creativecircle, Author at Creative Circle

Your creative brief is the cornerstone of every project. Whatever form it may take, the success of a project depends on it to define the direction. As we know, poorly communicated projects can lead to extended deadlines and empty wallets. Starting off on the right foot means better working relationships for everyone and a better outcome for your project. However, putting together a proper creative brief for the first time can feel daunting. Whether you or a teammate are developing the brief, there are often multiple people involved and a lot of ground to cover. It’s easy to become caught in the chasm of “Have I covered too much?”, or “Have I not covered enough?” While that answer may change for each project, there are five rules you can follow to ensure the effectiveness of your creative brief.

1. Define the space

The space is the product, service or environment that requires a creative solution. It’s the reason why you are writing the brief in the first place. Take this time to define the project: Introduce the brand, define the technology, or outline the features of the website or app you are developing. Then, illustrate the “why.” A well-defined space will create the context around the creative issues that need to be addressed, and explain why the project is the solution to the problem.

If you are the account manager, extract as much information as you possibly can from the client. Before moving forward, make sure you understand the target audience and the product.

2. State the issue(s) clearly

Make sure that the problem/issue you are solving for is well-defined, no matter how numerous, simple or complex. It’s important to be clear about the reason the project is needed so give the full background and/or history of the issue. The more information you have, the fewer assumptions there will be when it comes to finding solutions, and the easier it will be to make sure that your project stays on target.

If possible, try to connect your problem to an opportunity. Your issue may not always be completely negative, and finding the positive in it may speed up the time it takes to get to a solution.

3. Share your thoughts

This aspect of the brief is often overlooked. As a stakeholder, your personal thoughts and opinions are very important to the team solving the problems. Take the time to express what you are hoping to see as a possible solution. Share your expectations, and come forward with any elements that are non-negotiable: like a key visual, a specific color, or a tagline. Wishes can’t be respected if no one knows what they are.

4. Decide on deliverables

Whether it’s a digital file or a physical object, in the end you’ll be receiving something when the project is complete. Be specific about what file types you would like to receive. What are the final output dimensions?

Delivery methods are particularly important especially when it comes to digital items. Be sure to share preferred file transferring services, and if necessary provide credentials for company cloud service accounts or VPN access for projects that require more security.

5. Know when to start and end

Without a deadline, a project can either fizzle or flame on for far too long leaving the team burnt out. The schedule can be detailed and complex if the project requires it, or if it’s the culture of the group, but don’t underestimate the power of a clearly defined start and end date.

If your schedule is loose and your timeline is long, be sure to plan for regular check-ins and have milestone goals in mind. If it’s a rush job, be honest about it and express the reasons for the urgency. However you prepare it, the schedule manages expectations, prioritizes tasks and sets the wheel in motion.

When it’s all polished and put together, the only thing left is to do is present. Presenting a creative brief should always be done in person or through a trusted conferencing tool where you can express yourself clearly and provide feedback for any questions. Don’t worry if your creative brief is too long or too short. What matters is hitting the right points. If you cover the bases with these five rules you’ll put yourself on the right path.

You probably don’t think you’re a writer, but you are. You send emails, you craft memos, and you write reports. You may never write a white paper or a script for a TV spot, but why not make whatever communications you do write as persuasive, comprehensible, and compelling as they can be? Especially with these five simple writing tips that put it in black and white for you.

1. Write as you talk.

The most common thing I hear from people who come looking for my help is, “Ugh, I’m not a writer!” But I have never heard anyone say, “Ugh, I’m not a talker!” Most people are capable of verbally expressing themselves using simple and direct language with occasional emphasis and color. And think about a five-year-old. Have you ever heard any five-year-old say anything like, “What I want to be playing with is the ball”? No, kids say, “I want to play with the ball.” And you understand them just fine!

Strive to capture your unique conversational voice—which probably changes depending on who you’re speaking to. After all, you wouldn’t address a VP the same way you’d talk to someone in your same position. You can elevate your communications by making this voice a little more formal:

Omit instances of “I think” or “I believe.” Remember, you’re the expert at what you’re writing about, so you don’t need to temper the expectations of the reader.
Instead of “like,” use “such as,” and see how it elevates what you’ve written. For example:
Before: I supervised projects like radio spots and web banners.
After: I supervised projects such as radio spots and web banners.
Take out clichés and idioms, such as, “at the end of the day,” “let’s circle back around,” and all the other cheesy sayings that don’t add value to your communications. Even though they may be common, using them is a little lazy and can become annoying or redundant.

