The best things in life aren't always free...

I have to disagree with Coco Chanel - which is a tough thing to do -  but I have come across a couple of situations recently when people have asked for creative services for free. That's not cool!

First there was the Facebook post from a well-known local blogger who was on one-hand celebrating how she had grown her blog and YouTube followers to a stunning number (high five girl!) but on the other asking for a videographer to work with her to film more footage for said successful blog but 'ideally I would not want to pay so if you were up-and-coming and needed the exposure then great'. Erm no - not great, not cool.

Then there are the emails and calls I get now and again asking for a 'quick press release' or 'short list of journalists'... but oh by the way we don't actually have a budget so would you do it as a favour and we'll think of you when we next pitch, again very not cool. That's my bread and butter, my USP and my skill. Please don't devalue it or the role I do. The same can be said for all creative businesses - don't ask an illustrator for a quick sketch pro bono or tell a graphic designer it would be great for their portfolio.

We are skilled people who continually invest in our professional development. If you agree a skill swap or come to an agreement to shout someone lunch or a crate of beer and it is a collaborative decision then great go right ahead but don't put someone on the spot and suggest that if you don't have a skill to swap and it was an ask rather than a mutual decision.

Look at it this way; would you call a brick layer and ask them to just throw a wall up for free or would you ask a dentist to fix a filling to get experience? No? Sure? Then please don't ask it of creatives.

The art of the conversation.

I'm slowly making my way along Wapping Wharf which is steadily opening up on the waterfront in Bristol. It is half way from my office and home and is ah-ma-zing. Think local, indi, well sourced, well done food and drink.

Wapping Wharf

Today I got to try Wokyko and some Bao with Gail as we caught up about the next couple of months. We were talking about 2017 (yeah it is only around the corner) and some good old Biz Dev and if our next contact with current and potential clients would be a PDF or a good old fashioned letter with a stamp on it.

Bao from WokyKo

After our brill brainstorm I pootled off to get the office pooch Woody and we headed out in the rain to meet my business mentor and friend Liz and her pooch Bailey. A good stomp in Leigh Woods was just what I needed, not just to walk off lunch.

As the dogs snuffled in all the beautiful autumn leaves we stumbled onto the conversation of how good it was to talk and how some businesses work in silo even marketing and sales teams supposedly working in the same direction. I commented that due to the now quite heavy rain we could have Skyped but actually nothing beats a face to face chat - something I do worry is a dying art in a world of deadlines and email.

So that new biz PDF may have just become a good old fashioned letter and an offer for a coffee. After all it's good to talk.