Michelle Finn

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How to Be a S.T.A.R. at Your Next Job Interview

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You’re in a job interview, and things are going well so far. You dressed the part, rocked the interviewer with your extensive background, and even befriended people at the front desk. Then, the interviewer hits you with the dreaded “Tell me about a time when….”

Situational questions can often throw prospective candidates for a loop. Even with adequate preparation, it can still be tricky to properly portray the situation and your relatable skills in regards to the answer that they are seeking out.

You quickly sort through your brain for any relatable situation, eventually coming up with an example that somewhat satisfies the prompt but doesn’t highlight the attributes that the interviewer was seeking. We’ve all been there. Fortunately, there’s a much simpler way to organize information to create a clear and concise answer to make the process behind these questions a little easier.

This method is referred to as the S.T.A.R Method. This technique offers a concrete way to elaborate on your previous accomplishments and skills by giving a situational example and backing it up with associated skills.

How do you know if you should use the S.T.A.R Method? Watch out for key words in behavioral questions, often beginning with:
Tell me about an instance…
Give me an example of…
Describe a time…

 

Besides thinking of the situation, the S.T.A.R Method backs it up with structure so that you don’t end up rambling for ten minutes with unnecessary details. This method provides a framework so that you can stick to the point and highlight the skills that make you a good fit….which is exactly what the interviewer is looking for. It helps you create an easy-to-follow scenario with a clear conflict followed by a resolution.

Now, what is the S.T.A.R method exactly? Let’s break it down. S.T.A.R is an acronym that stands for:
1.Situation: Set the scene and provide situational details.

This is the crucial starting point (and perhaps the most difficult part). You won’t know exactly what the interviewer will ask you, but it’s a good idea to have a few scenarios prepared in your head, so that you can adapt them for different questions.

If the question really throws you for a loop or you just can’t think of one quickly, don’t be afraid to ask for a minute so you can prepare yourself.

2. Task: Describe what your responsibility was in that situation.

After you’ve picked a scenario, it’s time to add any appropriate details. It’s tempting to include all sorts of unnecessary details, but try to avoid this as much as possible before you start going down a rabbit hole. Focus this section on a few sentences and try to keep it concise.

Your goal here is to paint a clear picture of the situation you were in and highlight any particular difficulties.

This can easily become merged with the action portion. However, this section is dedicated to your responsibilities and objectives, then to be followed by the action segment.

3. Action: Explain your actions (and the steps you took)

Now that you’ve given the interviewer a description of both the situation and your role within it, it’s time to explain what you did and what steps you took to resolve the problem. This is the section you want to add extra details. Showcase yourself and your contributions with the details of what program you used, if you worked on a team, any steps that were involved, etc.

4. Result: Share the outcome of your actions (along with the importance of those actions)

Finally-the results! This is your time to shine and explain what effects your contribution had as a whole. Make sure this part is very clear-you don’t want the interviewer to be confused as to what impact your efforts made, that’s the whole point of the question!

Interviewers don’t only care about your actions but also they want to know why it’s important. Make sure to focus on results and include any necessary details-numbers are always a great bonus!

Package all of these components together and you’ve mastered the S.T.A.R method. This process might seem a little overwhelming at first, but with practice it will become a lot more manageable. With enough practice, you’ll be a star in your next interview.

 

Content courtesy of Michelle Finn, Founder of Pop Design Shoppe

Contributing Author, Michelle Finn

Michelle has a strong marketing background in a versatile set of roles including social media, events, and field marketing. She fell in love with design and combined it with her skills to create her business, Pop Design Shoppe. In the future, she hopes to continue her work within design or the arts (including interior design, fashion, the visual arts, and event design). She wants to continue working on projects that create impact. Her perfect day includes a morning workout, sunny day at the beach (preferably with her dog joining) followed by an evening out with friends at an event.

Connect with Michelle on Instagram @michellekatheriine and follow her business @popdesignshoppe

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How to Determine Your Freelance Value 

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Early on in your freelancing career, you’re mainly focused on finding clients and establishing a name for yourself. When you’re unknown in your field, it’s easy to take on projects for the sake of building clientele. Having a successful career as a freelancer requires hard work and dedication to your craft, and it can be easy to keep your prices at a minimum to stand out from the competition or to solidify more consistent work. 

