Freddie Daniells

Getting back in the saddle

If anyone still has this blog on RSS feed I haven't died. I have got married since I last posted but that's not quite the same!

Its been a long time - about 5 months - since I last posted. And it is not through lack of interest. After only 6 months of blogging I had created a pressure within myself that everything I wrote had to be insightful commentary. The pressure became overwhelming and I froze.

With this in mind that I have been following Jennifer Rice's comments, both on her own blog and at BrandShift, about blog burnout (here and here). I sympathise hugely. I too have been suffering the same fate.

And of course, then the procrastination sets in. The need for perfection, the need to have it all figured out before starting again.

On Monday I met with Johnnie Moore (and the other 173ers) and was reminded of his perspective that sometimes we need to play and see where the world takes you. And it is with this in mind that I am going to start again.

So for a while my contributions are likely to be less structured than before and we will see what themes (if any) develop.  There will likely be more personal stuff - the blogs I enjoy have a good mix of professional and personal. And watch out because my already poor spelling and gramma is just about to get a hole lot wurse!

Hopefully a few of you will stick around to see what emerges.

173 Drury Lane

Johnnie Moore, Max Blumberg and myself recently set up a site called 173 Drury Lane.

We all feel a certain warmth for the UK’s third largest retailer, Sainsbury’s. Unfortunately, as UK readers will know, in recent years the company has fallen on hard times and is often the subject of takeover rumours.

We feel that Sainsbury’s has too much potential to ‘go down’ in this way. So 173 Drury Lane was born to talk about the specific issues surrounding the company.

We want the site to develop into a talking shop, a conversation about how Sainsbury’s might dig itself out of its current hole. As such, we will be looking for new authors who can bring fresh perspective on the company. In this vein, we have recently been lucky to have been joined by Adrian Trenholm who runs his own web design agency. We would like to hear from City folks, marketers, other retailers, employees and ex-employees, anyone who would like to take part in the debate on what Sainsbury’s future might look like.

Some good chat is already going on there. So, come on over and join us. It should be fun.

PS. For those wondering about the name, 173 Drury Lane was the site of the first ever Sainsbury’s – isn’t Johnnie sooo clever!

Updated Site Roll

For those who wonder what I read, I have updated my Site Roll to more fully reflect the sites that currently sit in my RSS feeds. The number of links jumps from around 20 to over 60. They broadly fall into the areas of:

• Marketing - inc marketing technology
• Finance - venture capital, stockmarkets
• Personal development - presentation skills, passion
• Gadgets and productivity tools
• Consultancy

I think there is some great stuff in there. Feel free to browse!

PS I have a bunch of stuff that I will be posting on over the coming week or two. Things are beginning to settle down this week after a pretty extreme start to the year.

Feedback Required

Also, please give any feedback about both the design and content of this blog. Will see how I can accommodate...

Getting started

Here we go - my first ever post! Been meaning to do this for a while but...hey, you know how it is. ;)

Perhaps I should start by explaining why I've started a blog. In reality I am simply trying to head off the inevitable questions. I know people simply won't accept 'why not' or 'seemed like fun' as good enough. They will want to understand what I hope to gain out of it.

So, the things (I think) I would like to achieve are to:

1. Find my voice – I see this as a quasi diary that helps me to collect and develop my thoughts. It is a safe place to try ideas, a place to play and learn.
2. Improve my communication skills – I see this as a way to develop a writing style and figure out how best to communicate ideas. As they say practice makes perfect!
3. Find like minded souls – as I explore the things that interest me it would be great to find others to challenge or agree, add new perspectives and become cyber buddies.
4. Provide a place for you to learn about me – a quasi CV that more accurately presents who I am.
5. Have some fun!

I, of course, keep the right to change these reasons at will and without recourse!