Resources

I love helping people. In fact, my personal philosophy is: Be Kind. Do Good. Give Thanks.

That’s why I want to provide you with helpful writing, content, and marketing resources, whether you’re a client, prospect, or fellow writer. Here, you’ll find podcasts, online learning, tools, blogs, products, and services that will jumpstart your creativity, streamline a process, save you time, save you money, or boost your business. Go ahead…dig in!

For starters, I encourage you to sign up for Beach Bits Newsletter. Whether you’re a valued current client or we’re on each other’s radar in some other way, I’d love to stay connected! When you opt-in to my newsletter, you can expect to hear from me about once a month when I’ll be sharing practical tips, useful tools, and fresh links—direct from me to you. My focus? Writing, content, and marketing, with an occasional dash of fun sprinkled in.

Also, if your business is struggling to move forward post-pandemic, grab a copy of the FREE “Pandemic Playbook,” which helps map out a realistic game plan. The eBook, from Diverge & Surge, offers 12 practical strategies to help you pivot and thrive during any crisis. Smart ideas!pandemic playbook for businesses

Small Businesses & Freelance Writers

As I’ve grown my own freelance writing business, I’ve discovered tremendous value in the podcasts, training resources, tools, and products/services mentioned below.

*Note: A handful of these resources (designated with an asterisk) are affiliate links based on products/services I’ve personally used and recommend. If you’re thinking about purchasing any of these resources (or even signing up for a free account), I’d appreciate if you click on my link. It will cost you nothing and might even give me a little extra pocket change so I can fund my coffee addiction. 😉

Business & Creativity Tools:

Wet Floor Studios: This small-but-mighty Orlando-area graphic design firm (launched by my son Trevor, a University of Central Florida graduate) specializes in creating custom photos, illustrations, and designs to fit your brand and your budget. Wet Floor taps into Adobe’s full suite of creative tools—including Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, Dreamweaver, Premier Pro, and After Effects—to produce stunning visuals that meet your specs. Whether you want custom graphics for social media posts, blogs, ads, newsletters, web content, emails, or other marketing efforts, you want eye-catching visuals that tell your brand’s story in a compelling way.

*Canva: Even though I usually tap the creativity of Wet Floor Studios for most of my illustrations and graphic design needs, sometimes I take a DIY approach. Canva offers a free and premium service, with thousands of templates, photos, illustrations, and more–perfect for your social media, business, and marketing needs.

*Otter.ai: I’ve conducted hundreds of interviews over the years, some of which I get transcribed when I need the complete text. Otter.ai comes through with its AI-generated audio-to-text transcription software service. It’s easy to upload files, provides quick turnaround, produces pretty accurate transcriptions, and offers an affordable option to the more expensive human transcriptions.

*QuickBooks by Intuit: This simple-to-use accounting software is perfect for small businesses–powerful but user-friendly. I can generate invoices, track my receivables, get reports on cash flow, and integrate with my tax reporting.

Stock Photos: If you’re looking for amazing, high-quality images to use for free in your marketing, check out Unsplash, Pixabay, Gratisography, Pexels, and  Picjumbo. A few sites offer niche-focused photos (not all of which are free), such as Foodie Fix (food), CreateHER Stock (people of color), and New Old Stock (vintage and historic). Read each platform’s usage terms and conditions, but in general, they offer royalty-free, no-cost photos–and some even offer videos. As a professional courtesy, please credit the platform and photographer for each image you use. Another plug for Wet Floor Studios, which can take a stock photo and customize it. Check out a few portfolio samples showing digital photo effects, graphic composite, and photo enhancements.

Marketing Resources:

Content Marketing Institute

Copyblogger

Hubspot Academy

Marketing Profs

Moz SEO Learning Center

SEM Rush

Resources Specifically for Freelancers, Writers, & Consultants:

The Deliberate Freelancer: Freelance writer/editor Melanie Padgett Powers launched this podcast in 2019 to help freelancers build a successful freelance business.

High-Income Business Writing: Fantastic resources and podcast by Ed Gandia. (Get on his email list–he offers lots of helpful freebies!)

Marketing Mentor: Run by Ilise Benun, for creative professionals, consultants, or freelancers who want better clients, bigger budgets, and better projects.