Thoughts

What should I know about my business

By  
Mendy Green
December 12, 2022
•
20 min read
Business
Share this post

As a business owner, it’s important to have a good understanding of your business goals, and its operations. There are several key questions that every business owner should be able to answer in order to ensure the success and growth of their company.

  1. What is your why? If you know me personally, by now you know I am a follower of Simon Sinek. Simon’s consistent chasing the why is something I’ve come to admire and strive for. The reason you get out of bed every day, the reason you go to work, if you know it, it’ll sustain you and become the building block for your Company Culture and Core Values.
  2. Who are your customers? It’s important to have a clear understanding of who your target customers are and what their needs and preferences are. This will help you tailor your products and services to meet their specific requirements and create a more personalized customer experience. More importantly, staying in touch with them will help you adjust to their changing needs, so you stay relevant.
  3. What is your revenue model? How do you generate revenue and make a profit? This could be through the sale of products or services, subscriptions, advertising, or a combination of these methods. Understanding your revenue model will help you identify growth opportunities and make strategic business decisions.
  4. What are your expenses? It’s crucial to have a good understanding of your business’s expenses, including fixed costs like rent and salaries, as well as variable costs like materials and marketing expenses. This will help you manage your cash flow and make sure your business is profitable.

As a business owner, it’s essential to have a strong and focused culture and a set of core values that guide your company’s actions and decisions.

Business culture refers to the values, beliefs, and behaviors that make up a company’s identity. It’s the “personality” of the organization and the way it operates. A strong culture is one that aligns with the company’s goals and mission, and that supports the growth and success of the business.

These values should reflect your company’s mission and goals and should be integrated into every aspect of your business operations. Once your values are established, it’s important to communicate them to your team in to help make sure they are integrated into the company’s operations and decision-making processes. While all the other points are critical for owning and operating a business, they are also all areas that can be delegated (and usually are for larger businesses). The first point, regarding company culture is something that can only come from the top.

There are several reasons why this can have a major impact on the success and growth of your business.

First, a strong and focused culture can help attract and retain top talent. Employees who share your company’s values and beliefs are more likely to be motivated and engaged in their work and are more likely to stay with the company long-term. This can improve morale and productivity and can help drive the success of your business. This can include offering opportunities for professional development and growth, providing a healthy and supportive work environment, and recognizing and rewarding outstanding performance.

Second, a consistent and focused culture can improve customer satisfaction. Customers want to do business with companies that share their values and beliefs. Simon Sinek uses the one wearing the Red Hat as an example. People gravitate to those they connect with and by having a clearly defined culture you can articulate it allows others to see what you stand for and more easily connect with you, which can help increase loyalty and repeat business, as well as establish a greater level of trust.

Third, a focused culture and set of core values can provide guidance and direction for your employees. By having a clear set of values that everyone understands and adheres to, you can create a cohesive and consistent brand and customer experience. This can help improve collaboration and communication within your team and can make it easier to make strategic business decisions.

Finally, having that strong culture and core values established gives you guiding principles when it comes time to pick which companies you start a vendor/client relationship with, being able to articulate what you stand for allows you to recognize easily those that align with you or those that do not. You can quickly identify business practices and test them against your core value. “Is this company being honest”, “Do they care about customer experience” are questions you can easily answer based on the start of the relationship and your interaction throughout.

While having a unique selling proposition (USP) is often considered an essential part of a successful business, there is some debate over whether it is still relevant in today’s competitive market. With so many businesses offering similar products and services, it can be difficult to differentiate yourself and stand out from the crowd.

Additionally, many prospects may not have the time or inclination to thoroughly research and compare different vendors before making a purchasing decision. They may rely on marketing messages and other external factors to make their decision, rather than taking the time to evaluate the validity of a company’s USP.

In some cases, a company’s USP may be seen as simply a marketing tactic, rather than a genuine differentiator. This can lead prospects to view all USPs as equally valid, or to disregard them altogether.

Overall, while having a unique selling proposition is still important, it may not be as effective as it once was as a marketing strategy in a crowded and competitive market. It’s important for businesses to carefully consider their USP and whether it is a genuine differentiator, or if it is simply a generic marketing message, and in reality, aligning this with your Culture will help give you a true differentiator.

