"Every startup business has a unique challenge beyond merely launching: being underestimated." --New Business Minnesota, September 2009. In the latest issue of New Business Minnesota, Brock provides expert advice on how to use strong design to establish your small business and build trust with your customers.

While every designer worth her salt is taught to tailor her designs to the specific target audience, as a group we are rarely given instruction on how to communicate with the people who pay us to do so, namely business people.

Have you agreed to write a press release in an anxious bid to please your client and bill some more hours, only to realize that you have no idea how to go about writing one? Well, fear not: while this article will by no means make you an expert, it will give you enough information to write a competent press release for all but the most demanding of clientele. The secret is to understand exactly what a press release is.

I go to a lot of networking events, and recently I’ve been getting a lot of business cards from people who are, in fact, unemployed. Though this may seem counter-intuitive (aren’t business cards for people who have jobs?), the networking business card is becoming one of the most popular ways for unemployed people to simply and easily advertise their contact information and expertise to the people who may have job opportunities for them. So what are these cards, and what do you need to know to make them work for you?