Tag: personal branding | Artisan Creative

How to Market Your Freelancing Business

Tuesday, September 14th, 2021|

When working as a freelancer, you are your business, your product, and your marketing team all in one.

Having control of all of these aspects of your business is extremely exciting and motivating because it puts you in control of your success.

Like any successful business, you need a solid marketing strategy that will help you gain visibility in your industry and draw in more clients!

In this article, we will be discussing the following ways in which you can increase your marketing for yourself and your business while freelancing:

Become a Guest on a Podcast
Be a Subject Matter Expert (SME)
Write a Book, E-book, or Article
Utilize SEO Strategy
Network, Network, Network!

Become a Guest on a Podcast

Podcasts have increased in popularity in recent years, with the number of listeners in the United States expected to grow by about 10% in 2021 to about 117.8 million listeners.

With podcasts emerging from every industry and point-of-view, the medium has a dedicated base of listeners that are exploring different topics.

There are several benefits to marketing your freelance business by becoming a guest on a podcast. With a podcast, the listeners are there to learn and will, therefore, are a captive and engaged audience.

Additionally, podcasts are a more personal medium. By sharing your ideas on a podcast, rather than approaching marketing with a sales mindset, you come across as more authentic. When you connect with an audience, you can develop greater loyalty!

Next, one of the most important marketing principles is communicating directly to your target audience or market. Podcasts allow you to do that!

Each podcast has data outlining the type of people who listen to the podcast, such as demographic stratification and personal or professional interest.

Or, you can even start a podcast yourself!

Become a Subject Matter Expert (SME)

A subject matter expert or SME is someone who is an authority in their industry or vertical because of their extensive knowledge.

While one can be an SME in almost any field, it usually relates to knowledge in a technical or educational field. For example, if you are a freelance marketing consultant, you can become an SME in the field of marketing.

Marketing is essentially persuasion. In other words, you want to persuade your audience to use your services as a freelancer.

Across the disciplines of both psychology and communication, we know that one of the best ways to persuade someone is by having authority. People are more likely to trust you if you are educated on a topic.

Therefore, becoming an SME will have a positive influence on your brand. Not many people can tout that they are experts in their field. Having this classification will encourage others to work with you.

Write a Book, E-book, or Article

Writing a book or article relating to your industry or work will help establish your authority in the field. Having published work means you are recognized as an expert in your industry! The self-publishing industry has created affordable means of getting a book to market. However if long-form content is not your expertise, try writing articles for the Medium, of Business Journal Trust or publish on Linkedin.

Additionally, writing a book or article can help establish greater recognition and top-of-mind awareness with your audience. People are more likely to choose someone whose name they recognize, and the expertise they seek.

Utilize SEO Strategy

When marketing yourself as a freelancer in today’s highly saturated climate, it is crucial to have a focus on search engine optimization (SEO). The goal of SEO is to increase a website’s ranking on Google search results.

Why is this important? Because people will see your website first and be more likely to click on it when searching for the service you offer. The best part is that SEO is free. You need to learn the Google algorithm and how to work with it.

For example, if you use the right density of industry keywords, your website will better fulfill the search queries of users, and therefore, be ranked higher.

Or, if your website is user-friendly, well designed, and quick loading, users will stay on it longer, signaling to Google that it is a quality website. Google, in turn, will rank it higher in search results.

Network, Network, Network!

As a freelancer, you are your brand! Therefore, one of the best ways to get your name out there is to network. Networking can mean a lot of things, from adding other professionals in your industry on LinkedIn and social media platforms to directly contacting potential clients.

By connecting with other freelancers in similar industries, you can find a community of like-minded people who will support you. You can learn from each other about new trends and share clients, especially if you have different expertise.

There are also a number of portfolio-sharing websites specifically for freelancers so that you can share your work with others and give clients an overview of your past work.

The wider you grow your network, the more work opportunities will present themselves. Working with recruitment agencies such as Artisan Creative allows for your network to expand.

Conclusion

Working as a freelancer has many benefits, from the flexibility of working when and where you want to work to having control over what work you do daily. So, if you are a freelancer looking to gain exposure, implement some of the marketing tips we presented above!

We hope you’ve enjoyed our 593rd a.blog.

