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10 Easy Ways to Jump-Start Your Creativity

After weeks of pleading and persuading, the higher-ups finally assigned you a project worthy of your creative talent. Something big. You plunk yourself down at the keyboard, eager to dazzle the entire...

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A Visual Explanation of Why You Should Save in Your 20s

When you’re a young professional, everyone’s always telling you to save. But it’s not easy to save on an entry-level salary, when you’re trying to make it on your own for the first time, especially if...

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How to Burglary-Proof Your Life (and Avoid an Office Meltdown)

While we tend to stick to career advice here at Brazen, your life isn’t all about the office. Sometimes you get torn from your desk by real life. By family obligations. By pets with the stomach flu. Or...

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4 Ways to Create a Tranquil Workspace That Will Increase Your Productivity

It’s probably safe to say that your desk, unfortunately, is your home away from home. Employees spend, on average, more than five consecutive hours sitting at their desks each day. If you’re going...

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The No. 1 Rule for Proofreading Your Work on the Job

No one likes to proofread their work. It’s annoying. You just spent all this time writing something, and now the only thing you want to do is send it off. But to skimp on the review process could doom...

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You’re Not the Only One Living With Your Parents

Thinking of moving in with Mom and Dad while you get your working feet on the ground? It’s not something to hang your head about — a lot of your peers are considering it, too, or maybe already back...

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Top 10 Apps for Maximum Mobile Productivity

Productivity is a tricky thing in the era of smartphones and mobile Internet access. Just as these devices enable productivity, they also enable procrastination. Yet with a few dedicated apps, you can...

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5 Underused Tactics to Make an Immediate, Genuine Connection with Anyone

There is no faster, more effective way to fill the gap between where you are and where you aspire to be than having the right passionate and supportive people in your corner. There is no bigger life...

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The Trick to Saving: Pay Yourself Now So You Can Live Later

Let’s be honest: it’s hard to save on an entry-level salary. It’s even harder to save when you have student loan payments every month. In the back of your mind, you know you need to be saving (and...

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3 Rarely-Used Mint.com Features That Will Save You Time and Money

One of the joys of becoming a young professional is (eventually) making more money. Yet while a bigger paycheck means more freedom, it also means more responsibility. As so many lottery winners and...

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The Myth of Endurance and Why It’s Devastating for Your Career

When did it become accepted that anything worth doing must be difficult? As Newton said, “There is no substitute for hard work.” But when did we decide that the things that come easy have less value?...

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How to Use Evernote and Mint for Painless Holiday Shopping

Have you been sucked into the Amazon black hole more times than you can count? Futilely stalked store aisles looking for a last-minute gift? Since we all have better ways to spend our time, here’s a...

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Spotlight Where You’re Going in Your Career, Not Where You’ve Been

If there’s one mistake job seekers and ambitious professionals make while working toward the next step in their career, it’s positioning themselves based on where they’ve been, rather than where they...

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The Fat-Free Approach To Consistently Kicking Butt At Everything You Do

Get our best career advice delivered to your inbox. Sign up today! Have you ever noticed that some people just seem to attract success? They succeed at nearly everything they try. They even succeed...

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Why It Pays to Remain Calm When You’re Under Financial Pressure

Thinking about my $33,000 student loan from grad school, my rent, my car insurance, Christmas gifts and unpaid vacation (because I work for myself) doesn’t make me jump for joy. This is something they...

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6 Surprising Facts You Didn’t Know About Negotiating Your Salary

Are you making the seven deadly mistakes job seekers make online? Find out in our How to Get a Job online and on-demand bootcamp. Want to get an edge on negotiating a raise at work? You probably know...

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5 Creative Ways to Think Differently at Work

Are you the creative one in the office, bubbling with suggestions at meetings? Believe one good idea will impress your entire team? Convinced creativity is part of your character? The truth is that the...

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5 Steps for Making Your Next Project Go Viral

“Going viral” – the phrase itself connotes action and power, and it follows that viral marketing strategies have the potential to foster both. Viral projects provide maximum brand impact in minimal...

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4 Easy-to-Access Tools to Help You Accomplish Your Goals This Year

We’re two weeks deep in 2013, and already my New Year’s resolutions are feeling burdensome. Go to the gym? I mean, I guess. Floss? Ugh. Bring my lunch to work tomorrow? Okay, but it will consist of...

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The $200K Test Drive: How to Frame Conversations to Make Things Go Your Way

I am a sports car fanatic. The Lamborghini Gallardo is my dream car. I’ve wanted to drive one since I totaled my first Fisher-Price pedal car way back when. Now, the dilemma: When I decided to make...

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5 Ways to Get More Done When Working from Home

It’s every cubicle drone’s dream: working from home, with no boss breathing down your neck, no annoying coworker clicking his pen every few minutes, no broken copier or traffic-laden commute. But if...

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4 Salary Negotiation Tips That Will Help You Earn What You’re Really Worth

Salary negotiation is a tricky thing. Pushing to see what you can get is human nature, but an inexpert maneuver on your end could potentially sour your employment relationship before it’s even begun....

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5 Ways to Have Fun While Paying Off Your Student Loans

Living your life to the fullest with a huge load of debt on your back might sound impossible. But while the grey cloud of debt does means you have to be smart about your money, budget big-time and...

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7 Ways to Stop Procrastinating at Work and Get More Done

It’s normal to procrastinate at work. Usually we do it because we’re avoiding a task that’s unpleasant or daunting. And, in truth, procrastinating isn’t really a serious problem until it starts to...

