The Blog
The emotions, actions and thought processes of my creative work.
This is where I share what I’m doing and why, how I’m thrashing out problems and what I’m trying to achieve.
On Being Brave In Your Work
In the middle of June I went to the Blogtacular conference in London, an opportunity to go listen to some talks and meet some online chums. As always, in the break after sessions people ask what talk you’ve just been to and whether it was any good.
Instagram Photography Tips: How To Compose Your Photos
There is no doubt that my business has been built off the back of my photographs. Yes, my blog and content has been vital too, but almost always my photos on Instagram are the first thing that people find, and draw them in to learn more. And really, I’m an amateur photographer – I shoot on Auto (and previously, an old iPhone) and, to be honest, find the technical stuff a bit boring and, well, technical.
5 Simple Living Shifts For Summer
What kind of a season is summer? With it's endless, cloudless days, sticky drips of ice cream and overhead buzz and flutter of transient birds and insects? It's a season, to me, of both rest and projects. After a spring of 'hustle' and growth there is now space and opportunity to enjoy the fruits of that labour, while this same space reinvigorates inspiration and creativity and brings new ideas to the fore.
Creative Crossroads: Choosing A New Direction For Your Business
What kind of a season is summer? With it's endless, cloudless days, sticky drips of ice cream and overhead buzz and flutter of transient birds and insects? It's a season, to me, of both rest and projects. After a spring of 'hustle' and growth there is now space and opportunity to enjoy the fruits of that labour, while this same space reinvigorates inspiration and creativity and brings new ideas to the fore.
Why I’m Starting A Podcast
What kind of a season is summer? With it's endless, cloudless days, sticky drips of ice cream and overhead buzz and flutter of transient birds and insects? It's a season, to me, of both rest and projects. After a spring of 'hustle' and growth there is now space and opportunity to enjoy the fruits of that labour, while this same space reinvigorates inspiration and creativity and brings new ideas to the fore.
Grow With Soul Podcast
My brand new podcast, Grow With Soul, is coming on Friday 6th July.
How To Plan Your Own Micro-Adventures - with Victorinox*
[Sponsored content] Over the last month I’ve been undertaking a series of micro-adventures as part of Victorinox’s Modern Pathfinder campaign, and you know what? It’s been one big realisation for me about this whole simple living thing. I’ve written before about how I always feel like I need to be doing more in order to be slow living ‘properly’, and this is something I find very difficult to shake.
Why People Engage Less With Sponsored Content, and What We Can Do About It
Last week, I had a bit of a paddy about Instagram. For about five seconds I thought about my deleting my account, but mostly I just felt glum after a picture bombed.
6 Month Goal Check In - Let's Do It Together
This week is the summer solstice, the halfway point of the year. Rather than get in a flap about ‘WHERE THE HELL HAS THIS YEAR GONE?!’, I thought it would perhaps be more productive to do a six month check in on the goals I set for my business back in January.
A 'Follow Your Curiosity' Weekend Getaway
How I’ve been agonising about the first line of this post! How to communicate in a pithy hook of a sentence the magnitude of a weekend spent in deep conversation and contemplation, following creative curiosity and changing my whole approach and understanding of my work. On this weekend I learned so much about myself and how my past is still affecting my present, and took away some really life-transforming lessons.
How To Structure Your Marketing Plan
A question I’m often asked is “how do I do a marketing plan?”. Marketing plans are one of those things that we somehow know that we need, but, as with most things marketing, the advice and templates out there are complex, confusing and overwhelming.
Why Is Slow Living So Hard To Write About?
It’s been quite a while since I’ve written anything lifestyle-y here (and completely ignoring my own advice about balancing content in the process). Over the last few months I’ve found it really hard to come up with ideas for writing about slow living. When I’m talking about marketing I’ve got it down; I know exactly what I want to say, what people want to hear and how I can provide value.
How To Be The CEO In Your Creative Business
Whatever the stage you’re at in your business, we all forget to take a step back and be the CEO sometimes. It might be that you’re so bogged down in the day to day of emails, calls and projects that it’s been months since you stopped to take stock of where you’re going.
What I Learned Hosting Workshops & Event Planning Tips For Your Own Workshop
Over four weeks in April and May I hosted three workshops in different corners of the country. As a start to spring this was immersive, intense, overwhelming but also completely inspiring.
6 Ways To Bring Your Personality Into Your Marketing And Feel Comfortable Doing It
Injecting their personality into their brand is a conversation I seem to have over and over again with my coaching clients – should they do it, do they want to do it, and how to do it. It’s a tricky balance: most of us are pretty introverted so the idea of bearing ourselves, of having us at the centre of our business and plastered across our channels can be pretty daunting.
Create Loyal Customers – Setting Up A CRM Strategy For Your Creative Business
There always seems to be an emphasis in online marketing advice on getting more customers. Everyone wants to expand their audiences, grow their email lists, find new people to sell to. The same emphasis is not placed on how you’re going to nurture those customers when you’ve got them.
Why You Need To Stop Using The Instagram Algorithm As An Excuse
We need to talk about the algorithm. It feels like every day I see someone (usually a blogger, usually on Twitter) bemoaning what the algorithm has done to their Instagram numbers.
How To Make Your Content Marketing Work Harder
What is the number one reason content marketing doesn’t happen in your business? I’m willing to bet that it’s because ‘it’s time consuming’. But let’s think about other things that are time consuming in your business – making or sourcing your products, responding to emails, doing client work.
8 Easy Ways To Boost Your Soup - with Centrepoint's The Big Broth*
How many times have you looked at a bowl of soup and thought that it’s actually going to save your life? Perhaps when you’ve been poorly and through the piles of tissues and cloud of germs a loved one emerges carrying a bowl of steaming nourishment.
How To Create an Inspiring and Engaging Brand Story
The phrase ‘brand story’ gets bandied around a lot and it’s one of those marketing phrases that no one questions yet no one fully understands. For me, a brand story is essentially a USP, but a USP with flesh and bones and heart.