Today I’m finishing up my interview with Lake Erie Artist Gallery owner Paula Atwell. You can check out part 1 of my Lake Erie Artists Gallery interview here.
What are the greatest challenges to owning your own business?
Owning a business is fun, challenging, and a lot of hard work. My biggest challenges are not having enough time or money to do the things I want, and wanting things to happen sooner than they do. Dealing with customers and vendors can sometimes be challenging as well. On the other hand, owning a business can bring great rewards.
What is your …read more

One of the things I’d like to start here at Bizzia Small Business is a regular series where I profile a unique small business. I’ll ask them questions about their business, which will hopefully help others. I’ll be interviewing successful businesses in areas I think would be of interest to readers.
If you have an idea for a type of business you’d like to see covered here, please feel free to drop me a note in the comment section.

Today’s featured business is Lake Erie Artist Gallery, a lovely studio in Cleveland Ohio. I asked a few questions of Paula Atwell the …read more

Today, I did a webinar with job seekers from Risesmart. During the question and answer session I was asked, “What is the biggest mistake a job seeker can make in an interview and what is the most important thing a job seeker can do in an interview?” Great question in my opinion.
The biggest mistake a job seeker can make in an interview, is to walk into the interview hoping to get the job, rather than coming into the interview prepared, ready to get the job. Don’t bother going to an interview if your mindset is not set on getting the …read more

Just a quick reminder to those of you who wanted to take part in the motivation interview series: Get your answers in! I’m missing responses from a number of writers who have said they wanted to take part, and although you’re not obligated, everyone is excited to see what you have to say!
There’s still time. I’ll be accepting the interviews through the end of the month. Even if you haven’t emailed me yet, you can still do so (allison-at-abcontentonline.com), and I’ll send you the questionnaire. Get those interviews in so that I can feature you and your sites during the …read more

I had the opportunity to review resumes for job seekers who are not getting any opportunities for interviews. Many of them have been in the market for a long time and are feeling quite discouraged. The problem as I see it is their resumes are poorly crafted. The shelf life of a resume is 2-4 seconds at best in the hands of a recruiter or hiring manager. And if it is a poorly written resume, you can forget it.
As I mentioned to one of the job seekers I spoke to today, I never saw any of his skills. I was …read more

When you are in the midst of a job search, even in this market, you are not at the mercy of the organization. You don’t have to take anything they offer. Negotiation is still an option when it comes to salary. By definition, negotiate means to bargain with others for an agreement.
One key for successful negotiation is to be clear about the market value of the position. What is the position worth in the current job market? Do your homework and know what other organizations are paying for a similar job. Don’t get stuck on one number. Negotiate within a …read more

How do you get your resume in front of the right person? Well if you use the old traditional ways, you can be sure that it may be a great feat. The right person by my definition is the hiring manager and short of a person introduction, you have work to do on many levels to ensure that they see your resume.
First thing I recommend is that you have a well written resume and cover letter that is targeted for the position that you are interested in. The next thing that will help you in this market is networking. I …read more

During the rest of the summer, I’ll be posting interviews with writers from across the country and around the world. Hopefully, we can all inspire one another! You can see all of interviews already posted here, and if you want to participate, email me with “writer’s interview” as the subject line. I’ll keep posting as long as you guys keep sending them in.
Today’s interview is with Jen Whitten. Jen writes about paranormal insights, dream interpretation, and Dexter news at Your Dark Passenger and Dark Passenger, about vampires at The Vampire, and about Psychic Gifts for Examiner.
Why do you think …read more

If I were a fruit what would I be? I am still trying to think of an answer that I would give if asked this question in an interview. If you were a fruit, what would you be? I would love to hear some answers to this question. If a hiring manager asks this question in an interview, you do need to come up with an answer. It may seem like a dumb question, and even a waste of time, however people who ask the question are really looking for an answer, so be prepared to field a silly question.
Here’s …read more

Sometimes organizations take a long time to make a decision. Really I should say people, hiring managers sometime take a long time before making a decision. So what’s a reasonable wait time? That depends. It depends on the organization and it depends on what is going in the organization that you may not know about while you are in the midst of their hiring process. Here is a question that I received and my response regarding the wait…
I’m in the middle of that painful waiting time. For me it has lasted more than 30 days. The interview seemed to go …read more