Hi honey, I'm honey....

Did you miss me?

Yes, there hasn’t been a Zzing update since July but don’t worry, your computer hasn’t broken down, I haven’t been in the Big Brother house and I haven’t decided to become a nun. I was simply snowed under with work so couldn’t write any updates. For those of you with long memories, my last instalment did predict that I would be up to my eyeballs in work for all of July and August and most of September, and boy, how right I was.

My biggest contract of my short time in this crazy world of freelance marketing has now completed. It was the delivery of an educational programme into schools working with some of the UK’s leading employers and brands. It was a full-on two and a half months in delivery, especially with the schools on summer break during that time, but it all came good in the end and now I’m moving onto pastures and sectors new. I’m pleased to say I learnt a hell of a lot during the contract though, mainly due to the different style required for copywriting in the education industry. I guess I’m so used to working in the private sector and working for corporate clients that my copywriting needed to be worked on to suit the education market. It was like going back to school (excuse the pun).

A good learning curve though.

I’m now immersed in the world of market research. Surveys, focus groups and analysis. I’m just working on one and have two in the pipeline awaiting client approval, but October and November are looking good for work. It’s nice that they are all varied clients too, social sector, public sector and private sector – they say that variety is the spice of life.

However, as the year quickly slips away from us I do have a pressing deadline to meet.

#dah dun dah!# My tax return.

I’ve got to get it done by the end of October but it shouldn’t be too bad as it’s only for the first three months of my business – so for those of you avid readers of this blog from its inception, you’ll have guessed that it’s not going to be the biggest of tasks! A task however, that must be done otherwise HMRC will be after me. Shame I’m not Portsmouth Football Club as I could simply write that little tax bill off......

I’ve been going on my own for nine months at the end of September. I can’t believe all those months ago sat in my little office at home, looking out at the snow and putting another jumper on *distant violins play* that I would be in the position that I am in now where I’m actually looking to hire some freelance staff for help during October whilst I have three market research projects on the go alongside the usual PR and branding work.

I don’t need staff full-time, just to help out when all the work comes in at once and I’ve had two and a half months of working until the early hours and every weekend so I’m going to see if it helps the workload my sanity. I also have a rather large box of Zzing promotional flyers which I had printed back in May and have never sent out due to my workload. I’d really like to try and get these out before the end of the year otherwise I can see the box becoming a makeshift coffee table in the office by December.

Has anyone else been seeing a return on their online social networking? One of my clients, cfes Ltd has started seeing a great return on enquiries through their website and an increase in website traffic through the references I’ve been using on Twitter – if you want to follow them (go on, you know you do, its @cfesltd). Blogging, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn – it all helps your traffic peeps, you never know whose out there reading your ramblings – just keep it clean and non-slanderous!

I suppose now I have slightly more free-time I need to get cracking on the wedding planning. Well, the main bits are sorted and booked, venue, caterer, photographer etc. I’ve been told by my best friend that I have to go wedding dress shopping even though I know what dress I’m getting – apparently it’s an ‘experience’. An ‘experience’ is running the bulls at Pamplona, but you won’t get me running from a herd of marauding bulls. But I think my friend may be right about going and trying on reams of white satin and taffeta. Apparently, this is what all brides do, I’ve seen the TV programmes on BBC3 about it – it seems to involve drinking champagne, wearing false nails and throwing tantrums. Now the champagne I can handle.....

Anyhow, enough ramblings for now, I’ll leave you with a picture I took last Friday evening as I signed off finally from the large education contract and the boy and I treated ourselves to fish and chips sat in a park by Southampton water, watching the sun go down.

I'll see you in September then...

Well, summer is well and truly upon us but I don’t think I’ll be seeing too much of it over July and August.

Last week I won my largest contract to date for Zzing (hurrah!) I have a two month contract working for The b-live Foundation (www.b-live.com) in delivery their marketing and PR for a new education pilot programme that they are rolling out to 50 schools in September. Working in partnership with six of the UK’s leading employers, the b-live Employability Programme will be run in schools providing them with a much-needed work-related curriculum that progressively develops the employability skills of young people, equips them with nationally recognised qualifications and improves their employment prospects and therefore encourages the students to realise their potential. I’ve got to ensure that all of the marketing and PR for both the schools and employers is up and ready by the end of August and that we raise the profile of the programme.

Very exciting project.

Very big brands involved.

Huge amount of work to do.

Very little time to do it all in.

Oh yes, I forgot to add that all the schools break up next week and don’t come back from summer holidays until the week before term.

Well I do love a challenge...

I’m also working on some potential branding for a large recruitment organisation too so that’s keeping me busy too along with the work I do for my existing client, www.cfes.co.uk who will be completing their £3.1million decontamination and sterilisation unit at Yeovil Hospital at the end of August so I’m planning a bit of a launch event for that too.

Hence why this latest update from Zzing has been so long in coming!

So when I look back at my first ‘weekly’ newsletters, how my life has changed (and now my newsletters are more ‘monthly’!) Going freelance was a huge gamble, leaving a secure job with a big organisation to go out on my own. I’m now into my seventh month as a freelance marketing consultant and I can honestly say that I couldn’t be happier. Work is coming in, the hours are long but I’m working for different clients and in different sectors and learning something new every day.

I can honestly say that I love my job.

In the midst of trying to get all of this work complete and keep all of my clients happy I’ve also started getting the ball rolling on organising a wedding – well, every conversation I had with my Mum was “have you set a date yet?”so I thought I should make an effort. We’re meeting / having tea with the vicar this week who sounds lovely, her name is Kate. Ian has a vision of us meeting with the Vicar of Dibley. I’m more worried about what on earth we talk about. Friends have told me that vicars just ask questions about ‘are you ready for this’, ‘do you realise what marriage involves’ etc. Are there right and wrong answers? Is it like an exam and we need a certain percentage to pass in order to get married? Do we have to take anything too? Cake? Flowers? Box of chocolates? Bottle of wine? (I’m guessing not the wine as I’m sure the church has a good supply of this).

So in the midst of Zzing projects in the Medical Construction market, Education sector and recruitment branding, the next few months will also no doubt see me juggling with florists, caterers and bands. Luckily I have a photographer (who I can highly recommend, have a look at his website www.rawdonjames.com) lined up once I have the date confirmed.

Let’s hope I manage to keep all the balls in the air over the next few weeks and don’t start mixing emails and meetings up otherwise I’ll be sending the caterers to a hospital decontamination unit opening and getting a band to play at a Year 7 assembly – well, I suppose worse things could happen.

Apologies in advance if you don’t hear from me in a while, I do try and keep my blog updated, not with just these updates but with also other news and events – just go to www.zzingmarketing.blogspot.com

Hope you are all enjoying your summer and fingers crossed that some of you will be hearing about some of my client’s projects in the press in the coming months!

Enjoy your summer!

Captain, she's going to blow!

Ever feel like you have so much on that you wake up in the wee hours in a cold sweat? Do you find yourself arriving at work exhausted just thinking about your ‘to do list’?

Over capacity? Don’t worry, you are in good company.

Twitter has been plagued this week by ‘over capacity of tweets’. For those of you not akin to Twitter, in a nutshell; too many people are trying to use their service at the same time. This is possibly due to some little world sporting event called the World Cup being played at the moment....

