So often, BNI members are frustrated about not getting more business referred to them. After all, isn’t that what business networking is all about? The fact is, it’s not enough that you’re great at what you do and can offer a lot of value to new clients. To win...
If you’re like me, you have changed your approach to networking over the last seven months. As we have learned in our chapter, we can all find new clients by watching out for each other on Facebook. But Social networks are multifaceted tools being used to create awareness, promote, and build relationships!
It’s been eight+ months since we started doing our weekly referral networking meetings over Zoom. For some, it’s comfortable and natural. For others, we’re either still finding our way or getting pretty tired of doing this virtually.
With social distancing becoming the norm, networking has moved to online platforms, but it is still an essential tool for building relationships. To be successful, you must have the right mindset, where you focus on how you can help others, not how they can help you. This approach builds mutually beneficial relationships, which is the goal of networking. You can start by nurturing existing relationships, checking in on close friends, family, and colleagues. To meet new people, you can target specific groups or be open to random connections. Allocating just 30 minutes a day to LinkedIn can be an effective way to network online by skimming your feed, commenting on relevant articles, and sending personalized messages to your connections.
Since so many people are working from now, and Brenits Creative is a 100% remote-work team, I wanted to share the four things that I have been doing consistently for 20 years.
Sometimes it feels like there’s a lot on my plate. I run my own business, sit on two boards, serve as leadership for my referral networking group, and I teach. Most importantly, I’m a husband and father. I have a lot of stuff that needs to get done every day. But I’m never overwhelmed enough to say, “my plate is overfull.”
Meetings are a necessary evil in our business. Between staff meetings, project planning and review meetings, vendor meetings, and of course client meetings, its any wonder we get real work done at all. But one thing I have learned in almost 25 years in the creative...
By the end of 2015, after nearly eight years as an in-house creative director—and over two decades in the field—I found myself self-employed for the second time in my career. Now, as I enter my fourth year as a brand and creative strategy consultant, I recognize how the lessons I learned in-house have directly contributed to my success as a business owner. Looking back, I can also see that my consulting mindset and teaching instincts played a crucial role in leading in-house creative teams effectively.
In recent years, there has been a shift in power in the creative industry regarding who “owns” brand and creative work in corporate America. In-house creative teams have emerged as important players, producing some of the best creative work in design, advertising, photography, and video. This shift has led to corporations leveraging their in-house talent more than ever, with in-house teams taking on the responsibility of managing outside agency relationships.
As a design professional with almost 25 years of experience, I have worked in various roles, including as a freelancer, in-house creative services leader, creative director, and educator. There are three career paths available to creative – agency, freelance, and in-house – and choosing which one is right for you depends on four factors: stability, money, advancement, and passion.