Text of my newsletter from 28th March. If you prefer to listen: One of the things I’ve always struggled with is defining my ideal customer. I would create a persona, imagine the problems they had, and develop something that I thought they would snap up, but get no response. Clearly, I needed to change –… Read more

Text from my newsletter of 21st March. If you prefer to listen: I was prompted by a recent newsletter issue from Ellen Donnelly to ask myself whether I am a creator or an entrepreneur. I had come to think of myself as a creator because I write these newsletters each week, and I create blog… Read more

Text from my newsletter of 14th March. If you prefer to listen: I first started blogging in 2008, 3 times a week, and I kept it up for 4 years. Then I ran out of things to say and stopped. That was one of the stupidest things I’ve done. Although I had been working online… Read more

Text from my newsletter of 7th March. In case you prefer to listen: I took the picture above on my walk this morning, it’s part of my morning routine: my alarm goes at 5:15, I have a cup of tea, deal with my email and check the websites I’m managing. Then I do some exercises… Read more

Text of my newsletter from 28th February If you prefer to listen: For the first 4 years of my business, I only had project-based income. That was fine as long as new projects were coming in but, even in good times, the revenue stream was un-predictable. Plus, there was always the pressure of drumming up… Read more

Text of my newsletter from 21st February Prefer to listen? If your business is new and you’re not yet building a subscriber list, I recommend you get started. Today, I’m going to talk about email subscriber lists but, depending on your market, you may need to build a WhatsApp, Telegram or Signal list. You need… Read more

Text from my newsletter of 14th February If you prefer to listen: I had a small disaster this week: a Windows update caused my computer to flame out. After several failed attempts to revive it, I had to accept the inevitable and restore it from a backup. That process wiped the disk clean, including all… Read more

Text from my newsletter of 7th February If you prefer to listen: “Sooner or later the man who wins is the man who thinks he can” You’re probably familiar with those last 2 lines from “Thinking”, by Walter D Wintle, who wrote around the beginning of the 20th century. In case you missed it, it’s… Read more

Text from my newsletter of 31st January I spent 35 years in the corporate world before setting up on my own, and that created a habit that I’m still trying to break. I learnt to write memos, emails, reports and presentations in a style that was formal and typically corporate: I wrote in the passive… Read more