Today I thought I’d write a post about how to quickly search for the perfect photos for your brand, because I’ve had a few questions about this recently.
I recommend first off, having a plan / structure for your content creation on a project or timeframe basis. Now, let’s say, for the purpose of this blog post, you’re creating and scheduling your content one month in advance. There are 6 things you’ll need to have ready in advance to make this work. You can just jot down the answers to these on a piece of paper, or your favourite digital note-taking app.
Am I planning for a timeframe or project?
(Approximately) how many images you’ll need.
Where you’re going to use them.
What colours you want to use.
Any themes / promotions you need specific content for?
Do you need any specific images with technology or people in them?
If you have all of these things ready, then you can log on to your favourite stock provider and use your answers to start searching. This should help make your search process a lot more streamlined and efficient because… let’s face it, looking at pretty photos can easily take you down a rabbit hole.
Here are my answers to illustrate how this would be done:
30 social media posts.
Instagram posts and stories, Facebook posts, blog posts, Pin images and email images. So, I know I’ll need a mix of square, portrait and landscape images.
My brand colours are blue/teal, so I want 10-15 in those colours for my pins and emails, and the rest can be any colours.
May is my Bday, so I want a couple fun/celebratory ones.
A couple of photos with a laptop, and a phone.
Now, when I log onto Beach Babe Stock I have my game plan with me before I start searching (and don’t get distracted) and I can easily + quickly search for them. Let’s start by searching for the specific photos I know I need; the celebratory ones. First off, for Beach Babe Stock, I would go to the shop search page and do a quick scan of the photo sets to see if I can already see something I like. Otherwise, I would type in “cheers” or “celebrate” in the seach bar on that page, or the top right hand corner of Beach Babe Stock website.
Any photos I like, and click the heart to save them. I found 15 images pretty quickly.
Next, I search by my brand colours “teal” and “blue”, and I find another 15 images that I like and save them.
And finally, I click on the “laptop” and “mobile device” sections in the shop search page and find 2-3 images I like.
I’ve now got 35 images ready, I add them to my cart and download.
This took me less than 10 minutes to do once I had my plan ready!
I hope these tips help you next time you need to grab a batch of stock photos for a project.
If you love the look of our lifestyle stock photos, please join the membership so you can start downloading some of your favourite Beach Babe Stock images today!
I don’t want to sound all somber, but happiness is an elusive thing sometimes… especially for entrepreneurs who usually work at home on their own (solopreneurs!) for most of the day. I heard about this book through one of my idols, Karena (one of the two amazing trainers who founded Tone It Up) and it was on my list of to-reads for a long time. When I did read this it took me SO long to get through… I think this was one of the best/hardest books to read for me.
Key takeaways:
There is only NOW. By shifting your focus to now, you’re shifting your mindset away from stress-thinking (about the past or future) and BEING and enjoying this moment. For me, obviously that’s this moment of writing these words on Beach Babe Stock. If you think back to when you were a kid, really… weren’t those some of the happiest days you’ve experienced? It’s because you weren’t thinking about future goals or worrying about past mistakes. You were LIVING your life in the moment.
If you’re an entrepreneur who struggles with (let’s be honest) those totally normal stresses that come with being a business owner, then I highly recommend you read this book to help you shift your mindset into the NOW being.
Worth the read score – It’s a hard read… 10/10.
Favourite quotes / ideas :
There is literally only now. Righ now, this very second. As soon as it’s passed, it’s gone, it’s in the past and what’s going to happen tomorrow or one year from now, hasn’t happened yet (and it might not… I mean, just look at this covid situation we’re all in right now… who actually had plans for this?), so there’s no point thinking too much about it and worrying y.ourself for now reason.
If you’re afraid of missed opportunities, of not living your life to it’s fullest there’s SUCH an easy fix. Be in the NOW. When you master this technique, nothing is missed. No moment is taken for granted or passed over as your body is physically in one place and mind in another.
Have you read The Power of Now? If you have, what were your favourite parts and key takeaways? Let me know in the comments!
*Beach Babe Stock only refers certain products we 100% love and adore and want you to try. This means that we receive a small commission from each sale (at no additional cost to you).
It was sometime last year that I found out which podcasts I think are the best podcasts for female entrepreneurs.
Living in Thailand, I have to do a ‘border run’ which is basically a day and a half in a minivan to the closest bordering country to get my passport stamped. I’m not 100% sure when I actually started loving on podcasts, but I do remember that most of last years’ border runs (one every 3 months) were literally hours of consuming podcasts.
