The top courses to help you get hired December 2017

The top courses to help you get hired December 2017 by Michael Cheary Still searching for the perfect gift this Christmas? ‘Tis the season to be saving. And whether you’re shopping for someone else or you’re looking to give yourself a great Christmas, there are thousands of opportunities out there on reed.co.uk. And by opportunities, we mostly mean life-changing courses. Take that, Secret Santa.To help you find something you’re passionate about, here are three of the top courses on reed.co.uk right now:Nutrition and Health courseAh, Christmas. A time for friends, family, and eating far more food than any person should ever consume in one sitting.Unfortunately, by the time you realise you’ve hit your limit, it’s usually too late â€" and you spend all of Boxing Day covered in Quality Street wrappers, making vague resolutions about how ‘next year will be different’.Well luckily, with this innovative Nutrition and Health certification, it just might be.Covering key healthy eating principles such as diet planning, u nderstanding food labelling and weight control management, there’s never been an easier way to keep your waistline (and your career) in check.The course is open to everyone, whether you’re an aspiring Nutritionist, or you’re just interested in developing a better diet. And the best part? As it’s fully-funded, it’s completely FREE â€" yes, you read that right. It’s also available to be started after January, giving you guilt-free pass to the festivities.Pass the mince pies…What do I need?    An active interest in nutrition.How long will it last?  15 weeks, taken at your own pace.Perfect for:  People who are hungry for success (also, food).Nutrition courseTurn-your-hobby-into-a-career course What do you get the person who has everything? A course. ObviouslyAnd, as there are over 13,000 different discounted courses available on reed.co.uk all throughout December, many of them on offer for as little as £20, there really is something for everyone.Is your fiancé a bit of a foodie? Why not get them a cookery course ( £16)? Always wanted to learn French? Treat yourself to a French language course ( £19) and let the fabuleux flow. Searching for a gardening course for Auntie Gladys? You get the picture.From flower arranging to photography, you certainly won’t struggle for inspiration.Many of the courses are fully certified, so there’s a real qualification that comes with them. And aside from a fancy few letters to add to the CV, they’ll finally have the chance to turn their passion into a profession.You won’t even need to wrap it. #ChristmasWinning.What do I need?  Some idea of what your friends and family are interested in. Possibly.How long will it last?  As little as a few hours.Perfect for:  People who think giving gift cards is so last year.All discounted coursesUniversity coursesFor many of us, uni is the best time of our lives.The problem is, not everyone had the opportunity to enter higher education as soon as they finished school. But it ’s never too late to be who you want to be (see: just about every Christmas film ever).If your ambition is to get back into education, there are a wide range of university courses available to keep you occupied throughout 2018, and beyond.Programmes are on offer with the likes of the University of Birmingham, the University of Greenwich and the University of Essex, to name just a few â€" with qualifications available from undergrad level right up to PhD.Almost all of the courses can be taken part-time, and completed through a series of online classes, so you don’t have to worry about working around other commitments.So whatever you’re interested in, from criminology and psychology to journalism and law, stop putting it off. Take a university qualification and improve your career prospects now.Let’s face it, what else are you going to do in January?What do I need?  Entry requirements will vary by course.How long will it last?  Between one and three years.Perfect for:  People who want to live the uni life (but don’t do dorms).University courses  Not sure which course is right for you? View all available courses now.Find a job What Where Search JobsSign up for more Career AdviceSign up for moreCareer Advice Please enter a valid email addressmessage hereBy clicking Submit you agree to the Features

