Every week, I have a Sunday night freak out. I start worrying about the coming week, the stuff I didn’t get done on the weekend, the meetings I have to attend, calls I have, networking events I am going to…you get the idea. Isn’t it time we took back control? I look at my calendar and […]
Making difficult decisions is part of being a business owner, whether it is parting ways with a client, admitting you screwed up or having unpleasant conversations with an employee. Running a business is fucking hard. When faced with a seemingly impossible decision, I look at the below criteria and do my best to think […]
I wanted to start this blog out with “The problem with young-ins nowadays is…” but then I thought better of it. When I was just beginning my career I had no idea what I was doing, like all fresh college grads I never put much thought into building a network or volunteering in the community. Looking […]
We currently have a position open at our company and I started thinking about our employee onboarding process and integrating a new person into the 834 culture. Just this year, I put together a standard operating procedures (SOP) manual to better outline our processes and client reporting. While that is all well and good, there are […]
As I sit here writing this, I am staring out across a large body of water from my campsite in the Manistee National Forest. Seriously…look at this view! Holy shit it is gorgeous. Sometimes you just need to leave the office and work remotely, whether it is a large forest, a coffee house or your […]
It still amazes me how bad individuals are at promoting themselves, the fact is everything you do shapes your personal brand. The benefits of personal branding are numerous, the only way to beat the competition is to actively market yourself. In a nutshell, personal branding is defining who you are, then actively communicating that through a […]
You often hear how hard the startup stage is for a new business but not a lot of people address the headaches of growth. Personally, I think the growth stage is harder than the startup stage…it seems damn near impossible at times. At the startup stage you are focused on obtaining customers and delivering the […]
One of the biggest issues I have struggled with as 834 continues to grow is culture. How do we maintain our existing culture when adding new employees into the mix? Have we really defined culture? I mean, in my head it is perfectly clear…but isn’t that something every business owner struggles with? Are you actually […]
Heading back to work after a long holiday weekend is tough, especially if you can’t truly unplug from your job. Part of agency life, is understanding that the work we do isn’t just reserved to the 9 to 5 timeframe. We have to be monitoring our client’s social media accounts 24/7 as well as keeping […]
Most of us crave leadership, we want to be looked upon as an expert and someone that others look up to. But what does it take? You don’t wake up one morning and say “I am going to lead today!” Honestly, it really isn’t your decision at all, regardless of your job title. A leader is […]
