Paypal makes buying and selling online easier.  Get the tools, products, financing, and support you need to help establish or grow your business – from processing payments and building a website to shipping and marketing. Don't worry, a Paypal business account is free. Yes! FREE. When I first started my small business, I realized right away that I would need to offer more than just in-person cash payments. Now, I don't know about you, but I don't trust those Cash App/Venmo type of apps. I also don't think it's very professional, and if you're serious about growing your side hustle into a legitimate business, you have to move past those types of cash apps, and move on to something bigger, and much more secure.  That's where Paypal comes in.  It is completely secure. It allows you to save customer information which makes for much easier invoicing. Speaking of invoices, your Paypal...

I'm not going to lie to you, the easiest and cheapest way to calculate shipping is by selling your products through a website or shop.  However, I understand that when you're first starting out, it isn't always possible to do it that way.  Let's not forget, I've been where you are, and I'm here to help.  Here are 2 ways I used to ship my products before ever having an online shop.   Option 1)  Head over to the USPS website at www.usps.com, and click "Calculate a Price". Now, for this, you will need to have your customers zip code, and a general idea of what your package size and weight will be. The more often you ship, the more you'll start to be able to tell how much something will weigh just from the looks of it.      Form there, you'll be shown a list of different shipping...

Let me guess. You post your projects frequently. You make sure to get good pics, and you upload them at good times of the day. You even come up with cute descriptions, but for some reason, your posts aren't getting likes... Did I get it right? Well I've got an amazing, yet simple solution for you.  Can you guess what it is?? USE HASHTAGS! What are hashtags? Hashtags categorize your content and help them show more easily in searches. For example, if I post a Sonic Cake Topper, I would use the hashtags #sonic #soniccaketopper #caketopper, and anyone searching for those hashtags would see my photo!   Why are hashtags important? Instagram has very limited search capabilities, and one of the best ways to get discovered by new potential customers is to use hashtags. A post with at least one Instagram hashtag averages 12.6% more engagement than posts without a hashtag.  ...

I always keep these items stocked in my office. You should too!   1) Packing Tape - Buy it HERE Since I ship a lot, I go through tons of tape. Thankfully, I can get a pack of 6 for cheap, and they each come with their own palm guard dispenser.  2) Glue Sticks - Buy it HERE Am I the only one who goes through an insane amount of glue sticks?! If not, get yourself this 200 pack. I really love that it doesn't leak out of my glue gun and it doesn't have a horrible smell like a lot of glue sticks tend do. 3) Waterproof Sticker Paper - Buy it HERE I exclusively use this waterproof sticker paper for any of my products that need to be waterproof. I've experimented with lots of different brands, and this is the only one I recommend. Do like I do,...

My biggest fear in expanding my small business was having to ship my orders out. I knew that it would increase my business sales, but I was really terrified and overwhelmed by the idea of packaging my items, hoping they would arrive to my customers safely, all the while, somehow not offending anyone with my shipping prices.  It was a lot to work out, and I refused to think about it. So, I limited myself to customers near my city.  That was NOT a good business practice.  I realized that if I wanted my business to continue to grow and succeed, I would have to learn how to package and ship my products.  There are a ton of ways you can go about shipping off your products, but honestly, a lot of your shipping and packaging methods will depend greatly on your business style.  For example, my business style is affordable, and...