Back in March we almost overnight found ourselves locked up in our flats with a lot of free time witnessing a crisis so big that it would inevitably require brilliant and innovative ideas to transition into what will effectively be a new world.  After all the 2008 financial crisis heralded WhatsApp, Uber and Aibnbn, just to name a few.  So what better conditions to pour our creativity into a business idea? In the last year of working with entrepreneurs and freelancers during the pandemic I noticed that it is very easy to get wrapped up in your head while working from home. You can fu ..read more

When setting up a company, most founders are so focused on getting the business off the ground, that they can easily forget of dotting their Is and crossing their Ts. Here are some essentials to consider to build some solid foundations for your business. FUNDRAISING Where to Start The most classic way to start off is with your own money or a small round of funding raised from family and friends, just to get things off the ground. What a lot of the clients I coach seem to assume is that those funds are their runway to securing more funding or borrowing money. Whilst that might well be the case ..read more

The vast majority of businesses are currently dealing with uncertainty and change, and for the first time they are all experiencing this at the same time. If that wasn’t enough, business owners, leaders and employees alike are battling with uncertainty and change not just on a professional level but on personal one too.  What does this mean when it comes to change management? Change management is a structured approach for ensuring that changes are thoroughly and smoothly implemented within businesses, achieving long lasting benefits. What happens then when things seem to change by the h ..read more

For a lot of businesses, particularly if they focus on B2B or if they need to create a high level of trust with their prospects, being stuck behind screens is a significant obstacle to securing new clients.   Though we are currently physically restricted due to the pandemic, nothing can stop us from thinking outside the box and asking the question: what if for a short amount of time I tried to do the opposite of what everyone else is doing?   With lock down measures being slowly lifted, people are still largely relying on video calling to connect with their prospects. Have you though ..read more

Up to this point venture capital culture in the technology space has rewarded volume over quality, fuelled mass consumption (not always for the best) and favoured 10x exits over sustainable growth, but this pandemic will inevitably shake up the global startup ecosystem. Short term even the more hands off VCs are providing support to the companies in their investment portfolio. Because of their nature VCs are best positioned to monitor market changes and can offer a macro vision to the founders they work with.  In turn by working closer with founders, they are being exposed to the day to ..read more

When businesses face uncertainty or are required to adapt to new circumstances the most instinctive reaction for owners, founders or leaders is to try and find a solution as quickly as possible and make the sense of looming crisis go away.  However, there’s nothing worse than rushing into a decision with a long term impact and making it from a place of anxiety. Whether you will end up pivoting completely or simply addressing a new audience or market, using proven frameworks and refraining from making an impulsive decision can determine whether your business will survive or not.  Mi ..read more

No phone until after breakfast It does mean that you will need to revert back to an old school alarm clock, but it will be worth it.  From reduced anxiety to avoiding procrastination the benefits of waking up screen-free are countless. But really when you think about it, you can boil it down to one simple question: is your screen really the first thing you want to see when you open your eyes?  You could be seeing your partner, your pet, your favourite bed sheets, the art on the walls of your bedroom. If you are brave enough to venture to your window and open the blinds the first thi ..read more

If you have just launched your new business, turned your side hustle into your job, or left the corporate world to go freelance, you are probably feeling energised, inspired and motivated, and this article will only come handy in a few months. Conversely if you’ve hit the point where you have been working for yourself for a few months or years, and the long term goals and benefits of your choice are at times not enough to keep you on track on a day to day basis, below are a few tips that worked for me: MOVE Whether it is taking a short walk doing some stretches, a little workout or going for ..read more

As a coach I support entrepreneurs and freelancers in the creative industry, and I realised that a lot of the issues which I help them tackle, could be avoided if they’d ask themselves one tricky question before starting a project: Why?  You could be starting a creative project entirely for yourself, or looking at it as a side hustle that will allow you to transition into a new career, the answer to this question ultimately doesn’t matter, what matters is that you are crystal clear about your reasons and motivation. Creative personalities tend to get excited with new beginnings and this ..read more

It might sound weird to argue this while Covid 19 is spreading globally and most of us are on lockdown, but change can be exciting.  Try and remember when you set out to start a new project: think of when you signed up to Masterclass to finally conquer Mexican cuisine, when you mixed flour and water giving birth to your first starter, when you decided that you were too young not to be able to run 5K and bought those new shoes. In real life things tend to always be slightly more complicated than we imagined, but when we make that decision to commit to a new beginning, we feel excited and e ..read more