Because the last several months have been some of the most difficult for me. I truly would describe it as surviving instead of thriving.
My main goal for 2021 isn’t to train for some brand new Ironman race or achieve some lofty professional or financial goal. While I have set some fitness and financial goals for myself, they are the top of the priority list.
To get it out there in the open my main goal and top priority next to being a husband and father: my mental health.
Right before the holidays I was officially diagnosed with depression with a side of anxiety and mounting, overwhelming life stressors.
Just how bad was it?
As we take time to reflect on this past year, with all its ups and downs, we want to thank you for continuing to support us and for showing up for your community. Because of you, we were able to fund our first ever scholarship program, and we awarded four Black Creative Students scholarships to students from all over the country. This year, we were also able to publish 26 new blog posts, had 10,400 page views, added and featured 4 new contributing editors, hired and on-boarded a super creative new social media, Greer Blount, and offered our first writing internship to Maggie Barbour who created and published 10 posts in less than 12 weeks.
It's been an eventful year for out team, and to close it all off, TNM founder Kevin O'Connell is sharing his thoughts on 2020, dealing with change and transitions as a new dad and entrepreneur, and finding new approaches for 2021. Keep reading for Kevin’s end-of-the-year message!
Working freelance may sound glamorous at first, but those who've been doing it for a while know it takes hard work. Getting your business off the ground isn't easy and sometimes it means juggling various projects all at once, but it also has it's benefits - I mean you are your own boss after all!
This week, writing intern Maggie Barbour asks The Niche Movement's Editor-in-Chief Jaylene Perez and founder Kevin O'Connell, both of whom have experience in freelancing, what it really takes to make it work.
Read on for Jaylene and Kevin's best practices when it comes to finding clients, marketing your services, settings rates, and more!
For all those in pursuit of professional development, this week we're taking a look at which skills you'll want to brush up on depending on your specific industry. Whether you're a freelancer, marketer, entrepreneur, or work in another creative role, you'll want to read up on what will make you and your work really shine.
Tap below for the full post!
Job searching is a tough task on its own, and job searching during a pandemic... well we know it's not easy. You'll have to be flexible, know how to network and market yourself, and really hone in on what it is your looking for as you search for the right fit.
To find out what can help you land your dream job, keep reading!
Finding your niche means you’ve found work that gives you purpose, keeps you challenged, and makes you excited to get out of bed in the morning.
Below contributing editor Olivia Smelas’ offers a college student’s perspective on how you can use your hobbies and interests to find your niche and kickstart your career.
Meet Robyn Park, one of The Niche Movement’s summer interns! Robyn is a junior at the George Washington University in Washington, DC majoring in marketing and journalism. She was born and raised in Seoul, South Korea but recently moved to Scottsdale, Arizona. Among her interests are social entrepreneurship and design, and she also has a weakness for puppies - perfect since our office at WeWork allows dogs. Robyn likes Mexican food and long walks on the beach…just kidding. She actually is a sucker for Thai food and hiking in the Superstition Mountains.
When she isn’t working with Kevin, The Niche Movement and their clients, Robyn likes to hang out at a variety of museums around DC. Among her favorites are the National Portrait Gallery, the American Art Museum and the Hirshhorn. If that wasn’t enough, Robyn is also a passionate advocate for mental health awareness. She furthers the effort through a blog she plans to launch this summer.
This summer, she will work with Kevin and the Niche Movement to hone her social media marketing skills and gain greater experience in creating a digital voice and marketing strategy. In the future, Robyn hopes to use marketing and advertising to make a positive impact on the world (think social good). Another one of her aspirations is to travel the globe, visiting countries such as Italy, Iceland and Morocco.
We are so excited to welcome such a passionate and creative person to the Niche Movement family and can’t wait to see what she accomplishes! Want to learn more about Robyn? Connect with her on LinkedIn or follow her on Twitter. You can also contact her directly at Robyn@thenichemovement.com.
It’s the third post in the Skip Your Career Fair series and this week I want feature a list and some more tips to stand out rather than an event to attend. I’m excited to share the Fast Company “30 Under 30 - Class of 2012.” I came across this 2 weeks ago and I have been revisiting it just about everyday. Turning 30 myself in less than 3 months, I am a little bit jealous of this group’s success but it also inspires me to hustle and go all-in on this movement to be happy in your job.
A few things all of us can learn from this 20-something group is they:
What can all of us learn from these few young entrepreneurs? They either left school or their career with their idea in hand and went for it. They took a risk, but their passion, hard work and ability to build relationships are paying off. They all found their niche.
So how does this relate to students looking for internships or their first full time job?
Kevin O’Connell, Founder – The Niche Movement
Bring the Niche Movement to Campus to meet with students, staff or host your next workshop, keynote or training.
Engage with the Niche Movement - Facebook - Twitter
If you are reading this and are a college student or a recent graduate within the last two years think about the type of company culture you want to be a part of. Apply to be part of the first Niche Movement Cohort where we will work with your niche and discover employers that have jobs that you want. Applications due March 3rd.
If you are reading this and work with student leaders that you want to help land a job they love then share The Niche Movement with them.
And if you happen to stumble upon The Niche Movement and you already found your niche then share your story. Or we can help you recruit top, talented college who by helping you create appealing job description, screen candidates and host internships or jobs on our website.