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The 8 Most Useful Financial Apps

We now use our smartphones for a variety of tasks throughout everyday life, but no applications are more helpful than those in the financial category. After all, managing your money has a direct effect...

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The Procrastinator’s Guide to Health Care Flexible Saving Accounts (FSAs)

To all health care flexible spending account (FSA) procrastinators of the world, here’s your lecture, and I promise it will be short: procrastination is bad, and you should stop. While your FSA can...

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4 Tips for Making the Most of a Long Commute

Some people have the privilege of working from home, but for the rest of us, the daily commute can be a four-letter word. Driving in rush hour traffic is not only no fun; it can increase your overall...

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A Budgeting System That Will Save You Tons of Money

I’m not going to give you some nifty facts or statistics about how young professionals like yourself have a hard time saving money. I don’t need to. WE ALREADY KNOW. But what you probably don’t know is...

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7 Genius Ways to Be More Productive Online

Productivity and efficiency go hand-in-hand. If you work behind a computer, you’ve likely experienced frustrating roadblocks that slow you down, from an unexpectedly full hard drive to hiccups in your...

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5 Ways to Say No Without Making People Hate You

One of the reasons many of us are overwhelmed and over-stressed is because we just can’t bring ourselves to say no to people. Maybe you’re a people-pleaser and don’t like the idea of letting someone...

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Popular To-Do List Apps That Will Help You Accomplish More

You know how to-do lists are meant to help you stay organized? Well, when you’ve got lists on your desktop, in three different mobile apps, on your fridge and on your nightstand, things can get out of...

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One Simple Life Hack That Will Make You Feel Like a Million Bucks

Have you ever felt like your job is one endless treadmill of exhaustion? You wake up tired, go to work stressed and fight a million fires, yet somehow you end the day feeling less productive than when...

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5 Great Tools for Making Conference Calls

We all know what a pain it can be to make conference calls. Which is why we’ve found some nifty sites that take the stress out of multi-way calling and described how each of them works, so you can...

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What Young Professionals Need to Know About Life Insurance

Life insurance: it’s one of those things that nobody likes to talk about. This is doubly true for young professionals who are kickstarting their careers; when you feel on top of the world, your...

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How to Get Successful People to Respond to Your Emails

If the Internet were a real place, most emails would be the equivalent of that shady guy trying to sell you items from his kiosk at the mall. He’s annoying. He doesn’t give a crap about you. He wastes...

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5 Ridiculously Easy Ways to Learn a Foreign Language

If there were a ridiculously easy and fun way you could gain the competitive advantage of knowing a foreign language, would you do it? While learning a new language can make you more employable, it’s...

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3 Aggressive Moves That Will Make You Way More Productive

Got focus? People who are able to focus more intently don’t just get more things done—they end up being more successful. When you get entangled in the communication web of social media, text, chats and...

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5 Secrets to Learning New Skills More Quickly Than You Ever Thought Possible

Want to succeed in your career? Want to live a happy, fulfilling life? Here’s the key: acquire new skills. At work, the results you produce are the primary factor in whether or not you’re considered a...

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Want to Be More Productive? Stop Asking How You Can Be More Productive

We all want to increase our productivity; in today’s go-go-go workplace (and world), it’s necessary for survival. But it’s also something that most of us struggle with. One writer argues that it’s...

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12 Ways to Become a Cold Calling Expert

Recently, the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) contacted top business leaders to ask the question, “How can you become an expert at cold calling?” Whether you’re a business owner looking to get more...

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How to Find an Extra Hour Every Day to Advance Your Career

You start the workday with great intentions. You plan to work on big projects—the important but not urgent things you know you need to do to advance your career. You want to build the career capital...

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4 Headline Hacks to Create an Irresistible LinkedIn Profile

If you were to Google yourself right now, what would you find? Your LinkedIn profile is probably one of the first search results you’d see. If the thought of new customers, business associates or...

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How to Ask for What You Want–And Get It

Whether you’re negotiating your salary, hoping to snag a new freelance client or simply trying to get a coworker to pitch in more on a team project, knowing how to successfully ask for want you want is...

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How Not to Pass Out During Your Next Public Speaking Gig

Thinking of getting your MBA? Learn how to master the b-school application process at this free webinar on October 17. Sign up here! If you’d rather slowly remove your toe nails with rusty pliers than...

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4 Tips to Work from Home Like a Pro

In college, working from home meant sleeping, watching reruns and lounging. But young professionals know that working from home is about cranking out work. Many tools exist to make sure you’re working...

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Break the Email Chains and Finally Empty Your Inbox

WordPress.com is the 15th most popular website on the planet. With no offices, all employees work remotely. The company adheres to few rules and even fewer meetings. And they don’t use email. That’s...

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10 Simple Body Language Tricks That Will Do Wonders For Your Career

“I speak two languages: Body and English.” – Mae West Body language is one of the most important and powerful types of communication in the history of the world. A wink conveys an air of mysticism and...

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12 Ideas for Revamping Your Boring Company Blog

Recently, the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) contacted top business leaders to ask the question, “What are some tips for creating really interesting company blogs even in [a] dry, boring old...

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Brazen’s Fall Run-Around: Tell Us How You’re Learning a New Skill

It’s that time again! That time when you write a stellar blog post and we share it with the Brazen community. Let’s get a drum-roll for your next topic… Brazen’s Fall Run-Around The topic: How are you...

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Why and How You Should Start Saving for Retirement Before You Hit 35

The news is full of articles about how few baby boomers are prepared financially for retirement. Yet many retirees have plenty of money to get through their golden years. Why are some baby boomers...

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