The Creative Bodega | Content Marketing and Instagram Growth for Solopreneurs

74: The Ultimate Canva Organization Episode with Canva Verified Expert Brenda Cadman

If your Canva account is a complete disaster — designs floating in space, uploads you've had since 2017, and templates you used once and can never find again — you are not alone. Most solopreneurs are working inside a cluttered Canva account without realizing how much time and mental energy it's costing them. The good news? Getting organized doesn't have to be a full weekend project. In this episode of The Creative Bodega, I'm joined by fellow Canva Verified Expert Brenda Cadman, whose entire expertise is Canva organization. She breaks down where to start, what to delete, how to structure your folders, and the one navigation trick most people don't know about. If you've ever re-uploaded the same brand photo six times because it was faster than finding it, this episode is for you. Check out the full show notes for this episode CLICK HERE. [https://www.thecreativebodega.com/blog/74] Things I cover inside this episode: * Why your uploads folder is probably a dumping ground, and how to fix it * The purge-first approach: why creating folders before deleting is the wrong order * How to use Canva's "Your Projects" view to actually see what still needs to be filed * The star folder trick for projects you're accessing constantly * The difference between designs and templates, and why mixing them up is costing you time * Why naming your files matters more than you think (and what to name them) * How to make progress in small chunks without overhauling everything at once Resources & Links mentioned in the episode: * Brenda Cadman's website (where to find her and learn more) [https://brendacadman.com/] * Brenda's Canva organization course, evergreen and updated when Canva changes [https://learn.brendacadman.com/~access/a4c20277f] Connect with me: 🫶🏼 Follow me on Instagram for daily insights [https://www.instagram.com/the.creative.bodega/] 🫶🏼 Join my 321 Create Newsletter for weekly content tips [https://view.flodesk.com/pages/60990f85d2d30e29cc6edc04]  🫶🏼 Check out The Content Coven Membership [https://www.thecreativebodega.com/the-content-coven] Be sure to hit "Subscribe" or "Follow" so you never miss an episode!

73: Instagram Followers Don't Pay Your Bills: What I Should've Been Watching Instead

Have you ever posted something, checked back an hour later, and felt your stomach drop? You poured real energy into it. And the response was...crickets. If you've been using your follower count, your likes, or your email list growth as proof that you're good at this, I want you to know you are so not alone. In this episode of The Creative Bodega, I get more vulnerable than usual. I share what happened when I finally got on a call with my business coach and therapist, Ash McDonald, what she said that stopped me cold, and why I'd been white-knuckling the completely wrong numbers for months while ignoring the one that actually tells you the truth about your business. Check out the full show notes for this episode CLICK HERE. [https://www.thecreativebodega.com/blog/73] Things I cover inside this episode: * Why follower count and likes are the easiest numbers to track, not the most important ones * The question Ash McDonald asked me that I couldn't answer (and why that was the real wake-up call) * How I'd been avoiding my revenue check-ins and what that avoidance was actually costing me * Why someone else's massive launch triggered a spiral, and what was really going on underneath it * The difference between vanity metrics and the numbers that tell you if your business is actually healthy * Why leadership isn't about having it all together, it's about being relatable * What I'm doing differently now, including restarting monthly check-ins with my husband Rob Resources & Links mentioned in the episode: * Ash McDonald, therapist and business strategist [https://ashmcdonaldmentoring.com/](therpist/biz coach referenced throughout the episode that I love & have worked with a number of times). * Ash McDonald's podcast [https://ashmcdonaldmentoring.com/podcastpage] (how Em originally found her and built trust before hiring her). * EP 13: Em's episode with her husband Rob [https://www.thecreativebodega.com/blog/13] (referenced as one of her most-listened episodes). Connect with me: 🫶🏼 Follow me on Instagram for daily insights [https://www.instagram.com/the.creative.bodega/] 🫶🏼 Join my 321 Create Newsletter for weekly content tips [https://view.flodesk.com/pages/60990f85d2d30e29cc6edc04]  🫶🏼 Check out The Content Coven Membership [https://www.thecreativebodega.com/the-content-coven] Be sure to hit "Subscribe" or "Follow" so you never miss an episode!

