In our final episode of 2022, and before we take our break for Christmas and New Year, we leave you with some thoughts to ponder, about the importance of multiple streams of income. With so much in the news that’s not altogether positive, we think it’s worth reminding everyone, ourselves included, that the future is very much uncertain, and it’s well worth being in the position where you can earn income via a variety of streams, so you don’t ever have to rely on one sole source. Easier said that done, perhaps. But there are many things you can do to put yourself in a better position going forward, so you can potentially earn residual income on an ongoing basis, from a few different sources than your usual ones. Especially if you’re a freelancer earning invoice to invoice. Consider creating content that can be sold many times over in the form of digital downloads. eBooks, courses, coaching material, creative content, videos, guides, consulting, presentations, whatever it might be - there are ways to monetise your knowledge so you can create something once, then sell it many times over. Resources mentioned in this episode: https://thedigitalgeneralist.substack.com/p/the-importance-of-multiple-streams https://withkoji.com https://payhip.com Another resource we talk about is Volley, a website that makes it fairly easy to sell what’s most important to us all - your time.  https://www.volleyapp.com And because there’s a dearth of good news stories in the world right now, it’s worth having a look at a newspaper (and social accounts) of one outlet dedicated to good news! https://thehappynewspaper.com Iwan’s story of the alternative Xmas advert, very poignant. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_KjgSyGhzQ All that remains is for us to thank you for listening throughout 2022, have a very merry Christmas and Happy New Year! See you in January… Brought to you by Brummies Networking, the home of free, stripped-back business networking. https://brummies-networking.co.uk Brummies Networking on Twitter: @brummiesnet BrumPod on Twitter - @brumpod Produced by Audio Shed - https://audioshedpodcaststudio.co.uk Twitter: @audioshedstudio Music by Birocratic - birocratic.com Twitter: @birocratic BrumPod - The UK Small Business Podcast. BrumPod is designed for small businesses, because all of the hosts are small businesses! Our goal is to bring you topics that affect you as a fellow small business owner directly; everything from website tools and technology, changes in regulations, business networking tips, business growth. BrumPod Hosts: Richard Heathcote (Voice Over Artist) - https://www.richardheathcote.co.uk Iwan Thomas (Business Coach) - http://www.iwanthomasassociates.co.uk Jason Jones (DoubleJ Consulting) Subscribe to Richard’s newsletter, The Digital Generalist on Substack - the best of the internet in online tools, platforms and news for creative businesses that you mightn't have seen before. https://thedigitalgeneralist.substack.com

This week’s episode is just a short burst of news and updates you might not have known about. First up, Canva. Canva announces the Canva Visual Worksuite, including Canva Docs at their annual conference. They’re not holding back when it comes to developing their platform even further. They are constantly upping their game! Canva info: https://thedigitalgeneralist.substack.com/p/canva-ups-their-game-again Next up; how to find out what your clients are searching for on Google - the non creepy way. (Trust us). There’s a tool we found called AnswerThePublic, which, when you add in a couple of key words relating to your industry, will show what the real time search data is, for what people actually search for on Google about those keywords. This can be massively useful when it comes to planning your blog or article writing content, knowing what things people are searching for, so you can plan your headlines and article content around just those topics, enabling you to directly answer what people want to know about. Find out more about AnswerThePublic in this article written by BrumPod’s own Richard: https://thedigitalgeneralist.substack.com/p/how-to-find-out-what-your-clients Finally, one more tool to add in to your bookmark folder for when you may need it - TinyWow. Little in name, but big on functions, it’s a completely free website with seemingly limitless tools, to help you convert any number of files into different formats. Anything from image file compression, to compressing and merging PDFs, you name it. It’s got it. One of those tools that you’ll be glad is in your bookmarks folder for whenever the need arises. https://tinywow.com That’s your lot for this week, catch you again soon! Brought to you by Brummies Networking, the home of free, stripped-back business networking. https://brummies-networking.co.uk Brummies Networking on Twitter: @brummiesnet BrumPod on Twitter - @brumpod Produced by Audio Shed - https://audioshedpodcaststudio.co.uk Twitter: @audioshedstudio Music by Birocratic - birocratic.com Twitter: @birocratic BrumPod - The UK Small Business Podcast. BrumPod is designed for small businesses, because all of the hosts are small businesses! Our goal is to bring you topics that affect you as a fellow small business owner directly; everything from website tools and technology, changes in regulations, business networking tips, business growth. BrumPod Hosts: Richard Heathcote (Voice Over Artist) - https://www.richardheathcote.co.uk Iwan Thomas (Business Coach) - http://www.iwanthomasassociates.co.uk Jason Jones (DoubleJ Consulting) Subscribe to Richard’s newsletter, The Digital Generalist on Substack - the best of the internet in online tools, platforms and news for creative businesses that you mightn't have seen before. https://thedigitalgeneralist.substack.com