I actually only started listening to podcasts not that long ago, about a year or so ago is when I started to get into them. Before that, I’d heard a lot of the hype around them and how everyone seemed to love them, but I didn’t see the point, and to be honest, I didn’t feel like I had the patience to sit down and listen to something.
So without keeping you here too long, these are the 8 best podcasts for female entrepreneurs:
1. Haley Burkhead’s CEO Vibes and The Scalability Show.
I probably love listening to Haley the most… there’s just something about her vibes and passion about business that I really love and can feel when I’m listening to her. Have a listen:
2. The Angie Lee Show.
Angie’s show is soooo addictive. It might be something about her voice (how much I love it!?), but there are so many other reasons. She dishes out really actionable advice on her personal episodes, and I just think she sounds really FUN which I love and find really inspiring.. because I love being around that kind of energy. Listen to a good one below:
3. On Purpose with Alex Beadon.
I’ve been in Alex’s audience for at least 6 years, I’d say…. all the way back to her youtube days. If you haven’t heard of Alex, now is the time to get in on her amazing knowledge and courses. She’s the self-professed Instagram Queen and you’ll love her podcast:
4. Work Less Earn More with Gillian Perkins
I found Gillian Perkins one day searching youtube, and I ended up loving her videos. She’s recently launched her own podcast and it’s just as good and is FULL of actionable tips and advice:
5. You’re Welcome with Hilary Rushford.
Hilary came out with her podcast last year (2019) and I have to say, it’s SUCH a breath of fresh air. Hilary is an entrepreneur & stylist and she has a multiple 7 figure business by running a couple of online courses. That’s why I definitely have her as one in my best podcasts for female entrepreneurs list. I love that her podcast is less about business and more about LIFE in general and learning to be a better human being and run a business the smarter way at the same time.
Feel free to listen to a really juicy episode below:
6. The Marie Forleo Podcast
Marie Forleo. I look up to this woman in every way. She’s hilarious, she’s smart, she has a muli-million dollar business off of two products that she sells ONCE a year. Enough said. If you haven’t heard of Marie Forleo or MarieTV then you need to start today:
7. The Glow Life Podcast with Martina Fink
Martina first hired me the photographer on her first Glow Camp on Koh Samui, and we’ve stayed friends since. I love her podcast, have a listen:
8. Manifestation Babe with Kathrin Zenkina
Another entrepreneur actually recommended me to Manifestation Babe & I got hooked. So I’m passing it on to you, definitely worth a listen:
9. The Bossbabe Podcast with Natalie and Danielle
The BossBabe blog is one of my favourite blogs to go to for an awesome business-related read, so naturally I love their podcast as well:
If this is your first time hearing about any of these beautiful babes, and you become a die-hard fan… let them know by sharing our graphic and tagging us both in an Instagram Story!
I hope you enjoyed reading this blog post about the 9 best podcasts for female entrepreneurs. Did you find a new podcast to listen to? Let me know in the comments what your favourite podcast is.
Sometimes I feel like there is a hesitancy to use stock photos in business, and I think this is comes down to a few (easily explained and corrected) misconceptions about stock photos, and the industry.
Myth #1 – Stock photos look really bad.
I think this one is associated with those weird & whacky, colourful filters and edits that you see a lot when you search for stock photos. This used to be true a lot of the time…. up to about 5 years ago, but not so much anymore.
Today, there are so many beautiful stock photos available out there for all types of people and businesses. And, they are at a much more affordable price than what you might think. You just need to know where to look and what to search for.
Myth #2 – Stock photos are only for giant companies, newspapers or magazines.
This is also a misconception based on how the industry used to work and the customers stock photo companies used to rely on in the past.
Yes, copyright laws and protection rights haven’t changed much, and you can still get in big trouble for using an image of OR by someone else.
The difference today, is that stock photos are now being created and sold by the individuals (for example me, Cherry) who own the copyright to the images themselves.
This means that rather than the images being sold exclusively through a huge stock library like Getty or Shutterstock, images purchased through small businesses are not only cheaper, but also more easily accessible, and more relatable. Why? Because.. small businesses understand and create for other small businesses and aren’t trying to please a giant market of hundreds & thousands of different brands.
Myth #3 – Stock photos are bland, boring or just stereotypical.
To me, this is another belief that started and grew back when stock photos were only used by big companies for marketing purposes.
There are still some images that can be classed in this way, however, it just means that it’s likely because there is a market for it and lots of people and brands need this particular type of image.