72: How I Went From Dreading My Newsletter to Writing It in 30 Minutes

If the thought of writing a newsletter every week makes you want to close your laptop and never come back, this one's for you. I get it. I've felt that exact dread, staring at a blank screen, deleting what I wrote, and deciding I just wasn't a "newsletter person." In this episode of The Creative Bodega, I'm sharing how I went from avoiding my newsletter completely to sending my 285th consecutive issue, and the simple format that made it possible. If you've started a list and let it go quiet, or you haven't started one yet because the whole thing feels too big, this episode is for you. Check out the full show notes for this episode CLICK HERE [https://www.thecreativebodega.com/blog/72] Things I cover inside this episode: * Why I avoided writing a newsletter for so long, even knowing I needed one * The exact 3-2-1 Create format that takes me 20 to 30 minutes every week * What goes in each of the three sections, including my favorite one * Why a smaller, engaged email list beats a big unengaged one * How I track open rates and clicks with a simple spreadsheet * Why and how I regularly delete inactive subscribers * What to do if you're starting your list completely from scratch Resources & Links mentioned in the episode: * 25% OFF Flodesk [https://partners.flodesk.com/thecreativebodega]: my email platform of choice, and what I use for both sending the newsletter and cleaning out inactive subscribers * Start & Grow Your Email List from Scratch [https://www.thecreativebodega.com/start-grow-your-email-list-from-scratch] my self-paced course for anyone starting completely from zero. We cover building a freebie people actually want, getting set up on Flodesk without wanting to throw your laptop, writing a newsletter you don't dread, and using your list to actually make sales! Connect with me: 🫶🏼 Follow me on Instagram for daily insights [https://www.instagram.com/the.creative.bodega/] 🫶🏼 Join my 321 Create Newsletter for weekly content tips [https://view.flodesk.com/pages/60990f85d2d30e29cc6edc04]  🫶🏼 Check out The Content Coven Membership [https://www.thecreativebodega.com/the-content-coven] Be sure to hit "Subscribe" or "Follow" so you never miss an episode!

71: You Can't Sell What People Can't See: How I Fixed My Own Visibility Gap

Have you been showing up consistently, posting tips, sharing your face, doing all the things, and still wondering why your offer isn't getting signups? You're not doing it wrong. You're just not showing it. There's a real difference between posting about your niche and showing people what it's actually like inside your world. And that gap is exactly where signups disappear. I know because I found myself in it, weeks into a stretch of almost zero new Coven signups, before I realized I hadn't shared a single piece of content about what was happening inside the membership. In this episode of The Creative Bodega, I'm walking you through the 5-post rotation I built to fix that, complete with reusable Canva templates, a simple Google Form for collecting member stories, and a weekly cadence that makes showing your offer feel way less like selling. Check out the full show notes for this episode HERE: [link placeholder] Things I cover inside this episode: * Why consistent posting doesn't equal visible offer, and what to do instead * The exact moment I realized I was making the same mistake I coach others on * A 5-post weekly rotation that makes showing your membership feel sustainable, not salesy * How a simple Google Form solved the hardest part of sharing member wins * Why monthly challenge results make more compelling content than anything you could write yourself * The "make it with me" post type that shows your offer delivering in real time * How to apply this system even if you don't have a membership Connect with me: 🫶🏼 Follow me on Instagram for daily insights [https://www.instagram.com/the.creative.bodega/] 🫶🏼 Join my 321 Create Newsletter for weekly content tips [https://view.flodesk.com/pages/60990f85d2d30e29cc6edc04]  🫶🏼 Check out The Content Coven Membership [https://www.thecreativebodega.com/the-content-coven] Be sure to hit "Subscribe" or "Follow" so you never miss an episode!

70: My Summer Bare Minimum Content Plan (& Why Maintenance Mode IS a Strategy)

If you've been staring down July thinking you have two choices: keep the exact same pace you've been keeping all year, or go completely dark and hope your audience forgives you in September, this episode is for you. You don't have to choose between burning out and disappearing. There's a middle ground, and I call it maintenance mode. It's where you stay visible, keep nurturing your people, and maintain some momentum without pretending you have the same capacity in July as in October. Because you don't. And honestly, neither do I. In this episode of The Creative Bodega, I'm walking you through my actual summer content rhythm: what I keep, what I simplify, and how I use one podcast episode as my content anchor to feed everything else without starting from scratch every week. Check out the full show notes for this episode HERE. Things I cover inside this episode: * Why "maintenance mode" is a real strategy, not a cop-out, and what it actually looks like in practice * My summer content rhythm: podcast, newsletter, Instagram, and one blog post, all from one core piece of content * How I use my podcast as a content anchor to feed everything else without reinventing the wheel each week * Why summer is the perfect time to lean on content that already worked, and how to find it fast * The backend cleanup I do in slower seasons: website, funnels, bios, and automations that have been sitting in the junk drawer * How I'm using this summer to prepare for round two of The Messaging Edit in September without running hot all summer * What I've learned about taking real time off, including why my Coven members basically threatened to boycott my calls if I tried to host them from vacation Resources & Links mentioned in the episode: * Em's Content Trifecta podcast episode 16 [https://pod.link/1797632954/episode/QnV6enNwcm91dC0xNzExNjMwMw?view=apps&sort=popularity] (referenced as the full system breakdown for repurposing) * Em's Analytics Tracker ($9, mentioned as the tool for identifying top-performing content to repurpose) [https://www.thecreativebodega.com/tcb-instagram-analytic-tracker] * The Messaging Edit Fall '26 waitlist (round two, September, limited to 30 women) [https://www.thecreativebodega.com/the-messaging-edit] Connect with me: 🫶🏼 Follow me on Instagram for daily insights [https://www.instagram.com/the.creative.bodega/] 🫶🏼 Join my 321 Create Newsletter for weekly content tips [https://view.flodesk.com/pages/60990f85d2d30e29cc6edc04]  🫶🏼 Check out The Content Coven Membership [https://www.thecreativebodega.com/the-content-coven] Be sure to hit "Subscribe" or "Follow" so you never miss an episode!