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The Shift

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🌟Celebrating creativity

The impossible takes just a little bit longer – Marci Segal, Creativity Crusader

Happy World Creativity and Innovation Week! I was curious about who founded this, so I looked at the backstory. Marci Segal began studying creativity in 1977 and thought, “Wouldn’t it be great if people knew how to use their natural ability to generate new ideas, make new decisions, take new actions and achieve new outcomes to make the world a better place and to make their place in the world better too?” 

So, she set off on a quest to make the world a better place for creativity and free people’s thinking to create new futures. It began in 2001, and 23 years later, it’s now a UN International Day of Observance to raise awareness of the importance of creativity and problem-solving.

“We have a day because the UN sees we need to have new kinds of thinking to face the challenges ahead of us,” – the 2030 Agenda & Sustainable Development Goals (worth thinking about how your biz is supporting these.)

Fabulous work by a fabulous woman! Listen to her story and the headline that inspired it here.

So, a request from Marci that we do something new and different today to keep the energy going. Yes, we’re always creative, but it’s nice to mark the day, April 21, and use it to set some goals for the year—this works better for me than new year resolutions as it’s spring, and I’m coming out of hibernation.

Imagine how powerful that creative energy will be if we think about it and do things simultaneously.

How does she express her creativity? “I just live. To me, creativity is just about living.”

I’ll go for a walk later – find somewhere I’ve not been before.

Giving and receiving ideas 

New ideas deserve better than to be swatted at as if they are pesky flies.

I like what she said in her TEDx Talk about strengthening and building ideas together. A reminder to give and receive ideas—yin and yang energy, i.e., make time to be as well as do.

When Julieta was small, we had an ‘Ideas Jar’ to leave notes in for things she wanted to do or fix. I’m not sure why I stopped doing this – they made me smile and a creative prompt when I’m not feeling inspired. I’ve bought a waterproof notepad and pencil for the shower so we can keep this going and leave little notes for each other – it’s a bit of fun, and I do my best brainstorming in the shower.

Animals are creatures of habit, too. My mum’s been gardening this week, and she’s got some homeless birds! Now that the big tree (their home for the past few years) has been chopped down, Mr. and Mrs. Bird don’t know what to do with themselves—flapping around the garden, trying to figure it out. I can’t wait to see where they move to next. It needs to be a penthouse apt. to stop the cats from killing all their babies—it’s just too sad!

Lions State of Creativity 2024 

Cannes Lions has released its annual State of Creativity. A biggish piece of research (3,000 global responses) designed to help marketers understand the creative landscape with advice on how to drive business growth using creativity.

People are outwardly optimistic about progress and investment, but there’s a communication breakdown. This year, senior leadership was a big barrier to creativity. People felt creativity suffered because of conservative leadership, company politics, and an aversion to risk. Most want to push the boundaries of their creative work, but ‘play-it-safe’ leaders make them feel like they can’t.

When budgets are tight, it’s easy to overlook creativity, but work without creativity is bad for business.

Our findings show that brands predicting higher growth for 2024 are 6x more likely to prioritise creativity, are 4.6x more likely to have a higher marketing spend than 2023, and put more investment into brand building. It’s consistent evidence for the business case for creativity.

Download it here.

Cannes Lions 2024

Not long now till the Cannes International Festival of Creativity | June 17-21. NEW for ’24 is Lions Creators – networking for creators and those in the creator economy on June 18-20. They’ve launched their first pass for the creator economy. Applications open on April 29; you can register your interest here.

What will marketing departments look like? More companies are working with creators these days, even hiring in-house creators for campaigns. Corporate social media handles struggle with engagement, and newsletters are more likely to be read when they come from a person rather than a company.

Writing Prompt ✍️

Wouldn’t it be nice if…?

Leave a comment or email me, and I’ll share your feedback next week. Feel free to leave your name and a link to your website so readers can check out your work.

Nika 🙂

PS I’ve changed the name of this newsletter to Life Work Shift to make it clearer. We had a title brainstorming session last night in Sarah Fay Writers at Work cohort and gave each other some feedback. A few folks said it was too broad, i.e., it works with context (writing & entrepreneurship); otherwise, it’s not obvious enough. I love this group – no impact is an island.

I’m looking for a designer to create a new banner/logo for me – recs are welcome!

Hi, I’m Nika!

I run Firebird, the content consultancy helping entrepreneurs impact the world with their stories. See my services here.

Newsletter Talent Directory! Feel free to add your deets here for collabs.

If you’re enjoying reading my newsletter, consider upgrading to paid to help me grow it and do more. Thanks to all my paying subscribers.

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DCMS report: Creator remuneration

How are you doing?

I’ve been reading the new report on creator remuneration from the Culture Committee—a good summary of the issues and potential solutions, which the NUJ’s Freelance organisers have commented on here.

