Carolyn Smith is the owner of Impact Career Services and we recently spent some time in the studio updating her online image.
She’s a fascinating woman to talk with and I loved listening to her. Articulate, considered, incredibly warm and genuine – I can see why she’s so sought after in her line of expertise.
I help managers, professionals and executives secure their ideal job, promotion or pay rise. This is achieved through individual branding documents (resumes, cover letters, bios LinkedIn or government applications) and job search coaching.
I arrived back from London and while looking for a full time job in law, I started working part-time for a resume writing company located in Toowong. I thought they were doing such a poor job and ripping off clients, I decided that I could do better. I did, and they are no longer in business.
Periodically having an empty inbox. It happened in the early stages in COVID19 and I initially felt VERY uncomfortable with not having income flowing in. However, every time this happens, it simply means I have time to work ‘on my business’, rather than ‘in my business’, creating better resources so I can leverage my income for the future.
I’m very strict with my time, turn away a lot of work (so I’m not working ridiculous hours) and I don’t work with clients that expect me to be available 24/7. Since I’m at the ‘top of my game’ and I’m getting awesome results for my clients, the clients I work with are happy to work the way I work. It also comes down to educating clients and setting expectations. If they know I’m not available over the weekend, then they are okay with this. On the other hand, I do my very best to exceed client expectations (epic experience and products) and I never, ever miss client deadlines.
I didn’t. I just started and learnt as I went along.
You are never ready. You just have to take a leap of faith and just do it.
Google AdWords and an exceptionally good landing page. It worked like magic. These days, the bulk of my work is referral based, so I rarely advertise. But I do put out lots of quality content to educate and help professional and executive jobseekers.
I wake up about 5am and I either go to an early class at the gym, or have breakfast and go to the gym. By 9am my inbox is cleared and I have started client work for the day. I spend about 1 hour per day, working on future income generating projects (for example, I’m currently developing a training module on salary negotiation for senior executives). I’m logged out by 4.30pm and the rest of the day, is family time. I find a strict schedule works best for me.
When my clients succeed, in particular clients that had previously struggled securing even a job interview and are now in a high paying and fantastic jobs. It always makes my day, as job search rejection is hard and I know I have helped transform lives.
I love adventure, that is going to extreme altitude, taking 2 week hikes in the wilderness and eating street food in exotic locations across the globe (pre COVID19). Yet my favourite hobby is hand knitting. I find it therapeutic – slowly creating something.
Target a niche (not the whole world), develop a unique brand (never copy others) and understand your client problems and become the solution to that problem.
Creating more products and resources, so I can help more people and being more proactive in video marketing (as I think this medium rocks and I want to leverage this more).
Hi there! I'm Amanda Waschevski
I AM A HEADSHOT AND PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHER BASED IN IPSWICH, QLD. I help people be themselves in front a camera.