Share this post
Mendy Green

I'm passionate about IT, driven by a dual love for solving complex problems and a commitment to transforming the stereotype of technical support into a positive and enjoyable user experience. For over 13 years, I've been deeply involved in the MSPGeek community, lending my expertise to various Managed Service Providers (MSPs), while also serving as the CTO at IntelliComp Technologies.

My journey in the tech world is fueled by a passion for teaching others. I find great satisfaction in imparting problem-solving and critical thinking skills, and offering practical guidance during the troubleshooting process. It's this enthusiasm for mentorship and improvement that led me to my current venture.

Today, as the founder of Rising Tide, I'm focusing on the MSP industry, dedicating my time to coaching and assisting both individuals and businesses. At Rising Tide, we're not just about providing solutions; we're about nurturing growth, fostering innovation, and building a community where everyone can rise together. Whether it's through hands-on problem solving or strategic planning, my goal is to make the IT experience not just efficient, but also empowering and enjoyable

See some more of our most recent posts...
Business
February 12, 2025
8 min read

A Rising Tide Lifts More Than Boats

Have you ever thought about what a rising tide really does? In this post, El challenges the idea that growth alone sustains a business. Beyond lifting boats, tides shape entire ecosystems. What happens when the water recedes? How do we build something lasting? Read on to explore strategy, resilience, and community.
Read post

You have heard it said that “a rising tide lifts all boats.”

Often attributed to U.S. President John F. Kennedy in a speech from 1963, this aphorism, “a rising tide lifts all boats,” is regularly heard throughout the MSP Channel: many of our friends and colleagues use this phrase in some iteration during conversation, in mottos, and uh, for business names.  

The analogy, in some ways, is astute. Technology and our relationship with it are both constantly evolving, requiring a certain buoyancy and literal ability to “go with the flow” with every new development, vulnerability, and client request.  The founder of MSPGeek, Martyn Keigher, used this phrase to describe why he started the forum to answer questions about ConnectWise’s RMM platform, LabTech, and which evolved to discuss products, security, and other MSP-centric matters. It was a nice sentiment, made practical: together, we can navigate struggles that occur with every new development. Together, we can share knowledge and experience and let others who pass this way stand on our shoulders. Together, as a community, we can traverse the deep sea of change. We can learn and grow, together.

But I’ve also seen it used another way. Bear with me and hear the difference:  

“We are The Tide. We are the people and ideas who are going to solve all of your problems. We can solve your problems if you would just listen to us and agree and obey!”  

In an industry that started in garages and basements, one built on torrents and IRC and subverting systems, one that is constantly wrangling humans in all of their complexity and anxieties, why…WHY would anyone expect to be a sole authority on even one aspect of the Tide?  

Because here’s the thing: of all things we should want to mimic from nature, a rising tide isn’t the pinnacle of success you may think it is. Limited by time and natural laws, you must remember that ultimately, tides don’t rise forever.

Let’s talk about how the cycle of tides are reflected in our lives, as humans and businesses.

ELI5: What is a Tide?

As the Moon orbits Earth, its gravity pulls on our oceans, creating a bulge of water known as high tide. This high tide isn’t the only one occurring at that time — another high tide forms on the opposite side of the Earth due to the physical properties of water as it responds to the Moon’s pull.

Earth's Tides

From National Geographic. Illustration by Mary Crooks.  

High tide is a good thing for boats, giving ships more water to move through. At high tide, it is easier to navigate without hitting shallow areas that could damage your vessel, making it more practical for boating — and in many cases, more fun.

Low tide, on the other hand, is more likely to be harmful for ships than helpful. If a boat isn’t docked properly, the receding water can leave it stranded in the mud. If left unsecured, changing currents can carry the boat out to the unforgiving sea. At the same time, depending on the location, low tide is the best time for hunting for sea shells or accessing fishing holes that were inaccessible before. It depends on your needs and goals on what part of the tide you prefer.  

All of that said, what our analogies usually miss in their catchiness and simplicity is the intrinsically transient nature of the tide.  