In this episode, we have a very special guest - and I say special, because our guest, Samantha Fitzgibbons, happens to be Rich’s bestie of some 17 years, and counting! Sam has recently had her debut novel, Happy State, published, so we decided to have a chat with her about the book, and the path which led her to where she is now. Having trained as an actress, then subsequently completing a degree in psychology, to being a professional copywriter for businesses, as well as now, a published author. She’s had quite the journey throughout her life, which has also impacted the way Happy State was written, and conceived in the first place. The book is a dystopian novel set in the not too distant future, in the former United Kingdom, now renamed Happy State under a new totalitarian government which seeks to eradicate all forms of mental illness in favour of creating a nation which is outwardly ‘happy’. Whilst the issue of mental health is handled in a very sensitive way, it’s been quite jarring for Sam to see so many things that have happened in the UK and the world over the last few years, end up being mirrored in some way in the book; even though the book itself had been conceived before many of these events happened! Think along the lines of The Hunger Games meets ’24’, with a little Black Mirror thrown in, and you’re in the right ballpark with Happy State - and Sam leads us through how it all came to be, and what might be next. It truly is a fantastic read, and would thoroughly recommend you pick up a copy. If you’re into anything dystopian, you’re going to love Happy State. Find out more at https://www.happystatenovel.com Brought to you by Brummies Networking, the home of free, stripped-back business networking. https://brummies-networking.co.uk Brummies Networking on Twitter: @brummiesnet BrumPod on Twitter - @brumpod Produced by Audio Shed - https://audioshedpodcaststudio.co.uk Twitter: @audioshedstudio Music by Birocratic - birocratic.com Twitter: @birocratic BrumPod - The UK Small Business Podcast. BrumPod is designed for small businesses, because all of the hosts are small businesses! Our goal is to bring you topics that affect you as a fellow small business owner directly; everything from website tools and technology, changes in regulations, business networking tips, business growth. BrumPod Hosts: Richard Heathcote (Voice Over Artist) - https://www.richardheathcote.co.uk Iwan Thomas (Business Coach) - http://www.iwanthomasassociates.co.uk Jason Jones (DoubleJ Consulting)

At least for as long as The Apprentice has been on air, our lives have been filled with such phrases as ‘smash it!’, ‘knocking it out of the ballpark’, ‘doing it for the team’, ‘absolute home run!’, ‘MVP’ etc. However there are some legitimate ways running a business is very much like sports psychology; so given the Commonwealth Games are well underway in Birmingham, we thought we’d take a little look into the concept. Just like in sport, running a business is a marathon, not a sprint. You’ll have to train, get your business fit, constantly overcome obstacles, and you may not necessarily win the gold. However, judging business success is different for everyone. Some see ‘success’ as being multi-award winners, and then proudly showing off the fact via social media etc. But sometimes in business, awards aren’t the be all and end all - especially when some awards are merely ‘bought’, in cynical terms. So if you’re not an ‘award winner’, does that mean you or your business are ‘failures’? Far from it. Same goes for business networking - there are common tropes that go along with networking that some people still carry to this day - concepts like having ‘competition’ in the room, and some being put off by that. Whereas in more cases than not, there will be common ground and complimentary skillsets that will enable collaboration; creating a new ‘team’. So have a listen, and see what else the Commonwealth Games can teach the business community. Brought to you by Brummies Networking, the home of free, stripped-back business networking. https://brummies-networking.co.uk Brummies Networking on Twitter: @brummiesnet BrumPod on Twitter - @brumpod Produced by Audio Shed - https://audioshedpodcaststudio.co.uk Twitter: @audioshedstudio Music by Birocratic - birocratic.com Twitter: @birocratic BrumPod - The UK Small Business Podcast. BrumPod is designed for small businesses, because all of the hosts are small businesses! Our goal is to bring you topics that affect you as a fellow small business owner directly; everything from website tools and technology, changes in regulations, business networking tips, business growth. BrumPod Hosts: Richard Heathcote (Voice Over Artist) - https://www.richardheathcote.co.uk Iwan Thomas (Business Coach) - http://www.iwanthomasassociates.co.uk Jason Jones (DoubleJ Consulting)

With rail strikes looming and petrol prices at record highs - just how much does this kind of disruption affect modern business operations? With more people continuing to work from home post-pandemic, and the business landscape looking like it’s probably changed for good, are there as many people likely to be as affected with these disruptions as there once were? If even more people have flexi-working arrangements and work from home continues to be even more commonplace, will these disruptions be problematic for most? Obviously fuel prices are crippling a lot of people, and so many are struggling to afford to fill their cars in order to get to work. So perhaps even more will work from home? There are reports of some people requesting mileage allowances from their employers to cover the fuel costs, which of course has some tax relief benefits for the company. Will more companies adopt this mentality? It’s not mandatory, but would help a lot of people.  There’s currently a petition calling for just that - on Change.org, a petition to get the government to reduce fuel duty by 50%.. Conversely, one disruption that could cripple the country far more would be mass broadband outages and strikes from companies like Virgin Media and BT! That would be horrendous. Which would affect offices and WFH workers! What can we do as small businesses to defend against these and future disruptions? Companies may be forced into becoming even more flexible with staff in-office, in favour of WFH arrangements and remote working, and requirements to be in the office only for certain days of the week. Conducting more meetings through Zoom etc to reduce the need for potentially unnecessary travel. Ultimately, it’s going to have to be down to all business owners to work out the best options for them to help get their business and staff through a very challenging time. Brought to you by Brummies Networking, the home of free, stripped-back business networking. https://brummies-networking.co.uk Brummies Networking on Twitter: @brummiesnet BrumPod on Twitter - @brumpod Produced by Audio Shed - https://audioshedpodcaststudio.co.uk Twitter: @audioshedstudio Music by Birocratic - birocratic.com Twitter: @birocratic BrumPod - The UK Small Business Podcast. BrumPod is designed for small businesses, because all of the hosts are small businesses! Our goal is to bring you topics that affect you as a fellow small business owner directly; everything from website tools and technology, changes in regulations, business networking tips, business growth. BrumPod Hosts: Richard Heathcote (Voice Over Artist) - https://www.richardheathcote.co.uk Iwan Thomas (Business Coach) - http://www.iwanthomasassociates.co.uk Jason Jones (DoubleJ Consulting)

