by Allison Kooser | May 15, 2021 | Gratitudes
This week, we are thankful for…notebooks. Yes, we run a digital marketing agency (and yes, we would love to help you take your digital marketing game to the next level — so let’s chat!), but we are huge fans of great notebooks. Do you remember that moment during back-to-school season when you got to buy new pens and supplies? It’s still one of our favorite feelings in the world.
Some notebook favorites from our team: Rhodia, Leuchtturm1917, Moleskine (duh — but also pumped to try this copycat), these flat-lay journals from Target, and anything with stone paper. (Trust us — it’s magic.)
by Allison Kooser | May 13, 2021 | The Intro
Raise your hand if you love awkward, sometimes-painful conversations. We would bet money that every hand in the room is down. Nobody is clamoring for a tense encounter — and typically, we do everything in our power to avoid them. We ignore tension points, brush issues under the rug, and pretend that we’re “fine” so that we don’t have to navigate that sticky discussion and communicate.
But here’s the deal: Having open and honest (and yes, sometimes awkward) conversations with colleagues is the only way to move forward.
Our company is run by humans. So is yours. And guess what? Humans hurt each other. They annoy each other. They do things that are frustrating or problem-creating or insensitive. And, as humans, we react accordingly. We get mad and sad and fed up and tired.
This is unavoidable.
What is avoidable, however, is the fallout. The festering. The one annoying thing that turns into a huge company issue. The one moment of hurt that causes long-term tension in a relationship.
The way you avoid the big, hot mess is by communicating.
Because, spoiler, people can’t read your mind. You can’t expect your colleagues, partner, or boss to intuit what you’re thinking — you have to be brave and tell them.
Communicate early and often. Be honest. Be tactful. Be kind.
What thought spirals have you spinning? What relationships feel tense? Where do you need to clear the air and communicate? Make this the week that you step up, get bold, and initiate the conversation. It’s time to clear the air and move forward.
by Allison Kooser | Apr 29, 2021 | +Good Newsletter, The Intro
When we made the jump to entrepreneurship, we didn’t advocate for ourselves. One of our most immediate challenges was determining how to set prices. What should projects cost? What was a “good” value? What would allow us to keep paying our bills?
What were we worth? And equally as important, were we willing to ask for it?
Now, years into this self-employed adventure, we’ve come to realize that we should have been asking these questions a long time ago. When we held positions at large organizations, our salary was our salary. And sure, we advocated for promotions and raises, but looking back, we expected too little. We didn’t evaluate our unique skills. And we tended to get stuck.
We didn’t think big enough.
And chances are high that you aren’t, either.
Regardless of whether you’re an entrepreneur, an organizational leader, or just getting started in your career, it’s up to you to advocate for yourself. And it’s up to you to go after the roles and opportunities you want.
When you’re ready to advocate for yourself, here are three key questions to ask:
1. What are you bringing to the table?
What are you exceptionally good at? What do your colleagues always ask you to do? What looks challenging to other people, but feels really easy to you?
You are skilled. You are talented. Own it.
2. What do you want to learn?
Yes, you are a rockstar — but you still have a million gaps in your knowledge (we all do). You aren’t an expert at everything (sorry to burst your bubble), but instead of being bummed at what you don’t know, it’s time to get curious. What skills do you want to build?
3. What can you ask for?
If you’re bringing a LOT to the table and not being compensated for your skills, maybe it’s time to ask for a raise. Or if you have a million things you want to learn, it might be time to ask for opportunities to try new projects. You could ask for a mentor or a new contract or 20 minutes to brainstorm with the boss. Make a list, then go after it.
Don’t sell yourself short — and don’t be afraid to ask for what you want or need. Let someone else be the one to say no. (How often do we tell ourselves we already know the answer before we ever ask?!). Most of all, think bigger. You deserve it.
by Allison Kooser | Apr 16, 2021 | Gratitudes
This week, we are thankful for…routines. Sometimes life can get out of control, and our built-in rhythms save our sanity.
Whether it’s waking up at the same time every morning or taking a walk every afternoon or keeping fixed office hours, our self-imposed guardrails give us space to focus and do what needs to be done.
They can be silly and small (like starting your day in the same chair with the same mug of coffee) or serious and significant (like dedicated family time that cannot be interrupted).
Either way, our routines ground us, give us structure, and make our lives infinitely more manageable.
by Allison Kooser | Apr 15, 2021 | +Good Newsletter, The Intro
We are huge fans of celebration.
We send birthday gifts and snail mail and congratulatory Facebook posts. We mail flowers and dance at weddings and drop all the heart eyes for beautiful art. We love cheerleading for our friends and colleagues, and we are so proud of our peers’ accomplishments. Awesome people are easy to celebrate.
Sometimes we forget to celebrate ourselves.
As entrepreneurs (and busy worker bees), we spend so much time with our heads down, debating the next project and planning out the next task. We get so focused on what still needs doing that we forget to pause and celebrate what we’ve already done.
We nitpick and self-criticize instead of feeling proud of a job well done. We see the holes and what-could-have-beens in our own work — when we would never see such tiny gaps in anyone else’s projects. We think about getting better (a good thing), but rarely look back to see how far we’ve come.
It’s time to stop and celebrate.
Take three minutes right now and make a list of the projects you’ve completed in 2021. Better yet, think back to your victories over the past year (crisis communications, huge organizational pivots, virtual events, big campaigns, maintaining some semblance of mental health…it was a major year that deserves a heavy dose of reflection).
How are you going to celebrate these wins?
Buy the bottle of champagne. Eat a fancy dinner. Write yourself a note. Frame the work and hang it on your office wall. Have a team party. Tell your closest friends about the things that make you proud of yourself (we don’t do this enough…).
Do something to mark your own victories instead of waiting for someone else to celebrate for you.
Hard work is good. (We do a lot of it.) But sometimes you have to get off the hamster wheel. Stop fixating on everything on your to-do list — or on every project that’s still ahead. Pause and recognize what’s going well — and take actual time to celebrate.
