Monthly Archives August 2010

A Glut of Hiring Alternatives – BusinessWeek

Posted by Ritch Brandon    Posted in Articles, Helpful Insight    Posted in August 26, 2010    |    No Comments

Link: A Glut of Hiring Alternatives – BusinessWeek

Article from BW regarding new alternatives to hiring full-time employees that may be negatively affecting jobs economic data but that may provide another avenue of opportunity for professionals.
From this article, I have been introduced to Solvate. Solvate vets professionals with specific expertise in certain niches and then connects those folks to small and medium sized businesses that need a particular talent set. That sounded very corporate, huh. Basically, they’re a broker of specialized professional talent to businesses wanting to hire someone for a project or on a temporary basis. I’m checking into them and will post more later.
Thanks for forwarding the article, Marc!

Freelancing for Shira Miller Communications

Posted by Ritch Brandon    Posted in Client Announcements, PR    Posted in August 20, 2010    |    2 Comments

Shria Miller is a good friend that I met when I began working at Morrison Management Specialists (then Morrison Healthcare) in 1996.  She and I bonded immediately when I found out that her family owns and operates Groucho’s Deli in Columbia.  Her dad became “Groucho” after her grandfather passed the business on to him and now her brother runs the business.  Her mom Faye is the quintessential Jewish mother who I absolutely adore!  Groucho’s is an institution that any USC student can tell you is THE place to get a great sandwich.  My favorite is and always will be the STP.  The proprietary “45″ sauce that comes with it is INCREDIBLE.  I thought one of the benefits of our friendship might be the recipe for the “45.”  It wasn’t.  I can buy it from Groucho’s like everyone else.  But I digress…

Shira was Director of Marketing Communications for Morrison prior to my joining the marketing team when I still worked for Wyatt Engwall — the absolute best boss and mentor I’ve had.  Since leaving Morrison in 1998, Shira has held high profile positions with several firms.  She launched SMC in 2001 and has been very successful.

I will be helping her on several fronts…but initially I’ll focus on social media marketing (Facebook, Twitter, etc.).  I am so excited to have the opportunity to work with Shira!  She is highly respected PR and marketing consultant and, obviously, a very successful entrepreneur.  I can learn a lot!

Client Engagement – SMC

Posted by Ritch Brandon    Posted in Client Announcements, PR    Posted in August 19, 2010    |    No Comments

Just ended a conference call with my good friend Shira Miller. It was a conference call because we talked about business rather than “life.” Shira owns Shira Miller Communications, a PR and marketing firm, based here in Atlanta and she has just hired me as a part-time freelancer for her firm. I will be working about 10 hours a week with her and have already received my first assignments list. More on all of this later.