My very humble beginings as an entrepreneur

When I was 22 , I launched ‘The Fancy Shack,’ a vintage furniture biz that I started right in the confines of my tiny 500 sq foot studio. Little did I know that this humble beginning would lead me down a path of self-discovery and passion.

After several years of schlepping furniture and basically flipping it, I realized that my true calling lay in the business side of things. The thrill of entrepreneurship and the art of building something from the ground up ignited a fire within me.

I freakin love small business management.

Alongside mastering the art of furniture restoration, I had taken on the challenge of building a website for The Fancy Shack. Hours turned into days, and days turned into weeks as I tirelessly learned the ins and outs of web design. To my surprise, our website captured the hearts of visitors. Their first words when calling were always, “Your website is so cute!”

These words sparked a new chapter in my journey. People began approaching me, curious to know if I could assist them with their own websites. Eager to help and fueled by my love for the craft, I started offering my services for a fee.

The start Of Breezie Castell Marketing

In 2011, I bid farewell to The Fancy Shack. With a sense of bittersweet pride Breezie Castell Marketing was born. This endeavor has become my pride and joy, the heart and soul of my being. Every waking moment is devoted to its growth and success. When I’m not seated at my desk, my mind is busy strategizing how to expand my services, refine my systems, and integrate new processes and applications.

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Affiliate Marketing

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When you get money for referring someone to another company and they buy something.

 

“Affiliate marketing is a type of performance-based marketing in which a business rewards one or more affiliates for each visitor or customer brought by the affiliate’s own marketing efforts.”

Wikipedia

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Product Description Examples

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About 80% of my clients get stuck when it comes time to write their content.

Here are examples of different product descriptions:

 

High end Product Description:

From Coyuchi.com

“This vintage-inspired quilt draws from the artistry of traditional patchwork blankets, coats, and quilts. 4×4 squares of our own Organic Crinkled Percale™ Sheets are sewn into a checkerboard pattern, paying homage to the re-use of fabric remnants in classic quilting circles. Natural yarn is then handstitched into diagonal lines that hold the cotton batting in place. The underside is undyed Crinkled Percale™, which can be reversed for a neutral option.

  • 100% plant-based softener
  • 240 gsm organic cotton batting
  • Shams sold individually
  • 100% organic cotton grown + woven in India
  • GOTS Certified + Fair Trade Certified cotton shell”

 

Beautiful Product description:

from blackbird.black This is how they describe my very favorite incense of all time ::swoon:: 

“SCENT NOTES: geranium, rose stem, moss, mint

Pronounced “eye” – meaning love in Japanese and Chinese. There’s a modern elegance about this ultra-green scent. Geranium’s dark, lush flora casts its rosy scent over perfectly symmetrical marble pathways. The soil is rich and never goes without water—the summer sun, shaded by architecture and foliage.

– 20+ cones per tin
– Burn time: 20 min approx.
– Scent lasts 2-4 hours (medium size room)
– Lid may act as a burner
– Reusable packaging
– Travel-friendly
– Handmade ”

Beautiful Product Description:

From YSL Lipstick (yslbeautyus.com)

“Made with 65% essential oils, the deeply moisturizing texture of this hydrating lipstick instantly melts into your lips, providing a sheer pop of color, instant hydration, smoothness, and all-day comfort.
After four weeks of continued application, your lips look healthy and more nourished.”

Sasssy Clothing Produt Description:

“Flirtatious loungewear that is cut in all the right places. Our A Peek Behind the Lace Bralette is made from soft modal fabric with a sexy sheer floral motif at front.

  • Bralette
  • Mesh back body
  • Sheer motif at front body
  • Lace trim
  • Adjustable elastic straps
  • Hook-and-eye closure
  • Body: 95% Viscose, 5% Elastane; Lace: 66% Polyester, 34% Nylon; Lining: 100% Nylon
  • Hand wash cold, line dry
  • Imported”

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Tips for hiring a professional online

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Mastering Delegation is imperative to business growth.  Now more than ever we’re reliant on the internet to connect us to people.