How to Hire a Resume Writing Service That Suits Your Needs

How to Hire a Resume Writing Service That Suits Your NeedsIf you're going to hire a resume writing service, you want to make sure that they can deliver on their promises. While writing a resume is one of the more important steps in getting a job, you don't want to have to spend a fortune on the service just to get your point across. As with any business, hiring the wrong people can put you in a bad situation. Here are a few things to look for in order to get the most quality from your resume.A professional resume writing service will deliver on its promises with tenacity. You'll be looking for a resume that is concise and easy to read, with crisp information about your experience and education. The writing should be clear and easy to understand so that it's easy for an employer to know exactly what to expect from you.The company should also put you on their top ten list. Top ten lists usually feature the top 10 graduates from all universities, colleges, and schools. This is where you want to be.For example, if you work as a web designer, your resume should include this information: 'An artist with a love of creating design and websites.' If you write your own, you can include 'designing websites' or something similar. Use only the best keywords so that it will be more effective when you send it out to employers.In addition to 'top ten lists', the resume should also be posted on several top ten lists online. You should place your resume on resumes.com and linkedin.com. These are two of the largest networking sites and are very highly trafficked by employers.Finally, you need to ask for a sample of the quality material that you will be sending to potential employers. Look at their portfolio fora while before you decide to hire them. If they're not willing to take the time to send you samples of their work, then you should rethink your decision.Keep in mind that the better the writing service, the more experience that they have. There are going to be a lot of job opportunities out there and you need to be sure that your resume is well designed, complete, and up to date.So take the time to look at the writing service before you hire them. Make sure that they're going to put you on the top ten lists, offer to send you samples of their work, and offer to send you a free copy of their work so that you can see what they have to offer.

Is It Better To Quit Or Be Fired The Answer Here - Algrim.co

Is It Better To Quit Or Be Fired The Answer Here - Algrim.co Feeling like you might be on the chopping block? Wondering if it’s better to quit or be fired? We have the definitive guide to help you navigate this upcoming and potentially challenging employment scenario. If you are reading this it means you are doing the correct thing as a professional, doing your research before making a potentially irrational decision. And spending the time understanding how your choices will have an impact on your career trajectory. Deciding whether you should quit or be fired will depend on a few situations. The first is knowing whether or not you are being fired or being laid off. When you are laid off, you will have employee benefits as part of the package. That includes severance and the potential option to file for unemployment assistance along with the option to use COBRA (The Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act) which extends some parts of your health insurance for up to 18 months of coverage. Are you being laid off? In order to determine if you are being laid off, you need to consider the broader company status. Are you seeing other employees be laid off in large quantities? Have you been told by executives that the company isn’t performing as well as it should? If this is the case, you might be next in terms of being laid off. When you are wondering if you should quit instead of being laid off, you should not quit. By quitting you will be leaving a large number of employee benefits on the table. In addition to that, the repercussions for being laid off when interviewing for future jobs is nominal. Future hiring managers won’t take being laid off as a sign that you are a poor employee. In fact roughly 50% of us by the time we are the age of 50 will have been laid off. Should you quit or get laid off? Get laid off. Are you being fired? If you are feeling as though your personal performance is lacking and that your chemistry with your management team or peers is beginning to dwindle, then you may want to consider the situation where you get terminated. Being terminated is the same as “being fired.” Though, when you are terminated, you will not be able to receive the same employee benefits as when you are laid off. Why quitting is always better Resigning from a poor working situation will always be better than being terminated. Being terminated will cause difficulties in future job interviews, mostly on how you position the reasoning for having been terminated. For the average person, this is going to make your job search more stressful. Resigning or quitting your job will allow you control the way you left the company, thus controlling the way you explain to future interviewers why you left. I would consider this method as being able to “frame the departure” and make your life easier. Repercussions to resigning from a job There aren’t too many repercussions to resigning from a position. Only repercussions in the way that you do it. If you decide that you want to yell profanities at your team members before your last day of work, that will most likely hinder your reputation and cause difficulty in your future job search. But if you keep your resignation short, to the point, and professional â€" then there’s no negative side effect to deciding that the position “just wasn’t a good fit.” What to be cautious of all the way around Though it may seem like the world is a large place, the internet has connected us all. For better or worse this means that your future interviewers might “back-channel”, which is a polite and professional term for asking someone to review your reputation. This means that your future interviewer might speak to one of your colleagues or old managers regarding your performance and ask if they would recommend you for hire. Due to the fact that this can happen, you should always be precautions about how you resign and ensure you do so in a fashion that is going to retain your reputation. Is it better to quit or be fired? It is always better to quit than to be terminated. Though the acceptation to the case is being “let go.” Being terminated will cause gaps and challenges in explaining your resume to future employers. It also could cause negative reactions to your professional reputation. Though, before you quit you should always be considering your financial status. Ensure that you have at least 90 days of financial runway to be able to find another position. The average time it takes to be hired by another employer could be up to 4 months or 90 days. If you are not prepared to do that, you should attempt to use your current employment status to find another position and attempt to transition between the two employers as smoothly as possible.

