General

So you’ve decided to leave London. You’re leaving because the millionaires are being priced out by billionaires. You’re leaving because every high street is boxy, bland, and identical. You’re leaving because the Tories are in charge. You’re leaving because the weather is shit. You’re leaving because it’s the enemy of all human life. You’re leaving because those two dull syllables,…

I hear new news every day, and those ordinary rumours of war, plagues, fires, inundations, thefts, murders, massacres, meteors, comets, spectrums, prodigies, apparitions, of towns taken, cities besieged in France, Germany, Turkey, Persia, Poland, etc. Daily musters and preparations, and such like, which these tempestuous times afford, battles fought, so many men slain, monomachies, shipwrecks,…

Here’s the text of a speech Bill Watterson gave at Kenyon College, Gambier Ohio, to the 1990 graduating class. SOME THOUGHTS ON THE REAL WORLD BY ONE WHO GLIMPSED IT AND FLEDBill WattersonKenyon College CommencementMay 20, 1990 I have a recurring dream about Kenyon. In it, I’m walking to the post office on the way to…

“The question for me is how to live well inside our short, breakable lives.” Sam Guglani, oncologist There is this idea that doctors live healthier lives because of what we know and encounter through medicine – but I’m not sure this is true, or even what the measure of it is. As an oncologist, it might…

The last question was asked for the first time, half in jest, on May 21, 2061, at a time when humanity first  stepped into the light. The question came about as a result of a five dollar bet over highballs, and it  happened this way:  Alexander Adell and Bertram Lupov were two of the faithful…

This model for overcoming procrastination driven by anxiety illustrates some of the emotional and behavioural “knots” underlying some forms of procrastination. Solutions for anxiety-driven procrastination The dominant loop here is the cycle of anxiety and overwhelm.  Anxiety is difficult to address directly. Thus, we have to look elsewhere for leverage points in this system. I…

I find most writing on how to be a good father quite patronising. Instead, I’ve collected the most practical advice for new dads into one place. It will grow over time, as will babies and the parents that look after them. Further advice, anecdata, exceptions that prove the rule, etc, are welcome in the comments.…

Advice for joining the climate justice movement from Cynthia Kaufman, author of The Sea is Rising and so are We: a Climate Justice Handbook. I would encourage anyone wanting to do this work to find a group to work with.  We need to join with others and use our collective power to get institutions to…

Hello, I’m Ben Matthews Based in London Co-Founder and Director at Empower Brief summary of my story so far: Contact me Want to ask me something? Email me at [email protected] Book My book, Freelance in 30 Days, is out now

Email me at [email protected] Follow me at @benrmatthews Connect with me on LinkedIn

Have you ever tried to share a news story from your site to Twitter and realised there is no picture being pulled through to the Twitter Card? Twitter might have added the wrong image or you might have forgot to add an image and added after publication. Or perhaps the headline has changed and the…

Hello, I’m Ben Matthews Based in London Co-Founder and Director at Empower Brief summary of my story so far: Contact me Want to ask me something? Email me at [email protected] Book My book, Freelance in 30 Days, is out now

When first imagining what it is like to work from home, it is easy to envision this work arrangement as a good alternative to spending your time on a long commute and wasting hours in the office. Statistics shows that more and more specialists follow the same thinking paradigm, and it is hard for humans…

Websites are the future of commerce, and as such, there are numerous ways that you can make money from your website.  In this guide, we’ll show you how you can create a website that is centered on bringing in revenue. Let’s get started. Creating a User-Friendly Website Come Up with a Theme and Conduct Keyword…

Presenting yourself as a professional freelance consultant is important and there’s no better chance to give this impression than when invoicing your client, as it’s a great chance to finish your freelance project on a high. There are loads of free invoice templates and generators out there, but which ones are the best for you?…

Tech firms are often thought of as inherently cool places to work, not least thanks to their (often rather overblown!) reputations for constructing airy, gadget-filled employee spaces that more closely resemble giant hangout zones than traditional cubicle-based office floors. Admittedly, a few headline-grabbing features at one or two of the more infamously wacky workplaces do…

Building a freelance portfolio is one of the first things you need to do when trying to find new freelance clients. Before a potential new client hires you, clients need more assurance than your promise that you will deliver value for them. Showing any previous client work or freelance projects you have completed is a…

The life of a freelancer can be an exciting one.  You are able to choose your own hours, work from anywhere and your earnings aren’t capped. However, the downside is that unlike a 9-to-5 job, you need to constantly promote yourself. You need a system for finding new clients and convincing them to work with…

Freelancers can be a very powerful workforce. When you decide to work with a freelancer, you get to choose the best of the best. However, without specific points on what are the obligations of the freelancers during your cooperation, the process can get complicated. Make your projects less tiring and plan your project ahead of…

Plagiarism simply goes by the concept of “stealing or copying someone’s intellectual property or product without giving them the credit and presenting it as your own work.” It is, of course, a bad and unappreciated practice worldwide. You can’t put your nametag on someone else’s property either it’s intellectual or physical, it would be considered…

