Remember the days when making money was easy? Yeah….that’s not gonna happen again. Not any time soon.
While the economy is picking up, the expectation is for slow growth. SLOW growth.
During the boom times, many businesses were able to just hang out their virtual shingle and the money would roll in. Stay in touch with a few contacts and that sufficed for marketing outreach.
Consequently, many entrepreneurs forgot or never learned how to do the core activities to keep business coming in. Add to that the reluctant entrepreneurs – people who have no choice but to be in business for themselves. Some of these fundamentals may not be part of their skill set at all.
That’s why my colleague Donna Chaney and I created re:LAUNCH – a two-day strategic planning retreat for entrepreneurs, which will be held March 4 and 5 in Pasadena, California.
It’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day or get overwhelmed by all the possible things you could do to grow your business. re:LAUNCH will build a booster rocket under your business by giving you two days to focus on your business and plan your moves.
At re:LAUNCH you’re not alone. You’ll get feedback from your peers – fellow entrepeneurs. You’ll receive guidance from me and Donna, both experienced corporate consultants and entrepreneurs ourselves. We’ll walk you through a process to give you insight into your business and yourself, and make decisions about how to run your business.
As an entrepreneur who worked alone for many years, I always wanted a strategic-planning retreat to energize and focus me like the ones I had when I worked in the corporate world. So I created one. I hope you can join us to help your business take off.
Most people know better than to wear the same style of clothes they did 10 or 20 years ago, especially to an interview. But every day even experienced executives send out résumés that are the equivalent of wearing disco fashion in a digital age.
Getting your résumé in order is always a satisfying first step. It makes you feel like you’re already on your way to a new job. But if your résumé is missing a profile and isn’t loaded with achievements, you won’t be landing that dream job soon.
If you haven’t been in the market for awhile, you might be surprised to find that you are now the entrepreneur of your career. Your résumé is a marketing tool that needs to reflect and express your executive brand.
Whenever possible, your résumé should demonstrate what you do. If you’re a creative professional, you should have a creative résumé. The HR department might need your job history in a standard format, but that will be a formality. What will capture attention is a résumé like Jake Kahana’s.
TheLadders.com is a great place to find contemporary corporate résumé examples. They run a regular feature called “Does My Résumé Stink.” This will give you a sense of the format and features for standard corporate résumés.
You have to use your own judgment as to whether stepping out of the format is right for you, but start by making sure your résumé is at least this side of the millennium.
One thing is certain about a new company logo – some people will hate it, others will love it. But everyone will have an opinion. Change is hard, even when it’s good.
Many companies used the recession to make changes – to reposition, rebrand and even relaunch. The goal is to connect with how people feel today, and create trust for the future, be that in the next hour, year or generation.
Some branding changes were welcome, others were startling. Some grew on us and others bombed.
bluefeet, along with its partners at Double Vision Design, compiled this sampling of logo makeovers. Enjoy, and please add your input about other new logos you liked (or didn’t).