2. Make your sentences short and sweet.

Look at sentences longer than two lines or anywhere you see a colon (:), semicolon (;) or an em dash (—). Can you break the sentences down into two? Many of us mistake long, complex sentences for sounding smart, but actually, the reverse is true. Shorter sentences are easier for your reader to parse and understand. Long sentences are harder to follow, and they also create eye and brain fatigue.

3. Lay out your copy for short attention spans.

As a writer myself, it pains me to say this, but people don’t like reading – especially when it’s large, dense blocks of copy with no end in sight. You don’t have to be an expert designer or even work in a program other than Word. Think about your audience: no matter who it is, they probably don’t have 10 minutes to labor over an email. If you’re writing to someone important like a creative director or CEO, you’ll be lucky to get even one minute of their time. Instead of paragraphs, you could convert some of what you’ve written to bullet points. Create bite-sized paragraphs, and bring attention to important words by making them bold or italic. By adding these elements, you can hold your reader’s attention and speed them down the page. So even if they’re only skimming, they’ll still understand your important points.

4. Spell check is such a no-brainer.

This is literally the easiest thing you can do to have your words read and taken seriously, especially if you’re job hunting. With a large pool of potential talent, hiring managers often just hit delete if they see a resume or cover letter that has even a single mistake on it. It’s true that spell check will still let you make mistakes like some of these facepalm-inducing gems, but it’s a great, practically painless way to avoid common mistakes. Online spelling and grammar resources like Grammarly and Ginger can make your writing near-bulletproof.

5. Print out your document and read it aloud.

For me, I don’t think anything beats proofreading a hard copy of your document since proofreading on screen makes you far less accurate than reading something on paper. But if you want to be a little more environmentally sensitive, open the document on screen and read it aloud to yourself – not just whispering under your breath, but reading it at the same volume you’d use if you were speaking. Or get a friend or coworker to read it since most people are pretty ruthless when it comes to finding faults in other people’s work!

Now, keep going!

Even with the rise of social media, being able to write in a clear, concise manner is still an essential business skill. Once you’ve got the basics down, try some of these ideas about how to incorporate visuals and design to make your writing stand out and get the results you’re after.

Lisa is a Creative Circle candidate and seasoned advertising copywriter who lives in Los Angeles. Her background includes both in-house and agency work on Fortune 500 and global accounts in the consumer and healthcare/pharmaceutical fields. She excels at words, fashion, and cats. If you want to work with Lisa, contact Creative Circle Los Angeles.

Often, when we hear about successful people’s career paths, “I had a mentor” is a response to the question of how they launched. This has, for better or for worse, caused the up-and-comers to think that mentorship is an automatic investment that comes in any job role, company, industry, or LinkedIn connection. As a result, people are mistakenly assigning the role of “Yoda” in their own lives, or worse, feeling let down if they don’t find one, sure that they won’t move forward without apprenticeship.

Although the desire to have someone you admire take interest in your career is valid (and can be very fruitful), there is a strategy for both knowing how to ask for a mentor and knowing what to look for in this person to maximize learning from them.

Even if you can’t control when and how you will become a mentee, here are some key things to consider when asking to learn from the best and the brightest:

Be clear about what you want to learn

There is the age-old saying, “The world isn’t waiting for you.” Just because you’re ready to jump-start your career doesn’t mean that everyone’s attention is geared in your direction. Before reaching out to the person you want to learn from, spend time thinking about the type of work you’d like to be doing, what you’ve learned from the work you’ve already done, and what you believe your innate skillsets to be. Consider the value proposition, “WIIFM (What’s In It For Me),” when reaching out to the person you want to connect with. Ask yourself: What do they get out of your relationship? You need to be able to align your desired growth with your mentor’s needs, keeping in mind that they need to find fulfillment from your relationship as well.

Don’t let your goals get in the way of learning

Being goal-oriented is, of course, important in getting things done or finding success through achievements. However, if you hyper-focus on what your bottom line is, you might just get in the way of what you’re meant to learn. Make sure you keep your mind open and your end-goal in check when working with your mentor so as to not miss the journey for the sake of the destination. It’s also possible that you will need different types of mentors at growing parts of your life.