Consistent as clockwork, the tides rise and they fall in a matter of hours. It may be more pleasant to swim in when the tide is low, but what if you’re not a strong swimmer and are unprepared for the incoming rising tide? The ships are lifted, but what happens to the boats when the tide flows out again and the ships’ captains are unprepared?  

Uh, so it sounds like the tide isn’t a great analogy for business, why are you even using the name Rising Tide?  

As someone who has always had a side gig and has helped start and run multiple small businesses, I firmly believe that Small to Medium Sized Businesses (SMBs) are the future of our economy.  

According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, 99.9% of businesses, or 33.2 Million businesses in the States are small businesses, accounting for nearly half of their total GDP as a country, and nearly half of their employment. Worldwide, according to the World Bank, those numbers are similar, with 90% of businesses are small businesses, employing 50% of our workforce.  

a screenshot of a graph

The creativity, competition, and cooperation within community that small businesses exhibit beyond employment and GDP is worth celebrating. Small businesses working together create stronger products and services for both the public and private sectors: truly a demonstration of iron sharpening iron.  

Humanity will continue to diversify, solving problems and creating new things. And with it, technology will continue to be vital for growth, productivity, and efficiency.  

This diversity and evolution is what I consider the Tide. The complex social, cultural, economic situations that our communities will be inadvertently interacting with in their homes, schools, churches, government buildings, and offices.  

We (MSPs, technologists, consultants) are not the Tide. We're arguably more important. I believe MSPs are the future of SMBs and in that, we don’t own the Tide or the rights to It. We merely are custodians of the energy, ideas, and potential hidden within each wave.

What are we if we’re not the Tide?  

Imagine with me that you are standing on a beach on a perfect summer day.  

Maybe your feet are buried deep in the warm sand; there is a pleasant breeze carrying light scent of coconut and pineapple from people applying sunblock a few feet away. A clear blue sky and glorious yellow sun embrace everyone under their domain. Tiny crabs skitter back to the ocean in confusion, chasing every wave that brought them in. In the distance, you can see a pier where people set lawn chairs and coolers as they fish for the local fare. You hear kids playing, building and destroying sand castles behind you. Seagulls swoop and shout at people in line at the french fry stand, others are eating ice cream they knocked out of a small child’s hands. A local fisherman is exchanging pleasantries with a customer in the parking lot as he sells shrimp he caught this morning. The beach is abuzz with life.  

It’s almost like the tide may be what brings these people together, but it is not the most important thing on the beach. There is an entire ecosystem that was created around the tide and with the tide, that follows the tide, and that depends on the tide, at both its lowest and highest points.  

In the same way, entire ecosystems exist and are further enabled by the tide of technology, and as the Tide of technology shifts, It demands a higher bar of technical ability and tools to connect with the increasingly fast paced world around us.  

Of the businesses that have sprung up around the beach where this Tide resides—doctors' offices, accounting firms, car dealerships, grocery stores, print shops, restaurants, manufacturers, retail—some will be able to manage changing and upgrading on their own. Many others will rely on competent and experienced MSPs who can see the depths of the waters and navigate with wisdom and care.  

You’re not just a bait shop selling worms, hooks, and overpriced rods. You are seasoned navigators with maps, anecdotes, and hard-won advice on the best places to fish. In the same way, a competent MSP can step in, and beyond “managing services” or being a “value-added reseller,” they bring a wealth of experience to enhance those small businesses: advising, creating, maintaining, and protecting technical tools and skills as each SMB grows.  

The importance of the role of MSPs guiding SMBs through shifts in technology becomes clear when we examine the projected growth in IT managed services revenue: according to data from Jay McBain at Canalys, in 2025, the industry is expected to grow by 13%, reaching $595 billion globally (Canalys, 2025).  

Graphs from Canalys analyzing projected 2025 growth for IT Managed Services

The great thing about the ocean is the variety of occupations that exist at every season and Tide. You are an experienced ship captain; you know how to read the sky and the stars to predict the weather. You are a seasoned fisherman, who knows all of the best spots for the prized sea bass. Your purpose is not to be the Tide, but to help those around us to understand, harness, and profit from the Tide.  

