Diving in.

Before leaving for the land down under I had the pleasure of working with Ritual Dive, a quirky little start-up dive shop in Gozo. I was tasked with the job of bringing their brand to life and helping them achieve their vision of becoming the best dive shop on the island.

I first met the owners Minty and Rachel in Koh Tao, Thailand in 2017 where I learned to scuba dive with the company they were working for at the time. We then met again in Gozo last year, just before they were due to take over the space that they’ve now turned into Ritual Dive. We squeezed in a couple of dives and I mentioned I was a copywriter and if they wanted me to help with the launch in any way, to just give me a shout. A few weeks later I was working directly with them (alongside local creative director, Dom Philcox) writing website copy and various other bits of marketing material.

With their experience and a burning passion for scuba diving, it didn’t take me long to get sucked up in all the excitement of the new business. Generally being the lovely people that they are, I couldn’t have asked for better clients to work with. The feedback I received was brutally honest and very clear in direction – it's a blessing to work with clients who know exactly what they want. This pushed me to produce a very precise tone of voice that I could then easily implement across the entire business – from the courses they offer to the various dive sites scattered all around the island. I also offered up UX ideas and advice on how the website should operate.

The outcome is a fully functional and damn sexy website that embodies the brand values. Ritual Dive has very quickly become a well-established dive shop, one of the major players within the Gozo dive scene.

You can check out the website at https://ritualdive.com/ and give them a follow at https://www.instagram.com/ritualdive/

If you’re into your diving and heading over to Malta any time soon, make sure you leave some time to pop to Gozo – the island offers year-round diving on some pretty spectacular sites. My favourites have to be the Blue Hole and Inland Sea. I can’t wait to get back there to see what the guys have done with the space at Ritual and to get back in the water (wouldn't mind getting my hands on one of these snazzy eco-friendly water bottles too).

Using my degree for the greater good.

Before leaving to travel again, I was super busy juggling multiple projects, but a stand out for me was my involvement in the creation of the Lloyds Bank Academy. It’s a piece of work I’m really proud of and is hands down the biggest project I’ve ever had the pleasure of working on.

The best thing is, it’s actually making a real difference to vulnerable people, helping them learn digital skills and improving their understanding of the digital world. For me, that makes it all the more worthwhile.

It all started when Six (a digital agency in Bristol) approached me with an exciting brief. I was intrigued, if not a little out of my depth. Either way, I was keen to get stuck in. They initially hired me for a period of three weeks, but it soon became clear that the job needed a lot more time than that - I ended up with them for a total of seven months.

They brought me in as the ‘Senior Copy Lead’. Yeah, you read that right. I don’t know how I managed to blag that one, but it couldn’t have worked out any better. The team around me were highly motivated and enormously experienced; so unsurprisingly working alongside them in such close proximity filled me with confidence – giving me invaluable experience in handling the workload required of a multi-million-pound brief.

I want to thank Raymond O’Sullivan (Digital Director) for leading the project seamlessly and for trusting my involvement, Mike Etheridge (Creative Director) for constantly pushing my creativity, Kate Redfern (UX Strategist) for letting me get under the skin of some seriously complex UX, Gareth Wall and Sam Stanistreet (Lead Designers) for always valuing my ideas and implementing them for the team, Christopher Malt (Copywriter) for double checking my words, Steve Sackett (ECD) for overseeing the marketing campaign and Jo Pemberton (Traffic) for getting me through the doors at Six in the first place. Not forgetting everyone else I had the pleasure of sharing an office with.  

Together our challenge was to help close Britain’s digital skills gap. A whopping 11.3 million people in the UK don’t have or struggle with basic digital skills. This is putting people in a dwindling position, preventing them from returning to work, applying for jobs or generally using the Internet for their own benefit such as booking holidays or connecting with friends and family.

We designed and built a free-to-use digital learning platform to help people improve their digital skills and understanding of technology through a series of video lessons and quizzes. The Lloyds Bank Academy teaches people how they can apply their newfound skills to a number of real-life situations, allowing them to see the tangible benefits.

