Heart Be Your Guide

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Heart Be Your Guide Supporting small businesses! An easy to use collection of small business that you should spend your m

Introducing Things We Are Learning, a little corner of Heart Be Your Guide dedicated to sharing the knowledge, experienc...
10/23/2026

Introducing Things We Are Learning, a little corner of Heart Be Your Guide dedicated to sharing the knowledge, experience, and very good advice of the people in our community. ♡

First up, growth marketing strategist Amanda Laird is here to remind us that doing more marketing isn’t necessarily the answer.

Before you buy another microphone, sign up for another platform, or convince yourself you need to start posting three times a day, consider this: what if you just need to do enough of the right things?

Amanda walks us through her marketing sandwich approach, why every marketing activity needs a job, and how to build a strategy around your actual business instead of whatever the internet says you should be doing this week.

Read Finding a “Just Enough” Marketing Strategy That Works for Your Business on Heart Be Your Guide 🔗

What makes a neighborhood feel like home? ♡ We think it’s the people. The ones who open the little shops, make the art, ...
10/22/2026

What makes a neighborhood feel like home? ♡

We think it’s the people. The ones who open the little shops, make the art, pour the coffee, organize the events, and create spaces where strangers become familiar faces. Over time, these places become part of our routines, our memories, and our sense of belonging. They give our neighborhoods personality and remind us that community is something we create together.

And the beautiful thing is that it works both ways. People bring places to life, and those places give people somewhere to connect, grow, and belong.

Here’s to the people who make our neighborhoods feel like nowhere else in the world.

What’s a place in your community that wouldn’t feel the same without it? ♡

Small business spotlight 🌙 Meet Dreamy Moons, the independent art and publishing studio created by Australian artist Ann...
10/21/2026

Small business spotlight 🌙

Meet Dreamy Moons, the independent art and publishing studio created by Australian artist Annie Tarasova. As a little girl growing up in the Russian countryside, Annie spent her summers making imaginary potions from flowers, writing stories about mermaids, and illustrating books she stapled together herself. Years later, while studying health science, she found herself longing for that same sense of creativity and wonder. So in 2016, she opened a little online art shop, simply as a way to start painting again. That little shop became Dreamy Moons. ♡

Today, Annie creates illustrated books, journals, tarot and oracle decks, and artwork inspired by the natural world, spirituality, and self-discovery. There’s something really lovely about the idea that the things we loved doing as children might hold clues to what we’re meant to create as adults. Meet Dreamy Moons + explore more on Heart Be Your Guide 🔗

We have photographer and Dietz Studio founder Julie Dietz joining Heart Be Your Guide as one of our founding professiona...
10/20/2026

We have photographer and Dietz Studio founder Julie Dietz joining Heart Be Your Guide as one of our founding professional members and answering a few of our burning Qs. 📸

A few highlights include:

📷 18 years of photographing people, places, and brands, with a focus on capturing not just what a business does, but who they are.

✨ Why trusting the process, preparing thoughtfully, and leaving room for the unexpected is advice she’ll always stand behind.

📚 Pachinko as a favorite book.

👯 Having a best friend who is also named Julie AND shares her birthday!

🇺🇸 And photographing President Obama at a keynote event in 2024, with Barack and Michelle Obama still topping her dream client list.

Meet Julie + explore her full profile on Heart Be Your Guide 🔗

A small business is never just one small business. ♡ It’s the photographer who takes the photos, the artist whose work h...
10/15/2026

A small business is never just one small business. ♡

It’s the photographer who takes the photos, the artist whose work hangs on the walls, the local maker whose products sit on the shelves, and the friend who tells everyone they know to stop by.

One person’s idea has a way of creating opportunities for so many others. And that’s one of our favorite things about small businesses. The way they connect people, champion each other’s work, share resources, and create little communities around the things they love.

Supporting small businesses isn’t just about where we spend our money. It’s about the relationships we build, the people we believe in, and the kind of communities we want to be part of.

So here’s a little love letter to the businesses that make our neighborhoods more interesting, our communities more connected, and our world a little more wonderful.