I have several assistants who work with me regularly. Some have been with me for 7 years!!! ( learn about my team on the about page) These helpers have all been found on upwork.com.

Here are some of tips when you do decide to hire someone on upwork, fivverr, or the like:

  • Make sure to check out examples of their work
  • Check their reviews
  • Check their rates against others’
  • When you post your job listing, include a specific instruction to make sure they pay attention. It shows that they are detail oriented and pay attention.

Have you hired anyone on Upwork or something like that?

 

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Measure your digital Marketing

Do you know how well your online marketing is performing? Today you’ll learn about your marketing and how google analytics can help you make sure that your marketing is effective.

By following the instructions in this post, you’ll:

  • Get your marketing on the right track
  • Have a better understanding of the results of your efforts
  • Know what to fix for the future, and
  • Save yourself endless hours of wasted time on marketing that doesn’t perform.

Let’s get started.

Step 1: Start Tracking your Marketing

  1. Get a google account
  2. Go to analytics.google.com
  3. Set up a new property
  4. Grab your analytics code
  5. Enter your analytics code into your website or header

Step 2: Analyze your marketing analytics

Consider the pain points as they associate with their place in the funnel. I think the best way to explain this is through an example and a diagram

 

Example:

A client came to me and said “Breezie, no one is buying my eCourse, and I don’t know why”

Luckily she had already implemented Google analytics and had multiple running ads AS WELL AS data for over a year. So we really had a perfect scenario for this tutorial.

The first thing I could tell right away was that the readability of the sales page was not right. It was unorganized and formatted almost not at all.

The analytics were very interesting, however. There was one page that did really well so we focused on that page. As I suspected, there were hundreds of views to the page but no one was signing up for the eCourse.

we went back to the website and from the top of the page down we worked on readability and organization.

They wrote back to me some months later. They’d followed my instructions perfectly and started selling seats in their course—finally.

It was my first time ever doing a professional website conversion rate audit/strategy. I really enjoyed it.

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Keyboard shortcuts for Mac

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Spend just a little time with practicing keyboard shortcuts and you’ll be forever happy you did !

Command+A Selects all items in the active window
Command+C Copies selected items
Command+D Duplicates the selected item(s)
Command+E Ejects the selected volume
Command+F Displays the Find dialog
Command+H Hides All Finder windows
Command+I Shows info for selected item or items
Command+J Shows the view options for the active window
Command+K Displays the Connect to Server dialog
Command+L Creates an alias for the selected item
Command+M Minimizes the active window
Command+N Opens a new Finder window
Command+O Opens (or launches) the selected item
Command+R Shows the original for selected alias
Command+T Adds the selected item to the Sidebar
Command+V Pastes items from the Clipboard
Command+W Closes the active window
Command+X Cuts the selected items
Command+Z Undoes the last action (if possible)
Command+, Displays Finder Preferences
Command+1 Shows the active window in icon mode
Command+2 Shows the active window in list mode
Command+3 Shows the active window in column mode
Command+4 Shows the active window in cover flow mode
Command+[ Moves back to the previous Finder location
Command+] Moves forward to the next Finder location
Command+Del Moves selected items to the Trash
Command+up-arrow Show enclosing folder
Command+` Cycles through windows
Command+? Displays the Mac OS X Help Viewer
Command+Shift+A Takes you to your Applications folder
Command+Shift+C Takes you to the top-level Computer location
Command+Shift+G Takes you to a folder that you specify
Command+Shift+H Takes you to your Home folder
Command+Shift+I Connects you to your iDisk
Command+Shift+Q Logs you out
Command+Shift+N Creates a new untitled folder in the active window
Command+Shift+U Takes you to your Utilities folder
Command+Shift+Del Deletes the contents of the Trash
Command+Option+H Hides all windows except the Finder’s window(s)
Command+Option+N Creates a new Smart Folder
Command+Option+T Hides the Finder window toolbar
Command+Option+Space Opens the Spotlight window
Command+Space Opens the Spotlight menu
F8 Choose another desktop using Spaces
Control+up-arrow (or F3, depending on your keyboard model) Displays the Mission Control screen
Control+down-arrow (or Control+F3, depending on your keyboard
model)		 Shows all open windows for the current application using
Mission Control
F11 (or Command+F3, depending on your keyboard model) Hides all windows to display the Desktop using Mission
Control
F12 (or F4, depending on your keyboard model) Displays your Dashboard widgets
Space Quick Look
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FINALLY! Actually great and free diverse stock photos that aren’t all white women