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4 Tips for Resignation Best Practices

Tuesday, August 17th, 2021|

Handing in your resignation may feel like a daunting task, regardless of the reason you’ve decided to leave your current position. Whether you are taking on new endeavors, your current position is no longer the right fit, or you are embarking on a sabbatical, it is important to leave respectfully and professionally, allowing your team to transition smoothly.

No matter your reason for resigning, let’s review 4 tips of resignation best practices.

Speak to Your Manager
Write a Two-Week Notice
Answer Exit Interview Questions
Maintain Professionalism

Speak to Your Manager

First and foremost, be sure to speak to your manager or supervisor in person vs. resigning via email or text. In this day and age of WFH, in-person may mean a Zoom or Teams meeting, so be sure to schedule a video meeting to discuss before handing in your written notice of resignation letter.

Since you have built a relationship with your manager, you owe them more than a quick email if you decide to resign from your job and share gratitude for the opportunity they have given you.

Additionally, be sure to tell your supervisor before you tell other members at the company or on your team. You do not want your boss finding out from someone else that you are quitting.

It is good professional conduct to speak to your manager to ensure that you leave on good terms and share feedback necessary for uninterrupted workflow.

Write a Two-Week Notice

As you may already know, giving your company a two-week notice before leaving your position is common courtesy and standard best practice.

By giving a two-week notice, you allow your manager to find a suitable replacement. Don’t leave your team hanging, and provide a well-thought-out notice of your resignation, with recommendations on who on the team can take over some of your tasks. This will give everyone some time to take over your deliverables without falling behind.

So, you might be asking, “What is the proper way to write a two-week notice?”

The following outlines the elements to include when writing a professional two-week notice.

First, begin by stating that you are resigning from your position. This statement should include the name of your position and the company you work for.

For example, “I would like to inform you that I am resigning from my position as XYZ Associate at Company X.”

Next, please state the date of your last day of work, whether it is two weeks from when you are writing the letter or list a specific date.

Although you do not have to explain why you are leaving your position, you should provide a statement of gratitude. This could be a sentence or two explaining what you learned in the position, how working at the company has provided you with an opportunity to grow, or gratitude for the personal connections you have made.

End your letter by offering any help while your company transitions. This may include recommending other employees for your position or offering to train whoever takes on the position next.

You should format your resignation letter in business letter format, with your name and contact information at the top, and maintain a positive tone overall.

Answer Exit Interview Questions

Your exit interview allows the company to understand why you are leaving your position and, if needed, improve other employees’ experiences in the future. Be honest and offer constructive feedback that the company can implement and grow.

Respond to exit interview questions respectfully and objectively. Think about how your answers can improve the culture or processes rather than focusing on personal experiences that may not be relevant.

Maintain Professionalism

Maintaining professionalism throughout your resignation process is key. It allows you to preserve the professional and personal relationships you cultivated and upholds your reputation, especially if you choose to remain in the same industry or seek references in the future.

Keep your high work ethic until your very last day of work. In other words, work as hard as you always have and do not use your resignation as an excuse to ease off. Your team is counting on you.

Conclusion

It is up to you to take charge of your career, growth, and success. This sometimes means resigning from your current position to pursue other opportunities.

Resigning from a position that no longer serves you should not be scary. It should be empowering. Follow the tips we presented in this article to ensure that you resign in a stress-free and professional manner!

If you are looking for new opportunities, check out our open jobs page. Wishing you the best in your next career move.

We hope you’ve enjoyed our 591st a.blog.

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10 Tips for Building a Freelance Business

Tuesday, November 10th, 2020|

At Artisan Creative, we work closely with our freelance talent to help them create success in the creative, marketing, and digital fields and best market their services to maintain an on-going freelance business. Especially, during the current state of the economy, freelancing can provide a needed respite in between interviews and job searches. Below are 10 tips to help launch or enhance your freelance business.