Two weeks ago I wrote Why You Should Skip Your Career Fair and it picked up a lot of traction but I was frustrated because I wanted to fit more into the post other than one resource, Creative Mornings. So today I am announcing I will be releasing a “Skip Your Career Fair Series” over the next 3 weeks. Once a week I will blog about a resource, event, organization or concept on why you should skip your career fair and network somewhere else.
I am very excited to attend a few events next week as part of Social Media Week and just like Creative Mornings, Social Media Week is worldwide but is located in NYC, Miami, & DC on the east coast. So college students, here’s why you should be just as excited as I am to attend SMW:
If you are looking to work in a major city at a “Facebook-type” company then I highly recommend immersing yourself in social media week and even if you can’t physically be there follow the twitter convo. I know the Big East Career Fair is coming up in March, but guess what, none of the companies on the list include the companies or figure-heads involved at Social Media Week.
College students and recent graduates: If you are in the middle of networking and preparing to interview Kevin will personally start critiquing your resume for free and give you feedback. Just send it to thenichemovement@gmail.com, quickly introduce yourself and let Kevin know what field you are trying to get into. Remember, you want to tell everyone you are job searching and it can never hurt to get too many eyes looking at your resume.
So over the next 3 weeks I will be releasing a “Why You Should Skip Your Career Fair” series by the middle of each week.
Kevin O’Connell, Founder – The Niche Movement
Bring the Niche Movement to Campus to meet with students, staff or host your next workshop, keynote or training.
Engage with the Niche Movement - Facebook - Twitter
If you are reading this and are a college student or a recent graduate within the last two years think about the type of company culture you want to be a part of. Apply to be part of the first Niche Movement Cohort where we will work with your niche and discover employers that have jobs that you want. Applications due March 3rd.
If you are reading this and work with student leaders that you want to help land a job they love then share The Niche Movement with them.
And if you happen to stumble upon The Niche Movement and you already found your niche then share your story. Or we can help you recruit top, talented college who by helping you create appealing job description, screen candidates and host internships or jobs on our website.
That's right, save your time and energy and put your efforts toward a strategy that will actually work for you. The Niche Movement is going to share some tactics and things you can do to avoid a crowded gym or student center with a hundred of employers who are probably there for the free lunch and day out of the office.
Let's face it, companies are at career fairs because their competitors are. They are also set up a table because no one ever told them to seek talent elsewhere. But let's be real: resume, after resume, after resume get piled on their table and put into their car when they leave...and its a shame because companies pay sometimes more than $500-$600 just for a table and to talk to hundreds, if not thousands of college students so desperately looking for a job.
But student leaders, you shouldn’t be desperate. You worked hard while in college, you got involved, you built your leadership skills and are crossing off some pretty amazing things on your “before I grow up list.” What I want to tell you is don’t be one of the hundreds or thousands at your next career fair. Depending on what you want to do here is our first suggestion:
You want to look for intimate settings that aren’t crowded with other college students. Here is one:
Creative Mornings take place once a month in over 40 cities worldwide (listen up to all of you studying abroad). Even if you live within a 90 minute commute to one of these cities it is worth it. Every month they have a theme anywhere from design to marketing to money. Then, their chapter organizes and finds a well known or up and coming figurehead that has found their niche.
The best part, is they provided breakfast, its free and they host them at some unique places. When I went in July to NYC I heard Kellie Anderson
talk about design and I got to network with more than 100 artists, graphic designers, programmers and even the founder SwissMiss. Oh yeah and it was held in one of the most creative offices I've ever seen called the X/O group who started theknot, thebump and thenest.
The only thing I observed though is I saw no college students. If I am a college student interested in getting into design, photography, videography, web design, marketing, event planning, etc I would be DROOLING. Here’s the thing, unless you are digging deep, trolling twitter (not for #mantisGF) and networking like crazy, you will never hear about opportunities like this.
Now, getting a ticket for a Creative Morning meet ups is not easy because they are free and go quick on the Monday they are released, so you need to be quick. However, most hosts are very accessible and when I emailed them to try and get 2 more tickets they at least gave me a response (from a live human).
Tip: Here’s our advice if you get shut out - hunt down the organizer and contact them. If you have a skill such as videography or photography they are always looking for help to document their events. If you have your own blog or doing an assignment for a course, use that as an excuse to get in- depending on the person you contact they may have a soft spot to let you in. Last, (and we don’t suggest this) just show up and explain you are a student. Worst case you don't get in and you go explore the town or stumble upon some other company.
Kevin O’Connell, Founder - The Niche Movement
Bring the Niche Movement to Campus to meet with students, staff or host your next workshop, keynote or training.
Engage with the Niche Movement - Facebook - Twitter
If you are reading this and are a college student or a recent graduate within the last two years think about the type of company culture you want to be a part of. Apply to be part of the first Niche Movement Cohort where we will work with your niche and discover employers that have jobs that you want. Applications due March 3rd.
If you are reading this and work with student leaders that you want to help land a job they love then share The Niche Movement with them.
And if you happen to stumble upon The Niche Movement and you already found your niche then share your story. Or we can help you recruit top, talented college who by helping you create appealing job description, screen candidates and host internships or jobs on our website.
