Nov 9

Nov 9 Crystal recommends: PicMonkey

Historically, I have reviewed and shared some of the tools that I personally use to build and grow D&Co. I’m excited for today’s post. Today, we have our very own D&Co Peer Advisory Group member Crystal share a little about a tool that she feels is instrumental to building her brand, Real Girl Puberty, from the ground up.

Crystal, you've been working on building a new brand called Real Girl Puberty. Can you tell us a little bit about that?
[Crystal]: Puberty sucks and it's Real Girl Puberty's mission to help it suck a little less. My main attraction is a digital magazine for tween and young teen girls that focuses on all things puberty. I've also released an ebook, puberty printable sheets, and revamped my website to cater to a more targeted audience. I've been busy!

What type of things have you been focusing on or actively working on?
[Crystal]: My main focus over the last 9 months has been on creating and publishing my digital puberty magazine for girls. I release it seasonally as it takes a ton of work and it's just me doing it all. I've been using Pinterest to get my magazine and digital products in front of my audience. I had no idea graphic design would play such a major role in my business. I'm not (or at least wasn't) a designer in any way, but now I'm designing all kinds of things and graphic design is in almost everything I do.

If you could recommend one of the most helpful tools or programs to a new budding entrepreneur what would it be?
[Crystal]: PicMonkey has been a game-changer for my business. I went from having a dream of publishing a magazine to actually having the magazine brought out into real life. PicMonkey is similar to Canva, but for me, it's way better. I tried using Canva for years and it just never clicked. I was able to start creating my magazine the moment I signed up for PicMonkey. I spent 6 months using the Basic program, thinking it was pretty good, and then got blown away when I upgraded to the Premium. I now have access to tons of stock images and videos and can easily resize an image to make creating content for different social media platforms super easy. I use PicMoney every day to create my magazine, social media posts, website materials, digital products, and email newsletters. It's the one tool that has let me launch and grow my vision.

How much does this cost (if anything)?
Unlike Canva, PicMonkey doesn't have a free option. This scared me because I don't have any money coming in yet, but it's been worth the investment. Now that I'm on the Premium plan, I pay $12.99 a month. Not crazy expensive and I'm confident it will start paying for itself pretty soon.