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Creative Consulting: A Spotlight on Madi Kirkwood

1/20/2021

 
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et to know the hilarious, hard-working, and creative individuals that make up the Creative Consulting family one blog at a time.

Hello readers, and welcome back to the blog! From all of us at Creative Consulting, we want to wish you a very happy new year! We hope that this year is one for growth, learning, positive changes, and exciting things for you and yours. While starting a new year can be overwhelming, we hope that you look at it with hope and walk towards it with an open heart and open mind. Also, don't forget all the goals, resolutions, and aspirations you have for 2021 were made to accomplish throughout the year. Don't try and tackle them all in January, believe me! By the time the 31st rolls around, you'll already be stressed, exhausted, and ready to abandon your goals. Part of making plans, aspirations, and goals is creating a strategy and a plan on how and when to accomplish them. Make sure to stick to that plan as much as you plan on sticking to achieving your goals. Do this with both your personal and professional goals, and you'll be heading towards a wonderful new year. We are here to help you accomplish all of your business goals for 2021, too! Looking to rebrand? Build a website? Have a logo designed? Create a social media play? Add blogs to your SEO? We are here to help you with all of this and more!

What better way to start a new year than introducing a brand new member of our team? While we ushered out 2020, we ushered in a brand new member of our team who arrived right on time and has been a perfect addition to our team. Summerville and beyond, it is my pleasure to introduce you to the one and only Madi Kirkwood! From one Maddie to another, it is my personal honor to write about and introduce you to her. From her very first day at the office, we could all tell this Summerville native was going to fit right into our crazy and creative team. Madi is still settling in, but she has put the first finishing touches on her office, has dove headfirst into her position and learning more about it, and is already coming up with incredible ideas to help move the company forward.

I do have to share my appreciation and admiration for my fellow Madi. A few weeks ago, a bunch of us were working at the conference table chatting and sharing ideas. Madi was working with me on these interview questions and having a hard time answering all of them. Talking about yourself is difficult, and letting someone (practically a stranger still at this point) write about you and share it all with the wide-open web is difficult and brave. I appreciate all of my fellow teammates for being such good sports and letting me share a peek into their lives. Madi and I share the love of Bullet Journaling and I admire her organization, her creativity, humor, and the dedication and hard work she has already given and shown in just the few short weeks she has been with the creative team. To jump right from graduation into a full-time job can be difficult, but to someone who has gone to school full time, worked, and had an internship all at the same time, this new time of transition for Madi will be a piece of cake. It is a joy to have her on the team, and I look forward to all the incredible things she is going to be doing for the company and all of our clients!

Name: Madi Kirkwood

How long have you been working at CC: Almost one month!

How did you hear about the positions: My professor from CSU sent me this way last month whenever the SEO Specialist position opened up, and I applied right away!

What do you do for CC: I am the Search Engine Optimization Specialist

What is your favorite part about working for CC: I love the team & how close everyone is here. A good team and communication are the backbone to any striving business, so I am extremely excited to continue to grow closer to everyone here!

What have you learned since you worked at CC: A better question is, what haven't I learned? I am continuously growing and learning more about how I can sharpen my skills and gain more knowledge every day!

What is your favorite part of your workday at CC: My favorite part of my workday is accomplishing a goal that I set prior to that day. It is incredibly encouraging to be able to succeed in the things I set for myself.

Favorite memory at CC so far: Any time I'm laughing with our team! I have loved being able to connect with my coworkers and learn about our shared humor!

Favorite Summerville Small Business (besides CC): Guerin's Pharmacy has held a place in my heart since I was in middle school. Memories of getting ice cream in the summertime or a cold glass of bottled Coca-Cola bring back amazing nostalgia.

What is your educational background: I graduated from Charleston Southern University in 2020 with my Bachelor of Arts in Graphic Design & a minor in Business Administration in Marketing. I try to continue my education as much as possible because of my ever-changing field. I specialize in not only SEO, but I am also a branding and advertising designer!

What are your hobbies: I enjoy being crafty & doing digital illustration in my free time. I also like to play Indie style video games, going out in Charleston with my friends (socially distanced & masked up, of course!), and actively practicing self-care!

What is your favorite color: My most used color palette is a combination of shades of reds, blues, and yellows. I would say those are my favorite colors!

Interesting Facts about you: I am allergic to pineapple!

Favorite Food: Anything that has to do with potatoes, they're the most versatile food & I am a sucker for some good mashed potatoes!

Favorite Restaurant in Charleston/Summerville: Honestly, nothing beats my grandma's cooking, but if I had to choose, Eva's on Main is a wonderful place to go for a homemade meal!

Favorite things to do in Charleston/Summerville: Going to the beach and going axe throwing are some of my favorite things to do!

I don't know about you, but after I interviewed Madi and read through this, I had the strangest urge to go axe throwing and grabbing my favorite potato dish! I know I say this after every introduction, but I love how much more I learn about each of them when I get to write about them!  I also enjoy how I can see each of my teammate's personalities shine through in how they answer. These blogs always make me smile, so I hope you are too! Cheers to January, Summerville! I look forward to another exciting year of bringing you the best Creative Consulting can give! Until next time Summerville, stay safe and stay caffeinated!

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The Truth Behind ADA Compliance and Why You Shouldn't Worry (Part One!)

1/9/2021

 
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In this two-part blog, we will be discussing something pretty delicate in our world right now. It is one of our personal goals to strive to not only help our clients and fellow small business owners grow their businesses, but we also strive to educate others and tell the truth about what's happening in the world of business right now. Today, we are going to be discussing a very important hot topic, being ADA compliant! 

Hello, Summerville, and hello 2021! How many times have you written the date wrong so far this year? I've done it an embarrassingly amount of times! Anyway, welcome back to the blog writer's desk, and while we are just a few weeks into the new year, it is still such an exciting time to own a business. While so many people hate the beginning of a new year as much as they hate Mondays, when we look at a new year we see the beginnings of something very special and exciting. We have the opportunity to grow and become the company we want to be, and to help our clients do the same. That, to us, is incredibly exciting and one of the many reasons why starting fresh in a new year is what we live for!

One of the ways we try to help all of our clients and fellow small business owners grow is to inspire them to look at every new year as a new opportunity. It's the perfect time to go after their goals and a perfect time to plan how to reach them. We also try to take the time in the first few months to continue educating our clients on what is happening now in our industry, and how that might impact their business on a day to day basis, and what to be cautious of. Currently, one of the hottest trends in the marketing world and the website design world is offering clients to help them become ADA compliant. It's a sad reality that many marketing companies will use scare tactics to force small companies into a website contract with them, claiming that they aren't ADA compliant which could land them in a huge lawsuit. This is such an unnecessary and cruel thing to do to small businesses, who are already struggling to make ends meet in the first place. We want to state that by law, there are actually no guidelines that state exactly what or how your website must be set up to be ADA compliant. At least there isn't anything yet. If you are being bothered or badgered by a company telling you otherwise, please brush them off or speak with us. They're being bullies, and we don't like bullies here at Creative Consulting. In this two-part blog, we are going to be talking about what ADA Compliance is, how your company needs to be approaching this term and its current guidelines, and why the threat of being in danger isn't anything close to what many companies will say that you are in. Yes, you need to be compliant, but there is wiggle room, which is what we will be talking about today. 