It’s true that earlier on in your freelancing career you may not make as much as much as you hoped. However, taking on too much work to make up for it or lowering your value also aren’t positive solutions in the long term and will leave you dissatisfied. Staying busy doesn’t always translate into financial success, nor do lower rates equate more work opportunity. Patience is necessary, especially in the beginning. However, as you start gaining experience it’s important to start understanding your value and what you deserve on the receiving end.

Oftentimes, we don’t necessarily price our services relative to the level of service we provide. Many freelancers determine rates based off of their own personal sense of self-worth. In this line of work, many freelancers sell themselves short when it comes to making money. Since we work alone, we’re the ones who have control over our business dynamics and don’t have outside points of reference to guide us. And, because our craft usually is linked to creative work or design, it can be difficult to properly gauge the worth of our work. 

The value of your work is a direct reflection of the quality of what you produce and client satisfaction. Your sense of self-worth has nothing to do with it and it can emotionally affect the rate you decide on. 

 

Try to focus on client feedback and overall customer satisfaction rather than what you necessarily think your rate should be. 

Now that we’ve removed emotions as a factor of determining value, it’s time to think about the things that really do matter when it comes to figuring out what your time and effort are worth. Some factors to keep in mind are:

Experience

How long have you been in the workplace? Think about past projects and skills associated with work you’ve done. If you specialize in something, make sure this is highlighted as a factor. Anytime you’re an expert or specialist in a particular area, this spikes up the price. 

Your Time

Being busy doesn’t necessarily equate better work, but it’s likely that if you are busier that you are doing something right. With this in mind, it should cost more to get some of your time since it’s a scarcity.

Project Timeline

If you’re project-based and the client is in a hurry, it puts more pressure on you to create quality work in a tight timeframe. Make sure to take this factor into account if it arises. 

Your Location

If you live in a city with a higher cost of living, it’s natural to up the hourly rate a bit due to local competitors. A helpful resource for me has been Freelancing Females. It was founded in 2017 by Tia Meyers, a freelance Social Media Consultant, after not getting paid for her work and now serves as a global community of over 13,000 freelancers. On their website, you can anonymously enter your demographics and specialized service and see how rates compare to you locally. Seeing the rates of other people in my trade really helped me determine how I compared. 

Another important tip is to have income goals. Having income goals (daily, weekly, monthly, etc.) will keep you focused on what you’re actually making without the fluff. It can be easy to get caught up in the creative side rather than the finances, but really keeping track of this as well as budgeting will help you stay focused. 

While it’s great to have a satisfied client, you never want to accommodate so much that you don’t feel fulfilled. That doesn’t mean you should never be willing to negotiate a price, but it does mean that you shouldn’t sell yourself short. 

It’s not your responsibility to take on a project just because someone wants you to, so don’t be afraid to turn down work if necessary. In reality, you have to best decide what works for your time and finances.

Content courtesy of Michelle Finn, Founder of Pop Design Shoppe

Contributing Author, Michelle Finn

Michelle has a strong marketing background in a versatile set of roles including social media, events, and field marketing. She fell in love with design and combined it with her skills to create her business, Pop Design Shoppe. In the future, she hopes to continue her work within design or the arts (including interior design, fashion, the visual arts, and event design). She wants to continue working on projects that create impact. Her perfect day includes a morning workout, sunny day at the beach (preferably with her dog joining) followed by an evening out with friends at an event.

Connect with Michelle on Instagram @michellekatheriine and follow her business @popdesignshoppe

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Six Tips for Being A Successful Remote Employee

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In a 2018 study, 70% of people work remotely at least once a week. Most people associate working at home with convenience, no commuting, wearing whatever you want, flexibility, and control over your schedule. Working at home certainly comes with these perks, but can also come with challenges of being distracting, isolating, demotivating, and stressful due to a lack of office structure or team engagement.