Update your Linkedin presence and ensure hiring managers know you are open to new freelance and full-time opportunities. Focus your expertise, use SEO keywords, and ask for endorsements.
View your freelancing as a business. Revisit your resume or website to review all clients and brands served, list all new accomplishments, update software proficiencies, and highlight your client and/or project management skills.
Create your Portfolio. Be sure to update your most recent work, and present your best pieces first. Your design samples should be representative of the type of work you like to do, as well as showcase your range of skills. It must be well-organized with good UI, simple navigation, and include a description of the project and your role. If you are unable to build a portfolio, use some of the great free tools such as Krop or Behance.
Represent your Brand. Let your personal style shine through your presentation and create a consistent thread via the color palette, font, and imagery on your portfolio, resume, and social media assets.
Be a Subject Matter Expert. Join an online discussion, share articles, write blogs, become engage on Twitter. If you have the bandwidth, create your own blog or podcast, guest blog, or write articles to industry publications. These tools enable you to get your name and profile in front of a larger group of people to help establish your credibility and brand.
Volunteer. Volunteering for non-profits is a way to give back to an organization that can benefit from your services. All will help improve your portfolio/skillset and offer built-in opportunities to network as well.
Build your Network – In-person networking may be on pause currently due to the pandemic, however greater opportunities exist online. Join existing social media groups and discussions, and attend online industry events and expand your circle of like-minded creatives who can become collaborators on projects or be a great source for referrals.
Get Listed. Create your freelance business pages. Create profiles on directories, portfolio & resume portals as well as freelance portals where you can list your work and advertise your services.
Work with Recruiters. Recruitment agencies have access to opportunities that are not listed on job boards. This expands your marketing efforts for free by enlisting teams of connected specialists who also benefit from you getting work.
Perfect your pitch. As a freelancer, everyone you meet may be a potential client (or knows someone who could be a client). Work on your presentation and perfect your elevator pitch. Representing yourself professionally will speak volumes about your abilities, so don’t be shy about sharing how can be a great freelance resource.

We hope you’ve enjoyed the 573rd issue of our a.blog.

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7 Ways To Revamp Your LinkedIn Profile

Tuesday, October 13th, 2020|

Linkedin continues to be a great resource for job seekers. If you have ever applied for a position through LinkedIn or used it to search for an employee, client, or friend then you know that similar to other ‘social media,’ platforms, LinkedIn allows a prospective hiring manager to quickly assess one’s expertise, availability, and experience for a role.

Although it is not the platform to post your vacation pictures and funny cat videos, LinkedIn functions as an intermediary between job seekers and employers who are looking for talent, and a hub for professional networking.

A well-crafted LinkedIn profile is often the first impression you make with potential employers and collaborators. Therefore, your online presence should be as crisp, concise, and professional as any job application you formally submit.

Here are some ways you can revamp your LinkedIn profile:

Highlight the Portfolio Section

Add a featured section to your profile to highlight recent work or blogs to draw attention
Add your online portfolios, articles, podcasts, and other work that has been published online.
If you work in a creative field, this a fantastic way to show off your work, and it easily accessible to hiring managers.
Add industry-specific keywords in your headline and throughout your LinkedIn profile including the description of past experiences and your summary.

Don’t Underestimate the Power of Your Headline

Your headline is the first element of your profile an employer sees.
Communicate more than your current position. Considering that you have a whole 120 words, it should include the skills you have, and titles of the positions you hope to have in the future.
Maximize SEO for keywords that align with your skills, and experience

Update your skills

Highlight skills that are relevant to the positions you are applying for.
List your subject matter expertise
Skills and relevant keywords will help your profile with SEO and increased visibility
Change the order in which skills appear on your profile to ensure that the most relevant ones come first.

Join Groups

Join groups on LinkedIn based on your interests and affiliations.
Network with those in the same industry or who have similar interests as you.
Communicate with like-minded people, keep up-to-date with industry changes, and even bolster your network for a future job search.
If you are unsure about where to start, LinkedIn recommends groups for you to join.

Activate Open To Work feature

Under your profile photo, you can Let Recruiters Know You Are Open To Work:
Make your profile discoverable by recruiters and hiring managers
Once you have chosen this option, you can share your tailored career interests with recruiters. Additionally, you can share this information with only recruiters, or share it with the whole LinkedIn community, to increase your pool of opportunity.

Get Recommendations

Testimonials are one of the best ways to increase efficacy.
If you have just completed a freelance project, make it a practice to ask for a testimonial
Ask your employer or client to endorse you on LinkedIn or add a recommendation.
By doing so, you show that your work is valued by a diversity of people, and helps verify the skills you claim to have.

Update Your Summary

This is your elevator pitch and needs to be clear, concise, and demonstrate the skills you have and what you are looking for in a future position.
Keep it engaging, and use an active voice to write it
Detail education, work experience, certificates, and volunteer experience.

Your LinkedIn profile should be curated for the job you want, not the job you have. It should reflect how your experiences make you stand out from others applying for the same position. In today’s highly-competitive, technology-driven job market, tailoring your LinkedIn profile will make all the difference.

