March 7, 2020 — Do your customers and your prospects have an accurate image of your company values and strengths? Branding is not your business name, logo, or color scheme. Rather, your brand is how others perceive your business.

This talk will help you build a successful brand image for your company. We’ll explore brand consistency beyond just the logo and colors, and help you take control over how your customers view your brand. When your current and potential customers have a clear grasp of your brand, they will in turn become brand advocates for your business.

Presentation Slides »

February 23, 2020

June 26, 2019 — April 6, 2019, 10 am Horseshoe Ranch Room, University Center, College of the Canyons — Whether you are working as a freelancer, or as part of a team, chances are that communicating with customers falls somewhere in your job description. As a website developer, you love the part of your job where you get to develop – but you also need to develop communication and project management skills to help you stay on top of projects, interact with your customers, and make sure that projects don’t spiral out of control or take more money or time than you budgeted.

In this talk, Jessi Gurr will discuss the basics of project management. You’ll learn techniques for getting a project started on the right foot – things like making sure that your customer contracts are crystal clear, and setting up clear timelines and project milestones. You’ll also learn how to handle scope creep, and how to deal with projects that have fallen off course.

Presentation Slides »

January 27, 2019 — (Hiss in Audio)

“Freelance to Agency: How To Make The Leap This talk is geared towards freelancers who are ready to turn their small business into a full agency. We will go over some of the basics and necessary steps to incorporate a business, and give some tips and advice for freelancers with the entrepreneur bug. This talk is a bit different from many “”how to start a business”” talks, as we will discuss some of the critical support systems needed, and mindset changes that need to take place, when shifting your company from a freelance business to a full agency. A quick rundown of what will be in the speech:

How to stop thinking like a freelancer.

Defining your staff.

Learning to delegate.

LLC vs S-Corp vs Corp: What you need to know, where to file, and how to find legal resources.

Finding the right support system of professionals to get your business started on the right foot.

Increasing prices to pay for your bottom line.

Find the right team members. An overview of how to hire, who to hire, and how to keep your employees happy.

Things to consider when seeking out an office, or location to headquarter your business.

Goal setting: think toward the future.”

December 29, 2018 — Whether you are working as a freelancer, or as part of a team, chances are that communicating with customers falls somewhere in your job description. As a website developer, you love the part of your job where you get to develop – but you also need to develop communication and project management skills to help you stay on top of projects, interact with your customers, and make sure that projects don’t spiral out of control or take more money or time than you budgeted.

In this talk, we will discuss the basics of project management. You’ll learn techniques for getting a project started on the right foot – things like making sure that your customer contracts are crystal clear, and setting up clear timelines and project milestones. You’ll also learn how to handle scope creep, and how to deal with projects that have fallen off course.

We will highlight a few (free!) project management tools that you can use to help keep things running smoothly. We’ll go through some developer/client relationship scenarios that come up frequently in our industry, and brainstorm ways to get through difficult experiences.