Throughout my work experience, I have always worked in remote positions. Initially, I was captivated by the many positives that came with it, like the ones mentioned above. It meant I got to work from anywhere, added to my personal freedoms, allowed me a lifestyle similar to being my own boss, and saved me the time of having to get ready and go into work everyday.

Although all of these are valid and beneficial perks of working remotely, I have seen both the positives and negatives in my own experience. Being in remote positions taught me self-discipline, reliance, and significantly increased my organizational skills due to the high level of independence within a remote role. I am going to share some of my personal tips and tricks for staying productive while working remotely that I’ve learned in my three years of experience working remotely.

#1. Separate Your Living and Workplace

One problem that can often arise when working remotely is defining the line where life and work separates. When you work from anywhere, that means almost everywhere can become your workplace. It’s hard to escape the work mindset and relax when you’re done without feeling like you’re in the same spot or not knowing how to fully turn off.

That’s why it’s vital to have separate work and living spaces. Co-working spaces are awesome if you have the income or your company offers it, however they aren’t necessary. A library, cafe, or even just a dedicated office (or desk/corner) at home allows you to create boundaries so that work doesn’t end up becoming your life. When you only work in that specific area, it’ll become more natural to separate from that area and work-related tasks once you’re done.

Another tip to add to this is to mix up your environment every now and then. You have the freedom to go anywhere…so why not check out a new cafe every once and awhile? Changing your environment may give you a wave of inspiration just from trying something new and getting out of routine.

#2. Have Set Times (And Breaks) to Regulate Work/Life Balance

Similarly to not drawing boundaries with your environment, the same thing can be said of creating limitations with your time. Working on your own means setting your own schedule, and can lead to overworking by not knowing when to stop or underworking by setting too many breaks. Working too much leads to burnout and ruins your productivity in the long run. “Making up time” by not getting things done within scheduled hours extends your working hours and cuts into recuperation time, which is needed within any job to produce quality work.

Allow yourself to set up a schedule or time clock…and then once you’ve hit your mark, allow yourself to stop. That’s it. Don’t let hours run into the late evening in overtime or always try to get ahead with your work. This obviously is okay sometimes when needed or if you have the extra time, however if it becomes routine (warning) you will burn out.

Without the routines of a traditional office, breaking regularly throughout the day can sometimes be left out in hopes of achieving more work. Be sure to schedule-in regular breaks because no one can work all the time. Plus, it will help keep you motivated in the times you are working if you’re able to see a clear finish line. Take a quick walk outside, check your phone, run an errand, or even just get some air for a few minutes so that you don’t feel tied to the task at hand.  

#3. Get Familiar with online Management Tools

The rise in remote work and need for collaborative platforms has led to cloud-based team management tools such as Zoom, Trello, Skype, and more. Spend some time finding out how your team likes to keep track of projects and what the best method of communication is. Group chats are a great way to stay in touch with your team in real time throughout the day. But it can also be hard to navigate, distracting, or unfulfilling if you like consistent feedback. Finding out what communication method works best for both you and your team is crucial in staying productive and not feeling overwhelmed.  Having that connected network will help you feel less isolated and make tasks much easier for you and them.

If you work alone, spend some time thinking about how you’d like to work and keep track of your projects. Moving your to-do list into a digital platform will help you stay on top of it and aid in task management. Organization is a key factor in working by yourself, so take some time to find out what method works best for you and do some research on what tools best suit your needs.

#4. Figure out your Working Style

If you’ve just started working remotely, it’s a great idea to figure out the environment that you need to work successfully. Do you like white noise? Silence? Being completely by yourself or being around others? All of these factors will help you decide whether you perform best at home, in a cafe, outside, etc.

Other things to consider are whether you’re more productive in the morning or in the evening, and whether you’re motivated by taking small breaks throughout the day or a longer midday break. Since you have control of your schedule, you need to try out different methods and see what best suits. This is the beauty of remote work; getting to choose and work during your best hours.