We hope you’ve enjoyed the 571st issue of our a.blog.

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Creating Your Personal Brand

Wednesday, November 6th, 2019|

As a creative professional, how do you open better opportunities and do more of the work you love? How do you differentiate? In the context of personal branding, this means presenting yourself in a way that sets you apart from others in your field. Your personal brand should be easy to explain in an elevator pitch, yet complex enough to generate a range of ideas and evolve over time.

You can get some unusual personal branding insights from a classic Harvard Business Review interview with Bernard Arnault, the chairman of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, the richest person in the fashion world, and one of the world’s leading authorities on building “star brands.”

Become a Star Brand

According to Arnault, a star brand has four key characteristics. “A star brand is timeless, modern, fast-growing, and highly profitable,” he says. “It is very hard to balance all four characteristics at once – after all, fast growth is often at odds with high profitability – but that is what makes them stars. If you have a star brand, then basically you can be sure you have mastered a paradox.”

To work toward becoming a creative rockstar, you should cultivate your own unique sensibility independent of passing trends. At the same time, you should pay attention to your media diet and attune yourself to the zeitgeist. And, you must have the courage to ask for what you’re worth. A creative staffing firm such as Artisan Creative can help you get a fair price for your work.

Be Your Own Biggest Fan

“A lot of companies talk about quality, if you want your brand to be timeless, you have to be a fanatic about it,” says Arnault. As a creative professional, this means pouring your passion into every piece of work you do. It also means presenting that work in a way that showcases your personal brand in the most flattering and exciting possible light.

Make sure you invest time and attention to detail when building your creative portfolio so it best communicates who you are and what you’re capable of. Attend networking events to build a professional support system and get comfortable with promoting yourself.

Be Bold and Take Risks

When working with the world’s most famous designers, Arnault’s biggest management priority is to give them the freedom to be themselves. “If you think and act like a typical manager around creative people – with rules, policies, data on customer preferences, and so forth – you will quickly kill their talent. Our whole business is based on giving our artists and designers complete freedom to invent without limits.”

As the manager of your own personal brand, this means giving yourself some space to pursue unusual ideas and try new things. You can orchestrate the right environment to loosen your creative muscles, or do fun and experimental work on your own time – work you really love – to freshen your perspective. Also, give yourself permission to occasionally pitch a risky idea. It may unlock some hidden potential in a project.

First, build rigorous self-discipline. Then give yourself the freedom to be yourself and shoot for greatness.

Seek Inspiration From Unlikely Sources

While he doesn’t make demands, Arnault does encourage designers to broaden their horizons. “Not long ago, I said to one of our designers, ‘Why don’t you take a trip to Japan and see what the teenage girls are wearing on the streets at night?’ These girls are very leading edge in fashion; they create trends years before they hit the mainstream, like with those very high shoes, and it makes very good sense to watch them. I did not say to the designer, ‘Go and see what kinds of shoes they are wearing and copy them,’ although I was hoping he would notice their shoes. I just suggested, ‘Go look.'”

To grow and refine your personal brand, capture ideas and inspiration from as many different places as you can. Go to museums, art galleries, symphonies, and public gardens, and take note of anything that strikes you. Explore the hidden history of your profession and how it’s done differently in other times and places. Keep an open mind, and you’ll have the flexibility to do unique, courageous work that is unmistakably yours.

At Artisan Creative, we help creative professionals get more from their lives and careers. Contact Artisan today to learn more.

We hope you’ve enjoyed issue # 546 of the a.blog.

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Become Your Own Influencer

Wednesday, September 25th, 2019|

Social media influencers are changing the way we think about marketing. You don’t need fancy vacations or five-course meals to make use of the concepts behind influencer marketing. As a creative professional, the success of influencers can inspire you to build your personal brand, increase your network and reach, and find better professional opportunities.

Know Your Niche

As a creative professional, the more specifically you define yourself, the more you will stand out. This means honing a concrete elevator pitch and choosing a niche within your industry. “An easy way to select your niche is to evaluate your strengths and weaknesses,” says digital marketing consultant Shane Barker. “Choose a niche that allows you to showcase your strengths and hone your skills further. Deciding on a particular niche will help you streamline your audience and tailor your content to suit their preferences.”

