Write Away

Hey there, and welcome back to Write Away, the blog for small business owners, freelancers and anybody who is thinking of starting a business and jumping into self-employment. Today we are looking at some tools that can help small business owners with 1001 things on their to do list, and as a freelancer myself, I know from first hand experience, how useful some of these can be. So, without further ado, lets delve into the list: 1.        Evernote Quite simply a fantastic tool for keeping all of your notes, clippings, photos, PDF’s and even audio recordings in one, easily accessible place. You can create separate notebooks if you have different projects, products, customers or even stories to keep track of. It automatically syncs to the cloud when you save anything, allowing you to update or capture information on the go, and access it from a number of devices. The basic (free) version is fantastic, there is also a premium version (obvi...

Welcome back to Write Away, the business blog aimed at those working for themselves or anyone who'd love to but has yet to take that first step. There is an increasing number of people who are deciding to become their own boss later on in their career. There are many reasons for this, some people see it is a viable alternative to trying to get another job after redundancy, others are tired of working for someone else and some just have a big idea that is bursting to be launched in the form of a new business. Becoming self employed can also be a fantastic way of gaining a better work / life balance when you have a young family and working hours need to fit around school hours. Whatever the reason, there are a number of benefits to becoming your own boss later in your career. Not only do you have a lot more experience to draw on, you also have the benefit of having made some mistakes at someone else's expense! Often, those over forty may also be fortunate to have built s...

Welcome back. I once attended a lecture by a very successful businessman who was talking about how to maximise the benefit from our scarcest resource, our time. Some of his ideas were not exactly new, or even radical, such as watching less television or spending less time in the pub; but one area he commented on was the amount of time we spend driving around, and how this can be a real opportunity for us. Rather than listening to music or other people chatting on the radio, he suggested listening to audio business books or self help guides - he termed it the “University of the Car”, I’ve started to heed this advice and found it very beneficial. If you’re stuck for a starting point, try buying or downloading “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” by Stephen Covey, read by the author, it is an inspiring book, and one I’ll post on in more detail soon. You can find out more about the book on the link below: https://www.stephencovey.com/7habits/7habits.php M833X4F57YK4