Let's take a step back though before we get in over our heads or things get confusing. The ADA is the American With Disabilities Act that requires physical locations to provide fair access and accommodations for individuals with disabilities. Some of the most common examples of this are restaurants and public buildings must provide wheelchair accessibility and they must provide menus and other reading materials in Braille for customers who are visually impaired. Today, in our very media-heavy and driven world, ADA compliance has now spread out to the digital world and our digital devices. ADA compliance is now requiring all websites to provide accessibility for all on their webpages. This can include web content that can be used by those who are blind, for those who are deaf, help for those who must navigate by using their voices, and providing screen readers to help read and describe all content on the webpage for those who might not be able to see it. So yes, by law you must be ADA compliant and provide these options. Your website must also not prohibit the use of these tools that we've mentioned above that would prevent an individual with a disability to access your webpage as needed. However, here is the kicker! There are no clear ADA regulations that spell out how every website must be laid out and designed to provide accessibility to everyone with a disability. There is so much grey area, and so much unknown, which people are taking advantage of and trying to decide what it means for them, not for the digital world across the board. All it states by legal documentation is that all businesses that fall under Tier 1 or Tier 3 must provide internet content that gives at least "reasonable accessibility" to individuals with disabilities according to Business News Daily, but that is all that they say and no guidelines or examples have truly been supplied. 

What businesses fall under these different tiers? That's when it begins to get a little tricky. Tier 1 Businesses are those that have at least 15 full-time employees and are open for business at least 20 weeks out of the year, and they somehow engage in an industry that adds to and affects commerce. However, if you have 14 or fewer employees (for example you are a self-employed company of one) and you work less than those 20 weeks a year, you don't have to comply as being Title 1. According to Findlaw.com any tax-exempt private membership clubs also do not count as being Tier 1 businesses. Businesses that are owned by a Native American Tribe are also exempt from being Title 1. However, Tier 3 gets a little more tricky because more businesses fall under its umbrella. Tier 3 businesses are businesses that are considered and live in the category of being public accommodations. Examples of this included and are not limited to: 
  • Hotels 
  • Gyms
  • Schools
  • All public transportation
  • Laundromats
  • Banks
  • Restaurants, bars, and coffee shops
  • Doctors Offices
  • Retail Stores
  • Recreation Venues
  • Much Much more
Think about it this way, if it is a business that serves the public en masse, then it is a Tier 3 business and they need to be ADA compliant both in person and now online. Remember, again, if your company does not fall under the umbrella of Tier 3 then you don't need to be ADA compliant in these sources either. This is where the grey area begins because there are businesses that exist that don't fit in either tier and there is nothing legally that states how they should handle being ADA complaint. This is where disability law can get very difficult and you can find yourself in a different position. 

ADA was passed in 1990, making sure that all public access locations had to provide accommodations for everyone, including those with disabilities. 20 years later in 2010, the Department of Justice passed the Americans with Disabilities Act Standards for Accessible Design which mandated that all electronic information and devices had to be accessible to those with disabilities. However, because the law states that you only have to be ADA compliant if you fall under Tier 1 and Tier 3, it is still best to discuss with a lawyer what you should do for their website to not run into any issues. While there is no reason to prevent someone with disabilities from enjoying your website and content, for those who don't fall under those tiers, you shouldn't be badgered into building a website with a company you don't want to work with because they are saying your not ADA compliant, and the only way to avoid a lawsuit is to work with them. Remember, there are no clear rules about being ADA compliant, however, again, you need to be respectful of the ADA complaint ideals. What we are trying to explain here is that you can make these additions and adjustments yourself to your website. You can even make your website more accessible for those who use different tools to access and enjoy it, and to make sure they aren't turned away from it.  

Many companies today, since it is such a grey area topic with no real definition, will take advantage of the fact that this world has no clear-cut definition and will attack smaller companies that don't fit in any tier. They will bully and scare them into buying a website from them, and in our books that is a bad business tool. In the second half of this blog, we are going to be continuing our discussion about being ADA compliant, its current battle, and how to keep your company compliant while not being bullied by others to conform to their incorrect definition of being ADA compliant. This is a touchy topic and one that we need to talk about more. If you feel that you might be going against ADA compliance or in some trouble because of not following what ADA guidelines there are, please contact us and we will work through it together! Until next time Summerville, stay safe and stay caffeinated! 
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Buy Now, Save Later: And A Very Merry Creative Consulting Christmas (Part Two!)

1/2/2021

 
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In one of our very last blogs for 2020, we are wrapping up this blog series about the best things you can do for your business now to make the new 2021 the best year yet!

Hello, Summerville! Welcome back to the blog writer's desk! The year is slowly picking itself up and putting itself away, and boy was it one for the books. We are happy to see it go, and we are happy and excited to see what this new year will be bringing us. As all of us at Creative Consulting have been gathering for our last in-person meetings of 2020, it's been interesting to sit back and see what this year has taught us. First and foremost it has taught us how resilient our town is. Nothing can stop Summerville! In fact, through all of the challenges we have been through as a community, it has been incredible to see just how much we have supported one another and continued to grow together and for one another. We have seen compassion, hope, and the dedication each of you have to your families, community, and your passions.

We have also experienced so much support and an outpouring of love from all of you supporting small businesses of all kinds right here in town. You decided to shop small, give big, and give back to your community. You took more time to be proud of the movers, makers, and shakers right here in town, Thanks to that you now own beautiful pieces of artwork and homemade products made by your incredibly talented neighbors, and you have tried some of the best new dishes and desserts made from your neighbors that you might not have known about unless the pandemic had happened, a tough silver lining, but one just the same. We have also seen resilience in our industry that we are so thankful for. We are honored to support and care for your businesses, and to help build and support them to help reach all of your goals and more. It has been an honor working with each of you, and we look forward to ringing in 2021 with you and stepping into new beginnings. 

In part one of this blog, we spent time talking about all of the financial things you can do right now to help save on your 2020 taxes. While many of those decisions, purchases, and money moves might seem like a little bit of strain on your business accounts at the end of a very difficult year, we promise that they are still good decisions. While you might feel every penny this time of year, you will appreciate the time you dedicated to following the list in our previous blog and spending a little more money now. Come April 15th, your tax expenses will not be as challenging to cover, painful, or a surprise. In this blog, we are focusing more on the business aspects of closing out a year. What can you be focusing on and working on now that can help you create the best business plan for 2021? How can you make your goals become realities? How can you uplift and support your team? Let's talk about it! 