Putting our resources into building our ecosystem

While SMBs need help from MSPs, here’s the catch: MSPs are also SMBs facing the same struggles of scalability, knowledge gaps, and industry-wide shifts that any small business does. MSPs, as SMBs themselves (according to McBain, the average MSP employs 8 people), need help from similar coaches, advisors, consultants, and implementors to navigate the constant influx of change and growth.  

It’s something my business partner, Mendy Green, and I talk about often. The services we provide—automations, onboardings, and business process consulting—are complicated enough that you will spend significant resources whether staffing your own team or hiring an external consultant. We have a backlog and are hiring consultants who meet our high standards as quickly as we can (if you’re looking and think you’d be a good fit, give us a shout).  

But how can we help more people with the finite amount of time we have, how can we better leverage our experience and skill for those who truly need our help but who cannot access us (or other consultants) due to time and cost?  

We could keep doing what we’re doing, throwing more people at the traditional consultant model of one-to-one, limited by scheduling and budget.

That only solves half of the problem. We’re grateful for the work, but it’s important to us to keep our services accessible to the people who need it most.  So we’re trying a few things to help fortify our ecosystem rather than just ourselves. Here are some ideas that our team and other peers in our circles are trying:

  • Open-source Problem-Solving
    Our consultants regularly spend time on public forums and online spaces through Discord, Slack, and Reddit, answering questions and lending free advice to teams trying to solve problems in their businesses. We believe that the more we share, the stronger our industry becomes—not through closed-door discussions, but through open and accessible knowledge-sharing. You can find us on places like:
  • Group Consulting  
    To better accommodate general questions about complicated tools that can’t be answered in free forums or videos, we’ve built out Group Consulting. Formed to echo peer groups, these hour-long sessions allow for community input to see the types of questions other people are asking in their figurative boats and positions on the open seas. During each session, participants can ask questions and get them answered, live. Learn how to do the things you’ve been putting off and get a good understanding of what you need to better chart your course. This model lowers costs, fosters peer learning, and exposes businesses to real-world challenges that others in the industry are facing. We currently offer these for Rewst (every other Wednesday at 1pm ET) and HaloPSA (Thursdays at 10am ET).  
  • Giving back to online and in-person Communities
    We believe that being human means giving back to our physical communities as much as possible. At Rising Tide, we encourage our consultants to specifically set aside a weekly block of hours for volunteering and community building. So often, money is the least valuable thing you can give, when you can give of your time, heart, and skill. Here are a few ways you can contribute to the world as the Tide rises: ‍

Join us.  

We’re not here to be the Tide. We don’t claim to own this industry or control the ever-changing currents that shape it. Instead, we—as MSPs, Consultants, and Advisors—are here to share the tools, wisdom, and experiences we’ve gained to help others chart their own course.

We don’t have all of the answers, but we are embracing a big experiment of open-source problem-solving, sharing knowledge freely through tutorials and blog posts, and creating community-based solutions like group consulting. Together, we can support each other as we navigate uncharted waters, fortify our fellow ships, and ensure that no one is left stranded as the tides shift again.

We believe that by pouring ourselves into community by sharing, collaborating, and creating slightly abnormal approaches to “the norm,” we’re not just surviving the Tide; we’re harnessing its energy to move forward.

We hope you’ll join us in this effort, whether by joining an online community, incorporating similar practices at your business, or participating in ours. Ride the tides with us, and let’s see how far we can travel, together.

News
February 10, 2025
8 min read

Rising Tide Updates: February 2025

A few quick notes for you on big changes we’ve had at Rising Tide: staff, offerings, and upcoming events.
Read post

A few quick notes for you on big changes we’ve had at Rising Tide and what you can expect from us as we work to better support you.  

To start, we’ve added to the crew!

We've been adding staff like crazy to better fit your needs! Each person is truly a rockstar in their own right and we’re thrilled to bring them to help you improve your automations, operations, and implementations. If you've not met them yet, please welcome our new staff as you see them:  

Also of note, Ben Bennett-Day is moving to part-time, doing less hands-on consulting and more reporting and offline work. While he will be missed full-time and at conferences, we’re excited to support him as he explores the tech world as a software developer.  

