Poached Creative has just won its first paying client. A small start, yes, but a milestone that shouldn't go unnoted on these pages.
This is testament to the hard work of the team - me, Chris the designer and Angela - who have all been toiling unpaid for the five months of this pilot.
If there's any one lesson I've learnt from the experience so far it is that no matter what industry or sector you're in or who you work with, cold hard cash is an absolute necessity.
Now we've proved we're capable of earning it I think more will be forthcoming.
I have a bit of a theory of like things. Odd socks for example - just the odd ones, mind - tend to hang about in groups. Don't even try hunting, you'll never find the pair. Flip flops are the same. Find one lone flip flop on the beach and I bet you'll quickly find another in a completely different size and colour from the last. Abandoned shopping trolleys too. Find one floating in a canal and no doubt there'll be another on the tow path nearby.
I think earning money is like that. Attract a paying customer and chances are, if you don't mess it up, more will come your way. Success attracts success and I'm confident that after months of struggling to prove itself and become market-ready, Poached is on the way up.
Twitter, the NHS and other stories
The US healthcare debate and the UK's backlash with the We love the NHS campaign has finally prompted me to join the Twittering masses.
I've been keeping an eye on Twitter for a while now - any communications tool that can mobilise the country in support of our most simultaneously loved and loathed institution deserves some attention.
There are several things that strike me.
1. Even though it looks like it's aimed at nine-year-olds, it's companies that use it most. It suprises me that so many professionals, academics and media personalities take it seriously. (OK, I'm not really surprised about the media personalities.)
2. Its best use seems to be to let people know about something really interesting that they don't know about yet. Why, then, so many people use it to tell their friends what they had for breakfast is beyond me. (But they do - oh yes they do.)
3. It's got tremendous potential as a democratising technology - a free and open platform for anyone to have their say in 140 characters. Basically it promises many of the things the internet promised and didn't quite deliver back in the dotcom days. I love it when people take hold of a technology and turn it to their purposes (so often it's the other way around!) and Twitter's use as a campaigning tool is particularly interesting.
So, I've decided to venture out there into Twitterland, tweeting as my professional self to share links and ideas that might be of interest to people who care about similar things - social enterprise, media, the NHS, unemployment issues, homelessness, good employment practice and such like.
You can find me at www.twitter.com/jessicatsmith
Don't worry, I've only posted one thing so far and I certainly won't be bothering you with what I had for breakfast.
I've been keeping an eye on Twitter for a while now - any communications tool that can mobilise the country in support of our most simultaneously loved and loathed institution deserves some attention.
There are several things that strike me.
1. Even though it looks like it's aimed at nine-year-olds, it's companies that use it most. It suprises me that so many professionals, academics and media personalities take it seriously. (OK, I'm not really surprised about the media personalities.)
2. Its best use seems to be to let people know about something really interesting that they don't know about yet. Why, then, so many people use it to tell their friends what they had for breakfast is beyond me. (But they do - oh yes they do.)
3. It's got tremendous potential as a democratising technology - a free and open platform for anyone to have their say in 140 characters. Basically it promises many of the things the internet promised and didn't quite deliver back in the dotcom days. I love it when people take hold of a technology and turn it to their purposes (so often it's the other way around!) and Twitter's use as a campaigning tool is particularly interesting.
So, I've decided to venture out there into Twitterland, tweeting as my professional self to share links and ideas that might be of interest to people who care about similar things - social enterprise, media, the NHS, unemployment issues, homelessness, good employment practice and such like.
You can find me at www.twitter.com/jessicatsmith
Don't worry, I've only posted one thing so far and I certainly won't be bothering you with what I had for breakfast.
The value of mentors
I'll be honest, I've been flagging lately. There's no real reason for it - everything's been going exceptionally well with the Poached pilot.
We're into the second half and Chris G has put together a really high-quality design programme for our two new, enthusiastic design trainees. I'm getting help and support from my trainees, who are all staying on beyond their original writing and communications programmes to gain more Poached experience. And there are a few commercial opportunities that I'm pursuing (with some high quality help from some of the people I most want to work with).
I've also recently won agreement from my current full-time job to go part time. What a relief! Finally I'll be able to devote the time to Poached that it needs to move to the next level.
But none of this seemed capable of lifting me out of a bit of a slump. I don't mean to sound ungrateful - it's just a fact.
Mentoring magic
This week, however, I think I've broken out of it. Business in the Community has managed to match me up with a mentor and just the first meeting with him has given me a renewed sense of purpose, achievement, and confidence. We're very different. He works for National Rail and basically manages railway lines. Years of experience, hundreds of staff, massive budgets. But we both think we'll get a lot out of this relationship.