Year-End Count Down
Before we all wrap up our work for the new year and settle into our holiday parties with our coworkers, there is still so much left to do. This is our busiest time of the year, so we understand that sometimes things can get lost in the shuffle. Don't let that happen this year! Use this end of the year checklist to wrap up 2020 and get your head in the game for 2021! We know the pandemic has been devastating to so many of you, and many companies are still trying to recover from its reverberations. Keep strong, keep going, you've got this! 
  • It's time to focus, plan, and lock in your holiday plan. Many companies will take off the last week or two of December for the holidays. Do you have a plan for your company and clients during this time? Do you have everything planned and in place to make this possible for your employees and profitable for everyone involved? If you are a client that is affected by this, make sure your needs are met before anyone goes off on holiday break! 
  • Go over the goals you made for 2020, see how much you achieved, had to change, needed to edit because of the pandemic, what didn't work, and everything you learned along the way. Take all of that information and use it to set your goals for 2021. Sit down with your team and work on this together, and make it known to them what your plans and goals are for this upcoming year! 
  • Take suggestions from your team on what can be done to improve the business from their end of things, and how you can improve their daily workload to help promote better business. 
  • Gather up all of your tax documents and get caught up with all of your bookkeeping! 
  • Revisit your pricing! This might be difficult on many levels depending on where you are, how your business is, and how 2020 affected it. If you're a new company and you've grown substantially recently, this is the time of the year to recognize that your goods and services are wanted, needed, and worth more than what you're currently charging. It's hard to allow yourself to admit that worth. It's even more difficult if you used your lower pricing to compete with your competitors and realize that raising your prices could put you in a similar situation with a newer and cheaper company. Trust your instincts and your worth, we promise things will be okay. Then there is the other side of the coin. Has business suffered this year? Are you needing a fast way to recover from the pandemic or another way to compete with your competition and fast? Lowering your prices might sound like a terrible thing, but it can truly save your business in the end! 
  • Take time to honestly invest in updating your website and all of your social media platforms. Give them a good end of the year cleaning and updating, like a deep spring cleaning. If you don't want to, can't, or don't have the time, we might have the perfect company to help you with that! (Hint, hint!) 
  • Inspect and revisit your business structure and model. Is it still working for you, or have you outgrown it and you're in need of a revamp? 
  • Focus on and create a fresh marketing plan, one that is very well thought out and developed. Make sure that it is on-brand for your company, that this marketing plan is rooted in target audience research that you've collected over the year, and dedicated to making your company grow in 2021. 
  • Spend some time thinking about your employees, and make sure to spend time thinking about the ones who have been with you for some time now before you begin hiring for the new year. Are their needs met creatively and professionally within what you can give them? 
  • Think about some ways to give back to your employees, not only in terms of an end of the year bonus or a (safe) holiday party, but also in ways to make their office time better, their moral stronger, and their teamwork dedicated and focused. Plan fun events, (safe) gatherings, and (safe) leadership events for everyone to look forward to! 
  • Sit down with your employees and get ahead in your vacation planning together. This can be key for small businesses when work needs to be shared while other teammates are gone. Get to planning now to not only make sure everyone gets the time they want but to ensure there is a business plan every time someone is gone! 
  • Make sure to plan your vacation time, business owners! It is easy to sacrifice your time, but you need it just as much as anyone. Don't negate your rest and relaxation just because you own the company. 
  • If 2020 taught us anything, it's to be prepared and to work together as a team when things got hard or when someone from the office was gone for extended periods. Were you prepared for that? Do you have a plan set in motion to cover anyone or any work when a team member is out of the office? If not, now is the time to start planning, who knows what 2021 could bring! 

From all of us at Creative Consulting, thank you for an incredible year! We deeply appreciate your support and friendship and couldn't do what we do without all of you and the incredible town of Summerville. We are so appreciative to our clients who have been with us for years, our new 2020 clients, and all of our future clients. We wish you all a very exciting and wonderful 2021! 

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Creative Consulting: A Spotlight on Maddie Casto

12/18/2020

 
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Get to know the hilarious, hard-working, and creative individuals that make up the Creative Consulting family one blog at a time.

Hello, Summerville! Welcome back to the blog writer's desk for a very special edition of the blog. This is our very last team member spotlight (for now) and one of the very last blogs of 2020. While our beautiful little town is aglow both day and night with holiday decorations, people (safely) shopping and enjoying their surroundings, and everyone getting excited for the holidays, I will be officially taking over this blog. That's right! The blog writer herself will be stepping out from behind the pen and you will get the chance to get to know her a little better! I thought it would only be fair since my wonderful teammates took the time to let me interview them. While the appeal of being the mysterious masked writer for Creative Consulting does have a nice ring to it, I do have a substantial amount of FOMO (fear of missing out), so I thought why not? Let's jump into this thing, shall we? 

Hello, everyone! My name is Maddie Casto and I am the blog writer for Creative Consulting! I was born in raised in Columbus, Ohio, and graduated from Wright State University with my BFA in Musical Theatre. I moved to New York City in 2012 with some of my best college friends, and we all dove into the world of the New York Performer; catering and auditioning. I didn't realize that once I settled into my very overpriced and tiny apartment that I would spend so much time in my polyester tuxedo and waking up at ungodly hours to stand in the line (in ALL weather) with everything I own to sing and act as best I could under two minutes for a bunch of strangers. Sometimes I'd have a great audition and a great catering shift, other days my audition bag would break in the middle of 8th avenue and a guest would "accidentally" splatter salsa down my all-white (oh yes, we had all white catering tuxedos too!) catering outfit in front of the high strung party planner. I was one of the lucky ones, though. I lived with some of the best people I've ever known, got to explore New York City like a local, and I did get to perform.

No one really tells you that once you get to New York that you'll be spending a lot of time moving away from it to go work while finding a (hopefully nice and clean) sublettor to fill your room and pay your rent while you're gone. Everything was worth it though, I've learned that more times than I can count. On top of multiple regional roles, I got to tour the United States with a children's show called "How I Became A Pirate", I got to perform in Las Vegas and Flordia with a jukebox musical called "The D*Word; Ditched, Dumped, Dating, and Divorced", I worked at one of most beautiful resorts in the United States singing some of my favorite music, and all along the way I continued to work and meet some incredible people while I was doing what I loved. At the end of my contract at said beautiful resort, I happened to send in my headshot and resume to a brand new theater in Charleston, SC for a brand new 1940s Musical called "Boogie Woogie Bugle Gals", and the rest is history. Thanks to this brand new theatre (34 West Theatre Company), Charleston became home before I even realized it. I was very lucky to do four shows with them back to back, hopping back and forth between New York City and Charleston between each one. Then, I met a redheaded chef, fell in love with him and his two very fat cats, and Charleston officially became home. I was in the middle of a wonderful artistic community, I loved this city, and I loved the person I was experiencing it with. I had grown up going to Myrtle Beach every year (don't hate - North Myrtle has a lot of charm!), but this was an introduction to a beautiful and bustling southern town that I didn't expect. I fell in love with so much, and fell in love hard. (Hello - can we talk about the food?!)

One thing many performers won't tell you or talk about is their time in-between shows. That's because it's not the most glamorous or mentally healthy time for a performer. Granted, if a period in between a show is your chance to see your family and friends or go on vacation, that's a totally different story. If you come off of a long contract, get a chance to settle in back at home, and a chance to recover, and still don't have your next show lined up? That's the danger zone. Your bank account starts getting low, your anxiety starts to get high, and you're curious if you'll ever work again. Many performers (not all - we are all very different and all have different paths) have what we call "survivor jobs" aka jobs that help pay the bills but aren't performing jobs. The best survivor jobs are the ones that you love and help ease that time in between shows. They are even better when you get to work with incredibly talented, hilarious, and kind people that inspire you and push you to be better. That's how Creative Consulting kind of fell into my lap - like many things in my life. All by chance, luck, and being in the right place at the right time.

I had been doing some social media work of my own ever since I moved to Charleston in 2015 (again by sheer luck!) and realized that it was not only artistically fulfilling, it was also something I could take with me anywhere. I could get a show tomorrow (well, maybe not TOMORROW, thanks pandemic!) and take my job with me. Ironically it was social media that lead me to Creative. They posted a job advertisement on Facebook, and I just figured why not? I applied, interviewed, and now a year and a half later here I am, part of the crazy and wonderful Creative family, still learning every day, still being creative, and incredibly thankful. 2020 was a doozy for performers, as you can imagine. While there are some performing opportunities out there, I personally don't feel safe about those opportunities right now. With family members and loved ones in those danger zone ages, being engaged to a chef who works at a very popular restaurant, and just being honestly a little afraid of this pandemic, I have chosen to put performing on hold until it's safe (for me) to do so. This is why Creative has been such a saving grace this year. I've been creatively fulfilled, I have a wonderful community of creatives around me and a job. These three things have been taken away from a lot of people due to the pandemic, and because of that, I count my blessings every day. 

So, that's me! Now when you visit the Creative offices and you hear someone who is (naturally) a very loud speaker and could potentially be caught singing a show tune or two, you have a better idea of whos behind it. This is also a big virtual hug to the Creative team, and to the whole arts community. You've inspired me with your perseverance and the fact that we are in this together. Since I owe my teammates the same kindness that they gave me - please find my questionnaire filled out below! 