Second, we’re continuing to create resources to help you.

With the big staffing changes, our mission for driving improvement to help you grow your team and your MSP continues on track. We have a ton of additional community content planned for our YouTube channel as well as a bigger focus on our blog and written documentation. A few specific resources to keep an eye out for:  

  • Group Consulting for Rewst and HaloPSA  
  • Rewst/Automations Blog posts and Videos  
  • HaloPSA Invoice and Quote Templates and Guides  

Is there anything you specifically need help with? Let us know, maybe it’ll be the next walk-through we create.

Last, find us on the road!

An assortment of the Rising Tide team will be at our favorite community conferences this year, so let us know which ones you’ll be at too. We hope to see you there!  

If you’ve gotten this far, thank you for being customers and supporters of the Rising Tide vision.  

Until next time,  

Your Rising Tide crew

‍

Professional Development
January 4, 2025
8 min read

Refresh your Resume

Need a resume refresh? This article explores why an up-to-date resume matters, breaks down the differences between resumes and CVs, and shares practical tips on leading with action, trimming fluff, and showing your work. Whether you’re job hunting or not, these insights will help you craft a standout career story.
Read post

When is the last time you updated your Resume/CV?  
There was a little bit of chatter in the MSPGeek Discord last month about what actually needs to go on a resume.  (MSPGeek Website | MSPGeek Discord)

It got me curious: how many of my friends in the MSP space have an up-to-date resume, and one that they’re proud of?  

Uh-oh, have you not dusted yours off in a few years?

Let’s talk about why you might want to change that even if you’re happy where you are and some practical advice for updating yours into something you’re proud to showcase.  

What is a Resume and how is it different from a CV?  

Let’s start with the basics.  

A resume is a generally a concise document highlighting your professional experience, skills, and accomplishments. When I’m coaching others, I use the analogy that a good resume is just a firm handshake. It's what gets your foot in the door for hopefully further conversations. You’ll want your resume to be tailored to your current interests and objectives, whittled down to reflect your story and expertise.  

On the other hand, a CV, or curriculum vitae, comes from Latin words curriculum, which came from the original word currere which translates to run, as in a race; and vitae, meaning life. Curriculum has since been adapted as an educational term for what you’d be learning in a class or program, but it originally just meant “what race are you running?”  

With that in mind, a CV literally translates to course of life, and as such it’s a beefier document than a resume, reflecting a detailed account of one’s professional journey, path, and achievements, showcasing a full history of your education, research, and work. I coach my people to keep both on hand, considering the CV as the “source of truth” for everything you’ve ever done with complete timelines and full descriptions, and creating multiple child resumes depending on your specific job application or use case.  

In general, in the MSP (Managed Service Provider) space and in the employment arena, these words are often used interchangeably but I encourage you to default to providing a simpler resume, and as such we’ll be focusing on that term in this article. However, there are places and times that it makes sense to provide a full CV and we’ll address that as we go.  

The Value of Keeping a Resume on Hand

Having an up-to-date resume is a good practice to keep even if you’re not actively looking for jobs.  Some companies that bid for work include team member resumes and CVs as evidence of that company’s competence and fit to win a particular Request for Proposal (RFP).  

It’s also helpful because you never know when the random person you meet at a conference, church, or bar, likes the cut of your jib and wants your resume to see if you’re a good fit for their company!

If you’re in Sales or Marketing, knowing what your technical teams’ Resumes and CVs look like can be a wealth of data for building proposals or providing accomplishments to prospective clients. It’s worth seeing if your team has up-to-date resumes so you know the high points of their skills and accomplishments and can brag about them accordingly.  

So enough about the why of a good Resume. Let’s talk about the how.  

Building a "Good” Resume

As someone who has applied for many jobs, read a good number of applications for my own businesses, and coached others in cleaning up their own, let’s talk about what makes a resume or CV successful to me and how I applied those ideals in my own resume. As you’ve surely noticed, the word good is in quotation marks – every bit of advice in here is built on years of learning and experience, but is by no means dictatorial or the final word on the resume that will get you the job of your dreams.  

