10 Questions with Georgia Adamson

  

Get to know the other resume writers in our community with our “10 Questions” series!

Today’s profile is Georgia Adamson of A Successful Career.

Georgia has been a professional resume writer since 1993. She holds multiple professional certifications, including NCRW, MRW, ACRW, CPRW, NCOPE, CERM, and CJSS. She is a member of the National Resume Writer's Association (NRWA), Professional Association of Resume Writers and Career Coaches (PARW/CC), Career Directors International (CDI), and Career Thought Leaders (CTL).

1. Why did you decide to become a professional resume writer?

I was being asked to help people with their resumes, which I hadn’t done before. After a few of them, I decided I enjoyed creating resumes for people that made them feel more confident about themselves. Since I like to have a good idea of what I’m doing when I start on something new, I began checking into how to do this as professionally as possible.

2. How did you get into the career industry? What did you do before?

Previously I was an executive assistant in a technology company in Silicon Valley, California. I began to feel I wasn’t using all my capabilities in that role and started a business support service on the side. When we had a layoff and I lost my job, I decided to see if I could run my business full-time.

3. What do you typically wear when you’re working?
Neat but casual clothing. I work virtually and don’t see clients in person, but I feel more like working if I’m not TOO relaxed in my attire!

4. What is your best habit, and what is your worst?

I think it’s probably the fact that I’m pretty well organized and like to plan my activities, but I can still work some flexibility into the mix.

My worst? I can lose track of time when I’m talking with a client or a potential client and enjoying our conversation. That means I have to set reminders for myself to make sure I stay on target and can achieve what we need to accomplish.

5. What’s your favorite object in your office? Why?

I think it’s a little ceramic plaque that says, “Remember The Day’s Blessings. Forget The Day’s Troubles.” Either that, or it’s the one that says, “There can’t be a crisis today. My schedule is already full!”

6. What is your “go to” technique or secret when you get stuck when you’re writing a resume? How do you get unstuck?
Aside from praying for inspiration, which I often do, I’d say it’s carving out a “breathing spell” — whether it’s 5 minutes or longer (depending on my timeframe) — where I can step back from the project and focus on something entirely different for a bit. The best case is when I can let the project sit overnight and come back to it the next day. That gives my uncooperative brain a chance to refresh, recharge, and get back to work productively.

7. What’s the best career advice you ever got?
Remember that it’s not all about you. You’re not the one looking for a job. Focus on the client.

8. How do you unplug?
Spend time with my 16-year-old Tibetan spaniel. Listen to classical music. Read a good book (or re-read one of my old favorites).

9. What ONE thing would you change about your business or the career industry, if you could?
In terms of the career industry: I really like to maintain what I call “people connections” in my work, and some of the technology developments (such as ATS and video interviewing) add complications I could do without. However, as the saying goes, “It is what it is,” so I focus on becoming competent in the essential elements so I can continue to produce the best quality work for clients.

Connect with Georgia on Linkedin here: 

https://linkedin.com/in/asuccessfulcareer

Find her company on Facebook: https://facebook.com/pages/A-Successful-Career/140959285942865

Did you miss our last 10 Questions profile, featuring Michelle Dumas

You can read it here!

Why I Did a Beta Launch of “Pricing Right” — and What You Can Learn From It for Launching Your Own Course

I’ve been using the Teachable platform for my Resume Writer’s University courses for over a year now. Up until my most recent course, I’d always created the course first, and then launched it.

But one of the strategies recommended by Teachable in their trainings is to do a beta launch of a course, building the course as you go along. Because “Pricing Right” is a multiple-lesson course at a higher price point than my previous courses, I decided to use the beta launch strategy for this course.

A beta launch is often suggested for course creators to help you improve your course and get to know your customers because you’re collaborating with your audience as you’re creating it. If you are thinking about how to do your first — or next course — I wanted to share my experience. 

Here are some advantages of doing a beta launch for your course:

• To Build Awareness: You can build awareness and buzz around your course launch by announcing the beta launch of your course. This is especially true if you offer the course at a discount to get testers for the course. I offered the “Pricing Right” course to Bronze members of BeAResumeWriter.com at a discount in exchange for their feedback and a testimonial, if they would recommend the course.

• To Get a Competitive Edge: Getting feedback and interaction with your audience helps shape the content so that customers get more out of it. I had participants fill out a short survey after each lesson. Because I “dripped” the content (releasing new lessons each Tuesday and Friday), I was able to incorporate in suggestions from the surveys as I created the course content. This made the course even more valuable for current and future participants.

• To Ease Launch Anxiety. Having feedback from beta testers helps you fix any issues that came up when your beta testers were going through your course. With “Pricing Right,” for example, I got feedback from a couple of participants that the information on the slides was useful, and they wanted access to the slide deck. So I went back and included that with each lesson. That made the course more valuable too. And this kind of feedback gives you more confidence in the course itself, helping you feel free to tell people more confidently what transformation it offers them. (Hearing on the survey each week the “biggest takeaway” they got from the lesson was both helpful and inspiring!)

