Nicci Talbot👋

Brainstorming ideas, writing your newsletter, and revising the end product is the easy part - the challenge bit is gaining exposure and growing your audience.

Follow the 50/50 rule in marketing: spend half your time producing your creative content and the other half on marketing automation.

Start by collaborating with other writers in your niche - cross-promotion, interviews, or start an ad collective. Engage in online communities and help others. I like Reddit/newsletters, Reddit/substack, Indie Hackers (Newsletter Crew and Substack Groups), Quora/newsletters, and Ness Labs' newsletter channel and mastermind.

The next step is submitting to newsletter directories and aggregators so people can search by topic interest. This will widen your reach faster - and for free.

Newsletter directories*

Many of these directories promote newsletters on their social media channels, which gets you even more exposure. But that's not the only benefit.

Having your newsletter listed on websites like these not only increases your discoverability. It also provides much-needed SEO value to your site - Email Octopus.

Beautiful backlinks!

• Duuce • Thanks for Subscribing

• LetterList • Techyletters

• InboxReads • Find Your Newsletter

• Newsletters • Email Love

• Newsletter Junkie • Mereku

• Rad Letters • Letterbase

Also, check out newsletter aggregators: Stoop Inbox, The Sample, and Yoletters.

The more descriptive you are in summary, the better SEO it will have.

*❗️Warning - nerding space ahead (you could seriously lose hours...) I find it helpful to set aside a day of the week for marketing activities😍

I've been reading a lot on the office vs home battle. Great narrative tension, worker vs boss, but it's not the real issue here.

Remote work is a given. It's been steadily building for years - and now unleashed. 18 months on, it's a productive and preferred way of working for many knowledge workers. There's no turning back.

What's important now for business is transparency, collaboration, clear communication, and company culture. These core values will help your employees feel invested and part of something bigger - a movement.

So how do you build team culture remotely?

All companies need a Wiki!✍️

What is a company Wiki?

A Wiki is a page or site that users themselves can edit and update. A Wiki is a one-stop-shop knowledge center that answers the most common and pressing questions your employees have.

It should be everyone’s responsibility to write it and keep it up to date - Slite.com.

No more boring office bible that no one reads - the tech has moved on, and it's easy to update and fun to create. Check out Notion and Slite for guides/templates.

It will save you time and help you grow.

What should go into a team Wiki?

• Company culture and values

• Critical company processes, templates, scripts

• Roadmap and vision

• HR/office info

Each department can have its own Wiki within the main doc - no more silos!

Start building it on day 1 - or now - and get things down. I've started one for myself in Notion, and it focuses my mind, motivates me, and keeps me on track with my mission and goals.

Imagine what a good Wiki could do for your company.

You wouldn't have one set of keys to the office, would you? So, get everyone on board and invested in your success.

🛠 ✍️Toolkit

GitLab.com Team Handbook (over 13,804 pages, glorious!)

Slite.com: How to create a wiki in 9 simple steps

Notion.so - simple template and guide

Everyone has a brand nowadays, so it's not enough if you want to fly🚀

That's why you need to establish yourself as a thought leader. Good employees and good executives are nice to have. Thought leaders are irreplaceable - and indispensable. Dorie Clark, author of Entrepreneurial You, Stand Out & Reinventing You.

Done well, thought leadership can transform your life and business. So how do you become known as someone who drives conversations and sets the agenda?

Six steps to get you started

1. Build your online presence - know your why👀 . Figure out what you're an expert in and passionate about over your peers. Create courageous content (blogs, newsletters, videos) that show off your knowledge and personality. Don't be afraid to take a stand. Go where your readers are - Quora, LinkedIn, Medium, Twitter.

2. Give talks - online events, podcasts, trade associations, corporate gigs. Pull a Media Pack together - things you can talk about and pitch yourself. Once you have a gig, promote it like hell, record it and repurpose the content.

3. Radio/TV - build relationships with journos and producers on your beat and find slots you could contribute an opinion on. Newsjacking - offer your comment on breaking news. Try #JournoRequest and HARO (Help a Reporter Out).

4. Enter awards - find the ones that matter and enter! Ask your colleagues to nominate you. Check trade associations, business magazines, your local Chamber.

5. Write a book - endless street cred and new opportunities...Don't rule out self-publishing. I'm seeing exciting books/mags being serialised on Substack/Ghost.