Elon Musk is purportedly in the closing stages of buying Twitter for a cool $44Bn - there have been extremely mixed reports online as to whether people are all for it, or think it’s the worst plan ever. Twitter has been likened to a cesspool for many years - does this mean he’s now going to come in and clean it up and make it a more positive environment? Or will it just make things worse? Then again, as we’ve said many a time, your experience on any platform is predominantly decided upon who you follow and interact with - if you don’t follow or get involved with toxic discussions or viewpoints, regardless of platform, then your experience will be wildly different to those who do. We are all in charge of our own networks, both personal and professional, and we are all the masters of who and why we interact with certain people. The network and results we see, is what we deserve, because we are all capable, and should, maintain our networks to keep them positive, useful, and forces for good. So will Elon buying Twitter make a massive difference? Or will the majority of us not even notice a thing, for the most part? Is it not simply better to just focus on our own personal and professional networks, treat them like a garden - nurture them, give them life, feed them, so they can be the best they can be? There’s no short cut to creating a powerful, useful network that’s helpful to all parties. It takes time, patience, maintenance and a lot of nurturing. But the results when done properly can be absolutely fantastic.

We found an article from Foundation Inc that was all about how to write better headlines from the pros at LinkedIn. Needless to say, our interest was piqued, as getting better at anything has to be a good thing, and if it helped our combined LinkedIn activity, then that’s always good, no? But after finding a couple of useful bits, like keeping things succinct etc, the ‘tips’ went on to be more and more….well….ludicrous - to the point that these ‘tips’ were no longer useful, and were encouraging people to write more and more in a clickbait style. Now, clickbait, as we know, is designed more often than not, to be deceptive in some way. Maybe the article the headline is for isn’t quite what it the article is all about, maybe it’s a ludicrous or sensationalised headline to make the article more appealing, whereas in reality it’s pretty mundane, and/or obvious - leaving the reader distinctly NOT shocked, entertained or informed. Clickbait has become the scourge of the internet, so we’re quite sure that LinkedIn pros SURELY aren’t endorsing such practices? So we delved a little deeper into the world of clickbait, what it’s for, who does it, and how to combat it so you don’t make the same mistakes in your LinkedIn posts, blogs, articles or indeed any content you produce. So have a listen, and hopefully it’ll be useful for you in your own business, being able to write enticing headlines, without it sounding like pure, unadulterated clickbait. (Because you won’t BELIEVE what happens next!) (Joke!) References mentioned in this episode: https://foundationinc.co/lab/write-better-headlines-from-the-pros-at-linkedin/ https://bettermarketing.pub/how-to-write-genuine-enticing-headlines-without-clickbaiting-b2728381e26a Brought to you by Brummies Networking, the home of free, stripped-back business networking. https://brummies-networking.co.uk Brummies Networking on Twitter: @brummiesnet BrumPod on Twitter - @brumpod Produced by Audio Shed - https://audioshedpodcaststudio.co.uk Twitter: @audioshedstudio Music by Birocratic - birocratic.com Twitter: @birocratic BrumPod - The UK Small Business Podcast. BrumPod is designed for small businesses, because all of the hosts are small businesses! Our goal is to bring you topics that affect you as a fellow small business owner directly; everything from website tools and technology, changes in regulations, business networking tips, business growth. BrumPod Hosts: Richard Heathcote (Voice Over Artist) - https://www.richardheathcote.co.uk Iwan Thomas (Business Coach) - http://www.iwanthomasassociates.co.uk Jason Jones (DoubleJ Consulting)

In this episode we talk about what it means to start a business in 2022, to take the leap from ‘safe’ employment into the world of the self-employed. A topic close to our team (and hearts!), as Jason has recently done just that - stepped back from many years service as an employee in a big business, to starting his own journey into the world of self-employment. We look at the reasons WHY people want to start their own businesses, whether you should go down the Ltd company route, or stay as a Sole Trader. What are the pitfalls, things to look out for, things you absolutely should be aware of before starting your journey into self-employment. As well as plenty of top tips and advice from some useful sources which will hopefully aid you in your own personal journeys. However we also discuss the countless benefits of being self-employed and all the freedom, flexibility and work/life balance that it can afford to you as well. Can it be a treacherous journey when you don’t have that ‘comfort blanket’ of being employed with a steady pay check? Of course. But if you’ve done your research, put the hours in, build a strong network around you and put your all into your new business - you have every chance of success. Sources referred to in this episode: https://www.inc.com/entrepreneurs-organization/3-tips-for-starting-a-small-business-in-2022.html https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/smallbusiness/article-10321963/How-start-business-2022-Ex-Dragons-Den-star-Piers-Linney-shares-six-tips.html Brought to you by Brummies Networking, the home of free, stripped-back business networking. https://brummies-networking.co.uk Brummies Networking on Twitter: @brummiesnet BrumPod on Twitter - @brumpod Produced by Audio Shed - https://audioshedpodcaststudio.co.uk Twitter: @audioshedstudio Music by Birocratic - birocratic.com Twitter: @birocratic BrumPod - The UK Small Business Podcast. BrumPod is designed for small businesses, because 2/3 of the hosts are small businesses! Our goal is to bring you topics that affect you as a fellow small business owner directly; everything from website tools and technology, changes in regulations, business networking tips, business growth. BrumPod Hosts: Richard Heathcote (Voice Over Artist) - https://www.richardheathcote.co.uk Iwan Thomas (Business Coach) - http://www.iwanthomasassociates.co.uk Jason Jones (DoubleJ Consulting)