Develop a Content Strategy

Once you’re clear on who you are, you can create content that reflects your skills and values and establishes your presence and authority in your industry and community. Your content strategy can encompass your design portfolio, your social media activity, blogging, video, or anything else that gets your message out and makes others aware of what you do. To become more influential, treat yourself like a small media company, and be thoughtful and deliberate about what sort of content you put out and how it aligns with your brand.

Choose Your Channels

There are many digital channels available, with more emerging all the time. Rather than trying to use them all, it’s better to choose a few you enjoy the most and are best for transmitting your work. If you’re a visual designer, you’ll want to use video or image-based channels to showcase your aesthetic sensibilities. If you’re a copywriter, you can publish articles on LinkedIn or use Twitter to test your concepts, slogans, and taglines. Newer channels can present unusual opportunities for those on the cutting edge.

Keep It Consistent

Your choice of channels is less important than your commitment to show up and stick with them. To build influence, you should be willing to put out a steady stream of content, provide value for your audience, and pursue continuous growth and improvement. With social media, being “always-on” can be a challenge; automation software can help, allowing you to create lots of posts in one sitting and parcel them out over time.

Engage and Grow

If you persist, iterate, and keep putting your best self forward, don’t be surprised to see your influence grow over time. As your work touches people’s lives and new opportunities present themselves, be sure to engage with those who support you. The ability to develop a worldwide professional network and work out your ideas with a supportive audience in real-time is perhaps the most rewarding perk of being an influencer, even if it’s just in your small corner of the world.

At Artisan Creative, we help creative professionals find new ways to enrich their portfolios, networks, and careers. Contact Artisan today to learn more.

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Storytelling and Interviewing

Wednesday, June 5th, 2019|

If you’ve spent any slice of time searching for a job, you’ve probably experienced this. At some point in a typical job interview, often right at the top, your interviewer will say, “tell me about yourself.”

Technically, this isn’t a question, it’s a prompt. It puts you on the spot. It can be intimidating!

However, with the right preparation – along with dashes of confidence, enthusiasm, and self-awareness – “tell me about yourself” can be your opportunity to shine.

In preparation for this inevitable inquiry, here are a few ideas to keep in mind.

Tell Your Story

Intrigue your interviewer, engage their interest, and make them want to learn more about you – make use of your storytelling skills. Go on a journey, from the moment you realized your professional passion, through the experiences that honed your skills, to the conversation at hand and the opportunity currently in front of you. Explain how you’ve grown and evolved, and share anecdotes that support your big idea (e.g., “I’m curious,” “I’m an enthusiastic collaborator,” or “I’m a shameless data geek.”). Some classic storytelling structures used by great writers can serve as outlines for your own tale of inspiration, perseverance, and success.

Show Some Personality

Refer to your hobbies and the unique life experiences you’ve had. If it seems appropriate, you can even sprinkle in a bit of self-effacing humor. With the human element in play, the “tell me about yourself” portion of your interview can help you stand out and determine whether you’ll be a match for this team and its culture.

Specificity Kills Ambiguity

When you can, talk about your experience in terms of quantifiable accomplishments. “I had a job in digital marketing” makes less of an impression than “I led a Facebook ad campaign that grew my company’s email list by 300% in Q1 of 2019.” Similarly, when you talk about your personal qualities, use pictures, sounds, and feelings – this will give you an edge over competing candidates who lean on vague generalities, superlatives, and played-out jargon.

Cut to the Chase

You should avoid rambling and be able to comfortably wrap up your answer within 60-90 seconds. For practice, write out your answer, read it aloud, and cut anything that’s awkward or inessential. To get things moving quickly, hook your interviewer with your very first sentence.

Make It Relevant

“Always relate your answer directly to the job in question,” says Coach Tracy of The Career Launcher. “Tie your answer directly to the mission of the role and the challenges that typically are dealt with by job holders, and try to differentiate yourself with evidence of your skills for the job.”

Your interviewers want to be convinced that you’re right, as they need to know you’re the perfect match for this particular job. Whenever you tell your story, include variations each time to align with the details of the job description, the specific needs of the company, and how your skills and experience apply to the opportunity you’re applying for.

Spin the Table

Career coach Liz Ryan introduces “spinning the table,” a sophisticated method for transitioning out of your own story and into the substance of the interview, specifically your interviewer’s pain points, which you can then address. Answer your interviewer’s question, then ask them a question in turn. “You aren’t asking questions just for fun,” says Ryan. “You want to find out what the job is really about… You want to find out where the pain is because once you’ve got the hiring manager talking about their pain, the conversation can go to a completely different place.”