6. Find your tribe - you can't do it all! Build a support team and share opportunities. There's strength in numbers, and your ideas will go further, faster.

There's a course on LinkedIn with Alexandra Galviz on TL: finding your why, building strategy, deeper connections, and figuring out what's holding you back...

It's not just about sharing your ideas; it's also about inspiring others into action.

Mirror.xyz is a new publishing tool for writers working on crypto and blockchain.

Through a decentralised, user-owned, crypto-based network, Mirror's publishing platform revolutionises how we express, share and monetise our thoughts.

I've seen a few posts about Mirror lately, but I can't find many reviews. I'm checking Reddit. Tim Denning and Casey Botticello have written good articles on Medium.

How Mirror.xyz differs from publishing platforms

• When you become a writer, you become a co-owner. It's run and built by contributors.

• It works with crypto (ETH) - you need a $WRITE token to publish.

• The community votes for writers who want to join the platform. 10 writers a week are chosen and given a token (one token = one publication).

How to earn on Mirror.xyz

1. When you start publishing content, it becomes unique NFTs, which can be sold to the highest bidder in exchange for crypto. Publications can also buy your NFTs - it's a shareable asset, so will keep on earning.

2. Tips from readers - get paid in crypto.

3. Crowdfund an idea - seek funding for your project via your Mirror.xyz publication. Readers can pledge money, and they get a percentage of all profits.

4. Embedded NFTs - if you own NFTs, you can embed them in your work. When work is widely shared, it raises the value.

5. Contribute to works by other authors - there's a split revenue feature.

6. Links to your products and services - your newsletter or online course.

It's great to have more options in the digital publishing space. I tried to sign up today, but the website kept crashing, very annoying. I'll get onto Support.

Exciting to hear Jack Dorsey talking about making Twitter decentralised - all feels like a step in the right direction.

Let me know if you've tried Mirror.xyz or found new ways of making money online.

Google has over 200 factors that determine your site ranking and #1 is Backlinks.

A backlink is a link from one website to another. Like a 'vote' for a page, it tells Google the content is valuable. Backlinks are the basis of the PageRank algorithm.

The more backlinks you have, the higher you'll rank on Google

Link building is an art and science, creative and analytical. It involves detective work, psychology, tech tools, and relationship building.

• Quantity over quality - be strategic and target sites in your niche.

• Backlinks need to grow organically - no paying for links to your site!

8 ways to get backlinks in 2021

1. Roundup posts - write a blog and quote an expert in your niche. When it's published, ask them to share it.

2. Link roundups - Google "[your keyword]" + "roundup" and check the results. Email the site owner and ask if they will include your linkable asset in future roundups.

3. Broken link building - add the check my links Chrome extension to find broken links. Contact the site owner and pitch your content solution!

4. Loot your competitors' backlinks - use Ahrefs Site Explorer to research competitors and monitor your niche. Find out where their links are coming from and pitch the same outlets.

5. Write testimonials for products/services you use - your URL may be included.

6. Link reclamation - Use Mention.com to find brand mentions that are unlinked - and ask them to link back. Try Google's reverse image to find unlinked images.

7. Create linkable assets - keep creating great content people want to link to.

8. Become a trusted source for journalists/bloggers - sign up for HARO and use #JournoRequest.

Link building is the most crucial part of your marketing. Use these strategies to grow your authority, and you'll see a steady improvement in your PageRank over time. Happy link building!

How refreshing to have a media awards ceremony to celebrate freelance writers.

#FreelanceWritingAwards was launched in 2021 by freelancers Anna Codrea-Rado and Sian Meades-Williams.

Created partly out of frustration with the lack of representation of freelancers in the media industry and to champion and celebrate freelance writers after a tough year.

Freelancing is the fastest-growing sector of the National Union of Journalists – and the biggest.

Now making up 30 per cent of the total membership, it is streaking ahead of other sectors. I'm an NUJ London Freelance branch Officer, and we've never been busier - 4000 members and TWO new Freelance Officers.