How Twitter Networking Can Pave the Way to Your Next Job

How Twitter Networking Can Pave the Way to Your Next Job Are you on the job hunt and want to separate yourself from the competition? Want to learn how Twitter can help you do just that? There are millions of people who are active on Twitter. Chances are some of them: Work for the company at which you want to work… Are experts in the field that you want to work… Have influence with the people that you want to meet… Are sharing the information that you need to know… How many times has knowing someone that fit these descriptions helped you in your career? It could be a mentor who helped you make the right decisions, a person who put a good word in for you, or someone who introduced you to a key individual. If you’re ready to make more of these people a part of YOUR network, then start your Twitter engines and follow these 5 steps. 1. Support Your Personal Brand Story Where’s the proof? That’s the question recruiters are trying to answer when they type your name into Google. What will they find when they do? This isn’t news, but WHAT you say and HOW you say it affects what people think of you. That is even  more true with Twitter because they only have your words to go by. So make each word count, have a plan. If your LinkedIn profile says you’re an expert in program management, then you can use Twitter to validate that by engaging the PM community, talking about PM topics, and sharing USEFUL information about program management. Have a plan. Stick to your plan. Share your story. Find out more on How to Create a Twitter Plan. 2. Find the People Who Can Help You Twitter Networking helps you find two types of people who can improve your chances of landing your next job. People who work at the company to which you are applying. People who are influential in your field. Picture this. You just arrived at a networking event with a thousand people… by yourself. That alone could be intimidating, but even if you’re at home in that situation â€" you still have NO IDEA who these people are or what they do.  The only way to find out is to go around one by one and strike up a conversation. Trouble is, there is no way to talk to every single person before the end of the night. Think of all those lost opportunities. With Twitter Networking you won’t be missing out on those opportunities, and instead of a room with a thousand people, you’ll have access to MILLIONS. Use Google to find people who work for your prospective companies:      site:twitter.com intitle:”on twitter” “bio*  * company name” Narrow your search down to people at a specific location:      site:twitter.com intitle:”on twitter” “bio* * company name” “location state” Use Twitter searches to find people talking about your expertise: Search for people asking questions about a particular topic:      topic AND “topic phrase” ? filter:links -wordsYouDon’tWant -RT â€"via Search for people talking about your industry:      â€œindustry” OR “industry companies” OR “industry news” -RT -via filter:links Search for people talking about the company you want to work for including that company:      â€œcompany name” OR “company nicknames” OR to:companytwittername OR from:companytwittername -RT â€"via You can continue to modify all these searches to weed out the garbage. Find out more on How to Find People on Twitter Using Google. 3. Watch and Wait You know that awkward moment when you walk up to a group of three people who are already in a conversation? That moment when you’re trying to figure out if you should interrupt and introduce yourself, or just hover around pretending not to listen until there’s a pause in the conversation? Ya that’s the one… Use Twitter Networking to create lists of the people you found in step two, and hover…only without the awkwardness. Make the lists PRIVATE; there is no point in announcing to the world that you’re stalking people from company X. Find out more on How to Create Twitter Lists. You’ll need to sign up for a tool that will allow you to monitor the tweets from people in your lists. I use Hootsuite. It’s free and effective. From there, you wait and watch… for an opportunity to make an impactful impression. How do you make an impactful impression? Glad you asked, see step 4. 4. Make an Impactful Impression At a networking event, you should have a pitch that answers the question, “What do you do?” Imagine if you just walked around the room repeating that pitch verbatim over and over and over again… It wouldn’t take long before you were kicked out for being a babbling drunk. And that’s NOT the impact you’re going for. There are three ways you can create an impactful impression. They work for Twitter Networking just as they would for traditional networking. Not all connections are created equal. I will score them on the strength of the impression they leave using a scale from 1 (being the most memorable, but hardest to achieve) to 3 (less memorable, but easier to pull off). Help them find a solution to one of their problems. This is what we call a home run. Impression Score: 1 Find a topic you’re both interested in and discuss it. This could be about family, hometowns, sports, hobbies, etc… Impression Score: 2 Provide them with information that they’re interested in. This shows your experience while creating a connection. Impression Score: 3 What makes Twitter Networking unique is that you now have the time to wait for the right moment minus the awkwardness, the insight into your audience over time, and the opportunity to connect with them in a way that doesn’t raise the hair on their necks like a cold call. 5. Persistence is Key People are busy. They may not respond to your tweet right away or even at all. Twitter Networking isn’t a one-way street… If you don’t get a response right away, try to incorporate other social media to reinforce the connection. Generally, you don’t become best friends with someone the instant you meet them. You say hi at work. Then you run into them again at happy hour. Then you join a company activity. Then you hang out after work… You get the idea. Here are a few tips to being persistent across the social network: Share an insightful comment on their blog post. It is hard for people not to respond on their blog. If they are not responding on Twitter, this is my first tactic. Share information about a mutual topic on LinkedIn. Find them on LinkedIn, see what groups they participate in, and join those discussions. Search their name on Google for other social networks they play in. Then “hangout” in the same sandbox. With these tips, you can go from being a NOBODY to knowing that SOMEBODY who can open the door to that new opportunity you are seeking. One of the most creative and pragmatic consultants for those who are chasing a dream or making a change Schuyler Kaye has built a career on combining marketing and branding advice with the use of  inspirational storytelling  to create an everlasting impression. His ability to find insights and truths has been praised by clients and industry peers alike. Schuyler uses social media to help people own their brand and light the pathway to achieving their goals… and their dreams.   Get his FREE tips on how to Tell Your Story and Own Your Brand at  T4Execs.com.  Connect with him on Twitter  @T4Execs.

