When you’re building up a business, especially when you’re doing it on your own, it’s tempting to throw yourself into working 24/7. After all, the work’s got to be done, or the clients might not come back. That’s not 100% wrong, of course. It’s hard work to build up a business, and you have to […]
A Question of Balance Read More »
A few days ago, I was asked what my speciality was in copywriting. It’s a question I’m often asked, and a fair enough question. It’s just not easy for me to answer. The reality is that I don’t specialise. If I were going to choose to concentrate on areas I love, I suppose it would
Specialist or Generalist? Read More »
As you may know, I’m enthusiastic about business networking. Although my website has helped (I currently rank second on the Google search for “copywriting services Hertfordshire”), it’s mainly been networking that’s allowed me to build up a solid client-base over the past two years, whether from direct contact or from referrals. My regular groups are
Can You Network Too Much? Read More »
I’m not a natural business person. That may seem an odd, even risky, thing to admit to, but I don’t think it’s all that unusual among small business owners, especially sole traders. And it doesn’t mean I can’t learn to run a business. It seems to me that two kinds of people start small businesses
What Kind of Business Person Are You? Read More »
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 »