Not me. I need a lot of rest. And I am much more productive when I get it. I never set an alarm, but wake up when my body tells me to, which is usually between 6am and 7.30am, after a good 8 hours or so.

We need to stop glorifying the idea that you have to be always on to be successful. I’m very much a doer, and very productive, but I know I can’t have the energy to be achieving unless I’m rested and fuelled (but that’s a whole other story).

Sleep enables our brains to work better, by enabling neurons to reorganise. It helps consolidate memory, thus helping improve organisation systems so we can remember information and processes that will help with work, as well as more simple things like turning up to meetings and hitting deadlines. It improves mental processes associated with learning, enabling us to progress faster with complex tasks.

A rested body is more energetic, meaning you can tackle tasks with zeal, and often get more done as a result. I know that on days when I’ve had a good amount of sleep I get through work in half the time than I do when I’m tired and weary. That extra couple of hours in bed, rather than being a waste of time, saves me hours in my working day. Matthew Carter, PhD, a sleep specialist at Williams College agrees in his TED Talk The Science of Sleep (and the Art of Productivity), saying that you get more done with more sleep, not less.

One study found that lack of sleep resulting in inefficiency and lack of productivity is actually costing businesses money. As good sleep is essential to heal and restore the body, it also contributes to more sick days.

A tired Francesca is often a grumpy Francesca, which probably doesn’t make me much fun to deal with. I pride myself on being friendly and fun to engage with, so want to be at my best for my clients. It’s very difficult to market yourself as a pleasure to deal with if you come across as a belligerent sod simply because you’re exhausted.

I also enjoy work more when it doesn’t feel like a slog. And my enjoyment of the jobs that I do, the projects I take on, the organisations I deal with and the people I deal with are central to my job satisfaction. So when I’m energised and engaged, being a business owner is the best thing ever. I’d like to keep it that way.

What about you? Are you hustler or a sleeper? Or is the relationship between the two more complex?

For me a good day at work, which adds up to good results for my clients, starts with a good sleep.

Communicating effectively is about delivering compelling messages that will ultimately get you more engagement – and sales.

That’s why I’m running workshops to help you identify what your messages are, and how to share them.

In these practical sessions we will work on developing a messaging strategy for success.

We will –

• Identify your key audiences
• Decide on what will motivate them to act
• Develop a ‘messaging house’
• Consider how to integrate this into a wider communication strategy

The workshop will draw techniques I have used with everyone from Tesco to Virgin, Nesta to National Trust, as well as small businesses and entrepreneurs.

The 90 minute session will take place via Zoom, naturally, and costs just £60.

If you’re interested, email me on fbaker@live.co.uk and we can chat further.

How can I make Facebook advertising work?

Although it might not be cool to admit it, the majority of people in the UK are on Facebook, and spend a lot of time on it. For your advertising to work you need to be very specific with your targeting. Think about who your ideal customer is and target them. Whilst it can be tempting to just share your advert to all adults aged 18-60, that is too wide and will see you just wasting money. Also have a very clear call to action – if you want people to share your post, buy a ticket, or click a link, let them know.

How can I get more visitors to my website?

You’ve heard of SEO right? That’s search engine optimisation. It’s not the be all and end all, unlike what some people might make you think, but it is important. Basically it involves thinking of the kind of terms that someone looking for your business might search for, and adding them into your website copy and content (that’s the words!). So if you’re a carpenter in Kent, think ‘wooden furniture’ ‘carpenter Kent’ etc. What you really shouldn’t do though is stuff your content full of words so much that it feels stilted and unreadable. Because also what is key is keeping people on your website and getting them to take the actions you want them to. Google will also boost up the rankings websites that have a long dwell time, so don’t just think about getting people there, but also keeping them there.

How much personality should I add to my business?

I got told by a well known business coach that I needed to be more dry and corporate and have less personality, if I wanted to attract dry and corporate clients. Thing is, I don’t. Think about what your audience or client are like. If they’re chatty and laidback, try that approach. If they are more formal, adopt that tone. People like to work with and buy from people like them, so I think the best advice is to mirror them. That’s not to say you should reveal everything about yourself. Keep it professional. But you’re allowed to smile as well.

If you want me to help you with your marketing, do get in touch. I’d love to chat.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Apparently, I’m doing it all wrong. What you should do (warning: should is a dangerous word) is niche down. Find one thing you like doing, in one sector, and become known for that. Usually this advice comes from people who are writing 3000 word white papers in some niche financial tech sector, or something similar. They are also charging a fortune for it.