But what a nice place to be in. Your service is being used SO much that it temporarily keeps going down. What business wouldn’t want to be in this position?

Now, some would say, that it’s bad planning and that the geeks technical genius’ at Twitter should have foreseen this and increased capacity. Well, perhaps they should have, but being on such a worldwide scale, I guess it is hard to keep up.

ITV marketing department however, should hang their heads in shame about their preparation for the World Cup. They are sharing coverage with the BBC and had lucked out on getting the rights to the opening ceremony and first match screening rights. Now, being held on a Friday afternoon, I think even my four year old niece could have predicted that one of their largest audiences would be those working in their offices and wanting to watch the first match at 3pm on a Friday afternoon.

Unfortunately my niece doesn’t work for ITV and so they were therefore caught out when their online service crashed about 10mins into the first match due to ‘over capacity’. But don’t worry, that was soon forgotten when they switched off their HD service less than 4 minutes into the first England match and over 1.5million England fans watched Gerrard score England’s first (and let’s hope not last) goal of the tournament.

I’m guessing that the ITV Head of Marketing is not having the best of weeks.

Some things you can plan for, other times you simply need a hand when the workload just gets too much and you physically cannot do everything yourself. (Please be warned that the following paragraph is a shameless plug).

If you need a hand with marketing and communications but you don’t have the resources or budget to hire someone full time, ever thought about hiring a marketing professional on a project or retained basis? I’ve been working for a retained client, cfes Ltd www.cfes.co.uk since March, providing them with PR & Marketing work for 16 hours each week. So far, I’ve worked on several marketing and sales promotions for them, I’m in the midst of rejuvenating their website copy, delivered new company literature, got some trade PR branding and worked with them on sales pitches and presentations. Hopefully they’ll agree that my 16 hours a week is working for them.

(OK, shameless plug over, you can come out from behind the sofa)

It has been a week of mailshot’s in the world of Zzing this week though. I’ve been getting out a dental construction / decontamination mailer out for cfes this week along with preparing another one for them on air conditioning. Then there have been my own Zzing mailers which I’ve been steadily getting out. Fingers crossed they get some results as direct mail still gets a really good response even in this day and age of technology – I guess most people get so many emails every day that they are more likely to read a mailer when it comes in the post than an email in most circumstances.

Hope you all enjoy the rest of the world cup, let’s hope the ITV coverage gets better anyway! I’m going to miss England’s next game as I’m attending a “decontamination in dental practices” conference in Loughborough – yes, the world of marketing is all about lunches, press launches and decontamination seminars.

Happy Fathers Day to all those Dad’s out there too (and a timely reminder for those of you who may have forgotten that it’s this Sunday!)

Until next time....

I'm still here...

Remember me? Yes, I’m the lady who used to bombard you every week with a new update on the world of Zzing and how my business was going.

Well, to those of you who have been wondering and even more so to those who have been ASKING (aren’t you lovely?) where the latest instalment has been, here it is. No, I haven’t gone out of business and started working in Tesco’s. No, I haven’t won the lottery (more’s the pity) and eloped off to the Caribbean to sit on a yacht and have George Clooney bring me cocktails and no, I haven’t been in secret training and been called up by Fabio Capello to partner Rooney up front in the England squad (mind you, I reckon I could beat Lampard on penalties, but that’s another story).
So, what have I been up to? Well, where do I begin...

It’s been a busy time with my biggest client, cfes Ltd (www.cfes.co.uk) as I’ve been working on some Dental promotional sales material and promotional campaign as there is new legislation coming into the healthcare industry for infection control and cfes design and build dedicated decontamination and sterilisation units. Well, you did ask... I’ve also been working with their other divisions on some air conditioning literature and the company brochures have also gone to print. Oh, and I’m currently updating their copy and content on the website. Yup, they are keeping me busy. Really, really nice company to work for though and a lovely bunch of people.

By the way, “Hi Phil!” *waves manically* (Phil works in the cfes Business Development Team and mentioned he read my blogs so I had to mention him!)

I’ve also been working for some other companies on some rebranding and design work which has also kept me out of mischief and been finishing off one of the large market research projects for one of my other clients.

We did have May didn’t we? It FLEW by, could not believe it yesterday when I realised it was the 1st June.

I guess also, as the weather has been so lovely, I’ve been out and about a lot more. We held our own rowing regatta and then each weekend, we’ve had another regatta (my club is doing really well this season so each Monday morning I have little voice left or sound like Marlene Dietrich because of all of the shouting and cheering of the crews). Hockey summer season is also in full swing and I’ve been getting out on the water rowing with my buddy Mia. The boy also took me to Weymouth the other weekend for a weekend’s mountain biking on the hottest day of the year. He came ‘this’ close to killing me with the hills we went up and down. It’s fair to say, I am a glutton for punishment!

Now starts the ‘generation of new business’ mode. I have a couple of quotes on the board awaiting for either a yes or no, but, being the ever pessimist, I’m not counting my chickens so if they come off, great, but if they don’t then I have to get some new work in. My new Zzing flyers went to print today and fingers crossed they print correct this time, last week I was in despair when the cover dimensions were wrong. I thought I may have to revert to handwriting flyers and using potato printing at one point but, luckily, I have very understanding printers so they are reprinting it now as the designer has supplied the artwork with the correct dimensions. Phew. Thank crunchie it was for me and not a client...

My lovely friends at Vertical Leap passed me on another prospective client today for some possible copywriting for their website so again, lots of things in the air. Let’s hope some of them stick as they fall back to earth.

I best go, got a few more things to do before I clock off for today as I will be doing something which I have been trying to do since January when I set up on my own. Play golf. Vicki who runs Tiger Ink printing and I have been trying to play almost every week and it seems that as soon as we pencil a date in to play 9 holes, we both have something crop up with work and we have to cancel. But this week we are determined to play 9 holes otherwise we knew we would keep putting it off and before we knew it, the clocks would have gone back and it would have been too dark to play!

So, adios for now. I hope it won’t be as long before the next instalment of Zzing, but I can’t promise anything!

PS. If you wanted to see what some of Zzing client’s say about our services, take a look at our website www.zzingmarketing.com. Failing that, this is what one of the clients said about some recent market research Zzing undertook:-

“We employed the services of Penny Glazzard, ZzIng Marketing, as she was recommended to us by a supporter of the se² partnership. We chose to work with Penny due to her professional, positive and supportive manner and because of her excellent marketing background that we felt fitted with the needs of our project. Penny worked on a specific project that covered the whole of the South East region and we were particularly impressed with how thorough and comprehensive she was. The final report that Penny produced was professionally written with some really good ideas for how we could develop our business going forwards. Thanks for all your help Penny!’
Rachel Crossey, se² partnership

Time for my own marketing...

They say that to identify a builder’s house, look for one where little maintenance has been done for a while. If you speak to my friend who is a decorator, he hasn’t decorated his house since he moved in over 10 years ago. Doctor’s (apparently) are least likely to seek any medical treatment or tests.

Therefore, I guess it makes sense that marketing consultancies probably don’t spend much time in marketing their own business once they are up and running as they are too busy marketing their clients business. *Hand up meekly in the air* Yes, guilty as charged.

