November 2010
4 posts
4 tags
Job Search Tip #11 | Bypass the online agency
If you use a lot of online jobsites, you’ll know that most of the jobs are being pushed by agencies. Agencies are ok, I don’t like them much - but they can be really helpful especially if you are looking for temping roles. In the main it’s best to stick to agencies with a specialism if you are looking for anything professional. If you want to avoid the agency - try this. Copy...
4 tags
G'is a job! 10 steps to shaking hands at interview
I had an interview yesterday. I was a little nervous but that’s normal. I checked the time and I located the office on a google map. So I was all set, except for the waiting to catch the bus into town. While I waited I thought I’d jot down my top tips for preparing for interview. Play to my strengths … Time was if I got the interview, I got the job. In the current climate - well...
4 tags
Forget your troubles c'mon get organised!
Right that’s it! I am officially swamped. I’ve got ideas coming out of my ears for online projects, short stories even iPhone aps. I’ve got a to-do list that spans interior decorating, shopping for birthday presents, blogging, exercising, setting up meetings, preparing for meetings, finding work, on and on. I also need to eat, sleep and watch Strictly.
My online footprint looks...
“It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing. Bop shoowop. Bop...”
– Irving Mills
October 2010
1 post
5 tags
Allotment Soup!
Our dear friend Kath has got an allotment. Most weekends I imagine our Kath can be found happily digging and pulling and planting and kerfuffling on her little veggie patch - helping mother nature make real food. Over the year we have pinned our expressions to ‘mildly interested’ while listening to tales of muck shippments, allotment politics and the correct way to lay out your onions....
September 2010
1 post
3 tags
Social media and internal communications
I’ve just had a conversation about social media and it’s growth. We were specifically wondering about how companies can step into the space with confidence, now all the hype has died down - and colleagues have expectations and indeed expertise in these social communication channels.
Here’s my two bob’s worth…
For me social media offers the opportunity to engage in...
April 2010
2 posts
3 tags
Achooh! Mercy posting of killer cold remedy.
If the seasonal presto changeo of the weather has left you with a horrid sniffle | help is at hand. Here’s my kill or maim cold rescue remedy. It does taste nasty, but the effects are nearly as good as Class A drugs.
Send someone out to get these goodies:
1 large clove of garlic (peel and slice)
nub of ginger (around the same size as chubby garlic clove, peel and slice)
juice of half a...
Wilma Tenderfoot and the case of the frozen hearts...
We made these cookies today - after finishing the book last night, we decided to give them a go. They are especially good with a cup of peppermint tea to aid any deducting you may find you have to undertake.
As ususal we just went with what we had in the cupboard - so we put in some muscle building work with the pessle and mortar to make granulated sugar into caster sugar and we substituted...
March 2010
3 posts
5 tags
all the little birdies on jay bird street...
… love to hear the birdie go tweet tweet tweet!
(Here’s a more business focused post from late last year, it still holds true - while a lot of my online pals are in-bound marketing like good’uns - many small business owners are still a bit flumoxed by Twitter and unconvinced of how it might help them. If you are a fence sitter this post might encourage you to take another look....
5 tags
An old post revisited ... Prompted by artist fiona...
I thought today, to remind myself of past passions and posts - I would collect together a few scribbles from other places here. This little tumbler blog is my own sandpit, so I can do what I like. Today I’d like to remember stuff…
After two long stints living in Newcastle NSW where the artist community is as deep-dug into the rock as the old ockers who hollowed it out in the first...
4 tags
Peanut butter and chocolate cookies!
These are pnutty and sweet and if you add some proper chocolate chunks they’d be unbelievably delicious and fat makingly good. We ate them quick. They are of course, absolutely not suitable for people who suffer with nut allergies…
4 oz unsalted butter (but I never have that so don’t worry)
4oz soft brown sugar (which I also didn’t have so I used good for me lite...
January 2010
3 posts
5 tags
'easy as' biscuits
Ingredients
140g self raising flour
110g margarine/butter* (for nortypeeps)
40g sugar - granulated or caster* (you can use sugarlite)
¼ - ½ tsp ground ginger (depends on how gingery you like your snacks)
1 large egg (or milk)
Equipment
· Mixing bowl
· Baking tray
· fork
· Cool hands
Method
Turn your oven on for 180c.
Mix all your...
2 tags
Don't panic! You can do Social Media...
The New Year is in full swing and online bloggers, vloggers, microblaguers and taggers are all busy busy, predicting the next big thing. Marketers, Social Media gurus and hawkers at the front of the pack have already jumped onto their hastily built bandwagons and are hanging off the running boards, helpfully extending their well manicured paws ready to grab the cash as the rest of us poor slow...