🥂2021 winners of the Freelance Oscars🥂

• Writer of the Year: Oliver Franklin-Wallis • New Freelance Writer: Kimi Chaddah

• Project of the Year: Jennifer Crichton - The Flock

• Newsletter of the Year: Christina Newland - Sisters Under the Mink

• Food, Drink + Lifestyle: Angela Hui • Culture: Aniefiok Ekpoudom

• Arts & Design: Chloë Ashby • Science & Health: Lou Del Bello

• Tech: Amelia Tait • Sports: Emma John

• Fashion & Beauty: Tansy Hoskins • Business: David Worsfold

• News & Investigation: Hannah Summers • Politics & Social: Jack Shenker

• Commercial: Stephanie Boyle • Travel: Monisha Rajesh

• Opinion & Comment: Hollie-Anne Brooks

One of the judges, Terri White, said:

Gotta say, man, this was the hardest judging I've ever done. An absolute tsunami of talent - each shortlist could've been twice the length.

Goes to show there's no shortage of talent - we just need more opportunities and awards to enter!

Congrats to all the winners, runners up, and highly commended - full list on freelancewritingawards.com.

Read their brilliant work, share it, congratulate and commission them!

It's a hard industry to be in right now👏

I've done a few Cohort-based Courses and #Ship30for30 stands out because of the community, fast results, and learning in public.

I'm on Day 21/30 - here are my thoughts so far.

Positives - shipping daily is powerful. It stops you from overthinking, over-editing and being a perfectionist. The aim is to get stuff out there and analyse your data, so you can see what's resonating and go all-in on that. Progress over perfection.

Personal stories resonate the most, and work/travel content. I've had the most interaction on essays about digital nomadism, Smart Villages, and dealing with negative feedback.

300 words is tight, so it focuses your mind on short, powerful ideas. Constraints help creativity. Typeshare adds a visual element and reader experience. The curriculum is packed and fresh - internet-based courses can be updated quickly. And it's more affordable than longer training - incredible value for what you get.

Visibility, accountability and community - you're doing it under your own name and growing your Twitter followers, so there's personal benefit.

It's a transformational experience and a rite of passage. At the kick-off, Nicolas Cole said, "See you on the other side."

Negatives - there's a lot of course material, weekly live calls, and an accountability buddy I've not managed to speak to yet. It's a large cohort: 200+ people, so a fair bit of feedback. I can't do it all, so have focused on the essays and engagement. I've read Nicolas' (excellent) book, and I'll catch up on the coursework and replays.

What's happened organically is smaller breakout groups with people in the future of work/nomad space. We cheer each other on and will Zoom after the course.

Some people have done several cohorts, which is a testament to the power of CBC’s.

The future of education is community.

Maybe we'll see a wedding onboard soon🚢 👰🏼

With the rise of remote working, more countries are launching nomad visas that allow you to stay and work for a year.

Spain is the latest. Around 30 towns have decided to join the National Network of Welcoming Towns for Remote Workers scheme (Red Nacional de Pueblos Acogedores para el Teletrabajo), which aims to attract nomads with a new 12-month visa.

Love the translation of welcoming towns as "Cozy peoples"🇪🇸

The aim is to shine a spotlight on places that need revitalising.

They all have under 5000 residents, an internet connection, co-working spaces, and quality accommodation.

This initiative's great because it gives willing remote workers the chance to immediately connect with a host, who will welcome them and show them around - MayorEU.

So you'll soon get to know everyone...

The website is currently in Spanish only, so a quick Google translate.

There's an interactive map so you can compare living costs.

A couple caught my eye: Tolox in Malaga - 2,250 people, 150€ p/w, and Tejeda in the Canaries for all-year-round sunshine at 205€ p/w.

There are also tax incentives: You can pay the Spanish non-resident tax rate of 24 per cent on incomes of up to €600,000.

It's a brilliant idea. They also need to focus on the experience - cultural heritage, history, and food, glorious food for this to really fly.

In Kuartango, a village of 441 people in Spain's Basque Country, there used to be a famous health spa, which the community has recovered. It's now a cider bar preserves factory and a co-working space.

Great to read about Ivan del Caz, who wants to 'create a laboratory of ideas.'

It's not sun, sea and sand, but tranquillity, nature and the 'real Spain'.

Fancy learning how to make olive oil?🌞

https://pueblosacogedores.com/

The Work from Anywhere movement is on the rise, but there are still practical problems to sort regarding visas, tax, and employment law.

Could a digital nation like Plumia help?