Name: Maddie Casto 

How long have you been working at CC: 
About a year and a half. 

How did you hear about the positions: 
I happened to see a job posting on Facebook that they had put out looking for a content creator and blog writer. I filled out an application, and about a month later I had my first interview with Meg and Stephen. Like I mentioned in Rebekah's blog, I didn't think I was going to get the job, but looks like the universe had a different idea! 

What do you do for CC: 
I am the blog writer! 

What is your favorite part about working for CC: 
The incredible people I work with. They're hilarious, so creative, intelligent, passionate, and I love that my job is another unique creative outlet. In another life, I wanted to be a writer, and by chance, this job is letting me do that! 

What have you learned since you worked at CC: 
I would have to write an entire blog on this topic! I do feel that I learn something new every time I'm in the office. One of the great things about working for CC is that it is a collaborative learning environment.

What is your favorite part of your workday at CC: 
Working with this incredible team! Also, there is NOTHING like how it feels when you've finished writing your blogs for the month. 

Favorite memory at CC so far:
Right after I started working with CC, it was their 5 year birthday, and Meg and Stephen threw a huge birthday party with incredible food and invited clients and friends to help celebrate. Seeing that room full of people who loved and supporting the business and meeting the clients was such an exciting experience. However, there is a new great memory that I make almost every week - and I am so thankful for that. 

Favorite Summerville Small Business (besides CC): 
OH MAN - can I tell you, I love so many, but my new favorite obsession is the Cuban Gypsy Pantry. The FOOD! If you haven't tried it yet - GO NOW! 

What is your educational background: 
I graduated with a BFA in Acting with an emphasis in Musical Theatre. 

What are your hobbies: 
Journaling, reading, playing video games, spending way too much time with my cats, watching movies and TV

What is your favorite book, color, song, movie: 
Favorite Book: The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon, The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes, City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert/Where the Crawdad Sings by Delia Owens, and the ENTIRE The Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher
Color: Red + Purple
Song: I have so so many. My dad was a radio DJ in the 70s and 80s and my mom introduced all the musical movies to me growing up. I feel like if I name just one, I'm betraying so many others! If There's A Rock Tie Me To by Snow Patrol is one of my all-time favorite pop songs - Roses Turn is one of my all-time favorite Musical Theater Songs. 
Favorite Movie: Basically anything with Tom Hanks in it or basically anything on TCM or AMC. 

Interesting Facts: 
I am an only child, I've moved over 20 times in my life, my dad was a radio DJ in the 70s and 80s, I'm distantly related to Jacques Cousteau, I've met Rosemary Cloony's Brother (George Clooney's dad!)

Favorite Food: 
Asian and Mexican food! 

Favorite Restaurant in Charleston/Summerville: 
Cuban Gypsy Pantry, Chez Nous, Rutledge Kitchen, Chubby Fish, NICO, Raw 167, Jackrabbit Filly, EVO, Millers All Day, The Daily, Bucher and Bee, Edmunds Oas 

Favorite things to do in Charleston/Summerville: 
Shopping, try new restaurants, spending time at the beach, spending time with my little family, and finding new coffee shops! 

Thank you so much for coming on this journey with us - and here is to the continuation of learning more about our crafts, supporting one another, to a new year, and to working towards new and exciting things together as a community. Thank you for adopting me, Summerville, and for being so supportive of the company that has been so incredibly kind to me. Now that you know almost everything about me, back I go behind my pen! Until next time Summerville, find the silver lining in your life, and stay caffeinated!

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Creative Consulting: A Spotlight On Rebekah McCubbins

12/2/2020

 
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Get to know the hilarious, hard-working, and creative individuals that make up the Creative Consulting family one blog at a time.

Hello, Summerville! Welcome back to the blog writer's desk! Our whole team hopes this blog finds you happy and well where ever you might be. I personally hope that you are relaxing somewhere comfortable, with a view from your favorite spot in your home, or sitting in one of your favorite places in our beautiful town of Summerville. Even though we've had a lot of rain recently, it's helping keep the grass greener longer - and have you been paying attention to the clouds when these storms roll in? There is always a set of silver linings with every season, and through this tumultuous year, I have personally been trying to find as many as possible. What have you been doing this week to find your silver linings? Sometimes it's hard to do that, I understand. When it's hard to do that in my personal life, I try to focus on the silver linings in my day to day work life. One of the biggest ones is that Creative Consulting has been such a constant through a year that you can't count on what might happen in a few minutes, let alone a few days. I have never been more thankful to work for a company that can be just as successful when we are working in the office as we are remote. Thanks to the wonders of Google Meetings, Email, and Hubspot (if you don't know what that is - it's an incredible tool for your company, so look it up!) we were able to adjust quickly to our first shut down. Once we were back in the office, it was like we had just seen one another the day before. That comes with working with such a great team. Being supportive, helpful, and available to one another has also made this year so successful. My silver lining this week is having the chance to go to work, work with such a great group of people, and continue the forward motion in the growth of Creative Consulting.

Welcome back as well to our second to last (gasp!) team feature. Thank you, dear readers, for following along with this journey. While I only have four more blogs left to write for Creative in what's left of 2020, I am excited to come up with my next blog series for 2021. Make sure to enjoy these last few blogs and check-in with what wonderful things will appear next year. I have already started to brainstorm, and I am getting so excited. This spotlight is very unique because I have the pleasure to introduce you to an amazing team member who virtually started the same day that I did. We were both originally hired to be content creators for all of the social media clients, the only difference between the two of us is that she had more social media clients while I had some social media clients and all of my blog clients. I look back and think about those first few weeks we spent together; helping train one another, our first few Monday morning team meetings, and our first Creative birthday. We might have been working together and for Creative for five or six weeks, and we were already helping set up Creative's 5-year birthday party. It was such a whirlwind; we were meeting people who had supported and cared for creative since the very beginning, meeting some of our clients face to face and the FOOD was amazing. That was my first true introduction to the incredible food and sweets that are made right here in Summerville, and even now almost a year and a half after that party, I still look back and crave the finger food and the personalized cookies we nibbled on that night. What is so special about this young woman, is that from the moment we started working with one another, we formed an instant friendship. We started as easy-going coworkers who loved having their desks right next to each other. Now, we have formed a deep bond and friendship that I wouldn't trade for the world.

It is my honor to introduce you to Rebekah McCubbins, the other half of the content creation team. Together with Kelsay, they make sure that hundreds of content posts go out every month. She is incredibly passionate about what she does, about her community, and her family and friends. I feel like every time Rebekah and I work together, she is teaching me about something incredibly important happening in the world, in pop culture, or telling me about an incredible recipe she made for her and her husband the other night. (I am still hoping to try her chickpea curry someday soon!). I love learning about new music, new artists, new companies, new restaurants from her. She is always five steps ahead of me in knowing the coolest and latest trends, and I am so thankful that she keeps me hip and cool. She is also just an incredible source of joy, putting the two of us together can be dangerous - especially during our Monday meetings. You get us going and we can interrupt and pause a meeting in a fit of giggles. I have loved working next to her from our very first days of work. A day hasn't gone by where she didn't ask or offer her support or help before she left for the day, checked in with how I was doing, or asked about what projects I am working on. Get yourself a co-worker who loves and cares as Rebekah does, and you'll understand how lucky you are once you do! Let's meet Rebekah, shall we?

How long have you been working at CC:
A little over a year!

How did you hear about the positions:
I stumbled across the position on Facebook and filled out the application. I didn't think I would get an interview, and I definitely didn't expect to get the position!

What do you do for CC:
I write social media content and manage the social media accounts for some of our clients.

What is your favorite part about working for CC:
Collaborating with the most talented people! Everyone here blows me away daily with their creativity.