Certainly, for me, it's having someone with business know-how who's committed to me for a few hours a month. I can talk through my difficult issues, test out different approaches, and draw on his vast knowledge. I don't feel like I'm putting too many demands on his time because he's already dedicated it.
There's also the power of having someone hold you accountable for the things you set out to do. Most of the time it's only me who'll get annoyed at myself for letting something slip and, of course, when time is tight it's always the longer term planning and development that gets pushed aside for more urgent matters such as training programmes and funding applications.
Immediately I'm reviving discarded business and project plans, going back to my original pilot project proposal and realising how far I've come, and planning out the market research and benchmarking I've been meaning to do.
Unofficial but invaluable
I've been very lucky recently to have several people step in as unofficial mentors, such as Emma Courtney who never fails with encouraging words and her questioning spirit and a new contact, Robert, who I met on that scary leadership programme I told you about. He's insisting I build my networks and contacts and checking up to see if I'm doing it.
Reciprocal support
Of course, in theory I know the value of mentors because I've been trained as one and I am one to many of the people I work with, but it's not until you receive it yourself that you realise just what a force for success a good mentor can be.
More about mentoring can be found on the Mentoring and Befriending Foundation website.
We're into the second half and Chris G has put together a really high-quality design programme for our two new, enthusiastic design trainees. I'm getting help and support from my trainees, who are all staying on beyond their original writing and communications programmes to gain more Poached experience. And there are a few commercial opportunities that I'm pursuing (with some high quality help from some of the people I most want to work with).
I've also recently won agreement from my current full-time job to go part time. What a relief! Finally I'll be able to devote the time to Poached that it needs to move to the next level.
But none of this seemed capable of lifting me out of a bit of a slump. I don't mean to sound ungrateful - it's just a fact.
Mentoring magic
This week, however, I think I've broken out of it. Business in the Community has managed to match me up with a mentor and just the first meeting with him has given me a renewed sense of purpose, achievement, and confidence. We're very different. He works for National Rail and basically manages railway lines. Years of experience, hundreds of staff, massive budgets. But we both think we'll get a lot out of this relationship.
Certainly, for me, it's having someone with business know-how who's committed to me for a few hours a month. I can talk through my difficult issues, test out different approaches, and draw on his vast knowledge. I don't feel like I'm putting too many demands on his time because he's already dedicated it.
There's also the power of having someone hold you accountable for the things you set out to do. Most of the time it's only me who'll get annoyed at myself for letting something slip and, of course, when time is tight it's always the longer term planning and development that gets pushed aside for more urgent matters such as training programmes and funding applications.
Immediately I'm reviving discarded business and project plans, going back to my original pilot project proposal and realising how far I've come, and planning out the market research and benchmarking I've been meaning to do.
Unofficial but invaluable
I've been very lucky recently to have several people step in as unofficial mentors, such as Emma Courtney who never fails with encouraging words and her questioning spirit and a new contact, Robert, who I met on that scary leadership programme I told you about. He's insisting I build my networks and contacts and checking up to see if I'm doing it.
Reciprocal support
Of course, in theory I know the value of mentors because I've been trained as one and I am one to many of the people I work with, but it's not until you receive it yourself that you realise just what a force for success a good mentor can be.
More about mentoring can be found on the Mentoring and Befriending Foundation website.
Poached Creative pilot hits halfway point
I thought I'd better put up the results of the first half of this pilot project.
Just to make it clear, I had four trainees but one dropped out mid-way through his training because his partner had a baby. These results are based on the three trainees who completed their programmes a couple of weeks ago.
Early evaluation from the first half of the pilot shows that trainees improved in their own assessment of their skills and experience in:
Comments from trainees include:
"My existing skills in things like teamwork, verbal comms, and patience have improved. My writing style has changed totally (for the better!) and I now know how to structure a piece of writing. Also my level of confidence has gone up because I feel I have accomplished something."
"I've gained a lot more confidence in my writing since I started with Poached...I've also been very grateful for Jess's support, especially in terms of my depression."
"I feel more equipped, more confident, more motivated...kind of, more alive as well as more happy."
"I think it's a really good programme as it gives access to this field to people who may not ordinarily get the chance."
Read the blogs of the trainees using the links to your right.
We start a new programme in design next week for two more trainees. Keep an eye on this blog for updates.
Just to make it clear, I had four trainees but one dropped out mid-way through his training because his partner had a baby. These results are based on the three trainees who completed their programmes a couple of weeks ago.
Early evaluation from the first half of the pilot shows that trainees improved in their own assessment of their skills and experience in:
- interpersonal communication
- written communication
- writing for the web
- web technologies.
Comments from trainees include:
"My existing skills in things like teamwork, verbal comms, and patience have improved. My writing style has changed totally (for the better!) and I now know how to structure a piece of writing. Also my level of confidence has gone up because I feel I have accomplished something."
