Behind the Scenes Blog Tag- About Amanda Creek Creative

Recently I was tagged by April at Blacksburg Belle  to complete a questionnaire about what goes on behind the scenes here at Amanda Creek Creative.

First of all, April is one of my business heroes, so I pretty much danced around the room when she tagged little ol’ me. Secondly, I’ve been wanting to do a post that involved what happened in my day to day, but just hadn’t worked it into my blog calendar yet (so thanks April for kicking my butt into high gear!).

If you’ve ever wondered what happens in my day to day, then this post is for you!

Question 1: What’s your two to three sentence bio? (Okay mine is 4 sentences long…)

I’m a graphic designer, photographer, and teacher. But honestly? I just give people permission to be brave, put their message (no matter the medium) into the world, and walk away with the courage to live the creative life they’ve always dreamed. Because living creatively doesn’t have to be complicated.

Question 2: What’s your favorite part of your job?

There is so much to love about my job, like being able to be creative each and every day because it’s there that I thrive. And, I also like being able to help other people in their creative businesses, whether by doing their graphics or web designs, or by helping them through teaching.

Question 3: What’s your least favorite part of your job?

I suppose my least favorite part of my job is that I have to keep up with my finances. I do have a great tax preparer come tax time, but the rest of the year I have to keep my finances organized. It’s not a strength of mine, and sometimes I’m left scrambling last minute.

Question 4: What are the top three tools you use the most in your work?

My Macbook Pro, my Canon Rebel t4i, and the Adobe Creative Suite (particularly Photoshop and Illustrator).

Question 5: What business goal would you love to reach before the end of the year?

I would love to launch my two photography courses that are currently in the works.

Question 6: Who are three creatives that inspire you?

April from Blacksburg Belle (of course!), Bonnie Christine of Going Home To Roost, and Melody Ross of Brave Girl’s Club. (This list was difficult to narrow down, because I have a lot of creative ladies that inspire me daily.)

Question 7: What do you listen to (if anything) while you work?

I listen to music on Pandora a lot (usually involves a lot of music by Birdy, Ellie Goulding, Ingrid Michaelson, Florence + the Machine, Bon Iver, and A Great Big World, among many others). Aaaand I am constantly watching and listening to courses on CreativeLive, such as Build a Successful Creative Blog and Design Surface Patterns From Scratch.)

Question 8: Morning person or night owl?

Absolutely a night owl.

Question 9: How many employees do you have and what are the main things they do for you?

There’s just me for now! Although, I do hire out occasionally for things like advanced coding (who wants to spend time doing that?!) and at times I have hired out for social media help.

Question 10: What’s your favorite social media platform?

For a long time Facebook was my go to choice for social media, but recently I’ve been spending more time on Instagram and Pinterest.

Question 11: What’s your least favorite social media platform?

It probably would have to be Google+, although I’m trying to learn to like it.

Question 12: What works best when it comes to marketing your business?

For a long time, all I used to market my business was Facebook. I heard over and over that I needed an email list, but never heeded that advice. Now, I can see that having an email list is the way to go, so I am currently trying to work on that.

Question 13: What’s one thing about your business that your blog readers probably don’t know?

I currently do not have a space in my house to work from, as I am transitioning into a new office space (which I hope to share soon!). So, I currently do most of my work from the couch.

Question 14: If your business were a fashion accessory, what would it be?

This was a difficult one to answer, because it’s hard to just choose one! But, if I had to choose one accessory it would be this owl scarf from etsy, because it’s warm, fun, and creative. It’s always my hope to come across as warm and a lot of fun.

Question 15: What’s your top tip for someone who wants to do something similar to you for a career?

Do not allow perfectionism to hold you back. Perfectionism has kept me stuck, personally, for far too long. Take it from me…just move along at a good rhythm and adjust as you go.

I’m tagging these 4 people to answer these questions in a blog post (via video or text) on their blogs:

1. Penny Kendall– My awesome life coach and creative friend.
2. Shayla Cornett– My sweet creative friend who I met at Bible school in Lubbock about 8 years ago.
3. Tina of Hohla Creations– Tina is one of my favorite clients, and is a wedding photographer out of Ohio.
4. YOU! Tag, you’re it.

Here’s how you play:

-Copy and paste the questions below and then answer them and publish as a blog post. Or, record a video answering these questions and upload it to your blog post.
-At the bottom of your post, tag anywhere from 2-10 bloggers you want to see answer these questions. (I also suggest hitting up your tagged people via social media just to let them know you tagged them to do this tag challenge.)
-Use the title: Behind the Scenes of My Business Blog Tag. Once you’ve hit publish, leave a comment below with the link to your post.
-Use the hashtag #MyBizBlogTag when sharing on social media so we can all find your awesome posts!

Easily copy and paste the questions below OR read when you film your video:

Question 1: What’s your two to three sentence bio? (You know, what the heck do you do?)

Question 2: What’s your favorite part of your job?

Question 3: What’s your least favorite part of your job?

Question 4: What are the top three tools you use the most in your work?

Question 5: What business goal would you love to reach before the end of the year?

Question 6: Who are three creatives that inspire you?

Question 7: What do you listen to (if anything) while you work?

Question 8: Morning person or night owl?

Question 9: How many employees do you have and what are the main things they do for you?

Question 10: What’s your favorite social media platform?

Question 11: What’s your least favorite social media platform?

Question 12: What works best when it comes to marketing your business?

Question 13: What’s one thing about your business that your blog readers probably don’t know?

Question 14: If your business were a fashion accessory, what would it be?

Question 15: What’s your top tip for someone who wants to do something similar to you for a career?

This blog post is a part of the ‘Behind the Scenes of My Business’ Blog Tag started by April of Blacksburg Belle. She began this blog tag experiment to build community among creatives, help us bloggers to connect more and get to know each other better. This month’s topic is all about sharing the behind the scenes stuff of our businesses. If you’d like to participate or want more info, check out this post right here.