With the meteoric rise that Canva has seen over the last few years, it was inevitable that competitors would rise to get a slice of the action. Given how Canva has completely changed the game in the world of graphic design, democratising the way graphics (and now of course video) is created by not just graphic design professionals, but by everyone - through the use of templates and pre-made elements that people can incorporate within their designs; a major player had to take notice. The major player that has now come forward to throw their own hat into the ring? Adobe. Yes, Adobe, famed for their legacy of graphic design, photo editing and video production heritage, have revamped their ‘Spark’ offering, and have now created and launched ‘Creative Cloud Express’ just before Christmas. With a platform very similar to Canva, with the ability to create designs from pre-made and pre-sized templates with the ability to bring in elements from the Adobe stock image library and font collection, they have launched it as a freemium model, so there’s a free account, and a premium account. Pricing is also very similar to that of Canva, so you know for sure that Canva have taken notice. We know just as in other industries, you don’t have to be the first to market to be the best - so will this be a threat to Canva? Quite possibly. But what we do know for sure, is that competition breeds innovation, so long term, it’ll mean Canva, (and Adobe) will both need to up their game in features, benefits and services, in order to retain their customers. So if both are going to compete against each other to be ‘the best’, then either way, it’s got to be good for the consumer. Interesting times ahead I think! Resources referred to in this episode: https://www.creativebloq.com/news/creative-cloud-express https://techcrunch.com/2021/09/14/canva-raises-200-million-at-a-40-billion-valuation/?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAFk1_o3PbcLXBURS-AudkBIvT19EXPqqKewyLHwJR7n0Hs7oRMpRvN_4KOxXFrmsFPT5Vg2ItfsVoGL7fY0L72xnO1FIJaVX0hQdGCllAECRDA-S9p1rWJKf9FwPV_K0uJJXvkc7pvH5huEh9-Ia8DkJG6gXsuQcWT-yr2sk49GP https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexkonrad/2021/09/14/canva-raises-at-40-billion-valuation-and-founders-pledge-away-their-wealth/?sh=11cdf5cd7ba9 Brought to you by Brummies Networking, the home of free, stripped-back business networking. https://brummies-networking.co.uk Brummies Networking on Twitter: @brummiesnet BrumPod on Twitter - @brumpod Produced by Audio Shed - https://audioshedpodcaststudio.co.uk Twitter: @audioshedstudio Music by Birocratic - birocratic.com Twitter: @birocratic BrumPod - The UK Small Business Podcast. BrumPod is designed for small businesses, because 2/3 of the hosts are small businesses! Our goal is to bring you topics that affect you as a fellow small business owner directly; everything from website tools and technology, changes in regulations, business networking tips, business growth. BrumPod Hosts: Richard Heathcote (Voice Over Artist) - https://www.richardheathcote.co.uk Iwan Thomas (Business Coach) - http://www.iwanthomasassociates.co.uk Jason Jones (DoubleJ Consulting)

In our final episode of 2021, we just wanted to give you a few updates of things you need to know.  As you know, we had to cancel our December networking event due to the current Omicron spread and the restrictions that are currently in place - we decided to wait until the new year instead of putting on a substandard event, so fingers crossed this is just a very temporary suspension of our events, and we look forward to welcoming you back hopefully early in 2022. In the meantime, we will continue to run our weekly Twitter Hour, #brummiesbizhour every Tuesday morning at 11am. Our last one of the year will take place on Tuesday 21st Dec, then we’ll be breaking for the holidays, and will return on Tuesday 4th January 2022, to bring you your online networking fix to meet and mingle with other Midlands business folk. BrumPod will also now be taking some time off for Christmas and New Year, but rest assured we’ll also be back come the new year with lots more great guests throughout 2022 offering some brilliant insights into various industries, imparting knowledge and wisdom and top tips that’ll hopefully spark some ideas for you in your business. So for now, on behalf of the entire Brummies Networking team, may we wish you the merriest of Christmases, and the healthiest and happiest of New Years, and let’s hope for much better times in 2022 and beyond. Whatever you’re doing over the festive break, make sure you enjoy yourselves, and come back refreshed and raring to go in January 2022.  Thank you for listening throughout 2021, we can’t wait to be back in the New Year.  Merry Christmas everyone. Sign up to our mailing list: https://brummies-networking.co.uk/mailing-list-sign-up/ Brummies Networking LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/brummies-networking Brought to you by Brummies Networking, the home of free, stripped-back business networking. https://brummies-networking.co.uk Brummies Networking on Twitter: @brummiesnet BrumPod on Twitter - @brumpod Produced by Audio Shed - https://audioshedpodcaststudio.co.uk Twitter: @audioshedstudio Music by Birocratic - birocratic.com Twitter: @birocratic BrumPod - The UK Small Business Podcast. BrumPod is designed for small businesses, because 2/3 of the hosts are small businesses! Our goal is to bring you topics that affect you as a fellow small business owner directly; everything from website tools and technology, changes in regulations, business networking tips, business growth. BrumPod Hosts: Richard Heathcote (Voice Over Artist) - https://www.richardheathcote.co.uk Iwan Thomas (Business Coach) - http://www.iwanthomasassociates.co.uk Jason Jones (Self Storage) - https://www.accessstorage.com “Additional SFX from https://www.zapsplat.com“

