I came up with the idea to create this series when I was looking back on the past two and a half years as a small business owner, thinking “What are the things that I wish someone had told me about starting a business.” Creating is a full-time job in and of itself and running a business is like adding another full-time job on top of it. Hopefully, this series will help guide you through some of the preliminary steps. Full transparency: if I recommend any products I will include affiliate links so, if you decide to buy any of them, I will get a small kickback. Don’t fret, though, that has not swayed my opinion and every one of the products I recommend is something I fully endorse because I use it myself.
Education
The Creative’s Guide to Starting a Small Business – Part 2 The Pop-up Markets
Sometimes the best way to get an audience is to put yourself out there. Pop-up markets are a great way to do this as they are generally a low cost of entry, most cities and towns have several community organizations that run them, and, if you find the right one, they are a great way to connect with an audience. Today I’ll be going over some of the things I wish I had known before my first market.
The Creatives Guide to Starting a Business – Part 1 The Red Tape
What better place to start a series like this than the one thing that scares people the most when starting a business. The legal aspect. We are not lawyers so remember to check with your legal advisor on the rules specific to your business as well as your state / country. These are the steps we took for our business
A Place to Make
The biggest barrier to being a maker is tools. There are so many tools that can make your life easier but obtaining them can be both cost and space prohibitive. We do all our work in a small garage. Our workspace is shared with gardening tools, camping equipment, bicycles, and automotive tools. Renting a space …
From Bits to Burn in 4 Steps
One of the questions I often get is about how I get hand burn pieces using images on the computer. When I tell people it is using a laser printer, I’m not going to lie, I get quite a few puzzled looks. It is not intuitive how you can go from a digital image to …
The World through a 16-bit Palette
This weekend is Pride so Zona is busy getting product ready. That means you get a special treat today. She’s left me, Brian, in charge of the blog. Silly Girl…. Unlike our lovely Zona, I am not an artist. That is to say not an artist in the1 traditional sense. But we here at BZ …
Furry, Firey Friends
Tips and tricks to make better pet portraits
Maker Education Series – Building a Website Part 5 – Getting (and staying) in Touch
We just launched our brand new https://shop.bzfurfur.com and we’ve learned a lot in the process. We are launching this five-part weekly series, every Tuesday starting March 21, as a way to help other makers on a similar journey. Not everyone is going to be ready to order right away. Many people have questions and need a reliable …
Maker Education Series – Building a Website Part 4 – Social Media
We just launched our brand new https://shop.bzfurfur.com and we’ve learned a lot in the process. We are launching this five-part weekly series, every Tuesday starting March 21, as a way to help other makers on a similar journey.
Makers Education Series – Building a Website Part 3 – Search Engine Optimization
You’ll often hear publishing on the internet as “shouting into the void”. There is nothing worse than having a voice but no one to hear it. Publishing to your website is similar to that. If you don’t have a way for people to find your website you might as well be shouting into the void. So how do you gain an audience?