I get the logic. It’s best to be a big fish in a small pond. But gosh, it sounds awfully dull.

I set up my own business because I love variety. I’m one of those people always out exploring more, learning new things, discovering how the world works. That innate curiosity is something I bring to my work, and I think it makes me better at it.

I’m good at asking questions, and getting under the skin of a new client. It doesn’t matter where they are from, or what they do, the skill of being able to draw out a story is key. My journalism training probably helps me here.

I also think that working on varied projects makes me more creative. I can have a great idea for one, and see how that approach can help me with another. I can learn something with one client, and see how that idea could be applied to another.

But as I said, apparently I’m doing it all wrong. I don’t know.  I have a lively roster of clients and business seems to be doing well.

I set out to see what others thought of countering the perceived wisdom and not niching down – and found I wasn’t alone.

Georgie Darling agrees. She started out as a travel writer and now (mostly due to the current climate) broadened her services into copywriting, scriptwriting, social media content creation, basic graphic design and Pinterest pin design! She also went from working mostly with travel companies to working with coaches, makeup brands, agencies and more. ‘It’s been great for learning more skills, boosting my confidence and widening my portfolio as a freelancer,’ she says.

Bryony Bishop also says how Covid-19 has highlighted how important it is to not have all your eggs in one basket. ‘Covid-19 has shown that being adaptable, flexible and having a range of skills enables greater resilience. It also makes for varied and enriching work, in my experience. I definitely agree that finding clients that align with your values and where you can be an extension of their team, adapting to their needs, is vital.’

Carolyn Hughes is  a PR consultant and chooses clients based on cultural and personality fit, rather than business sector. ‘I work with clients who I basically get on with really well. I want to be an extension of their team so it’s all about whether we align in personality, ways of working and objectives. My skills are totally transferable so the industry matters less.’ She also points out that focusing on one industry can limit you, as many clients wouldn’t want her to work with a direct competitor.

Jess Dunbar was a broadcast journalist for 10 years before happily falling into copywriting when she had her children. Like me, the bit she loves most about the job is the variety. ‘The job demands I can capture the essence of a business in a short time and accurately represent it. What could be more inspiring than the constantly changing variety of work? Plus the challenge of tackling industries I know nothing about.’ Having a fresh pair of eyes and an objective approach is useful for clients, as you can put yourself in the customer and client shoes without bias or opinion. She says that ‘I love not having a specialism and passionately believe it helps me give my customers an edge.’

That’s not to say don’t ever focus. When marketing yourself it is key to highlight what is relevant to that client or audience. Gemma Pettman is a communications specialist with 21 years of experience. ‘I would say I have a couple of specialisms but that doesn’t prevent me working in other spaces. I think this partly comes down to how you market yourself. When I talk to charities I talk about my non-profit experience, when I talk to policing organisations I focus on that.’

It’s important to do business in the way that works for you, says Hira Sahmed. ‘I think it is more about embracing the whole of us in our businesses and our lives! If we focus our energy of niching down it might feel like it not *you* And I am a big believer of doing our businesses our way, more in tune with who we are with all the quirks and strengths + in alignment with our values. So to put that in perspective- one of my value is curiosity and I love learning new things so I make space for new projects (mostly multi-disciplinary ones) in my creative work.’

We are all multifaceted beings. And our work can reflect that. ‘Society puts so much emphasis on committing to ONE interest. Heck, we’re even expected to pick a favourite colour!’ says Karli Drew, copywriter and disabled activist. ‘But letting go of niche pressure is a one-stop shop to career freedom. Instead, I choose clients based on brand values. It improves my performance and everyone leaves a winner.’

And that’s what clients want – to win. And that’s our job – to enable them to do so. Every client wants to feel special, so as long as you bring your skills and expertise to doing a damn good job for them, it really doesn’t matter if you work in one industry or ten, on one kind of work or multiple. It’s your business, You can do work that energises you and makes your clients happy. That’s the sweet spot we’re all searching for.

It doesn’t have to be this way. All communication should evoke some kind of reaction, be it educative, informative, entertainment or emotion. This can’t happen unless there’s a bit of passion behind the words. A bit of creativity. Some life. It can be so easy to stick to the same formulas and language, yet this not only doesn’t benefit the client in the long run, it makes your working life a little bit dull.

What can we learn from creative writing for business writing? How can exercises usually reserved for fiction and poetry help our business writing? In more ways than you think.

