Follow Friday Recommendation Friday 26th March 2010

Well, yet another take on a Follow Friday blog from me this week. Instead of me writing the blog I have asked the person I am recommending to write a blog for a change.

I love tweeting with @MissRosieDay, she has a fantastic sense of humour, manages to look after an enormous family, and is just a great person to interact with, as well as being a talented writer.She is also doing some amazing charity work with Project65 as well, and is soon to undertake a mammoth walk in order to raise funds for them.

I have had the pleasure of talking to her on the phone on several occasions over the past few weeks and we have had some great conversations about our respective businesses and we have shared a lot of laughs as well.

Rosie made a comment on the phone and I couldn't help pointing her in the direction of Evernote, some software I thought would help her out. It worked excellently for her and she even managed to show me a new use for it I hadn't come across. Then I introduced her to Tungle, another piece of software which she embraced, and finally I introduced her to the joy of Capsule CRM

She was joking that I had finally got her organised so I asked her to write a blog for us on what that felt like, and here it is:

Guest Blog from @MissRosieDay

I am a writer, that's not my job title, that is who I am.  I cant remember a time when I did not write, from childhood I have recorded the world around me through stories and poetry.  I love words, I love the way that the pictures in my head become organised sentences on the page, but sadly that is where my organisation ends.  I make notes on scraps of paper and keep a track of things in my head, which on occasions gets me into trouble.  I have, until now, never let this worry me, I call it my artistic temperament!

Recently two things have hit me almost simultaneously.  The first was a change in direction and the second was meeting Helen.  So, firstly I will address the reason for a career change.  Before I left the rat race, I worked in business, where I was actually very efficient and productive, but I had staff to take care of the day to day organisation.  Then 2 years ago events in my personal life forced me to re-think my priorities.  I gave up the salary, the financial packages, the company car and became a full time writer.  I work from home and don't miss all those things, I am happy and my children are happy to see more of me.  It has taken a lot of hard work but my writing career has taken off in many directions and has given me a great many contacts.  It is sadly the case that freelance writers are finding the current market very difficult.  Commissions are hard to come by and those that are on offer are at a fee far less than those of just 18 months ago.  Therefore freelancers are all diversifying, including me and I suspect a great many people in other industries.  With the aforementioned contacts and my previous business experience, it has made sense to take a sideways step into PR & Marketing.

That's where Helen comes in, as an existing Twitter friend, she jumped on my tweets concerning my new business and lack of organisation and offered help to bring me up to date.  Her help and advice has been invaluable.  Working from home as a writer and working from home as a Professional providing a service are worlds apart.  A writers life is very solitary, working pretty much to my own deadlines.  In my new business I have to be far more polished, I have to make my clients feel special and confident in my abilities.  I have to be organised.  I am asking people to trust me and that trust has to be earned, missing a deadline or not calling at a pre-arranged time are not an option.

Organisation is not rocket science and there are so many people and online services that can help.  My advice is to be honest with yourself about the things that you are not so good at.  Seek help, a virtual PA is ideal.  By taking away the worry of these things you can concentrate on the things that you are good at, you will become more productive and your business will become more profitable, thus absorbing the cost of your help!

1 comment:

  1. couldn't agree more Rosie, good luck with new venture, give me a shout if anything i can do to help

    ReplyDelete

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