Jelly is the new iPhone and Android app from Twitter co-founder, Biz Stone. The basic premise is of "loosely distributed networks of people coordinating via Jelly to help each other." Here’s their video to explain more: I’ve been playing around with the app this morning and found the experience a mix of Instagram and…

Stock photos that are actually good and free (including those that require attribution) are well worth finding. And once found, keeping track of. This post is more of a personal reminder for whenever I need stock photos, but feel free to check out these sites for yourself" Superfamous (requires attribution) Picjumbo The Pattern Library Gratisography…

Steve Jobs, the late Apple co-founder, ended his famous commencement speech at Stanford University in 2005 with the words "Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish." This advice came from the back cover of the Whole Foods Catalogue final issue in 1974. Accompanying a photograph of an early morning country road, it was the farewell message of the…

How to Get a Job in PR is Sarah Stimson’s fantastic book on how to break into the PR industry. The book is a comprehensive guide to finding and keeping the PR job you dream of, answering all sorts of questions you may have about the PR industry and helping with many more that might not have…

Twitter has been speeding up the experiments they run on their platform recently. From a recent blogpost: "A common thread across recent releases has been experimentation. We’ve tested various features with small groups of our 200 million users before determining what we’ll release. These tests are essential to delivering the best possible user experience. It’s rare…

Zoe Amar and Matt Collins invited me to write a chapter for their guide, "Social Media for Charity Leaders", as part of their project revealing the top 30 charity CEOs on social media. I wrote a chapter on The Best Social Platforms for CEOs", which you can find below. If you’re interested in finding out…

This article originally appeared in The Carrier, a monthly newspaper founded in 2012 as a way to send news to the people in our lives.  I love living London with all it’s hustle and bustle. It can feel like the centre of the world and that all the world’s important moments are happening, just minutes away, in…

Social Media Week 2013 has kicked off in London this week. The team at Chinwag have put together a fantastic schedule of events for Social Media Week. The companies and attendees they’ve attracted are world class. They’ve done a brilliant job once again. But already there’s been a Tumblr set up calling people out on their mundane,…

Before you make the leap, there are some freelance essentials that you should have before you launch your new freelance career. While sometimes boring and time-consuming to set up, the more work you put into getting these essentials set up now, the easier your life will be once you get into the more important aspects…

Two years on from producing the first Social Charity Study, the team at Visceral Business have produced the Social Charity Index 2013, a report looking into how phenomenal and substantial the growth of social and digital media has become among charities in the UK. A few headlines from the report: The average rate of growth in…

You might have heard this already via the Bright One blog, but  this week it was announced that I’ve included as of the Future 100 Young Social Entrepreneurs of the Year. The Future 100 Awards puts the spotlight on young people aged 18-35 who are demonstrating entrepreneurial flair and innovation in running a responsible business…

PR – or public relations – is all about reputation. It’s the result of what you do, what you say, and what others say about you. It is used to gain trust and understanding between an organisation and its various stakeholders, whether that’s employees, customers, investors, or the local community. PR isn’t just for big…

In case you haven’t heard, Ammado is set to be the next big thing in online fundraising. Well, outside of the US and Canada anyway. Based in Dublin, Ireland, Ammado is a social network just like Facebook or MySpace, but whose primary focus is to empower people and nonprofits worldwide to fundraise and donate online.…

Every time someone gets in touch about what they need to prepare to go freelance, I typically find myself telling them the same things over and over, in order to lay the foundation for a solid freelance consulting career. So, I’ve created a freelance checklist. This list covers the top 25 things you should consider…

There are many different variations on how freelancers are working and defining their work today. According to the Collins English Dictionary, "a freelancer is a self-employed person, especially a writer or artist, who is not employed continuously but hired to do specific assignments." Seems fairly straightforward to me. But a new report argues that is there are now 5 different types of…

Hello Bar is a popular WordPress plugin that inserts a highly visible notification bar at the top of your website or blog. Combined with a clear call-to-action button or sign up form, it’s a very effective way to direct people to a certain page on your site or get sign ups for your email newsletter. The Hello…

