A few years before Covid-19 hit, I wrote a couple articles that included "lists" in them for a website that approved articles with lists in them (if they felt your articles would be a good fit for their website they'd pay you for it & publish it on their website). One of the articles I wrote was "11 things you'd never think to buy at Ross Dress for Less store". I am now able to re-purpose this article as I applied for a freelance position that I saw posted on LinkedIn yesterday (& applied that same day) that is looking for freelancers with expertise in the personal finance vertical. (Recall freelance writing positions is another way I grow my business. They are for one time projects, a specified timeframe (contract), or ongoing). The position I applied for is looking for multiple individuals who can:

• Seamlessly weave expertise & hands-on experience within SEO content
• Makes personal finance topics personable
• Apply coaching & feedback
• Hit the ground running

One of their questions in the application for this position asked for 3 longform article links that you either wrote or edited. I was sure to provide articles that I've written in the financial arena (since that's what they are looking for in the position), however, one of the articles of the 3, I provided the Ross article because one of the questions in the application asked if I had experience writing articles using my own experience (that Ross article was a perfect example). 🙂

Since that article wasn't published anywhere, I edited it (since it was written a few years before Covid-19 hit, I had to take out the part about "it's doing well" (I have no idea how the store has been since) and the purpose of the article wasn't about how well it's doing financially so it wasn't relevant for me to do current research & update that. I then posted the article to the "Blog" page on my business website & now it's a published article. I hope you're taking notes (free coaching) was just provided on how you can get creative when applying for jobs & you may need a published writing sample. 🙂 Sure, you may not have a business website with a blog page (like me) but you can get even more creative and post it on LinkedIn as an article and then get the link to that article to share as a writing sample in your job application OR you can create a blog for free to post it at for example, blogger.com and then get the link to the post on your blog of your written article.

I figured it'd be nice to have some public comments to my Ross article for when the hiring manager/team reviews my article samples, plus why wouldn't I want to increase readership to my business website in general? 😊 Here's the direct link to the "11 things you'd never think to buy at Ross Dress for Less store" article: http://www.worksolutionstoday.com/blog/11-things-youd-never-think-to-buy-at-ross-dress-for-less

Thank you in advance for making productive and appropriate comment(s)/question(s) for my article post. 🙂🙏 By doing this, you'd be helping me out and supporting a small business which by the way, did you know Small Business Week this year was April 28 - May 4? (According to Google, every year since 1963 U.S. Presidents have issued a small business proclamation to recognize the contributions of entrepreneurs and small business owners).

In honor of this Asian, etc. month (didn't want to repeat everything above) 🙂 I'm reminded of an article that I wrote about the Tacoma Chinese Reconciliation Park that you can read it here: https://www.southsoundtalk.com/2015/02/16/tacoma-chinese-reconciliation-park/
​
I also thought the following screensaver (below) was appropriate to share for this month as well.

Visit the (above)👆 link for my recent post and click the left arrow button (only arrow next to the header at the top of my page discussing the blog's purpose) OR visit: https://corona-virus-awarenessandsupport.blogspot.com/ and see them all.


Once there, don't forget to click the "READ MORE" blue text in the bottom right-hand corner of each blog post when you visit the above link to see my whole post.


Below are just screenshots of what it looks like at my blog NOT a direct link to it so clicking on the image below will NOT take you there. 👇

1.   Sign into Blogger.com (it's free to create/have a blogger.com account).
2.   In the left menu, click Reading list.
3.   In the top right, click Manage reading list.
4.   Click Add.
5.   Type "corona-virus-awarenessandsupport.blogspot.com" to follow. Please note those are dashes in my blog's web address and NOT underscores.
6.   Click Next.
7.   Choose whether to follow publicly or anonymously.
8.   Click Follow.

I'd also love it if you would make productive & appropriate comments to my posts at this blog. To post comments, you would click the "Post a comment" button right below my post OR clicking in the "Enter a comment" box which is also at the bottom of my post. I've enabled it so that even those who don't have Google accounts can post comments. 🙂
​
When you are at my blog, you can share my posts (individually if you want to share a specific one) to someone else by clicking the sideways triangle with circles at the end in the upper-right hand corner of the post. I've provided a screenshot below with a red circle around the "Share" button that I'm referring to. Once you click on that button, it gives you options to get the link to my post, or share the post via Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or email it directly to someone.

Thank you in advance for supporting my blog and I in the ways that I listed (above). 🙂🙏




Thank you,


Carly Calabrese

I help unhappy/unchallenged professionals land their dream career (whether it's starting a business or otherwise)

Email me: [email protected]

Work Solutions - "Providing career assistance/coaching/prep, business marketing, writing, editing, and LinkedIn services for individuals and freelance opportunities."

“Never let the fear of striking out stop you from playing the game."--Babe Ruth

Photo exterior of Ross (above) is courtesy of San Jose, CA's Yelp web page.

Ross Dress for Less is a well-known U.S. discounted department store selling various clothing and home items for families and individuals. The store has been around since August 1982, when six junior department stores in the San Francisco Bay area were acquired and converted into the Ross Dress for Less off-price format. It expanded into the Midwest in 2011, with an initial opening of 12 stores in the Chicago area. Ross Dress for Less raised its long-term potential from 1,500 to 2,000 locations.

Ross Dress for Less sells various types of clothing for men, women, babies, and children from maternity to plus size to everything in between. Shoes, apparel, lingerie, business, casual, and fitness clothing to home furnishings and decorations; to comforters, sheets, and towels.
 
11 things you would never think to buy at Ross Dress for Less, but should since it can be more affordable and better selection are: 

1. Garden tools – I’ve seen small hand shovels and gloves used to weed in the yard at the South Hill Puyallup, Washington Ross Dress for Less store.

2. Bottled water (the bottles are larger and are high quality) and affordable. I’ve seen in the front near the checkout line at the South Hill Puyallup, Washington Ross Dress for Less store.  

3. Unique/delicious snacks and desserts that are affordable. I’ve bought many gifts for others as well as for myself; some examples include: key lime cookies, skillet brownie sundaes, peppermint chocolate cookies, pumpkin spice cookies, etc.  

4. Toilet paper holders – Nice metal and copper colored toilet paper holders that store extra toilet paper in your bathroom in a presentable fashion.  

5. Electronics – USB devices, portable speakers for computers and phones, headphones, etc.  

6. Kitchen utensils  

7. Toys  

8. Paintings – nice quality paintings on canvas and other types of painting mediums that can nicely decorate your home.  

9. Soap – affordable, quality, nice scented hand soaps, lotions, and body washes.  

10. Hair accessories – tired of the immature child-like hair accessories sold at Walmart and Fred Meyer? Ross Dress for Less offers various hair accessories for adult women.

11. Luggage, purses, etc. are a great option to purchase at Ross Dress for Less when planning your next vacation or if you’re just in need of a new bag.  

​For more information and to find a Ross Dress for Less store near you, please visit: https://www.rossstores.com/.
 
By: Carly Calabrese


Carly Calabrese is a career coach for Work Solutions (the website you're presently at) and professional writer in Puyallup, WA. She's been published in the Tacoma Daily Index, Women's World Magazine (twice), the Eatonville Dispatch (Newspaper), SouthSoundTalk.com, Tacoma.com, the Tacoma Art Group, the Federal Way (Newspaper), South Sound Magazine, Showcase Media Magazine, the Business Examiner, & the Puyallup Herald (Newspaper). If you are an editor or know of an editor of a publication who hires freelance writers, please email her at: [email protected]. Thank you! 🙏😊