A new, FREE, creative community for challenging ourselves and collaborating. :)

[Amanda23]

Hello!
I have created a new community for creatives who sell their work online. I am a Zazzle designer, have "dabbled" in some other POD sites in the past, and also enjoy learning about bettering my business by following, watching, and talking to sellers on a variety of platforms. My hope is that this group will bring creatives together across platforms to make our businesses stronger, and our lives a little less lonely. 😀

If you want to learn more, I released a video on YouTube about it yesterday: https://youtube.com/shorts/TYIAqGGAWMM?si=QSFFOTmZEc12mqJj . 

If you're more of a text person, here are the basic details: 

1. Right now, it is focused on "challenges." Essentially, there is a creative task that is general enough to help us all that we can all be doing simultaneously. I'm a big proponent of body doubling and accountability. The first challenge is to create, or update and perfect, your creator landing page. 

2. It's hosted on FourthWall because it's free and allows me to include creatives on a variety of platforms (not all creators sell on Zazzle, and not all Zazzle designers even visit these forums). 

3. It's a "membership," but it's free. I promise. No upsell. I don't have classes or things to sell you. It's a membership so that random people can't just easily drop by and spam it. 

4. I have more thoughts about extending the collaboration of this group in the future (still for free. lol) , but I'm going to wait until I see if there's even interest before I get too excited developing this and diving into details. 

PREMISE: 
Years ago (as in, 2009), I started and led a collaborative weekly challenge on The Sims 3. Yes, the game. I loved to build and to learn from other builders. It turned into a successful community on that forum, and it was a ton of FUN connection and learning. My hope is to build something like that for creatives. No expensive membership required. Just a way to synergize and stay motivated. It's a tough time, but also an exciting one. Let's navigate it together! 🙂 

[Windy]

I might try it! Please let us know, is this something where we could join a particular challenge when we happen to have time? Or would we be expected to join each challenge as it comes up? Also, when you speak of perfecting the creator landing page, I assume that must be something which will be done on Fourth Wall? 

[Amanda23]

Hi, @Windy ! Thank you for your interest. 😀

This is NOT meant to be stressful or full of pressure. You are welcome to join when you can. You can also just lurk and see what it's all about if you want. 

Moments ago, I was working with another Zazzle designer who said she couldn't seem to join and see my post even though she already has a FourthWall account. So I just changed the posts to PUBLIC. You don't even need to share an email or log in now. So feel free to swing on over and see what's happening!

In terms of creating a landing page, I have used Canva for mine. Even on a free account there, you can have up to five live "sites" you can direct customers to. They aren't fantastic for SEO, but the intent of a landing or links page is to spread it freely all around the town! lol Stick it on your Zazzle profile, share it with your Facebook page followers, etc. 

Some people also like to use Linktree or other places. I'm a Canva girl, and if you'd like to learn more about making one there, I'd be willing to coach you through if you're not familiar with Canva or just even that feature of Canva. 🙂 

Feel free to comment on the first post if you decide to visit. Here is the direct link now that it's public. If it doesn't work immediately, maybe give it a little bit I *JUST* changed its status within the last 10 minutes! https://ctrlz-amandarenee-shop.fourthwall.com/supporters/posts/152300

Hope to see you there!
Amanda
CtrlZ Digital Designs

[Amanda23]

Hello, WIndy! 
I don't know what happened, so if this shows up twice, please let me know! I wrote a response to this a few minutes ago, but I'm not seeing it here. 

Yes, you can ABSOLUTELY JOIN whenever you'd like. Some challenges may be more your style or more relevant to you than others. Sometimes, you might be too busy. Other times, you may just not be "feeling it." 😄 This is meant to be low-stress and fun, but hopefully also yield some good products for your business!

I just made these first couple of posts public, so feel free to swing by and see what it's all about. To comment, I think you'll still need to share your email address. That was my big concern (that people could just spam and be rude with no ramifications whatsoever), so for now, I think I'm going to just make them public. This is probably best anyway since I think it's a pretty new thing for the Zazzle community. 