I try to make my Beach Babe Stock images as unique as possible, and if I am re-creating an idea that I know has been re-done then I try to make it different in some way. For Beach Babe Stock, I know I’m creating for small online businesses or female entrepreneurs and I try to create images based around a different ‘theme’ for each of the sets that relate to online businesses and female entreprenuers.
Myth #4 – Stock photos won’t relate to my business and brand.
This just depends on your niche and how specific it is. However, having said that, I truly believe that there is something out there for everyone. One of my favourite tips for someone who is new to the idea of using stock images for their business is simply to start by doing some preparation, and research. Ask yourself the following questions:
What are my content buckets or brand pillars? (The “feeling” I want to elicit when someone comes across my brand online.)
How do I serve my customers?
What do I usually talk about, write and blog about?
Where do I need to use images for my brand?
Then once you’ve got those answers down, you’ll be able to start searching and having a look around for the types of photos that are going to take your brand and business forward.
Don’t worry about needing to find something straight away on the same day, a lot of small stock sites offer free stock photos as an opt-in and you can subscribe to their newsletter to test out the types of images available on their site before choosing to pay for images.
Now, if you’re an entrepreneur running an online business and you’re looking for stock photos to help you create beautiful content that reflects the high quality of your products and services, then why not give your brand a mini-makeover right now with our FREE 20 stock photos. Sign up below to get them delivered straight to your inbox!
Last month I wrote about productivity tips for small businesses and I wanted to dive in a little deeper and help you with some tips on how your can use apps to help improve your productivity withing your business, and automate some parts of it.
There are so many different ways to go about running a business today. It doesn’t matter if you’re just starting your online business or looking into getting one set up, even if you’ve got your business up and running already, it can still be so overwhelming with the amount of information available online.
I know from experience that it can be hard to switch platforms or try to set up a new app or tool within your business that has a different system to what you’re used to using. You might end up not liking the interface, or find something small that just really, really bugs you.
Why you’ll want to use apps:
Apps can help you save time, money and a little bit of your sanity when you’re running your business. They can help you do less work, faster.
Where & how you can save time with apps in your business:
There are almost endless ways you can save time with apps to help you with your spelling & grammar, to convert speech to text, to create your own “short-hand” on your computer, to eliminate writing distractions, even to do the writing for you. There are apps to help you with your focus, to save notes, even to stop you using your social media! There’s amazing team management and business systemisation apps, as well as communication, planning and scheduling apps. When it comes to social media, you can easily end up wasting so much time, so (of course) there are apps to help you schedule your social media and create content faster. Even digital marketplaces can help you out with templates, graphics, and stock photos.
If you’re now convinced that you need to get some apps in your life… I’ve made something just for you! I’ve compiled a list of my favourite apps that I highly recommend, most of them I use myself, and if not, it’s because I’ve added some similar apps to the list for you to check out and decide for yourself which is going to work best for your business. I use apps in my business on a daily basis, a lot of them are free, super easy to learn and use in your business and will save you so much time and effort. Sign up below to get the list.
I read this book a couple of years ago and the ideas have just stayed with me. It’s one of those books that you will read and go back to re-read. I am so inspired by the ideas in this book, and Elizabeth’s ability to paint such a gorgeous picture for us about something as abstract as an *idea*.
Key takeaways:
The moment I read this book I could feel in my body that I believe everything Elizabeth wrote with all of my being… maybe even before I’d read it in this book and become aware of the idea around it. If you’re a creative of ANY kind and find yourself questioning your work, art and therefore your worth… you need to read this.
Worth the read score – 10/10.
PLEASE go and borrow it from your local library or buy it now (here’s the link on amazon).. you need to hear this if you’re a creative entrepreneur who struggles with putting your art out there.
Favourite quotes / ideas :
Ideas find (and CHOOSE) you, not the other way around.
The *idea* only stays with you (and doesn’t get created by someone else) as long as it believes you’re going to take action on it and that you’re the right person to bring it out into the world… and do it justice, pretty much. (Crazy in a woo / spiritual way, but oh… SO COOL when you think about it).
Each time you let fear hold you back from creating… you’re holding yourself back one step further, (and further, and further) back from your BEST creation.
Have you read Big Magic? If you have, what were your favourite parts and key takeaways? Let me know in the comments!
*Beach Babe Stock only refers certain products we 100% love and adore and want you to try. This means that we receive a small commission from each sale (at no additional cost to you).
Hey, I'm Cherry. The creator + photographer behind Beach Babe Stock. I'm a puppy mum to two adorable dogs (it's been verified and apparently I'm not biased, they are cute!) and live in Thailand with my fiance. I love all things tropical, travelling, making new friends and adventures.
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