Where AI *should* be headed

Happy weekend! Just a quick roundup today. Work has been crazy I have barely been at my computer all week until today. Luckily there are a few weeks of tips and tutorials to catch up on.

In this issue:

• Pattern tutorials: half dropped and tossed

• Niche idea of the week: cake toppers

• Blog Archive: low content ideas without mining the bestsellers

• Another take on creating time to work on your business

Recent Video Tutorials

This week it is all about patterns.

Here is an easy half drop pattern using the symbols tool to create a live preview of your repeat on a separate artboard in your file.

Watch Simple Half Drop pattern

The follow up video uses a more traditional pattern technique using the transform panel to create the repeats along the seams. This is a tossed pattern, which is a very popular pattern technique. To keep things simple, I use polka dots but once you get the hang of this, substitute the dots with any images you want.

Tip: generate clip art with AI and arrange them in a tossed pattern

Watch Tossed Polka Dot pattern

From the Blog Archive: 11 Ways to Find Low Content Ideas (that don’t mine the bestsellers)

Here is an article from a couple years ago. More and more I am seeing advice to innovate rather than follow the herd. Amen. Stand out by creating something unique that the world didn’t know they wanted. Example: who would have ever guessed people would respond to reverse coloring books? This innovation happens when you let your creativity loose and experiment. The good news is that most online products have a very low start up cost, other than some time so the risk is usually pretty low.

Read 11 Ways to Find Low Content Ideas

You make also like

Liz Kohler Brown gives an overview of selling Art Prints including sizing, marketing, and where to sell your prints.

Dave Chesson from Kindlepreneur and Publisher Rocket shares some popular keywords for both fiction and non-fiction. I saw a few in his list that have been on my to-do list, so I better get publishing!

Learn Heather’s Pinterest tips for pinning your print on demand products.

Random Musings: Getting Help

So many gurus talk about hiring VA’s to take the routine and menial tasks off your plate so you can focus on the more high-level and creative tasks. That sounds great but often times as solopreneurs we either

• can’t give up control of any aspect of our business (raises hand)

• we don’t spend enough time giving feedback, and end up re-doing or being disappointed in the contractor’s work (raises hand again)

• what we are doing isn’t easily outsourced, or it takes so long to prepare instructions that we may as well do it ourselves (yep, raising hand again)

But what if you can free up your time in other ways?

• hire a babysitter so you can get a focused block of time for your project

• hire a cleaning service to clean your house a few hours a week

• hire a neighborhood teen to mow your lawn

• order prepared meals to be delivered

I suspect that most of us would be more than willing to give up some of these chores, and it’s not hard to find someone who already knows how to do these things.

Do you think there is someone who could just come over and do my dishes every evening?

Until next time,

Catherine