Juan Pellerano-Rendón

There are many advertising or portfolio schools (e.g., Miami Ad School) that help people transition over no matter what stage they are in their careers. If you are considering a pivot, the sooner you can transition, the better as it is an industry with no shortcuts. Everyone starts as a junior.

If you start by setting well defined roles and boundaries for your team, the delegating of tasks will take care of itself. If you’re in an organization that requires someone to constantly delegate and assign tasks then either the leader is doing a poor job of defining roles or the individual is not adhering/supporting that leader.

You must shift your mindset from generating ideas to nurturing ideas across the department. While you still may have ideas of your own, you must first serve to grow your team to be the best versions of themselves. Moreover, if you have systems of success that helped you brainstorm or come to new creative ideas — share them. Your obligation becomes to create a positive, open, and collaborative environment where ideas can be shared freely and built upon. If you focus on only supporting your own ideas in the leadership role, you will fail as a leader. Great leaders start by listening and focusing on collaboration.

DON'T. I promise you no one will read anything beyond your resume and portfolio – use those avenues to tell your story in an authentic way.

Upfront and honest communication is at the top of the list. Then, you want to ensure that both parties are clear on deliverables and timing – a well defined scope is the best way to manage expectations from both sides. Beyond that, freelancers have an irregular schedule with clients. You should do your best to explain your upcoming plans over the next quarter to see if there are further opportunities to collaborate or be forthright in it being a one-time engagement. The more lead time you can give your freelancer on the next project, the more likely it will lead to a mutually beneficial relationship long-term.

A/B testing is the core of everything we do, and that's never going away. If we're in-tune with our audience, testing and learning on copy, subject lines, captions, imagery, etc. will all come to the forefront because you'll net out with clear winners along your tests. I always make sure to test out messaging before solidifying it across channels. Another key is understanding the voice within those channels -- there may need to be A/B tests for tonality depending on the channel you're communicating in.