Over many months we slaved away on a number of different elements including: naming, branding, advertising, website development and ensuring that the UX and UI flowed seamlessly across desktop, tablet and mobile. We also worked closely with partner company UpSkill Digital to come up with the learning criteria and evaluation system within the Academy. All of these elements had to be carefully considered with our digitally anxious target audience in mind. We also had additional content and learning from our partners Google, Linkedin and SkillSoft (to name just a few) that had to be incorporated into our system as well.

Personally, I was responsible for crafting the tone of voice and overseeing the marketing campaign. I also got heavily involved in strategising the wireframes for the site. This is an area I haven’t had much experience in before, but I loved getting under the skin of the UX and UI, especially at such a complicated level - with multiple pathways and outcomes all having to be carefully considered. I’m lucky to have gained some valuable knowledge in this area that I can take forward with me. So I guess you could say, quite ironically, that working on the Academy has improved my own digital know-how.

In terms of copywriting, I had to ensure that the tone and language were consistent at every touch point. The main challenge was ensuring that the site is easy to understand and navigate for people who aren’t digital natives. For me, that meant it had to be friendly, approachable and helpful – talking them through each step, no matter how simple or complex.

I’m over the moon with the results and it’s made even sweeter knowing that it’s helping real people and changing their lives for the better. Here are a couple of quotes from people who’ve benefitted from it so far.  

Anne-Marie, Denton

 “The Academy has given me bigger and better ideas on how I can simplify and improve my charity’s website.”

Natalie, Manchester

 “I have a more positive view on the digital world and understand what it can offer me to help me achieve my goals.”

And finally, please check out Lloyds Bank Academy for yourself, and feel free to share it with anyone who could benefit from learning and improving their digital skills.

Cheers me dears.

You live and learn.

There’s never a good time to get stung by an unexpected tax bill. Trust me, I’m speaking from experience. I’m writing this post to ensure that you don’t make the same mistake I did. 

Recently, I spunked all of my savings on a 10 month trip. Waiting for me on my return to the UK was an extortionate tax bill from the previous tax year. You can imagine my shock and the subsequent panic.

It was a complete oversight on my part, and as stupid as this sounds, I simply forgot to submit my tax return before I buggered off travelling. So, the late payment fee I also incurred could have been avoided. The annoying thing is, I kept track all of my incomings and business expenses, calculating them precisely to the penny. 

What threw me off my impeccable record keeping was starting a full-time PAYE position half way through the tax year. That, combined with planning my trip and the fact my self-assessment tax return was all but submitted, lulled me into thinking everything was sorted. It was a hard pill to swallow but has taught me a valuable life lesson – especially as I’m now working for myself again.   

While keeping business records isn’t the most thrilling way to spend your time, it’s necessary. It gives you an overview of your business’ finances and helps you claim all your expenses back. Most of all, though, keeping records can save you from a serious headache if the HMRC decide to audit you.

The HMRC requires you to:

·       Keep a record of all your allowable business expenses.

·      Store all original documents, such as invoices and receipts, for at least five years.

That’s why it’s important to make sure you:

·       Track everything you spend accurately.

·       Keep it all organised.

·       Store it all somewhere safe.

·       And most importantly, remember to submit it when it’s due.

I keep all of my receipts and invoices both electronically and physically, I also track my spending on a spreadsheet. I prefer doing this myself, rather than paying an accountant to do so. I feel it’s good to have some understanding of how these things work for yourself. If you have a good system in place, keeping track of your expenses isn’t hard work. There’s also a wide range of apps that help you keep track of everything, perfect if you aren’t overly organised.

Just in case, keep a backup of all your files somewhere. Receipts can become illegible, so an electronic backup is usually best. This is as easy as sending yourself photos of them and filing them within your email inbox. It’s a safe bet to keep a local folder on your hard drive too.

Stay on top of it, it's less effort if you do it little and often. And finally, don’t be as stupid as me! Double-check everything.

You’ve only got a couple of days to get your self assessments in and pay your tax if you haven't already. 

Shit, that reminds me...