My goal is to give you inspiration on revamping and practical advice further editing your own! If you follow these ideas, hopefully, you'll take your resume from "meh" to "good" and as you build your idea of what good looks like, you can make it "great."

Here is my current resume, for reference:  

What are your first thoughts? It’s ok if you hate it, it won’t hurt my feelings. The fact that you’re thinking about what could be a resume is the exciting part for me. We’ll use my resume to tear apart some of these rules so you have practical ideas for what to do, or not!

Rules I kept in mind:  

  1. You’re the Hero.  
  1. Lead with action.
  1. Context, context, context.  
  1. Show your Work

You’re the Hero.  

For the uninitiated, Doctor Who is a BBC Family Show about a millennia-old time-traveling alien who consistently finds himself saving the human race while meeting historic people and events from the past, present, and future.  In the 2024 Christmas special, Ncuti Gatwa as the Doctor finds himself trapped in a crappy hotel room by himself, for a year. “The long way ‘round” rings in the viewers’ ears as we are then escorted through the next year of the Doctor, watching his character development as he performs menial labor and often comical tasks. It’s heartwarming and tearjerking, and....

Don’t do that.  

Yeah, you heard me. Your resume is not the place for your growth or development. It’s not the place to give the ins and outs of your day-to-day. Your resume needs to be the high points. This is just the book cover, the summary, the short review enticing someone to pick you up and actually flip through the pages.  

Ways that you can do that include:  

  • Use a “Summary” and/or “Objective”.
    What is your overall story? Are you a phenomenal Tier 2 Technician looking for her next role leading a team as a Tier 3? Are you hoping to transition to leadership with your people skills? Are you wanting to contribute to a team with your depth of knowledge of security infrastructures? What should the reader of your Resume see first, and how should they read your story?  
  • Keep to the point.
    A rule of thumb often used is 10 years of work experience to one page of resume. IF you have more experience that requires more words, try to shorten it first. Or, include an appendix fully describing a project or situation.  
  • Maybe a picture.
    Honestly, I hate having a photo on a resume, but I was applying for a job outside of my local area and industry I wanted something that showed my character. I left it on the styling because I’m lazy. Be careful with photos, they can seem unprofessional.  

We want to know that you can speak Judoon, have commandeered a TARDIS, and are adept with both psychic paper and a Sonic Screwdriver. We do not need to know that you carjacked said TARDIS, brought someone a cheese toastie and pumpkin latte, or snogged Queen Elizabeth.  If the devil is in the details, well, leave the details and the devil out of your resume, dude.

This example is a little silly, but the point remains that YOU are the hero and YOU write your own story. Make sure the readers of your resume know what that is. And regardless of what story you write, your resume should always lead with Action.  

Lead with Action

What have you done that you have control over? Your resume should show that you’re an asset to the teams that you’re on and that the work you’ve done has shown your strength.  

Instead of framing things as being a part of a project or that something was imposed on you, stretch yourself to consider the decisions you made and how they were impactful.  

Check your resume in a grammar checker for  “passive voice” and eliminate it from your resume as much as possible. Passive voice makes it seem like you are just that: a passive bystander to things that you created. This isn’t the place for modesty, it’s a place for groundedness and intentionality! Don’t be scared to show them what you’ve got! Here are some good rules of thumb for your resume:  

  1. Start with action verbs: Use strong verbs such as developed, managed, increased, led, implemented, and optimized.
  1. Ask 'who did what?': When reviewing your bullet points, ask yourself who is performing the action, and make that the subject of the sentence.
  1. Quantify results: Adding metrics helps make the statement more assertive and shows the impact of your actions.

Here are some practical examples for how you can update passive voice with active voice.  

  • Ticket System Implementation
    • ‍Passive: “A new ticketing system was implemented to streamline support requests.” ‍
    • Active: “Implemented a new ticketing system that streamlined support requests, reducing response times by 20%.”
  • Customer Care ‍
    • Passive: “Client issues were resolved in a timely manner.”
    • ‍Active: “Resolved client issues within 24 hours, improving customer satisfaction ratings by 15%.”
  • Report Preparation ‍
    • Passive: “Quarterly reports were prepared and presented by me for leadership review.” ‍
    • Active: “Prepared and presented quarterly reports to leadership, providing data-driven insights that influenced key decisions.”
  • Training Employees ‍
    • Passive: “Training programs were created for new hires.” ‍
    • Active: “Created and led training programs for new hires, resulting in a 30% reduction in onboarding time.”
  • Security Updates ‍
    • Passive: “System upgrades were performed to improve security.” ‍
    • Active: “Performed system upgrades to improve security, reducing vulnerability incidents by 40% compared to previous year.”

