Should a trainee copywriter work for free?

I received an email this week.

*cue dramatic music in manner of cheesy quiz show*

It talked of an "exciting opportunity," a "fascinating project" that offered me "amazing experience"...

Hand washing, mummy guilt and caring too much

Hand washing - The proof!

"I don't have to wash my hands when I wee!"

This was the delightful (and not entirely true) information my nearly 3 year old chose to impart to our new neighbour this evening!

It was an unfortunate turn of events. Neighbour was showing us round his house. Toddler wanted a wee. We went downstairs, did the business with no real input from either of us other than me lifting him on and off the toilet. Toddler got upset, I mean chin-wobblingly, silent-sobbingly upset, as he apparently hadn't finished looking upstairs. It was late, past bedtime, it wasn't worth a fight, so just that once (m'lud!) we eschewed the usual hand washing in favour of another quick nose around the house, and a happy Toddler!

No biggie.

Until Neighbour asks him if he washed his hands...

‘Tis the season to be positive

Positively prickly holly

Do you sometimes feel you’re surrounded by negativity?

Negative stories in the press, ear-bashings from colleagues, ranting and raving posts from friends and family on Facebook. The list goes on…

And some of that must rub off, right?

Put your positivity to the test

How positive have you felt over the last 24 hours?

Take this 2-minute positivity test – you might be surprised at the results.

How we are affected by negativity around us 

Being around negativity has an effect on us.

Use your weapons wisely - Cialdini's 6 principles & a story from Bali

What do you picture when you think of Bali?

White beaches, turquoise seas, mysterious temples?

In 2001, I headed off across the world with a couple of friends, to see for myself. It was indeed paradise, but while we were there something happened that I’ve never made sense of…Until last week!

Bloggers - Move on over to Canva

Regular readers of this blog will know that I have a tendency towards faddy obsession. Exhibit A - Twitter!

I have often been a bit stumped when it comes to finding new ways to produce graphics for my posts. I've tinkered a little with Photoshop, but never having time to get my head around it I’ve often resorted to using photos straight from the iPhone. Or, worse, screen grabs from a Word document, when I’ve needed a picture in a hurry for a blog or social media post.

But not anymore!

Here's looking at you, text

I saw this advert on Twitter earlier, with someone noting it contained an 'orphan'.

Can you spot it?

I stared at the advert for a while before I worked out (with a little help from the big G) what an orphan was and indeed where it was on the advert. Having done a little research I’m not sure that this is technically an orphan. But nevertheless once I'd spotted the lone word ‘soak’ on the third line, I couldn’t help but think the paragraph would read better without that unnatural break in the sentence.

It bothers me that it doesn't quite look right, and could so easily have been corrected!

It’s not just me, is it?

Perfectionism is spelled paralysis

Oct 2014 progress update

Month: 7/12 (58%)
Chapters completed: 10 / 21 (47%)
Assignments completed: 6/ 11 (55%)

I know, I know…I need to speed up if I’m going to get through the course in a year.

And yes, yes, rap me over the knuckles again, I have barely updated this blog over the last couple of months. I want to blame all sorts of things like working hard, selling my house and buying a new one, and answering 74 "why" questions from Toddler on a daily basis (no exaggeration)! 

But do you know what? Yes I have been doing all those things, but actually the reason I've been struggling seems to be the  dreaded confidence bug again!

What can we really learn from the 'YouTubers'?

Its difficult to look at Twitter these days without seeing something about the new breed of You Tube stars, how amazing they are and how they're all planning to publish books soon...Oh, and how much they can teach us about branding and marketing! 

I spent a bit of my lunch hour the other day reading this article, Five behaviours marketers can learn from the new YouTube stars from Marketing UK. And then I wished I hadn't, because I spent most of my afternoon staring at spreadsheets with this blog post buzzing around inside my head…

These are the ‘lessons for marketers’ highlighted by the article:

Why attitude is all important

It is often said, when you fall off a bike you should get straight back on again.

Get back on the bike*

Obviously, in reality, if you fall off your bike that’s the last thing you want to do. Your instant reaction is to retreat into a corner to lick your wounds in peace while you wait for the embarrassed red flush to fade. 

To be able to get back on the bike you need to dust yourself down, work out what went wrong, maybe practise a bit, and make sure you do it better next time.

Easy to say. But hiding is not going to help you do that!

Social media for business - A blessing or a curse?

Social media is one of the quickest ways to market your new business these days. Brands are constantly told that Twitter, Facebook and the like are not only useful, but essential.

But, if you are considering a foray into social media marketing for your business, I say proceed with caution!

Let me tell you a sweet story…