The Freelance Jungle is back for May!

A writer, illustrator, theatre set guy and a IT/startup dude walk into a bar and balloons fall from the ceiling, eating contests ensue and everyone has a fair few belly laughs over the ultra loud music. Last time, we crashed a pub’s birthday party, got free drinks and free pizza, talked about theatre, freelancing, beer and went around the table telling our innermost freelancey thoughts. This month? You tell me! NOTE: We’re changing the... Read More

Freelancers don’t do profit share

Don’t ask for credit as refusal often offends Small business owners, entrepreneurs and startups, listen up! I, and my fellow freelancers, can’t afford to work for you in the hope of payment sometime in the future. As cool as you think your idea is, as amazing as you think your revenue projections may be, the fact of the matter is when someone freelances, it means they make a living out of doing project work for clients. That money is then... Read More

5 Ways your website is driving people nutty

Having proved that yes, you do need a website, now let’s look at the ways your website could be driving people nutty and therefore not converting them into customers. Blocking Content When someone is reading on your site and getting to know what you do, stop blocking them with pop up prompts or floating social media that makes it hard to read. It’s like being at a concert, wanting to get into the action and then having some 6 foot 5 behemoth stand... Read More

Yes, you do need a website

You would think the whole “do I really need a website?” question would have been put to rest a long time ago. However, in recent months I have come across opposite sides of the argument questioning whether a website is necessary. One end of the see-saw was a freelancer who’d used WordPress a few years ago, his search stopped working for some reason and he didn’t have the time or brain space how to work out how to fix it. The other end... Read More

Let’s get trekking back to the Freelance Jungle!

Who’s a cheeky monkey? Come down to the shores to frolic and play with other critters in the Freelance Jungle. Here is your time to purge those stories of nightmare clients, heap praise on the nice ones and generally talk about all your bumps and scrapes for yet another month of freelance life. The Freelance Jungle is for you if: Hot desking is a concept that means more than just keeping your toasted sandwich warm Some of the clients you’ve... Read More

Case Study: eXpertLocal Launch

Background: Collaborative consumption startup, eXpertLocal, was looking at launching at the beginning of 213. CEO Jervis Bharucha engaged Unashamedly Creative to help with the initial marketing and planning, main website copy, and to generally support marketing, content and social media initiatives for the new business.   Objective: To create a strong, SEO friendly presence through website copy To create content to help customers learn about experienced... Read More

Case Study: TaskRunners Launch

Background: Collaborative consumption startup, TaskRunners, was looking at launching at the end of 2012. CEO Cheryl Leong engaged Unashamedly Creative to help with the initial marketing and planning, main website copy, and to generally support marketing, content and social media initiatives for the new business.   Objective: To create a strong, SEO friendly presence through website copy To create content to help customers learn about collaborative... Read More

A to Z of Hosting Ideas on eXpertLocal

A to Z After spending a little time in a hammock in Hawaii and being up close and personal with a little too much cheese and cider, the team of eXpertLocal have come up with an A to Z of suggested tours you could host! A is for art gallery tours. With a huge number of small, pop up and interesting art installations in Sydney, a locals guide to all things art is totally a must! B is for beer tasting. Between the Red Oak Brewery, the Mac and several... Read More

Toilet Paper from Germany, Chalk to Mozambique. The mmMule Story.

  Avis Mulhall Avis Mulhall is bright, colourful and full of life- even though she suffers from Crohn’s Disease, has spent considerable time under the surgeon’s knife and was staring down the barrel of death barely six weeks after she arrived in Australia and started working on her then fledgling startup. Full of pluck and tremendous character, Avis shines through as part of the magic of mmMule and its charity arm, AngelMule. An Irish lass... Read More

Breaking bread with the unknown. The Eat With Me story.

beth- eat with me Ever been to a new town for business and felt like a complete Nigel no friends as you ate because you didn’t have anyone to catch up with? Or maybe you’ve wanted to hold a sumptuous dinner party and known it’s going to be lost on hubby and the kids? Liisa Vurma and Bethany Jones understand these pains, and that is why they have started Eat With Me- a collaborative consumption business where you can find other people to eat... Read More

Thanks to this lasagne, I can now surf. The MamaBake story

The wave of collaborative consumption. Just the tonic needed for an Australia that keeps being told its poor, in environmental crisis and disconnected! The original Mamabakers Thanks to this lasagne, I can now surf. The MamaBake story Michelle Shearer lives in the beautiful Mid North Coast of New South Wales. One afternoon a friend had made too much food and rang up to ask if Michelle and her family would like some lasagne. The act of sharing dinner... Read More

Business for all the right reasons- The MeeMeep Story

There is a new startup wave that is not driven by getting what you have ready in order to sell off for a profit or make waves in the usual sense. The co-founders who work on it aren’t imagining Ferraris in the garage or floating themselves for millions on the stock exchange, although some do dream of connecting with the world’s charities or sipping tea with Richard Branson. These new entrepreneurs want to create community, encourage sharing and... Read More

Going Mobile!

