If you run a small business in the crowded Portland market, standing out from the crowd is an important aspect of your business success! Making sure the public knows about the amazing services you provide or goods you make is an important part of making your business dreams happen.

Here are some things to consider when planning your small business and orchestrating future growth!

1.) Need It For Your Business? Get It Done Right.

You may be tempted to cut corners when planning your business, especially if your dreams bump up against the reality of your budget. If that’s the case, it’s important to prioritize. Some things may be free, but that doesn’t make them come cheap by default!

Investing in quality is important across the board, and it provides you the foundation you need to build and expand once you’re more successful. You’ll need to have many major puzzle pieces in place before you launch your business, not after. This means knowing your business, your competitors, your advantages, your budget, and your own commitment to the journey!

Try putting your ideas in front of friends who are supportive, but also fiscally conservative — if they buy it, you’re probably onto something!

2.) Give, Support, and Share First.

Organizations, groups and individuals will remember you in much more favorable light if you take the time to offer something before asking them for their support. Try donating your goods or services to a local non-profit for their annual fundraiser. Give away some samples to your friends, family, co-workers and other associates. Reach out to community organizations and offer your support. Connect with complementary businesses and industries, to help create a network of support and sharing.

Here’s just one example: if you make jewelry designs, you could speak to fashion and photography professionals you admire and let them know you love their work. Then, you could offer to have them borrow pieces for their next photoshoot. This works for other industries too: Do what you can to create a network of emotional investment in your success.

3.) Don’t Be Afraid to Grow!

Becoming successful isn’t a specific point in time — it’s a gradual thing, and it’s dependent on your goals. You may find that in order to grow to the place you want, you’ll have to step away from the front lines a bit, so you can look at the bigger picture issues. Or, you might realize you need to make a financial investment in your business such as moving, rebranding, opening another location, or scaling up staff or product lines.

This can feel very intimidating, but it’s also exciting: this is exactly what you’ve been working towards! Still, it’s important to make rational and valuable decisions, and not just shopping based on price. Buying the more expensive website or sewing machine, or hiring the more experienced front desk manager may seem like a stretch for your budget, but it’s these choices that mean the difference between encouraging growth, or limiting it. For the right investment, you might even want to consider financing for your business. Online lenders such as Kabbage can be  good place to start looking for small business loans to boost your marketing budget.

Stay away from making impulsive decisions: think it through, talk to some trusted advisors, look at all the options, and then make your choices!

If you’re interested in leveling up your branding, photography, social media or web design, you can start by talking with us here at Upswept. We’re here to help!

Get in touch>>

It’s been a busy Portland May, but we’re excited we got a chance to catch up with our friend Kimberlee Kogane at Fresh Tangerine! Fresh Tangerine makes beautiful handmade jewelry with a Pacific-NW-inspired feel, and has grown from a one-woman show to a team of makers.

We were fortunate enough to connect with Kimberlee and get to know her work during the early stages of her business, and her combination of bold colors and shapes with delicate details was fashionable, wearable, and memorable. She came to each shoot with a bold statement piece at the ready, and left our studio feeling a little extra-sparkly by the end. And we do mean literally–the glitter on our floors was a daily delight for weeks afterwards.

Kimberlee first gave birth to Fresh Tangerine here in Portland, and she has since moved northward–if you’re in Seattle, pay them a visit to see their gorgeous work up close!

Can you sum up Fresh Tangerine for us, in a sentence or two?

What was it like starting Fresh Tangerine? What parts of it did you love, and what were your struggles?

What has Fresh Tangerine taught you – personally, or businesswise?

Where do you think Fresh Tangerine will go next?

KK: I would love to see Fresh Tangerine carried by a larger retailer. I want to grow our team, get our name out there, and continue create jewelry that is affordable and well made.

What’s invisible, super powerful, and affects us in Portland as much as people on the other side of the planet? Climate change? No, it’s the Google search algorithm. The most powerful search engine in the world is doing it again: changing the way sites get ranked! Not as bad as climate change by a long shot, but hugely impactful for everyone who relies on search traffic, especially from mobile devices. Roughly 1/3rd of internet traffic now comes from mobile devices (including tablets), so it was already a good idea to have a mobile-friendly site, but with this announcement, it’s even more important.

What It’s About

On April 21st, a Google algorithm change was announced for mobile users, meaning that, when we use Google search on our phones, we’ll see different search engine results on mobile than when we use Google on desktop devices.

