2020 has kicked off with an incredible bang. I don’t think we’ve ever been so busy at Sticky Content.
I’m completely in the dark as to what may have caused this sudden surge in work. I have a feeling it has something to do with Brexit – the end of that three-year-long period of uncertainty has encouraged businesses and publications to open their purses.
Having said that, in terms of uncertainty, we have only gone from the frying pan to the fire. The rest of this year will make or break our deal with the rest of Europe and the world. Early forecasts aren’t great. It seems we could lose a lot of skilled and unskilled workers, which would affect many of my clients. Also, new tax regulations could damage our working relationship with European businesses. As with all things Brexit, I am pessimistic, but we shall have to wait and see, won’t we?
Of course, it may not be entirely down to Brexit. This time of year is always busy, with businesses making a mad sprint to finish the tax year on a high. 2019 was a year of moderate spending, which I believe has put some companies behind their forecasts. There is ground to be made up in 2020 and, thankfully, more and more of my clients are starting to see the benefits that content and communications can bring.
(Positive) changes to my freelancing schedule
Let’s start with the bad news: unfortunately, I have had to cancel my holiday to Japan. I was due to travel at the end of March, flying with Air China via Beijing. The spread of the Coronavirus through Asia has stunted those plans.
There is an upside to this story, however, which is that I have given myself more time to take on freelance work in the first half of 2020. This should give me more than enough time to help out any businesses or publications struggling to fill their quota of content. Don’t hesitate to drop me a line if you need any kind of support.
I’m officially level A2 in Spanish
Arriba! I’m continuing to push ahead with my language learning. I can’t recommend International House in London enough. The quality of their teaching material, not to mention the teachers themselves, is amazing. Learning a language has so far been one of the most positive experiences of my life – however, I am beginning to approach ‘the wall’. I’ll continue to push forward, but if anyone has any useful tricks and tips – anything to give me a change of scenery – I’d love to hear them.
And now, for some of my recent work…
It was a busy end to 2019, wrapping up a few huge projects.
On the travel side of things, I produced two new articles.
The first was a tale of my experience of the Christmas markets in Krakow, Poland. This was a real whistle-stop tour – just two nights in Poland’s crown jewel of culture. But the people I met and the places I saw kept me very busy for those two days and contributed, I think, to a very nice article.
Even though it was released quite close to Christmas, it gained decent traction. In Ireland, it was picked up by RTE and the Irish News, while in Northern Ireland it appeared in the Belfast Telegraph. It was popular in Scotland, featuring in the Press & Journal (Inverness) and the Daily Record (Glasgow). In the rest of the UK, it made it onto the TalkTalk blog, plus the Lancashire Evening Post.
Next up was my visit to Serbia. This actually took place earlier in the year but it took my editor and I a little longer to decide on the theme of the article after some, err, confusion. This was a story in itself but, not wanting to burn bridges, I’ve decided to save it for my book!
Nonetheless, Serbia was a fun trip that ended with a great night of partying in Belgrade, a place I would happily return to. Along with Bulgaria and Romania, I have had nothing but positive and extraordinary experiences in the Balkans and hope to see more of this part of the world soon.
While it was only a short piece, it got picked up by several publications. Online, it’s on the TalkTalk blog. I’ve seen it in three magazines: Yorkshire Post Magazine, Life Magazine and Times of Tunbridge Wells. In the papers, it was picked in many major cities. I’ve clocked it in the Hayes & Harlington Gazette, Harefield Gazette, Hull Daily Mail, Birmingham Post, Grimsby Telegraph, South Wales Echo, Derby Telegraph, Ruislip & Eastcote & Northwood Gazette, The Chronicle (Newcastle), Leicester Mercury, Huddersfield Daily Examiner, Liverpool Echo, Manchester Evening News and Bournemouth Echo. In Scotland, it appeared in the Evening Times (Glasgow) and The Herald Magazine.
By the way, I’ve just filed copy for another recent trip which I’m sure will be popular. The journey itself was fairly life-changing – as always, 1,200 words were nowhere near enough to do it any justice.
In terms of other work, here’s a brief summary of my recent goings-on:
I created the first tone of voice for a major British charity. I hope to include this project in my portfolio soon, but right now it’s still not officially signed off!
I edited the latest issue of a client’s trade-press newspaper and wrote several of the stories. Still waiting for it to go to print, but the mock-ups looked amazing
Some more fantastic and well-received articles from one of my favourite clients in the human resources sector – always an interesting challenge
Apart from that, lots of pitches, including one (ongoing) for one of my oldest and dearest clients
That’s all for now.
Oh, but before you go, I will hint at one more thing – a personal project is slowly gaining a bit of momentum. If all goes according to plan this year, I could see the start of something quite exciting! I’m looking for great writers, photographers and designers who are interested in taking on some unpaid (for now) work in return for a stake of the business, so if you’re looking for your next big opportunity please get in contact.
Till next time!
Jonjo