Where you do your freelance work might be one of the most important decisions you make as a freelance consultant. Get your work space right and you’ll be more productive than you ever thought possible and even open yourself up to new opportunities. Get it wrong and you’ll find your environment either stifling or distracting,…

When you first go freelance, you’re likely going to build your business on your existing skill set and knowledge. Whether you’re a freelance photographer, web designer or writer, you will have built up the confidence to go freelance as you know you are good – no, excellent – in a particular field. But after a…

This is the eighth in a series of interviews with freelancers, telling us their stories on how they went freelance. The aim is to help others who are thinking of becoming freelance learn more about what it takes, as well as get advice and inspiration so they can get the confidence and understanding to find out…

This is the ninth in a series of interviews with freelancers, telling us their stories on how they went freelance. The aim is to help others who are thinking of becoming freelance learn more about what it takes, as well as get advice and inspiration so they can get the confidence and understanding to find out…

I’ve been looking at the products and services I use as a freelancer, so wanted to get some advice and other opinions on what freelance tools are the best to use. I’ve become a big fan of the Freelance Subreddit, which has a whole community of freelancers, so I asked "What’s your freelance stack?" to…

Ah, networking. Otherwise known as "talking to other people about what they do" or "collecting as many business cards / twitter / LinkedIn connections as physically possible". Have you ever read an article about networking that wasn’t full of common sense points and cliché? They mostly describe networking experiences as working something like this: In…

There are many ways to win new clients as a freelancer, but you’re more than likely to come up against a new business pitch process as one of them at some point in your freelance life. You’re name is added to a shortlist of freelancers or small agencies that a client wants to see about a…

One of the main things people ask before they go freelance is how to work out their freelance consultant rate. Setting your freelance consultant rates is difficult. Set your day rate too low and you have to work longer and harder to make a decent income. Set your day rate too high and you risk putting…

Lots of people dream about going freelance, but getting the confidence to go freelance is something else. Starting your own freelance business can feel like a big risk. There are lots of unknowns and you’re going to have to rely on your own knowledge, experience, judgement and plain hard graft to make your freelance business…

This is the seventh in a series of interviews with freelancers, telling us their stories on how they went freelance. The aim is to help others who are thinking of becoming freelance learn more about what it takes, as well as get advice and inspiration so they can get the confidence and understanding to find out…

Oh man. I hate doing accounting. So writing a whole article about freelance finances might be the undoing of me. But as a freelancer, your finances are one of the most important parts of your business. If you don’t keep on top of your income and outgoings, your invoicing, your tax returns and everything else…

Recipe (via Stories from Space) Serves to create several small pieces or 1 large piece of graffiti ________________________________________________ 1 can of beer 1/2 teaspoon sugar Several clumps garden moss You will also need a plastic container (with lid),  a blender and a paintbrush _________________________________________________ To begin the recipe, first of all gather together several clumps of…

From Mashable: “On April 5, M+R Strategic Services, a public relations and communications firm working with leading non-profits, and the Nonprofit Technology Network (NTEN), a membership organization of non-profit professionals who use technology for their causes, will release their sixth annual eNonprofit Benchmarks Study of what is working today in online advocacy, fundraising and social networking. The study…

Just read this post from Lane Becker, Co-Founder of Adaptive Path and Get Satisfaction. It’s a great read and reminder of the hardship involved with running a startup and how even the most successful-seeming companies have gone through several make-or-break moments (Zappos being another great example). Having read and enjoyed the post, it was the very…

I’ve just finished the Revive Your Inbox programme from Baydin, “a 21 Day course to help you restore email sanity”. “Invest 20 minutes a day for 21 days. Revive Your Inbox is designed to reduce the amount of email you receive and learn to deal better with the ones that matter.” The benefits of good…

IdeaPaint, but for any surface: CLEAR can be applied over any type and any color of interior paint to achieve a dry erase think space that seamlessly blends with any decor. It is also certified low-emission, virtually odorless (insert happy dance here). This is one of those companies who make innovative products with a conscience…

Today saw the launch of Airtime, the first live video network: “Airtime is the most efficient, easy to use, browser-based video chat service between friends using their existing Facebook networks. The service allows you to share live experiences through content, and expand beyond your social graph to discover new people through similar interests in an environment that is collaborative, fun…