I think the last time I updated my website was over a month and a half ago, my blog is generally – and I use this term generally very loosely - updated weekly, but I have done no new mailshots or cold calling for over three months now. Yes, I have been busy with the work which I have had on, but now, as campaigns and projects start coming to a conclusion, I’m looking at my May and June budgets and thinking I need to get some new work in. What do I advise clients? Yes, you’ve guessed it, regular marketing and branding.

I think I need to take some of my own advice.

I have been noticing recently that the copywriting business is getting very competitive and I’m regularly being undercut, not by a few pounds – but by a VAST amount. I regularly bid for work on a copywriting site where clients advertise projects they are working on and ask for bids – not huge jobs, just some small copywriting projects like writing a leaflet, website copy, brochure copy etc. Now, I thought I was reasonably competitive as I work for myself, I don’t have huge agency overheads such as staff or premises. However, some of the copywriters out there are bidding – and winning – work for less than the minimum wage. I bid last week for a project writing the copy for a website, 20 pages in total, a couple of days work researching the subject, writing, making amends from feedback from the client. A couple of hundred quid minimum for that amount of work and time spent on it. The winning bid? It was won for a grand total of £50.

All I can say is good luck to the client on that one and you have my details on file....

So, like Messers Brown, Cameron and Clegg, I’m on a self promotion drive. Going to work on my website, get some direct mailers sorted out and yes, #Dum, dum Dahhhhh# - I’m going to go back to the delights of business networking which, some of you may remember, was a whole new life ‘experience’ back when I first started up on my own.

First off though, I have to find some First Aid cover for the regatta I’m organising in two weeks time at my rowing club. I knew it was going to be a nightmare when we found out that Southampton FC had their last match of the season on the same day and there would be no parking for the other clubs trailers. Now we have sourced other parking, St Johns Ambulance, who normally do my First Aid cover are all covering the football match – not a bad gig if you are a first aider and football fan...
Anyone know any First Aiders who would like to cover a regatta?! Honestly, organising a wedding is nothing compared to a regatta....

It is nice to be busy all the time and I’m not moaning – honest – but if anyone thinks being your own boss is easy, it’s not. I have a lovely new golf bag which is sat in the hall and it is aching to be used, but both myself and my golfing buddy Vicki, from Tiger Ink Printing, have been too busy to play. Each week, we pencil in an early tee time, normally a Friday, so we can be back at work latest by 10am...and each week we cancel. How Tiger Woods managed such a full and active social diary for many years and managed to play a few rounds of golf in between is nothing short of a miracle.

I’ve got a couple of large quotes to work on this week – a new website, some market research and branding and some more PR, which, if they come good would be some good work for a couple of months, but can’t rely on anything so best sign off for another week and get cracking on finding some more new work!

Enjoy the sunshine, I think if this keeps up I’m going to test my WiFi connection in the garden...

It’s all getting a little bit political...

Well, the travelling show which is the general election has arrived in town so we’ve got about a month’s worth of hyped up political sound-bites to put up with. Some would say that politics is really just marketing – marketing of ideas, individuals and parties. I guess in a way, this is true. If you can get your point and case across better than your opposition - even if their idea or manifesto is possibly better than yours - you get the votes.

That’s why I had to laugh at the latest ads from the Labour and Conservative party – and also the speed in which they managed to turn the latest editions in their campaign advertising around.

Last week, at 9.45am Labour unveiled a new ‘topical’ advert with David Cameron, sat astride an Audi Quattro – yes, the new BBC series of Ashes to Ashes was just about to begin – with the lines of ‘Don’t let him take us back to the eighties’. Clever copy and visual with a nice topical twist which a large majority of the population would get, even if they don’t watch the programme.

Cue 3.45pm the same day (a whole 6 hours after the initial Labour unveiling) and the Conservatives looked quite smug at their new advert – the same picture of ‘Dave’ sat astride the infamous Quattro but with the immortal line ‘Fire up the Quattro, it’s time for change’.

Advertising genius on a political scale.

Now, I don’t sway to any of the parties, but the speed and wittiness of the tory advertising team did get my vote that day.

I see one of the Labour candidates has also been sacked as he was using Twitter ‘inappropriately’. Well, calling old people “coffin dodgers” and being exceptionally politically-incorrect may not be the best language for a parliamentary hopeful. Twitter is a funny medium. I use it for Zzing (@zzingmarketing if anyone wants to follow me) to 1. Help with keywords and marketing of stuff that I do, 2. Potentially network new clients and 3.(most importantly) find out what Chris Evans, Duncan Bannatyne and Will Carling are up to. Personally, I don’t think it will create any sales at the moment, people aren’t using it for that just yet. I think it’s good for branding and keeping in touch with others, but it’s still in its infancy. The market research I’m doing on Recruitment Trends for Incisive Media is looking into this and the impact Social Media has on recruitment. However, we all know how fast technology moves, so who knows, this time next year I maybe generating business because of the likes of Twitter. Cheryl Cole may be “tweeting” me for some help with her branding.....

It’s been a busy few weeks for Zzing – something which a few months ago I was wondering if I would be able to say – but I’m pleased to say I’ve got a few other bits and pieces coming my way including weekly blogs for a car company which need to be topical and help their website rankings with keywords. So I’ll be getting ready to fire up the blogspot on a regular basis and talk about Quattro’s, Audi’s, BMW’s, Robin Reliants....best get watching some old episodes of Top Gear. I also thought I could create a character from which this blog is written, sort of like a Del-Boy character but I’m not too good with the cockney rhyming slang “Oiwwww-rite guv, got a luverly mota owt back. For you guv, it’s just a monkey. Yor robbin me blind guv, robbin me blind.”

Hmmmmm, maybe not.

I’m off to hob-knob – sorry, “network” on a grander scale this week. Yes, so long local networking events and hello big glitzy event at the Grosvenor House in Park Lane. It is the annual Recruitment awards this week (I know, Brad and Angelina must be gutted that they are in Haiti or wherever) and I have been kindly invited along by Splash Communications www.splashcommunications.com which is not only a great chance for me to meet up and catch up with my old friends at Splash, Lindsay and Caro, but it also gives me the opportunity to once again, play ‘Business Card –Blackjack’. For those of you who remember my earlier ‘networking events’ this is a game where the winner is the one to give out the most business cards in one night. I generally lose as I get stuck with the boring person in the corner who has only come along to the event in order to interact with a human being for that week.

So, onwards and upwards for another week in the crazy world of Zzing with modular construction for hospital PR, selling car blogs, recruitment trends analysis and quaffing spritzers with the great and good of recruitment.

Hands up if your job is the same every day? (Penny’s hand stays firmly by her side). Hoorah!

Four day weeks are not all their cracked up to be...

I hate to admit it, but you were all right – I am struggling to keep up with my weekly newsletters / blogs! Mind you, I have a good excuse, last week I was in Paris for a long weekend of rugby (more of that later) so apologies for the delay in getting a latest update out but it’s been slightly busy in the world of Zzing.

It’s obviously not helped by the fact that this week we have a Bank Holiday this week AND next week. Oh, how your perception of national holidays change. Four months ago I would have been counting down the days to having a four day weekend and two four days weeks, however, now in the lonely world of self-employment, it can only mean one thing...no work means no jingles in ones bank account. Yup, I officially have two days of not earning any money and two weeks of trying to make up for the two days missed. Honestly, if I ruled the country....