• To Gather Testimonials. As I mentioned before, the discount for Bronze members was in exchange for their feedback, including a testimonial, if they were comfortable offering one. Several participants offered them up quickly, allowing me to add them to the course sales page before the official course launch.

• To Help People Who Can’t Afford It. While this was not my main objective, there were a couple of members of my audience who expressed interest in the course — and who are great brand ambassadors. The discount for Bronze members was more than 70% off the final course price, so they were able to take the course at a super-affordable price point.

• To Get Feedback on This Course — and Future Courses. By getting feedback as I developed the course, I was able to adjust the course curriculum as the feedback came in. The feedback I got from beta testers was invaluable for the development of not just this course, but my next one! I got not only ideas for this course, but for future ones, because people were honest about what they need and want.

I’m grateful to the Bronze members who were part of the beta launch who took the surveys after each lesson. (I gave them a specific deadline for each lesson survey, and did a drawing for a $10 Amazon gift card for each survey, plus a $10 Amazon gift card if they filled out all nine lesson surveys by a specific deadline. About 20% of the beta launchers met the deadline to complete all nine surveys, and I mailed out those gift cards earlier this week.)

I definitely recommend charging beta testers for access to your digital product or course. Those who don’t have any investment in the product aren’t as likely to follow through with the feedback you need. If you charge for your beta launch, you’ll bring in some income while perfecting the product, which is a win-win for the people who agree to participate in the beta launch.

I did have a couple of folks who signed up for the beta launch but then had “life happen” and they weren’t able to follow through with participating in the lessons as they were launched and providing real-time feedback. That’s okay too. They still have access to the course, even though they weren’t able to help me shape the content.

If you’re interested in “Pricing Right,” you can check it out here:

Pricing Right: Price Your Career Services With Confidence

And remember, Bronze members of BeAResumeWriter.com get special pricing (and sometimes, early access!) to courses on Resume Writer’s University. Bronze members, get your special pricing here.

10 Questions with Michelle Dumas

Get to know the other resume writers in our community with our “10 Questions” series!

Today’s profile is Michelle Dumas of Distinctive Career Services, LLC.

Michelle has been a professional resume writer for 25 years. An active member and volunteer with the National Resume Writers’ Association (NRWA), Michelle has been the recipient of many industry awards and holds multiple resume writing and career coaching certifications, including the NCRW and NCOPE. She has been a speaker at several NRWA conferences, is a former member of the NRWA board of directors including serving as the organization’s president in 2017, and has served in a variety of other volunteer roles, such as on the NCRW Certification Commission, the Public Image Committee, the ROAR Judging Committee, and currently, the President’s Advisory Board.

As the founder of Distinctive Career Services (formerly known as Distinctive Documents), Michelle has a quarter-century of experience in the industry and is known for creating powerful, engaging, distinctively designed resumes that are infused with personality and tell her clients’ unique, branded career stories.

While Michelle still works personally and one-on-one with a very select executive clientele, her focus has shifted to coordinating and collaborating with a team of talented writers to deliver resume wring and job search services through www.distinctiveweb.com.

1. Why did you decide to become a professional resume writer?

In the early 90s, as an adult student with a husband and 3-year-old daughter at home, I decided it was time to get my degree, and so I started college as a psychology student with a plan to go into clinical psychology.

Throughout my four years, professors repeatedly commented on my writing skills and my English professor went as far as suggesting to me that I should be a journalism student rather than a psychology student. This is when I first realized I had a talent for writing.

Before I graduated, I had been hired as a part-time case manager in a group home for adolescents. As soon as I graduated I was hired full time, and it wasn’t long before I realized working as a therapist would not be for me, and I began to look into transitioning into career counseling. When an opportunity came up to run the home’s career development program and teach the residents resume writing and job seeking and job “keeping” skills, I jumped on it and LOVED it.

As fate would have it, this is when what was known as the “WWW” was really ramping up and I was fascinated by it and what I intuitively felt was a huge opportunity. This is also when my daughter was about to start first grade and I wanted to be home for her when she got home from school. One day, I came up with the idea that I would start a business combining my writing skills with my experience teaching resume writing plus my fascination with the opportunities to make money on the Internet. I launched my business, working nights and weekends, and less than six months later, I resigned from my job. That was 25 years ago. :)

2. How did you get into the career industry? What did you do before?

Since I had determined working in a clinical setting as a therapist wasn’t for me, when I first started my business, I thought it would be a good way to start transitioning my psychology degree into career counseling. However, I found that I loved learning about my clients and writing their stories — and I especially loved the challenge of being an entrepreneur in the very, very early wild-west days of the Internet. I immersed myself in my business and never looked back.

3. What do you typically wear when you’re working?
I used to get dressed for “work” every day. That hardly ever happens now. It isn’t uncommon to find I’m still in my PJs at noon. When I finally do get dressed, it is jeans and bare feet for me!

4. What is your best habit, and what is your worst?

My best habit is my discipline and focus on my goals. My worst habit is my discipline and focus on my goals. What I mean by that is that I become so focused on whatever I am working on, and the endless stream of projects behind it, that I find myself working far longer hours than is healthy. I also have “shiny new object” syndrome and can easily find myself going off in 10 different promising directions at once. I have to try to stay very conscious of this and focus on one thing at a time.