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If you’ve been on the hunt for great stock photos, chances are you’ve noticed everyone is white. I always encourage my clients to include a mix of people in their brand imagery. It’s great for several reasons. First and foremost, we’re all different. It’s senseless to only include one type of person. Secondly, people need to be able to relate to your brand or else they’re not going to want to work with you.

By including a variety of shapes, sizes, colors, etc of people you’re telling your viewers, ‘we don’t prefer one type of person’.

Check out Pexels.com – I searched for women because I was looking for a specific photo and I was really pleased with what I found.

Be sure to check out the terms and please, please always give credit to the artist who took the photo. The website conveniently includes quick copy-and-paste credit text when you download to save you time.

Check out these great photos of women I stumbled across just this morning. The photos are great quality and visually interesting.

Photo by Anthony Shkraba from Pexels
Photo by Wherbson Rodrigues from Pexels
Photo by Ichad Windhiagiri from Pexels
Photo by Jennifer Enujiugha from Pexels
Photo by Ike louie Natividad from Pexels
** The Featured image of the women laying on the bed is by

 RF._.studio from Pexels
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Jasmine Dunbar teaches her daughter, River what it means to overcome fear & adversity by demonstrating strength, bravery, & resilience

Jasmine Dunbar is cool. When I say cool I mean she is the type of woman you just can’t take your eyes off. She effortlessly creates clothing lines and brands like it’s easy. She’s intimidatingly cool.

When I heard minority women now make up nearly half of all startups, I was proud — but I wasn’t surprised.  I’d noticed a shift in my demographic, and all of this great empowering energy surrounding women of color . I thought, “this is so great, these women really ARE taking the leap and starting their businesses.”

It’s hard enough to start a business as it is, but these women are saying, ‘take your glass ceiling, take your systemic racism, and your bullsh*t, because I have plans and you’re in my way.”

I knew I had to amplify this vibe, so I reached out to Jasmine, and here’s what she had to say:

“Black women are starting & running successful businesses now more than ever. It’s a beautiful thing & I’m happy to be apart of the amazing tribe of trailblazers & creators!

The driving force for me to become an entrepreneur was & always will be my daughter, River. I want to build a solid foundation that my daughter can stand on & one day take to the next level.

I needed her to see self-representation as a beautiful brown girl. I needed her to know she could do & be anything she wants to be in this world. I needed to show her what it means to take risk & bet on yourself when the odds are stacked against you. Most importantly, I had to show her what I means to overcome fear & adversity by demonstrating strength, bravery, & resilience throughout this entire journey.

My goal is to leave a legacy & create generational wealth. It’s my responsibility to set the example & leave the blueprint for River to follow. By the time she’s my age, she’s going to be so much further ahead because of the things I instill in her now.   (cont’d below)

I’m teaching her that she can be self sufficient, create her own streams of revenue, & sign her own checks! You know? Boss talk with a 4 year old. Lol

Even though, guiding & teaching my daughter is my greatest responsibility, I also have the responsibility to share my light & inspire other black women to find theirs.”

Dunbars advice to women?

“Just keep going. No matter how hard it gets, because it will get hard…just don’t quit! Someone somewhere is depending on you to make your dreams come true. They need to see you see it through, so they’ll know it’s possible. You can start over a million times, JUST DON’T QUIT!”

I’m so thankful to know Ms. Dunbar.

Make sure to follow Jasmine at the links below for your daily dose of empowerment inspiration.

@jasmine.dunbar
@harleyxhendrix &  harleyandhendrix.com
@theplugandthepolisher

 

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