Catholic small business

How to Attract the Right Clients for Your Catholic Business

/ chicoinematt

How do you attract the right people you want to do business with?

Create niche content that adds value (informative, inspiring, and/or funny) to your target audience.

My target audience is small Catholic business owners.

I create and share content that almost always is tied exclusively to the Catholic faith.

The times I showcase a glimpse into my personality and hobbies I make sure it’s still connected to Catholicism.

Not everyone will get the joke below.

It’s a very niche Catholic meme. 😆

But that’s okay. I’m not writing for everyone.

That’s what Generic Social Media Influencers do.

I’m not generic. As a neurodivergent, left-handed, literary omnivore Catholic I’m wayyyyyy too weird for the average person.

And you aren’t generic. You’re too awesome!

I like to partner and work with non-generic people.

Saint Therese of Lisieux wrote, “The world is thy ship, not thy home.”

Think of your business as a ship, carrying your family and helping your clients with their needs.

The destination? Our home in Heaven.

We do need to live in the world but we still need to keep our gaze on Our Father.

I create non-generic Catholic content that will attract the right clients for your business.

Will you let me join your ship on the journey?

P.S. What’s the funniest Catholic typo you made or read?

#catholichumor #catholiclife #catholiccontent #nightwing #saintjosemariaescriva

Thank you for sharing!

Celebrating a Milestone: Freelance Catholic Writing Success

/ chicoinematt / 2 Comments

💲This month marks a significant milestone for me as my freelance work has exceeded my “day job” monthly income.

How did this happen?

It’s much simpler (not necessarily easier) than you think.

In 2015, I started my blogging journey, which served as a way to cope with the grief of losing my unborn child due to miscarriage and to continue my mission of spreading knowledge about the Catholic faith.

Writing has been a lifelong passion for me. 📝

As a kid I developed a deep love for reading I used to visit the library weekly, borrowing 20-30 books.

The stories that I read fed my creativity and led to my desire to write.

At the age of 7 I started writing adventures on my mom’s typewriter.

In college, I fostered the skills of reading and writing when I earned a Bachelor’s degree in history (and minor in philosophy).

I completed my Master’s Degree in theology in 2014.

But my higher education credentials aren’t what got me freelance work.

Sure it helped but it wasn’t the main reason.

Instead of merely talking about my expertise, I demonstrated it through consistent daily writing.

It’s easy to tell others about the degrees, programs, or certifcations you amassed.

But it’s more effective to SHOW that you know the subject matter.

And how do you show others?

In the case of my field (content writing), it meant “showing” up everyday.

Over the past 8 years, I’ve been writing daily, whether on my website, through social media, in my notebooks, or in the margins of the books I was reading. 📚📖

I also proactively reached out to websites in my niche, writing guest posts while managing “The Simple Catholic” blog.

Even those numerous unfinished drafts played a role in my freelance success.

One unique aspect of my work is my ability to connect almost anything back to the Catholic Church and the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Here’s a few things I can tie back to Catholicism:

🦔 Hedgehogs

🙂 Tetherball

🪃 Boomerangs

✨ Grand Admiral Thrawn

🖇️ The Office

🌟 Kaleidoscopes

♟️ Board games

🏈 Paper football

⚾ Baseball

📦 Cardboard boxes

I even captured the attention of a client who saw a post I wrote about John the Baptist and eating locusts (with honey of course)!

Success occurs when your passion intersects with your skill and you hone your craft over time.

Repetition is soooooo key.

If you’re a Catholic small business owner seeking engaging, faithful Catholic content for your website, reach out to me yesterday (or today) if you’re behind schedule. 🙂

Email me at chicoine.matt@live.com to learn more.

Thank you for sharing!

A 620 Word Interview with the Founder of Catholic Family Crate

/ chicoinematt

Editor’s Note: Matthew Chicoine interviewed Elissa Tiprigan, founder of Catholic Family Crate via phone call on September 4th, 2023. Some of the questions have been rearranged and edited to provide the best reader experience without losing any  integrity of the answers given.

