Nick Usborne

Monday Spark: If you haven’t found your true talent yet, dig deeper.

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ken robinson on talentIn the video below Sir Ken Robinson is talking mainly about education. That’s his thing.

For decades Sir Ken Robinson has challenged the way we’re educating our children. He champions a radical rethink of our school systems, to cultivate creativity and acknowledge multiple types of intelligence.

He applies a similar way of thinking to business, looking for ways to foster more creative thinking within companies.

There is much in what he says that also applies to us, as freelancers.

First, watch the video.

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How working with a coach can double your freelance income, and more.

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coach for freelancersAs freelancers we can get stuck in a rut.

We find a way to make a reasonable income, and then we stick with it.

But the longer we stick with it, the deeper the rut becomes, and the harder it is to break out into new and better directions.

In fact, we soon lose sight of the fact that there are other possibilities beyond the rim of the rut.

After a while we begin to lose heart. Yes, we are making a living. Yes, we have a routine that seems to work OK. But… wasn’t there a time when we thought we were capable of much more?

It’s at this point that we need the intervention of a coach.

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Monday Spark: Taking small risks makes you FEEL GOOD.

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freelancers taking risksAs freelancers we tend to be risk-averse. We feel that our future is scary enough as it is, without taking any unnecessary risks.

But…we are also entrepreneurs, building a small business from the ground up. And one of the hallmarks of successful entrepreneurs is that they do take risks.

I’m not talking about crazy risks that could lead to the loss of everything. I’m thinking more about the kinds of risks Seth Godin refers to in his book, Poke the Box
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He makes the point that doing nothing, starting nothing and risking nothing leads ultimately to stagnation and collapse. You need to challenge the status quo from time to time. You need to poke the box. (You know “the box” – it’s that thing you are meant to think outside of.)

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If your sales copy doesn’t flow smoothly, rewrite it. Or fail.

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copy flows like waterA couple of weeks ago a young copywriter sent me a sales page he had written. He wanted to know if I thought it was any good.

I must have been having a very slow day, because I don’t usually have time to answer all the emails I receive, let alone look at attachments.

And I kind of dread reading “newbie copy”, because I know I’ll find lots of things that aren’t working quite right, and also know I won’t have time to write back with a full and comprehensive critique.

Anyway, on this particular day I did read the entire sales page.

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Monday Spark: This is where I do my big thinking.

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where to do your big thinkingA couple of weeks back I talked about how reframing your day in some way can help you bring a fresh perspective to your work.

That post was about giving yourself a nudge to get out of the rut of your daily routine.

Today’s message is related, but not the same.

This is about finding a place and time to think about the bigger issues. It’s about addressing and answering questions like:

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Keep readers coming back with streams of related content.

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5 related kidsIn one sense, all the content on a website is related. At least, it should be.

If you sell coffee, all of your content will relate to coffee, in one way or another. If you sell garden furniture, all your content will relate to gardens and furniture.

But that’s not what I want to talk about.

What I’m suggesting is that you create a series of streams of content that are much more closely related.

For example, if you sell or write about coffee makers, you might create a series of content pages which focus on all the different brands and models of single serve coffee makers. That’s a subset of the coffee topic, but gives you enough raw material to create a series of 5 to 10 pages of content.

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