#5. Remove Distractions

If you’re anything like me, the chance to scroll through your feed for hours can be tempting (especially if you work in social media *sigh*). This is especially difficult in a remote working space where there are no colleagues or management to look over your shoulder. I use AppBlock to block distracting apps until I have gotten the work I need done first. Then, when you’ve hit your break feel open to scrolling guilt-free.

#6. Embrace the Perks of Working Remotely

Working remotely may have its challenges, but it’s also a great way to travel, do your own thing, and basically go anywhere as long as your computer is with you. Take advantage of this system and go new places if you can. You may not be working remote forever, so try to use the advantages you’re given as a way to challenge yourself in being more organized as well as enjoy rocking your sweats during your 8am conference call. Working remotely will be discouraging at times, but nothing in work comes without challenges. Find the positives and roll with it, because working remotely can be pretty awesome.

Content courtesy of Michelle Finn, Founder of Pop Design Shoppe

Contributing Author, Michelle Finn

Michelle has a strong marketing background in a versatile set of roles including social media, events, and field marketing. She fell in love with design and combined it with her skills to create her business, Pop Design Shoppe. In the future, she hopes to continue her work within design or the arts (including interior design, fashion, the visual arts, and event design). She wants to continue working on projects that create impact. Her perfect day includes a morning workout, sunny day at the beach (preferably with her dog joining) followed by an evening out with friends at an event.

Connect with Michelle on Instagram @michellekatheriine and follow her business @popdesignshoppe

 

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My Thoughts on Accepting Rejection

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You just wrapped up a killer job interview, anticipating the good news coming your way that you’ve gotten the job. Or maybe it was a date that you thought went great. Days go by and you hear no word. Did they not like me? Did I say something wrong? How could this happen again? Negative thoughts may start to slip in about yourself or things you “did wrong” that could have chased away (what you thought was) the perfect opportunity, job, person, or situation. This is where you can easily start going down the insecurity rabbit hole, picking apart reasons why we were at fault when we can’t justify the situation.

Rejection can be a bitter pill to swallow, but it is an unavoidable aspect of being human. We all experience it, and yet it’s hard to accept that there isn’t something we could have done to change the outcome. Rejection can give us a sense of losing something we thought we had, violating our expectations. It scares us because it reminds us that we cannot control people and circumstances and it can be an awakening reminder of our insecurities or old patterns.

Our reaction to rejection is often tied to experiences from our past, using it as justification for the lies we tell ourselves.

It may bring up old feelings or circumstances that you’ve experienced before that you hoped you would never feel again.  Sometimes we are functioning in a cycle of experiences, repeating the same thing over and over because we haven’t coped and dealt with the initial problem. This is why our reaction to rejection is just as important (if not more) than the rejection itself and why learning how to deal with it is so important!

Letting go of expectations will save you a lot of heartbreak in the long run. Accept that life has something different in store for you…and to trust that (often times what’s meant for you is even better than you expect or imagine). Accept that you’re disappointed right now. Accept that this situation happened to teach you something and look into what that is, rather than seeing it as a loss. The more you challenge yourself, the more you’ll experience rejection as an inevitable part of the process. Its either you keep trying and finally get what you want (even if it takes a couple of tries) or you just don’t face rejection at all through inaction, which ends up being the biggest risk of all because you never get what you desire the most.

Something that I do every day on Instagram is read (and save) memorable and inspiring quotes that I come across. Reading quotes from other people normalizes the emotions we all share, and brings light to situations or emotions I may not be able to understand fully at the time in such a simple way. I wanted to share a few quotes about rejection with you that may help put it into perspective and change your perspective about what rejection really is…..an opportunity for you to find something meant for you.

