Kat Boogaard

Kat is a freelance writer specializing in career, self-development, and productivity topics. She's passionate about being as efficient and effective as possible—much of which she owes to her 114 words per minute average typing speed. When her fingers aren't flying on the keyboard, she loves to bake, read, hike, or tackle yet another DIY project around her home.

142
Productivity

7 Kickoff Meeting Best Practices for Successful Project Collaborations

A kickoff meeting is what gets your project started on the right foot. How do you host a successful one? Here's what you need to know.
134
Businesses

How to Write a Procedure: 8 Steps You Should Know

Procedures can save you and your team plenty of headaches. Wondering how to write a procedure? Here are eight steps to follow.
163
Businesses

Business Process Improvement in 6 Actionable Steps

What exactly is business process improvement and why should you care? We're talking about the benefits of refining your processes, as well as how to do it.
151
Businesses

Delegate Like a Pro With These 6 Tips

Want to know how to delegate like a pro? We're dishing out six key tips to pass tasks over to other people—with as little stress as possible.
146
Teams

How to Create a Gantt Chart in 7 Easy Steps

Wondering how to create your very own Gantt Chart? Use these steps to create your own in Excel and get a bird's-eye view of your projects.
155
Productivity

8 Google Search Tips to Navigate the Web Like a Pro

Want to refine your searches and get your hands on the information you really need? These Google search tips are just what you've been looking for.
155
Businesses

Need to Make a Tough Decision? A Decision Matrix Can Help

Wrestling with a tough choice? A decision matrix is an easy way to get a handle on how your choices stack up—using criteria that matters to you.

302
Businesses

Best Time to Send Emails – A Scientific Approach

Are you curious about the best time to send emails? You aren’t alone. Whether you’re sending a complex email marketing campaign or just a short message to a colleague, we’re all eager for that magic pill that will not only get our emails read—but inspire people to actually take action.
130
Productivity

Organize Your Life With These 11 Must-Have Life Plan Apps

If you’re feeling frazzled, stressed, and overwhelmed, these life plan apps will help you bring some order to the chaos.
108
Hiring

How to Conduct an Effective Virtual Interview (and Find the Right Candidates)

Job interviews are always challenging, but a virtual interview throws a few more complexities into the mix.
143
Businesses

Value Proposition Canvas: Learn to Understand Your Customers’ Pain Points

How a value proposition canvas can help you find a better product-market fit and write a stronger value proposition for your business.
138
Teams

7 Leadership Qualities That Make for an Awesome Leader

What leadership qualities do you need to make people actually want to follow your lead—rather than forcing them to fall in line?
125
Businesses

Product-Market Fit: What You Need to Know (But Were Too Embarrassed to Ask)

Product-market fit is a term you’ve heard thrown around a lot in the startup world. But why does it matter so much?
104
Teams

Office Politics: 7 Tips to Make Coping Easier

If you’re like most people, office politics are something you’d prefer to avoid altogether.
83
Productivity

How to Motivate Yourself According to McClelland’s Theory of Needs

Motivating yourself can be tough, but McClelland’s Theory of Needs can help.
208
Productivity

Top 9 Time Tracker Apps for iPhone

If you want to keep a closer eye on how you’re spending your time (spoiler alert: you should!), there are plenty of time tracker apps for iPhone that can help you figure out where your hours are going.
235
Businesses

7 Tips to Fire an Employee Nicely

Despite your best attempts to right the ship, there’s a certain employee on your team who just can’t seem to meet expectations—and, it’s left you scrambling to figure out exactly how to fire an employee nicely.
138
Productivity

How to Calm Down at Work: 5 Strategies to Help You Keep Your Cool

Wondering how to calm down at work when pressures are high? Well, we’ll be the first to admit that it can be easier said than done.
107
Businesses

How to Write a Manifesto for Your Business: 5 Must-Know Steps

Wondering how to write a manifesto for your business, as well as why you even need one in the first place?
103
Businesses

5 Tips to Educate Yourself and Advance Your Career

You know that to climb the proverbial ladder in your career, it’s important to educate yourself.
185
Businesses

7 Tips to Overcome Fear of Failure in Business

Regardless of whether you’re an entrepreneur, a manager or you’re an employee, there’s one pervasive concern that seems to plague us all: fear of failure in business.
178
Productivity

11 Productivity Tracker Apps You Should Start Using Now

You want to get as much done as possible during your day (duh, right?), and productivity tracker apps can be just what you need to kick your motivation and focus into high gear.
103
Businesses

