Now I know I work for myself, but stay with me here. My husband Alex and I are the youngest people in our neighborhood and work networks. When people discovered our ages a few months after meeting us, we could physically feel the air change in the room. Age is tied to experience and that’s not necessarily always true. So here’s what you can do to navigate being the youngest person in your workplace.
Put your work forward, not your age. We intentionally avoided telling neighbors and work colleagues our ages. For one, it shouldn’t matter (even though it does), but two, we let our work speak for us. You’re going to feel like you have something to prove, so prove it. Generations stereotype, so put your head down and break the classic “lazy” or “entitled” stereotypes will impressing your boss at work in the process.
Find things in common with your colleagues so they stop seeing your differences first. Do you like the same music as someone in your office? Did you grow up in the same small town? Find common interests to build a relationship beyond the superficial.
Don’t take the age comments too seriously. A friend or work acquaintance will make a comment like, “Oh you’re too young to know who that is” or “You weren’t even born when that came out!” Oftentimes that’s their insecurities being projected onto you. It’s often hard for people to accept that someone younger is at the same point in life as they are.
Avoid age references. The other side of the coin is just as true. No one wants their older age to be pointed out. Avoid the “you don’t know what Snapchat is?!” comments. Trust me. That’s now how you make friends.
There are going to be those people who just can’t get over the age difference. It’s unfortunate, but it’s also not your problem. Be proud of your personal successes while not rubbing them in anyone’s face. Work hard and be kind.
From Google calendars to notebooks, I’ve tried quite a few ways over the years to keep track of my online content. Since blog posts and videos often change based on my mood and what’s relevant, I need a system that can adapt and change with me. Of course Google Calendar is great for that, but I much rather use stickers. I mean…who wouldn’t?
So lately I’ve been operating on a two monthly calendar system. I created my own
frankenplanner with two monthly calendars back to back. The first is my main calendar to track travel and appointments, and the second is for content. That way I have everything in one place, but separate to keep things from getting too messy.
I stick with
functional stickers and use the boxes with the white insides for blog posts and the shaded ones for videos. I put all of the stickers down at the start of the month and fill in posts and videos as I go along. Having all of the stickers down at the start of the month makes it easy for me to see where and when I need content. It also helps me coordinate blog posts to go along with videos. I use rectangle boxes to mark any travel or big events that will likely affect content.
If I decide to change up a post or a video after writing something down, I place another sticker on top of it. Sure I could use erasable pens or remove the sticker, but I find putting one on top of the other is the fastest and laziest approach.
I’m sure my system will continue to change and adapt depending on my needs, but this method combines my love of stickers and desire to use a tangible planner into one happy solution.
How do you keep track of your content creation?
I’m no stranger to burnout. It’s like anxiety in how it constantly hangs around, unwanted, giving unnecessary feedback. Sure I much rather have it not exist at all, but burnout is a part of any profession in one way or another. So here’s how I’ve learned to embrace it over the years.
First off, I’ve accepted that burnout is inevitable. It’s going to happen no matter how hard I’m motivated or passionate about what I’m doing. Sure it may become less frequent, but it can’t be avoided forever. I think once I accepted this fact, burnout stopped being so crippling. I no longer feel like a complete failure if I’m feeling burnt out, but rather that it’s just part of the cycle and I’ll be back to being motivated in no time.
I’ve also started scheduling more mental health days to try and add more distance between burnouts. I’ll take a half day off of work to do something just for fun. It helps reset the batteries, keeps me motivated, and usually has a way of inspiring me in the process.
When burnout eventually does strike, I look at it as an opportunity to try and look at things from a different perspective. I’ll try and work on another project or putz on things around the house. I find it’s when you’re not paying attention that creativity strikes. And if a great new idea doesn’t strike during burnout to jump start things again, that’s ok too. I try to remind myself why I started to remain positive and let the burnout pass.
Burnout is going to happen, especially if you’re working in a creative field that constantly demands new things from you. It’s better to embrace it rather than fight it, because burnout will win in the end. So go along for the ride, take a day off every once in a while, and don’t stress out too much (I’m talking to you Kayla in the future).
Trust me, I’m still learning this one. When you have a creativity related job, it’s easy for friends and family to assume you’ll do work for them for free. “Oh, it’s just a few photos” or “Can’t you just whip up a logo really quick?” We are constantly getting bombarded with requests to do things for free and free doesn’t pay the bills. So here’s what you should do if people want you to do any sort of work for free.