Write a haiku

How often do you receive some communications from a company, and find that it’s drowning in jargon, technical language, figures and extended sentences – only discovering the thing that you actually want to know right at the end of the letter or information? Great fiction hits you from the off. The first chapter, even the first page, has to be compelling enough to make you keep on reading. When crafting your business copy try distilling down what you need to say in a haiku. With only 17 syllables to play with there’s no room to be vague.

Be active, not passive

‘We are trying…’ ‘You may find that…’ ‘We hope this will be…’ Passive verbs and soft language don’t really instil a customer with confidence. You don’t want to buy a product that the manufacturers have only tried to make work, or attend an event that may or may not be fun. Consumers need active assurance that the company have confidence and authority in what they are doing. When creating content it’s always wise to go through your text and remove all qualifiers (probably, may, expect etc) – don’t say what you might do, say what you will do. Make you or your brand the active subject – e.g. rather than ‘your digital marketing could become easier’ say ‘our software makes your marketing great.’ You want to action to take place as a result of your content, so you have to make it active.

Start with the character

The most crucial element of any story is the character. Who they are, how they act, and what happens to them is how plot develops. It’s also where the emotion is found. People connect with other people. As great as a company might think their product is, or as much as an agency may believe people are passionate about electricity, as loyal as a shop might think people are, the truth is that it’s about the person. So when writing a press release about why the new brand of bleach is a must have addition to the shopping basket, think of the benefits to the customer, the person. The new formula matters because it keeps the kitchen clean and protects their children. The fast acting ingredients free up their time to go out. Novelists say you should know everything about your character, even that which seems irrelevant to the writing at hand. Do the same for your reader. What is their name? What is in their bag? Do they wake up early or late? What do they like to read? Have they ever told a lie? What do they do on a Sunday afternoon? Do they prefer cryptic crosswords or su doku? Only when you know your reader and customer do you know what matters to them, and so how you can connect with them.

Connect

That’s the goal of any business. Ultimately relationships in all forms are about connection. When someone likes you or thinks you have something to offer, they will be prepared to invest their time – or money – in you. Customer can’t connect with inanimate objects, so you need to have some personality. What is your brand? What makes you different to everyone else out there? How do you speak and act? Bring this personality to all your writing. Don’t try to be professional at the expense of being emotional. People buy from people, so bring your personality to work.

First published on Start Ups Geek.

It doesn’t have to be this way. All communication should evoke some kind of reaction, be it educative, informative, entertainment or emotion. This can’t happen unless there’s a bit of passion behind the words. A bit of creativity. Some life. It can be so easy to stick to the same formulas and language, yet this not only doesn’t benefit the client in the long run, it makes your working life a little bit dull.

What can we learn from creative writing for business writing? I ran a workshop at Petit Miracles to share some exercises usually reserved for fiction and poetry with budding entrepreneurs, all with the aim of improving their business writing.

The most crucial element of any story is the character. Who they are, how they act, and what happens to them is how plot develops. People connect with other people. Novelists say you should know everything about your character, even the things that seem irrelevant to the story. It’s not enough to know that your target customers are women aged 20-40. Be specific. The Petit Miracles team know their customer’s names, when they last laughed, what book they are reading, what’s in their handbag.

How often do you receive some communications from a company, and find that it’s drowning in jargon and long sentences – only discovering the thing that you actually want to know right at the end of the letter or information? We tried distilling down what the business and brand was about to a haiku. With only 17 syllables to play with there’s no room to be vague. Making the pitch poetry was a fun way to play.

There are over 90,000 products in the largest supermarkets, and we’re exposed to over 800 ads per day. How can you stand out? The best brands know that the heart leads, not the head. Decisions are made emotionally rather than rationally. Rather than focusing on what the product is, the entrepreneurs at Petit Miracles thought about how they wanted the product to make their customer feel. It’s not about clothes, it’s about feeling powerful. People don’t buy soap, they buy relaxation and time.

By the end of the workshop not only had we laughed a lot, but all the participants said that they had a better idea of who their customer is and how they want to speak to them. Confidence in writing and marketing improved, and there was a real energy in the room, with everyone motivated to take their business to the next level and ready to tell their brand story.

11am

Petit Miracle Hub, First floor, West 12 Shopping Centre, Shepherd’s Bush, London, W12 8PP

Book here

We tend to put creativity in one box, and communication in other. Play on one side, and business somewhere else. When we’re earning a living from our writing, writing for business, engaging with corporate clients, there’s something about the involvement of transactions, and well, money, that sucks the life out of words and takes away all creativity.

