How You Can Use Adobe Creative Cloud in Your Business
I was introduced to Adobe Photoshop in college sometime around 2006 and it was love at first site, no.joke.
A fun fact: My first blog was called I Heart Photoshop and I taught Photoshop tutorials.
After that first introduction to Photoshop, I was then introduced to Illustrator, InDesign and a whole host of other Adobe programs and I as IN IT – totally Adobe obsessed.
The crazy thing about being Adobe obsessed back then though was that the whole “Suite” was COSTLY, like thousands of dollars, it was a little insane. As a student I got the full suite for like $800 back then and that had to be a Christmas and Birthday present combined from my parents and my (at the time) fiance, it was so worth it though.
Fast forward to today and you can get EVERY program from Adobe for less than $50/month and most business owners don't even need that whole package and can get away for less than $20 or something crazy like that.
I'm jealous.
I use Adobe Creative Cloud and LOVE it – I actually have the full package because I'm super familiar with most of the programs and am just not sure when I might want to use them, ha.
A ton of you folks have asked me HOW I use these programs in my business so I wanted to talk a little bit about that today.
How to Use Adobe Creative Cloud in Business.
First, let me just say that Adobe programs DO have a learning curve but that once you learn the way Adobe works, it'll carry on over to other programs. In the meantime, find some tutorials on YouTube or use Adobe's library of tutorials to figure out what you really need from the programs.
Ok, so, here goes:
Photoshop. I use PS for #allthethings. I use this for graphics, to create covers for eGuides or booklets, for client work (as a graphic designer, it's a must), to edit/downsize photos for personal reasons and this blog, etc. I think this program is a necessity for ANYONE who runs/owns a small business – at least a basic understanding of it. You can actually try Photoshop AND Lightroom (even if you don't use Lightroom, it's worth it) for just $9.99 with the Photographer's bundle.
Illustrator. If you're looking to make higher-end graphics like your own branding/logo (or looking to get in to graphic design as a profession), you absolutely need Illustrator. This is used mostly for vector graphics so that you can easily create graphics that print beautifully as the size of a house. This one isn't necessary for the novice user or someone not interested in graphics as a whole.
InDesign. Oh, this one is good. I think ID is one of the easier Adobe programs to learn and it's one of the most valuable ones. You can easily create beautiful and interactive workbooks, PDFs and other graphics for within your business. I highly suggest this badboy for creating PDFs to use as freebies or opt-ins. Definitely a must for anyone looking to create multiple PDFs or workbooks within their business.
Adobe Premiere Pro. If you're looking to up your video editing game from iMovie (which is my favorite) you might consider Premiere Pro. This is definitely not a beginners program so I don't recommend to everybody.
Acrobat DC. This is awesome for editing PDFs (it detects the text in a document and lets you edit) and creating fillable PDFs at super fast speeds. If you're wanting fillable PDFs, there are free programs to do this but I HIGHLY suggest Acrobat because it's robust, seamless and pretty.
Lightroom. If you're wanting an easy way to batch edit photos and/or you're a photographer or budding photographer, you need Lightroom. It's easy to use once you learn it but I definitely don't think it's NECESSARY for every business owner. You can actually try Photoshop AND Lightroom (even if you don't use Lightroom, it's worth it) for just $9.99 with the Photographer's bundle.
There are TONS of other programs in “the cloud” but these are the ones that I think are beneficial to small business owners like yo'self. Most of the other programs are a little more confusing and technical but definitely useable if you want to learn them.
Before I just bit the bullet and jumped into the whole Adobe Creative Cloud membership, I had the Photographer's Bundle (Photoshop & Lightroom), then I added Illustrator (you can get a single program for just $19.99) BUT I needed InDesign and Acrobat so then it was worth the upgrade to me but I highly suggest learning one program at a time.
Now that I've introduced you to the Creative Cloud, I'm going to dive into some tutorials for some of these programs, which is something so many of you have asked for. Next up? You'll learn how to create GIFs in Photoshop which also includes creating a YouTube video intro with Photoshop…woohoo. Stay tuned.
Want a video version of this post? Hit it up below.