Little Cheese Soup
This is an adaptation of a soup I used to make years ago from a long since lost recipe book. It’s changed so much over the years, I don’t think I’m breaking any sacred cookery witch codes by not citing the original source.
This one is based on parsnips - but you can make a mixed vegetable one - or butternut squash (although I’d use cheddar rather than stilton for these...
December 2009
3 posts
The Cool Hunter - McFancy & McMobile by Access... →
This is one of my favourite inspiration sources.
7 tags
when we were young
In a bid to slip the collar of everyone’s freshly minted Business Rules for Twitter users, I’ve been hunting for new backgrounds that please me, and I stumbled across a wallpaper collection by the supremely talented Barbara Hulanicki.
As I mentioned, I’m feeling rebellious. Nothing new there, I was born to be subversive - while my sister was trying hard to look like Farah...
November 2009
17 posts
5 tags
set like a jelly mate! | getting the best out of...
I’ve just stepped back from the kitchen counter after inhaling 2 bagels with good butcher’s ham and fried haloumi. I can hear you muttering ‘and your point is?…’ from here.
Well I’m glad you asked, it’s all about planning. Today I popped along to my second #jelly organised by Co-Working West in Bristol. I had planned to take my lunch and favourite...
“markets are conversations, talk is cheap, silence is fatal”
–
The Cluetrain Manifesto | locke, levine, searles, weinberger
4 tags
#brriSM4 from my sofa | hashtags & webstars
I was unexpectedly unable to attend #brrism4 tonight - thwarted by unseen forces I was obliged to remain at home this evening.
No matter, this evening this excellent social media network group were super organised, teched up, tricked out and ready to COMMUNICATE! Oh yes mate…
Apart from the fantastic ease of sending apologies via twitter to @brrism, I have been able to get a flavour of...
4 tags
“The most durable thing in writing is style, and style is the most valuable...”
– Raymond Chandler | A maxim for life too!
3 tags
“It’s not the customers you’re attracted to - it’s the...”
– upcoming blog on how to achieve focused customer attraction by louise david
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“If you want a retweet | tweet useful, funny, real and above all tweet short!”
– louise david | communication clever cloggs
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clear communication | it's a doddle
Being a jobbing copywriter you learn a thing or two about clear communication. There’s no big secret to it - but you’d be suprised how easy it is to drift off in an attempt to be different, exciting, unique and interesting.
Those qualities are all excellent - but what you really need to be is clear. If you’re facing a blank sheet today, try answering these questions on the...
4 tags
how to link your linkedin account to your twitter
Step 1: Visit LinkedIn.com and Click the Blue Twitter Button
Step 2: Allow LinkedIn to Connect to Your Twitter Account
Step 3: Make your Twitter account visible to everyone and decide if you would like some or all your Tweets sent to LinkedIn.
If you would only like a select few Tweets to be sent to your Linkedin,chose “Only Tweets that contain #in”. Now, only if you use the #in...
6 tags
Customer Complaints? - Go fish!
Some years ago, I came across the Fish Philospophy, in one of the most energising, fun and delightful team building sessions I’ve ever participated in about customer service. I’d like to share the key principles of this simple customer service approach here, as part of my contribution to Customer Complaints Day this Friday 13th November.
John Christensen came up with his customer...
10 tags
joined up thinking | it's not a new concept!
In the spirit of recycling -and on the back of the linkedin/twitter link up announcements - here is a post I prepared much much earlier (7th October 2009) on the subject of social media machinery.
Busy busy … I’ve been busy today, tidying up my online profile across a number of platforms. I always struggle with a collective noun for the blogs, microblogs, network profiles, share...
4 tags
simple narnabread
I got stuck with 5 well gone bananas this week - so I made this easy banana bread. If you’ve got a household of fussy bussys that won’t eat a banana with a brownspot on the skin - then this recipe is for you. Don’t be intimidated by baking. I never bake. Baking is for nannas and women with time to put on a pinny.
This is so quick and comes out so great, you can con yourself...
5 tags
Anj Foo's Pink Ginger Tea | Flu Remedy
If you’ve got the shivery blues, try my dear friend Anji’s easy Pink Ginger Tea. It’s pretty and good for you too. Accessorise with a huge warm blanky and your coziest jim-jams.
To make pink ginger tea:
Slice up 2-3 inches of fresh ginger. Put the ginger in a pot and cover it with about a quart of water…. Add 2-3 tablespoons of elderberry (frozen, canned, juice, syrup or...