What have you learned since you worked at CC:
It sounds cliché, but I feel like I learn something new every day. I think the biggest thing is that Stephen and Meg have been super transparent about the business side of CC, and that has allowed me to learn so much about business!

What is your favorite part of your workday at CC:
Any time that I get to collaborate with the amazing creatives I work with! Everyone here at CC is so sweet and so talented, and I love working with them.

Favorite memory at CC so far:
A little while after I started at CC, we hosted a 5th-anniversary party for the company. It was such a fun time! I got to know my still-new coworkers better and met some of the incredible business owners from around the Lowcountry.

Favorite Summerville Small Business (besides CC):
There are so many! I love the chai latte and baked goods at Coastal Coffee, the candles at ETC, and the macarons at Swank!

What is your educational background:
I majored in English and History and minored in Religion. I finished my Bachelor's degree at UofSC in 2019, and I plan to continue my education in English and get my doctorate in the future.

What are your hobbies:
Reading, Cooking, Embroidery, and Video Games!

What is your favorite book, color, song, movie:
Book: I've read so many that it's impossible to narrow it down to one, but a book I recently finished and loved is The Weight of This World by David Joy. It is a beautiful, haunting story that sheds a light on the reality of poverty in the South. I highly recommend his books!

Movie: V for Vendetta, The Princess Bride, and The Devil Wears Prada are all amazing, and I've recently become obsessed with Midsommar and The Day Shall Come!

Color: Pink!

Song: Right now I really love Water Me by Lizzo, but there are truly way too many I love!

Interesting Facts:
I was homeschooled all the way until I got to college.
I am currently working on a set of small embroideries of sushi.
I have strong opinions about practically everything, especially the Oxford comma.

Favorite Food:
Thai food, soul food, and sushi!

Favorite Restaurant in Charleston/Summerville:
I love Pad Thai 1. They're right around the corner from our office, they're so sweet, and the food is delicious. I also recently discovered Alicia's Soul Food, which makes the BEST mac and cheese I've ever tasted!

Favorite things to do in Charleston/Summerville:
Shop, eat, and spend time with family and friends!

Reading this interview, you can just feel Rebekah's kindness, good heart, and passion. Reading back through this, it was even more of a walk down memory lane. Ironically, she and I had very similar experiences with our applications and first interviews. We both applied on Facebook and didn't think we'd get an interview. With my background in performing, I am so used to sending in my resume and information and not hearing back, so that's kind of what I expected. Thankfully, Stephen and Meg had a much different plan for both of us. We were also both so convinced that we tanked our interviews, but Meg and Stephen had a different idea about that as well, thank goodness! I am so excited to see what other incredible things Rebekah is going to do with her time working with Creative and in every venture of her life. Spoiler alert, I have seen sneak previews of her sushi embroideries, and they will make you crave a California roll they're just so incredible! Many thanks to Rebekah for taking the time for letting me interview her, and for sharing these wonderful insights about her and her time with Creative. I have loved sharing this with all of you. Coming up in December, readers, you will get to read the last team feature (until new team members join us!), which will be the blog writer's interviewer herself! Until next time Summerville, find the silver lining in your life, and stay caffeinated!
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Rebranding Is Not An Ending; It's a Rebirth (Part Two)

11/25/2020

 
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In part two of this blog, we are going to be discussing the best ways to go about successfully and painlessly rebranding your company. 

Hello Summerville, and welcome back to the Creative Consulting blog! We are excited that you've returned to continue learning more about the importance and sometimes necessary steps of rebranding your company. In the first part of this blog, we discussed some of the many reasons why your company might need to rebrand. While the idea of rebranding does come with a negative connotation, we hope that our last blog has helped normalize the idea that more often than not rebranding is very refreshing and can be incredibly successful and exciting! We know it can be scary to even consider this idea, but we are here to help.

We can speak from experience and say that as we've helped many of our client's rebrand, that it is a very successful and positive step for your business when it's needed. It is an opportunity to learn even more about who you are as a business owner, express what makes your company unique in a whole new way, and reconnect with why you started your business in the first place. Rebranding is not starting from square one, it's reinventing the square itself. If you don't think your company has a brand or a very strong one, think again! Your brand holds much more power than you think, and it does deserve the time and appreciation to reflect your business. Let's get started on rebranding with some of the most successful and pain-free ways possible! 

In our last blog, we talked about how one of the very first steps in rebranding is usually the need for a new logo. Remember, rebranding is much more than just changing your logo and crossing your fingers and hoping everything is going to be alright. This is going to be a multiple-step process, and you need to invest the same amount of time and energy into each of these steps for rebranding to be successful. Somewhere along the way, your branding that worked in the past has stopped working, and this needs to change! 

[WHO YOU'RE SPEAKING TO]
As we mentioned in part one of this blog, one of the many reasons why a company should go through with a rebrand is because their audience is or has changed. Remember how we've mentioned those incredibly important, easy to find, and free analytics that all social media platforms give you? Please pay attention to them! Make note of who is responding to your social media posts, who is buying your products, and who spends the most time seeking you out online. If it's not the audience you expected or intended, that's okay! Don't be afraid to embrace a whole new group and demographic of customers. They are here to buy your product. With the free research that so many platforms give you, allow that to power other forms of research. Research what is attractive and what attracts your new group of customers. What appeals to them in marketing and what is the best way to reach them? Have you been operating mostly off your website, but this new audience loves Instagram and Facebook? Then it might be time to start a new overhaul of what your brand looks like and how you're reaching this new audience. 

It's important to know and understand who this new audience is so you know exactly how to speak to them and sell for them. This can also be a situation where competitors have popped up with new products that are directly getting in the way of your company, and they are creating new competition that you never expected. Embracing and focusing on this new audience can help you build up a strong relationship with them and put you ahead of these new competitors. What is the most difficult part of this step? Time. You have to pay attention to these changes, learn about your new audience, and adapt to what this audience needs. In the long run, this will be time well spent. 

[IS THE NAME IN THE GAME]
We might be throwing around the idea that changing your company's name has to be apart of the rebranding process and that it is very simple to do. Please by no means walk away from this blog series thinking that is the case. To rebrand, you do not have to change your name if you don't want to. If the name is still working and has become a staple to who and what your company does, don't throw it away. Changing your companies name can be one of the most dangerous choices in rebranding. This decision needs to be thought through with extreme care. If a new name is something that you and your company are working towards, then you should also consider a plan for introducing the world to this new name. Plan out how to successfully explain that the company that used to be known as "A" is now "X". Heading to the drawing board and brainstorming is one of the best ways you can go about coming up with a new name. According to Hubspot, some of the greatest ways to do so are: 
  • Take a word and use it in a new way
  • Change the spelling of a word to make it stand out 
  • Create a brand new word
  • Consider using other languages
  • Create a fun and exciting acronym with your team
These are just a few starting points in renaming. They're simple, ways to help you focus all of your ideas, but there are still many other ways in going about the renaming process. Don't limit your creative endeavors with this. 

When you're considering changing your name, a lot of the time that also comes with changing your slogan. Please consider why you are changing your slogan before actually doing so. If the slogan no longer matches your services and what your company represents then, by all means, changing it is appropriate. If you are sick of the slogan because you've seen it and said it for so long, consider hitting the brakes before changing it out of annoyance. If the slogan is still working, still catchy, and your customers still love it, there is no reason to get rid of it. Instead, put some new life into it and rediscover why the slogan is so important. If you decide to change your company's name, make sure it fits the current or new slog you've created too. 