✅ A Freelance Commissioner to advocate for creative people and the self-employed, for legal protection & rights, and to address outdated copyright and IP regulations. Yep – it’s urgent.

✅ Tackling stagnant fees—some companies are paying the same rates they did 20 years ago and generally rubbish rates across the sector. I had to chuckle (and cry) at our Swedish colleagues’ cake celebrating ’20 years at the same pay rate.’ 

✅ A UK private copying scheme to remunerate creators such as the Smart Fund, which safeguards payments from abroad.

✅ AI and creators: “The Government must ensure that creators have proper mechanisms to enforce their consent and receive fair compensation for use of their work by AI developers.” (You can block AI training on Substack, which “may limit your publication’s discoverability in tools and search engines that return AI-generated results.”)

Good stuff. Let’s share it about and fix it for freelancers! We have a manifesto at #FairDeal4freelances, which includes a charter of freelance rights that the self-employed should enjoy. Gov has two months to respond to the report.

Self-employed rockstars make up a significant part of the creative workforce. I read that more than one million over 50s now work for themselves despite the pandemic’s impact on self-employment [IPSE]. Folks who want to start their own biz or have had enough of the 9-5. 

Yet we lack a single voice to represent our interests in government. And support and biz training generally, which is why we have such active unions, small biz orgs and freelance communities. 

AI and creative work

This week, we had a lively meeting on AI and creative work with speakers Laurence Bouvard from Equity (actress and computer scientist) and John Sailing from the Writers’ Guild. Interesting to hear about Equity’s successful campaign #StopAIStealingtheShow. The NUJ is also developing an AI toolkit for writers; watch this space.

Laurence said part of the problem is that the gov doesn’t understand the tech/AI and that there’s a general malaise: “People just don’t care.” 

It’s not that we don’t care, but it feels futile; the horse has already bolted. AI is here to stay; the companies already have our data, and what’s depressing is they’re so hungry for new data (i.e running out) that they’re now developing ‘synthetic’ info—i.e. training AI on text generated by AI (this NYT article went viral).

They hope that bringing different AI models together will solve the data problem and that “it should be alright.”

Where will it end?

I agree with Laurence that it isn’t just about protecting jobs (AI will create new jobs—I’ve had recruiters reach out for help training AI systems for $15 an hour!) but about protecting what it means to be an artist and writer—and keeping the human at the heart of it.

And protecting our planet – can you imagine how much power these machines are using?

Things I enjoyed this week

▶️ Death of the follower & the future of creativity on the web with Jack Conte [SXSW]. Amazing keynote and storytelling. His thoughts on the arc of the internet, how it will continue to evolve, and Patreon’s place in it. A call to make beautiful things that light you up and go deeper with your ‘true fans’ rather than chasing followers/algos/other people’s agendas. Love his passion. Go Jack!

▶️ The #1 Neuroscientist: After listening to this, your brain will not be the same [Mel Robbins]. Practical tips on how to trick your brain into manifesting your goals and desires and using manifesting as a tool for success, happiness, and better health. Dr. Tara has a knack for simplifying science and making it fun.

▶️ I’m analysing 49K Substack newsletters [Newsletter Circle]. Understand the newsletter space and other creators’ behaviours and strategies in this new report. I’m enjoying Ciler’s work and love that she’s dreaming big. Her goal is to create a full-fledged media company for newsletter creators.

▶️ Axios sees AI coming, and shifts its strategy [NYT]. “The premium for people who can tell you things you do not know will only grow in importance, and no machine will do that.” Spot on, Jim. Axios is focusing on live events, a membership program centring on its star journalists and an expansion of its high-end subscription newsletters. Can’t wait to see how this plays out.

▶️ NylonMag is getting back into the print biz and relaunching its physical magazine for the first time since 2017. Back on the newsstand on April 16 with cover star Gwen Stefani to celebrate their 25th birthday.

It may be less frequent (bi-annual) and more of a coffee table magazine, but that’s not a bad thing. Quality over quantity is better for the planet. A keeper!

I’ve been enjoying reading physical magazines lately—I have to give my eyes a break. Seriously, I look up, and I can’t see! 😱 We’re not built to sit and stare at a screen all day.

Have a great week.

Nika 🙂

PS. I’m compiling a list of niche media events – newsletter conferences, creator events etc. If you have any recs, let me know.

Hi, I’m Nika! 👋

I run Firebird, the content consultancy helping entrepreneurs impact the world with their stories. Life is too short to play small.

See my services here.

If you enjoy reading this newsletter and want to get more involved in the community, consider upgrading to paid. My offering for paid peeps is here.

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DIY PR: Get your biz in the press!🎙️

CitizenM, super central - huge beds!

