S2E3 | Using Business Systems as a Creative | Sarah H

Welcome to Season 2 Episode 3 of the Creative Business Success Podcast! In this episode, I talked with Sarah from Love and Spreadsheets, who's here to show you how creating a system can help you do more in your business - without melting your brain. The best part is that the tool she uses and recommends is 100% free!

Here's a cheat sheet of some of the episode highlights:

Sarah's intro, 1:01

How Trello works, 1:46

How to use Trello in your business, 2:40

The two Trello boards to start with, 3:40

How to organize your business with Trello, 4:38

Keeping your business moving, 9:21

Start simple with Trello, 11:41

Start small with Trello, 12:41

Is Trello really for you, 13:54

Keep everything straight with a client portal! 14:18

Documenting your business processes, 16:02

'Secret' Trello tips! 17:31

Using Trello as an editorial calendar, 18:27

Using Trello PowerUps, 18:49

Using Trello if you're visual or kinesthetic, 23:30

Who Trello ISN'T great for, 25:43

Where to connect with Sarah, 28:45

Let's dive deeper into a few of these key takeaways...

1 | You should use Trello if...

If you're a visual or kinesthetic person (i.e. you learn best when you can see something or when you can interact with something), Trello could be a great fit for you. But here's the thing: no tool is the perfect fit for every person on the planet. And Trello is no exception.

If you're a list-oriented person who loves crossing off your to-do list, Trello might not be for you. If you need have more complex needs, like Gantt charts (oh man, I love me some good Gantt charts! *nerd alert* 🥰), Trello may not work for your either. Trello is a very straightforward, simple tool, which is FANTASTIC in many situations, especially if you need to reduce overwhelm.

Not sure if Trello is right for you? Just give it a try! You can sign up for a free account or trial of any of the productivity tools you're considering and see which one works best for you.

2 | Your first two Trello boards

Sarah recommends creating an All Things Business board and an Operations Manual board. That means that you have your All Things Business (ATB) board to use as your 'brain dump,' catching all the things that don't fit anywhere else or that you just want to keep in one place. Sarah suggests using the ATB board for routine tasks, organizing things like courses you're taking, content management, etc.

The Operations Manual board can be used for things like answers to commonly asked business questions, brand info, affiliate links, etc. It gives you a place to refer to when you need to quickly grab something related to your business so you don't have to search through three different tools to find it.

Pick one of these Trello boards to create and start from there!

3 | How Trello can keep your creative business moving

There can be a lot of moving pieces in a creative business. The cool thing about Trello is that it's visual and interactive, so you can see exactly where different pieces are in a process. If you're onboarding clients, you can have a board where you move cards for each client along the process, for example.

Being able to see what pieces need to move forward to keep everything flowing can make a huge difference in your business!

Want to connect with Sarah?

You can find her on her website, and on Instagram and Pinterest @loveandspreadsheets. You should also check out Sarah's Trello resources page to learn more about Trello. Don't forget to subscribe to the Creative Business Success Podcast for more episodes and share your biggest takeaways in the comments!

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