Of note, it is highly possible that you don’t feel like you have the numbers or the confidence to do this, today.  There is a certain amount of intentionality and care that is required to start gathering these types of Key Performance Metrics or goals. It’s possible that your management is tracking some of these things already and you can talk to your manager about their goals for your department and roll those into your own successes.  

Context, Context, Context

Know your audience and keep it relevant in all the ways possible, I’d specifically encourage you to consider context of content and context of delivery.  

Content

We allude to this in the section on being the Hero, but keep multiple versions of your resume on hand depending on the role and company you are applying for! Review the business’s website and job listing for key words, phrases, or values to show you are a good fit. Remove work experience that isn’t applicable to the role. Don’t keep things in if they dilute what you are actually seeking to present yourself as. Customize your bullet points: Swap in key accomplishments that fit the job description. If the role focuses on leadership, highlight examples of mentoring or leading a team. If it’s technical, detail relevant certifications, tools, and projects.

Formatting

Use consistent headers, bullet points, and spacing to make your resume easy to scan. Avoid excessive detail that clutters the page. Stick to clean, professional fonts and clear section breaks.  

Keep it simple, but don’t be afraid of a little personality: A pop of color, a different font, or slightly unique formatting can be memorable—but don’t overdo it. Use section dividers, subtle lines, or an (one!) accent color to guide the eye. Include icons for contact info if appropriate, but ensure they don’t distract (choose SIMPLE icons with only one color and make sure all icons are from the same family pack).  

Keep font choices professional yet modern, such as using sans-serif fonts like Calibri or Lato. In general, I recommend not using more than one typeface, and limit the times you change it. Regular, bold, italic should get you far, and try to keep font sizes to three variations: title (36pt), header (18pt), body (12pt). Keep things consistent like you would be if you were marking up a webpage or application. And please, whatever you do, don’t express yourself through clever or cartoony fonts, this is for business, not your personal art gallery.

Delivery

How are you submitting your application? In person, by email, through a digital system?  

Will the person be reading this on a mobile device or printing it out?  

If in person, don’t be afraid to print off a color copy on nice, weighted cardstock for an in-person interview, and bring copies for other people who may be in the room as well, for a peer interview.  

For digital submissions Check the format based on delivery method: Ensure your resume reads well in multiple formats—digital (PDFs), ATS-scannable text, and print. Run tests to see how it looks in each form.  Do screenreaders or convert to plain text to see (or hear) what a computer-read version of your document turns out to say. Does it make sense? If not, rework it.  

Show your Work

As mentioned multiple times in this article, your resume is a tool for opening doors, so don’t let it be a dead end for the reader. Where do you keep your portfolio or where should they go to find more information about you if this resume piqued their interest? Don’t keep them guessing, give them access! Some things you may want to include on a modern resume:  

  • Links  
    • Github
    • LinkedIn Profile  
    • Blog or Portfolio
  • Personal Projects or Achievements section
    • Speaking engagements
    • Community Volunteerism
    • Open Source Projects you contribute to
  • References or Testimonials
    • While your references should be separate from your resume, don’t be afraid to list quotes from people about your work or link to reviews

Now, it’s your turn!  

What do you think? If you look at your resume, does it follow my suggestions of making yourself the Hero. leading with action, considering appropriate context, and showing your Work?  Where did I deviate from the rules, do you think it works for me, or not?  

On the flip side, what rules do you think I am missing?

I hope I’ve inspired you to update your resume and/or CV this month and to encourage your friends and colleagues to do the same! If you need help cleaning up your resume, you can find me on any of the social channels listed on my resume, or through Rising Tide if you want to pay me to just do it for you.  

‍