I’m trying to meet up with my old friend Vicki West who runs her own print brokers, Tiger Ink – she’s just launched her new website and it is pretty groovy, even if I do say so myself as I did the copywriting www.tigerink.com (blatant plug there) – anyway, we’re due to meet up for a coffee tomorrow which is great however, I reckon that looking by my diary, I’ll pop in for a quick coffee on my way back from my PR work for the construction company in Alton, but will need to get home pretty soon as I need to get cracking on some trend analysis for some market research I’ve been doing.

Whoever says being your own boss is all about lunches, playing golf and early evening cocktails is living in a different world to me that’s for sure.

I’ve just finished one of my market research contracts and I’m in the last phase of the other market research project on recruitment trends which I’m working on too. It’s hard work but really interesting, especially trying to not laugh when someone answers the phone and says they’ll put you through and the next moment, the person you were being put through to is “in a meeting” – I laugh as that is exactly what I used to ask my team to say when market research calls came through to me. How times change. Still, I’m doing the research for a nice client so I hope that they find the research findings useful.

I’ve done three weeks now working on the retained work I do every month for the construction company, cfes Ltd and I have to say it’s odd going into another office for a couple of days every week as I’ve so got used to working from home. Luckily they have loads of work for me to do so before I know it, my hours are up and it’s time to head back and the 16 hours a week I’m doing is enough to get enough work for them done along with working on other projects for clients so an ideal situation. I’m quite liking juggling different projects and market sectors I’m working for currently, it certainly keeps me on my toes and my brain active which can only be a good thing, I don’t want the early onset of becoming the local strange bag lady with lots of cats who talks to herself.

The break to Paris was amazing, we stayed in a really nice little hotel in Montmarte where we made the most of the cafes and bars (I know have a longing for Pernod and water), we wandered around all of the main tourist sites, watched an excellent game of rugby which England should have won however it was an amazing atmosphere in the stadium, especially as France won the grand slam –

...oh, and the boy and I also got engaged  under the Eiffel Tower at night when it was a lit up like a Christmas tree. A very happy trip all in all and one to remember!

So now the month of April is creeping up upon us and apart from the retained contract of work, I’m on the lookout for new contracts and pieces of work. I’ve got a couple of possible copywriting and marketing contracts in the pipeline, but as ever, it is back to the waiting game of getting sign off and the bank holiday period is not going to make it happen any quicker either. I’m also trying to organise the rowing clubs annual regatta but we’ve just found out that on the same day it’s Southampton Football clubs last home match of the season and as our regatta take place 2 mins away from the football stadium we’re struggling to find car parking for 300 rowers and their boat trailers. Doh!

Ah event management, the headaches you give me. I’m thinking that my experience of delivering and managing overseas sales conferences for 300 (mainly drunk) sales people along with organising rowing regatta’s and championships for up to 1,000 people should stand me in good stead for organising a little wedding next year – it can’t be that taxing surely? I’ve started on the draft guest list at the airport when we were delayed, so far we know 250 people and that’s just close family and friends (well, when you add in the Rowing Club, Rugby Club and Hockey Club, it starts to add up...)

Anyway, here’s hoping that April is as busy as March was, I’ve got vol au vents for 250 people to save for.

Hours in the day? 24? Not enough!

For those astute of you, you will have realised that the weekly Zzing newsletter and blog have not been updated recently. Unlike the previous eight weekly updates, I fell short last week and now we are nearly at the end of another week.

The reason for this? Well, I haven’t won the lottery and therefore I’m not currently in the Seychelles sipping champagne and no, I haven’t managed to upset the Microsoft / O2 Broadband techie-geeks and broken my computer or broadband. The reason for my ‘slacking’ in the newsletter / blog department is simply amount of work – yes, PAID work! Can you believe it? No, I can hardly either...

My last update included the market research tender which I had just won. That was for an evaluation / market research project for se2 Partnership which is a Social Enterprise organisation in the South East. So have been designing online survey’s and telephone interviewing their network organisations – what lovely, lovely people they are in the Social Enterprise Network they are. I guess their name say’s it all, ‘Social’, but they really are. Have had lovely chats with many of them – really didn’t seem much like work at all! However, market research does take up acres of my time with the telephone interviewing and then typing up the interview notes – still, all good stuff.

I also got some great news last week. The specialist construction company which I had a meeting with decided that they liked me (without the bribery of homemade brownies I hasten to add) and I start on a monthly contract for 16 hours each week in Alton next week. Again, perhaps I have been hit with a lucky stick, but they are such nice people (or perhaps I need to change my view that all business people will be really scary and shout lots). They want me to work on their PR and marketing their company profile so really looking forward to getting on with that work. One of the directors also plays rugby (for another team) against the boyfriend, so this made me telling them that I’m going to be in Paris for a few days next week (Oui, oui! J’adore Jonny Wilkinson and all that) a bit easier!

Then today, I got confirmation of some more market research work through an introduction from an old friend Andy Knight who works for Incisive Media. I’m going to be working on some qualitative research which is going to be pretty full-on for the next two weeks. I haven’t got the contact list yet so I’m using this time to write my weekly (albeit a bit late) ramblings.

So all in all, a pretty eventful week or so! Oh yes, I am now the owner of a sparkly new Blackberry as I’ll be out and about more and so what have I been doing for the last few days? Yes, on the phone to the ‘service provider’. Well, for a start, I think it’s a slight infringement to have ‘service’ at the start of their title and if I hear one more automated message telling me that they provide the ‘highest levels of customer service’ I’ll scream (they tell you this after holding and pressing 20 different buttons for options to finally get through to a human). However, when you do, you can already hear them eating their breakfast / lunch whilst flicking through various other internet sites as well as your email account. Yes, I know you are a techie and can multi-task various programmes and internet options whilst making ‘uumph’ noises to me, sorting out your fantasy football team, ordering the new shoot ‘em up PS3 game and tap, tap, tapping on your computer – but please....just talk to me in language that I can decipher and not make me feel like some idiot who has possibly not plugged the computer in.

So in essence, I could really, really do with some additional hours in the day. If anyone has an ‘app’ for obtaining more hours in the day (I got offered some from my ‘service’ provider – I pretended not to hear them as I haven’t got a clue why I would use my phone as a compass, spirit level or want to know how to decipher what bird song I can hear – I live in Southampton, if it’s not a seagull, the bird has got lost), let me know.

On a random note, has anyone else tried the new Marmite Cereal Bars? They were handing them out free in Waterloo yesterday. Tried one. Bit dry and tasteless and I sit in the ‘Love Marmite’ camp too. Apparently, you need to post your comments on the Marmites Facebook page. Seeing they only starting handing them out this week, they have over 2,500 ‘fans’ – what a cost effective way of getting feedback on your product.

Anyway, best go, got some survey results to sift through before hockey training tonight (2 matches at the weekend, still aching slightly when I get up and three large bruises and two astro-turf burns to my left knuckle – can’t complain, one of my team mates snapped her tendon in her ankle and is now on crutches).

A bientot! (practising for Paris next week)

Houston, we have lift off!