Is It Worth Using Resume Writing Services?

Is It Worth Using Resume Writing Services?If you are trying to get a new job, you will have to make use of resume writing services to get yourself noticed. Many job applicants are looking for ways to separate themselves from the crowd and that includes hiring professionals to create a professional resume. The need for professional resume writing services has increased in recent years as more employers are finding out that your resume is one of the most important things they will be looking at when deciding whether or not to hire you.Resume writing services will have several different types of resumes that they can provide. There are the basics like a well-written job application. However, there are also other professionally written resumes for those who have some specialized experience. Those who have held management positions or come from a position of higher authority may need some extra help with writing a resume.There are many different types of people who can benefit from resume writing services. A person who has been working at the same company for a long time may need to create a new resume with a more updated job history. If you have been with your current employer for a long time, this is a great way to get another job.Another idea for job seekers is to use this service to add in some new skills that have developed over the past few years. While some employers do not care what you did before, they do want to know how you performed on your job. If you have been able to develop new skills, this will be highlighted on your resume.Of course, it is always beneficial to use a company's services when you are writing a resume. This is especially true if you have never used resume writing services before. These types of companies do not take much time to write and they are designed to help individuals save time while making their resume stand out. A professional resume writer is confident that he or she can tell the prospective employer about your skills and ex perience without any hesitation.Creating your own professional resume is something that can take some time. However, you can take advantage of resume writing services and be done in about a day. If you are hiring a company to create your resume, the process can be much faster.The best part about hiring resume services is that they will give you the ability to have everything you need to create a professional resume. They will come up with a cover letter and ensure that it includes all of the information that the hiring manager is looking for. Then, they will go on to complete the rest of the resume.When you are trying to find a job, it can be very frustrating to realize that your resume does not look professional. Thankfully, there are resume writing services that will be able to help you create a professional resume. You will have to put in the work, but if you are consistent with your efforts, you will have created a professionally done resume for your next job.

