CSR Latest Articles

Operation: Zero Inbox

Email…you’re probably not a fan. I for one would probably put off answering emails indefinitely if my job didn’t depend on it. But maintaining an Inbox doesn’t have to be a monumental task. At CSR, we’ve developed some best practices to help keep things in order. Create general directories so that you always have a place to put emails that no longer require your attention. For instance, I have catch-all folders called “admin” and “biz dev.” Create folders for each client or m

Event Review: Atlanta, A Global Business City

In my ongoing efforts to be more than an office hermit, I attended an ALPFA event on the 9th that turned out to be absolutely fascinating. The Association of Latino Professionals for America (ALPFA) is an organization dedicated to empowering Latino Professionals. I first heard about it through their event planner Sofia Bork. When I asked her why she took on this role in addition to her demanding work at Verizon, she had an immediate response. “The most enjoyable aspect of my

How To Sell Candy Without Selling Candy

One of the most important things I’ve ever learned about sales is that you rarely sell your actual product. Tool manufacturers don’t sell drills, they sell perfect holes. Porsche doesn’t sell cars, they sell status, self-esteem, personal validation, or sex appeal. A litigator doesn’t sell lawsuits, they sell anything from assured health coverage to sweet sweet revenge against an ex-spouse. So what does a candy company sell? Some commercials in recent memory advertise better m

In 2017, Become A Morning Person

This year, forget losing weight or drinking veggie smoothies. Become an early bird! Or rather, start your days off earlier, if you’ve never been a morning person. Don’t just get up ten minutes earlier so you have some extra time to get ready. In her ebook What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast, Laura Vanderkam lays out the reasons why many exceptional individuals get up very early. I picked my favorites; maybe they’ll convince you to give early mornings a shot: I

Entry Level Book Recommendations: Part 2

Earlier this year, I wrote about books that entry-level employees should read in order to get up to speed on business basics: This is not a blog post for the MBAs and “higher-ups.” This is for the entry level folks out there who may not know much about business as a discipline, but want to go beyond what they are exposed to every day. What is the reasoning behind things we take for granted? Where is this wisdom and strategy from coming from? Here are some more picks from the

In Defense Of Third Person Plural

We’ve all seen it in the very best and worst of business writing: third person singular pronouns. I appreciate the effort to be inclusive of both sexes, but “he or she” is unwieldy. Randomly switching is no better. We get it—a theoretical CEO could be a man or a woman (probably a man). But switching back and forth every few paragraphs just feels awkward. Fortunately the English language provides a simple solution: third person plural. Here’s how to use it: when faced with the

Voice Dream (App Review)

If you’re like me (or anyone at CSR, really), you spend a lot of time in the car. I definitely love listening to music, but I do feel the urge to feel productive, and this is where audio books and podcasts come in. I’ve “read” about a dozen books in the past year or so just by listening while I drive, and learned a lot from select episodes from my favorite podcasts. It’s an easy way to stay caught up on thought leadership that I otherwise wouldn’t consume. Of course there’s a

Patron Saints Of The Workplace, Round 2

Almost two years ago, I wrote a (somewhat facetious) post about patron saints for the office. Since then, I’ve come across some other great saints and it would be a shame not to share their awesome… For the non-Catholics in the audience: if a Catholic person leads an exemplary life and has several miracles attributed to them after they die, they are canonized and then they are referred to as saints forever after (the process is a bit more complicated, but you get the idea). T

Entry Level Book Recommendations: Part 1

This is not a blog post for the MBAs and “higher-ups.” This is for the entry level folks out there who may not know much about business as a discipline, but want to go beyond what they are exposed to every day. What is the reasoning behind things we take for granted? Where is this wisdom and strategy from coming from? Try starting with the low-hanging fruit: your boss’ favorites, or what you keep seeing on people’s bookshelves. If you’ve heard of it, you should probably read

Essential Learnings From Menial Work

In this post, I’m going to suggest what no teacher, counselor, or mentor has ever advised me to do: get a menial job. Or at least engage with and listen very openly to people who have menial jobs. What kinds of jobs am I referring to? I’m talking about a low-paying job that has poor benefits, is not knowledge-based, has inconvenient hours, and is often looked down upon by others. I’m talking about washing dishes, mopping floors, cashiering, working low-end retail, flippi