Every person who is looking for a job understands the importance of writing a good resume. A good resume gets people into a lot of interviews and increases their chances of succeeding in the job market. However, many people will agree that writing a great resume presents one of the most challenging aspects of job…

Are you looking for full-time or part-time employment? Are you in the wrong profession? Are you a recent graduate who is looking for something to keep them busy? Are you good at doing research? If your answer to any of these questions is yes, then you are in the right place. Today, there are many…

Becoming a freelancer is one of the best decisions you can make in your life. The thought of working for yourself without having anyone monitoring or managing you can be exciting. However, one of the biggest challenges as a freelancer is finding new clients – especially if you are just starting. At times, you’ll notice…

Working as a freelancer sounds liberating to most people. You can work at your own hours and on your own terms. But working as a freelancer has its own challenges. You will face many distractions. You will have to handle a lot of things other than the work. And your work life balance will seem…

We live in uncertain times. But one thing has stayed constant – the rise of the freelance workforce. Freelancers are more prevalent now than they have ever been before, and their rise shows little sign of slowing down. There are well over 2 million freelancers now plying their trades in the UK and they’re making…

Any business worth its salt must have a business plan that outlines various things about the business, and a digital marketing agency is no exception. Certainly, a digital marketing agency business cannot be started and operated using the prepackaged business plans that come in templates, especially if your business is unique, calls for a lot…

During the Coronavirus epidemic, the UK Government has offered support for small and medium-sized businesses, and the self-employed. Freelancers (self-employed individuals) with trading profits of up to £50k can apply for a taxable grant worth 80% of their average monthly profits, up to £2,500 a month. HMRC will take your average profits from the last 3…

The rise in social media and the increasing number of people accessing the internet has made digital brand building an essential step for any business.  Today, digital brand development has come to the fore, and every business seeks to establish itself before potential customers. Companies are adopting different digital brand building strategies to stay a…

Substack makes it possible for you to use Google Analytics to track conversions and get incredible data on how your email sign ups and paid subscriptions are performing. It only takes three steps and five minutes of your time. Here’s how… Step 1: Set up Google Analytics Make sure you have Google Analytics set up.…

More companies nowadays are taking the brave step of expanding globally. But, for this expansion to be successful, companies must ensure they hire the right candidates first. Below are a few tips to ensure your international recruitment run is successful. Have a Recruiting Website With recruitment scams on the rise, it is understandable for international…

Link building is the process of getting another website to place a hyperlink pointing to your site. People have been using link building to help rank their sites for the last 20 years. And since then, the signal has only been getting stronger. If you’re not sure why you have to build links, or you…

Running a business is no walk in the park, as it involves the management of the various aspects of a business in a perfect balance. These aspects include human resources, investment, promotion, time, finance, ideas, and much more. To efficiently run a business, there must be a synergy of business management and customers. As customers…

When your business expands, you may consider moving from Wix to WordPress. WordPress is bigger in many aspects and provides a wider choice of installable plugins that definitely will make your business soar. The following article will show you how this is possible and provide a step-by-step process on how to transfer your site from…

Small businesses don’t have a big marketing budget, but they have to compete against giants to keep operating. This is only possible if they work smart with their little budget. Digital marketing has, without a doubt, given them a chance, but even that can be difficult when your competitors have a bigger marketing budget than…

If you’re about to launch your podcast, you probably already know that creating one and successfully launching one are two entirely different things. At this stage, you’ve hopefully researched how to start, record, and edit a podcast and have procured the best possible equipment you can afford. But that’s the easy part. Now’s when the…

Here are 10 ways to get the most out of your agency’s financial forecast. Confirmed Revenue. Probably the single most important number on any forecast so your forecast should focus on this number. Only include confirmed projects/retainers. This is your worst case scenario hopefully something from your pipeline (below) will drop in but it’s not…

As part of a coaching programme I am taking part in, I was tasked to ask my colleagues to describe how they see me as leader. So, I asked some of my team at Empower Agency how they saw me as a leader in an anonymous survey. Here are their responses: Very helpful and reassuring…

Ensure your pension is working for you. Follow these five pension boosting strategies. Everybody might have different aspirations for retirement, but there is one thing we all share regarding the money we have for when we stop working. We all want to have as much money in our pension pot as possible. The more money…

If you’re a small business owner, you may be reluctant to invest in better IT and technology due to the initial costs. But it’s seriously worth considering. The benefits of having more advanced tech in your business can actually outweigh the initial cost, and even make you more money. If you’d like to learn more…

Interesting read in the Singapore Business Times from Anthea Ong, founder and chairperson of WorkWell Leaders, a non-profit collective of CEOs and leaders focused on championing workplace mental health and wellbeing. The key quote for me: "Employee mental health has never been given more attention by employers. However, experts say late-stage pandemic fatigue is also…