Why there’s a Coming Out Day (and why it matters)
October 11 is National Coming Out Day — meant to be a reminder of the power of coming out as gay or lesbian.* The day marks the anniversary of the National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights in 1988. Why is coming out so powerful? Simple. It’s easy...
Here’s how to use social media to find clients and build relationships
Find clients, build relationships, make work easier – social media can do all this and more. Here are some of the specifics from the “Social Media for Freelance Writers and Communicators” panel*, hosted by the Professional Writers Association and IABC/Toronto’s...
Get noticed with effective content
The more advertising gets in our face, the more we tune it out. Instead, 70% of us apparently turn to our friends, the people in our networks and our own online research to learn more about a product or service that interests us. What does that mean for those of us...
Fine-tune your LinkedIn profile to open doors
(Updated September 11, 2018) Do you want to stand out among the 560+ million people who are members of LinkedIn? Well, sure you do! LinkedIn acts as an online resume, positions you as an expert and opens doors to new contacts and new business. At a meeting of...
Get out of your way and grow your business
Money isn’t everything, as I often remind people who get caught up in who makes how much. But with the idea of growing or strengthening our businesses, a friend and I recently attended a seminar called Wealthy Women Leaders, led by business coach Pat Mussieux....
The best of the Red Jacket Diaries so far this year
As summer comes to an end, I was digging around under the hood of the Red Jacket Diaries to find the most popular post over the season. Turns out it’s the collection of tips about pricing, follow-up and other areas of independent business from the June meeting...
Thoughtless words do more damage than you know
Can a heart ache with sadness and swell with pride at the same time? Yes, especially if your son writes a wrenching, powerful piece describing what it was like growing up a gay sports fanatic. Matt came out to family and friends a few years ago, which already took...
Yes, it’s another ‘lessons learned from’ post!
Experience is an excellent teacher, and lately it seems that many bloggers have learned a ton from the latest movie, or dance craze, or some other passing fancy. I’ve shared my own thoughts about things I learned from: Sesame Street (tell a story to make your...