How to Identify Your Company Core Values (and Leverage Them to Your Advantage)

In today’s competitive employer landscape, your company core values carry more weight than ever.
98
Businesses

7 Easy Ways to Brainstorm New Blog Post Ideas

You need some blog post ideas. There’s only one problem: You’re completely stumped.
101
Productivity

Top 5 Budgeting Software Solutions to Track Your Expenses in 2018

You’ve decided that you need some budgeting software in your corner. We’re here to help.
284
Businesses

15 Best Books for Entrepreneurs You Should Start Reading Now

On the lookout for some of the best books for entrepreneurs? We can’t blame you. When you’re eager to get your own idea and business off the ground, sitting down for some reading time is an effective way to get the lowdown on all sorts of different and relevant topics.
240
Businesses

19 Best Tech Websites You Should Bookmark Right Now

In the world of technology, it seems like the only constant is change—which means you’re likely on the lookout for some of the very best tech websites that can help get you up to speed on the ever-evolving technology landscape.
180
Productivity

7 Steps to Overcome Imposter Syndrome in Your Career

If you’ve ever struggled with feeling like a fraud who’s totally undeserving of your own success, then chances are high that you’ve dealt with imposter syndrome.
136
Productivity

Resilience in the Workplace: What it is and How to Get it

There are plenty of different skills that come in handy in the workplace—and, without a doubt, resilience is one of the big ones.
161
Productivity

How People Learn: 7 Tips to Master New Skills

When it comes to mastering a new skill (whatever it may be!), understanding a bit about how people learn can help you transform from total newbie to proficient.
189
Businesses

SEO for Dummies: Follow These 5 Steps to Increase Your Organic Traffic

Let’s face it—we’re all eager to get more traffic to our websites, meaning an SEO for dummies type of guide is just what we need to familiarize ourselves with the basics.
185
Businesses

How to Find Work From Home Jobs in 2018

Today, it seems like almost everyone is on the lookout for work from home jobs that give them the flexibility to build their work around their lives—and not the other way around.
231
Productivity

Learn How to Read Faster With These 6 Actionable Tips

Perhaps figuring out how to read faster hasn’t been high on your list of to-dos until you saw this headline. After all, what impact could reading faster really have on your day-to-day life? As it turns out, quite a bit.
135
Businesses

The Impact of the God Complex on Leadership Skills

If there’s one complaint that employees have about their tech startup leader, Mark, it’s that he has a raging God complex.
218
Businesses

How Long Should a Post Be in 2018?

If you’re planning to leverage content marketing to your advantage (and, if you’re not, you should be!), you’re likely looking for an answer to this one important question: How long should a post be?
110
Businesses

How to Create a Digital Signature and Sign Documents Electronically

When it comes to conveniently signing important documents, an electronic or digital signature is a must-have.
152
Productivity

Stop Feeling Overwhelmed at Work With These 5 Actionable Tricks

There’s one thing you know: You want to stop feeling overwhelmed at work. But, when it comes to actually making that happen, it seems impossible.
35
Productivity

Deliberate Practice: Effectively Learn New Skills in 6 Easy Steps

Deliberate practice makes perfect.
153
Teams

Top 7 Video Chat Apps for Video Conferencing

Anyone who hosts meetings today knows that they need to constantly be on the lookout for solid video chat apps to help their conversations run smoother.
184
Businesses

Top 11 Tech Podcasts You Should Check Out in 2018

When you’re aiming to stay on top of your tech game, there’s nothing like listening to a few enlightening and insightful tech podcasts to get your creative juices flowing.
210
Businesses

Top 7 Landing Page Best Practices for Higher Conversions

Without a doubt, you want your landing page to be effective—which means you’re constantly on the hunt for some landing page best practices you can implement to inspire your visitors to take action.
213
Businesses

Top 7 Email Marketing Services for Small Businesses in 2018

Like so many other marketers or entrepreneurs, when it comes to promoting your brand, you’re always on the lookout for the best email marketing services that can get your products in front of more eyeballs.
172
Businesses

7 Most Creative Startup Pitch Deck Examples

The pitch deck is an essential element for any startup that’s aiming to state its case, highlight its potential, and secure outside funding from potential investors.
199
Businesses

5 Low-Cost B2B Lead Generation Strategies for 2018

When it comes to B2B marketing, there are plenty of hurdles that you need to overcome. But, the one that requires you to put in the most effort? Without a doubt, it’s B2B lead generation.
137
Teams

