How Freelancing Has Made An Advocate Out of Me
My reflection of the week this week is about how freelancing has made me an advocate in so many incredible causes. Coming into freelancing, I brought specialist knowledge in certain areas – like local government (how I tried, and mostly failed, to be part of the revolution of local government through the national…
Sleep: An Undervalued Superpower
My consumption of podcasts rose exponentially this year – partly from trying to distract myself from the painfully long runs of marathon training and partly trying to make the long car trips to a friend in the midlands a bit more productive. I found “Diary of a CEO” for the first time and…
How September is the New January
As we ease our way into a month, it’s got me thinking about how much September is a month of transitions. The crazy British weather definitely hasn’t helped – for the past two weeks you’d have thought we were already in October from autumnal it felt. It’s also a reflection on what’s going…
How to Keep Yourself Accountable
I’ve had a really unexpected success this year – it’s something I’ve been meaning to trial for a while and now I’m a little bit addicted. I signed up to a time tracking app. If you aren’t using one, here’s a few reasons why I’m sold: Project Value for Money Some of my…
Lessons in Facilitation: The Power of Feedback
If you were asked what skill you’d use to survive the zombie apocalypse – what would you use? Would you negotiate? District them with jokes? Would you knit your way out? It was the exercise that caused the most laughter at the latest away day I ran. Exploring what left-field ways teams would…
When Your Holiday Isn’t a Break
I’ve just had two weeks off work, and it’s the longest stretch I’ve managed since I went freelance. As I returned to my projects, everyone was quick to ask the standard “how was your break? question. But here’s the thing, I’m not sure a holiday with two small children qualifies as a break….
How to Work Together Well
Something you need to get used to as a freelancer is regularly starting new work. And it’s not just the work that’s new – it’s often a new organisation, new people/team and even a new industry to what you might have worked in before. New starts are always steep learning curves – a…
Embracing Chaos: Life as a Working Parent
Who was it who said “parent like you don’t have a job and work like you don’t have a child?” Would anyone own up to it now, in 2023? I wonder. The pandemic, for all its horrors, did some good in re-calibrating the work/life balance expectations of employers and staff. For those with…
For the Love of Lists
I remember deciding last year that I’d set half a day aside every week for business admin. It was really important, I decided, to safeguard that time and I’d be able run a business properly this way with all the right things in place. And honestly, I think I’ve managed that a handful…
Recruiting Well
You wouldn’t move in with someone without dating them first – so why should you accept a job after just an hour’s Zoom call? There’s been a lot of chat about recruitment lately – through some recruitment I’ve been supporting, with contacts about the recruitment challenges in the sector or going through recruitment…