At Artisan Creative, we place creative, marketing, and digital talent with the companies and opportunities that will give them a chance to do their best work and live their best lives. Contact us today and let our a.team find your dream team.

We hope you’ve enjoyed the 534^th issue of the a.blog.

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Perfecting Your Pitch

Tuesday, May 14th, 2019|

Whether you are a freelancer who has to pitch a project to a client, or a seasoned team member who is presenting a new concept to internal and external stakeholders, or you’re interviewing for a new job, it’s important to be able to convey your message in a memorable way that connects with your audience.

Will Greenblatt, the founder of the Outloudnow School, says “speaking is a physical act” and we need to “warm-up before we speak”. Reading your speech out loud several times before your actual presentation can be very helpful.

The first step in any presentation is to make certain you are warmed-up. Just as you need to stretch your muscles and be ready before you go for a run, your face muscles and voice need to be warmed up as well. Articulation exercises are a good way to warm up by working your way through a few tongue twisters.

Additionally, he points out that we need to be aware of our “ speech settings” and adjust as needed depending on the message, and point we are trying to communicate. Our speech settings are our volume, pace, pitch, clarity, inflection and physical expressiveness. Your voice is a powerful tool. As you practice, try adjusting your settings to see the difference.

Your breathing technique is also key to effective message delivery. Before giving a pitch or going in for an interview, nervousness can lead to shortness of breath, so it becomes important to do deep breathing exercises beforehand.

The Institute of Public Speaking suggests deep diaphragmatic breathing as a technique to get more air into your lungs as well as calm you down if your nerves are acting up.

Posture plays an important role in your breathing as well as in the delivery of your message. Ideally, you want to stand or sit straight, make eye contact, keep your hands open down by your side and smile! It impacts your mindset and will make you more approachable once you’re finished speaking.

If you are nervous about speaking in groups or in front of a crowd, practice in front of a mirror and record yourself. Watch your body language, posture, and movements, then make adjustments in your delivery. Ideally, you will invest time in your own self-development and attend public speaking courses like Toastmasters or take online classes.

At Artisan Creative, we look forward to connecting with you and sharing additional tips on interviewing and preparing for your job search.

We hope you’ve enjoyed the 521st issue of our a.blog.

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Reducing Our Footprint at Work

Wednesday, April 17th, 2019|

We only have one earth, and all professionals and businesses share a responsibility to do what we can to take care of it. When we become more mindful of our environmental impact and make more efficient use of our resources, it’s good for the soul, good for the planet, and often good for the budget. We can take inspiration from some of the world’s largest companies and their efforts to be better global citizens. In celebration of Earth Day, here are a few tips for reducing our ecological footprint at work.

Cut the Commute

Whether it takes the form of encouraging ridesharing and mass transit or going partly or entirely remote, reducing time on the road is great for the environment, as well as for stress and spending levels. If you must commute to work, make responsible and productive use of your commuting time, and seek out the wealth of local transportation apps that provide the best options.

Do an Energy Audit

Account for the ways you use electricity in the workplace. Can you switch to more energy-efficient light bulbs? Do simply switch off lights when they’re not in use or leave it for someone else to take care of? Can you rely less on heating and air conditioning? Slight reductions in energy use make a big difference when we all do our part. And, cultivating a more mindful and responsible attitude toward energy can improve all aspects of your work…… awareness is key.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Promote and participate in a workplace recycling program. Avoid buying new supplies until you’ve made full use of what you already have. Whenever you can, make do with less. Oftentimes the most familiar environmentalist wisdom remains the best.

Know Your Supply Chain

You know your business, and you know it doesn’t exist in a vacuum. How well do you understand the processes that surround it, and the full impacts they have? Sustainable procurement is an often-overlooked opportunity to build more environmental responsibility into the business processes that will impact our future.

Change Your Lunch Habits

It’s getting cooler, and easier, to go vegetarian or vegan. Some workplaces are implementing no-meat policies. With remarkable advances in meat substitutes, low-impact diets offer increasingly nutritious and delicious alternatives to fast food. Pay attention to improving what you eat on the job, and you’ll look better, feel better, and help reduce the burden on our species and our planet.