How are these results different? Well, for searches coming from mobile devices, Google is now making “mobile-responsiveness” a ranking factor. If a site is mobile-responsive (also known as mobile-friendly), it’ll show up higher in a search performed on a mobile device than a site that isn’t, even if all other factors are the same. As of right now, this doesn’t make a difference when searches are made from desktop and laptop devices, but this may come in the foreseeable future.

What It Means

This is great news for many of our clients who’ve already invested mobile-friendly sites: it means they’ll rank higher than any competitors. But, if you’re concerned that you might not be among them, you can run it through Google’s mobile friendly test, which takes only a couple of minutes. If your site is not mobile friendly, you’ll want to make sure it is before you see a dip in revenue. Even if you’re not yet working with us, we can help you sail through this change. We’ll adapt your existing site to keep you up-to-date and running smoothly!

Get Our Mobile-Friendly Special »

Last weekend, we had the awesome opportunity to attend the ACT-W (Advancing the Careers of Technical Women)  conference in Portland and we had a great time! As I wrote about fairly recently, the gender gap in tech is pervasive, and ACT-W is doing its part to help support women entering into and working in tech positions. Now in its third year, the conference is growing rapidly, as the Portland tech industry continues to flourish. Here’s a run down of what happened this past weekend!

Friday

Friday Night was the kickoff to the event, and featured a rad kick off party at Smarsh – with awesome catered food from Nicholas’ Restaurant, an open bar and plenty of engaged conversation. I arrived fairly late to the game, but still got a chance to sample some fine food, have a relaxing beer and check out the new Smarsh headquarters while reconnecting with friends who were also attending the conference.

Saturday

Saturday began bright and early at 8:30am – (but not as early as the conference organizers, who were up and running at 7!). We made it downtown for the limited seating breakfast keynote, which touched on being a minority in big tech companies, strategies to interrupt sexism and work, and encouraging diversity in a homogenous industry. The main floor keynote, delivered by Kristin Toth Smith, CEO of Code Fellows, was a great talk on how unconscious biases come in to play in tech workplaces, and offered ideas about how we can all make tech more inclusive!

After the keynote, it was time for the lightning talks – a series of 5 minute mini talks on different topics. The talks ranged from UX design to transphobia at work, and were all super compelling, and quite diverse. I was excited to be presenting a lightning talk myself – a short introduction to  the 1960’s, which was the era when my mother got into tech, as a computer operator on an IBM 360/30 mainframe with no prior experience in tech. The audience was super supportive, and I got a ton of great feedback after my presentation!

The rest of the day featured a ton of great workshops on leadership, freelancing, Open Source,  and more, as well as a popular tabling/booth area complete staffed by companies such as CDK global, Simple and Appnexus, as well as organizations like Chicktech, and Lesbians Who Tech with mock interviews. This is the area where Sarah spent most of her Saturday, as Upswept Creative was on hand to offer free headshots to conference attendees!

After Saturdays’ jam-packed schedule, Esri hosted a limited space after party – unfortunately I was unable to attend this or the Sunday workshops, but I am sure they were an awesome experience!

Overall, the conference was a great way to spend a weekend and an important resource for women and girls to be exposed to tech, as well as fostering diversity in a collaborative and meaningful way. Until next year!

It’s spring in Portland! And what says spring more than flowers and hayfever? Spring cleaning. Now is the time to dust off your website, or start that business you have been dreaming of. And when you do so, these Pro Tips will make make sure you have the best experience you can possibly have.

While this isn’t the first time we’ve touched upon how you can make the most of the services you pay for, for the rest of spring we’ll be focusing on bringing you more pro tips and real-life case studies from those who made it work! We’ll tell you exactly how to plan out your first steps towards a successful website (especially if you’re new to the game), what to expect from a branding or website redesign, secret tips on having an (even better) headshot experience, and more!

Getting Ready to Pro-Level It

Many of our clients’ businesses started small – a hobby, a desire to break out of corporate culture, to become a successful model, real estate agent or actress, or to work independently. If your business is only just starting out, you may be hesitant to make an investment in getting a professional to design your logo, create your website, or photograph your product.

Many of us know a friend who takes “pretty good” photographs, has a printer that will print business cards just fine, or a buddy who built a website for his band back in the day. Why spend money when you don’t know if your venture will be successful – especially if money is thin on the ground? Once you start making money, then you’ll hire someone to do the logo, the design, and the business cards.

This logic is flawed – and much less likely to lead to success. Let me tell you why!

