Author: christine

I get a lot of emails here in the Cutting for Business office. I’ve been recently surprised at the amount of Silhouette and Cricut craft business owners who don’t have an appropriate email signature – or one at all!

Let’s go through a quick tutorial today to learn how to create an email signature in Canva.

What is an Email Signature?

An email signature is simple a way to close your emails. It generally offers your name, website address, and social media links. It’s like an electronic business card. Email signatures make your business more professional, plus it’s free advertising.

What is Canva?

Canva is a free online graphic design tool. It’s easy for beginners to use and can be used to create business cards, social media graphics, event flyers, invitations, and more.

Sign Up for a Canva Account

If you don’t already have a Canva account, sign up for a Canva account.

Tutorial: How to Create an Email Signature in Canva

1. Head to canva.com, then click the ‘Create an email signature’ button.

2. You’ll be taken to a Canva workspace with templates on the left hand side. Choose a template by clicking on it.

3. Edit the template with your information. Use the guidelines to make sure the elements line up properly, and delete anything not needed.

4. To save your email signature, click the ‘Share’ button in the top right corner. Then, select ‘Download’. I downloaded my signature as a JPG image.

How to Install Your Email Signature in Gmail

After you’ve created an downloaded your email signature in Canva, head to your Gmail account. Click the gear icon at the top, then ‘See All Settings’.

Scroll down to ‘Signature’, then click the ‘Create New’ button.

Give your signature a name.

Click the photo button, then add your signature from Canva.

Scroll down and click the ‘Save’ button to save your email signature.

Don’t use Gmail? If you can’t figure out how to add your signature to your email program, I’m sure there is a tutorial online. Search Google for “Name of your email provider + how to add signature”.

Get Your Own Domain

While I prefer to use Gmail to manage my emails, I still use a branded email address ‘christine@cuttingforbusiness.com’. Learn why you need your own domain name.

Imagine this: It’s Monday morning and you just sat down in your craft workspace to pump out orders for your Silhouette or Cricut small business. You turn on your computer and nothing happens – your computer is dead. No warning signs – just completely and entirely dead. You haul your computer off to the nearest computer repair shop and the technician tells you that it cannot be repaired or restored. You break down and purchase a brand new computer. All of your cut files are now gone – including the ones you use in your business.

If you don’t think that one will happen, what about all the online horror stories of updating to the newest version of software only to realize that all of your previously saved designs are gone? In a panic, you contact the company and they say they can’t restore them!

In either case, if you had backed up your files, you wouldn’t have an issue.

Let’s face it, good business owners have a backup plan. Today, I’m sharing four ways to back up your Silhouette or Cricut files.

4 Ways to Back Up Your Cut Files

1. Buy an external drive. A lot of people store all of their cut files on an external hard drive. Personally, I don’t like this idea because external drives can fail just as a computer does.
2. Purchase a service that backs up your files daily. There are many, many services that will scan and backup all your files to their servers. In the event that your computer fails, you just log in and download everything from their server. The downfall to this is that you have to pay a monthly subscription fee. (Examples: Carbonite, IDrive, or Crashplan.)
3. Use Silhouette’s Cloud or store your files in Design Space. In my opinion, Silhouette Cloud has had some issues – and Design Space can be quite buggy. For that reason, I simply don’t store my designs in either.
4. So, what do I do? I use a cloud storage program and store all of my cut files and font download folders (actually, I store everything from my computer in it). There’s another benefit to using a cloud, too: I can access all of my files from my phone, tablet, or any other computer. (Examples: Google Drive, iCloud, Dropbox.) Most of these start free, and then have a fee as you use more space.

No matter which method you choose, please choose one and regularly use it. I can’t tell you how many emails I receive where a Silhouette or Cricut seller has recently lost all their files and is seeking advice on how to get back up and running.

How do you backup your Silhouette or Cricut cut files? Let me know in the comments.

Did you find this information helpful? Save the image below to Pinterest and spread the word.