Things are getting super mobile in the world of Unashamedly Creative of late. It’s pretty amazing to see the explosion of content and usage of mobile Apps as more and more people change over to smart phones. Currently, I have 3 projects now on mobile with another to come (which I will talk about closer to release). Check them out!   Gomi: A new client of mine, Gomi, is a great little App that allows you to keep your local streets clean and... Read More

Spunky little free marketing eBook

Must be all the festive season stuff happening but I have decided that I’d like to write my very first eBook and give it away. I need your help! To be honest, eBooks have been high on the priority of 2012 and I simply haven’t made the time to do one. So I am calling on the crowd to help me kick that nasty habit of simply looking at the idea on the TO DO LIST and adding a bit of deadline party theory to it. You need to inspire me to get it off... Read More

Obnoxious Social Media Boils My Potato

Today appears to be rant day for most of my Facebook friends so I figure why the hell not join in? Here is my rant on why obnoxious social media boils my potato. First of all, what is obnoxious social media? Well, it’s the kind that hasn’t quite come to grips with the word “social” being in the title and is still standing up and screaming like traditional advertising, only worse. It’s trying to cajole you into bending to its will on a social... Read More

Climb out of my ear please- I’m doing stuff!

“It behooves every man to remember that the work of the critic, is of altogether secondary importance, and that, in the end, progress is accomplished by the man who does things.” Theodore Roosevelt Everyone’s a critic Apart from a terribly delicious word such as ‘behooves’ getting airplay, good old Teddie is bang on the money. It never ceases to amaze me how many people feel it necessary to hack at the shins of the people who are just... Read More

The Dumbest Mistakes a Startup Can Make

Having worked with the likes of successful startups Space Heroes Universe, Pozible and Open Shed, as well as keeping my finger on the Australian and overseas startup scenes, I’ve noticed a couple of really (and I mean face palm central here) mistakes startups can make. Want to know what the dumbest mistakes startups can make so you can avoid them? Great! Let’s do this thing. 1.       Not Taking Content Seriously This is pretty much the... Read More

The Rise of Co-working Spaces: A Sharehouse of Ideas

Larissa Meikle from the Loop pops buy to share some news and views on co-working! Take it away Larissa! Read More Like my style? Enjoy the content? Contact me if you need custom content created or marketing help!  Read More

10 Ways to De-stress this Christmas

Got more things to do than a Men’s Shed’s got Dad jokes? Want to do things in a more meaningful and less cash heavy way this silly season? Then have I got the hot tips for you. Check out 10 awesome ways to keep your cool this Christmas with collaborative consumption! Save Money: Christmas takes enough of a slug out of the purse with food, holiday bookings, presents and so on- the last thing you need to do is buy equipment to make Christmas happen.... Read More

9 Things Your Product Cannot Be

No, I am not talking about whether your moose nostril hair trimmer will fly, I am talking generally about the 9 Things Your Product Cannot Be in terms of what will survive in an increasingly competitive market and survive as a startup. Are you ready? Your Product Cannot Be… For everyone Seth Godin says “a product for everyone is a product for no one” and it’s true. You need to know who your fine little wedge in the market is and speak... Read More

Staying on the Ball

This week has been one of those weeks where my pencil didn’t seem sharp enough. As a creative copywriter required to churn out all kinds of assets each week, feeling flatter than a pancake that’s tangled with a steam roller is not a good thing. So I try* to stay sharp with the following things: Change Scenery I have an awesome setup at home, however it does become painful to spend home and work in the same spot. When I find this is the case,... Read More

Interns and Startups in Australia

It’s super popular to grab an intern for some extra work with your social media, blogging and whatever else you have going. However there is a lot of misconception about what you can and can’t do with an intern in the startup arena. Having investigated this for a couple of my clients, this is what I found out after speaking with Fair Work Australia.   Unless you are a registered arts body or not-for-profit, you need to either pay your intern... Read More

Clients in the News

It’s always super rewarding to see Unashamedly Creative clients kick goals but September has been especially awesome for TaskRunners, Open Shed and  Space Heroes.   Cheryl from TaskRunners at the Breakfast Point Fair TaskRunners First Public Appearance I met Cheryl from TaskRunners 3 months ago when she was still working her full time job and just about ready to make the leap into the dizzying world of startup. Since then, Cheryl and I have... Read More

Bill Tai at SydStart 2012

Bill Tai was someone I was definitely looking forward to at SydStart and he didn’t disappoint. There is just something nice about understated honesty and you have to respect a guy who compares business to the thrill and adrenalin of kite surfing. According to Bill, a startup business is like a wave- you can only ever be in front, behind or on the wave itself.  Too early and even the best idea will just end up not quite getting to shore, too late... Read More

Australia- you so hot right now!