Well, there I was, about 30mins ago wondering what to put in my weekly newsletter. I was thinking that I needed to put in what’s gone on in the world of Zzing this week but was aware that it was starting to sound very similar to all of the other weeks – nearly there, another proposal sent out, no news yet, fingers crossed on this tender etc. etc. I could see why my Mum and Dad were getting worried that I had made the right decision to go freelance.

Then BAM!

Email comes in.

I WON A TENDER FOR A PIECE OF MARKET RESEARCH!!!!!!

Yes, you read it right - my first ‘official’ tender won. An actual tender which I completed for a company that I had never met before and they decided that my approach to the project was the best one!

I am sure I am close to how Amy Williams who won the Olympic Gold medal in the skeleton this week felt – all that hard work (OK, only two months in my case, I know she has been training for years) has finally paid off. (That little jig I did last week when I got a contract and then lost it, I am convinced is jinxed so have remained firmly in my seat, just bounced up and down a lot.)

It’s one small step for Zzing, one giant leap to hitting the annual budget!

Actually, it has capped off a very good week. I met with a really nice recruitment agency this week and they are looking for help with their PR and Marketing. This company have grown to a very stable organisation over the last few years, are expanding with focus and want some help in raising their profile. I met with the MD who was a really nice guy and, if he likes my ideas and costs, I think he and his company would be a really nice project to work on. I’m also meeting with a construction company early next week to discuss some possible freelance work for them, again PR and Marketing. I’m hoping that my previous experience in construction and recruitment will help me win some work for both of these companies, looking at what they want to achieve, I know I can help – I have my fingers, legs and eyes crossed that they want to work with me as much as I want to work with them.

As I was up in London meeting the recruitment agency this week, I took the opportunity to pop in to Mum and Dad’s on my way back and also managed to invite myself to tea too – it would have been rude not too. I know Mum and Dad support me but they are worried that I have left a good job to start up on my own (that thought goes through my head on a regular basis too!) but I still feel that I have done the right thing (most days!) Especially today – wooop, woop woop! (Yes, still bouncing up and down in my chair, the neighbours must be wondering what’s going on)

I think I must be Lloyds TSB Banks best friend at the moment, they keep phoning me and asking for me to take part in some telephone research on their services, customer support, how they communicate with me. Obviously, being at home, I can take these calls and I think that as I agreed to take part in the first 5min telephone survey, I am on some ‘golden list’ which means that I am in when they phone and happy to take part. Mind you, I should have asked them to phone my friend Vicki from Tiger Ink for feedback, she has not had a brilliant time with Lloyds it is safe to say. In fact, I think if Lloyds called Tiger Ink and asked for a printing quote for all of their UK business, she may tell them where to stick it – well, maybe not, but she is really not happy with them. I think if I had been mucked around the way Vicki has been, the pens clamped by short wires to the cashiers desks would have been swiftly uprooted and placed in an appropriate place on the Business Bank Manager using a forceful upward movement!

So who knows what next week will bring? I know what this weekend will bring - bruises. Got a tough hockey match tomorrow with a very physical side that no one in the league likes playing AND on top of that, they have changed the match time from the morning to the afternoon. Right in the middle of the 6 nations rugby matches! Honestly, what were they thinking? England really need to win against the Irish to keep alive my dream of seeing the deciding match of the six nations live in Paris in four weeks time.

Let’s hope a few more tenders come good as if England win, the bar bill in Paris may be a bit high!

Right, best sort out my diary and work calendar for next week – this could be the start of something beautiful!

Pouncing Tiger, sleeping proposals...

It’s been a week of up’s and down’s in the world of Zzing – and, to paraphrase Ronan Keating, (I never thought I would say that) “Life is a rollercoaster”.

Monday was full of up’s and downs. After getting back from a meeting with Vicki at Tiger Ink about her website, I got back to find out that one of my proposals had been accepted! Delirious excitement ensued with and a very odd jig undertaken around the office – you would have thought that I had won gold in the downhill skiing.

45 minutes later though, got a call saying the work was on hold, one of the Directors wasn’t sure... rollercoaster indeed. Perhaps I should refrain from jigging, it’s obviously a jinx.

Still, onwards and upwards.

I’ve been working on a really lovely project this week, writing the website body-copy for Tiger Ink, an independent printer who I have worked with for over 10 years. It was a great brief as Vicki wanted it simple, to the point and with some humour. There were, I admit, some cheesy references to Tigers (Wikipedia did itself proud for facts) but they all linked to the work so I think it worked. Sent the first draft of the copy back and thankfully, Vicki loved it so we’re just waiting to see how it looks laid out on the pages and once it’s finished, I’ll let you all know the link.

Also been doing a couple of quotes for an old acquaintance this week too so I hope that I’ve managed to get them a good deal. It was good to speak to them though and really nice that they thought of me.

Still waiting to hear back on a couple of proposals, one should be today or Monday so fingers crossed as that will be a nice piece of market research.

I did get a call however, from a really interesting guy who runs his own recruitment company in London and is looking for a contract marketing person to help out with some work for 3-4 months which would be great for me as it’s an industry I know and also it’s mainly home based. After a nice chat with him, am meeting him next week so let’s hope he likes my work and me! Perhaps I should take some homemade brownies....

I’ve been working from home now for nearly two months and I am proud to say that I have never once switched on the TV in all that time (not sure if that says much for the state of daytime TV or the strength of my willpower), however, this week I am sooooo glad that the winter Olympics are being held in Vancouver and none of the coverage is live during the day. If it were, I think I would be an expert on snow-board cross (I so want to do that) and cross country sprint skiing rather than a marketing professional. Mind you, the late nights of watching the Olympics coverage is starting to take its toll – the bags under my eyes each morning are growing ever bigger – attractive.

I have to say I am normally not stuck for adding lots into my blog entry, but this week, I’m a bit stuck, mainly as I have had my head down doing some ‘proper’ work and also I have one eye on the clock as I have some chocolate cookies in the oven, my friend Mia is coming round shortly so don’t want to burn them.
So apologies for the short and sweet entry this week, I’ve got a few other pieces of possible tender work to get out before this week has finished, but will fill you all in next week.

Remember – it don’t mean a thing if it ‘aint got that Zzing!

Seeing it from the other side...

Another week, another round of proposals out for potential work and another life lesson learnt.

I spent nearly twelve years working for one of the leading construction recruitment agencies, Hill McGlynn – or should I say Randstad Construction, Property & Engineering (well, I did work on the rebrand so guess I should call it by its proper title!). When I worked there the main gripe from candidates was that recruitment consultants never called them back, never acknowledged their emails and when they did phone, the person you needed to speak to was always ‘on another call’ or ‘out of the office’. Working with the consultants I knew that many of them did work really hard and sometimes you don’t want to take the call as you have a) no news for them or b) not even with divine intervention would they get the job.

However, after scanning the plethora of job boards, there are actually quite a few marketing freelance positions out there. So, thinking it may be a good idea to have a back-up plan in case none of the proposals come off, I duly replied to all those positions which were suitable and contract based for 3-6 months. I’ve applied to 9 in total, 4 of which are exactly the same job as I had done before at Hill McGlynn – sorry, Randstad CPE – so I thought I may be in with at least a shout of an interview.
Hmmmmm, I have had ONE reply email, and that was automated. Called all 9 agencies – funnily enough the consultants are a) on the phone and will call back, b) away from their desk or c) out on a client visit. Perhaps I’m just considered as ‘unemployable’

It’s a very different world sitting on the other side....still, I plough on.