Digital nations or internet countries like Plumia turn the idea of a country on its head. These projects map their borders around missions rather than physical spaces, redefining citizenship and nationality - Leanna Lee.

Plumia was set up by SafetyWing in 2020 - a team of remote workers and nomads trying to build the world's first internet country. The aim is to create a global community, help nomads on the ground with practicalities like housing and co-working, and offer a social safety net, international ID, and legal help.

I was intrigued when I heard about it and have joined their Discord to meet others in the FOW space and help them develop their services. They are hosting a Speaker Series with FOW and legal experts - see Plumia.country.

I was a nomad in my 20s and can't do it full time now as I have a teenager doing exams. I explored the global education system, but it's a challenge as a single parent - the private sector is expensive, and I would have to commit to one place. And she didn't want to go to a state school in Spain, which is fair enough.

So, it's part-time nomadin' for now, checking out nomad hotspots in the Canaries, Portugal and Italy. I'll be back on the road when I'm an empty nester🤩

3 things

🗺 How digital nations like Plumia are giving digital nomads wings by Leanna Lee: https://bit.ly/3yFjgqP

🎧 Badass Digital Nomads #120 with founder Sondre Rasch: https://bit.ly/3t9oYAc

🌍 Digital Nomads Nation (on a similar mission)

The digital nomad movement is flying.

An extensive digital nomad study by Emergent Research and MBO Partners found the number of Americans describing themselves as nomads rose from 7.3 million in 2019 to 10.9 million in 2020—an increase of 49%, as reported in HBR.

It's predicted there will be one billion digital nomads by 2035 (Levels.io)

And what's interesting is that in 2020 it shifted from being freelancers and self-employed workers on the road to corporate nomads.

Traditional jobholders now make up a majority of those pursuing this nontraditional work lifestyle.

These are well-educated, digitally savvy people. Most are in high-demand tech-oriented jobs, happy in their work and committed to learning new skills.

Yet, because many companies don't have policies and programmes in place, many of these nomads are 'off grid' - doing it informally or not disclosing it, which is risky:

The laws and regulations that apply to a person’s work are generally based on the jurisdiction where the work is performed, even if the employer is located elsewhere.

So, what should companies do about these Covid nomads and wandering workers?

A new report by Littler has some ideas: https://bit.ly/3DAPdnX.

But the Emergent/MBO team say it's not enough. Companies need a long-term digital nomad policy to attract the best talent.

The WFA movement is growing, and we want the freedom to roam and grow for the short time we're on this beautiful planet🙏

Resources

👩‍💻I've joined Plumia.country, an online movement looking to resolve some of these issues and offer a global safety net for nomads (more on this tomorrow!)

📚Global Natives: The New Frontiers of Work, Travel & Innovation by Lauren Razavi

🗺Digital Nomad Study: https://bit.ly/3yARwDT

Writing on your own can be lonely, so I've applied to join Every, an experiment in publishing they're calling a 'writer collective'.

It's for anyone with a sparkle in their eye for a topic in the startup world, who is passionate about its future, who understands the durable power of the written word, and believes that writing together is better than writing alone.

Every has generated over $700k in revenue and now reaches nearly 40k readers both free and paid.

I had to submit something on Why I Write, so here it is:

👋 Hey, I'm Nicci, a Future of Work writer and digital entrepreneur.

UX Writing | Content Strategy | Journalism

I write to get my ideas out there and connect with people.

To change how we live, work and play, and inspire and motivate others to live life on their terms, see the world, and be happy.

I'm curious about everything - an internet enthusiast and remote work advocate. Writing is a way to build in public and be nosy. I get to interview smart people, share their knowledge, and tell stories.

I write for self-development and personal growth as well as to earn a living. It's free therapy: I explore things I'm struggling with and share solutions to help others. I learn languages to express my feelings.

I write to challenge myself (shipping daily via #Ship30for30) and meet like-minded people passionate about borderless working, creativity, and how we can build a better work/life culture for the next generation.

Writing is a form of leadership at scale.

You can solve your business problems using better communication.

I'm super grateful I get paid to do it from home, by the sea, while raising Julieta.

Next stop: a Smart Village in Italy🇮🇹

Join the adventure: The Shift: Your field guide to the future of work *it's (still) human.

Why do you write?

