Overcoming Writers Block on Your Blog; 3 Tips

What’s the first thing you did this morning when you switched your pc/laptop/tablet on?

I’m guessing you checked your emails.  Or at the very least scanned the total in your inbox to see by how many it had increased since yesterday (or earlier this morning if you were burning the midnight oil).  Am I wrong?
Ok, so if you didn’t check your emails I bet you went straight to your favourite website or some other ‘habitual’ place.  Don’t worry I’m not watching you, nor am I the new Derren Brown, it’s just something we all do.

Let me ask another question.  At some point over the last week how many times have you had an opinion about something?  Quite a number I would hazard a guess, and equally how many times have you thought ‘I should write that down’?  I have and I suspect I’m not alone in these thoughts.  I sometimes worry I’m having a seriously high number of ‘senior moments’ for someone in their thirties, such is frequency I forget what it is I was going to write.

However I’m beginning to realise that the reason for what I politely term ‘bloggers block’ (and impolitely harangue myself about) is more to do with the habits I’ve formed over years of working at a computer.

So some simple tips to overcome bloggers block and make a start on that company/personal blog you’ve always wanted to write:

Start your day different

We all need to check emails, after all it could be a new sale, a customer that wants a reply or 10% off at Krispy Kreme.  But how about for once, maybe only one day a week you (horror of horrors) switch your machine on and instead of going straight for the emails, you pause open Word or some other writing programme and get writing.  Don’t worry if you haven’t got a clear idea of your article, just the process of ‘brain dumping’ your thoughts on a subject can make things a whole lot clearer.

Get some inspiration

Sometimes you’ll have a fantastic idea on an article you want to write.  Other times you’ll know what you want to say, but you’re missing some bits.  Don’t despair, get the thoughts down you’ve had and then have a search round.  Try searching for your subject, check a couple of books, maybe send a tweet out and ask your followers their opinions on the subject.  Sometimes the very process of searching can be enough to formulate your article in a much more coherent way.

Fresh Air

It’s amazing how many times we have our best ideas when we don’t mean to.  Generally that means we are doing something else entirely.  Having a shower, working out, sat on the toilet or even having a bath (it worked for Archimedes) all seem to be favourites for eureka moments.  Rather than sitting at your machine, putting yourself under more and more pressure to get an article written, why not put your coat on and take a little stroll in the fresh air.  Even if it’s rotten weather, the process of concentrating on something entirely unrelated can get your subconscious creative juices flowing.  At the very least you’ll be getting away from your screen.

Writing a blog is a fantastic tool for promoting and growing your business, it is all about consistency and content.  Unfortunately we all get caught up in our work habits and forget that masterpiece of an article we wanted to write.

So to use some poetic licence on a programme I do remember from my youth I’m going to ‘Turn off my email and do something less boring instead’.  Why don’t you.

Tom-tastic! Apprentice Series 7 The Final

Ladies and Gentlemen we have a winner!


The mad professor Tom Pellereau is the man Lord Sugar has backed to the tune of £250,000 after the final episode of The Apprentice. A worthy winner in many respects, a certainly fortunate to be under the new Apprentice prize of a joint business venture as opposed to a job within Lord Sugars portfolio of companies. If we’d been working to rules of previous series the likelihood is that Tom would’ve struggled to make it through the auditions let alone the first few weeks. His quirky style, mad inventor personality and action-man eyes always presented him as a potential loose cannon, but dig below that and Tom was always a candidate who stood out for Lord Sugar.

It is under the old rules that this year’s second place candidate, Helen Louise Milligan would’ve walked it. After a quiet opening few weeks Helen smashed her way to the top of the leaderboard and her structured planning and calculated organisation meant she stayed there right to the end. She played the perfect game in this series, and that perhaps is her biggest failing. There is a sense with Helen that she performs best within a structured environment, and as all new business owners will testify, a new start up is not the place to need rigid processes and procedures to perform at your best. Certainly in my experience, the ability to function within organised chaos would be closer to the mark. Helen you felt all along lacked a certain something despite her impressive showing, and it was crucial to Lord Sugar in the final reckoning. He was willing Helen to produce a stunning business idea, or even just a credible one, you felt if she had then even with the reservations she’d have been a shoe in. Not that she was the only one without a credible business plan.