Well, it’s official, Christmas is fast approaching now from all angles, whether you’re ready or not! The wine is starting to flow, the nibbles are out, and people are gathering at all manner of festive themed networking events at this time of year. Hopefully your workplace is putting on some kind of Christmas party this year after the tumultuous time we had last year, and now the hospitality industry is so well versed in keeping venues and guests as safe as possible, we hope you enjoy letting your hair down however you want to this year, to celebrate another pretty tough 12 months. For all those self employed and freelancers, networking events can in many ways feel like the office ‘works do’ you don’t get to normally attend! So it’s always worth having a look through LinkedIn to see what events are happening, as there are often some that are designed especially for freelancers to meet up and have a collective office party for those without offices or colleagues! Whatever events you attend this year, we hope you enjoy yourselves, as quite frankly, you deserve it. None of us have had the best time this last 20months or so, so THIS Christmas, it needs to be a thoroughly enjoyable time. But just remember, even though the wine is often flowing and it is tempting to let your hair down, always be mindful that you’re always representing your business, whoever you’re with - make sure people remember you for the right reasons! Don’t even think about going NEAR that photocopier! So get out there, enjoy the festivities, attend some great events, and meet some great people. We’re all in this together, so let’s get out there and enjoy it. Brought to you by Brummies Networking, the home of free, stripped-back business networking. https://brummies-networking.co.uk Brummies Networking on Twitter: @brummiesnet BrumPod on Twitter - @brumpod Produced by Audio Shed - https://audioshedpodcaststudio.co.uk Twitter: @audioshedstudio Music by Birocratic - birocratic.com Twitter: @birocratic BrumPod - The UK Small Business Podcast. BrumPod is designed for small businesses, because 2/3 of the hosts are small businesses! Our goal is to bring you topics that affect you as a fellow small business owner directly; everything from website tools and technology, changes in regulations, business networking tips, business growth. BrumPod Hosts: Richard Heathcote (Voice Over Artist) - https://www.richardheathcote.co.uk Iwan Thomas (Business Coach) - http://www.iwanthomasassociates.co.uk Jason Jones (Self Storage) - https://www.accessstorage.com

In this episode, we discuss LinkedIn’s latest offering - an in-built freelance services marketplace - an additional function within your LinkedIn profile for adding ‘open to work’ banners to your profile picture, as well as the option to add various keywords about your service offering, so people can find you more readily when they need your skills. It supersedes the ‘ProFinder’ offering they’d trialled a while back and, after a beta trial in the USA earlier this year, this service is now fully available to every LinkedIn user. And most importantly - it’s free. That’s not to say that sometime down the line there may be chargeable elements, but we’ll have to wait and see on that score. For now, you can enable your profile to be searchable for a variety of keyword service offerings, so when people are searching the marketplace, your profile should then, theoretically at least, have more prominence for people to contact you directly about. LinkedIn are wanting to offer a service that’s akin to the likes of UpWork, Fiverr, PeoplePerHour etc to add more value to the LinkedIn experience. However, unlike the competition which will often just be a ‘jobs board’ from people wanting services which then invites freelancers to pitch/propose their wares, which can often lead to a race to the bottom when it comes to pricing; they’re doing things differently. The onus is on the person seeking work to be done to contact the relevant (to them) person to go about offering specs and negotiate pricing client-provider.  We hope that this will be a positive step forward for LinkedIn, adding more features and relevance to an ever-expanding user base of freelancers and small businesses, edging away from their historical perception of being a job-seeker/recruitment oriented website like it was in its inception, with it being a glorified CV hosting jobs board. This should mean good news to the small business and freelance community of the UK, and indeed, worldwide. It’s free (for the moment at least!) so well worth you checking out. Find the relevant buttons in your usual ‘edit profile’ section on LinkedIn. Reference: https://techcrunch.com/2021/10/27/linkedin-rolls-out-its-freelance-services-marketplace-globally-after-picking-up-2m-users-in-smaller-us-beta/ https://www.linkedin.com/services Brought to you by Brummies Networking, the home of free, stripped-back business networking. https://brummies-networking.co.uk Brummies Networking on Twitter: @brummiesnet BrumPod on Twitter - @brumpod Produced by Audio Shed - https://audioshedpodcaststudio.co.uk Twitter: @audioshedstudio Music by Birocratic - birocratic.com Twitter: @birocratic BrumPod - The UK Small Business Podcast. BrumPod is designed for small businesses, because 2/3 of the hosts are small businesses! Our goal is to bring you topics that affect you as a fellow small business owner directly; everything from website tools and technology, changes in regulations, business networking tips, business growth. BrumPod Hosts: Richard Heathcote (Voice Over Artist) - https://www.richardheathcote.co.uk Iwan Thomas (Business Coach) - http://www.iwanthomasassociates.co.uk Jason Jones (Self Storage) - https://www.accessstorage.com