The trouble with hiring “friends” who will work for free or very little is that while intentions are often good, time is often hard to come by. You may find that if a lucrative job offer comes along, or the baby gets sick, it’s your project that ends up at the bottom of the to-do pile, leaving your business stuck in the starting blocks while others already finished the race.

A professional photographer, designer or social media manager does this for a living, and will do what they can to make sure your product is delivered on time and on budget.

Additionally, if your talented friend delivers a less-than-stellar product, or even just something that’s very different than you expected, you may find yourself in an awkward situation: now you’re stuck with something you got for “free”, but isn’t what you wanted or expected. Maybe you don’t even want to use it at all! All of a sudden, your relationship is affected, and things feel hard to reconcile, and “Free” is no longer “free of trouble”.

A professional is there to do her job – and that job is to make you, paying customer, happy with the final result. We expect revisions, and we expect critique. No hard feelings!

Having a hobby that you want to turn into a professional business is a wonderful place to be – you have passion for a specific idea, you know the market, you know your future clients. But, transforming a side business into a sustainable, viable, thriving business needs more than just passion and some inside knowledge – it requires the ability to evaluate things critically,  and to make decisions that are less driven by emotion, and more by what is good for business.

Any successful professional will give you their feedback on what they think you need to be successful, where your brand direction is on point and where it is lacking. Your success is our success.

If you are about to invest your time and energy into a project, your project is much more likely to be successful if supported by professional level branding, design, and marketing. Investing in the services of a professional means taking your business seriously, and giving it the best possible chance at success.

Ready to talk about making your passion project a success? Get in touch with us!

If you are a woman in the tech industry and feel your most recent Portland tech conference was mostly populated by white, 25-35 year old men, you wouldn’t be incorrect. A recent survey by Bloomberg shows that silicone valley big hitters such as Facebook, Google, Apple and Twitter are all failing to get above the 30% women mark, globally, across the board! If you are a lesbian or queer person, and even more so if you are a lesbian or queer person of color, the numbers are even more dire.

We at Upswept Creative are excited and proud, however, to have better diversity numbers than our competition! I myself have been openly gay since I was a teen, and we openly embrace diversity in our team. After hearing about the local Portland chapter of Lesbians Who Tech, I was excited to attend the Lesbians Who Tech Summit from February 26th-March 1st in San Francisco. Over 1200 women attended from all over the US, and the agenda was packed with amazing workshops and presentations regarding diversity issues, making smart career choices, and who technology can support social justice efforts. Here are some notes from the summit!

Diversity is important because it leads to more success.

Companies with female board members tend to be more successful than companies without. But while females comprise roughly 50% of the adult population, there are more male CEO’s called John in the United States than there are CEOs who are female! Companies with diverse employees tend to be more successful because they can appeal to a broader market. Diversity is more than just hiring women – it also means hiring older people, younger people, people from different racial and ethnic backgrounds, gay, queer and transgendered people, people who are differently able, and people who have non-traditional backgrounds.

Takeaway: Make your company appeal to a diverse audience by putting diverse people in your offices – not just in your advertising. If you are not in a position to affect hiring decisions: actively support diversity goals by joining interest groups, fostering connections, and supporting local diversity initiatives.

Support Women by providing work environments that are pregnancy/child friendly.

According to an article published by the New York Times a few days ago, there are more male CEO’s called John in the United States than there are CEOs who are female! A big reason for this is motherhood. Not all women will become mothers, but for those that do, working full or even part time can be a challenge. Work with your employees and colleagues to find solutions that allow for a more flexible schedule, including working remotely. Accommodate breastfeeding mothers by providing a private area to pump milk. Hire women who are trying to get back into working after taking maternity leave.

Takeaway: Mothers are amazing multitaskers, mature communicators and driven problem solvers by necessity – a real asset to any project team.

Strengthen relationships to empower your community to success.

For me, it was an amazing experience to attend a tech conference that was geared towards Lesbians and Queer women. It allowed me to relax and be myself, while also allowing me to network extensively with sympathetic peers. Lesbians Who Tech was an amazing opportunity for mutually beneficial connections to form, all while supporting a community that needs to empower itself to manifest change. Even if you do not belong to any specific minority group, connecting with a community of likeminded peers can provide you with the support to reach your own personal goals, which in turn can inspire others to take the first step.

Takeaway: Get connected to others with whom you share common ground. Let’s keep supporting each other!