Top 5 Qualities to Have as a Professional Makeup Artist CareerMetis.com

Top 5 Qualities to Have as a Professional Makeup Artist â€" CareerMetis.com The journey to becoming a successful professional makeup artist is not going to be easy. Yes, you may possess the vital artistic skills for creating beautiful makeup looks, but they may not be enough to set yourself apart in such a fast-growing and competitive industry.Ask any renowned veteran in the business how he or she thrives in such a career and, for sure, he or she will say that modifications in behavior play an essential part in the job. One’s character or personality is also a selling point for makeup pros. It is what draws in clients and cultivates their loyalty.evalTherefore, if you wish to establish a solid career as a professional makeup artist, you need to pay attention to your personality. It is a crucial factor in growing your skills, clientele, and practice.But which are the personality traits or qualities that are deemed vital for makeup pros? Rounded up below are five of them.1) TactThis is the art of smart communication.Being tactful is crucial in developing a g ood working relationship with clients. When you are diplomatic in dealing with the people who hire your services, gaining their trust often comes quickly.Demonstrating tactfulness by being careful with your words, knowing when to speak and when not to, and understanding the “air” on the set For all of these, patience is what will help you to do your best work. It is a trait that will allow you to transcend the hardships or trials of the day and always find joy in what you do for a living. Furthermore, it is a great reputation builder.3) Hunger for LearningIf you have a personal culture of learning, you can enjoy constant growth in your craft. This will keep you abreast of what clients want and deliver the results that guarantee their happiness.Plus, a love for learning is a quality that can sustain excitement and enthusiasm in your profession. There’s nothing like learning something new and obtaining mastery of it to keep things interesting in your career.For example, a lot of makeup artists need to take classes to work with foil pigments effectively. After acquiring the right techniques and skills for them, they can suggest new and bolder looks to their clients.evalIt is worth mentioning as well that new knowledge and skills are always useful in the field of fashion and makeup. They may even open new doors for you.A lot of makeup artists who have played it smart by always pursuing more and up-to-date knowledge about makeup become product developers This quality can bring great excitement to your makeup career; but, more importantly, your flexibility or versatility can create a more substantial and impressive resumé for you as an industry professional.A Dynamic Personality is an Edge for Makeup ArtistsThese five traits make up a dynamic professional. Some of these traits are naturally a part of some people’s character, but those who do not have them yet can cultivate or develop them. It is important to recognize as well that experience can mold charac ter.So, if you believe you still lack a few of these qualities, do not get frustrated. Take your time to imbibe these traits deliberately. Typically, if you enjoy or love your job, the changes required to succeed in it become so much easier to implement.

