The kind of job I do most frequently is a blog post, typically around 400 words. Not always. Sometimes I might be asked to write an article many times longer, or dozens of pages of a website. Sometimes it’s just a hundred word as a brief profile. The actual writing on these jobs is rarely […]
Until last month, I hadn’t driven a car for more than twelve years. The reasons are many and various (though, I should stress, purely to do with not having access to a car) but with the upshot that, when I was finally in a position to buy a car late last month, I was expecting
Like Riding a Bike Read More »
Everything around us is a story. Whether it’s the way reality is, or whether it’s how we’re programmed to see the world, we seem to be surrounded by meaningful sequences of events that tell us how and why things happened. They range from great world events to jokes or urban legends, and to some extent
A Dark and Stormy Blog Read More »
Today marks an important anniversary for me – two years ago, Nick Blatchley Copywriting was born. It had a fairly long gestation period, although (belabouring the metaphor to death) I didn’t indulge in the latest trend of going on a “babymoon” before the birth. My business plan confidently predicted the amount of work I could
Two Years in Business Read More »
I was interested to read on the BBC website about a report commissioned by the government which recommends more support for the self-employed. Having recently had a taste of the fragility of the status after being (thankfully only for a short time) unable to work through illness, I wondered what they had to say. In
Government Support for the Self-Employed Read More »
In the past couple of weeks, I’ve had an unprecedented experience – I’ve twice had to turn down work I’d been offered. Not because there was anything wrong with either job, but because the clients needed a very short deadline, and I was already flat out trying to meet existing deadlines. It seemed more honest
It’s Illegal, it’s Immoral, or You Don’t Get Paid Read More »
Happy New Year, everyone. Well, 2015 is over and (apart from the last part) it was a pretty good year for me. I finished 2014 with business gradually increasing, after several months of finding it difficult to get the business going. By that time, I had three regular clients who gave me varying amounts of
That Was 2015, That Was Read More »
Last week, we witnessed a demonstration in London in which “Guido Fawkes” masks were worn as a symbol of anarchism. Guy Fawkes has rather bizarrely become a kind of anarchist icon, sometimes described as “the last man to enter Parliament with honest intention.” Most of us aren’t actually anarchists, of course; but equally most of
Guy Fawkes — The Anarchist that Never Was Read More »
I recently took a step into the unknown by doing a 4Sight spot at 4Networking. For those of you unfamiliar with the 4N set-up, the 4Sight is a twenty-minute slot in each meeting in which a member – either a regular or visitor – gives a talk on a topic of interest. The only rule
4Sight and 4seeing Read More »
If you’re starting up a small business, as I did last year, one of the big decisions is whether you’re going to work from home (my choice) or from dedicated premises, such as an office or a workshop. With some businesses, of course, there isn’t much of a choice. If you’re opening a restaurant, for
Working from Home — How Practical Is It? Read More »