5 Ways to Increase Workplace Flexibility in 2018

Why is workplace flexibility such a hot topic nowadays? There are plenty of challenges and hurdles that companies need to overcome. 
215
Teams

11 Team Collaboration Tools to Implement in 2018

From small teams to large teams or remote teams to co-located teams, there seems to be one challenge that plagues all of them: keeping everybody on the same page – even with the best team collaboration tools.
289
Businesses

7 Best Social Media Analytics Tools for 2018

As a marketer, you know there’s one tool in your toolbox that you simply can’t live without: data. Social media analytics tools help you use those metrics, numbers, and graphs to better understand your audience and craft marketing strategies that will resonate with them best.
100
Businesses

11 Best Social Media Contest Ideas to Get More Brand Exposure

Social media contests can be incredibly powerful for you to leverage in your own marketing efforts.
296
Businesses

Marketing vs. Advertising vs. PR: 3 Key Differences You Need to Know About

When it comes to marketing vs. advertising, it’s challenging to know exactly what the difference is. After all, from public relations to sales to publicity, there are so many different terms that are used interchangeably to describe activities that all contribute to a larger, shared goal.
155
Businesses

5 Simple Tips to Get Customer Reviews For Your Product

When it comes to getting customer reviews for your product, there’s one thing you already know: Word-of-mouth marketing is undeniably powerful.
0
Businesses

How to Market a Product in 7 Easy Steps

You have a brand new product that you’re sure will be a hit. That’s great news! But how to market your new product? …
205
Businesses

8 Tips to Build an Outstanding Web Developer Portfolio

When it comes to landing a gig or position as a web developer, there are two key things you’ll need: the necessary skills and a killer online web developer portfolio to prove you actually have them.
166
Businesses

How to Fire a Client (Nicely!)

Breaking up is hard to do. Never does that sentiment ring more true than when you’re considering how to fire a client that’s causing you major headaches.
306
Teams

Reaching Your Limit: How to Manage Design Change Requests

You’ve redesigned a website for a client—let’s call him Joe. You send over the link to the staging site so that he can take a look at what you’ve done so far. Overall, Joe is happy with it (or so he says…). But, then comes the inevitable onslaught of design change requests.
194
Teams

6 Tips to Be an Effective Project Manager (Without Micromanaging)

As a project manager, you want your team (not to mention your project!) to be successful. So, as a result, you feel the need to keep a watchful eye on every single thing that’s happening.
157
General

5 Things You and Your Web Development Client Should Agree On (Before Ever Getting Started!)

Web development is a creative process. So, when it comes to your relationships with your clients, it can be tempting to leave yourself a little wiggle room.
214
Teams

How to Strike a Balance Between Proactive and Reactive Product Management

When it comes to being a successful product manager, you have a lot to juggle. You’re generating ideas, fielding feedback, answering questions, and leading your team to launch the latest and greatest things.
187
Teams

6 Tips to Attract Your Ideal Web Development Clients

You invested your blood, sweat, tears, and insane levels of creativity into developing a site for an awesome client—let’s call them Client A—that you were working with.
182
Teams

Change Management: How to Deal With Changes in Your Team

Change can be good, and change management can be bad. But, regardless of your specific circumstances, there’s one thing that change always is on your project team: disruptive.
180
General

4 Surefire Ways to Set Yourself Apart From Your Web Design Competition

Your quality of work might always be high, there’s still one big thing that you and your web design agency struggle with: setting yourself apart from web design competition.
145
Teams

Your Guide to Defining Clear Project Objectives for Your Team

As a project manager, the success and failure of projects objectives that you set for your team rests all on your shoulders. No pressure, right?
144
Teams

5 Tips to Managing Conflicting Opinions In Product Development

As a product manager, a core piece of your job is collecting feedback and then putting it to work to improve your product development strategy.
303
Teams

Difficult Web Design Clients: 5 Things to Keep in Mind

There’s the web design client who keeps requesting endless changes. The one who disappears for weeks on end when you have questions you need answered. The one who constantly wants to haggle over prices. The one who doesn’t like your design—but can’t explain why. Sound familiar?
115
Teams

How to Get Customer Feedback (Even When You’re Short on Time)

Ask any product manager about how they set priorities, and all of them will be quick to mention customer feedback.
281
General

5 Communication Challenges Web Developers Face With Clients (and How to Fix Them)

How easy would your days be if you could spend hour after hour parked in front of your computer—with your earbuds in—just building websites? Like many web developers, those exact visions likely filled your mind when you decided to pursue a career in this field.