Describe your faith journey:

I’m a cradle Catholic and attended Catholic schools through middle school. We went to youth groups and went to a few Steubenville conferences. My husband and I got married and moved to Denver. We were awakened to the richness of the Catholic Church through the witness of large Catholic families. In my adult life, I learned more about our faith. It’s not just a Sunday experience but it’s a joyful and beautiful and a rich history.

When was Catholic Family Crate created?

We started it in 2018.

What led up to the creation of Catholic Family Crate?

My oldest was two at the time and I was learning more about the liturgical feasts (I knew about Advent and Lent). I felt overwhelmed with wanting to share all these rich Catholic traditions. My sister experienced a Catholic community in Steubenville and I was talking with her on the phone about how to learn about the faith. I started to research saint feast days. My sister suggested a monthly Catholic subscription box. For about a year or two I was hoping someone else would develop a company to create a subscription box for Catholics.

Logo provided by Catholic Family Crate.

Enter in Catholic Family Crate. I formulated a team: my parish priest Fr. Luis Granados, DCJM- our theologian, a few writer friends, and a couple friends who were Catholic Montessori teachers.

Eventually we hired our own artist to help us create more of our own content. At the end of every box we provided a survey. The most popular items our customers selected were the items we created.

I was on a date with my husband at Barnes & Noble and remember telling him how we couldn’t find high quality Catholic products that were affordable. I wanted my kids to have good quality Catholic resources.

After the fourth box, it became apparent we needed to switch to include all our own products.

In 2019 we adjusted our mission statement: to provide high quality and affordable Catholic resources.

Do you have a specialized illustrator for your products?

Yes, since 2019 we hired an illustrator, new writer, and a new theologian.

I didn’t have a desire to be a business owner when I began this journey. It started as a need to fill for my family. I said “yes” to the little “yeses” God sent my way.

How did find your illustator?

We found her through Instagram. We also have had various graphic designers helped with colors and backgrounds when it comes to mass production.

What’s your favorite product you have created for Catholic Family Crate?

Our Pray by Sticker Book. It’s 10 different Catholic images. You match up the stickers with the numbers on the page. At the end you have a beautiful Catholic mosaic. It is an opportunity to keep your child busy with screen-free activity.

Image provided via email by Elissa, Founder of Catholic Family Crate.

I’ve played with your Catholic Playing Cards and enjoyed the artwork and the saints you picked. Describe the symbolism and intention beyond the cards.

We planned to have the Jesus as the King, Mary as the Queen, Joseph as the Jack, and the Holy Spirit as the Ace. We did plan to have a diversity of older and modern saints along with having an equal number of male and female saints.

I could see doing other card themes such as boy and girl saint decks or a Marian deck.

What other products do you have in the works?

A Bingo deck for Catholic-themed party, an oversized activity sheet for the Doctors of the Church, and A Card Ring-Doctors of the Church Edition.

Why should you be Catholic?

Because of the Eucharist.

About Elissa:

Elissa Tiprigan is the founder of Catholic Family Crate. Catholic Family Crate makes Catholic educational resources, games, art, stickers, subscription boxes, and more to make growing in the Catholic faith easy and fun. They are on a mission to revolutionize Catholic resources and make them affordable, accessible, high-quality, and engaging. In her mind, she’s an accidental entrepreneur, but she’s grateful for God’s wild plan for her life. She lives in Denver, Colorado with her husband and four children.

Thank you for sharing!

Relaunch Your Catholic Small Business: The Proven Strategy to Reconnect with Customers and Revive Your Business After a Tough Year

/ chicoinematt

Are you struggling to relaunch your business after a challenging year? Here’s the proven strategy I used to reconnect with my customers and successfully get my business thriving again.

Use this strategy ⤵️

The What:

📬 Send them personalized postcards— in a digital world, paper will stand out

💬 Send personalized DMs to check in with them (don’t sell anything off the bat…that’s spammy/salesy)

Post consistently on social media about your products/services:

🔶 Be valuable (educational/entertaining depending on your brand voice) about it at least 80%.

🔷 The other 20% you can mention th products/services you offer but frame it from the problem you solve

✍️Publish regularly on your blog to help provide insights about your industry for your audience.

The When:

Reach out to your customers (works for prospects too) at natural checkpoints.