Running our businesses, (and indeed lives), old school - does it still have a place in an ever-more digital society? With so much focus these days on people, and indeed businesses taking advantage of the latest platforms and technologies, i.e. the TikTok generation (something that completely eludes us, I might add) - there doesn’t seem to be anywhere near as much focus on tried and tested marketing methods that would now be considered ‘old school’. But does old school mean old and futile?  Not when you consider that so many traditional forms of marketing are seemingly on the rise, whereas you’d think it only the digital platforms could wave such a flag. Direct mail marketing is dramatically on the rise, and has been on the rise year on year for many years now. Radio advertising is seeing its biggest growth surge since one company started tracking radio ad spend a decade ago. And with so many other traditional routes still being completely viable ways to get word about your business out there, from business card drops in cafes, company front desks etc, speaking at events, sending snail mail, cold calling, trade shows, exhibitions, local community level activity through print publications, the list goes on. It goes to show that just because something’s offline, doesn’t mean it doesn’t still work. If anything, with fewer people in the offline pond, it could mean that you have a much better advantage of standing out from your competitors. What about you? Are you mainly online? Offline? Mix of both? In our view, a hybrid approach must work the best to get the optimum results. Resources: https://www.nme.com/news/music/uk-vinyl-sales-in-2020-are-the-highest-since-the-early-90s-2846310 https://www.selectabase.co.uk/2021/01/direct-mail-2021-the-rise-in-demand/ https://www.biznessapps.com/blog/10-offline-marketing-strategies-that-still-work-today/ http://www.insideradio.com/free/radio-forecast-to-grow-12-in-banner-year-for-traditional-media/article_03d46046-b872-11eb-ae60-f738756f6466.html Brought to you by Brummies Networking, the home of free, stripped-back business networking. https://brummies-networking.co.uk Brummies Networking on Twitter: @brummiesnet BrumPod on Twitter - @brumpod Produced by Audio Shed - https://audioshedpodcaststudio.co.uk Twitter: @audioshedstudio Music by Birocratic - birocratic.com Twitter: @birocratic BrumPod - The UK Small Business Podcast. BrumPod is designed for small businesses, because 2/3 of the hosts are small businesses! Our goal is to bring you topics that affect you as a fellow small business owner directly; everything from website tools and technology, changes in regulations, business networking tips, business growth. BrumPod Hosts: Richard Heathcote (Voice Over Artist) - https://www.richardheathcote.co.uk Iwan Thomas (Business Coach) - http://www.iwanthomasassociates.co.uk Jason Jones (Self Storage) - https://www.accessstorage.com

In this episode we talk to Dan Hoff-Rodrigues from CX Squared Talent Solutions based in the Midlands. Dan’s company focusses on recruitment for the tech industry - but he doesn’t work in the traditional model of recruitment, but favours a ‘Talent As A Service’ model, helping to drive the industry into the 21st century. You’ll learn about his career path to date bringing him to where he is now, and why he wanted to disrupt the face of recruitment by doing things in a different way.  Why he’s a ‘Duman’ - a doer that’s a human - someone that doesn’t spend time endlessly planning (see Ep53!) but gets on with it and takes action where it’s necessary, solving problems where he finds them. Dan additionally explains the ‘why’ to what he does - doing what he can to find solutions to the digital skills gap, digital poverty, tech in education, helping to get kids switched on to the tech industry early; learning skills they wouldn’t have otherwise thought about. As well as how to get those who are massively under-represented into the tech industry, in various roles. He also dispels a lot of myths and misconceptions about the industry as a whole, gives advice on how you can break into the industry - as it isn’t just about being able to code, or having to have certain qualifications or skills.  His aim is to level the playing field of the tech industry, and is doing so not just through his business, but via various initiatives he has set up (Diversity In Tech Brum, & The Brum Muse) to help many people learn, connect, and get the career they want in tech. You can find out more about Dan at the following places. https://www.cx-squared.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/danrodrigues7/ The Recruitment Doctor - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWI_LNkWhdb82O8-zrfgO6w https://twitter.com/cx2talent https://twitter.com/brummuse Brought to you by Brummies Networking, the home of free, stripped-back business networking. https://brummies-networking.co.uk Brummies Networking on Twitter: @brummiesnet BrumPod on Twitter - @brumpod Produced by Audio Shed - https://audioshedpodcaststudio.co.uk Twitter: @audioshedstudio Music by Birocratic - birocratic.com Twitter: @birocratic BrumPod - The UK Small Business Podcast. BrumPod is designed for small businesses, because 2/3 of the hosts are small businesses! Our goal is to bring you topics that affect you as a fellow small business owner directly; everything from website tools and technology, changes in regulations, business networking tips, business growth. BrumPod Hosts: Richard Heathcote (Voice Over Artist) - https://www.richardheathcote.co.uk Iwan Thomas (Business Coach) - http://www.iwanthomasassociates.co.uk Jason Jones (Self Storage) - https://www.accessstorage.com