 

“I believe that rejection is a blessing because it’s the universe’s way of telling you that there’s something better out there.”
– Michelle Phan
“We all learn lessons in life. Some stick, some don’t. I have always learned more from rejection and failure than from acceptance and success.”
-Henry Rollins
“Most fears of rejection rest on the desire for approval from other people. Don’t base your self-esteem on their opinions.”
-Henry Mackay
“If we will be quiet and ready enough, we shall find compensation in every disappointment.”
– Henry David Thoreau
“I don’t want anyone who doesn’t want me.”
 – Oprah Winfrey
“Each rejection brings us closer to acceptance. “
– Ramesh Lohia
“Rejected pieces aren’t failures; unwritten pieces are.”
– Greg Daugherty
“Rejection isn’t failure. Failure is giving up. Everyone gets rejected. It’s how handle it that determines where you’ll end up.” 
– Richard Castle
“If we live for people’s acceptance, we will die from their rejection. “ 
– Lecrae
“Rejection is merely a redirection; a course correction to your destiny.”
– Bryant McGill

 

Content courtesy of Michelle Finn, Founder of Pop Design Shoppe

Contributing Author, Michelle Finn

Michelle has a strong marketing background in a versatile set of roles including social media, events, and field marketing. She fell in love with design and combined it with her skills to create her business, Pop Design Shoppe. In the future, she hopes to continue her work within design or the arts (including interior design, fashion, the visual arts, and event design). She wants to continue working on projects that create impact. Her perfect day includes a morning workout, sunny day at the beach (preferably with her dog joining) followed by an evening out with friends at an event.

Connect with Michelle on Instagram @michellekatheriine and follow her business @popdesignshoppe

 

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The Power of Social Media Engagement for Your Brand

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If you’re a business owner, chances are you’ve already explored the benefits of social media marketing to help spread the word about your business. People are using social media to engage with brands more than ever. With over three billion people using social media around the world, social media has become a powerful way for brands and individuals alike to be seen. Many small business owners are using sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Instagram to help grow their businesses. However, there are still businesses on the fence about connecting with the newer platforms especially if they are unfamiliarized with where to start. If you’re not taking advantage of the platforms, you are missing out on an inexpensive and effective way to reach almost half the globe’s population.

Within each channel of social media, you can diversify your marketing efforts in more than one way to help vary your customer base. Professionals may find your website via LinkedIn while millennials may find you on Instagram. Each piece of social media content that you create is a different opportunity for you to connect. Depending on the type of business you have, you can cater it to catch the eye of the targeted platform’s users.

A popular example could be tied to one of the biggest names on social media, Kylie Jenner. The now youngest self-made billionaire can attest much of her success to social media, tying in all aspects of social media marketing (video, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook) to expand the boundaries of customer engagement. With a combination of her marketing and social media moves, she launched Kylie Cosmetics, which went on to become her biggest success with a new worth of $900 million. As social media replaces traditional media, it’s likely you won’t see an ad in Vogue anytime soon promoting Kylie Cosmetics but rather a combination of her cosmetic and personal accounts online.

Although we may not have a following of 133 million like Kylie, there’s no doubt that social media has become a powerful new tactic for brands to create a persona for themselves through online media. According to Adobe Digital Insights’ 2018 State of Digital Advertising Report reports show that social media ads drove three times more non-customers than existing customers to retailer websites at the end of 2017. In June, it was revealed that Instagram stories now has more than 400m daily active users; rising dramatically from 250m since 2017. According to a recent report by Google, 59.6% of Generation Z actively uses Instagram, in contrast to Facebook (52.8%) and Twitter (just 35.4%).

Another popular example is the quirky and fun E-Commerce online store, Dolls Kill. With minimal paid marketing, the online store has been growing since its 2011 launch with a net worth of over $8 million. Similarly to other brands that have thrived off of social media such as ModCloth and NastyGal, Dolls Kill relies primarily on on social media for their immense success (Facebook and Instagram) to connect with current and potential customers making them feel as though they are a friend.

By integrating social media into your marketing tactics, you not only generate more business but also connect with your customers better and serve them on a higher level. Every opportunity you have to syndicate your content and increase your visibility is crucial to becoming more widely known, social media networks are just another platform for your brand to be recognized. This is important because it makes you more accessible for new customers and makes you more familiar for previous customers.