Intentional Ignorance: It’s Not Cute Anymore

We all know someone who has this, and we’ve probably all suffered from the condition at some point: intentional ignorance. The engineers who claim that “the right side of my brain is a raisin.” The baby boomers who pretend to fear each new technological advancement. The artists who couldn’t care less about decent spelling and grammar because (supposedly) that’s just not their skillset. I call it “intentional ignorance” (the term is borrowed from Noam Chomsky, and related to b

What Crocheting Lace Taught Me About the Business World

I’ve always been what you could call a “crafty” person. Way before Pinterest, at the age of six, my grandmother taught me how to crochet and knit. Soon after, I learned how to cross stitch, “weave” potholders, make and fix jewelry, and basic sewing skills. In recent years, I’ve taught myself how to make everything from screen printed t-shirts to tie-dyed dresses, rearview mirror “dice” to duct tape wallets, wine cork coasters to wrapping paper…But through it all, I keep going

Event Review: 10 Keys To Unleash Creativity

María & Rosi recently attended a workshop at Atlanta Tech Village called “10 Keys to Unleash Creativity, Inspiration and Innovation.” The event was presented by Michelle Chappel, a veritable Renaissance woman and self-described creativity expert. As the “right-brainers” at CSR, just the title of this event struck a chord with María and Rosi… The most interesting/useful of the 10 tips were two that can be implemented fairly easily if you have the motivation to do it. 1. Unplug

App Review: Toggl

Like most working adults, I get paid by the hour. Now, at CSR we don’t “clock in/clock out,” so it’s up to me to keep track of my hours. And I am not a fan. For some reason, it’s just extremely annoying to always have to measure my work not by its difficulty or quality but by the Toggl. Toggl is a basic time-tracking service that is beautiful in its simplicity: click “Start” when you begin work and click “Stop” when you’re done or taking a break. If you forget to start or sto

6 Steps To Learn A New Program—Fast!

As CSR’s resident millennial, I am often dubbed the “tech-savvy” one who knows how to use every program and website. I’ve even had people ask me to teach them how to use software I’ve never heard of before! What’s the key to this amazing ability? I’ll tell you a secret: I’ve never taken a software class in my life. I just happen to know the quickest and most effective ways to learn the basics of a program or app. It’s a pretty simple process, really—just follow these steps: D

Five Ways To Get A Small Business Owner To Make A Change

Change. It’s essential for small business growth…and it’s also something many owners resist. Their reasons are always very valid, but the fact is transitions and changes just have to happen sometimes. So when you decide that the business needs something new, you need to be careful about how you introduce the idea. Whether you’re proposing using a CRM, starting a blog, switching email providers, or just finally getting a smartphone, there are specific strategies you can employ

Probonathon Runners Up

We will be ready to announce our Probonathon 2013 winner very soon! In the meantime, we’d like to tell you about two applicants that didn’t make the cut but are still interesting and worthy non-profits. The Foundation for Hospital Art‘s basic mission is to give love and comfort to patients in hospitals. Since 1983, it has provided artwork at no cost to brighten hospitals. They have involved over half a million volunteers in creating the artwork. FHA has donated over 36,000 pa

Venue Review: Alon’s French Bakery

While CSR HQ is convenient and used for our full staff meetings, we have found that for our own meetings, other venues can be helpful. We focus better when we get out and grab a bite while discussing the topics at hand. Our current favorite is Alon’s French Bakery in Morningside. Alon’s has reliable wifi and outlets, both of which are essential to our meetings. Most customers take their food to go so there are usually seats open. And the food…the food! There are all kinds of

Fonts Reconsidered: Blacklisted Font Faces

Font choice is a key part of creating any document. Yes, good content is essential. But the way you communicate text is also an important thing to consider. Over the past few years, certain fonts have acquired a, let’s say “reputation,” for being basically awful. Either they’re overused, poorly made to begin with, or just ugly. But some people still use them, not realizing that they are committing a pretty bad design error. It’s fine to use a font all the time if it’s not dis

Fonts Reconsidered #2: Print Documents

Last week I rambled at length about fonts appropriate for e-mails. The main requirements for e-mail are legibility and clarity, so you should use fonts like Tahoma and Verdana, which were designed specifically for screen viewing, with simple formatting. But what should you do when what you’re working on will be read on paper? This is where serif fonts come in. Tahoma and Verdana are sans-serif fonts (see this link for an explanation of serifs), which aren’t as visually pleasi