The range of plans/businesses was revealed and disappointing was probably the easiest way to round them up. They ranged from Susan’s Skincare company to Jim’s e-learning entrepreneurial skills for schools.

Taking them individually, Susan’s plan involved the huge potential skincare market if she got it right, but with associated costs that would eat up the investment before it had time to breathe. Jim’s e-learning idea, cheekily branded AMsmart in line with Lord Sugars existing businesses, already exists and was in essence an idea non-profit business hastily given commercial figures. Helen disappointingly presented the equivalent of a virtual PA service that somehow was supposed to get the country back on its feet. Even winner Tom’s plan of ergonomic chairs and associated products was seriously flawed. Hugely disappointing all round and rightly all were pulled to pieces by what must be one of the most scary interview panels outside of the Den. In fact you got the feeling at one point that Lord Sugar was going to end the interviews and send all four over to the Dragons Den studio for a grilling in a BBC cross-show promotion.

Tom’s victory was down to two main attributes. He’s quite obviously a guy that Lord Sugar feels on a personal level he could work with. As I pointed out in a previous article, Sugar made most of his fortune in partnership with guys like Tom, and that was obviously a big draw for him, he knows how to handle this type of character. Secondly, Tom is a one-man ideas factory, it may take him 20 different ideas, but somewhere along the line Tom is going to hit on another massive idea and Lord Sugar wants to be there when it does. With his already established, but somewhat off-track, ‘Curved Nail file’ Sugar has a readymade product to start recouping his investment.

And so The Apprentice finishes for another series, we’ve had the usual mix of inflated egos, tears, tantrums and Top Hats. Only a few months until Junior Apprentice starts, and if that is anything like last year, those candidates will once again be putting their senior counterparts to shame.

Though certainly not this country’s entrepreneurial elite, this year’s batch of Apprentice candidates have made some great TV and been responsible (sometimes inadvertently) for some essential business lessons. We are left with the vision of a white coated Tom giggling away in a high-tech lab somewhere reaching for an emergency biscuit whilst creating the world’s first time machine using parts from a nodding dog, a top hat, nail file and travel clock. It’d be fun to be there don’t you think?

The PY's the limit! Apprentice Series 7 Episode 11

The un-official semi-final of this year’s series went off with a rather pleasant taste in the mouth. It was a fast food challenge, with each team coming up with a new fast food brand, menu and restaurant to wow a group of industry experts, and it proved a super episode.


Finally, yeah, Natasha, yeah went yeah and...aaarggghh I’ve annoyed myself again! Thank goodness the recruitment manager from Taunton was finally dismissed, though to be fair there was little chance of her reaching the final once Caracas went south. That’d be Caracas, as in the capital of Venezula, possibly discovered by the British explorer Christopher Columbus who was probably working alongside Shakespeare and Byron around the same time. All that was missing was to introduce the Columbus dish with...’just one more thing’ and the messy mixture would’ve been complete.

It should be said that the general knowledge mess-ups are certainly understandable, after all how many of us would have forgotten our own names after 11 weeks of living and working with this year’s candidates? It’s not surprising that for the third week running the candidate that has gone has been the one that has obviously run out of steam.

Just as with Zoe Beresford and Melody Hossaini before her, Natasha had the aura of a candidate who was gone before the task started. Match that to the fact that she was this tasks ‘Expert’ having a degree in Hospitality Management, (and her previous weeks poor performances) and she could’ve saved herself 48 hours of stress by catching a cab straight from the house. How she failed to grasp the task when she obviously has skills within the area was unforgivable so close to the final. Unforgivable, but pleasing all the same!