Portland professional photographer | Portland branding agency | Upswept Creative

The outset is familiar: Many of us who own and run small businesses are looking to connect with others and tell our story in order to solidify our brand, broaden our reach, and gain new customers. But, even if you have a great website, a killer social media presence, a professional headshot and some really neat business cards (ideally designed by us),  sometimes you need to branch out a little in order to reach new customers and clients. Sometimes – heaven forbid – we need to get out of the office into the fray! Here are some fresh new ideas to help you get connected – outside of the walls that are your studio, your home office, or your production site.

1.) Meet the competition

Regardless of whether you run a niche business or have a unique take on something, there are like-minded people who work in your field – even if their approach is different. Some may be way ahead of you on their path, others might be starting out. Competition does not have to be a your bad thing, but can instead inspire you to work smarter, learn new skills, and identify both the strengths and weaknesses of your brand and your business. Check out a trade show if one exists for your area, stop by some boutiques in a different part of town or in a different city, check out the web and design projects other people have been working on. The key here is to be confident in your own abilities and not too easily discouraged, you are not there to compare, but to identify! Take notes on what you like and what you dislike as you evaluate others work – understanding yourself is the key to building an authentic brand that represents you well and connects with others. Let others know who you are and what you are working on – a great opportunity to collaborate may present itself.

2.) Connect with your personal interests

It’s not all business, nor should it be. For many of us, our motivations stem from a personal passion, interest, or identity! Being part of a community that considers you an insider will make it easier for you to approach and be approached for work. Upswept is closely connected to Roller Derby and local fashion producers – its no wonder people know us from these communities and solicit us for work based on our involvement! This can happen for you, too – make sure your communities, whatever they may be, know about your brand and your business. This can be through contributing to message board or website dedicated to certain interest, or attending conferences, events, and summits for like-minded folks. On that note: I’m super stoked to be attending the Lesbians Who Tech Summit in San Francisco this year, in fact I’ll be live blogging it while I’m there from the 26th-1st!

3.) Give back to get more

Another way to get yourself out there, to meet new people and get more attention on your brand is to consider giving back. In December of last year, I posted about how organizing a fundraiser can help generate new buzz for your business – a great example is our own Bowlful of Heart Pet Food Drive. There are many other ways to give back and strengthen your brand. You can volunteer for a local cause or event. Sponsoring a cause or sports team that resonates with you is another great option. (Upswept Creative is excited to be sponsoring the Portland Roller Derby team the High Rollers this year!), or offer your products as prizes for a benefit or fundraisers. People will be more likely to recognize you and your brand if they connect you to a positive experience! Be sure to promote your efforts on your blog and social media!

How have you been able to connect with new customers and clients in the past? If you have any tips or tricks you’d like to share, please let us know!

Hello 2015 – Goodbye 2014! The New Year is only hours away, the bubbly is already chilling, the resolutions are already written (let’s hope they are different from last year). Is creating new business this next year one of your goals? You are probably not the only one! In this final installment of “Making 2015 Awesome”, we’ll take a closer look at what you can do to jumpstart the success of your brand this coming year!

1.) Go public with your goals.

Many people focus on the future this time of year – many of us have resolutions, whether personal or private. Take advantage of the collective atmosphere of renewal by getting your customers on your side. One way to do this is to blog openly about your new year’s goals – actively drawing people in to your journey and your success. Creating a compelling story on social or on your blog will allow your customers to participate in said story, bolstering your traffic and your business.

2.) Launch something new.

There are many options for this one–which is why you can make it your own, regardless of your brand or business. Create a sale, offer a time-limited coupon, review your price list, change a menu around, play with the layout of your newsletter, update your slides, change your header image on social or on your site, make a weekly giveaway, start a youtube channel…the list is endless, but the end goal is the same: Keep yourself looking fresh. People notice changes – virtually and in the real world. Now is the time to renew – personally, and professionally.

3.) Create some mystery!

If you are not quite ready for a big reveal, don’t worry! As we all know, sometimes even our best intentions get derailed. If you are more of a long-term planner who doesn’t want to make a quick decision, or you have some big news in the pipeline that is not quite ready yet, don’t blow it all in the first few weeks of the year. Instead, opt for another route: Create some mystery.  Create a series of posts, email blasts or social media posts to create a the buzz before you launch your big news in a couple of weeks or months. Other people’s big news and big changes may have fizzled out already, and you’ll be rising above the crowd.