Make room for their story

Even though you might be enthusiastic about your own pursuits, you must always prioritize learning about how others have gotten to where they are now first. Questions that encourage vulnerability always prompt a more meaningful conversation.

“What did you imagine yourself doing when you graduated college?”
“What experiences most impacted your current path?”
“How do you hope to grow from where you are now?”
“What things do you wish you had done or tried?”

Not only is this helpful in allowing someone to talk about their journey, but it also provides a nuanced perspective that not everything is linear. Especially if you are looking to someone else to provide guidance, it’s helpful to get the full story of what they thought they wanted, how they came to be where they are, and why they do what they do. Like during an interview, people are more likely to find fulfillment in the interaction if they feel visible.

Don’t forget mentors are also human beings

Whether it’s a personal trainer, a teacher, a parent, or a mentor, we all have the tendency to think those who have the wisdom, experience, or knowledge that we think we lack somehow hold superhuman abilities to give us answers when we need them. However, as we all know, no one is perfect. Remember that, like all human beings, even your mentor doesn’t have all the answers. It’s also likely that even with their success, they might be questioning their own path…or better yet, have their own mentor! With that in mind, the power to discern what works for you and what doesn’t, regardless of your mentor’s guidance, is key, as no one knows you better than yourself. Over-dependency on another person, assuming that they hold the keys to your success, only takes credit away from what you’re capable of in your own right.

Remember that they don’t work for you

A mentor-mentee relationship is a very special one as it emphasizes a journey of shared growth. Although there might be symbiosis in this dynamic, at the end of the day, your mentor does not work for you. Always remaining mindful, appreciative, and understanding of the fact that this person’s time is valuable will keep a lasting and meaningful relationship that allows for true personal growth.

In the end, it’s not about the mentor having all the answers, but rather about helping you find the confidence in your own.

Anyone have any good suggestions on how they found their mentor? Let us know in the comments!

Annie is a Creative Circle candidate and freelance creative strategist/copywriter working and living in Los Angeles. She knows digital media as well as she knows her own horoscope (she’s a Virgo), having worked at the likes of BuzzFeed and Mashable. She has created branded content strategies for the top Fortune 500 brands, which means she knows the true meaning of “going native.” If you want to work with Annie, contact Creative Circle Los Angeles.

The humble phone interview is most job seekers’ first step onto a path that leads to an employment offer. And while they’re great for a variety of reasons—you don’t have to drive anywhere, and you can do it in your bathrobe—the phone interview is a deceptively difficult skill to master. Here’s how you can stand out and make an impression, even when you’re just a voice on the phone.

1. Do your homework.

Learn as much as you can about the company and the position that’s being offered. Study the job ad and prepare yourself to answer questions about your resume. Obviously, this could be traditional research about what the company does to stand out, basic capacities, and leadership, but don’t forget to check social media to get an idea of the company’s brand and culture. The more you know, the easier it will be to tailor your answers and impress your interviewer.

2. If you’re a creative, send a portfolio PDF in addition to a URL.

Even when you have a killer portfolio filled with award-winning work, nothing beats the opportunity to sell it by carefully walking the interviewer through it, which you often don’t get during a phone interview. You’ve probably already listed your URL on your resume or the online job forms, but also send a carefully designed PDF that showcases only your best and most relevant work. On each page, add a rationale, or a brief blurb that summarizes the problem you solved, the thinking behind the solution, and your role in the project. You still may not get the chance to review it, but your interviewer will be impressed with your effort.

3. Get comfortable in a quiet environment.

This is one situation where you don’t want to multitask. It’s super-unprofessional to have a dog barking in the background or a barista announcing that Michael’s half-caff latte is ready. And even if you’re at home, go to a place where you won’t allow yourself to be distracted (i.e., no TV, family, or even a computer competing for your attention).

4. Resist the temptation to do a phone interview in sweats and flip-flops.

We can’t emphasize it enough: your clothing choices influence how you see yourself and how you present yourself, even in speech. Put on something that reminds you of what an awesome professional you are—maybe it’s a black turtleneck and jeans à la Steve Jobs, or maybe it IS a 3-piece suit, as long as it’s whatever you feel.

