A kitchen remodeling project is an exciting venture, but as most homeowners soon discover, the actual process can be dauntingly complex. To ease your apprehension about starting your own kitchen remodel, we’ve asked our Diamond Certified Expert Contributors to break down the essential aspects of the process and provide some helpful insights. Read more

Back in 2011, Chris Bjorklund, the Savvy Consumer, wrote the original version of this article. Kitchens have changed since then, but the sentiment is timeless: for those of us who live in the Bay Area, there simply isn’t room for space wasters in the kitchen. With that, read on to learn how to replace those space wasters with space savers.

Out: Kitchen desks

In her original post, Chris mentioned that the only family member to ever use her kitchen desk was the dog. Even in 2011, laptops and cellular devices were making traditional desks obsolete. Read more

Click HERE to download a PDF of “The 21 Most Popular Uses of Diamond Certified”

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The other night, I was watching one of my new favorite TV shows, “Black Mirror.” If you’re unfamiliar with the series, it features stories that explore the social implications of how technology might be used in the not-too-distant future. Usually, it’s about how certain technology can lead to disastrous situations when misused, but some episodes take a more optimistic perspective.

The episode I watched, “Nosedive,” is about a society where every individual gets rated on an app based on each encounter they have with a person or business. Their overall rating dictates their socioeconomic status and allows them to earn certain benefits. The main character is a woman who wants a high score in order to qualify for a luxury apartment, Read more

One-one thousand, two-one thousand, three-one thousand, four-one thousand. That’s how quickly prospective clients judge your company. In just four seconds, your company has made a first impression, and after four minutes, that impression has solidified. And although this impression can change during the course of an interaction, getting the first impression right gives you a huge competitive advantage. In the first four minutes, your potential customers are quickly answering these subconscious questions about your company: Read more

In my family, August has always meant “back to school” time. Now that one of my daughters is in college and on the quarter system, she doesn’t start until September, but that doesn’t change the fact that August is still a great time to plan for the rest of the year. I think this is common for most families. People are back from their summer vacations and starting to plan their projects for the upcoming months. Whether it’s major car repairs, home remodeling jobs or health checkups they’ve been putting off, this is the time of year when people make the calls.

If you qualify for Diamond Certified, you’ll be in a unique position because you’ll have access to tools that make your company stand out from your competitors and help you capture the best consumers who will keep you busy through the typically slower months of the fall and winter. Read more