Need a few ideas in our current Corona Crisis?
Small Business Admin
We all put it off till we need to, but it’s an essential part of the freelance life and done well, can lead to more work.
There are bound to be pages on your website that need a spring clean. Certain sections could be updated with the latest progress of your business. You could even try and contact previous clients for fresh testimonials, they always look good and are great for link building (which Google loves!). Same goes for your LinkedIn; Learnt a new skill? Add it in the ‘Skills & Endorsements’ section or add a recent ‘Accomplishment’.
If your wallet is rammed full of business cards or notes with a surplus of scribbled numbers and names in the margin, now’s the time to organise them. It doesn’t have to be a crazy complex convoluted system. Ours is a Google sheet with a name, number, company and a small notes section, where you can add details like what your introduction was or the reason you kept their details. The Bonus of this is once set up it’s super easy to keep on top of. Grow your database!
Write a short script. or plan a spec shoot – ie the thing you keep saying your too busy to do
There may be times on the john, the middle of the night or halfway through a tedious conversation, where you might have a brain wave. Like ourselves, you’ll probably have a notepad on your phone or Google docs with a dozen or so short ideas for screenplays. You assure everyone that when you have a day off or when your current project finishes, you’ll sit down to write it. Well here’s that chance. We’re writing ours, we can’t wait to read yours.
Swot up on the latest tutorials
The Brickoven YouTube watch later is jam-packed with tutorials, scene breakdowns, film analysis and more. Use this time to sharpen your skills and learn something new. Pro tip: Don’t limit it to film-related content. Always wanted to make a ratatouille, valet your car, speed up that slowing PC, now you can.
Relax watch some films (‘Research’) or do a film history deep dive
Not seen the lateOscar flicks, always been putting off watching the Godfather or Gone with the Wind? Now you have no excuse. Is there a director you’ve been meaning to watch a back catalogue of, a genre you’ve always wanted to look into. For us it’s Akira Kurosawa, many of his films are classics and have inspired directors that we look up, like George Lucas, or even western remakes of films we love such as A Fistful of Dollars and the original The Magnificent Seven. Remember, watching films is ‘research’, we assure you.
Create Twitter lists for social media
Twitter is a great place for social media but people do forget, it’s also a fantastic place to spy on your competitors or even be inspired by them. The Twitter ‘List’ functionality can be found by clicking the tab on the left-hand side of your Twitter profile > Create a new list.
Once the list is made, you can simply click the 3 dots on anyone’s profile and add them to a list you have created.
Word of advice – if you’re making a competitor list, it’s always best to make that list, in particular, a private one.
Clean / Test gear
Gear gets grotty, and the last thing you want to do after a shoot is to sit there cleaning it for the remaining 1 hour you may have at the end of the long day. This is a great time to break it all down, get those cleaning products out and give things a good going over. Not only will it look fresh as new, but it will also perform better (One of those was a lie). Check your settings, spend some time looking at the features which you normally refuse to play with because you have no idea what they do. Also don’t limit this to gear, if you’re feeling energetic give your place a clean, it is the first day of spring after all.
Eat well and exercise
We’re sure that a few slobby days at home might sound like the fun doss you dream of during a tight deadline period, but physical health really is key to keeping your mind sharp. Eating well isn’t just to try and keep up with your Zac Efrons, it is a sure way of how you keep your mind from wandering away from the important things. A bad diet and lack of exercise has been proven to hinder how engaged you can be and can cut work concentration in half. It also helps to get decent rest and to try and take regular breaks, especially if your office is your bedroom, like many freelancers out there.
We’re going to be attempting the Jeff Cavaliere Athlean-X home workout:
Read a book
You could be daring and read a book about the end of the world. We know many, so hit us up if you want a few recommendations Tweet us @BrickOvenMedia. Simply whisk your mind away to another place, a place where the disease is someone else’s problem and also a place where shopping centers have fully stocked shelves. Realistically, if it feels like cheating to be reading fiction during the day, you could always dig out a business help book or something with lessons in your field of work. Never stop learning.
As a final note from the team here at Brickoven, we hope you are all doing okay during these turbulent times. Stay safe, wash your hands and remember this too shall pass.