5. Front-load all of the important information.

Your interviewer will never be more attentive than when they finish their introduction and turn the conversation over to you. This is the perfect time to go to your elevator speech—not only is it a succinct summary of your qualifications, it’s your best opportunity to demonstrate your personal brand. Better still, edit it in advance so you’re including the employer’s keywords and anything else that makes you uniquely qualified for that specific job.

6. Repeat what your interviewer asked you.

Starting your answers using the exact same words will buy you time to collect your thoughts, and this “echo effect” is an ingenious little social hack that’s been proven in studies to build feeling of safety, trust, and rapport. Use it sparingly though, or else the hiring manager may start to get a weird feeling about the interview!

7. BREATHE.

Don’t just take little sips of air, but breathe deeply from your belly or diaphragm. Diaphragm breathing gives you a deeper supply of oxygen, forces you to slow your speech down, and can actually calm your nerves since those frequent, shallow lung gulps are part of the body’s “fight or flight” reaction. When you make it to the face-to-face interview, it will improve your posture and help you sit up straighter, so it’s a win all the way around.

8. Ask plenty of questions.

A carefully planned set of questions can do two things: they can help you look engaged and further cement a winning impression, and they can also help get a better picture of the job since you don’t have any visual cues. Ask about the working environment, the culture, and the number of employees located in the office.

9. Then do everything you’d do after a face-to-face interview.

Even if you don’t want the job, send a thank-you note: after all, other jobs may become available at the company and that recruiter or hiring manager might end up at another company later, so it pays to do the simple things that lead to a favorable impression. If you really did want the job, follow up, but wait at least a week. It’s likely that your interviewer is at the stage where they’re still swamped in resumes, so if you don’t hear from them, it may reveal a lack of time rather than a lack of interest.

It may take a few tries before you really feel in your element during a phone interview. But like anything else, the more you practice, the better you get, and soon you’ll have to start thinking about what to wear.

One of the most crucial elements in attaining work/life balance is making sure you maintain clear boundaries, so your job doesn’t spill over and eat up the rest of your life. And with smartphones, home offices, flex time, and all the other “conveniences” (yup, that’s mild sarcasm) of the modern workplace, it often feels like we’re working 18 hours a day.

The difficulty factor is greater for people who work in communications industries, such as advertising, marketing, and design. The deadlines! Clients in other time zones! A work environment that already has a lot of fuzziness between where work stops and your personal life begins!

Thankfully, we have a few foolproof tips for keeping work at work so you can feel like you have a life. Even better, many of these tips will also help you be more productive.

1. Start out each day with a to-do list.

After you’ve fired up your computer and looked at your email (but before you start doing any work), make a list of priorities. What do you absolutely, positively have to get done today? The first step to work/life balance is making a list and keeping it somewhere you can see it; it’s great if you can check off tasks as you do them, but if you can’t, check in with the list during lunch and then before you leave. Since so many of us worry about keeping productive, this gives you a record of just how much you accomplish each day. And if you check all of these “gotta do it today!” items off your list, you can start over tomorrow.

You can find plenty of software out there to assist you with to-do list management. Some examples include: Google Keep, Evernote, LifeRPG (available on the Google Play Store), and Wunderlist (for iPhone).

2. Manage your creative time.

If you’re an art director, designer, or writer, getting to be creative for an assignment is the best part of your job. It’s the part you’ll indulge in, pushing everything else onto the back burner until it comes back to haunt you.

Try breaking your ideation tasks down into chunks — for example, look through magazines and annuals for inspiration, brainstorming, evaluating and choosing ideas to keep pushing. Then give yourself a time budget, and stick to it. Initially, you may feel like you’re abandoning your children, but you’ll be surprised at how fast your brain adapts to the technique.

If you don’t already have one, start a swipe file or collection of great work you’ve ripped out of magazines and saved for future reference. Doing so can help you fire up your creativity at a moment’s notice.

3. Be strict with yourself when you work from home.

Some people think working from home is a great perk — you don’t have to drive anywhere, you can stay in bed longer, and you’re in control of your environment. But for many of us, the 9-to-6 weekday starts becoming more like 8-to-8. Studies often suggest we get more stuff done in less time at home, and some of that is because we’re working 11-hour days but only record eight on our time sheets. It’s easy to forget how hard and how long you’re working when you don’t have others around to give you visual clues.