[WATCHING YOUR Ps & Qs]
Rebranding might go much deeper than what your customers see. This can be the most difficult part of the rebranding process, as this can touch on some very real and personal aspects at the core of why you started your company. Over time, as most companies do, you will evolve and change. Your products and what you're working towards can completely change from what they were when you started. This is a change in your vision. Your vision is the map as to why your company does what it does and the reason behind every decision you make. If this changes, your branding needs to reflect this. If your vision changes, many other aspects will change including your mission, your values, and the overall voice of your brand. 
  • Your company's mission is how you're going to succeed with your vision. It is the statement and guidebook on how you work every day to successfully do what your company has sought out to do. Once your vision changes, your mission will need to change along with it and support what's next. 
  • Once the mission and vision of your company have changed, your values will change along with them. Changing your values isn't a bad thing, it's a change and a redirection as to why you're doing what you're doing, why you're providing your services, and why your goods and services make life better. Once this domino effect of changes happens, your values will need to reflect all of this change as well to successfully direct your whole rebrand. 
  • Finally, the last domino to fall in this process is a change in your voice. If how you're working, why you're working, and who you're working for has changed, how you speak about and represent your products and services will change. How you speak about your products and services will change when you redirect who you want to buy your services and products. Also, if you've changed the very core of why your company exists, this will drastically change the tone of your interactions with the world at large. That's alright! Let it grow naturally from these changes and freely embrace this new voice. 

How are you feeling after reading this, readers? We know that rebranding can come off as a mid-life crisis or a personality swap. While that's how it might look on the surface, that is what you want and need to avoid. When rebranding, think of it as captaining a strong ship. The rebranding process is deciding to turn the wheel and create a new map to avoid oncoming storms and to finally find that treasure you've been searching for. It's a process that cannot be done alone or on a whim. We urge you to take both parts of this blog very seriously when thinking about rebranding. If it is still something you want to do, but it's just too daunting to do alone, we are here to help you take these important steps! Please feel free to reach out! Until next time, stay safe and caffeinated Summerville!

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Creative Consulting: A Spotlight On Michael Andrew Hatchell

11/18/2020

 
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Get to know the hilarious, hard-working, and creative individuals that make up the Creative Consulting family one blog at a time.

Hello Summerville, and welcome back to the blog writer's desk! We are taking a break from your normally scheduled program of learning more about the social media and marketing world, and welcoming you back into the personal offices of Creative Consulting! I'm not sure about you, but the fact that there are only a few weeks left of 2020 seems pretty crazy, right? This year has sped by, and in many ways, that is really alright! Before I get too ahead of myself and dive into the Holidays (hold me back, I am ready for some tensile and fake snow!) I am trying to soak up the last bit of fall right here in the heart of Summerville. Have you recently taken a walk around our adorable little square? It is still emerald green, the fountain is bubbling, and all the shops have their doors open and ready to welcome each of us. I just took a walk with a cool cup of joy from Cuppa Manna and enjoyed a little slice of Summerville. If you haven't done that recently, I would recommend it for your next break during the workday. 

I am also very excited to get back to one of my favorite series of blogs I have written for CC, our spotlight on each of our team members! I know that I say this in every blog, but it so refreshing to learn and read more about my coworkers, especially if they are newer to the company. Creative has come to a very exciting threshold that many young businesses work towards. We are growing and planning for something big, and every time I'm in the office or talk to my teammates, it feels like we are standing on a precipice of something very exciting. One of these exciting things came in with our newest team member, Michael Andrew Hatchell. Andrew, who is our Customer Relations Manager and Marketing Specialist, has given so much to Creative in the very short time he has been with us. Hiring Andrew meant that our relationships with our clients could become more hands-on, more time could be delegated to new ventures, and more things could get done on a day to day basis. Andrews's expertise and fresh new ideas have been an exciting part of the Creative work week, and I have enjoyed working with him. 

Being a blog writer is a very unique hat to wear, while my background is in the arts, I spend a lot of my time learning and researching about a whole slew of topics that I personally had never spent time on until this job appeared. Just like any artist or writer, writer's block is very common. I spend more time brainstorming and staring at my blinking cursor than I care to admit. My Creative team has always been so supportive when it comes to helping me brainstorm and come up with the next new and exciting topic for my set of blogs every month. It has also been fun to sit one on one with Andrew almost every week brainstorming about our clients in a whole new way. If you are a new client with Creative or a perspective one, and you haven't met Andrew yet, you will truly enjoy working with him. He supports and loves the business, he is always excited to learn, and always excited to talk about food and his beautiful family. I am so excited that he's joined our Creative family, and I look forward to seeing what wonderful things he has in store! Dear readers, it is my pleasure to introduce you to Mr. Michael Andrew Hatchell! 


Name:
Michael Andrew Hatchell

How long have you been working at CC:
Almost two months!

How did you hear about the positions:
I reached out to Stephen organically. I didn’t see a job posting, just walked in, and handed him a resume. Then I just waited semi-patiently for a call.

What do you do for CC:
Marketing strategy and customer relations. I analyze all the statistics for the client’s website and social media so I can come up with a formula to increase the business’s outreach.

What is your favorite part about working for CC:
The people are already some of the best I have ever worked with.
Everyone is so nice, very helpful, and extremely talented. I feel fortunate to be a part of Creative Consulting.

What have you learned since you worked at CC:
I studied marketing in college but what you learn in the books is very different from real-world application. I have learned a lot about how to take the information I got from college and really apply it to helping businesses grow in the greater Charleston area.

What is your favorite part of your workday at CC:
Meeting with existing and prospective clients. I love meeting new people and learning about them. Everyone has such an interesting story and nobody is the same, so it keeps you on your toes.

Favorite memory at CC so far:
We are in the midst of conducting a case study around videography.
We had a film crew in the office and was able to finally meet everyone face to face.  

Favorite Summerville Small Business (besides CC):
It’s not fair in my opinion to have a favorite here in Summerville.
There are so many great businesses and they all have different specialties. The most recent discovery though would have to be Patrick the Groomsmith. Highly professional and one of the best master barbers I have had the pleasure to get a haircut from.

What is your educational background:
Graduated from Limestone University with a BS in Business Administration where I majored in marketing. Currently, I attend Webster University and should graduate with my MBA in the summer of 2021.

What are your hobbies:
Other than being with my 4-year-old, I love to cook and play instruments. Really anything music-related. I also enjoy the outdoors, so hunting, fishing, and golf are up there on the list.

What is your favorite book, color, song, movie:
Being that I spent a good bit of time in school recently, I don’t have much pleasure reading going on. I most recently read “Can’t Hurt Me” by David Goggins and absolutely loved it.

Interesting Facts:
I was in the Navy for nine years. There, I traveled a lot and got to experience a plethora of different cultures and food which is some of my favorite things!

Favorite Food:
I’m not a picky eater by any means, but I do prefer home-cooked meals. On Saturdays, you may find me in the back yard running my smoker. I love making and eating barbecue.

Favorite Restaurant in Charleston/Summerville:
Another tough one. It depends on my mood but I love Poogan’s Porch and 843 BBQ. 843 BBQ is a Korean restaurant and sushi bar. Great for date nights. Poogan’s Porch is great food and is awesome for a late breakfast on Sunday mornings.

Favorite things to do in Charleston/Summerville:
My wife and I love to just go walking around Charleston and seeing the sites. After five years of living here, my wife still can’t believe we only live 30 to 45 minutes from downtown Charleston (depending on traffic).