Went to the 3Market Social Enterprise exhibition this week, mainly to catch up with Linda from Total Coverage who has been a gem in passing leads of possible work onto me (oh, and apologies, I linked her website wrong last week, its www.totalcoverage.coop) and also to catch up with my mate Vicki from Tiger Ink who is my printing guru – www.tigerink.co.uk (what Vicki doesn’t know about printing is not worth knowing or they haven’t invented it yet). To be honest, the event wasn’t what I had expected, most people seemed to know each other and so there wasn’t really much networking, however, there was a seminar from Wayne Hemmingway (Red or Dead fame now an urban designer) which was actually very good. He was presenting on how to grow and build your business within the social enterprise sector and told the audience that he had never had to pitch for work in his life – he obviously got hit with the lucky stick on the way out, mind you, he does produce excellent work.

Not much else really to write about this week though as three of the days I’ve spent cold calling businesses – eughhhhh! Hate cold calling. Still, building up a nice little database of ‘we may have something in the future’ companies. Don’t worry, I’ll be bothering you next month, and the month after that, and the month after that....you WILL have a newsletter written, you just don’t know it yet!

I guess love is on the air this weekend with Valentine’s Day on Sunday (yes, to all the boys reading M&S is open until late) but more interestingly the England Rugby team will be giving the Italians a little lesson in love over in Rome (33-6 my prediction) after their campaign got off to a good start last weekend against the Welsh. Also the start of the Winter Olympics and as I have no hockey match to play this weekend, in between cooking a sumptuous valentine’s meal for the boy (thanks Jamie Oliver) I’ll be stuck on watching sport.

However, for those of you who think Valentine’s Day is a commercial ploy, you could instead celebrate Pancake Day and to get you in the mood, here’s the following (apologies to my Irish friends, especially Eoin who will lynch me for posting an Irish joke).

A Scotsman, an Englishman, a Welshman and an Irishman are in a bar, talking about their children.
The Scotsman says:
“My son’s called Andrew. We called him that ’cause he was born on St Andrews Day.”
The Englishman speaks up:
“What a coincidence – my son was born on St George’s Day, so we called him George.”
The Welshman replies:
“That’s incredible – my son, David, was born on St David’s Day”.
The Irishman, who has been listening in growing amazement, bursts out:
“I can’t believe it – wait till I get home and tell Pancake!”

Happy Valentines / Pancake Day x

Getting ready from the scrum down...

Blimey, it’s been a busy week and hopefully next week even busier! With the Six Nations Rugby tournament kicking off tomorrow, it feels like I’m getting nearer to that try line to secure that first elusive signed contract.

Kicked off the week with my speed dating networking event. Imagine the most random business people in one room and you have two and a half minutes to talk to them about your business and they then do the same. After an hour and a half of this, I was shattered – seriously, there are only so many times you can say ‘Hi! I’m Penny from Zzing Marketing etc etc etc’ whilst keeping a fixed smile on your face before you get lock jaw. Still, it was a good event and I have spoken to several of the contacts I met, some for possible supplier work and one which may come to fruition for some work – fingers crossed.

Also went to the ‘Meet, Greet and Prosper’ networking event – hmmmmmmm. Not as useful as the other networking event, the seminar was more like a TV American Preacher (“let’s give each other a big round of applause...”) but still, you have to try these things.

Had an interesting day in London with Steve Garratt of the Giggle Group on Wednesday – Steve is a great guy, (fantastic animation work from the Giggle Group – take a look at their Giggle Spots www.thegigglegroup.com) and he very kindly has got me compiling some proposals for some projects he’s working on so have been busy working on them. Lovin’ Steve’s work!

Next week I’m off to the 3Market event with my mate Vicki from Tiger Ink Print. It’s a social enterprise /trading exhibition and event for community enterprises and groups – a different world from the normal corporate clients I work with but one of my other contacts who has been really helpful in passing on leads for potential work, Linda Bratcher of Total Coverage Design, www.totalcoverage.co.uk is exhibiting there. As I’m learning very quickly, different markets and sectors work so differently and demand and expect different ways of working, but once you get in, you’re in. Fingers crossed and here’s to the next box of business cards being used.

The week hasn’t all been sweetness and light – Tuesday was rubbish, got knocked back on three tenders within the space of an afternoon, all a bit depressing and made me wonder what I had got myself into with this world of freelance marketing but then Wednesday with Steve reaffirmed why I started off on this crazy journey. The buzz and challenge of working on several projects in totally different market sectors is what floats my boat.

And with that, I’ve got to go! Most Friday’s have been a wind down to the weekend so writing this weekly newsletter has been a bit of a labour of love each week, but with the proposal work and research list ever increasing, I’ve got stuff to do before clocking off!

Enjoy the rugby this weekend if you are watching – I’ll be catching up with one of my business guru’s, Sylvain Boutellier of the venue finding company Nexus Venue www.nexusvenue.co.uk next week. Not only does Sylvain kindly check in with me each week to see how I’m getting on in business and provides me with brilliant words of wisdom and advice, but he is also a huge French Rugby fan, so we’ll be dissecting the games results early next week! (Nexus Venue is also on Twitter too now so follow them to keep up to date on the latest news and offers in the venue industry). England vs Wales is the big match for me though, for those of you not into rugby and can’t quite understand what the fuss is all about, here is a quote from Elizabeth Taylor who is obviously a classy lady.

"I prefer rugby to soccer. I enjoy the violence in rugby, except when they start biting each other's ears off." - Elizabeth Taylor (1972)

A month in and I’m still cold!

Well, I’ve made it a month being self-employed. It’s been a month of steep learning, getting to grips with setting up on your own, the discipline that comes from working at home and not managing to waste several hours trawling the internet mindlessly, working out budgets and watching your spending when no actual cash is forthcoming and getting used to ‘selling’ yourself at every opportunity and not be embarrassed by it.

What I have learnt over the last four weeks is that I do have many friends and acquaintances that have given great advice, support and also pointed me in the direction of potential work and for this, I’ll be forever grateful. I’ve also learnt that even double-glazed houses get REALLY, REALLY cold during the afternoon when the heating hasn’t been on since 8am that morning. Yes, I am writing this with the blanket around my legs – the woolly hat also made another appearance this week, it was last worn at my desk when the snow was here.

However, if anything, the last month has proved to me that (barring another global economic meltdown) is that I may just make it in this freelance world. From both perspectives, I have seen how some businesses have been set up from home and, over 15years later, are employing a team of staff and are very successful - Sue Sowerby of Sowerby Advertising is a prime example. I’ve also witnessed (on my legendary Tax workshop) how other businesses are set up, managed without any book keeping or common sense, pay hefty fines to the taxman AND still make profit. Both examples, in their own way, make me think that I may just be alright! (let’s hope that I emulate the Sowerby model and not the tax-paying-fine one).