"I've gained a lot more confidence in my writing since I started with Poached...I've also been very grateful for Jess's support, especially in terms of my depression."
"I feel more equipped, more confident, more motivated...kind of, more alive as well as more happy."
"I think it's a really good programme as it gives access to this field to people who may not ordinarily get the chance."
Read the blogs of the trainees using the links to your right.
We start a new programme in design next week for two more trainees. Keep an eye on this blog for updates.
Logo and identity
I've been thinking a lot about logos lately - not least because we're trying to develop one of our own.
Now, I'm conceptual and linguistic but not particularly visual so I know that this is one of those cases where I need to trust Chris, our designer, to come up with something excellent.
But I surprised myself with how difficult that was. Logos are something that everyone has an opinion about.
So I started thinking about what makes a good logo and looking, closely, at other people's logos.
One of the best logos I think I've seen recently is for Creative Protege. Apart from the fact that I love what these guys are doing to get fresh new design talent exposed, I think the CP logo is strong, distinctive and makes excellent graphic use of type. I can't help it - even when it comes to graphics I lean towards punctuation, typography, letters and words.
Of course, looking at some of the biggest and best is also useful for understanding what works and Logo Design Love's wonderfully simple logo designs page is a pretty good place to start. And if you're thinking about a logo refresh you can learn a lot from their 10 successful logo redesigns page too. In fact, just look at their whole website.
So what have I learnt?
Now, I'm conceptual and linguistic but not particularly visual so I know that this is one of those cases where I need to trust Chris, our designer, to come up with something excellent.
But I surprised myself with how difficult that was. Logos are something that everyone has an opinion about.
So I started thinking about what makes a good logo and looking, closely, at other people's logos.
One of the best logos I think I've seen recently is for Creative Protege. Apart from the fact that I love what these guys are doing to get fresh new design talent exposed, I think the CP logo is strong, distinctive and makes excellent graphic use of type. I can't help it - even when it comes to graphics I lean towards punctuation, typography, letters and words.
Of course, looking at some of the biggest and best is also useful for understanding what works and Logo Design Love's wonderfully simple logo designs page is a pretty good place to start. And if you're thinking about a logo refresh you can learn a lot from their 10 successful logo redesigns page too. In fact, just look at their whole website.
So what have I learnt?
- it has to be simple
- it has to be recognisable
- it can't possibly reflect everything you are or do
- it should be clever, but not too clever
- it has to say something - one thing - about you
- it has to do it in a way that will reproduce well online, in print, large, small, colour, black and white, and no matter what the quality of the print or materials
- it has to be bold, beautiful, and practical.
Concentrate on where you want to go...or you might hit a rock
Continuing with the mountain sports analogy from last week, one of the most valuable lessons I think I ever learnt about life in general was the advice a young extreme sports maniac gave me when I first tried downhill mountain biking.
For the uninitiated, downhill is about as dangerous and you can get on two wheels. Mountains are great for skiing down in winter and walking up in summer - well that's how I see it. But downhill mountain biking involves riding a chairlift up the same mountain you'd ski down in winter, except now you're clad in body armour, clutching a two-wheeled hyper-suspended contraption and the rolling white soft stuff has melted to reveal hard dirt, gullies and rocks.
This guy had one of those ear piercings that are about as big as a 5p piece and go right through your ear, so I knew he was hardcore, and I hung on every word he said, sure that my life depended on it. His advice was this: "look where you want the bike to go. Choose your path and take it with your eyes - you'll find the bike and your body will naturally follow. If you spend your time looking at that rock over there thinking, 'I'm going to hit it', chances are you'll hit it."
I survived my downhill experience, half riding, half stumbling all the way and the advice has stuck with me ever since. Whether it's running a business, trying to start a career, moving house or some other kind of mad sporting pursuit, focusing on where you want to be and not getting too caught up in what might go wrong is an invaluable tactic.
That's not to say that you're shouldn't be aware of the rocks - you need to choose your path - but don't let them lure you into a fall.
For the uninitiated, downhill is about as dangerous and you can get on two wheels. Mountains are great for skiing down in winter and walking up in summer - well that's how I see it. But downhill mountain biking involves riding a chairlift up the same mountain you'd ski down in winter, except now you're clad in body armour, clutching a two-wheeled hyper-suspended contraption and the rolling white soft stuff has melted to reveal hard dirt, gullies and rocks.
This guy had one of those ear piercings that are about as big as a 5p piece and go right through your ear, so I knew he was hardcore, and I hung on every word he said, sure that my life depended on it. His advice was this: "look where you want the bike to go. Choose your path and take it with your eyes - you'll find the bike and your body will naturally follow. If you spend your time looking at that rock over there thinking, 'I'm going to hit it', chances are you'll hit it."
