I talk to new business owners all the time giving them advice and strategies to grow their business in my Oh Joy! Academy. When starting a business, I always say it’s better just to start and do what you can to get it out into the world rather than wait until you have all the things you think you need…a huge budget, a big team, all the resources you eventually will want. You can’t wait for those things or you’ll be waiting forever. It’s better to start now and be resourceful with what you do have and can do on your own so you can start offering your product or service to the world that much sooner.

Some of the main things that new businesses need are a variety of branding materials for their business. You might have the ideas, products, or your own talent to get the business started, but you also need a name, logo, website, and all those marketing pieces that will spread the word about who you are and what you do. Since my background is in graphic design, it was easy for me to create all that stuff from scratch when I started my business. But what if you aren’t a designer (as most new business owners aren’t), and what if you don’t yet have the budget to hire a designer right now?

Today, I’ve partnered with Canva to show you some of the pieces you can create easily on your own with their templates and resources. Here are some example pieces I created through Canva for a hypothetical business for Amelia who sells vintage and also does wardrobe styling….

A Business Card
Business cards are a must, especially if you are out meeting people a lot and spreading the word about your business in person. It’s a great leave-behind for your brand and usually one of the first things that people create when they start a business of any kind. I was able to upload the logo I made on Canva (you can also upload one you already have) to this template and customize it for my needs. With any of the Canva templates, you can search by color or style (modern or minimal) or type of business (baker or pet) to help narrow down what you’re looking for (there are so many options!).

A Flyer
You can create things like flyers that can be used either to print out and post somewhere in real life or virtually for social media to spread the news about something related to your business. Whether it’s something ongoing you do or a single event, you can choose a design and make it your own to match the other items you’ve created for your brand.

Tote Bag and Other Useful Swag
I love marketing pieces that are also functional! For a business that sells items, something like a tote bag serves double duty for holding sold merchandise and allows the customer to use it again and again—which means they’ll remember you every time they use that bag for errands or grocery runs. Canva allows you to download the art you create to take to your own printer or connects you to print one directly through the app.

Timely Information for Print or Social Media
If there are current events you want to speak to and that are important to you as a business owner, you can update poster templates with your logo and edit as it makes sense for your business and your social concerns.

The key when using Canva is consistency so that your brand look starts to come together. Find some designs and elements that you can run throughout all of your different materials and stick to a small palette of colors so they feel united and on brand for you. The great thing is that you can update all these pieces as you evolve. Remember it’s better to just start and evolve as you go and grow, so use these amazing Canva tools to make it easy to create all these brand assets on your own.