Creative Small Business Must-Haves
Welcome to Slate + Brush Design Studio’s first blog post! This has been a long time coming and I wanted to start off my blogging with some small business must-haves. One of the hardest things about starting a creative business is knowing what to spend money on. Some purchases are a little daunting and you’ll sometimes wonder - is it even worth the price tag? Which of these 239847293 printers should you go with? Or scanners? Or laptops? I’ve been there, done that, and read waaaay too many articles about each item. So, see below for some of the things that I can’t run my business without. Let me know if you use any of these as well!
#1 Must-Have:
First up on the list….a laptop! I use my laptop all day every and it’s the biggest purchase I’ve ever made for my business. I use all Adobe programs and they work well with Apple products. Plus, I have an iPhone so everything connects together so easily! I’m even able to respond to text messages through my MacBook and it’s like the good ole days of AIM and I’ll here for it.
Check out the MacBook Pro here
#2 Must-Have:
Second is a CRM system. CRM stands for Client Relationship Management and it’s so helpful for keeping your business organized. I’m able to easily set up workflows so that emails are automatically sent to clients, create proposals, send contracts, and send rounds of proofs to clients that they can provide feedback on. Plus, you can add photos and your brand colors so that everything matches perfectly. There are many different systems that you can use, but I am in love with Dubsado. You can use the below link for 20% off your first year or month of Dubsado (it will change the game - I promise!).
#3 Must-Have:
Third is a great printer. I probably spent the most amount of time researching the best printer to purchase. There are a million options out there, but I wanted something that I could rely on and not have to worry about it breaking the night before I have to mail out orders. Have you ever had to go through endless sheets of paper trying to get something to print correctly and you wanting to pull your hair out? Yeah, been there done that and I never want to do that again! I have the Canon Pixma Pro-100 wireless inkjet printer. it’s a little pricey, but it’s a workhorse and the Canon customer service is 10/10. I also like how the ink tanks are individual, so you don’t waste ink by replacing the entire cartridge if you mainly use one tank. The one downside is that it’s big (it can print large as well!) and heavy so you’ll need to find a good place for it. Otherwise it’s incredible!!
Check out the Canon Pixma Pro-100 printer here
#4 Must-Have:
Fourth is a good scanner. Especially as an artist, you want to have clean, high res scans so that you can print your pieces on a larger scale without getting blurry. You could take photos with your phone, but this is a way better option! It’s not huge, which is a good and bad thing. Good because it doesn’t take up much space in my studio but bad in that I can’t scan in 11x17” watercolor paintings in one go. But, I mainly paint on 8x10” paper so that’s totally fine with me.
Check out the Epson Perfection V600 scanner here
#5 Must-Have:
My final must have is a daylight lamp. If you’re like me, you work in a spare bedroom and at night so you don’t normally have good natural sunlight. I purchased a desk daylight lamp so that I’m able to take good photos no matter what time it is and also be able to see colors better. Overhead lighting tends to be very yellow, so this helps to even that out and show the true colors. Plus it helps in the winter months when you don’t get as much natural light like in the summer!
Check out a daylight lamp here
Those are the top 5 must-haves for small creative business must-haves! I will definitely share other lists of materials that I can’t go without in later posts. I’m all about saving people time from researching for hours and hours and still not be confident in what you’re purchasing. If you have any questions, leave them below and I’ll see you on the next post!
-Sarah