Springtime is when I am ready to get my house in order, fall is when my focus turns toward my office. The back-to-school season has long been a time to step back, look at the big picture, and reorganize. 

During our elementary days, it may have been new binders and pencils, but the concept remains the same: fall = time to reinvest in the tools that help us work smarter and more efficiently. It’s time to say goodbye to lazy summer days and hello to productivity.

A few weeks ago the TB team attended a writing workshop with Tanja Pajevic. Tanja is an author of two books, has been published in many publications such as The New York Times and the Huffington Post, is a writing coach, and is the recipient of several awards and fellowships. She’s got a lot of tricks up her sleeve and I want to share with you the tips that hit home for me. 

The demand for more leads is the one constant in a marketers life. In every marketing role I’ve held, “More leads!” was the battle cry from the leadership team and the sales reps. As I’ve supported clients, the demand has remained consistent.  

Recently I found myself at the Digital Summit in Denver, surrounded by fellow marketers in a familiar discussion about how we can better align sales and marketing teams to truly provide a cohesive customer experience. This particular discussion resonated with me more than most as it took a step further than just restating that cohesion needs to happen and actually provided tactical tools to facilitate this in reality. 

Learning from others catapults creativity and inspires innovation. Sure, you can learn by reading a book or googling answers, but there’s so much more to be gained by interacting with others. Diversification adds a spark that can’t be created artificially. But it’s not always about diversifying by culture and race, it’s inspiring to collaborate with people who have different specializations and interests.