The dynamic duo Helen and Tom steered clear of the cheesy nacho regurgitation and instead hit on the impressive MYPY concept. Columbus rick aside, the clear direction, detailed costings plan and on-brief service made for a clear winner. MYPY was a genius concept, if a little Airline food looking in its delivery, but most importantly for a fast food restaurant, simple in its execution. In-store games within fast food outlets aren’t well known, but a little ‘I spy with my little PY’ could be a winner. Plus any food that can be served with gravy will always find a home in the glorious North of England so there’s a massive market ready-made. So glorious was the sight, seeing the ready-made meal in a crust served with lashing of the good stuff in the heart of the City, it was enough to make any Lancastrians heart flutter with pride. Oooo Northern Boys Love Gravy (*circa 2003 Soccer Am).

It was impressive all round from our second version of Beauty and Geek this series. The pair make an impressive double-act, so much so you wonder if Lord Sugar fancied calling this year a dead-heat and going into business with the pair of them. In a business such as fast food where organisation and detail is so important, Helen and Tom left nothing to chance and with Tom’s ideas and Helen’s organisation they could be an unstoppable combination.

So onto this year’s final, and we are left with the final four that doesn’t really hold any surprises. When Darth Norn/Jedi Jim strolled into the kitchen and asked ‘Did someone order a final four?’ I did hear someone shout ‘No Jim, I’m still waiting for my fajita’. It is Jim that is perhaps the most vulnerable of the remaining four despite being the best sales person left. You get the feeling that Lord Sugar is almost done with Jim. The same could be said of Tom with the number of losses he has been involved in. However, the big difference is Lord Sugar made his fortune working with people like Tom and you get the feeling his lordship is sizing up in his mind if he fancies one last crack at it with the loveable genius.

Helen, after a quiet start, has been awesome as the weeks have progressed. However, there is something missing with Helen that I can’t quite put my finger on. There is nothing wrong with reaching 30 without having started a business. After all some people just aren’t ready to and it’s admirable that she feels now is the time. There is just a feeling that she thinks she knows more about leading a new venture than the actual reality of doing so. But perhaps there is no better way to learn with the backing of Lord Sugar.

That leaves Snoozy Susie, Susan Ma. Possibly the Marmite candidate this year (you either love her or hate her), she is a hugely impressive individual. Not necessarily in each and every task, but just in how she has built her life, she has a real drive to achieve success. Indeed, the kind of drive that Lord Sugar himself is renowned for, and it could this that wins it for her. Much will depend on just how much time Lord Sugar is preparing to spend within each business and advising each candidate. If he wants to be quite hands on, Tom and Susan could be the kind of candidates he could work with. On the other hand, if he’s looking for no real input then Helen, and to a certain extent, Jim may be the preferred option.

The final featuring Daisy Communications Matt Riley and the return of Apprentice legend Margaret Mountford will see the candidates interviewed about their business plans. It is then we will get to know a little more about the kind of business Lord Sugar could be involved with.

It should be a cracking climax!

Being social in real life

Headed home from my mastermind group tonight (that's mastermind as in the group principle advocated by Napoleon Hill in Think and Grow Rich as oppose to a group that meets to put each other in a black leather chair and ask searching questions...I've started so I'll finish)...after an interesting discussion and ideas on Social Network/Media.  We were coming up with ideas for three different businesses tonight to do with Social Network/Media and it got me thinking about the latest 'marketing black art'.

Now I call it 'black art' as being a relatively new arm of marketing it holds a lot of fear for some people.  But it really shouldn't.  In fact give it another 2-5 years and aspects of Social Networking/Media/Marketing will no longer be known as that, they will have reverted to just marketing.  And for those of you filled with fear and confusion when terms like blogs, linking, buttons, updates etc etc I give you the line to ease your mind...

Forget the technical terms, its just a different way to speak to your customers.

Honestly that is all there is to it.  By all means create a proper plan (to prevent ps poor performance) and dedicate resource to it, but most of all embrace it - don't be scared of it.  For the generation or two (yikes) below me - the next raft of employees and employers - the above terms are second nature.  So put aside the fear and meet it head on.  Start learning, using and engaging - you'll find the new marketing black arts will soon merge into all those other marketing black arts that have been scaring us for years.