This week has mainly been about mailshotting, cold calling and getting ready for next week’s activities. I have just sent out a large mailshot to local recruitment agencies in Southampton which won’t have their own dedicated marketing department. As mentioned last week, I did start cold calling Estate Agents, however, most of their marketing is done internally or by the property papers which they advertise in and whilst they admit it could be better, they won’t pay money to have this done for them. Dammit.

So I’m now going to play to my experience and hit the recruitment agencies. I’ve called a couple up and I have to say, one of them was immediately struck off the list. He wanted free internet job postings, fair enough, but he wanted me to set it up for him as he didn’t know how to – however, he wouldn’t pay me to manage this ‘Because I want FREE postings, I don’t want to pay you or the job board’. Needless to say, I politely told him I would put something in the post. Hmmmm, not going to waste a stamp on that one...

Next week though looks to be an interesting one. I’m going ‘Speed Dating Networking’. Yup, off the success of speed dating (has it honestly ever worked for anyone?), Business Link have set up an evening of speed networking for local businesses. Now, it could turn out to be a bunch of people, like myself, who have just set up, not got much business and are hoping that this event is going to the holy grail of getting new contracts. However, I think it will be more like a game of ‘see who can get rid of the most business cards’ evening. I’ll be practising my business card shuffle tonight...

I’m also attending another ‘networking event’ later on in the week (honestly, they are like buses these events...) and this is dynamically titled ‘Meet, Greet and Prosper’. Now, it’s safe to say, I’m a little more worried about this one that the speed dating networking one. Meet, Greet and Prosper. Is it me, or does it sound like something out of Star Trek? Am I going to turn up to some convention with middle aged sci-fi enthusiasts clutching prized signed photos of Mr Spock?

Oh well, I’ll boldly go and you never know, they may want a monthly newsletter written and published...

Speaking of which, (apologies for the blatant hard sell here to all my friends who loyally read this each week and have no requirements for marketing, but hey, pimping oneself out is the name of the game and all that) I am offering a 10% discount on all copywriting booked before the end of February. It could be for a newsletter, brochure copy, online website copy, mailshot, press release, love letters (Valentines Day is just around the corner), parole requests (well, I have a wide readership audience).... the list is endless.

So with a Zzing in my step (geddit?!) but with the slight hesitation that next week I am going to be attending a speed dating networking event and a Sci-Fi convention for people who speak Klingon, I spring into February and all that it brings!

A balancing act...

Apparently the key to running a successful business is balancing the books. Well, I haven’t got much to balance at the moment, several tenders for work out this week and waiting to hear if I am successful so the expenses definitely outweigh the income at the moment. I took a big breath at the start of the week and, through my hands over my eyes, opened up my bank balance to see what hideous impact Christmas and the last few weeks have had on my finances. Breathed a sigh of relief that the mortgage had gone through and bills were all paid.

Realistically though, even if every tender came good, I won’t be paying myself a wage for a few weeks so I need to remain being “self-employed frugal”. During lunch, I scour the paper and internet for savings to be had and ‘money-off’ coupons – I’m turning into my Mum. (Mind you, I got 50% off my MOT which is due next month so can’t be all bad). I’m used to just buying whatever I fancy in the supermarket, but now you will find me stood in the aisle with a pained expression on my face trying doing mental arithmetic working out the value of two for one offers.

Balance has also been a theme of my work this week, mainly in proposal and tender work. I have no problem in putting together creative marketing campaigns or a full breakdown of how I will undertake the work but when it comes to costing out my time, I’m still learning. Many people advised me when I first set-out on this self-employed quest “don’t undersell yourself”. Good advice one would assume. However, the balancing act I’ve been learning is trying to sell yourself at an attractive rate in order to have a shot at winning the work whilst also trying to make a living.

Had a coffee this week with an old buddy of mine Gus. He’s a one-man-fundraising-machine and for those of you who have had the pleasure of travelling on the Red Funnel ferries to the tropical Isle of Wight, you may have seen a crazy man either sitting on a rowing machine or push bike on the top deck of the boat (in all weathers), rowing and cycling stationary thousands of miles and raising thousands of pounds for charity. I’m going help Gus out with some PR for one of his next challenges of rowing 100k for Sport Relief – hats off to you Gus. Follow Gus’s challenges on www.bombayduckchallenge.com

In between proposal and tender work this week I’ve also been climbing the social network ladder (to all of the fans of Zzing Marketing on Facebook now – howdy campers!) Yup, the Facebook page for Zzing is set up and linked to Zzing’s Twitter site (@zzingmarketing) and LinkedIn profile. But for all of you techie-kids out there, tapping away on your Macbook or zipping away on your i-phone, Zzing now has a blog too – www.zzingmarketing.blogspot.com ; again linked to all the other Zzing sites and where you can read this rambling montage of a diary online at your leisure.

It’s damn time consuming though. Online marketing is cost effective in comparison to other forms of promotion, however, as I discussed with another good friend Abi Hillier this week - who runs a very funky company called Grasshopper Porridge www.teamgrasshopper.com (beautiful pots of goodness whenever you want) - the real cost to any company is the time it takes to manage your online presence on a daily basis. It’s also a bugger to understand the language and instructions to make the most of your online promotion. Now I know that a lot of the techie-world are Star Trek geeks fans, but do they really need to speak in Klingon when writing online instructions? I’m sure it’s just a cunning ploy to keep tech support people in Atlanta in a job.....

I’ve been on the phone quite a bit this week, catching up with contacts and suppliers, but most of my phone bill this month is going on cold calling as the follow-up to last weeks mailshot to the local politicians. In my previous job, I could tell a cold call from the first utterance the cold-caller made – “Hi! How are you? Did you have a good weekend? Isn’t this weather terrible?.... “ yadder, yadder, yadder. A horrible and ineffective way of trying to make me your best friend and buy your product. But I had to call the politicians up this week so deep breath and dialled the numbers.

Not one of the buggers was in. What do they do all day??? What do we pay our taxes for??? (Oh, I forgot, I can’t grumble about that for a while).

I hate cold-calling.

Next week, Estate Agents! (No, I don’t know why, working as my own boss, I have chosen this as my second target market either).

Mind you, it’s all about building the brand which I am taking the first steps in doing for Zzing. The strength of branding was underlined this week with the story about Cadbury’s being bought by Kraft. The UK public obviously have a huge affinity with the Cadbury brand (or are we all just addicted to Dairy Milk?) and the outpouring in the media from the public about not letting one of the UK’s best loved brands be sold was interesting to see. I’m sure the Radio 2 listeners wouldn’t be as incensed with Greggs the Bakers being taken over by MacDonald’s.

I should use this last point to outline my services in helping building your companies brand to the same echelons’ of Cadburys - but you know the score, give me a call....

What a difference a week makes....

What a difference a week makes...

The second week of being self employed is certainly a very different experience to the first week. Firstly, I have actually had some proper work to do which was a relief as there is only so many ways in which to fill your day organising stationary and your desk draw. Secondly, it has been great being able to get out and about to meet with fellow human beings – mind you, the social gathering which was the tax workshop on a ‘guide to becoming self employed’ was an amalgamation of the most random business models which you would ever want to have in one small room.