“They’re solving problems like education and health care, creating jobs, and manufacturing right here in the U.S. And yes, a few of them also happen to be making some pretty cool apps for your phone.” Below is the “30 Under 30″ of US business start-ups, published on Inc.com. You can also view the slideshow here.…

(This post is cross-posted from the Bright One blog) We’ve come along way since Bright One started in September 2008. Bright One has made great progress, from a small group of people who wanted to change the world for the better in their own small way using the skills they have, to a strong and…

Watsi, “an online peer-to-peer crowdfunding platform that allows users to fund life-changing medical treatments for underserved people in developing countries”, has become the first nonprofit that the start-up incubator Y Combinator has chosen to invest in. Perhaps one of the reasons that Watsi are the first non-profit to become part of Y Combinator is because…

Last night I went to an event organised by 160characters and the Mobile Entertainment Forum called Sending Out an SMS: Charities Prepare To Go Mobile. Although charities have been slow to pick up the potential offered by mobile the barriers to adoption are crumbling. With a growing number and range of successful case studies, the…

The GOOD 100 was announced earlier this year with a call to action on the GOOD website. They were calling for nominations to assemble an annual list of people, businesses, and institutions driving change in the world. The idea was for readers of GOOD  to let them know about someone—in your community or anywhere on…

“Twiibbons, Twadges, Tweeshirts and Twandanas.” * Furiously scribbles notes…*

Shocking headline I know. But actually really refreshing to see someone in a high-level position in a notoriously long working-hour industry (having been at Google and now at Facebook) working a 9-to-5(:30) every day – and getting a much better work/life balance for it. From an interview with Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook COO, on Makers.com: “I…

I have been blogging at Pudding Relations for 2 1/2 years ago – not a bad run at all. But the irregularity of blog posts appearing there made me think that what I was writing about didn’t interest me as much as it used to. A change of direction was needed. After a conversation one…

Instagram, the mobile photo sharing community, are doing a great job of showcasing how different charities are using the platform to engage with a new community of users, all through sharing photos. They list 3 examples in their post on Nonprofit organizations using Instagram: Robin Hood NYC, Oceana and Charity: Water. Here’s the tactics being used…

I’ve recently been working on a funding application for Bright One and Bright Works to Nesta’s Innovation in Giving fund, which aims to invest in, support and grow innovative ideas that bring about a step-change in levels of giving and exchange and which have a credible route to being self-sustaining in the longer term. Part of the…

If you’ve got a new website in the works, it’s never too early to think about how you’re going to launch and promote it. We recently launched our new micro-volunteering app, Bright Works, and have learned plenty of lessons along the way. Here are some tips covering several of the most effective methods for getting a…

I was lucky enough to be invited to the inaugural #DowningTweet party, through my work with Twestival (thanks for the invite, @amanda!), which took place at 10 Downing Street. We were there to support the www.millionmums.org campaign, which aims to stop women from pregnancy or childbirth-related complications around the world.  As @SarahBrown10, Global Patron of…

  I’ve teamed up with the lovely guys at Crunch accounting to give away 5 copies of my book, Freelance in 30 Days. And the book giveaway is easy to enter! Just leave your email address in the box below and I’ll draw 5 winners at random, after the draw closes on 31st January. Everyone…

Hello there! Now that you’ve completed the guide to going freelance, you can use this handy page to reference these emails anytime you like. If you learned from this series and want to share what you learned with a friend, that’s awesome (and clearly you’re a good friend). Make sure they get the latest series…

Today is my 30th birthday. Yes, I’ve reached the big three-oh. I can already see wrinkles appearing by the minute… To celebrate, I’ve been whisked away for a surprise trip and I’m writing this from the cosy bedroom aboard a boat. One of the advantages of freelancing is that you can take a trip whenever…

This is the tenth in a series of interviews with freelancers, telling us their stories on how they went freelance. The aim is to help others who are thinking of becoming freelance learn more about what it takes, as well as get advice and inspiration so they can get the confidence and understanding to find out…