If you have a lot of flexibility, try to schedule your work for your peak productivity hours, and then fill up the time in between with your own projects. Otherwise, set an alarm to indicate when you absolutely, positively, need to step away from the computer. Despite putting yourself in position for perfect work/life balance, you can cost yourself the privilege of a lifestyle you truly desire.

4. If you work from home, set up a dedicated space.

This is about literally corralling one part of your life so it’s separate from another. Set up a dedicated office (if you can’t manage an office, then a nook, desk or bookshelf is fine). Not only will this keep you better organized, it helps you close the door on the workday by not having work paraphernalia cluttering the dining room table.

It doesn’t have to be expensive, ugly, or take up a lot of room. Check out some of these compact office spaces that do double-decor duty.

5. If you can, avoid company devices.

We recently presented different types of people you meet in advertising and here’s one more: that person who juggles a latte in one hand and two cell phones in the other, consistently books status calls at 7 a.m., and expects you to get on the phone even before then. Do everything you can to keep them at arm’s length to sustain your work/life balance. Politely declining a company-furnished smartphone or tablet is a subtle way to protect your boundaries. You still may have to check emails or take the occasional phone calls at odd hours, but it’s another psychological barrier you can use to protect your privacy and personal life.

6. Don’t let your job stop you from taking a vacation.

Overwork and burnout are real things with real consequences including anxiety, sleeplessness, and depression — all of which can derail you both in the office and in life. Recharge regularly with vacations in which you really go somewhere! The act of simply planning a vacation can bring you as much joy as actually taking the trip. Put the dates in writing and GO.

Even if you have an understanding boss who does their best to protect their employees’ work/life balance, it’s up to you to set your own boundaries and make sure they’re honored. (Be diplomatic about it, of course!) If you get pushback from anyone, just remind them that taking care of yourself benefits the company, too.

Not winning contracts?

Be that special snowflake. Really.

One of the toughest parts of being a freelancer is “landing” — that is, getting that first assignment that gets you on the radar. No matter how good you are or how polished your resume is, you still face the harsh reality that you have a ton of competition out there.

To give you some idea: When I advertise my workshops for freelancers, I have an email that gets sent out to a few hundred writers in the St. Louis area alone. That’s a lot of people all hoping to win the same gigs.

The best (and frankly, the most ethical) thing to do is find ways to differentiate yourself. The trouble is, this is a lot harder than it sounds at first.

Differentiating yourself is not easy.

The very first thing we do in my LAUNCH workshop is an exercise to prove how difficult differentiation is.

Before the workshop, I ask everyone to spend some time thinking about their strengths, their talents, and their offerings — basically, anything that would make them a valuable resource for a client.

Then I have each person read their list in turn. As they read, I write each item on the board. I then ask the group: “Who had this on their list, too?” If at least one other person had that skill or strength on their list, I put a line through the item and continue.

Guess what happens by the end of the activity? I have a white board filled with what people “offer” — a good 30 or so strengths, skills, and services, perhaps — and about 25 of those have been crossed out because someone else in the room offered that as well.

Which means that those writers are not really that different after all.

If you’re not different, you’re competing on personality and price.

When your resume looks the same as the next 20 writers a client will see, your ability to win contracts will come down to personality and price.

You don’t want to sell on personality alone, because that is too random and unreliable a base on which to build a business.

And you don’t want to sell on price, because that’s how you end up broke and working the swing shift at Starbucks. (That’s not a bad gig, mind you. But it’s probably not where your talents nor your dreams lie.)

So what can be done?

First, you might want to do this exercise with some other writers you know. If your skills and talents sound the same, it’s time to revisit what makes you truly different.

Second, start asking “why” questions. Potential clients will often ask what you can do, but you need to communicate why what you do is important, and how it’s important to them. For example, maybe you are a writer and editor who can boast incredible attention to detail. That’s a great attribute; it doesn’t come naturally to most people. (I have to work hard at it. And I still routinely fail!)

OK, so you have great attention to detail. Who cares? Here’s who: Companies that care about how professional they look and sound in their communications. This is especially true for companies that care about word of mouth, or for companies in highly regulated industries (finance, anyone?).

Finally, think of the tasks you do that others find frustrating, irksome, or just not worth their time. Then think about what would make someone want to pay someone else to do those tasks. Love reading technical papers and blog posts, then summarizing them for the everyday reader? People will pay you to do that for their blog. Can you grind through a government RFP and not feel like gouging your eyes out afterward? Yeah, people will pay you a lot to write those for them.