At Artisan Creative, we believe that great work springs from a holistic approach to building careers and lifestyles that serve our true desires. Contact us today to learn more.

We hope you’ve enjoyed the 517^th issue of our a.blog.

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Morning Rituals For Success

Wednesday, March 27th, 2019|

If you’re a “morning person,” you know that the early hours of the day, between when you wake up and when you begin work, can be some of the most valuable, productive, and fun. And, even if you don’t identify that way, you may be surprised how a few slight changes in your behavior can have a tremendous effect on your attitude.

When you establish the right morning routine, you can greet the day with fresh vigor, get more accomplished in work and life, and go to sleep looking forward to the next day. Want to stop hitting “snooze” and learn to love your mornings? Here are some ideas for morning rituals that will spread some sunshine on your days.

Get Plenty of Sleep

Sometimes more pleasant mornings are simply a matter of getting adequate rest at night. Before making any changes to your morning routine, make sure you’re in good physical health, not abusing drugs or alcohol, and getting the best sleep you can.

Rise Early

When you’re not in a hurry, everything seems less daunting. Give yourself more than enough time to transition from sleep to preparation for the day ahead.

Make Time for Yourself

To put yourself in a pleasant and productive mood, start your day with activities you will look forward to and enjoy, with an eye toward building routines that help you cultivate a positive mindset. These could include mindfulness meditation, a solo creative project you’re passionate about and want to make time for, or maybe just a bracing cup of coffee.

Get Moving

“Running and walking are both great because they’re accessible to most everyone, they can be your gateway remedy to a healthier lifestyle, and they can even give you the momentum to design a whole new morning routine,” writes Benjamin Spall, author ofMy Morning Routine: How Successful People Start Every Day Inspired. If a pre-dawn run sounds overwhelming, you can try yoga, stretching, swimming, or any other physical activity that wakes you up, circulates your blood and oxygen, and helps you get into the rhythm and flow of life.

Write

“Something I do every morning is stretch, listen to NPR, and then shower,” says Tina Roth Eisenberg, designer and founder of the popular lecture and networking event series Creative Mornings. “Then I sit down and either write whatever my soul needs to regurgitate or post to my blog.” Whether or not you consider yourself a writer, an early-morning writing practice is one of the most trusted ways to kickstart your brain, prime your creative pump, and connect to your deeper emotions. You can try Julia Cameron’s “Morning Pages,” record the previous night’s dreams while they’re fresh, or keep a decision journal. Or, like humorist David Sedaris, jot down a few notes, lists, or ideas at dawn and return to them later to flesh them out.

Prepare

“Each morning you should prepare, plan and meditate on how you aim to act that day,” writes author Ryan Holiday. “Don’t wing it. Don’t be reactionary. Have a plan. Marcus Aurelius rose in the morning and did his journaling – preparing himself for what he was likely to face in the hours ahead. He thought about the people he was likely to face, difficulties he might encounter (premeditatio malorum), and what he knew about how to respond.” Developing an early-morning journaling habit can help you build personal confidence and see connections and patterns you might otherwise miss.

Skip Email and Social Media

Most mornings, your notifications can wait. If the first thing you do every day is reach for your phone, try postponing that for an hour, or however long it takes to do something more peaceful and reclaim some of your private psychological space. “This can be hard for many of us, especially if you run an online business or keep up profiles that feel like they require your full attention at all times,” writes Spall. What you’ll quickly find, however, is that avoiding social media in the morning will allow the calm of the night to carry on a little bit longer.”

The best way to stop a bad habit is to, instead of going cold turkey, replace it with something you’d rather do instead. “If you’re going to do something like intentionally ignore your email for a few hours, you need to be just as intentional about planning how you’re going to spend that time,” writes Kelsey Manning, who struggled to implement email-free mornings and gained some insight in the process.

Change One Habit at a Time

Take inspiration from Niklas Göke, who wrote an excellent piece about how he built an enviable morning routine by optimizing one new habit at a time. “I never made a list when I began,” Göke writes. “Because it wouldn’t have lasted a day. The moment you make a list, you start trying to check off the items on it. You’ll dream up a big set of habits, try to adopt them all in a day and fail. Instead, see this idea as a process of optimization. Don’t pressure yourself to get it right the first time. Think of yourself as putting one foot in front of the other and improving along the way. This way, you’ll focus on learning and getting better, rather than comparing and getting frustrated.”

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