An easy way to increase the time you have in your Silhouette Cameo or Cricut small business is to improve the efficiency in your workspace. Recently, I noticed while working on projects, I kept having to get up from my project to retrieve a supply, my camera, etc. So, I set out to fix the lack of efficiency in my workspace. Today, I am challenging you to do the same!

How to Improve the Efficiency in Your Craft Workspace

1. Draw a map of your workspace.
2. When working on your next projects, draw a line every time you get up to get a supply or reach for something.
3. Evaluate the lines and see which ones you can eliminate either by moving supplies you use frequently or rearranging furniture.

Let’s take a look at my efficiency map.
To make it easier to explain, I’ve numbered each section.

1. These arrows denote trips to a closet where I store some craft supplies (mostly vinyl).
2. A short chest of drawers where I store blank products. My heat press also sits on top of it. I have a tiny craft space and have to walk around the chest to use the heat press.
3. The arrows above my desk refer to hanging buckets I have mounted on the wall for small supplies like markers and blades.
4. In addition to my desk, I have a second workspace in my craft area. I rarely used the workbench top. Instead, I only use the storage below it.
5. This shelf houses all of my machines.

What I learned from my efficiency map:

1. I really need to move all the craft supplies into my craft room.
2. It’s a pain to walk around the drawers to use the heat press.
3. I don’t really need the second workspace in my craft space because it is only being used a storage.

What I did next and my improved workflow:

I moved the workbench out of my space, turned the drawers, and added an additional shelf. You do not have to make a second map, but I did to show you how my efficiency improved with a few simple changes. Look at my improved workflow:

Need inspiration for a teeny tiny craft space? As professional organizers pointed out in this post, go vertical. Here’s a peek at my craft space:

Now, it’s your turn to look at the efficiency in your workspace.

Save this post to Pinterest before you start drawing your map:

I’ve talked pricing on the blog before. First, I outlined how to price your craft items for sale. Then, I talked about pricing products when your supplies were on sale. There’s no right or wrong way to determine how much to pay yourself – it’s completely subjective. Today, let’s look at how much to pay yourself.

Two Ways to Guide Yourself

1. If you recently worked outside of your home, you should pay yourself at least the equivalent to what you previously paid. There are some limitations to using this method. For example, if you previously made $120,000 working in a high demand job you likely won’t be able to set your prices competitively enough in the craft market.
2. You should pay yourself at least minimum wage for your state. Here in Florida, that means at least $8.05. In contrast, minimum wage in California is $10.00 an hour; while minimum wage in New York is $9.00. As your skills increase and your products get more technically difficult – you’ll raise your hourly wage.

It’s just that simple! Remember, your business won’t get far if you don’t pay yourself enough. Underpaid working from home crafters are likely to get burned out faster, too.

How much do you pay yourself per hour? Share in the comments.

Save this post to Pinterest:

As the seasons change, retailers clearance out the old products to make room for new ones. Cutting for Business readers are always sharing great deals they have been getting at local craft stores with me. (That I always seem to miss!) In any case, I wanted to take a few minutes and write a quick post about pricing handmade items when you’ve bought supplies on sale or clearance.

How to Price Handmade Products When Your Supplies Were on Sale

Rule of thumb to follow: No matter which pricing method or which pricing calculator you use, you should price your handmade item with the assumption that you paid full price for the supply.

Example: A supply normally costs $9.99, and you got it on clearance for $0.99. You should use the $9.99 price point when pricing your handmade product for sale. If you are having problems pricing your items – see this post.

Two More Strategies

There’s two more ways to take advantage of great deals:

1. If you’ve picked up a great deal, you can also use it to your advantage and implement what’s called a low cost strategy. This simply means that you determine your retail price and set your product price below the appropriate retail price in order to gain exposure to your business or get people talking about your company.
2. When advertising your product for sale, use words like “Limited Quantity”, “Special Release”, or something similar. By using this style of wording, you can often get buyers to buy immediately because they understand when the product runs out – there is no more!

I hope you’ve scored some great deals lately that will help grow your small business!

Was this information helpful? Save the image below to Pinterest.