LinkedIn has 740 million users in more than 200 countries, but only 3 million are sharing weekly content (less than 1%).

So, LOTS of opportunities for writers + content marketers to grow their businesses.

What should you include in your profile to attract clients, what type of content rocks, and how do you become the go-to person for your topic?

My go-to is LinkedIn and Personal Branding expert: Viveka Von Rosen. Check out her free eBook: 101 Ways to Rock LinkedIn.

🎧 to Viveka's chat #268 with Amy Porterfield, Online Marketing Made Easy.

How to make the most of LinkedIn

#1 Killer Profile: LinkedIn lives and dies by profiles: It's your sales page. Address your audience's pain points and how your product/service solves them. What results can they expect to see? Who have you helped? Add content and contact info.

#2 Attention-Grabbing Bio: who do you help and how? Ben Legg, CEO of The Portfolio Collective is 'Improving society one entrepreneur at a time.'

#3 Content Strategy: post daily updates and weekly long-form content - mini-blog, opinion piece, tip, and use hashtags. How-to and list posts perform best. 50/50 native content vs links to your site. Consistency is key and Tuesday-Thursday is when the site is most active. Give back more than you take.

#4 Amplification Pods: create a messaging group with people so you can share each other's posts.

#5 Explore New Features: Creator mode, newsletters, LinkedIn Live, video.

#6 Ageism is Rife: take off the date you graduated and only show the last 20 years of work.

#7 Personalise Invitations and share something of value. Buy them a drink before you pitch! Build relationships to stay top of mind.

Have you checked your notifications today? Money is waiting for you right now!

I'm on a new project, so I've been working all weekend to hit tomorrow's deadline.

Will they love it? Who knows. Done is better than perfect.

The Content Diet continues! I spent some time researching FOW podcasts and setting up Feedly to deliver news to save me time (👀 30 mins a day). Next week: Nuke the inbox!

So, here are five of my favourite Future of Work podcasts. When I find a good one, I binge it🎧

#1 Reimagine Work w/Paul Millerd - Helping rebel creatives carve their path. Chats with solopreneurs, thought leaders and philosophers about work. I've just finished the one with Rob Litchfield and Rachael Woldoff talking about their new book on digital nomads.

#2 Borderline w/Isabelle Roughol - For defiant global citizens. She covers geopolitics, immigration, and lives that straddle borders. I enjoyed the latest episode, a LinkedIn Live with Lauren Razavi on making remote, hybrid and distributed work actually work. Also, in French.

#3 Conscious Culture: The Evolving Future of Work w/Sarah Hawley and Ren Matheson. Juicy chats about conscious culture and leadership and how to grow happy, thriving distributed teams. If you're looking for a long-term remote role, check out her platform, Growmotely. Sarah's new book is ace!

#4 Eat Sleep Work Repeat w/Bruce Daisley - weekly chats with scientists and experts about making work better. Bruce has some great ideas on workplace culture (ex-Twitter) and brilliant, diverse guests. I enjoyed the series on community managers - the next hot trend at work.

#5 HBR: Women at Work w/Amy Bernstein, Amy Gallo, and Emily Caulfield. How do we tackle gender discrimination at work? No onboarding talk covers navigating the wage gap, dealing with bossy male colleagues, and other thorny issues. Practical advice to help you thrive. HBR is my go-to for research.

Any recommendations?

In my experience, the bigger the client, the harder they are to manage. There are too many fingers in the pie and internal politics that you may not be aware of.

When you get negative feedback on creative work, it's tempting to jump in and defend yourself. Or you may stew on it and feel self-conscious. Both are counterproductive. I've struggled with this, so I'm trying to flip my thinking and see feedback as a gift to help me improve.

Five things you can do

Organisational psychologist Tanya Eurich shares some tips in her book Insight (via HBR.org) to help you take criticism calmly and mine it for insight.

#1 Don't rush to react - Give yourself time to bounce back before deciding what to do. Reframe the way you see it as helpful and productive data, and say out loud how you feel. I had a chat with my sister before I replied, which helped put it into perspective.

#2 Get more data - We can't act on feedback until we understand it. A gentle probe to suss out the client's behaviour gave me some reassurance. And if I need more info to do the work, I'll ask for it.