A raw and unplanned episode filled with some topical updates, including the state of the electric vehicle infrastructure, as well as updates on the Birmingham Clean Air Zone and how that’s going. Electric Vehicles & Infrastructure: Midlands Connect calls for urgent action needed to speed up the expansion of EV charging points in the midlands. EV use will increase by more than 3000% by the end of the decade, and currently we’re lagging behind. Around 500 charging points are being installed every month at the moment; but industry bodies say that what’s needed is 700 points a DAY - so lots still to be done to improve our EV infrastructure to make it more appealing to petrol and diesel motorists. Clean Air Zone: Since the Clean Air Zone was implemented in Birmingham back in June this year, the latest studies have shown that pollution is down within the zone by nearly 20%. A good start. And good for the health of the people living and working within its boundary. But so far, there has seemingly been signs of pollution increasing on the ring roads surrounding it. Further plans need to be made to ensure that the pollution problem isn’t just being moved elsewhere. It’s early days, and things might change so no conclusions can be drawn yet, but it’s certainly something the council need to keep monitoring. We round out the episode with what plans mean to you and your business, and how they should be adaptable. Sometimes by over planning, it leads to procrastination and simply not getting the job done. Like having a meeting to discuss what’s going to happen in the next meeting. Sometimes you just need to get on with it and make things happen. But plan for plans to change! Resources: https://www.business-live.co.uk/manufacturing/urgent-action-needed-speed-up-21624279 https://inews.co.uk/news/birmingham-clean-air-pollution-charging-driving-city-centre-1185720?ito=twitter_share_article-top https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9982253/Charging-points-electric-cars-preset-turn-NINE-HOURS-day.html Brought to you by Brummies Networking, the home of free, stripped-back business networking. https://brummies-networking.co.uk Brummies Networking on Twitter: @brummiesnet BrumPod on Twitter - @brumpod Produced by Audio Shed - https://audioshedpodcaststudio.co.uk Twitter: @audioshedstudio Music by Birocratic - birocratic.com Twitter: @birocratic BrumPod - The UK Small Business Podcast. BrumPod is designed for small businesses, because 2/3 of the hosts are small businesses! Our goal is to bring you topics that affect you as a fellow small business owner directly; everything from website tools and technology, changes in regulations, business networking tips, business growth. BrumPod Hosts: Richard Heathcote (Voice Over Artist) - https://www.richardheathcote.co.uk Iwan Thomas (Business Coach) - http://www.iwanthomasassociates.co.uk Jason Jones (Self Storage) - https://www.accessstorage.com

LinkedIn now has nearly 740million members, & over 55million registered companies. Microsoft bought Skype in 2011. They then bought LinkedIn in 2016. They’ve had the ability to bring in video technologies to LinkedIn for years now.  So why the delay?  At the beginning of 2020 saw the massive rise of Zoom, from a little heard-of video conference app, to global powerhouse, exponentially increasing their user base in a very short space of time thanks to the pandemic. With LinkedIn bringing their own version out now, is it too little too late? What new features will they be bringing to the party? Even with the massive user base LinkedIn has, will it be enough for their own video conferencing platform to thrive when there’s so much other competition out there who may, arguably be doing it better, and easier? Or are they just playing catchup? We explore all the above in this episode, and also offer some top tips as to how to get the best out of LinkedIn generally, to maximise your business success on the platform. Resources: https://www.searchenginejournal.com/linkedin-launches-native-video-meetings/416388/#close https://kinsta.com/blog/linkedin-statistics/ https://techcrunch.com/2021/08/31/linkedin-is-scrapping-its-stories-feature-to-work-on-short-form-video/ Brought to you by Brummies Networking, the home of free, stripped-back business networking. https://brummies-networking.co.uk Brummies Networking on Twitter: @brummiesnet BrumPod on Twitter - @brumpod Produced by Audio Shed - https://audioshedpodcaststudio.co.uk Twitter: @audioshedstudio Music by Birocratic - birocratic.com Twitter: @birocratic BrumPod - The UK Small Business Podcast. BrumPod is designed for small businesses, because 2/3 of the hosts are small businesses! Our goal is to bring you topics that affect you as a fellow small business owner directly; everything from website tools and technology, changes in regulations, business networking tips, business growth. BrumPod Hosts: Richard Heathcote (Voice Over Artist) - https://www.richardheathcote.co.uk Iwan Thomas (Business Coach) - http://www.iwanthomasassociates.co.uk Jason Jones (Self Storage) - https://www.accessstorage.com

When you’re self-employed, a freelancer or solopreneur, it can be difficult to make the time to take time away from your business and go on holiday. There’s often guilt about not being available to your clients, worries about loss of earnings, pressures of getting someone in to cover for you while you’re away; meaning there are so many people that don’t take annual holidays at all. This can be extremely damaging to your physical and mental health. We aren’t robots, we’re humans - we can’t work 24/7, 365 days of the year. It’s not possible. Otherwise we’ll burn out and crack up, which is precisely what we don’t want. A UK study showed that 1 in 4 freelancers take no annual holiday, and of those that do, 45% take their work with them. In this episode, we delve into strategies that you can implement practically, to make your life easier when planning to take time off. Something that we ALL, regardless of whether you’re self-employed, or an employee, need to do to ensure we relax, switch off, reflect and recharge. Whether holidaying in the UK or abroad, taking time away from your business doing something completely different is vital, and will reinvigorate you no end. So please make sure you do it! Resources: https://www.crunch.co.uk/knowledge-productivity/holiday-when-self-employed-get-away-with-getting-away Brought to you by Brummies Networking, the home of free, stripped-back business networking. https://brummies-networking.co.uk Brummies Networking on Twitter: @brummiesnet BrumPod on Twitter - @brumpod Produced by Audio Shed - https://audioshedpodcaststudio.co.uk Twitter: @audioshedstudio Music by Birocratic - birocratic.com Twitter: @birocratic BrumPod - The UK Small Business Podcast. BrumPod is designed for small businesses, because 2/3 of the hosts are small businesses! Our goal is to bring you topics that affect you as a fellow small business owner directly; everything from website tools and technology, changes in regulations, business networking tips, business growth. BrumPod Hosts: Richard Heathcote (Voice Over Artist) - https://www.richardheathcote.co.uk Iwan Thomas (Business Coach) - http://www.iwanthomasassociates.co.uk Jason Jones (Self Storage) - https://www.accessstorage.com