5 Things to Ask Your Boss for Instead of a Raise - CareerAlley

5 Things to Ask Your Boss for Instead of a Raise - CareerAlley We may receive compensation when you click on links to products from our partners. While the North American economy might be warming up, many businesses are still braced for the worst. As a result, raises can be hard to come by. If you find yourself in this position expecting a raise for a job well done, only to hear that wages are frozen its time to get creative. Instead of asking for an increase in your wages, think about asking for some perks. Perks, you see, are often viewed by employers as a smart alternative to small wage increases. For example: If you have a full-time employee that earns $45,000 a year, offering them a 4% wage increase for the year amounts to $1,800. Yet this is only a $1 per hour increase.and a lot of employees feel like a paltry $80 every two weeks isnt much of a raise. In fact, some employees feel insulted by such a small sum. As a result, managers sometimes feel that theyre better off NOT offering a raise because it will be perceived as too small (as counter-intuitive as that may seem). The point? Experienced managers understand the perceived value of a good perk is often higher than perceived value of a small wage increase. If they offer someone an extra dollar an hour, they might be upset; Offer this same person a company-paid gym membership and a couple of extra vacation days, however, and they might be genuinely grateful. Therefore, if you cant talk your boss into a nice wage increase, ask for perks. Here are some ideas: 1. Company-paid cell phones. Cell phones are ubiquitous, as their value as a productivity tool is incredible. When your boss or a coworker needs something on an evening or weekend, they never hesitate to call your [easyazon_link asin=B00E45043A locale=US new_window=default nofollow=default tag=caree07-20 add_to_cart=default cloaking=default localization=default popups=no]cell phone[/easyazon_link], does they? Therefore, ask your employer to provide a phone and/or reimburse your monthly bill as a business expense. A reimbursement for your monthly cell phone bill puts some real money in your pocket, while your employer will likely view it as a small operating expense. 2. Company provided computer equipment. You can pay $499 out of your own pocket for a shiny new iPad, or you can ask your employer to provide you with an iPad for your exclusive use. Other than the fact that youll have to give this iPad back to the company when you leave, youre basically getting a personal tablet for free. Your employer, on the other hand, just has to re-allocate some funds that were already designated for computer equipment. It might not even effect your departments budget, which means your boss is very inclined to say yes. 3. A company car, or the use of a company vehicle on weekdays. Driving your own car to and from work costs money, sometimes quite a bit of money depending on what you drive and how far you have to commute. Asking for a company provided vehicle or the use of an existing company vehicle on weekdays can save you hundreds of dollars a year in gasoline and maintenance costs, not to mention reduced wear and tear. In many countries including my native Australia company provided vehicles are a standard perk. Employers like the fact that they can provide their employees with a nice perk using pre tax dollars (company vehicles are a pre tax expense), while employees appreciate the fact that their personal vehicles last much longer without all that traveling to and from the office. 4. Extra vacation days. Depending on your company, this particular perk can be very easy to negotiate or almost impossible to negotiate (some corporations have very strict policies about vacation). Still, its worth asking for an extra week of vacation if you cant get a decent raise. When you ask for extra vacation days, it might help to talk about the fact that time off helps you recharge. If you can talk about how productive you were after you came back from your last vacation, (and if your supervisor remembers that time as well), getting extra vacation time might be very easy. 5. Reimbursement for gym and diet expenses. While this might seem like an odd thing to ask for, corporate healthcare costs are sky-high. If your company can help you get healthier by paying for your gym membership and picking up the tab for your weight loss program, theyll be money ahead in the long run. Finally, dont overlook the fact that you can ask for both perks and a small wage increase. If you can earn an extra dollar per hour and get your cell phone bill paid, youll be a couple hundred dollars a month ahead. Good luck! Author David Lye is an Australian family man who is also an expert on novated leasing, the tool that many Australian companies use that allows their employees to lease a car with pre-tax salary. To learn more about this program, visit Fincar.com.au. This is a Guest post. We are always eager to hear from our readers. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or suggestions regarding CareerAlley content. Good luck in your search,Joey