There were bizarrely several car valeters (who would have thought that car valeting in a recession was big business?), someone who was selling stereos to the yachting fraternity (not VHF radios, just stereos to play music) and then there was the Dance Artist. No, I haven’t got a clue what her business model was either and I spent four hours on Monday sat next to her.

The tax workshop was beneficial for anyone setting up as self-employed - well the work-booklet was. It gave all the information you needed in registering, book keeping, tax and NI examples – the four hours of explanation of this information however isn’t going to win any awards. Whilst the lady running the workshop was lovely, I really wasn’t interested in her husband (self-employed patio builder), two sons (Reading and Edinburgh Uni, one works in a Pizza parlour) and her mother (makes decoupage cards as a hobby).

However, the worrying part was that this sweet, mumsy lady, who had worked all her life in the tax office and was now employed to give; new self-employed people setting up their own companies; advice, her words of wisdom were:-

a) Don’t trust online banking, or any other online function for that matter – which makes bestowing the benefits of HMRC online tax returns slightly difficult

b) She actually advised us not to get a business bank account – ‘Do it through your current account, they won’t charge you’

c) Don’t bother doing your book keeping on a computer – ‘They aren’t reliable’ – she and her husband undertake all of his company book keeping with actual pen and paper.

You have got to love the civil service. Now, I’m not one for stereotyping, but I have an inkling this lady maybe a Daily Mail reader, believe Jonathan Ross is the antichrist and that Tiger Woods seemed like a ‘nice man’.

It has been a productive week though, tax workshops aside. I’ve been working on some start-up marketing branding and promotion for a local Arborist (tree surgeon to you and me), and I was also asked to put together a market research proposal for a salary survey for a client of Sue Sowerby from Sowerby Advertising. (great advertising & creative agency, have worked with them for nearly 10 years so take it from me, they are good!) so some possible work there – thanks Sue!

I also met up with an old friend, Steve Garratt from The Giggle Group, whose business is producing some amazing animated 30sec segments for branding online – it’s going to revolutionise online branding as the quality is spectacular. Good times.

I have yet to start cold calling, that wonderful job awaits me next week, however, I know who I am going to target as I have already written to them pimping outlining my services. I’m targeting local politicians. Well, if anyone needs a hand with brand promotion, PR and embellishment of services, in the coming months, our political friends are a dream target market.

At least it has been warmer working from home this week. I have managed to dispense with the hat and blanket, just mainly use a scarf for those ‘colder’ days. There are many pros and cons to being self employed and working from home, but, as the boyfriend is finding out, one of the key benefits has been my transformation into a domestic goddess. Not only is a home cooked dinner awaiting his return from work (proper job, regular salary), but the washing and cleaning fairy has also made daily visits leaving only the hint of clean, fresh linen in her wake. Now, I cannot guarantee how long this miracle as my mother would call it will last, but the lack of a commute means that the house can be tidied, washing on and work commenced by 8.30am – a month ago, I would still be waiting to exit the motorway at this time.

Social networking continues to draw me in. I am fascinated by the lives of ‘celebs’ on Twitter – honestly, it could take over your life if you let it. This week, I have learnt that Danni Minogue is pregnant, Katy Perry might be and Duncan Bannatyne is counting his blessings as he was due to be in Haiti this coming Monday. On a serious note, charities in the US are seeing for the first time the power of social networking. In the last two days alone, over $34m has been donated purely through social networking sites and an additional $5m from text messaging services. It’s a shame that the aid cannot get through to the people of Haiti with the same speed.

Thanks for all of your supportive comments from last week’s newsletter – you are all very kind but it has meant that you will continue to receive these weekly ramblings!

PS. Snacks were few and far between at the tax workshop – I knew I should have made vol au vents

Week one at Zzing marketing - it feels like I am skivving...

Week One of being self-employed – it feel likes I am skiving...

Some may say that I was mad for leaving a paid job which I had held for 11 years to start up my own freelance marketing business, however, whether I’m mad or not, I took the plunge and here I am, sat at my desk in the old spare room, now my office, five days into running my own company.

After eleven years slogging it out, late hours and working non-stop, I spent the first three days of bumbling around the office, arranging files, setting up spreadsheets and sending letters out to potential clients. It all seemed lovely and I had a great ‘work-life-balance’.

However, five days in, I’m beginning to wonder how many more days I can go without doing what I consider ‘proper’ work – it feels like I am skiving.

I’m sure I am experiencing what many people who work from home undertake on a daily basis. You start the day brightly, clicking on ‘check email’ in case, during the hours of 10pm and 7am (when the computer was turned off) someone has sent an urgent email requesting your services as their business will simply not be able to function without your services and you find that actually, no, there are no new emails. Companies remarkably seem to be able to be functioning without my help.

So then you link onto Facebook and Twitter (I now know why so many companies ban these as time-wasting devices) and check and update your statuses. I am convincing myself that social networking is essential to my business. What other marketing consultancy wouldn’t be completely au fait with social networking sites? We keep being told that having a presence on these sites will increase business and sales, well, unless one of the 19 year old rowing club members is a decision maker at a blue-chip company which requires a freelance marketing consultant, I highly disagree. Mind you, Twitter – or celebrity-stalking as it should be known – is highly entertaining and Paris Hilton IS as blonde and dumb as she seems.

Still, I do have my website to keep me entertained flummoxed for the rest of my life. How long will it take me to learn this black-magic of techie-gobbeldy-gook? No matter how the website looks on the ‘preview’ page, when I make it go live, you need a telescope to actually read the copy. The American support desk people speak to me via email in what I imagine they believe is easy-to-follow steps, however, they could be speaking in Portuguese for all I can make out.

The weather has been the biggest bug-bear of my working week so far. Not only is half of the UK not in work this week and therefore are not picking up my highly professional and creative emails offering my services, but - my god - it has been cold working from home. When you are watching every penny you spend, putting on the heating is deemed a luxury akin to eating caviar washed down with a bottle of Veuve Cliquot. If there is one thing I have learnt this week it is a) you really miss company paid for heating along with unlimited tea and coffee, and b) wearing a hat and scarf whilst sat at your desk along with a blanket over your knees does really help you keep warm.

Cycling to my meeting with the bank on Tuesday was also an adventure and it provided me with the “doh!” quote of the week. The Bank Manager looked at me and said “So....Zzing Marketing – what does your business do?”. Genius.

My week ahead will undoubtedly be much the same, however, I do have the uber exciting HM Revenue & Customs workshop ‘A guide to becoming Self Employed’ to look forward to on Monday morning. Four weeks ago, I would have eaten off my own arm in order to not sit through four hours of a workshop at the local tax office, however, after a week of working by myself and not having contact with any other humans apart from the boyfriend and Bank Manager, I am giddy with anticipation. I am already planning in my head what to wear, what route I will take, where I will park etc. They also suggested that I bring ‘snacks’ as the workshop runs over lunchtime without a lunch break. Does this mean I have to make flapjacks? Will others attending bring cheese straws or perhaps cocktail sausages? The mind boggles.

Still, besides all of the above, I am actually still genuinely excited about my new venture. I dreamt the other night that I was one of the Dragons on Dragons Den – I just need that luxury speedboat and apartment in Monet Carlo. Perhaps once I’ve done some proper work they may ask me...

Here’s to next week’s exciting and enlightening instalment from Zzing!