5 tags
Jelly and Friends | What's not to love?
Yesterday I popped my digital nomad cherry and hooked up with a Jelly meeting in Bristol organised by Lee Cottier.
The idea of a Jelly meet is super simple. You rock up with your laptop, plug in and go! The meetings are free to attend, relaxed and informal. They offer the promise of accidental conversations with clever, engaged people and a chance to poke your head out of your front door and...
2 tags
Quick tip nicked from bnet blog
“Business writing is not an alien world that exists apart from other types of writing. Writing well for work actually relies on much the same techniques that make popular writing sing — the apt detail, the twist ending, that one little detail that gives you credibility.”
Jessica Stillman (bnet team)
4 tags
Writing style | quick tip
A great writing style for your business articles, blogs and letters is casual and conversational. Read your text aloud before you press that button. If your piece sounds like your natural tone in conversation, then it will flow well for your reader. If it sounds like you’re back in school reciting from a set text then it’s back for another edit for you my friend.
How to write a business list.
It’s no secret that I am sceptical about lists. Top tips for this, ten ways to achieve that, five things your mother didn’t tell you about men. 20 ways with your new sarong! They so often promise much and deliver very little, at least to the reader.
“Lists operate as a sort of comfort blanket, offering us a false sense of safety and protection in the folds of their familiar structures and the...
“Do or do not. There is no try.”
– Yoda
October 2009
17 posts
5 things I hate about lists...
1. Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics
Lists are about as useful and engaging as most statistics are without context. *82% of most lists are unoriginal, superficial, time-wasting nonsense. I read recently that lists are the most read of all blog posts. Hmm. That may explain why half the lists promising social media or marketing for business insight that turn up in my inbox are exactly the same...
“The British scientist Richard Dawkins introduced the word “meme” in...”
– Wondering what the Chihuly a meme is? Here’s Wikipedia on the subject. Glad we got that sorted out this morning…
4 tags
The party
Here’s my first attempt at a silly short for a flash friday writing project - given to me by Woodrow Phoenix were:the object (Statue of Liberty) and a location (platform 2 (eastbound) Moorgate Station. I wrote it in 45 mins and decided to publish it with minimal edits, just some basic proofs. I also didn’t check any of my facts!
The invitation …
Growing up I always wanted to...
3 tags
Turning up is hard to do...
Flushed with the happy I get when I set out to meditate and I manage more than 3 minutes without mentally wandering off to check the kitchen cupboards for breakfast opportunies; I arrived at my desk this morning wide open to inspiration.
“Hit me inspiration, take your best damn shot mate, right here on the noggin - crack me a good ‘un - I am so ready.” I don’t say this...
3 tags
“More than 8 out of 10 employers think that they are the first to tell their...”
– Randstad World of Work
5 Ways Sales People Can Use Twitter →
Showcasing the fantastically useful Hubspot blog. Don’t forget list posts are the most shared, eyeballs = opportunity = sales.
4 tags
“Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it”
– George Santayana|philosopher
To The End Of The Pencil And The Edge Of The Page →
Adorable french artist convincing me to use up my pencils and my notebooks. Waste is well wastefull…
conversations with communication professionals →
I contributed to a thread on LinkedIn yesterday, someone asked the question ‘Has social media robbed conversation of its meaning’. I wrote about evolution in communications and later that same day… Michael Corbett the architect of #brrsm a rag tag group of social media enthusiasts in the south west introduced the concept of ‘monkeybrain’ into our discussions about...
connect to my communication business website here →
4 tags
8 tips to get cute with social media and colleague...
Don’t dismiss Social Media
While social media flag wavers, stamp their feet in annoyance at the ‘slow to adopt’ businesses still staring at their feet and marketing departments, engage each other in worried, excited conversations about adding online channels to the marketing mix without the comfort of traditional metrics to hide behind – I’m wondering why the internal communication...
“”
– Wordle - communicate | engage | affect
doofer poble cleans up 2
Still getting to grips with this bog platform…
Here’s the rest of that post!
Time and again her technique produced results for her clients - they shifted out of their stuckness, and more often than not had some sort of ‘sock sorting’ revelation that provided the key to their profound healing.
So today I have abandoned any notion of writing excellence and I have spent...
doofer poble cleans up
Writers write, wasters write garbage!
It’s my habit to write ‘pages’ every morning. Three pages of stream of conscious drivel mostly. It’s a writer’s technique to clear out the debris, the idea is simple - by clearing out the psychic dust bunnies collecting in the corners overnight, you have a better chance of creating something of value later that day…
So...
