To close out the season of Drinking with Freelancers, we're chatting with "nicest man in Birmingham" -- Luke Tonge. Designer, event organiser, and heavyweight of the creative community of Birmingham and the West Midlands -- most know Luke as one of the two brilliant minds who run the annual Birmingham Design Festival and the head of Birmingham Design. Others know him as a teacher and lecturer. Still others know him as a teacake fiend. In this episode, Luke and I talk about: - Brand distinctiveness - How to make the freelance life work for you - Great design - How to make outrageous use of the colour yellow

Jon McGreevy is a UK-based, award-winning freelance content writer email marketing sorcerer, and co-founder of creative content agency HEY! READ THIS. In this episode, I chat... no rant and rave might be a better description... with Jon about: The diverse range of words in English for a cold box How to get your brand's copy to stand out in a crowded market The cringy rise of copycat marketing Why not everything you put in front of your prospects needs to have a call to action his milk jug that looks like a cow, so when you pour it, the cow vomits milk ...and more!

Eric Saumure, CPA, CA is the co-founder and principal of Zenbooks, a boutique small business accounting firm in Canada. His firm is a brilliant example of how you take an idea to do things a little differently in an industry infamous for its unyielding inflexibility and build it into a rapidly growing business that offers immaculate service to its customers. On this episode, Eric and I chat about: How a clear, thoughtful vision can drive your business (even to work on the beach in California) Tactics to find and hire employees who have the best cultural fit for your team How to build a remote-first business (years before it was cool) and even make it fun for clients Finding the right price point for your services that won't give you headaches later on. The importance of the perfect coffee for your afternoon worflow Zenbooks Website: https://zenbooks.ca Eric Saumure's LinkedIn Eric's Email: [email protected]

Harrison White is a Victoria, Canada-based CPA finance & accounting expert -- connecting startups and young businesses with the funding and financial tools they need to succeed. Since recording this, he is presently serving as the Chief Financial Officer of Natureblocks, a maker of carbon-emissions tracking software and carbon credit marketplace. In this episode, we talk podcasts (Harrison has his own: Problem - Solution), helping startups get off the ground, and how to create spaces for good business. ideas. Not sponsored by Kraken Rum or Pepsi.

Glenn Schmelzle is one of the finest examples of a tactically-minded marketer I know of. He's the one you always want on your team when you need to answer the question: will this generate leads? Glenn is the founder and owner of the marketing funnel specialist agency, Marketing What's New. On this episode we drink a lot of tea and talk about his story in marketing and how marketing itself has changed from the late 90s until now. We also talk about how to find the clients for you, and how to best go about putting yourself out there as a person and brand, on the internet. Marketing What's New Funnel Reboot -- Glenn's own podcast Glenn's LinkedIn

The man. The legend. André Spiteri is the heavy-hitting, award-winning fintech copywriter out of the illustrious city of Edinburgh. He has helped sell for big brands and small, all across the global financial sector. What you may not know is he has never owned so many pairs of trousers in his life at the time of recording. In this episode, André gets jacked up on three cups of coffee and a peculiar substance called Aldi Berry Tea and reveals: The BIGGEST SECRET to unlocking the jargon of the financial world The MOST IMPORTANT rules for good beard care His philosophy of HOW TO MAKE MISTAKES as a professional Why you DO NOT want to drink the water in Malta

Emma Cownley is the brilliant mind behind Jot Jot Boom, a B2C copywriting consultancy for prestigious music, fashion, and lifestyle brands. She also produces her own YouTube channel, Kiss My A's where she gives timely, useful advice on how to be a better writer, how to manage your business as a freelancer, and (less successfully) how to stop your cat from jumping in front your camera In this episode, I (with a bottle of Old Jamaica ginger beer) chat with Emma (with a glass of Ardbeg 10-year scotch)  as she shares her origin story to become a niche copywriter, monetizing hobbies, cats, and her journey to wield a warhammer on horseback.

Eric McRae is the founder and owner of MBO Coworking (formerly My Byward Office) a coworking space in the heart of Ottawa, Canada, catering to entrepreneurs, designers, and other creative professionals. He is also a business coach, consultant, and all-around creative person himself. In this episode, I have the pleasure of sitting down with Eric over a bottle of Mount Gaye Eclipse and talk entrepreneurship, creating customer profiles, building multi-million dollar businesses, how to escape a South American dictatorship.

This episode, we sit down for a whisky-rich chat with Mary Houle, freelance speech-language pathologist and speech coach. Want to be clear and natural, whether you're Zoom call with your colleagues or giving a talk to thousands? Mary is the one you call to master how you sound superb?  We talk about living in Canada, how clear speech and clear marketing are related, accent reduction, why it's important for political leaders to sound relatable, and obscure references to CBC Radio personalities. Mary can be found through her business website, Pronounced.ca, and on LinkedIn at @maryhoulepronounced.

In a first attempt at recording a podcast episode, copywriter Andrew Monro sits down with Casey Li, owner BiteSite, an Ottawa-based software development company (although at the time of recording, also doing videography) and talk about growing up, dreaming of creating your own company, and bourbon.