News
Go Freelance
Mar 5th
Having mentioned my podcast with Freelance Advisor, I mustn’t forget to tell you about their comprehensive and very readable guide to freelancing, Go Freelance, which has just been revised and updated for 2010. It covers everything you’d ever ask about going it alone, from getting started and understanding the legalities, to getting paid – and what to do if clients aren’t paying – to staying motivated when things get tough. All completely free and almost 2000 people have downloaded it already, which says a lot.
Inspiration and entrepreneurs
Mar 1st
I’m always going on about the necessity of getting out frequently when you work from home and I’m really looking forward to Sunday, when I’ll be attending an Inspired Entrepreneur event in London with Nick Williams and Judy Piatkus.
Nick’s expertise is in helping people to overcome the conditioning many of us have received that work is something you have to do to pay the bills and fund the things you like doing in your time off. He helps people to identify their unique combination of skills and talents and find ways of earning money while using these and enjoying themselves. I have known Nick for 10 years, since I sold my cleaning business, and over the last couple of years he has helped me enormously in shaping the vague ideas I had about building a business related to home working.
I find I benefit from his events in several ways – because the quality of the information is topnotch, coming as it does from Nick’s own experience, because there are always interesting and supportive people there, and just because it’s so refreshing to get out of my normal environment and spend a day in the big city!
This time Nick is talking about making the often scary move from employee to Inspired Entrepreneur and in the ticket price you also get a workbook and 12 interviews on CD – and do you know, one of them is of me! Oops, just noticed there are only two places left, so if it sounds interesting, you’d better book quickly!
In the afternoon Judy Piatkus (who founded Piatkus Books from her back bedroom) will reveal the six biggest trends of the next two years, and how you and your business can take advantage of them. I am fascinated by trends and have been on the alert for them since years ago I read a book called The Popcorn Report, which predicted many trends that have since become commonplace – for example, the rise of ‘foodaceuticals’, where food such as butter spread contains ingredients with health benefits, the growing popularity of foreign foods, and the retreat to the home as a refuge from the scary things happening in the world. I can’t wait to hear Judy’s’ take on what’s happening now.
In the pod
Feb 19th
We’re presently trying to find out where to host some audio clips I want to put on the site, with little progress to date. But I’m pleased to say you can listen immediately to me talking about the challenges of working from home by going to Freelance Advisor, an excellent site full of good advice for anyone already working as a freelancer or contemplating taking the plunge.
The podcast came about as a result of the spontaneous call I made to Radio Bristol after receiving a tweet one snowy morning telling me the subject under discussion was working at home in bad weather. Somehow the editor of Freelance Advisor heard the clip and invited me to do the podcast. And all accomplished sitting at my desk at home – amazing!
‘What do you do?’
Feb 18th
Just lately a few people have asked me ‘What do you actually do?’ or ‘How do you make a living?’ and those are very fair questions, as at the moment there is nothing on the website that gives any indication!
The answer is that I have been working first on the content of the site, on linking to other sites that are good resources for home workers and on building up traffic. I’m now at the point where I’m almost ready to offer products and services, while still regularly adding new pages of information.
One thing I have been working on is provisionally titled the Work from Home Audit, and is a 30 or 60 minute phone or Skype conversation to assess how happy you are with what you’re currently achieving in your home working role, and to discuss ways of improving things. The people who have been helping me trial this have been delighted with the results and moved their businesses on noticeably.
I also give talks and workshops about home working to groups and at events, and again I’m preparing information about this. At the moment, apart from the occasional help of the patient and long-suffering A, it’s just me producing all this stuff so progress is always slower than I’d like, bearing in mind I have very little patience and would ideally like to bring every idea into being as soon as I think of it!
And a postscript to that Victor vitriol
Feb 12th
Just as I was thinking I’m probably paranoid (too much working at home probably), I came across an article on remoteemployment.com about how being a home worker could have an adverse effect on your credit rating. Take a look and bear it in mind next time you fill out an application – the tiniest, most innocent-seeming detail could have an impact on whether you are successful or not.
