Running to keep up your skills?
Ever had the feeling that everything's changing too fast for your skills to keep up? If you haven't, then take it from me that it comes with age. I may feel like a 23-year-old when I'm having a good day, but my passport wouldn't agree... And - as the old joke has it -...
Helping your client get what they need
'Helping' your client? 'Educating' your client? 'Collaborating with' your client? Are those all polite ways to talk about 'telling the client what they need to do'? Perhaps, in a way, they are. But even when your relationship with a client is at its most frustrating,...
Public speaking for beginners
What scares you? In fact, what scares you the most? How about death? Scary enough? Failure. Does that worry you? Then, of course, there's pain. No one loves pain. But in a well-known survey... ...one fear topped them all. The fear of public speaking. And death? That...
Embracing change
What happens when the whole basis for your business - disappears...? You really have just two options: to close the business, or to take the plunge by embracing change. If you've read my earlier piece - All change? - you'll know what I'm talking about. In it I...
All change?
Change, in business, is something that comes with the territory. Mostly because if it doesn't, the business won't survive. There's a (very) old joke among typographers about the Latin tag 'in perpetua floreat nihil'. Which they translate as 'nothing looks good in...
Talking the talk – writing for the spoken word
We don't speak in the same way that we write. So if you're writing something that's going to be read aloud, you need to think a little differently. Short sentences. Ungrammatical constructions. (Or, at least, not strictly grammatical.) Careful word choice. (No...
Video? Let the pictures do the talking
Video is a visual medium. Yes? Well, obviously. But in my experience many senior executives have a serious problem understanding that. And I say that after spending around thirty years of my life as a visual scriptwriter... 'The CEO just wants to add his input...'...
New Year, new motivation
New Year is back, and it's time for a couple of resolutions. So here's one for every writer. Whatever it is you're writing. 'Don't forget to write!' Seriously. Don't. Especially if you work from home. Because if you do, your typical writing day might go something like...
Email lists – where small is beautiful…
How will GDPR affect your email list? In this blog I've often talked about the importance of your email list. Explained why it's a key business asset. Why building and maintaining it is so important. And why you need to nurture it. Well - now you need to...
Cleaning your email list – with GDPR in mind…
If you're sending out email newsletters, you may (or may not) have some concerns about the new rules coming in under the General Data Protection Regulations - otherwise known as GDPR. And yes, I know you've seen a lot about this already - but bear with me...
