Five years ago, I had this crazy idea to start a blog. At the time, I was struggling with self-confidence and self-worth after having dropped out of grad school, feeling lost, wondering to myself “how can I be successful after this major decision?” I was working full-time at a company with not a lot of drive, craving to do something creative and that I was truly passionate about.
And, that’s how I started my blog La Divina Latina. I wasn’t confident people were going to want to read about I had to say, but I said, “you know what, let’s do it! Ponte las pilasand see where this goes.”
I took my first set of professional pictures with a series of looks I had curated. I wrote a blog about how I styled my outfits and where people could shop the apparel and accessories. It was the first step to many great accomplishments in my business as a blogger and content creator.
I know many other creatives and small business owners understand that feeling through their first sale, their first booking, and the first of many achievements as an entrepreneur.
Being of Mexican heritage is an important part of my identity and I am a huge fan of a lot of Latinx brands. I think there are so many talented Latinx designers whose work is going unnoticed and I love their designs. It’s part of my style.
Part of what I do has always been to advocate and amplify local small businesses. I’ve partnered with many Latinx and PoC entrepreneurs and made lasting relationships.
Now, more than ever, we need to continue to support local small businesses. I’ve been having online meetings and phone conversations with creatives and small business owners on how to adjust and shift their focus to online efforts.
As an entrepreneur, I’ve had partnerships fall through and I wanted to let the negative impact consume me. But, I wake up every day with purpose and drive even with the uncertainty. I’ve known struggle like many of my fellow entrepreneurs when they went chasing after a dream to start their own business and be their own boss.
And, I realized that we can still collaborate; we can still support each other. I’ve been blogging and creating content for over five years as my side hustle and work full-time in marketing. I know I have a wealth of knowledge to share with small business owners and creatives at this time with the economic impact of COVID-19. I know I can give back in this way and continue to amplify local small business owners who may have multiple questions on how to have their business stay open with social distancing.
I am thankful that GoDaddy is hosting a #OpenWeStand community forum through their microsite that is a free wealth of knowledge and open to small business entrepreneurs to come online and join the conversation.
It’s a space created where we can talk about creative solutions to your business, exchange ideas, gather feedback, build relationships and troubleshoot technical issues.
As a small business owner, you might be asking yourself questions on how to start a website or redesign it to adjust your business operations. Maybe you have questions about online marketing strategies like how to use social media and the different platforms available. Some of these will make a good fit for your business while others will not. And, it’s great to have feedback from other business owners or marketing industry professionals to help develop your business plan moving forward.
SEO marketing strategies can help drive your current and new customers to your business website. You might even be asking yourself, “What is SEO?” SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization and it is the process of increasing the quality and quantity of traffic to your website by elevating its visibility to users through a web search engine.
This is critical for your business as it will help create brand awareness online of your business through these marketing tools at your disposal.
There are also different platforms online that can help you manage your business profiles from Google, Instagram, Facebook and others from one central place, which is extremely convenient. I love having a place where I can login and have access to everything for my website like creating blog posts, emails to my subscribers, viewing analytics, and making adjustments to my website. Having these tools gathered in one place allows you to maintain connection with your audience and customers with the ever-changing landscape of the online world.
It can be overwhelming to think about all the parts to consider when you’re shifting your business focus to online efforts, but if I can do it, you can do it. Don’t stop yourself by thinking you have to be a master web designer or know coding to have a website for your business or elevate your web design and features. And, there are plenty of free resources online to create branded content for your business to post on social media. You are passionate about what you do from the moment you turned that sign to “We’re Open”. You can still remain open. You can absolutely do it and you won’t be doing it alone.
Fellow small business entrepreneurs, marketing strategists, and creatives are joining the conversation at GoDaddy #OpenWeStand forum to share ideas and support each other. Rarely do we achieve anything in this life alone and together we stand open. Juntos todo se puede. Die pie y adelante.
La Divina Latina
This post was sponsored by GoDaddy, all thoughts and opinions are my own.
Photography by Green T Media
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