SoFi Blog

When you work hard, you want to play hard. We get it. You deserve to enjoy the finer things in life, and you can have them—you just have to be smart and strategic with your spending. Sticking to a budget while saving toward financial goals doesn’t mean you can’t splurge a little. In this, our first story in a series on spending hacks, we get you started. With some savvy tweaks and an eye for planning ahead, you can have what you want.

There’s a reason that you consistently buy your coffee from the same place or insist on only using Apple products. Sure, part of it may be your great taste. But your favorite companies have also created successful and compelling corporate brands, which communicate exactly what they’re about and what you can expect.

Whether you’re embarking on (or knee-deep in) a job search, or you just want to be prepared for your next move, you likely know how to use LinkedIn, and how important it is to have a strong LinkedIn profile in order to achieve your career goals. But does your own profile actually reflect that?

Last month, we hosted a SoFi member event in Los Angeles with special guest Johanna Maska, who shared details of her impressive career, including serving as Director of Press Advance for the Obama administration and Vice President of Marketing for the Los Angeles Times.

As someone who knows more than just a few things about transitioning big, Ms. Maska was the perfect guest speaker for our members, whose career paths are anything but traditional. Familiar with good and bad twists and turns, and some really wild rides, our members were wholly tuned in as she told her stories.

Personal branding—the practice of educating key decision-makers about your unique value—is more important now than ever. Yet, getting a good grasp of the techniques used to build a personal brand can be tricky. How is a personal brand best created? How does one begin to understand its principles? And where should the line between branding and self-promotion be drawn? We’ve got answers.