BrumPod

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