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!