In this episode, we reflect on the fact we have just hosted our first in-person networking event in over 17 months! It was a strange feeling being back in our spiritual home of networking - but quickly the strangeness subsided into a feeling of (relative) normality, and absolute familiarity. We had a (capped) roomful of people eager to get back to business networking, with great, deeper conversations happening throughout. It really was great to see. We also reflect in this episode about how we can all keep our networks effective, and fresh. Reconnecting with people you haven’t spoken to for a while. Meeting up with people that for so many months have been merely 2D avatars. So much is lost when we’re confined to Zoom meetings; nuance, body language, context. As good and such a Godsend things like Zoom have been during the pandemic, it’s nice to actually see humans again, and keep the connections going, getting to know people again on a deeper more personal level; something that just isn’t quite so effective online. We also remind everyone in this episode what we’re up to and how we’re going to be continuing our monthly events ongoing, whilst keeping it as safe as possible for everyone attending. We can’t wait to see you again at the next event. Eventbrite link will be going around very soon, so stay tuned. Brought to you by Brummies Networking, the home of free, stripped-back business networking. https://brummies-networking.co.uk Brummies Networking on Twitter: @brummiesnet BrumPod on Twitter - @brumpod Produced by Audio Shed - https://audioshedpodcaststudio.co.uk Twitter: @audioshedstudio Music by Birocratic - birocratic.com Twitter: @birocratic BrumPod - The UK Small Business Podcast. BrumPod is designed for small businesses, because 2/3 of the hosts are small businesses! Our goal is to bring you topics that affect you as a fellow small business owner directly; everything from website tools and technology, changes in regulations, business networking tips, business growth. BrumPod Hosts: Richard Heathcote (Voice Over Artist) - https://www.richardheathcote.co.uk Iwan Thomas (Business Coach) - http://www.iwanthomasassociates.co.uk Jason Jones (Self Storage) - https://www.accessstorage.com

In this episode, Richard and Iwan give a run down of some of their top productivity tools that they simply can’t live without. (What they did before then, who knows…) We cover various business tools, apps, software and platforms that simply make life easier in 2021 and beyond - tools that will often save you lots of time and effort, in turn making you a more productive business owner. There are also mentions in this episode of great free or low cost alternatives to the more well known ‘big boy’ software giants, where alternatives may well fit the bill for you more, without having to spend big money on costly annual subscriptions. Covering various aspects from office tools to help admin, to social media and the creative industries, there’ll be something for everyone in this. Notable mentions include re-affirming elements that people often forget about that can be highly useful, like Mail Merge in Microsoft Word, Canva for graphic design which also now enables you to create videos, as well as alternatives to Microsoft Office, and Adobe Photoshop. So if you’re in the market for some new software and tools to help you or your employees be more productive and don’t want to break the bank, this episode is for you! Brought to you by Brummies Networking, the home of free, stripped-back business networking. https://brummies-networking.co.uk Brummies Networking on Twitter: @brummiesnet BrumPod on Twitter - @brumpod Produced by Audio Shed - https://audioshedpodcaststudio.co.uk Twitter: @audioshedstudio Music by Birocratic - birocratic.com Twitter: @birocratic BrumPod - The UK Small Business Podcast. BrumPod is designed for small businesses, because 2/3 of the hosts are small businesses! Our goal is to bring you topics that affect you as a fellow small business owner directly; everything from website tools and technology, changes in regulations, business networking tips, business growth. BrumPod Hosts: Richard Heathcote (Voice Over Artist) - https://www.richardheathcote.co.uk Iwan Thomas (Business Coach) - http://www.iwanthomasassociates.co.uk Jason Jones (Self Storage) - https://www.accessstorage.com

A new (to us) technology has been stumbled upon - the digital business card. An NFC-enabled plastic credit card sized business card that can be scanned on the recipient’s phone, loading up a browser page with all your relevant contact details and web links - with a big shiny button front and centre to allow that person to immediately save your details to their phone’s address book. The technology isn’t necessarily that new - but it’s the first time we’ve seen it in such a slick easy to use and deploy format. Will digital business cards replace traditional business cards, or will they still have their place? Will they be strictly the domain of the tech savvy super nerd? Could they be advantageous at networking events in a post-pandemic world where people more than ever are conscious about viruses, germs and touching surfaces that others have also touched? We delve deeper into this technology to explore how they could be used, as well as their positives and negatives. (And of course, Rich just HAD to buy one to check it out for himself - and so far, positive reviews). Not an ad/sponsored episode in any way - but in case you were curious, here’s the link to the digital business card he bought: https://www.tapitag.co We also reiterate that we’re HOPING to bring our in-person events back in August. Do make sure you’re on the mailing list because as soon as we have concrete info, that’s the first place we’ll be letting people know, as well as posting the same on our socials. So do follow those too. https://brummies-networking.co.uk/mailing-list-sign-up/ Brought to you by Brummies Networking, the home of free, stripped-back business networking. https://brummies-networking.co.uk Brummies Networking on Twitter: @brummiesnet BrumPod on Twitter - @brumpod Produced by Audio Shed - https://audioshedpodcaststudio.co.uk Twitter: @audioshedstudio Music by Birocratic - birocratic.com Twitter: @birocratic BrumPod - The UK Small Business Podcast. BrumPod is designed for small businesses, because 2/3 of the hosts are small businesses! Our goal is to bring you topics that affect you as a fellow small business owner directly; everything from website tools and technology, changes in regulations, business networking tips, business growth. BrumPod Hosts: Richard Heathcote (Voice Over Artist) - https://www.richardheathcote.co.uk Iwan Thomas (Business Coach) - http://www.iwanthomasassociates.co.uk Jason Jones (Self Storage) - https://www.accessstorage.com