It doesn’t have to be this way. All communication should evoke some kind of reaction, be it educative, informative, entertainment or emotion. This can’t happen unless there’s a bit of passion behind the words. A bit of creativity. Some life. It can be so easy to stick to the same formulas and language, yet this not only doesn’t benefit the client in the long run, it makes your working life a little bit dull.

What can we learn from creative writing for business writing? How can exercises usually reserved for fiction and poetry help our business writing? At this workshop we will use creative writing techniques like poetry and storytelling to apply to a business communications context.

Part of Petit Miracle Hub, a retail and business incubation project – created by Londoners for Londoners – and a haven for aspiring entrepreneurs needing access to the retail market.

Sorry if you thought that this would be an 8 page respite from the two words reverberating round the world the past 9 months: credit crunch. The media is as dependent on getting economic woes in their stories as Pete is/was/will never be again on getting his fix.
Even music is not immune to the effects of filthy lucre. Like a stone in a pond the ripples reach out and touch all – but what will be the effect of the economic downturn upon music?
There will be uncouth types with no soul who argue that our attention will be diverted to those ‘important’ things in life, ‘real’ issues, like food, water and warmth, and all frivolous entertainment will be forgotten. Bollocks. Those with real heart know that music is as fundamental as air. And that music is different from a music scene. Overpriced drinks and cool bars in Shoreditch may decline in popularity as scenesters promise to keep their pennies in their skinny jeans, but love of music will remain. Forever and ever. Amen.
The unlucky ones made redundant for a start have a sudden huge resource to spend on their love of music and discover their talents: time. An acquaintance who has lost his (dull) job in recruitment has been pouring all his efforts into his long term side project, northern band Neon Kicks. Not only is he far happier and got a spring in the step of his Converse, but their gig bookings have shot up.
The last recession spawned a frustrated youth, who went on to create the monster of Britpop.
Common People is the melodic bewilderment about them and us, those who do not really understand the plight of the masses. I’m sure there must be a song about poor bankers who will only earn tens of millions this year. Poor loves. Rock’n’Roll Star is the desire to break out of the cycle of dead end jobs. What great art that comes from struggle has is honesty combined with longing, which often results in hope.
Recent ‘scenes’ have been criticised for being pretentious, and the preserve of the fortunate. For example, The Brit School is hardly a cheap proposition. Nitty gritty working class music has always been traditionally seen as somehow cooler and poor authentic. Whether this is the case, it’s time in the sequence for the poor guys to take the lead. Could it be that the musical fashion cycle demands economic problems to provide fodder for these guys to write and play, and it’s music really calling the shots.
Alongside the romantic notion that an organic music scene will grow from people having the time to rediscover their passions it must be recognised that the music business is exactly that, a business, and money makes the world go round. Will cash strapped customers really spend their hard earned pound on the new must have song or 30 value pork bangers?
The thrill of the purchase remains. Lipstick sales go through the roof in recession. (I’m not old enough to remember a recession, I just work in retail and am bombarded with such useless facts.) There’s only so much self imposed restriction we can take – stopping ourselves buying an expensive coat/boat means that we can justify the CD to ourselves.
No one wants to forgo their nights of pleasure completely, so rather than staying in really being the new going out, I predict more and more will turn to local bands and clubs with a more personal experiences, avoiding the big venues where you have to mortgage your house just to see a dot that looks suspiciously like it could be Chris Martin. It pre dates the recession but the rise of Brudenell Social Club to become the flag bearer of all things indie in Leeds could be a symbol for how music can help revive a community and survive without big bucks.
Artists thrive without money – it’s the old cliché, an impoverished artist is a true creative. But artists are also shrewd businessmen and women, and won’t let a recession get them down. Business problems are there to be challenged – Radiohead reacted to illegal downloading by appealing to our guilt side and asking for donation for In Rainbows; no record label would promote Lily Allen, so she got attention via Myspace.
Creativity thrives in adverse times. The soul clings to ideas, meaning, escape – reality sucks, so any diversion is welcome. Creativity can be beneficial and solve problems – lets face it, doing things the way they’ve always been done, focusing on the money, has not done us any favours. Why not let the arty types give it a go?
Countless articles have been written about how the credit crunch will forces us to reassess what is really important in our lives. For so many that is music, and now is not the time to stop believing in its power to help solve our problems. As John Dryden wrote ‘What passion cannot music raise and quell!’