Here's the direct link to the explanation of the first challenge: 
https://ctrlz-amandarenee-shop.fourthwall.com/supporters/posts/152300

I'd prefer to answer challenge-specific questions there to keep everything in one spot, but for the landing page, you do not need to make one in FourthWall. I actually made mine in Canva. I know some people like to use Linktree, but I like being able to design it in a fun and interesting way. I will make a video on how to do it if people are interested. 😄 

I hope you'll swing by and take a peek. 
Amanda

[Amanda23]

Hello, WIndy! 
I don't know what happened, so if this shows up twice, please let me know! I wrote a response to this a few minutes ago, but I'm not seeing it here. 

Yes, you can ABSOLUTELY JOIN whenever you'd like. Some challenges may be more your style or more relevant to you than others. Sometimes, you might be too busy. Other times, you may just not be "feeling it." 😄 This is meant to be low-stress and fun, but hopefully also yield some good products for your business!

I just made these first couple of posts public, so feel free to swing by and see what it's all about. To comment, I think you'll still need to share your email address. That was my big concern, so for now, I think I'm going to just make them public. This is probably best anyway since I think it's a pretty new thing for the Zazzle community. If you visit the challenge page, you will be able to read the challenge description. 

I am unable to post the link here, but if you watch the video above, you will find that which you seek. 😉



I'd prefer to answer challenge-specific questions there to keep everything in one spot, but for the landing page, you do not need to make one in FW. I actually made mine in Canva. I know some people like to use LinkTree, but I like being able to design it in a fun and interesting way. I will make a video on how to do it if people are interested. 😄 

This is the landing page I made in Canva: https://www.canva.com/design/DAGZfnRZ0gs/jDYn6D_QhyV7oO4R-12N4w/view?utm_content=DAGZfnRZ0gs&utm_cam...
If you're unsure about clicking (it's just a Canva link), here is a jpg preview. You can't click on it, but it will show you a different style of landing/links page than you'll find on Linktree. 


I hope you'll swing by and take a peek. 
Amanda

[Amanda23]

Here is the direct link to the challenge: https://ctrlz-amandarenee-shop.fourthwall.com/supporters/posts/152300

[Badeesie]

I'm not seeing a link to the community in your post. Am I missing it? Do I need to go to youtube to find it?

[Amanda23]

Unfortunately, yes. I am unable to link to the challenge here. My messages keep going away. 
Good news, though. Once you go to YouTube and look at my first comment, you will see the link you need. I have also made the posts with the challenge information PUBLIC so you can see if it's something that looks fun before you need to give an email. 

[Amanda23]

Also, if you’d prefer to find info via Benable, I have added two cards with links to this list. 🙂

https://benable.com/ctrlzdigitaldesigns/trustworthy-resources-for-pod-sellers 

[Windy]

https://ctrlz-amandarenee-shop.fourthwall.com/supporters/posts/152300

[Amanda23]

Thank you for sharing. It kept deleting my posts when I included a link to the site. 

[Windy]

Well, I have status as Honored Contributor ll, so.....

But seriously, I wonder if you somehow were copying your link with an errant space in the middle of it. Or something. This might cause a link not to stick?

[Amanda23]

That could be a possibility. 🙂 Thank you again! I hope many will come check it out. I think it will be a wonderful community for collaboration. 

[BKMuir]

I clicked on Wendy's link to view your posts. I found the white text on dark background impossible to read, so will give this a pass.

[Amanda23]

Hmm. I thought I had the site set for device settings. If you’re interested if you can read it (lol, absolutely can’t blame you for not wanting to otherwise), let me know and I can make this happen. I am more interested in building a community than site aesthetics! 😊

Amanda

[Amanda23]

In fact, I’ll go poke  at it right now and see if I can change this!

Amanda

[Amanda23]

I have just updated the settings. Please consider taking another look. 😄 
https://ctrlz-amandarenee-shop.fourthwall.com/supporters/posts/152300

[Amanda23]

IMPORTANT!!!!!
We were looking for an even better place for our new group, and we are moving homes! 😎 It will take a couple of days for all of our members to arrive, but if you want to join in the fun, you can find us here: https://ctrlzcreativecommunity.substack.com/ .

I will have more information soon, including the awesome benefits of moving to our new platform, but I wanted to make sure no one joined the old spot and then had to move again in a couple of days. lol

You can start participating right away on Substack. I will be monitoring both sites during this transitional period. If you are new to Substack, don't worry! I will also be sharing a video soon about all the "nooks and crannies" of this powerful platform. 