Tag a small business that’s made your community a better place. ♡

Good things are made with care. 🤎 For our latest Heart Be Your Guide feature, we’re highlighting Sam applebaum, a Chicag...
10/14/2026

Good things are made with care. 🤎

For our latest Heart Be Your Guide feature, we’re highlighting Sam applebaum, a Chicago-based woodworking studio bringing thoughtful design, craftsmanship, and a whole lot of heart to the things we live with every day.

There’s something special about knowing the hands and the people behind the objects that fill our spaces. A little reminder to shop small, support local makers, and surround yourself with things made to last.

Get to know Sam applebaum and give them some love!

Meet Jess Warren, the bookkeeper and advisor behind Take It Easy Bookkeeping, joining Heart Be Your Guide as one of our ...
10/13/2026

Meet Jess Warren, the bookkeeper and advisor behind Take It Easy Bookkeeping, joining Heart Be Your Guide as one of our professional directory members!

📚 Jess helps creative, service-based small business owners make sense of their numbers without the overwhelm, judgment, or feeling that they should already know how to do everything.

A few things we learned about Jess: ☕️ Coffee in the morning, tea in the afternoon. Balance!

💸 Her favorite piece of advice? “It’s okay. Start where you are.” Especially when it comes to your finances.

🎬 Clueless is a forever favorite, but she also has a soft spot for ‘90s action movies.

📊 With a background in both accounting and global operations, she knows that good bookkeeping is about more than keeping the numbers organized. It’s about building systems that actually support your business.

Whether you’re starting from scratch, cleaning up your books, or just looking for someone to help you understand where your money is going, Jess wants to make the financial side of running a business feel a whole lot easier.

Meet Jess + explore her full profile on Heart Be Your Guide 🔗

From my notebook: “The fastest way to kill a good idea is to ask too many people what they think about it.”This week I n...
10/08/2026

From my notebook:

“The fastest way to kill a good idea is to ask too many people what they think about it.”

This week I needed that one.

I’ve always been a people pleaser. I want people to like my ideas. I want them to think they’re good. I want reassurance that I’m heading in the right direction before I get too far down the road.
But I’m realizing that asking for too many opinions can be the fastest way for me to talk myself out of something I believed in to begin with.
I have to remind myself of this often, especially through the quieter stretches of building Heart Be Your Guide, when engagement is low or things aren’t growing as quickly as I’d hoped. The same is true when I’m making art, trying something new, or simply speaking up.
Not every idea needs a committee. Sometimes you have to trust your own instinct long enough to see where it takes you.
I’m working on that and I thought maybe you needed the reminder, too.

Subscribe to the substack via link in bio 🔗

You might already know Kate through Compost Hands Creative, but words aren’t the only thing she has a way with. 🌱Meet Fa...
10/07/2026

You might already know Kate through Compost Hands Creative, but words aren’t the only thing she has a way with. 🌱

Meet Fasciation Planting & Care, Kate’s gardening consultancy helping people create outdoor spaces that work with the conditions they actually have and feel personal to the people living in them.

Kate is a trained arborist with a deep knowledge of plants, but her philosophy is refreshingly simple: you can be a gardener. Whether you have a backyard, a balcony, a shared space, or a business that could use a little more life outside, she can help you figure out what belongs there and how to actually care for it.

Explore Fasciation Planting & Care on Heart Be Your Guide 🔗

We have lawyer and Lane Law founder Lindsay Lane joining Heart Be Your Guide as one of our professional directory member...
10/06/2026

We have lawyer and Lane Law founder Lindsay Lane joining Heart Be Your Guide as one of our professional directory members and answering a few of our burning Qs.

Highlights include:
⚖️ Why putting a solid legal foundation in place early can save you a lot of headaches later
☕️ Coffee, always
👠 The Devil Wears Prada as a forever favorite
🧠 And a love of collecting completely random facts Lindsay works with new and established businesses on trademarks, contracts, copyrights, and the other legal pieces that come with building and protecting a business, with an approach designed to make the legal side feel a little less intimidating.

Meet Lindsay + explore her full profile on Heart Be Your Guide 🔗

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