An interview with Valerie Kasinskas from VK Designs

I’m a big fan of VK Designs–in fact, I look at something Valerie made every single day. How come? She made the wedding rings for my wife and I! Valerie’s unique style really resonated with my wife’s elegant and naturalistic style, while being simple enough for me.

We at Upswept Creative thought this made a great excuse to catch up with Valerie, Portland’s ethical jeweler, and see what she has been working on since our photoshoot together, as well as getting some more insight into how she got started.

Q: How did you get started making jewelry?

VK: “I studied and received my BFA in Metalsmithing in 2006. I studied everything from blacksmithing to goldsmithing and worked both large and small for quite a few years. Little by little, the sculptures got smaller and smaller. In the last 5 years, I have been focusing more on the smaller scale and creating mostly custom, bespoke engagement and wedding jewelry.”

“While in school, I began questioning where the metals and materials were being sourced from in the year 2001 and found very few answers. Over the years, I began digging deeper and slowly building a network of trusted suppliers and like-minded jewelers. I am proud to work closely with a wonderful group–Ethical Metalsmiths. We are continually working towards educating, sourcing ethically and transforming the industry.”

Q: What are a couple of your favorite pieces that you’ve designed?

VK: There are so many pieces that I just adore that it is hard to pin down! Each piece is custom, personal and such a strong symbol that represents the client in a visual way. I recently created a custom wedding ring set for a couple, using Fairmined gold from a mine that I work directly with in Peru, and even had the honor of visiting this same mine last year. (You can read about the experience here.)

My clients had traveled in Peru together, and the significance of being connected to and knowing where the gold was from was very important & powerful for them.

Q: What you feel is unique about being an independent jewelry maker in Portland?

VK: I feel that Portlanders really are not typical consumers on many levels, and that also includes their desire for meaningful and personal jewelry. I work with many clients that have very unique and beautiful styles, styles that we infuse into their symbolic jewelry that they are proud to wear. Portlanders are inquisitive and want to know where their food comes from, as well as where their gold comes from!

I am proud to have the most amazing, aware, and creative clients.

Q: What’s next for you and your jewelry line?

VK: I am very excited to continue sourcing ethically, creating one of a kind pieces and want to create more with Fairmined gold and Fairmined silver in 2015. My co-designer (and twin sister), Rachel and I will be featuring Fairmined silver designs in our 2015 line for the Dark Sparkle Collection in 2015 as well. For more info about Fairmined metals, visit fairmined.org.

We all have New Year’s resolutions – and if your resolution in 2012 was that you’d start blogging more often, chances are things have started to stagnate by now! But not to worry – in this second part of “Making 2015 Awesome”, we’ll address what you can do for your blog and blog audience to dust things off and move successfully into the new year.

1.) Get your tech up-to-date.

If you haven’t been logging in to your blog much lately, you may be missing out on some overdue upgrades. Keeping your blog platform ensures that you are able to use the newest technology – which can make things easier, or more secure. No matter the platform you use – if it is running on a server you own, you should update it at regular intervals.

The same goes for any third party plugins you may have installed to extend your blogs functionality. Just be sure to back up your data before you make any significant changes, so you don’t end up with a crisis instead of some light cleaning. And while you’re at it, go ahead and delete the plugins you don’t use, and any spam you might find.

2.) Review what worked – and what didn’t.

Did you have a great idea for a post or post series last year? Did you spend a ton of time researching it, putting it together, and polishing it – only to see that nobody really read it? Did you see something quick-and-dirty you posted on the fly draw your biggest audience yet? Or have you been avoiding your blog stats altogether? Now is the time to face the facts, and learn from what worked and what didn’t.

If you’re trying to boost your brand, it’s vital that you attract an audience who will read what you post. Knowing what worked for you last year helps you build on those successes as you move forward. Knowing what tanked allows you to save time and energy, by not repeating previous mistakes!

3.) Start posting quality content.

Quality content drives traffic – we see this time and time again! But one well-written post will not make a flagging audience take note. Take the time to post regular, engaging posts about topics you know your audience is excited by – this is where point number two comes into play! The most successful blogs are those where quality and frequency remain consistent.

If you’re not sure where to start, start with a year in review, then move to posts announcing something new for the new year.  Do a series of “best of” posts. Touch back on an old subject matter that you blogged about several months prior.

4.) Start something new!

The new year is a great time to start a new project, series or idea. Start a new collaboration, launch a new package deal, coupon, or service. Get people interested in what you are working on and planning for the new year.

Portland branding agency – Portland web design – Upswept Creative