I survived my downhill experience, half riding, half stumbling all the way and the advice has stuck with me ever since. Whether it's running a business, trying to start a career, moving house or some other kind of mad sporting pursuit, focusing on where you want to be and not getting too caught up in what might go wrong is an invaluable tactic.
That's not to say that you're shouldn't be aware of the rocks - you need to choose your path - but don't let them lure you into a fall.
Got some nerve?
I've been making a lot of people nervous lately, myself included.
In the last week or so I've started a new (and quite scary) leadership development programme; taken Angela to meet our client, Mark, from Room2Heal; and had my employee from my other working life, Lou, come to teach proofing at Poached Creative.
In Lou's case it was probably the fact that I - her boss - was sitting in on the training session. We've delivered in-house training together before so it wasn't completely new territory. However, this time I was a commissioner and a participant and she was training people who didn't work in the same organisation as she did. She was concerned about pitching it at the right level, saying the right things, and making it interesting for her audience. Of course, she was brilliant and Brij, Chris and Angela got a lot out of the session.
For Angela, I think it was about not knowing exactly what was expected of her. Meeting with a client to talk about communications for the first time can be pretty nerve-wracking. But we talked through what we wanted to get out of it and what we wanted to ask. Her nervousness actually meant she prepared well and the meeting went exceptionally well.
I was nervous because I was about to be thrown into a learning situation with a bunch of people considered to be 'senior leaders'. I'd never considered myself in this way and I didn't really know what was expected or if my response would be right. It meant I read all the course material beforehand and thought about what I wanted to get out of it before I got into it. I met lots of really interesting, impressive people, and felt I had something to contribute. Phew.
So it turns out that a bit of nervousness is good. Taking yourself, or gently pushing others, outside a comfort zone is the way to learn quickly and feeling a bit nervous helps to sharpen your senses.
Public speakers, swimmers, actors, tennis players and TV presenters have all acknowledged it (I've just spent ages googling for the perfect link but you're just going to have to look it up yourself - Daniel Radcliffe and Pete Sampras stood out of the crowd). And classical musicians seem to know a thing or two about it too. Being a bit nervous means you're not taking things for granted and what you're about to do is important to you. For a real sense of this in action, take a look at Poached trainee Chris' blog.
I had a ski instructor once who said that if we weren't falling over we weren't trying. He felt we should be pushing ourselves to the next level. And that's a bit how I feel at the moment. That sensation of looking down from the top of a very steep mountain feeling part nervous, part exhilarated. Hesitating for a minute, then pushing off...
Keep sight of where you want to go, choose your turns and bend your knees!
In the last week or so I've started a new (and quite scary) leadership development programme; taken Angela to meet our client, Mark, from Room2Heal; and had my employee from my other working life, Lou, come to teach proofing at Poached Creative.
In Lou's case it was probably the fact that I - her boss - was sitting in on the training session. We've delivered in-house training together before so it wasn't completely new territory. However, this time I was a commissioner and a participant and she was training people who didn't work in the same organisation as she did. She was concerned about pitching it at the right level, saying the right things, and making it interesting for her audience. Of course, she was brilliant and Brij, Chris and Angela got a lot out of the session.
For Angela, I think it was about not knowing exactly what was expected of her. Meeting with a client to talk about communications for the first time can be pretty nerve-wracking. But we talked through what we wanted to get out of it and what we wanted to ask. Her nervousness actually meant she prepared well and the meeting went exceptionally well.
I was nervous because I was about to be thrown into a learning situation with a bunch of people considered to be 'senior leaders'. I'd never considered myself in this way and I didn't really know what was expected or if my response would be right. It meant I read all the course material beforehand and thought about what I wanted to get out of it before I got into it. I met lots of really interesting, impressive people, and felt I had something to contribute. Phew.
So it turns out that a bit of nervousness is good. Taking yourself, or gently pushing others, outside a comfort zone is the way to learn quickly and feeling a bit nervous helps to sharpen your senses.
Public speakers, swimmers, actors, tennis players and TV presenters have all acknowledged it (I've just spent ages googling for the perfect link but you're just going to have to look it up yourself - Daniel Radcliffe and Pete Sampras stood out of the crowd). And classical musicians seem to know a thing or two about it too. Being a bit nervous means you're not taking things for granted and what you're about to do is important to you. For a real sense of this in action, take a look at Poached trainee Chris' blog.
I had a ski instructor once who said that if we weren't falling over we weren't trying. He felt we should be pushing ourselves to the next level. And that's a bit how I feel at the moment. That sensation of looking down from the top of a very steep mountain feeling part nervous, part exhilarated. Hesitating for a minute, then pushing off...
Keep sight of where you want to go, choose your turns and bend your knees!
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