My "Small Supplier" Identity
Plus Three Resources You Need to Know
Hello! Happy weekend! I hope you have had a great week.
I have been battling a nasty cold, but one benefit of freelancing is I can actually just rest when I need to. Could I finally be figuring out work/life balance?
This week felt more routine for me. I really felt like I was getting into a groove. Fridays are my admin days but other than that I have no set schedule. As long as I get my time in, it doesn’t really matter how I get there. And I like it. It feels comfortable.
I’ve been working with a brand new downtown business to create signage, a logo and merch which has been super fun. I’ve made great headway on a massive map project that has been going on for months now.
One resource I’ll mention is Business and the Arts, an organization that connects artists with businesses and is currently offering tax workshops. I did a lunchtime workshop with them on HST for “small suppliers”, which is apparently what I am now according to CRA. It was like eating kale - I know it’s good for me, but it’s so hard to get down.
This week was also the last week for a business course I’ve been doing through Good Ship Illustration.
What is Good Ship Illustration you say? When I broke my kneecap last year hiking (that’s a whole other story), I had a lot of downtime and I discovered the Good Ship Illustration podcast, which lead me to their courses. I signed up for the Picture Book course and loved it so much I signed up for the other two as well. It’s a program that has been put together by three illustrators out of the UK and I really can’t say enough about it. I only wished I lived in the same town as Katie, Helen and Tania; I just love them so much. Katie and Helen are both here on Substack too. Check them out.
I would highly recommend that any illustrator take these courses. You also get lifetime access making them a resource you can go back to again and again. I’ve learned so much. Most importantly, being an illustrator is possible.
Finally, I put the finishing touches on my website. I hired, local writer (and another great resource) Lynette Adams to help me with my bio and to proof my website. She is excellent with reasonable rates. If you’re like me and get stuck writing your own bio, there are people out there who are great at it. Just get it done. I want people to hire me as a professional with certain skills, so it’s okay for me to hire a professional I figure. Lynette is also a globetrotting house/petsitter and writes about her adventures on Substack as the “Itinerant Cat Lady”.
That’s it for me. It was a busy, but super fun week.
I must say, I am enjoying life as a freelancer so far.
Thanks for reading and see you next time.
Caroline
Thank you for the shout-out!