NOTE: Our "newsletter" (I promise, it's much more than that!) is set to private, so I will need to approve your membership. If possible, please make sure your profile includes a link to your Zazzle shop so I know you are not a random spammer. 🙂 I will be up for a bit longer tonight, and I will set right to approving more members as soon as I wake up tomorrow morning!

[Amanda23]

I have no idea why I can't edit my original posts lately. 
I decided today to turn off "private" mode, so you should be able to subscribe to the group without requesting approval. I will likely turn this back on in a week or so. 

[CreativeLeahG]

It sounds fabulous, I did design challenges in the past and members always enjoyed them. I will share this with my community and hopefully some enthusiasts will sign-up!

[Amanda23]

Thanks, Leah!
We would love that! You are always welcome to pop in too if you’d like. We have Zazzle designers who are brand new, as well as quite a few names I’m sure you’ll recognize from your time here over the years!

I am in your group, lol, and I know a couple others of us are as well. 

Here is our new home. We *just* moved because we found a better option for interactions. 🙂

https://open.substack.com/pub/ctrlzcreativecommunity

I have never run challenges on Zazzle, but I do have a history of doing so on a different platform: The Sims! I ran a creative design challenge for builders there, and it was so much fun and an awesome community. I am so excited to hopefully create a similar experience here (obviously with a few tweaks for Zazzle!)

We all rise together! 

Amanda

[CreativeLeahG]

I've added details to the FB group and I'll do a post when Inhet back from my trip on the Zazzlepreneurs blog. It all sounds very exciting! 

[Amanda23]

Hooray! Have a safe and wonderful trip. 🙂

Amanda

[CreativeLeahG]

My trip was a nightmare ... I won't get into that here but it's a tale worthy of a blog post! Meanwhile I'm visiting my mum as she's had face cancer ( BCC) removed so not a holiday as such but lovely setting. She's doing fine meanwhile .. had her surgery yesterday. 

I peeped at your new community page re the Pinterest board info and it looked excellent! Very well written and a great guide. Super resource! 

xx

[Amanda23]

Ugh. Sorry it did not go as hoped. 
I am glad to hear that your mom is doing OK post surgery. It is nice that you were able to be with her during this time. 

Thanks for taking a look at the new community. It was a bit of a hassle to get things moved over, but I think it will be a much better system in the long run, and I think almost every member has followed us over now. I was definitely worried about that!

Enjoy the time with your mom as much as you can. 
Amanda

[CreativeLeahG · Accepted solution]

I can totally relate to moving communities. I think I did it three times to find a useful platform! In the end as a free resource that you're providing you have to do what works for you!

I made the mistake of trying to accommodate people who were happy to critique and tell me what platforms and method they'd prefer I deliver all these free services and resources ( behind the scenes) so it grew quicker and costs were incurred before I switched to Fourthwall.

Nothing covers the cost of the time though or time away from own business so I reluctantly introduced small fees. I've seen another free provider introduce fees now as they've also found it's untenable long term because of the losses. I hope that other provider does well as he is still charging the bare minimum. I won't name names. 

just to be aware and try not to listen to anyone too demanding... pace yourself and make time for you x

[Amanda23]

Thank you, Leah. You definitely speak from experience and I value your insight and warnings here. 

I am hoping Substack will work for us longterm. They've been around for a good period of time and have long offered the free model, but of course I know they could always limit "subscribers" (group members) or put other restrictions on "newsletters" (our community. lol) that don't charge for membership. Fourthwall of course just put restrictions on the free plan of their shops, but they have said even over a year ago that this may eventually happen. 

Time will tell on the payment front. Fingers crossed it doesn't happen or happens quite far down the road. 

The larger issue I anticipate is the time factor. My hope is to build a collaborative community, and while mine is the "name on the sign" I suppose, we have many members with extensive knowledge (way deeper than mine!) as well as newer members with unique ideas to share. I hope all will feel empowered to do so. Of course as it does have my name attached, I will always feel that responsibility (and yes, burden) to ensure it is the positive, helpful place I've imagined. 

I truly appreciate your post here. 

Amanda