Be up front about your costs. Especially if you work in a creative field designing websites or doing photography, make sure people know what you charge. Create a pricing sheet or have an email template you can send to anyone who asks you to do something for them. That way they know immediately that you aren’t an intern and deserve proper compensation for your work.
Provide a friends and family discount if you feel so inclined. You definitely shouldn’t feel like you have to offer special pricing for people you know, but it could be an easy way to appease people while still getting paid.
Try the barter system if someone just doesn’t want to pay you. If you still want to work with them, try exchanging goods and services instead. Maybe they have a rental space you could use for free in exchange for some photography. Figure out a way that both parties are satisfied.
Create a site or portfolio of your work to boost credibility. A lot of the time people don’t really understand what my husband and I do for a living. The ignorance leads them to assuming graphic design or photography is just a hobby, rather than our way of feeding ourselves. Having a website or portfolio of your work will not only show moochers the quality you produce (and not for free), but is also a great way to get more clients.
Make very few exceptions to the rules. It’s super important that you don’t do a favor for someone “just this one time” because that could start becoming the precedent. You don’t want word spreading that you did Jack’s logo for free because Susan is going to expect the same deal.
Friends and family don’t perform their jobs for free, so neither should you. Just because you may have a non-traditional job in a creative field does not mean you have to be a starving artist.
The Oh, Hello Box is six months old! Putting together the box every month is one of my favorite things about my job. Sure there are a few boring parts like budgets to deal with, but it’s mostly just a whole lot of fun.
When planning what goes into each of the boxes, I first look at current trends and any particular seasonal factors for each month. The summer is usually filled with grilling, travel, and lots of sun, so it makes sense to create boxes around those ideas rather than cuddling up with a nice book. I keep a running list of theme ideas in a notebook whenever something pops up in my head. So I look through that and decide on a theme before doing anything else.
Next is deciding on the budget and number of boxes for that month. We have a set budget for each box to guarantee we’re making good enough margins for the box to be sustainable. Plus we want to make sure we have enough boxes for growing demand.
Now comes the fun part. Once I have the box theme in mind (say…travel) I get to run with it. I’ll flip through countless promotional item catalogs my husband Alex keeps for
his business. Of course there are a ton of items that would fall under the travel category, but I like thinking out of the box and seeing if I can incorporate items that don’t necessarily fall into the category on their own. That’s where designing comes in. I’m always on the lookout for practical items people will actually use rather than having stuff that’ll just take up space. The great thing about the box is how shareable it is. If there happens to be something you just aren’t crazy about, you can easily pass it along to a friend or wrap it up for a gift.
After my list of products has been roughly outlined, I start figuring out what I want on them. This is the point where the box really starts to take shape. A “meh” item can be turned into the most popular thing in the box if it has a really awesome quote or great design on it. I need to know what the items are before I start designing to make sure the designs make sense with each item and can work cohesively to the theme.
Honestly having a husband in the promotional products business makes assembling the box every month a complete breeze. I’m fortunate to have someone who is constantly up on the most popular items and coolest gadgets that we can share with all of you.
If you have any questions about what it’s like to put a subscription box together every month, drop them in the comments!
Back in 2014, the planner sticker industry felt like the wild west. Shops were few and far between and every idea worked. I’m ashamed at some of the low quality items I sold thinking they were gems. Here we are five years later and it’s definitely a different world. New shops pop up every day and there’s been a noticeable shift in the sticker shop world that will continue to change in the next few years.
I predict that by the time 2020 rolls around, a lot of shops will start closing. Whether they just lost interest or aren’t making the income they expected, a lot of shops are going to turn the metaphorical closed sign for good. The sticker world isn’t an easy one. Competition is stiff and margins thin to the point that a good amount of people will likely throw in the towel rather than hang on. The competition will only get worse as box stores continue to try and get their share of the planner cash cow.
We’ve already started to see more established shops going after bigger fish like Michael’s. The gap between smaller, start up shops and larger shops will continue to grow wider as time goes on. Even Oh, Hello has its eyes on bigger things than just making stickers.
But amidst all the competition and closed shops, creativity is really going to shine. You can’t stick with the norm and expect things to sell anymore. I cannot wait to see the amazing, creative products my fellow business owners come up with in the coming years.
So yeah. The sticker world isn’t what it used to be…but you know, what? Good. Planner addicts deserve amazing products to help make their lives more organized and colorful and tough competition will lead to just that. Oh, Hello doesn’t plan on going anywhere anytime soon either.