I don't know about you, but after I went back and re-read Andrew's interview while preparing this blog, I was craving BBQ and a nice walk around some of my favorite places in Charleston, how about you? This blog, while it does give you an insight into Andrew's passion and humor, you'll have to meet him in person to really see and enjoy it. Summerville, keep your eyes open for this gentleman. If you don't know him yet, he will become a staple in the area. He is here to support your business, help you grow, and help Summerville grow and prosper in some very new and exciting ways! Again, many thanks to Andrew for spending the time working with me on this blog, and helping me be better at my job every day! I hope you all enjoyed another visit with me and another of my teammates! Until next time Summerville, find the fun in the puzzles you come across in your life and stay caffeinated!
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Creative Consulting: A Spotlight On Capers Leaver

11/9/2020

 
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Get to know the hilarious, hard-working, and creative individuals that make up the Creative Consulting family one blog at a time.

Hello again Summerville, and welcome back to the blog writer's desk! I am here to bring you yet another wonderful blog introducing you to another team member and family member of the Creative Consulting family! As October draws to a close, we are trying to enjoy every moment of fall that we can. Have you taken a walk up and down the main square of town? It's covered head to toe in some of the best and most creative Halloween decorations we've ever seen! Every shop has its own flair of All Hallows Eve, luring us in with the promise of delicious treats, candy, or just some spooky fun. While Halloween and all of our frightful fun might be a little different this year, there is still something magical about this time of year that nothing can get in the way of. One of the most magical things we love to see every day is how vibrant and alive Summerville seems to grow every day. More shops are bustling, restaurants are getting back to their normal business, and even a few new potential budding businesses might even begin popping up. It feels like fall has brought in a cool breeze of fresh air, and it's something we've all needed.

I continue to sit happily from my writer's desk watching the town of Summerville bustle around me, taking everything in. While I continue to research and dive deep into a myriad of topics for each of our clients to make each of my blogs better than the next, I love to look up and watch the town float by for a few minutes. It's refreshing, thank you, Summerville. One of my most favorite projects of this year has been these spotlight blogs. I say it every time I sit down to write one, that I love continuing to learn more about my teammates. Each interview and blog is more surprising than the next, and it opens my eyes to these incredible individuals sitting around me helping Creative Consulting grow one day at a time. Each of them truly put the heart and soul of creativity into our name, that's for sure!

For this blog's feature, we are spending time and interviewing one of the very first company members, Mr. Capers Lever. Capers was on the welcome wagon when I joined the team and has been an incredible support to me personally since day one. If you didn't know, my blogging work is closely connected to his work with SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Every important keyword and piece of information that is trending or relevant right now that lives within each of my blogs is key for the work he does every day. For the last year and a half, it has been a joy to work with him. I have also never met someone who loves Dunkin Donuts as much as him. If you're reading this Dunkin, I wanted to let you know that I work with one of your biggest fan's and he deserves at least one or two free treats this week. He is the definition of a professional, but he always knows when to make you laugh at the most perfectly timed moments. He also tends to keep you on your toes and surprise you with every little fact he shares about himself or what he's up to during our Monday meetings. Going through this interview was no exception to that - Capers continues to surprise me and make me laugh out loud. I hope you enjoy reading this blog and Capers' interview as much as I enjoyed writing it! It is my absolute pleasure to introduce you to Mr. Capers Lever!

How long have you been working at CC:
5 years

How did you hear about the positions:
From Stephen as he was starting the company.

What do you do for CC:
I do pay per click advertising and search engine optimization.

What is your favorite part about working for CC:
Being able to work from anywhere at any time. The internet connects us all and allows us to be in separate places while still having the ability to communicate and work effectively.

What have you learned since you worked at CC:
I've learned the importance of having a very good team and diversity of thought.

What is your favorite part of your workday at CC:
I've always liked puzzles and most of my job is finding logical solutions to real-world puzzles. So I get to sit down with a coffee every morning and solve problems.

Favorite memory at CC so far:
My favorite memory is being here to see Creative Consulting grow from where we started to where we are now.

Favorite Summerville Small Business (besides CC):
Cuppa Manna, within walking distance of the office and great coffee.

What is your education background:
My degree from CSU is in Computer Science. Many of the skills help to understand SEO on a deeper level.

What are your hobbies:
I collect hobbies. I pick up and put down hobbies regularly. I have played sports for almost my whole life. Beyond that, I've done everything from mixed martial arts to golf, and everything in-between.

What is your favorite book, color, song, movie:
The Eragon series of books were my favorite. Favorite color is blue. I love music way too much to pick one song, my favorite band is probably Pink Floyd. Favorite movie is Book of Eli, Denzel is the GOAT.

Interesting Facts:
I was a classical pianist for 4 years.

Favorite Food:
Bulgogi, I love Korean BBQ

Favorite Restaurant in Charleston/Summerville:
843 a Korean BBQ Place, imagine that.

Favorite things to do in Charleston/Summerville:
The most fun thing to do in Charleston is to go have some food and drinks somewhere that fits your fancy. The atmosphere here is one of the best in the world.

What an incredible guy, am I right? I think one of the most surprising things to me that I will have to ask a few more follow up questions about,  is about his time as a classical pianist. With my background in performance and music, that will be a very fun rabbit hole to go down. Also, I have never heard Charleston better described than how he answered his last question. The atmosphere here really is one of the best in the world, isn't it? What a great reminder of all the beauty that is right here around us and all within such a short distance! Again, many thanks to Capers for spending the time working with me on this blog, and helping me be better at my job every day! I hope you all enjoyed another visit with me and another of my teammates! Until next time Summerville, find the fun in the puzzles you come across in your life and stay caffeinated!
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Creative Consulting: A Spotlight On Lizzy Smith

10/26/2020

 
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Get to know the hilarious, hard-working, and creative individuals that make up the Creative Consulting family one blog at a time.

Hello, Summerville! It's that time again where we introduce you to another incredible member of the Creative Consulting team! So grab your favorite fall beverage (have you seen Cuppa Manna's fall menu?! If not - go check it out NOW!) and get settled in for another wonderful read! 

I know, as the blog writer, that you hear a lot of things from my perspective - but it's all I have, right? It's been so fun getting to know my coworkers a little better every time I sit down in my favorite writing chair and get to work on these profiles. We all create our own work schedules, so often through the week, we are like ships passing in the night. We see one another on Mondays and during other weekly meetings, but sometimes we might go a whole week without seeing one another. The freedom we have to create, work, and make CC possible is something that I consider a huge gift. Life, right now, has been so strange that creating a workflow for myself (and how everyone on our team has been doing) is a blessing. So, when I sit down to write these, it's like my teammate is sitting right next to me and we are sharing a laugh over an inside office joke. Nothing like work making you smile, right? 

This woman was one of the very first team members that was hired after I was brought on. I came into the office during a huge transition, and for a while there our little family only had 5 members in it. It became apparent that we needed to grow and we needed some incredible talent to help Creative continue its upward climb. That is where Ms. Lizzy Smith came into the picture! Again, Meg and Stephan have an incredible way of hiring people who just fit together. Lizzy fit right in without a second hesitation. She jumped right into work and has kept creating incredible designs and websites since the day she began. Always positive, always quick to laugh, and excited about the work at hand - it has been wonderful to work with Lizzy. I constantly learn something new about the design world from her, and about social media at large. Also, another fun fact, we both got engaged a few weeks apart. There MUST have been something in the water, don't you think? I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I did. It is my pleasure to officially introduce you to Lizzy Smith! 
  • How long have you been working at CC: Right around 1 year now. I think my year anniversary was about a couple of weeks ago.
 
  • How did you hear about the positions: Stephen came into one of my classes at CSU saying they were looking to hire a graphic designer. I had recently quit my manager position at Chick-fil-A to find a job more related to my degree, so this was the perfect opportunity.
 
  • What do you do for CC: I am one of the graphic designers here! I work on a variety of projects such as websites, social media, logo rebranding, and other small design projects.
 
  • What is your favorite part about working for CC: The people I work with 100%. They’re all so amazing, talented and it’s always a blast whenever we all get together.
 
