The holidays are upon us! From Halloween to Thanksgiving and fall harvest, to Christmas and Hanukkah, people spend time getting their decorations out. It also spurs the controversial debate on should you start decorating for one holiday when another hasn’t even happened yet?!

Prepping the holiday experience

And how I turned that into a freelance client instead.

“We’ve got a fun company culture and great benefits,” is the death curse for companies. It’s also a pretty good sign that there is drama somewhere in the company, and disgruntled employees who think leadership doesn’t know what they’re doing. I’m convinced no gym perk or free breakfast can make up for draining company culture.

Yet I found myself on the carousel of taking high-paying, salaried jobs and then getting laid off. Each time I was let go, I thought “maybe I should just start freelancing?” …

As states begin to reopen and restrictions are lifted for businesses, people have different feelings towards how and when to do this. On one hand, many have been hospitalized or died from a virus that no one was prepared. On the other hand, while scientists and health experts worked to mitigate and prepare solutions, society was asked to shut down and stay in and the economy has been hit hard.

We went from one of the strongest economies to one of the highest unemployment rates in a matter of weeks. How do we balance protecting the health of humans while also protecting and building the economy back up? …

There are two types of people: those who let a crisis define them and fold, or those who get inspired to get creative and find a way to make an impact. Coronavirus shows us where people fall on the spectrum.

The pandemic has made it tough on small businesses and many are closing because they cannot stay open or do business as usual. Even during rough economic times and a public health crisis, entrepreneurs can find a way to persevere.

Can you grow a business during economic turbulence?

I think a better question might be, do you want someone else to be in control of your success during turbulent times? Do you trust that someone else will have your best interest in mind when the world seems to be falling apart? Or do you think that your knowledge, skills, and desire to succeed can flourish even in tough times? …

When the first mentions of COVID-19 hitting the United States occurred, I was in negotiations with a new client, thinking about my march madness picks, and closely monitoring the upcoming tradeshows for health tech. I was actually writing a blog here on Medium about HIMSS and had quoted their PR team on the show continuing despite the state-of-emergency issued in Florida and hit the submit button. There were not yet any tags or other mentions of coronavirus on the platform to my knowledge.

That next day, HIMSS canceled the show, I signed a contract with my client, and shortly after I discovered that the basketball tournament and march madness would be canceled. One of my favorite reasons for watching basketball during this time is the bracketology and cheering on a region to see who wins in the end. …

Did you ever hear the saying or see a product with the phrase “I survived another meeting that could have been an email”? With the rise in concern over public health safety because of the coronavirus, businesses have started to embrace trends that have been slowly rising over the years. While evaluation and testing to learn more about the spread of the virus was happening, companies and governments started to call for telecommuting and to avoid hand-to-hand contact if in-person meetings must continue.

In the past, tech companies led the charge to embrace telecommuting because they were experimenting with and developing solutions that could enable better communication and processes for collaborating in remote offices. IBM was a pioneer in remote work, encouraging it when it was not as well-adopted as it is today. A few years ago, with leadership changes, the company that saw profit gains and favorable public relations for its remote mentality, decided to bring people back into the office. …

There’s so much that goes into startups, should branding be one?

When you’re developing a business plan for your product, where do you place branding? Starting a business takes a lot of effort. There are many things to consider before you’re ready to launch and offer your product or service. I work with startups, in particular, to help them tell their story and brand. It’s tempting when you’re focused on building and getting something into the market and learn about usability to skip the branding part.

If you’re starting a product or a business plan, it’s so important to learn right away who you are and who you will serve — the why behind your product or service. One of my favorite ways to promote a startup is the story behind getting started. When I first meet a founder, one of the first questions I ask is, “What made you want to start this particular company or develop this product?” Often they have an amazing story to share, but when I look at their website, or social media, or do a google search, I don’t see the story. …

It’s a tale as old as time — not Beauty and the Beast, but sales and marketing. These two functions of a company often have tension between them even though to succeed, they need one another. This mashup collides in demand generation and only sales and marketing teams who can find a cohesive bond will win.

Part of the tension with sales and marketing stems from ownership and differing viewpoints of who owns what part of the funnel, why they own it, and how they should move prospects through it. If we look at lead generation, where the goal is to compile a list of leads who have no exposure to your product and you’re not sure if they need or want such a product or service, the role of generating leads can differ from company to company. …