If you want more ideas on how to differentiate yourself, I’m happy to help. And if you’re interested in that LAUNCH workshop I mentioned, add yourself to my subscription list for updates (and the occasional advice).

Brandon is experienced copywriter and content specialist living in St. Louis, MO. His main job is writing regular content for a number of industries and advising on all matters related to marketing; his passion, however, is providing workshops for writers and freelancers so they can grow their business. More information about these workshops and his company can be found at www.wordshaveimpact.com.

We spend nearly a third of our lives working, so taking extra care that your next job is the right fit is important. Your time is too valuable to take a job just for money. Ideally, your next job will be a proper stepping stone toward your career goals.

Consider your next job selection as a two-way street. Just as the employer will think twice (maybe three times or more) about whether you’re a good fit for them, as an incoming employee, you should make sure the company AND position are great fits for you and your career objectives. Ask yourself:

What will make me happy?

Work happiness can mean different things to different people. Many individuals don’t seek the same type of happiness at work as they do in their personal lives. For you, happiness may center around the mission of the company and not the job itself. For others, being happy may rely on the day-to-day work. In most cases, workplace happiness will likely depend on a combination of several factors like the duties of specific roles, the team dynamic, and the leadership/management style.

In the creative industry, it’s important to seek out a challenge, because entry-level positions are essentially apprenticeships (especially during your early-to-mid 20s). Sharpening your skills is paramount. An easy and high-paying job may sound enticing, but remember to choose a role that’s challenging enough to promote growth. Adding and practicing new skills now reels in the big money later.

What is the company culture like?

Every place you work has a unique company culture. Do your research and find out as much as you can about how a company operates. Is it traditional, or is it more progressive and unique? Do the company’s values match yours? How are decisions made? Will working for this company help you achieve your career goals?

Answers to these sorts of questions are easy to find on websites like Glassdoor. Take a look at the company’s reviews and listen to the personal stories shared by current and former employees. If most people have negative feedback about a company, then you probably want to steer clear of it.

What should the next job pay?

Money isn’t everything when it comes to finding the right job for you, but after a while, too little pay and inadequate benefits can start to wear on you. You want your salary to match your experience and what you bring to your next job. You owe it to yourself to make sure your pay and benefits are fair. That being said, some might choose to make a lateral move or even take less pay to do a job that is more in line with their career goals. Whatever the case may be, take your time to help ensure your choice is worth your while.

Will this job get me closer to my career goals?

Make sure you aren’t leaving your current position just to get out. You want to think about the bigger picture, and sometimes that means sticking with a job you don’t like until a really good fit comes along. It is worth it for your career to gain experience in the types of work you want to be doing. If you have that in your current job, think twice about leaving. Always continue to look for opportunities though; being proactive is how people get into the type of work they love.
Having a solid idea of what you want is a good start, but being too focused on a certain job can limit your possibilities and lead to a longer and more frustrating job search, especially in the creative field. Certain jobs may not be exactly what you want, but they will get you to where you want to be. Take that approach at your new job, and improve your awareness of opportunities for career expansion.

Remember, your career can become a series of great jobs, average jobs, and not-so-great jobs if you’re not careful. Doing the work ahead of time to know what you want will give you the best chance to find a position that you believe is right for you.

Krista is a Creative Circle candidate, creative writer and content creator in Los Angeles. Her background includes news, marketing, copywriting and editing. If you are interested in working with Krista, please contact Creative Circle Los Angeles.

Without self-reflection on who you are as a creative, how can you decide where you want to go in your career and how to get there? How will you gain confidence in figuring out what kind of client or employer might be interested in hiring you for your unique skills, and for what reasons?

“Developing your personal brand is essential for the advancement of your career and development,” wrote consultant and executive coach Glenn Llopis in “Personal Branding Is A Leadership Requirement, not a Self-Promotion Campaign.”
What you can do to become aware of your own strengths?

First: Stop, relax, and think.

Identifying and developing your personal brand isn’t the same as making a list of goals, dreams, aspirations, or wishes for what you want to be. It’s a little more challenging than that — you will need to engage in a little self-reflection. Find some quiet time without distractions. It won’t take all day — in fact, you may be surprised at how quickly and naturally your own sense of self will emerge, once you give it a chance. That self-knowledge is always there, in the back of your mind. All you need to do is tune in.

