

A freelancer’s mini-guide to taking a good brief
If you’re reading this and you’re a creative, odds are you’ve seen a couple of bad briefs in your time — as in, “I dunno. Maybe make it blue? No, a less-blue blue.”
If you’re reading this and you’re a creative, odds are you’ve seen a couple of bad briefs in your time — as in, “I dunno. Maybe make it blue? No, a less-blue blue.”
Money, money, money.
We all need it, but not everyone has to manage it as meticulously as freelancers do.
Children’s books and poetry have a lot to teach us, as adult content marketers, about what works and what doesn’t.
They take a lot of research and a LOT of brain power. They may be small, but they can’t be dashed off in an hour, or in the shower.
I’m a words person, not a numbers person, and yet I’ve seen how the strategic inclusion of numbers makes the copy that I write and the training that I offer that much more powerful.
I was all set to pen a scathing indictment of mission and vision statements; items I occasionally refuse to write for my clients unless doing so culminates in a refusal to pay me. I hate them. And I’m not shy to say so.
Okay, so let’s agree that writing matters because every manifestation of your professional brand, except for what comes out of your mouth, requires writing.
Dear Apostrophe,
You and I have come a long way together. And now, as the rest of the world conspires to violate you, I hope you’ll accept this token of my love, understanding and support.
Only one in nine people is a natural salesperson. The rest of us hate selling. Because, when it doesn’t work, it feels a lot like rejection. And rejection brings emotional pain. So let’s equip ourselves with better selling tools – especially in the age of COVID-19, when panic is everywhere, times are tough, friends are not few but hiding at home, and no-one needs more emotional pain.
My business policy is not to compete on price. Now I get that sometimes budgets are small. But what I don’t get is clients who pretend that small budgets aren’t small. That annoys me. Here’s why.
In an ideal world, most people – and all clients, especially those who are not trained writers – should not edit their own writing. Here’s why.
A bodyguard in the Ethekwini municipality who usually earns around R20 000 a month before tax, claims R70 000 a month in overtime. A security
Sam J Basch
What is it about a flashy car and its driver? We have Henry Ford to thank for mass producing the motorcar, which empowered people and became useful to us. Now there are just too many, adding to greenhouse gas emissions. Hopefully not for long.
But for many the car equals status; a symbol of wealth and power. That’s fine. But many of these obnoxious fools drive like hell, and park where they want. Confront them at your peril: they become abusive and threatening.
By Blake Wilkins A quote that cannot be attributed to Mark Twain states that if he felt the need to exercise, he lay down until
If you’re reading this and you’re a creative, odds are you’ve seen a couple of bad briefs in your time — as in, “I dunno. Maybe make it blue? No, a less-blue blue.”
FNB reports that homes valued below R500,000 recorded the highest growth in prices in February 2021, writes Denise Mhlanga.
Another amazing South-African brand that has been around since the days where we’d spot a friend an extra two bucks for a pack at the school tuck shop or spaza, is SIMBA Chips. Sharing is caring.
In shack settlements and remote rural communities, treatment for mental illness is inaccessible, unaffordable and not pertinent to the realities on the ground.
A large percentage of consumers have positive sentiments towards the South African property market and consider this an appropriate time to buy, according to Absa, writes Denise Mhlanga
Written by Niki Moore
In which the plot thickens to a pouring consistency, while the word ‘corruption’ pops its head out of its burrow.
Minibus taxis are a thorn in the flesh for most South Africans, but we all depend on them.
Sam J Basch
It took a huge container ship stuck in the Suez Canal last month to focus the mind on the sea route around the Cape of Good Hope. This historic route between west and east was opened by Portuguese mariners Bartolomeu Dias and Vasco da Gama more than 500 years ago. In 1988 a similar voyage was recreated in commemoration of that maritime feat.