• More creative time. What? Yes, I know I do creative stuff for a living, but there’s a creeping expectation for designers to spend all day communicating and managing, yet still be brimming with creative ideas too. Please note, experimentation and AFK time are business-critical activities for us (and probably for many industries).
• More organisation. An obvious one, but it doesn’t come naturally to creative people running their own business. It’s an ongoing journey of learning that’s reached a tipping point this year, so things are going to change in 2012.
• More scheduling. This year, a large proportion of my work time is going to be scheduled. This won’t be popular with some people, but without this change they won’t continue to get the quality they’ve come to expect from me. There comes a point where “good” has to take precedence over “quick”.
• Less clutter. It seems to be everywhere. Not just physical junk, or even digital junk. I’m talking about the clutter of work and ideas that aren’t sensible to pursue. I intend to keep the balance this year, with regular reviews or purges.
• Better social media. The list of social networks gets ever longer. But you can’t be everywhere, as a small business. It’s definitely a good thing to have, but the need for selectiveness has never been more crucial. I’m making big changes to the way I use these tools this year.
• More sleep. Alas, not helped by work pressures and being a parent of Little People, there simply wasn’t enough of this last year. You don’t realise how bad it is for you until you do it wrong.
• Less connectivity. The world seems to be relentlessly pursuing constant connectivity. But is that a good thing? I’m aiming to more clearly divide my time between being Available and Not Available online this year. That way, more good things can happen during each (see “More creative time” above”).

So no big detox or lifestyle changes here I’m afraid (sorry to disappoint) – these are things I intend to have a fighting chance of seeing through in 2012.

This was mainly down to the fact that a lot of people come to me not knowing what they want, or if they really needed a whole new website designed at all. So I started offering some of them a low cost, fixed price review before they committed to the bigger project. These gave them a design review of their site along with suggestions on how to improve it.

These went down very well, and it got me thinking about the whole concept of empowering small businesses with simple ideas to improve both their websites and their general branding. I wanted to help them wake up their brand from a sleepy existence, to make them live and embrace the day…

Following this thinking, the names Brand WakeUp and Website WakeUp were born as services. I liked these because the WakeUp name had a bit of a kick to it, to promote action rather than inaction, which is the root cause of most people’s dissatisfaction with their current brand or website.

The final piece of the puzzle fell into place this week when I decided on a name that will cover both these services. So I’m now busy putting together Creative WakeUps as a brand, which will also be a blog where I will offer simple tips to small businesses and promote these services.

So for me, 2012 is going to be all about helping SMEs become more amazing than they already are…by making their brand and websites achieve their full potential.

If you’re a freelancer do you find it hard to get good simple advice from other freelancers?

Well if so, look no more because I co-run a website called Freelance Five which is aimed at addressing this need. It’s a website with one simple mission: publishing inspiring quick interviews with freelancers everywhere.

It’s quick to be interviewed and it’s also quick to read each one. A perfect bit of inspiration for your coffee or lunch break every Friday.

I started this website by teaming up with my friend Dave Wilkinson, who I work with on many WordPress projects. Between us we designed and built a simple site, launched it in April this year and have been improving it ever since. For us it’s a learning journey in creating something useful for other freelancers out there, and how to bring it to a mass audience over time.

So do take a minute to read some interviews. There’s over 60 on there already and I guarantee there are some great little insights from people doing the freelance thing in all corners of the globe.

Or add your own answers via the Submit page. You can gain some exposure, make some friends and show the world you’re in control of this freelancing thing (well, sometimes at least!). Make it good though – we don’t publish answers where clearly no thought has gone into them. You don’t have to write lots, just something meaningful!

Why, you ask? Well one reason is I have so much stuff in my head (ramblings about design, creative things I want you to see and the odd bit of design advice I need to set free into the world) it all needs a home where it’s not going to clog up valuable head space.

The other reason is that I’d lost the inspiration to blog on my business website. Blogging is really a personal thing at heart and I wanted to get back to writing freely and creatively again. The business blog will carry on though, but will just be updates and news instead from now on.

So join in if you like, follow me if you want or simply dip in from time to time. I hope you find plenty that takes your interest.

See you around.

P.S This isn’t the final look of this website – I’m currently developing that and aiming for an early 2012 launch. In the mean time I’m using this excellent theme from Woo Themes.