Then: Get to know your strengths and weaknesses.

This creative exercise requires a little time. Designers and writers especially find inspiration in their own memories, thoughts, and imagination. To apply the same thinking to your professional brand, “Examine your past experiences in work, in school, and in life, as well as the interests, skills, knowledge, talents, dreams, goals, and preferences that these experiences reveal,” counsels executive coach Debra Benton in “Self-Reflection Helps Your Personal Brand.” The aim is to understand your own background so you can decide how you would like to appear to prospective clients or employers.

To get started, ask yourself the following questions:

What situations bring out the best in you?
What inspires you? Sparks your creativity?
What are some things that energize you and that you enjoy doing?
What challenges make you want to get going?
What makes you feel strong?
How have you handled disappointments? Do errors, failures or setbacks throw you off?
What do you like doing for others? How do you make other people feel good about themselves?
What makes you feel supported or encouraged?
What do your customers or clients appreciate most in you?
What do you find most rewarding about your work?
What do others seem to think you do very well?

Try not to pass judgment on what you are discovering. An honest evaluation of your capabilities, experience, and intentions is not the same as a session of self-criticism. We are all allowed to make mistakes. Both our victories and our setbacks make us who we are and help us to understand ourselves and what we offer to our clients, our community, and our world. You want to get to know your own gifts and weaknesses, because that knowledge is ultimately the pillar of your true strength.

Llopis said: “Challenge yourself to think about what your intentions are and what you are capable of delivering to the communities you are serving, both in and outside of the workplace.”

Julie is a Creative Circle candidate and experienced freelance writer, editor, and content creator in Santa Monica, California. A mentor and a career adviser, she cares about the community of freelancers who are finding new ways to work successfully in today’s gig economy. If you want to work with Julie, contact Creative Circle Los Angeles.

On the surface, my roles as father and businessman seem unrelated.

I am an executive coach, and in my experience of being coached myself, I’ve learned that the two identities are intertwined. The strengths and learning edges that show up in my professional life are also present in my personal life.

Even though I’m more than 20 years into my career, lessons from my three years as a father of two have made me a more effective executive. I’m compelled to share seven of them:

1. Embrace the good with the bad.

I recently took a day off to spend with my 3-year-old son. I let him pick the agenda. Inspiration in the grocery checkout lane landed an inexpensive kite, and we spent a magical hour wading in the ocean waves while I taught him to fly it.

Before we continued our day with his first visit to an ice-skating rink, I took him for a quick pizza lunch. It was a disaster. He refused to eat, pressed random buttons on the soda fountain and made the experience unpleasant for everyone around us.

As challenging as the lunch was, though, it didn’t diminish the wonder of kite-flying or the joy of ice skating.

At work, few things are a complete success or an utter failure. Acceptance of this helps me see the bright spots in presentations that weren’t home runs. It also keeps me humble when the ratings from a workshop are glowing. A willingness to let the good and the bad coexist helps avoid black-and-white thinking and emotional roller coasters.

2. Clear feedback is compassionate.

It’s my duty as a father to let my sons know, kindly but firmly, when their words or actions are out of line. And because they’re so young, I know my words must be simple and clear.

At work, I used to think that softened delivery of feedback to direct reports was kind. I failed to realize that sugarcoating doesn’t help anyone. If I really care about a person, I owe it to them to be clear and honest. And I know I can trust myself to give this feedback in a caring way, just as I do with my sons.

3. Get comfortable with being uncomfortable.

Raising my boys consistently presents new challenges. First, I had to keep them alive while surviving on two hours of sleep! Now, I chase little speed demons who don’t understand that running too far ahead of me isn’t funny or safe. Years from now, I will deal with the more emotionally complex situations of raising teenagers.

Stanford University psychologist Carol Dweck, in her book “Mindset,” presents two states: fixed mindset and growth mindset. People with a fixed mindset believe their abilities are a fixed trait, meaning they don’t have to work at them. Those with a growth mindset embrace lifelong learning through new experiences, ideas and challenges. In more recent years, in researching the collective mindsets of organizations, Dweck and three colleagues found that employees in companies with a fixed mindset pursued fewer innovative projects because of a fear of failure.

