definitely something I’d really love to make happen one day.  Drawing on the experiences of so many ladies who may have been at the forefront of the design and blogging scene, to new young things who are really making things happen, I can literally spend hours scrolling through all of the biz tips that are being shared.

Kate Arends needs no introduction.  She’s behind all of Wit&Delight, the branding at Askov Finlayson (among others).  And now, an amazing class, Building Your Brand, on Skillshare (my favourite learning site).  I just completed it this past weekend and was amazed about how deep I got in just 45 minutes.  Branding has become really important to me as a way of communicating who I am, the exact breadth and depth of what I do, and what I want my clients to achieve.   It’s also helped me to focus on the skills I need to get there and get better.  Learning about my vision, values, my mission and how to get an action plan together to achieve those elements was so important for me.  I basically relaxed for a second and smelled the roses.  It felt good.  I highly recommend giving Skillshare a free trial for a month and giving this shorty of a class a try.