#3 Find a harbinger - Choose one action to show you mean business. I had a client who used to micromanage, so I sent her an email every morning to tell her what I was working on. It helped her feel in control, and she thanked me.

#4 Don't be a lonely martyr and isolate yourself or avoid the person who gave you feedback. Better to pull them closer - thank them for their feedback and be responsive.

#5 Change is just one option - Be honest about your flaws to yourself then others, and set expectations for how you're likely to behave. Ask for their help and patience as you work on it.

When we let go of things we cannot change, it frees up the energy to focus on changing the things we can.

Read more: https://bit.ly/3jlZXOU

The average person will spend 90,000 hours at work over a lifetime - 1/3 of your life.

As Steve Jobs said:

Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work.

So why would we want to stick to one job title for years? A 'job for life' disappeared a long time ago. For many knowledge workers, having an exciting professional life is more important than money.

Enter Polywork: side hustles, freelancing, and project work - a growing trend. It adds variety, skills, contacts and collaboration. Portfolio careers can be hugely satisfying if you manage your time and energy well.

I've worked as a journalist, writer, editor, author, researcher, content marketer, copywriter, broadcaster, event planner, sales assistant, social media manager, PR manager, parent, mother, teacher, carer, UX Writer/Content Designer (the industry can't decide what to call it!) I hate labels!

And now we have the tech to support this lifestyle.

Polywork is a new kind of professional social network where people share what they do and get in touch with others to collaborate.

It fills the gap between Twitter and LinkedIn (looks like Twitter) with great UX, gamified (badges), informal, cheerful. Aimed at Millennials and GenZ but open to all. I love the concept and feel of it. Let's see if any real opportunities come through it.

The challenge is asking people to use yet another social network and duplicate what they're already doing on Twitter - a platform with 199 million daily active users. Twitter is already an informal professional networking site, with no need for badges and labels - it has hashtags.

Lots of angels behind Polywork, though, so one to watch.

As the founder, Peter Johnston, says:

The desire to live a multi-faceted professional life must be understood and supported by employers.

Or they will lose their best talent.

I'm not in the mood for work, but I have a new client, and I've signed up for the #Ship30for30 challenge. It's not a month for shirking.

So my goal is to get things done as quickly as possible, so I can enjoy more free time with the fam🤗

I've signed up for Brain.fm, an AI science-based music app. Heard good things. Let's see if it helps me become a productivity powerhouse.

What is Brain.fm?

Get focused in minutes with music for the brain. Our science-first approach creates music that sounds different - and affects your brain differently - than any other music. We use technology to elicit strong neural phase-locking - helping neurons to work together - and technology to remove distraction in sound.

The UX is great - intuitive and simple to use - not too many features. Stick it on, choose your music type (Focus, Relax, Meditate and Sleep), and off you go.

I've been trialling Focus tracks this week with a good pair of headphones, and it's blown me away. Tingling in my temples. Losing track of time. No slouching in my seat. I've felt more in the flow, and I'm getting stuff done faster. I miss the sensation of losing myself in music at raves - not quite the same, I know, but pretty close!

Other benefits - it's helping me to work in focused blocks of time. I can set a timer and then take a proper break. You can create playlists to help with reading distractions. I tried the 8-hour Sleep mode last night, and it helped me to wind down and daydream. I need some proper sleep headphones.

Brain.fm - you get five Focus sessions for free, then it's $6.95 monthly or $47.50 annually. Google referral codes.

How about some performance-enhancing tunes for exercise? I'd love to compare it with Peleton Digital🙏

A curated list of my favourite books, newsletters, blogs, and tools for remote work.

I've been a solopreneur for years, but I'm always hungry to learn new skills, deepen my knowledge, find remote work/travel communities, and get inspired to do my best work.

Here are some remote work resources to help you stay motivated, productive, and happy at work. My biggest challenge is boundaries and feeling 'always on' in a work/live studio, iPhone in my pocket, and insatiable curiosity!

📚Books

• Remote: Office Not Required - Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson on how employers and employees can work together, remotely, from any place.

• It Doesn't Have to be Crazy at Work - JF and DHH saying not to long hours and hustle culture. Calm is smaller. Calm is profitability.

• From Chaos to Success in Distributed and Agile Teams by Johanna Rothman and Mark Kilby - tips and traps to help your team succeed.

