Building My Brand to Help Artists - The Apps We Use
Every business has their choice of tools they use to keep track of everything. As much as it sounds dirty our art is a form of business. I have been recently experimenting and trying to figure out what tools and workflows work best for me. I want to use this blog post to bring you along on the journey and show you what I use to maybe help you decide which tools you want to use. If you see something you want to try out, you can help support our mission by using the links found in this post.
This is not going to be an exhaustive blog post about each tool I use but a quick overview.
Creative Apps
Let's start this post off by diving into the apps we use to create our content. Since we are artists, we're definitely more in love with the creative side of what we do - way more than crunching numbers or doing analytics (that stuff can be so draining). I've been experimenting with different tools lately to find what actually clicks with my creative process. So here's a peek at some of my favorite creative tools that help me bring all that content you see to life. Let’s be honest, I wouldn’t be creating as much content if it wasn’t for these apps.
Canva
We use Canva for graphics and all our social media content. I primarily focus on music and writing and am not a natural graphic designer. Canva helps we quickly create visually inspiring content that I can use to share my writings, poems or music. Canva isn’t for everyone; if you are a graphic designer by trade then the simplicity and AI features of Canva may be a dealbreaker for you. If that’s the case I would recommend the Affinity Apps. They were recently bought by Canva but they stand alone and don’t have the AI features that may dampen your creativity. In the affinity suit they have Photo, Designer, and Publisher. They feel very similar to the Adobe Photoshop apps without the steep subscription price. I like using these tools when editing photos or when I feel inspired to actually design my own graphics. They are about $50 each and have a computer and iPad version so can fit into your workflow no matter what it is.
You can find these apps here:
Canva - https://www.canva.com/
Affinity Photo - https://affinity.serif.com/en-us/photo/?srsltid=AfmBOoqEsQBqeZgshMUnwTuq-TTdOWGovW2g0jsbKpMfh7M8uLMp9kIj
Affinity Designer - https://affinity.serif.com/en-us/designer/
Affinity Publisher - https://affinity.serif.com/en-us/publisher/
Ableton
When I am writing or recording music Ableton is my goto DAW. For those of you who may not know a DAW is a Digital Audio Workstation. Basically it’s just an application that let’s me record and put together sounds to build and mix a song. These are many of great options at different price points for musicians but I have used Ableton and love it’s workflow.
SquareSpace
Everyone needs an online portfolio. We have a blog post we shared a few weeks ago about the importance of building your online brand. If you missed it you can find it at https://www.rosesashumans.com/blog/building-an-online-presence-for-your-brand.
I don’t have time to sit down and code a website and keep it secure and maintain it. So I turn to square space. I chose square space because of it’s simplicity. I don’t need another complex software to learn and figure out how to use. SquareSpace allows me to quickly share my work and this blog in a beautiful way. Like the previous tool if you are a web designer this would probably not be the tool you choose but for creatives who just need a quick way to share your work online this is a great tool.
You can setup a shop to sell your work, create a portfolio to show off what you have made, and even host a blog. You can hide your content behind a pay wall to gain support from your fans. There are so many great options that are easy to setup an implement.
Learn more over at https://www.squarespace.com/
Financial
Now we are onto the boring part of this post but trust me it is just as important as creating your art. If you can’t manage yourself well then you won’t be able to provide for your family and continue to make are for a living.
Stripe
We use stripe for sending out invoices and processing payments that then get sent on to Found (which I will tell you about next.) I like how easy stripe makes it to send an invoice and get paid by clients. This platform is also used by other places like Vocal.media and Squarespace.com to send me payouts from earning I made on their platforms. You can setup all your business information and allow people to pay you via credit card. They take a small percentage but it is worth it to make it easy for people to pay you. Anytime you can remove an obstacle for clients or fans the better your ROI or return on investment.
Found
I found this website when searching for a way to separate my personal money from what I make through Roses as Humans. It makes it easy to set aside money for different aspects of your business and pay contractors. It helps you manage expenses and calculate what you will owe on your taxes. If you are making money through your art then this could be a very useful tool for you to use to make sure you know what you are making vs what you are spending. And you can use it for free!
“Get smart business banking with built-in bookkeeping and tax tools. All with no hidden fees or minimums. Use my link below and you’ll get $20 when you spend $100. https://found.com/refer/WDV85P”
Origin
You need a budget. There I said it. If you are going to be financially healthy you need to know where your money is going. I have found the origin app to be very helpful in keeping track of my families income and expenses. This isn’t a free app but it gives you great resources to track all of your money and allows you to file your taxes through it. Feel free to use my referral link to give it a try and help you better understand your finances.
https://www.useorigin.com/referral/51d77921-5f64-4dab-9911-debef14f3b84
Organization / Planning
Notion
The last app is the center of all my work in planning. I use Notion to store all my knowledge and plan all my projects. It is a highly customizable workspace built on databases to help your organize and write anything. I keep all my blog posts and songs organized by categories so I can go back and reference everything I’ve done in the past. If you enjoy organizing data and building systems Notion could be a great option for you. You don’t even have to pay for it. They have a free version that is plenty powerful enough to get you started.
Hopefully you have found the apps I use to be interesting and helpful. These aren’t everything I use and will probably change as my life evolves and changes. I would love to hear what apps you have found to be the most helpful from this list or what apps should I look into? Let me know in the comments I always enjoy checking out new things!