Holidays, weekends, end of the week, liturgical feast days (my clients are Catholic small business owners 🙂).

For example:

“Hi (insert first name)! Hope you are having a blessed Feast of Saints Peter and Paul.”

OR

“Hope you had a blessed Feast of the Most Holy Trinity (insert first name)! Here’s a funny meme I made for the occasion and thought you might like it”

At around 90 days before your relaunch start to be more overt in your messaging about the products/services you provide (thank you Stacked Marketer Holiday Marketing Guide for this tip!.

If you try to promote your work any sooner from a cold hiatus then your customers are going to notice and be turned off by the experience.

—–

Rebuild relationships first. Sell later. 👍

#customers#smallbusiness#relationships

Thank you for sharing!

How to Activate Your Small Catholic Business’s Uniqueness

/ chicoinematt

Do you want your business to stand out in the sea of Internet-noise?

Be like John the Baptist. Do something different.

Eat locusts with a dab of honey. Record yourself chomping on these crunchy bugs. 😋

Don’t worry, I said you can have honey on it.

Now, if aren’t near a grassy field you can order dried locusts online (link in the comments).

😳

🦗

🙄

You might be reading this thinking, “Surely, you must be kidding!?”

I’m only half-kidding— about the locusts.

*Reader breathes a sigh of relief*

But I was serious about being LIKE John the Baptist.

Do something different.

I mean with your blogging strategy on your website.

“But we post once a month.”

We live in a fast-paced world. And it’s weird.

Heck, people video record themselves eating things much stranger than locusts (and in a much greater volume than John the Baptist did with those bugs)

Posting once a month isn’t enough to distinguish your business from every other one.

Going back to weirdness…

Last month, the priest at my local parish talked about how we need to keep the weirdness in Catholicism. This was in the context of our Corpus Christi procession.

Being weird isn’t bad.

It captures people’s attention.

John was weird with his Nazarite vows and yelling “Repent” or “Behold, the Lamb of God”.

And if you have a small Catholic business, we are compelled to preach the oddness of the Gospel.

This doesn’t mean making up new doctrines or stretching the truth.

But it does mean being different.

And if you don’t have a current blog on your website the first step to being different is starting one.

I provide blog writing services for small Catholic businesses.

Reach out to me if you want your business to stand out and attract new customers. More details by clicking on: https://thesimplecatholic.blog/writing-services/

And the best part?

I won’t ask you to eat locusts…unless you want with them with honey. 🍯

Thank you for sharing!

Product Review― The Rosary Prayer Card

/ chicoinematt

“The Rosary is the ‘weapon’ for these times.”

– St. Padre Pio

Catholic Rosary meme

Happens all the time. 😂

Spiritual warfare has been going on since the beginning of time. The Devil tempted Adam and Eve in Genesis 3 to disobey God. This led to the Fall and humanity losing Original Justice.

God loved his creation so much He sent his only Son Jesus Christ to save us through the Paschal Mystery. The Rosary is the prayer which tells the story of Jesus’ Life, Death, and Resurrection. It is an important and effective defense against Satan.

The world is speeding up and it’s easy to get lost in the rush of social media or the latest fad.

But reflecting on the the Life of Jesus is more necessary than ever. Enter the Rosary Prayer Card. I received this item from Everydayprayerco. 

Rosary Prayer Card

Simple and durable. It survived my kids playing with it!

Rosary Prayer card

Super sleek design. Fits perfectly in your wallet!

A rosary doesn’t always fit in your pocket (and let’s be honest it ALWAYS gets tangled). The benefit of the Rosary Prayer Card  is fits inside your wallet. Since putting the card in my wallet I have been more mindful to pray the Rosary. As a father to four young children, it’s easy to get distracted by their shenanigans. The prayer card is a simple way to keep my focus on Jesus and Mary.

Consider giving the Rosary Prayer Card as a graduation or confirmation gift. The youth is our future and they need Jesus and Mary in their life! Everydayprayerco had great customer service and my kids enjoyed praying the Rosary with this new prayer tool. Visit their website today and purchase your own Rosary Prayer Card.

Thank you for sharing!