After a cruisy beginning to the Sydstart morning, Pollenizer unleashed a firecracker in Mick Liubinkas.  Funny, energised and just that smidge of rye that grabs attention, his presentation was the double barrel Espresso needed to get the presenter specific portion of SydStart humming. Here’s what I took from what Mick had to say: Focus- none of the B2B and B2C “let’s stick a leg over both sides of the fence and hope it works” stuff. Pick... Read More

SydStart Morning Couch

You’d think after living in Sydney for seventeen years I would know how to get off a bus in the city near Town Hall and find the Sydney Convention but…well…there are pancakes that have a better sense of direction than me. That, coupled with not being a morning person meant I missed what seemed a nice wee jam on the couch as the kick off to SydStart. It was honestly quite nice to peel back a door, not know who the heck anyone was and... Read More

Pinterest 201: Pinning to Get Noticed

There’s content flying all around Pinterest at the moment and there is a lot of talk about how it can benefit your creative pursuits or marketing. But how can you make that happen? Well, check the Pinterest basics first  and then jump on board for this edition, Pinning to Get Noticed. Think about how it can work for you Planning any kind of social media is a better way to go than to just dive right in and Pinterest is no exception. For some businesses... Read More

TaskRunners becomes Unashamedly Creative!

The latest startup as part of the Australian collaborative consumption movement, TaskRunners Australia, has joined the Unashamedly Creative portfolio! Since the collaborative consumption (or collcon as it is affectionately known) hit Australian shores in earnest, over 60 new businesses have sprouted around the country. The latest, TaskRunners, is about bringing people together to lighten the domestic burden, help small business operators and give... Read More

Updated: A to Z of Aussie Collaborative Consumption

Welcome to a list I hope will grow and come to life as the collaborative consumption movement does in Australia. Please feel free to email me at any time to let me know of new things you find or have started up so I can add them to the list. The list is up to date as of APRIL 2013 (now in 12th revision!?), so if you are missing or know someone who is, let me know! Couple of Points: 1. I have tried to be accurate with URL and description, however... Read More

Call Out: Discordia Zine

Discordia Zine is on the hunt for women bloggers, writers, artists and illustrators who can be a part of new online content portal. We’re tired of feeling like outsiders in the female web world and women’s media. We feel that labels like ‘crafty mummy’, ‘lipstick lesbian’ or ‘suited up business woman’ just don’t apply. For us, the slew of women’s magazines and ‘believe in yourself’ online communities are irrelevant. And the... Read More

Roadtesting: Purple Cow by Seth Godin

There are a lot of books written on marketing and now with blogs, it can be a situation of truly wondering if you are going to get some real advice, or just “marketing wash” to sell the book or blog itself. Some advice is so dated it sounds like a “comes with free steak knives” style ad in your head. Other stuff is just pure SEO work that values ranking over content. Snore! But once in a while there is a marketer who truly knows what they... Read More

Drivers Ed for Backseat Drivers

Anyone who has ever worked at an advertising or marketing agency, as a freelancer or in roles like product manager knows just how annoying backseat driving can be. Beyond being annoying backseat driving is downright dangerous. Let me explain why being a backseat driver not only sucks, it’ll cause you to crash. You asked for directions for a reason… When you approach someone for help it’s because you have already identified you need someone... Read More

Don’t be a Start Up Slum Lord

I was shocked and horrified to see a blog on an Australian women’s site recently about how entrepreneurial it was to use online auction sites. It really, really yanked my chain as both a freelancer and a woman that they would offer such a solution, especially under the guise of entrepreneurial spirit. Are you having a giraffe? I have worked with countless small businesses, NFPs and start-ups and I know the budget is tight but seriously, let me spell... Read More

Updated: Some Pretty Cool Stuff

The internet has become a pretty cool playground! Whether you are creative, into business or chasing a new way to crack a project, there are some definitely head turning newbie’s out there. Here are a few of my current favourites. Note: I have taken them from the angle of how they help creative people and businesses because that is what interests me. Most of these do however have much further reaching applications. Plan Big: PlanBig has been around... Read More

Crush it- I freakin’ love it!

I did the super uber nerdy reader thing in January and went to one of those “50 Books You Have to Read” for business people. What can I say, I was a little tired of re-reading my current collection and really don’t like snuggling up with a good blog before I go to bed. From that list, beyond the Richard Branson books I already had (being a card carrying Fanson, you know I had to have them!) I chose an unremarkable number of books- 6 to be exact.... Read More

Your Project on the Operating Table

Make no bones about it, it really sucks when an idea or project doesn’t work out the way you want it to. But how do you tell the difference between natural causes and misadventure? And what should you do to avoid another untimely demise of a beloved project? Consider this your autopsy and next steps guide to the projects that go belly up! Nurse, I need 10cc’s of Ego, stat! First and foremost, when a project fails to achieve a benchmark, please... Read More

Be careful, you could plan yourself out of the game

A Saturday morning breakfast meeting in North Sydney saw me swapping stories with a friend who, like me has done their fair share of working for other people as well as working as a consultant, and who ambles through the creative world as well. We both work hard, he being the far more successful (and far more likely to say “I can see you for 45 minutes at the taxi rank for a lemonade” as a catch up due to his busy timetable) and know our way around... Read More