5. What’s your favorite object in your office? Why?

Probably the great big bean bag chair where I can sink in, lie back and read. But the truth is, you are more likely to find my dog and two cats curled up together in it than me.

6. What is your “go to” technique or secret when you get stuck when you’re writing a resume? How do you get unstuck?
It always amazes me how many resumes I have written in the shower. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve jumped out of the shower and run to my desk wrapped in a towel, with the words that had previously evaded me finally flowing. I think I do my best writing when I’m not trying so hard to force the words.

7. What’s the best career advice you ever got?
“Clarify what you want for your life and then build your business around the vision.” A business coach shared this with me 15 years ago, at a point when I was burnt out and almost ready to walk away from my business. I did EXACTLY what she advised and every business decision since has been made with my desire to build a remote business … because what I wanted more than anything was to travel. Working part-time while I travel is a small trade-off for the incredible benefit of being able to work from anywhere in the world. I’ve taken full advantage of that ability and have worked while traveling around the Highlands of Scotland, from a canal boat traveling through England, a motorhome traveling Canada, from a cruise ship in the Mediterranean, beaches in Jamaica and Mexico, the rainforest in Costa Rica, and many other places.

8. How do you unplug?
I love, love history and genealogy and have started my own personal genealogy blog to write the stories of my ancestors. But when I need to get away from my computer, I love anything outdoors: especially gardening, camping, kayaking, skiing, ATVing, and snowmobiling.

9. What ONE thing would you change about your business or the career industry, if you could?
I wish the quality of services delivered by those in our profession were more consistent. When a jobseeker is “burned” by poor quality services, it reflects on the entire industry. I believe that the more we work to improve the skills of other resume writers, the more it benefits the industry as a whole. For this reason, I am passionate about organizations that provide training and meaningful certification programs.

Connect with Michelle on Linkedin here: 

http://www.linkedin.com/in/michelledumas

Find her company on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DistinctiveDocuments

Did you miss our last 10 Questions profile, featuring Anne Barnwell?

You can read it here!

10 Questions with Anne Barnwell

Get to know the other resume writers in our community with our “10 Questions” series!

Today’s profile is Anne Barnwell of The Write Resumes.

Anne has been a professional resume writer for two years. She is a Nationally Certified Resume Writer with the National Resume Writers’ Association and a Certified Professional Resume Writer through the Professional Association of Resume Writers (PARW/CC). Anne is currently pursuing a certification in federal government resumes. Anne works with clients from C-suite to college students and, as a former stay-at-home mom, has expertise in helping professionals relaunch their careers.

1. Why did you decide to become a professional resume writer?
I was trained in resume writing and critiquing many years ago when I was a college student. (Many, many years ago…) I thoroughly enjoyed working with people and it was something I did well. I don’t know why it took me so long, but it wasn’t until two years ago when I thought that perhaps, this was a missed opportunity. My plan was to start slowly but it’s kept me busy ever since.

2. How did you get into the career industry? What did you do before?

I still work full time in Corporate Communications for a financial services company and work with clients to build their resumes as my side business. Most of my experience is in communications — corporate, executive, nonprofit, social media, public relations, and media relations.

3. What do you typically wear when you’re working?
Whatever I want to wear! When I work with clients I am rarely on camera because I am focused on listening and capturing information. Most often I am wearing workout clothes.

4. What is your best habit, and what is your worst?

Best habit: Taking care of my health. Healthy body, healthy mind.

Worst habit: I am too attached to my phone.

5. What’s your favorite object in your office? Why?

My running medals. For my day job I am usually on camera (and not in workout clothes) and my medal holder is on the wall behind me. It is quite the conversation starter.

It also includes an amazing Marilyn Monroe quote: “Give a girl the right shoes and she can conquer the world.”

6. What is your “go to” technique or secret when you get stuck when you’re writing a resume? How do you get unstuck?
Keep moving forward by putting some language down, and then I highlight it in green. A green highlight indicates that I need to return to that action and fix the language. Yellow highlights indicate a question for my client.

7. What’s the best career advice you ever got?
From my parents, who immigrated to the United States: Work hard and don’t complain. And if work isn’t going well, work even harder.

8. How do you unplug?
Running, knitting, and football. Go Bills!

9. What ONE thing would you change about your business or the career industry, if you could?
Although it gives us more business, I dislike the ATS software. At a time when Diversity & Inclusion is paramount to moving our country forward, I believe that ATS software hinders our ability to address bias within the system.

10. What are your favorite social media accounts to follow?

The Muse – https://www.facebook.com/thedailymuse (Facebook)

Extra Shot of Leadership – https://www.facebook.com/HeyExtraShot/ (Facebook)

Humu – https://www.linkedin.com/company/humuhq/ (LinkedIn)

iRelaunch – https://www.linkedin.com/company/irelaunch

Connect with Anne on Linkedin here: 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/annembarnwell

Find her company on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheWriteResumesBarnwell

Did you miss our last 10 Questions profile, featuring Brianna Watts?

You can read it here!