  • What have you learned since you started working at CC: I’ve learned a lot about what my coworkers do, such as social media, content creation, and SEO, and how each of our jobs are important to promoting businesses and all tie into each other.
 
  • What is your favorite part of your workday at CC: Websites. I love working on websites. I believe having a very clean, beautiful website can dramatically improve your online presence and I love being able to revamp and spruce up someone's website that will attract the customers they need. For example, if I click on someone’s website that has clashing colors and comic sans font - I’m instantly gone from that website. Goodbye - not coming back. Also when Lulu is in the office. Even though she hates me, I still love her. (Note to the reader. Don't worry, Lulu, Meg, and Stephen's dog, only tolerates us at best. Mom and dad are the only ones she really likes, and sometimes Capers.)
 
  • Favorite memory at CC so far: Probably when we were decorating for Christmas because that always puts me in such a great mood. Or when Meg and Stephen were having a paper ball fight with my office in between it and my office kept getting pummeled with chunks of paper. 
 
  • Favorite Summerville Small Business (besides CC): Cuppa Manna. Love the vibe in that place!
 
  • What is your educational background: I have a bachelor's degree in Graphic Design with a minor in Business administration and an associate's degree in Digital Media.
 
  • What are your hobbies: Running, photography, and reading. Even though I’m a very, very slow runner, I love it anyways. Photography is probably my favorite hobby. I take pictures of anything and everything when I can. 
 
  • What are your favorites!
    • Book: HARRY POTTER!
    • Color: Green
    • Song: Anything Mumford & Sons
    • Movie: Obviously Harry Potter
 
  • Interesting Facts: I’m also a huge fan of interior design. There are so many different styles and layouts you can do with a space. I recently bought a house with my fiancé and we have been DIYing everything from the floors to the ceilings!
 
  • Favorite Food: Popcorn
 
  • Favorite Restaurant in Charleston/Summerville: Leon’s on upper King Street in Downtown Charleston.
 
  • Favorite things to do in Charleston/Summerville: Kayaking on Shem Creek 

After reading all of that, aren't you inspired to do an all day marathon of the Harry Potter moves while eating a pile of popcorn and starting a new Pinterest board full of DIY and design ideas? No? Just me? Well, that sounds like a perfect day for Lizzy and me then! Again, it's always so fun to read through these. Even as the writer of the blog and the individual who came up with these questions, it's funny how often these particular questions don't come up during the workday. You spend so much time talking about work (of course) and other random topics of the day, and you might not even know your coworker's favorite food! Now that I know Lizzy and I love popcorn so much, I finally have an excuse to buy those giant popcorn tins around the holidays full of flavored popcorn! Which, I will of course, be bringing into the office. Maybe. There you have it, Summerville! You now know one more member of the Creative Consulting team! I hope you've enjoyed this blog - and I look forward to introducing you to the last four members of our team in the upcoming weeks! Until next time, make sure to look for the positives in any challenge you might be facing this week, and treat yourself to something from your favorite local shop, bakery, coffee shop, or restaurant this week!

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Creative Consulting: A Spotlight On Jen Gilmore

10/7/2020

 
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Creative Consulting: A Spotlight On Jen Gilmore


Get to know the hilarious, hard-working, and creative individuals that make up the Creative Consulting family one blog at a time.

Hello, Summerville! We hope you're doing well! Things at our office are going well - we are now entering the busiest part of our year, and things are gearing up for everyone on our team. This year has already been busy for all of us, which I can say that we are all thankful for. Working for a small local business, you get to see so much up close about each of your clients and everyone you work with that you wouldn't at a big corporate office. It's unique, special, and honestly really exciting. You get to know your clients, you are proud of their daily hard work, you get excited about the work you're doing for them, and are thrilled to see what's next for them. Instead of getting stressed out about the busy season, we are looking forward to taking on the challenge and are so excited to see what level of growth this will push us all to.

Getting ready for a busy season is only possible with an incredible team, which is why I have loved doing these spotlights on my fellow team members. Every Monday, we have a team meeting to check in to see what is coming our way in the upcoming week, what new projects are on the docket and to check in with one another. I feel that with every meeting, I learn something new about these incredible people I work with, and am in awe of the work that they do. I met Jen last fall after I had been out of town doing a show in North Carolina, and she was already a part of the family by the time I got back into town. Have you ever worked with someone and they are the cool new kid in town? That's Jen. Talented, hilarious, and loves cats just as much as I do. We spend a lot of time bonding over our favorite Charleston restaurants, cute pictures of our cats, and her educating me on the wonders of Filipino food. I've never wanted to travel more than after she tells me about all the incredible dishes she makes with her family. Her work for CC is incredible - I am not a designer or graphic artist in the slightest, but I appreciate those who are. Her work is so unique and beautifully crafted, that I always get excited to see what she is working on. It is my pleasure to introduce you to my teammate and friend, Jen Gilmore!

Name:
Jen Gilmore

How long have you been working at CC?
7 months in September

How did you hear about the position?
  While I was in my last semester of college, Stephen came into our class promoting an internship position at Creative.  

What do you do for CC?
I’m one of the graphic designers here. I help make businesses look real good. I create logos and graphics for social media like daily posts and ads.

What is your favorite part about working for CC?
I love how we always laugh. It doesn’t matter what kind of morning I may be having, I know I’m going to laugh and have a good time in the office.

What have you learned since you worked at CC?
Since working at CC I’ve learned more about logo design and logo animation, a little about the business side of Creative, and that Stephen loves Taco Bell.

What is your favorite part of your workday at CC?
  My favorite part of my workday is being able to check tasks off in Hubspot… so satisfying.

Favorite memory at CC so far?
  It’s so hard to pick a favorite memory. I keep thinking “Mondays”. Mondays tend to be full of good laughs.

Favorite Summerville Small Business (besides CC)?
I love Coastal Coffee Roasters. I used to go there religiously before I moved to James Island. It always reminds me of the sweet coffee dates I had with my husband before we got married (cue the “aw”s).

What is your education background:
I have a BA in Graphic Design from good ole’ CSU.

What are your hobbies:
Printmaking, escape rooms (me and my husband are addicted to them), tabletop games, trying out new restaurants, watching anime, and riding my new bike (it has light-up wheels).

What is your favorite book, color, song, movie:
  • Book: The Stand by Stephen King - this guy is THE master storyteller
  • Color: Pantone 18-1340 TCX “Potter’s Clay”
  • Song: I don’t really have a favorite song, but if I had to choose I guessed I’d go with “Grow Old With You” by Adam Sandler. The song from the wedding singer. My husband played me that song when he proposed and it was our “first dance” song at our wedding.
  •   Movie: I’m obsessed with horror movies and like most things, I’m too indecisive to choose one. I love “The Conjuring” movie series and Jordan Peele’s “Us” and “Get Out”
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Interesting Facts:
Favorite Food: Filipino food! Sarap!

Favorite Restaurant in Charleston/Summerville:
I literally can’t decide. Charleston makes it too hard to have a favorite restaurant because most of them are so good! So I’m just going to say my mom’s house cause she makes the food I truly crave.

Favorite things to do in Charleston/Summerville:
  • Axe Throwing at the Rusty Bull
  • Watch movies at the Terrace Theater
  •   Paddleboarding on Shem Creek

Pretty cool lady, right? I have to agree with her. Mondays are by far one of my favorite days of the week. I know most people dread them, but always knowing that we will spend time laughing together to get our work week started is pretty special. I look forward to introducing you to more of our team members, but until next time, stay safe and be well Summerville! Make sure to look for the positives in any challenge you might be facing this week, and treat yourself to something from your favorite local shop, bakery, coffee shop, or restaurant this week!

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