Quick! What’s the next promotion, holiday sale or sales strategy you’re using in your business? If you’re thinking about Christmas or even Black Friday, then it’s time to shake up your marketing and create a system for monthly campaigns to promote your services, products or programs.

Making a career as an artist is rarely easy, sometimes impossible and usually totally worth it. Sometimes we catch a break and get to skip ahead more quickly than anticipated. Other times we have to put in (very) long hours. Here are a few pitfalls I’ve learned to avoid:

Ask any freelancer what their rates look like and you’ll most likely get hit with one of three options: hourly rates, per project rates or a mix of the two. But how do freelancers decide on these rates?

If you need a better reason than being “tired” for taking time off, here are four ways to structure your vacation time that benefit you and your employer.

For this month’s column, I thought I’d reach out to people who made multi-tasking an artform and get them to explain how they so easily “pivot” from one task to another on a daily basis. But I found out that’s only one definition of pivot, and so I pivoted this column to another, more business-oriented version. (See what I did there?)

Marketing and branding is an inevitable part of your freelance business. For a marketing person, this is the fun part. For everyone else, this is the part that’s most likely delayed (or never done at all), and thus is a missed opportunity to promote yourself and your business.

Founded in 2010, Sofar’s first shows were in London, but now includes gatherings in 333 cities worldwide — including countries like Switzerland, Azerbaijan, India, Serbia, Egypt, Brazil and Russia. It considers music and musicians as an untapped global resource in the same way that people with a spare bedroom are replacing the hotel establishment.

Sitting on the deck of his family’s tasting room, Warren Bogle looks out over the vineyard his grandfather planted in 1968 in the low-lying land of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. That first planting of 20 acres of vines in Clarksburg transformed the Bogle family from row crop farmers to one of the region’s most successful winemakers.

Studies have shown that the only thing worse than bad customer service is inconsistent service, which leaves a consumer confused and wary about what to expect when they walk into a store, call the help desk or send an email. With more choices available than ever before, we all want consistency and to know what to expect in a given situation.

Culture needs to be a constant priority. You can’t expect a bunch of perks to define your company. Instead, spend some time defining your values — afterall, you already know them. Then make sure everyone on your team has buy-in.

Whether you are determined to land your first job, looking to change careers or simply want to meet new people (and develop a life-changing habit in the process), here are five tips to help you cultivate new relationships and multiply your professional opportunities.

Ending generational categorization and judgment begins with awareness. Next time you hear generational stereotypes among your friends or in your workplace, speak up! By breaking down these stereotypes we can overcome the discrimination that generational labels facilitates.

The oldest members of gen Z (born in 1996) are now graduating college, flooding offices across America with their cheery, five-screen-watching, can-do spirit.

In some ways they might already be an economic force. A 2014 study from the ad agency Sparks and Honey estimates that the average gen Z receives $16.90 per week in allowance alone, which tallies to an annual $44 billion in spending power. So who are these kids, anyway?

Verizon Communications will test faster fifth-generation mobile broadband service in 11 markets in the first half of this year as the nation’s largest wireless carrier tries to take the lead in the 5G race.

Debi Hammond, the founder and CEO of Merlot Marketing in Sacramento, gives her insight into the marketing industry. For more from Hammond, check out “Dialing Up,” in our March issue. Sign up for our newsletter and we’ll email you when it’s available online.

Lampkin recently accepted a new position as the vice president of restaurant operations at Oak Park Brewing Company. We sat down with Lampkin to see what motivated her to make the move. 

Nehemiah Corp., a social enterprise nonprofit that has spent two decades developing programs that help low-income people afford homes, is winding down most of its operations, the company has announced.

Jason Poole accidentally came across what would become his next career by way of a national contest. Poole submitted a Bloody Mary recipe, and before he knew it he was making his way to New York City as a finalist for the 2012 Absolut Best Bloody Mary in America contest.