The People Who Help Me Do It All

The People Who Help Me Do It All Hopes and Dreams by ashleyg To keep with this weeks Help Theme, I wanted to put together a post of all of the amazeballs people and products who have helped me run my business, in the hopes that my way can help you figure out your way! Because really, a big huge piece of how I can do all that I do is that I ask for â€" and receive â€" help in various ways. Of course, just because certain platforms and coaches and freelancers work for me doesn’t mean it’ll work for you, so while wholeheartedly endorse everything mentioned below, don’t take it as a given that it’s the right solution for your needs. A P.S. before the end of the post: I realized that this post would be the longest evah, so Im gonna talk about my helpful peeps today and the kick-ass platforms/products tomorrow! Aw yeah. For website design: Rebecca Pollock Thank the Heavens Above for my husband working in advertising with the one and only Bekky Pollock. He recommended her to me when I was looking to have a super-professional-yet-playfully-fun site in the summer of 2009, still a full-time Corporate America drone but a recent life coaching certificate grad. Having a website I could be proud of was one of the ways I knew I could leave my job effectively, and Bekky delivered it painlessly, easily, and in a way that makes me look reeeeeeal good. For website building: Brian Perry Brians a former client of mine whos a one-month Corporate America escapee (and almost a first-time Dad!), and hes busy with moving my site from html (which is a pain in my husbands balls, as hes the one to update it and I torture him about it constantly) to WordPress. Hes the type of upstanding guy you trust with scary things like your website passwords and full access to your blog, and you know that hes gonna deliver what he promises. Hes also an uber-talented designer, so I recommend him for web design gigs, too. For time management coaching: Thekla Richter Ive been meeting with Thekla monthly for the past year or so, and she always helps me screw my head on straight and take approximately 10 tons of weight off of my shoulders after every session. Ive always struggled with time management and Im still working my way through the beginnings of being a full-time Woman of the World (aka entrepreneur), and Thekla has helped me experiment to find my own systems that work best for me. For virtual assisting: Jess Larsen A practicing doula as well as a virtual assistant, its easy to see why Jess started her VA business on the platform of self-care something that spoke to me right away, and allowed me to see how beneficial it would be to partner with her. Before we even started working together, I asked to interview her for my blog and we became fast friends, Renaissance Souls united. Because of her, Ive finally started trusting someone else with my baby (aka my biz!), and thats Huge (yes, capital H!). Shes also ridiculously  knowledgeable  and always helps me take my often-complicated-for-no-reason processes and streamline into the ridiculously easy. For graphic designing and illustrating: Jess Swift Jess is my Declaration of You partner-in-crime, the woman who made my rhyming career change workbook not make me look like a crazy person, and a lady I hope to one day live with Golden Girls style (along with our husbands, of course). Her style is super recognizable, yet shes able to mold it to what it is youre promoting a workbook, a blog banner, a business card, a logo you name it, she does it, and with her own artistic flair. Plus, youre gonna wanna own everything she sells. Youve been warned. For Press Representing: Brass Knuckles Media I decided to work with Shennandoah for very important, grown-up reasons: she was recommended to me by a client, her company name kicked ass, and she talked about Stephanie Tanner in a blog post. I emailed her right away. Thankfully, not only was she the quirky-cool chick I expected her to be, but she was super-duper  knowledgeable  about PR and all that went along with it. Since we started working together in January, shes pitched me to dozens of outlets, acted as my tour guide in Austin during SXSW (I met so many people!), has me guest posting up a storm, and got one of my articles approved for the May issue of a print magazine (details to come!). For logo-ing and branding: nbcreative When I found Nicole on an Etsy search way back towards the end of 2008, I stepped in s***. For $200, I got my logo, a double-sided business card, letterhead, notecards and a blog banner. That package is $229 now (note to Nicole: raise your rates, woman! ), and honestly, I cant think of a better investment for a new business. I shudder to think what When I Grow Up would be without Nancy the Ballerina Nurse and Bruce the Strumming Businessman, and I have Nicole to thank for that. I also wanted to give props to people I havent directly worked with, but who I recommend regularly because they are awesomesauce with a shot of amazeballs. You can call on any of these peeps for the services I list before their name and know youre getting some great work from a great person to work with. Virtual Assistance: Your Creative Ally Design (Web, Graphic, and/or Otherwise): Perfect Laughter, Everything Little Miss,  Apples and Orange, Tara Sroka Coaching (they all have different niches, so it depends on the type of coaching youre looking for): Tiffany Moore, Kylie Springman, Anne Hubben, Tracy Brisson, Laura Simms, Monica McCarthy, Cairene MacDonald (Im currently in her Incubator), Molly Mahar, Kate Swoboda, Juliana Finch, Laura Neff, Cassandra Rae. Jamie Ridler, Dawn Trautman and Kira Sabin. Copywriting/Branding: Alexandra Franzen, Shenee Howard And I cant end this post without giving props to my man, my Mom, my bestie, and my tribe. I get so much goodness thrown my way, I cant take full credit for anything I do and thats a good thing. Dont forget to come back tomorrow to hear about the products/platforms/resources that help me every day/sometimes/one-time-but-it-meant-a-lot! **********************************************************************************************