• Conscious Leadership by Sarah Hawley - a journey from ego to heart reveals how to create a life of absolute freedom.

• The Anywhere Operating System by Luke Thomas and Aisha Samake - a hands-on guide to running your business from anywhere.

✍️Blogs/Newsletters

• Ness Labs by Anne Laure Le Cunff - helping makers put their minds at work.

• Out of Office by Lizzy Dening - advice and community for self-employed women.

• Borderless by Isabelle Roughol - journalism and community for defiant global citizens.

• Workforce Futurist by Andy Spence - news, views & original research on FOW topics.

• Work Life by Atlassian - advice, stories and expertise about work life today.

• Path Nine by Kevin Kirkpatrick - helping you think, work, and live better.

• Counterflows by Lauren Razavi - a nomadic writer's guide to borderless living.

🛠Tools

• Google Workspace

• Toggl

• FreeAgent

• Peleton Digital

• Pomodoro

• Brain.fm (the best!)

• Twitter Lists - I'm building one for FOW companies and thought leaders @niccitalbot.

Happy homeworking!

Today is Day 10 of shipping an atomic essay daily via #Ship30for30.

I had a quick look at my Twitter stats to see what's working.

#1 Write about personal stuff and find your tribe online

I've landed on my ass twice now running in my Hoka's, so I asked the running community for advice. I had a flurry of comments about the best shoes and getting your gait tested before you buy. People want to help and love to tell stories. The same applies to the Ship community: engage with the crew and give helpful advice.

#2 More content on finding work and money

• Bounty Writer: How to earn six figures as an independent freelancer.

• How to get paid to freelance in Italy's new #SmartVillages.

• Top remote work platforms and why it can be worth paying for curated job sites.

#3 Invest in yourself and you take it more seriously. Would I do #Ship30for30 every day if it was free? Probably not.

#4 We want meaningful work: high engagement on a post about being in the 'messy middle' of reinvention, community polyamory and online rabbit holes. It's spurred me on to go deeper in my newsletter.

#5 Write about your passions, or you won't do it daily. I'm passionate about the future of work, entrepreneurship, rural regeneration, midlife reinvention, and online writing as leadership at scale. That curiosity and activism fuel my writing.

#6 The power of threads. I've forgotten to use the Ship hashtag on my posts😱 Handy to have a tweet thread pinned to my profile to add content to (thanks, Dickie!)

#7 Constraints fuel creativity - 250 words/day on a single idea forces you to focus and stop putting bows on your writing. I've taken a break from my newsletter this month as I'm feeling burned out (and wondering if I've lost the plot doing a writing challenge in August...)

No. It's given me my mojo back. I don't need to stop writing. I need to stop over-thinking/editing/researching. Done is better than perfect. Writing daily makes writing weekly easier.

And data-driven writing is your roadmap🚀

Happy shipping!

This week, Facebook invited journalists to roadtest its vision of the 'infinite office'.

Horizon Workrooms: a new free Facebook app for teams to work together in a shared, virtual space.

Now open for collaboration and built for teams to feel together even though they are apart. The tools we currently have serve people to a certain degree, but we've lost the ability to be creative and connected, a gap we believe Workrooms can fill. Andrew Bosworth, VP, Facebook Reality Labs

Stick on Facebook's Oculus VR headset, and you can chat with colleagues and collaborate using virtual whiteboards. It has spatial 3D audio and mixed reality (brings your laptop into VR).

It's blending elements of the real world with the virtual world to give you the best of both worlds.

Workrooms is still in beta, but the feedback has been positive:

We have been testing this for work meetings for some time now, and while it's not perfect, it is a very immersive experience. Things feel real in a way that can't be explained but only experienced. @technogoy

One notable thing is that you're able to remember meetings that took place in Horizon Workrooms. I don't know if that is because the gigantic scenes are so vivid. @DavidYo74981752

Pros: Ability to change the room on the fly. Cons: Facebook avatars. @DroolongVR

The launch is part of Zuck's ambitious plan to build the metaverse, a digital space to work and play. He says people will be able to live where they want and work wherever they want. This creates opportunities for people all over the world - not just those living in tech hubs.

And it's already happening. During lockdown, young ad execs have held meetings in games like Minecraft and Grand Theft Auto - a taste of how the business metaverse could evolve.

Just don't keep a full cup of coffee around😱