If my work isn’t making me a little uncomfortable, then I’m not pushing myself enough. I remind myself that my sons learned to walk by falling down — a lot. If I want to grow, I must embrace failure, knowing I will learn from it.

4. Avoid surprises.

Whether it’s changing a diaper or leaving the playground, my boys need advance notice. If I just spring something on them, they are likely to throw a fit. Such transitions are insignificant to me, but not to them. I need to keep things moving, but they need a sense of security and predictability.

Similarly, colleagues and direct reports need clear expectations. I explain what needs doing and why, and I set clear deadlines. I also explain the reasoning behind these plans. Team members, particularly millennials, value understanding how they contribute to the goals of the organization.

5. Adapt to the audience.

My older son is motivated by dessert and threats of closing his bedroom door at night. My younger son could take or leave sweets, and he is completely fine with the bedroom door closed. He responds to gaining or losing access to his toy cars. I’ve had to tailor my parenting approach to each of them.

Too often, managers issue orders and expect their direct reports to do all the adjusting. I find it more productive to meet in the middle. I see employees as customers, and I take to heart Peter Drucker’s questions “Who is your customer?” and “What does your customer value?” These questions are from “The Five Most Important Questions You Will Ever Ask About Your Organization,” and he used them in consulting corporate leaders.

Yes, employees need to adapt to my working style. But I make reasonable adjustments based on how they like to work and how they best receive feedback. This keeps them motivated and engaged, which makes my job as a manager much easier.

6. Build the team to round out strengths.

There was never a discussion with my husband about which roles each of us would play as parents. I naturally stepped into managing operations for the family. I plan meals, schedule lessons, keep up with immunizations. I was recently out of town, and my husband brought one of the boys to a swimming lesson on the wrong day, even though it was on the calendar.

He, on the other hand, is the dreamer and maker of magical experiences. He plans great vacations, makes sure birthday parties are original and fun, and chooses cute and unique clothes for the boys. While each of us can play different roles in other parts of our lives, it just wouldn’t work if we both tried to play the same role at home.

At a recent conference for Hudson Institute coaches, Todd Kashdan, professor of psychology at George Mason University, introduced me to defensive pessimists (DP) and strategic optimists (SO) in a talk on the importance of both in teams. I later learned that these terms originated in the research of social psychologist Nancy Cantor. The DP’s role is to anticipate everything that could go wrong. The SO’s role is to believe inherently that things will work out right.

A team exclusively of DPs would be paralyzed ever to move forward. A team exclusively of SOs would always be at risk for crashing and burning the minute something threw them off their trajectory of certain success. But when a team has at least one person playing each role, that’s a powerful combination.

When I introduced this concept to colleagues, it gave us all language to understand a dynamic we’d observed for years, and it allowed both the SOs and the DPs to see the value in their roles instead of feeling apologetic.

7. Set personal goals.

At 34, I was newly single. Too old to put off my dream of becoming a father and too young to give up on it, I set a goal of becoming a father by age 40, though I had no idea how I was going to make that happen.

Having a goal, however, gave me the clarity to make decisions that moved me in the right direction. I passed up long-term international assignments and avoided dating people who didn’t want kids. 18 months later, I met my now-husband, and our first son was born six weeks before my 40th birthday.

Goal-setting isn’t new to management, but few leaders think through their individual strategic plans. I’m not referring to career planning facilitated by human resources. I mean asking yourself specific, detailed questions: Do I want to be in the same company or career in three years? What information should I gather to bring clarity to possible paths? What experiences will prepare me for my desired future?

Having goals doesn’t guarantee that they will come to fruition, but why not increase the chances?

In closing, the lessons I’ve learned from fatherhood have been valuable in helping me become more effective in my professional life. My commitment to lifelong learning will help me embrace future challenges, and I will continue to look for connections between these two roles that are so important to me.

Peter Gandolfo is an executive coach and founder of Gandolfo Group Coaching & Consulting. He’s passionate about helping men achieve professionally while being present fathers and about creating a more diverse workforce by helping leaders develop their authentic leadership styles.

In addition to individual coaching, Peter facilitates team workshops and gives talks on marketing strategy, listening to customers, effective communication and more. He lives in Los Angeles with his husband Andrew and their two sons.

This article was originally published on the Gandolfo Group blog.