 

Content courtesy of Michelle Finn, Founder of Pop Design Shoppe

Contributing Author, Michelle Finn

Michelle has a strong marketing background in a versatile set of roles including social media, events, and field marketing. She fell in love with design and combined it with her skills to create her business, Pop Design Shoppe. In the future, she hopes to continue her work within design or the arts (including interior design, fashion, the visual arts, and event design). She wants to continue working on projects that create impact. Her perfect day includes a morning workout, sunny day at the beach (preferably with her dog joining) followed by an evening out with friends at an event.

Connect with Michelle on Instagram @michellekatheriine and follow her business @popdesignshoppe

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The Power of Right Now: Taking the First Step

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When starting a new project, a million little monsters (also known as excuses) can pop up in your head encouraging you to push it off to the slot marked on your calendar as “tomorrow.” Wanting to approach the situation with ease, we search for security in this new endeavor cushioning ourselves with the concept of preparedness, hoping to gather every last puzzle piece before taking a leap. In fear of being vulnerable to this new experience, we create a “perfect time” in our heads, which sometimes never arrives. This can be said of anything; from adapting a healthier lifestyle, starting a new job, finishing an assignment, or starting a business.

Hate to break it to you, but there is never a perfect time for you to take action. There is never a perfect moment for you to start a new project, to write a book, to start working out in the morning, or to take up a new hobby. Once you acknowledge and accept this, you will get rid of the anxiety and fears leading up to it and create more meaningful and productive work everyday. Just like writing essays in high school, the hardest part is always getting your thesis started.

There’s a phrase “It takes ten years to become an overnight success.” There’s a reason this pattern shows up over and over. And it’s not just about putting in hard work over a long period of time. Although success is often glorified as a grand “go big or go home” mentality, any of these people will attest that it was their daily habits for YEARS that brought them to this position.

Don’t let time deter you, wanting everything now or being impatient because you want control of the timeline. Rather, take on the approach of micro-changes (also known as The Domino Strategy). Start with something small, easily knocking over the first domino. After that, align the dominoes in a sequence where each small step makes the next one possible.

That book you’ve wanted to read for months that’s getting dusty? Read a page tonight!

Even if its just one. Rather than becoming paralyzed by a huge task, the key is small steps every day. By the end of the week you’ll be done with a chapter. Nearly everything that we do everyday is habit-driven. So much of our thoughts, emotions, and actions are driven by habit. By starting with small habits and less risk of failure, we eliminate the major roadblock of procrastination.

The micro-changes approach can definitely help you break the roadblock of procrastination. But it won’t help you overcome the fear of failure, possibly the biggest dream killer. To push past that, you really have to dig deep and understand what drives you. Sometimes you’ll start and realize you aren’t feeling it after six months….and that’s OKAY! Maybe it will lead you to something better. If you set a goal with enough meaning behind it, then you’ll do anything to overcome the things that hold you back. Even the fear of failure.

I learned this when starting my own company just under a year ago. It wasn’t until I launched my own company into the community that I accepted and released the fears of what “could happen” which is what prevented me from taking action for as long as I had. I was afraid of the hard work, having to try things for the first time, and most importantly the new role I was being given because it was unfamiliar.  Accepting the fact that it was a new challenge for me and that I WOULD make mistakes allowed me to finally start taking steps and just do it (aka ridding the perfectionist dilemma). FYI, doing it isn’t as bad as you make it out to be.

 

Content courtesy of Michelle Finn, Founder of Pop Design Shoppe

Contributing Author, Michelle Finn

Michelle has a strong marketing background in a versatile set of roles including social media, events, and field marketing. She fell in love with design and combined it with her skills to create her business, Pop Design Shoppe. In the future, she hopes to continue her work within design or the arts (including interior design, fashion, the visual arts, and event design). She wants to continue working on projects that create impact. Her perfect day includes a morning workout, sunny day at the beach (preferably with her dog joining) followed by an evening out with friends at an event.

Connect with Michelle on Instagram @michellekatheriine and follow her business @popdesignshoppe

Get Around

Hey there!

I’m Jessica Korthuis, a branding and marketing expert with a passion for teaching female founders and aspiring mompreneurs how to market and brand their businesses.

I’m here to teach you all my secrets!

The ‘gram is my jam. 

@jessica_korthuis

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