So, here are some common places to look and make sure you are easy.

Are you easy:

• To communicate with - voicemail, email, contact us page, IM, click to call,
• To understand - narrowly defined market, simple core message of value
• To listen to - two or three well developed presentations on message
• To speak to - ability to listen and advise, know when to say no and thank you
• To network with - think give before get, throw away the score card
• To trust - consistency and content, be the authentic you, educate - don’t sell
• To buy from - smooth transaction, delivery, follow-up
• To work with - engaging experience, results driven
• To refer - tools that teach how to refer, give partners way to refer - workshops

This applies to you, whether just starting out or have been going for a few years - take a look at each point to see what you think you score highly for and those that you don’t.

Tags: freelancing, life, business

Changes in market trends are the main cause.. Today the current market trend being rumours around the big ‘R’ for recession.

One of the principles of professional salemanship is that you as a freelancer or small business should regard yourself as a businessperson in your own right. In other words, don’t rely on people to find you. Think about how you network, and how think about what type of image you think you give as an individual.

The following tips are applicable now for finding new leads, but can be applied to any time in your business career.

Sources of finding new business:

• Past customers
• Past enquiries
• ‘Used to supply’ list
• ‘They said ‘No'’ list
• Press and online directories
• Local papers
• Collecting business cards
• Referrals and reccommendations

The cheapest and most effective method to track and measure messages to your customers is by email marketing. It creates new dialogue between you and your customers, and allows you to showcase your ideas, products and talent.

Think about this, if even they don’t buy something from you straight away often what happens is you bring your presence to their mind and they may just require your help on current or future projects.

Making your name and brand pop up in your customers mind when they think of web design, or freelance coder for example.

If you are in Brighton on the 21st August you may want to come along to the free Email Marketing Masterclass that Callender Creates are running in partnership with Pure360, to learn all about the ways that email campaigns can help create new leads for your business.

Tags: bnm,, projectbrighton,, emai,, marketing,, business,, tips

The plan: To cycle the Sustrans West Country way bike route from Bristol to Padstow. A 300 mile part traffic free route which leads us from Bristol to the quiet and country lanes of Cornwall.

We camped throughout the journey, apart from our night on Exmoor where where had the luxury of a B&B in Dulverton.

The trip took us 6 days from start to finish, covering 3 sets of interesting hills - The Quantocks, Somerset. The Exmoor National Park, Devon, and various Cornwall hilly bits.

We were covering about 50 miles a day on average, and carrying around 80 litre capacity clothing, food and camping equipment.

Caption: Resting at a Cornish Distance Marker

Though it may not have been eveyones idea of a holiday, the sights, smells and people we met along the way was very special. Arriving at places without a car, satisfied that we had earned a good pub feast that evening. Camping under the stars and being blessed by nature with good weather.

Caption: Sunset View from Sennen’s Trevedra campsite

The full set is on Flickr. I have also setup westcountryway.co.uk which I hope to have a full description of our tour on soon.

Tags: westcountryway, sustrans, cycling, travel, life, fun, holidays, cornwall

Tags: code, promotion, fowa, futureof, carsonified

These will all make you see use of web pages and applications in a different way, encouraging User Centred Design (UCD) which allow your users needs and requirements to be met and not just yours or your clients.

Emotional Design - Why we love (or hate) design

Information design

Mental Models: Aligning Design Strategy with Human Behavior

Communicating Design: Developing Web Site Documentation for Design and Planning

Designing Interactions

Designing for Interaction: Creating Smart Applications and Clever Devices

Prioritizing Web Usability

Don’t Make Me Think - A common sense guide to usability

The Elements of User Experience: User-Centered Design for the Web

The user is always right

Tags: UCD, User, Experience, Books, usability, Information, design

Mark Simpkins and Ben Hammersley ran a one day conference in central London, with designers, technologists, artists, architects, policy-makers, explorers, economists and scientists, and lots of clever clever people, to discuss the future and how we’ll live in it.

I was attracted to this conference partly as I am fascinated about how other people percive the future, but also likeminded people attend conferences because we ‘are’ thinkers, innovators and shapers.

Seen as a progression or journey by developing ideas together, online, offline to make communication easier, quicker and without boundaries or frontiers. And perhaps encouraging others to think about their role in society now and in the future.

Play in todays world:

• 71% of adults used to play outside when they were young only 21% do now.
• Why? The public realm, and fear of, and for children
• Kids seeing play where adults don’t see it, and the result is often vandalism as it doesn’t work out.
• Experimented with swings at bus stops to see if adults utilise this.

Beyondcurrenthorizons.org.uk - what will the future of education look like in 2025?

Paleofuture - A blog that goes ‘Looking into the future that never was’.

• The future happens everywhere to everyone
• Economists and technologists are the ones who know
• Often people are mistaking the present for the future

‘The future demands your participation’, says Richard sandford. Who helps transform the way people learn through innovative technology and practice.

A good introduction and demonstration of diykyoto.com - electricity consumption that you can see, with the help of Wattson.

Finally, we were shown the wide channels of different way of thinking with todays online tools that let us collaborate and share more than ever before. At sites like:

• mysociety.org
• innovationexchange

A really thought provoking day and inspiring event, something different from the web design and development events I have recently attended. A new bunch of people to meet and share ideas with. Certainly will be back next year for what looks like to be a larger event.

Tags: geekyoto, future, web, technology

1 - Catalyst Awards

Catalyst is an award programme for people who’ve used social technology (web, social networking, gaming, mobile, etc) to do something good for their community in the UK.

It’s for all kinds of people: in business, volunteers, employees, individuals and groups. And it’s for all kinds of ideas, including education, environment, skills, health and community cohesion.

If you’re running a relevant project, or have a good idea, then check it out: Catalyst Awards

2- British Library IP Centre

The British Library Business & IP Centre is designed to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and entrepreneurs from that first spark of inspiration to successfully launching and developing a business.

The Centre offers free access to the UK’s most comprehensive collection of business and intellectual property information, including around 50 million patent specifications, unique databases on trade marks and registered designs, thousands of market research reports, company reports, trade journals, business directories and guides to legal information and government publications. British Library information experts are on hand to guide you to the resources.

There is also a programme of workshops and events run by British Library experts and partners.

Tags: funding, startup, workshops, training, development, skills, resources