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Spring Cleaning? Don’t Forget Your Resume!
If you’re like me, you spent some time this weekend putting winter clothes away and checking to see if last year’s shorts still fit. Maybe you’re going through the things you put in the garage to deal with later or pulling out last year’s tomato plants. Spring is also a great time to refresh your resume, whether you are on…
Business Cards: Trash or Treasure?
Life gets more and more paperless every day. And in most ways, that’s a good thing. We archive our emails instead of printing and filing; we view attachments on the screen instead of using up expensive ink or toner. We share documents in the cloud instead of distributing paper copies before a meeting. Are business cards going to go the…
Create Happiness, Don’t Prevent It
We know you have a great attitude and are generally a happy person. You’re grateful for what you have and always have a friendly smile for those around you. Ever notice that sometimes people are scowling back at you? Those people have learned how to prevent themselves from being happy and you can learn a lot from them, if you…
Looking (and Feeling) Confident
One of my roles is Vocal Coach and I’m spending many hours working with some Middle School singers this month while they are preparing for auditions. Some of the work we are doing is very technical—breathing, tone, pitch—but some of the work is on their presentation. Especially with the exceptional singers. And this work is making me think about the…
Job Search: Follow Through and Hit Your Target
Getting that resume to the right person for the right role is a great start to getting a job, but it is only the beginning. Our hope is that you’ve perfected your resume—using keywords, providing tangible results of your achievements, telling your story—and have been offered an interview. Although it seems like the brass ring is almost in your grasp,…
Creativity in Wonderland: Tips from Lewis Carroll
We hope your workplace isn’t like the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party, but when you are having trouble with a creative block, Lewis Carroll’s famous tale may have some good advice for you: “Why is a raven like a writing desk?” Of course, it turned out there was no answer to this riddle, but setting yourself a nonsense question to ponder…
5 Ways to Create a Standout Online Portfolio
Every Creative knows that the interview process for them is unique. While the resume is still important to potential employers to see where creative talent has been and what they’ve been doing, the work produced is what matters most. Whether you’re a designer, developer, copywriter, or producer, employers expect to see an online portfolio of work that emulates what they…
7 Interview Questions Every Employer Should Ask
Whether you’re a veteran interviewer or hiring your first employee, you’ll probably agree that the interview is the most important part of the recruitment process. Therefore it’s critical to ask the right questions. While our version of the Proust Questionnaire offers a few out of the box questions (designed in some cases to stump potential employees or just see how…
Take Charge of Your Luck
Ever feel like if you didn’t have bad luck, you wouldn’t have any luck at all? Or are you one of those people who always gets the best parking space, always hears their favorite song on Pandora, or manages to snag those rock concert tickets in the 10 minutes they are for sale? Some things in life truly are luck….
Personal Branding: Facebook
Facebook seemed to have been created to allow us to reconnect with old friends, to help us remember birthdays, and sometimes even to shout into the void when we feel the need to express ourselves. However, the longer Facebook is around, the more it changes and the more it becomes a marketing tool for companies, brands, and people. Are you…
Managing Time Wasting Managers
You’re humming along, checking things off your to-do list, confident that you will accomplish all of your goals for the day, and then—screech! Your productive day comes to a halt. Your manager has interrupted you. And your flow. Hopefully, your manager has an important idea to discuss, practical suggestions to make or new solution to recommend. By stopping to review…
Freelancer Tax Tips for 2013
Last year we gave you some helpful tips for your 2012 taxes and, believe it or not, it’s almost that time of year again. Self-employed or incorporated Freelancers, how did you do? Did you… Track your mileage – If you drive to meet with or deliver work to your clients, you can take a deduction for the miles you drove this…
Think Before Accepting A Counteroffer
Even if you’re actively looking to leave your job and are suddenly faced with an attractive counteroffer, you better thing twice before saying “yes”. If accepted, a counteroffer – usually presented by a client in sheer panic mode – could change more than just your salary. Here are a few things to consider first: Your intention may now be in…
Getting Paid What You’re Worth
One of the biggest challenges – whether you are a recent graduate or an experienced creative – is getting paid what you’re worth. There may not be a formula for determining salary, but armed with some research, you will be ready to negotiate pay in either your current job or for a new position. Take a Balanced Approach Determining what…
Tips for Being a Better Leader
We’ve talked on the Artisan Blog about the difference between a Boss and a Leader. But even if you are not responsible for managing a team, there are always things you can do to improve your leadership skills: Solve Problems—It’s easy to see when things are going wrong and easier still to pin the blame on someone. Great leaders not…
The Importance of Mentorship with Artisan Founder Jamie Douraghy
I sat down with Artisan Creative’s Founder Jamie Douraghy recently to talk about mentorship. Jamie has mentored and is a mentor and is committed to mentorship from both sides. Jamie has been an entrepreneur for more than 20 years. He is also intimately involved with the Entrepreneurs Organization (EO), where he has served in leadership roles including both Area and Regional…
Artisan Loves…Our Favorite Technology
While today is a day for expressing our love for the people in our lives, we thought we would ask the Artisan team what technology they love for increasing their productivity. Here are some of their answers: Jess Bedford: “Hard to imagine life without my iPhone and my WiFi connection. Together they keep me connected on all my social networks,…
Office Valentines
Remember those little perforated cards you gave to all of your grade school classmates? You worried about which one to give your crush and whether he or she would give you one too. By now, you’ve graduated to real greeting cards and maybe even flowers and candy, but having a relationship with a person you spend your workday with is…
7 Tips for Your Online Writing Portfolio
For copywriters, the work samples of today are often easy to find on the internet and only a click away. However, if you’re looking to secure future clients like your designer counterparts, it’s best to have an online portfolio with examples of all the different kinds of writing you have completed. Some may choose to use a more traditional, hosted…
Be Prepared
You could say the wrong thing or have a conflict with the boss, but in California where the Artisan Team is hard at work, we are always just a moment away from the next natural disaster: an earthquake. If you, like us, work in an area that could be hit by a natural disaster without any warning, you are probably…
Preparing for Your Telephone Interview
With fewer human resources professionals taking care of more hiring and hundreds, if not thousands of online applications, the telephone interview or “phone screen” has become ever more common as part of the job search process. But telephone interviews offer some challenges that are distinctly different from an in-person interview. Here are some tips for preparing: Be ready—Don’t take a…
Office Etiquette: 5 Things You Should Never Say (or Type)
Everyone speaks without thinking on occasion, and we’ve probably all hit “Send” when we wish we hadn’t. However, there are times when what you say (or type) at work can have big repercussions. Unlike our personal relationships, where it can be easier to apologize and move on, office blunders like this could land you out of a job! Here are…
Reflections: Focusing on Yourself
In thinking of ourselves as entrepreneurs—and we should be, no matter our current roles—we spend a lot of time working hard to satisfy our clients, to fulfill our obligations, to grow our businesses and careers, and to improve our skills. But if all you have the energy to do when you finally stop working (if you stop working) is fall…
4 Tips for Developing Great Managers
A company’s most valuable—and most expensive—asset is its talent. Finding, hiring, and training that talent are all important, and no organization could exist without those things. But when you have that creative talent on board and working, you want to keep them happy, keep them growing and keep increasing their value. Here are some ways to develop your managers as…
When Being Disruptive Is a Good Thing
The dictionary defines “disruptive” as tumultuous, chaotic, troublesome, or unruly. None of these words sound too good in a job search or work context. But in business, being disruptive is taking on a whole new meaning: Disruptive Marketing Sometimes criticized for being more like spam or unwelcome communications, disruptive marketing at its best is marketing that is so different from…