The tweetometer stands at 1000
Jan 31st
My observant coworking friend Lee Cottier pointed out the other day that I have now sent out more than 1000 tweets. I wasn’t keeping count, so the total was a surprise. It would be good if you could attach a tweetometer to the side of your computer and watch the tweets roll up, just like the miles on a car!
Passing 1000 tweets made me think back on all the people and information Twitter has brought me in just over five months. For a start, it was where I found out about Jelly and then met or connected with many interesting people who can see the possibilities in coworking. I now have lots of Jelly information on the site and it’s exciting to know that it’s being read, and recommended, by coworking spaces in the US where Jelly originated.
I find it quite staggering that I can tweet a short message from the West Country here in the UK that is instantly picked up by like-minded people on the west coast of America. This really is the best time in history to be starting and running a business.
Jelly goes Enterprise Nation-wide
Jan 25th
Excellent news to start my home working week! My new page on starting your own Jelly has been featured on Enterprise Nation, the site for people setting up and developing a business from home. I have been posting on the EN forum for a while and exchanging the occasional tweet with Emma Jones, the site’s founder, but I’m thrilled to get such prominent billing as her site is visited by thousands of home business owners, many of whom will benefit from learning about Jelly.
Take a look at Enterprise Nation for tips and advice on any aspect of running a home business. If you can’t immediately find what you’re after, you can post a question on the forum and will undoubtedly get a response that will point you in the right direction, whether it’s facts you need or a bit of support and reassurance.
Just do one thing at a time!
Jan 21st
I’m pleased to say my advice to myself worked and I was able to get stuck into my new webpage on how to start your own Jelly. It’s now published apart from some pictures I’m waiting for A to put on as we have a glitch with the site that means pictures have to go on the server first…or something. Something that I need to stay well away from, anyway!
I’ve written the new page in response to all the questions about Jelly and coworking that have been coming in to me and Lee Cottier, who organises Jelly in Bristol and Bath. It seems that although the idea of coworking has been around in the UK for a few years, it’s now really taking off. Timing is all.
Having completed this, I’m keen now to crack on with my page for freelance writers working from home.
Hanging on the telephone
Jan 13th
The telephone seems to be the the theme of today. I was here at the keyboard this morning ready to tell you about the teleseminar I’m doing next week with Inspired Entrepreneur founder Nick Williams, when I received a tweet telling me Radio Bristol were doing a phone-in on working from home at that very moment.
So I googled their phone number and minutes later was chatting to radio show host Graham Torrington about how British businesses can be persuaded to let more staff work from home! Certainly gave me a buzz to start the day on! It’s about five minutes and you can listen again – start the recording at 40 minutes 20 seconds.
Anyway, back to the teleseminar. Nick Williams helps people sick of working just to pay the bills to find their real purpose in life and start making plans to earn a living from it. He runs courses and events and also calls on a range of experts well-respected in their fields. I’ve benefited enormously from their experience and will be recommending some of them in future pages.
So I’m very honoured that Nick has asked me to be part of his programme. The teleseminar is next Monday evening – not much notice, but the recording will be available afterwards – and we’ll be talking about how to get the very best from working from home. Which just happens to be one of my favourite activities, so I’m really looking forward to it!
Snow joke for business – unless you work from home
Jan 7th
The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) estimates that £600 million will be lost by British business during the icy weather due to employees not being able to get to work or having to stay at home to look after their children because of school closures. It’s also suggested that 2000 businesses may go bust as a direct result of the bad weather.
That is very bad news in an already struggling economy and I have huge sympathy for the individuals affected. I also hope that there may be some longer-term beneficial consequences if more British businesses start to realise that allowing staff to work from home is not just a nice perk but actually makes sound financial sense.
Businesses would be so much more able to cope with any kind of unexpected situation, whether internal, local or national, if more of their staff had a home office already set up and were familiar with the demands of working from home. I’m not naive enough to think everyone can do it, but I do believe it’s time to let go of the old suspicious attitudes and the need to manage people by having them physically present.