Hello from London! We’re back at Bankside for the weekend. It’s hard to beat for culture: Tate Modern, Borough Market, St Paul’s, Globe Theatre (last week of Romeo & Juliet!), BFI, and Foyles, all on your doorstep. And brilliant buskers on every corner—it makes my heart sing!

I’m writing this in the lobby at CitizenM. Good vibes, arty and cheery with books, mags and big desks – all set up for co-working. I’ve been self-employed for years, and I still find it hard to take time off during the holidays, so the laptop comes everywhere with me. I don’t even like missing a week of this newsletter!

I had a pitch this week from a PR agency looking for clients. It must be my LinkedIn Company Page—folks assume you’ve got employees and a marketing budget. I’ve been pitched all sorts lately—SaaS services, headhunting, office space, apps, executive travel—and a few PRs offering their services. Spring vibes and the start of the new financial year…

I hired a local freelance PR to promote one of my books a few years ago and paid her £300 a day. She was great, and it worked out fine; I got some press coverage and interesting opportunities, but I felt stressed about the cost. Hiring a PR agency isn’t affordable long-term for solopreneurs.

Other friends with small businesses struggle with this, too, and spend a lot of time on social media promoting themselves, which is a hamster wheel of content creation and hard to measure.

Better to DIY PR (no one knows your biz like you do—or has the passion for it) and build your network and profile, so I always refer people to Lightbulb.

Lightbulb💡Entrepreneur & Press Hangout 

Lightbulb is a private Facebook group for entrepreneurs & press with 5K members. It’s £5.99 a month, and for that, you get: 

  • Live chat with the press
  • Daily media requests for interviews and appearances
  • Strong community support from like-minded entrepreneurs

It’s a place to cut out the middleman and connect directly with journos. Offer yourself as a case study or expert commentator and focus on building long-term relationships with the press.

Press plays a huge part in biz growth, so there is a better way than flogging yourself on socials. And don’t just pitch the big players – focus on local biz networks, newsletters and blogs too.

If you show up regularly and refine your pitch (give them everything they need upfront), you will get free press for your business. You might even get paid to be interviewed—always nice!

You can apply to join here.

Happy 5th birthday, Lightbulb! And congrats to founder Charlotte on your big idea, which she describes as “an accidental business I never meant to start.”

The best ideas are usually simple—a service that’s affordable and makes people’s lives easier. Great to see it’s still going strong five years on and launching in the US.

Here are Charlotte’s 5 top tips for anyone pursuing a biz/membership model: 

Other ways to find journos to write about you – follow the hashtag #JournoRequest on X/Twitter. I still see daily pitches asking for help with sources and case studies.

Sign up for Lucy Werner’s fab newsletter for tips on non-icky self-promotion, creative living and doing things differently.

I’m following Lucy’s journey and she’s an inspiration. She’s left London with the co-founder of her kids and moved to the south of France for a better lifestyle (and weather!)

Pivoting her PR consultancy from time-for-money/client-facing work towards content creation and workshops with her newsletter, Hype Yourself. Great to see her rising up the Business board here on Substack.

Here she is talking about ‘how to find SPICY angles that the right people cannot ignore’ on my fave podcast: Everyone Hates Marketers.

Happy pitching and good luck! 🤞

Nika

PS I’ve signed up for this AI Writing Summit, which starts tomorrow, Monday, April 8. Five days of expert sessions, live panels, special presentations, and more (sessions start later PM GMT).

Grab your free ticket and check out the agenda here. 

ICYMI, here’s last week’s post: J. Thorn’s eggcellent AI AMA.

Hi, I’m Nika!

I’m a writer and founder of Firebird, a small but mighty content consultancy.

I help entrepreneurs and biz leaders tell compelling stories that connect and inspire. See my services here.

📌Newsletter Talent Directory! Feel free to add your deets here.

If you’re enjoying reading my newsletter, consider upgrading to paid to help me grow it and do more. It makes a big difference to my life. My offering for paid peeps is here.

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Happy Easter! (treats inside) 🐣

Happy Easter! Have an eggcellent long weekend.

AI has side-tracked me this week – an AMA with J. Thorn (aka Tim Desmond) at the Leading Expert Alliance. 

He’s just returned from SXSW, where he gave a presentation on using AI creatively. This year’s rock stars were the OpenAI attorneys – walking around with bodyguards!   

I can see why, reading this piece by Ted Gioia (also there), consumers are getting angry about new tech (and not just AI). 

I had a long convo/argument with my sister about AI. She’s doing a PhD in Music at Glasgow Uni and has written a paper on the impact of AI on the industry (she’s new to Substack, give her some love here). 

AI is a big deal for musicians, and people are pissed off, she says. It got a bit heated, so we had to change the subject.

We’re seeing exponential growth, things are moving very fast and it’s hard to wrap our heads around. 

Here are some key titbits from the convo with J. Thorn. He said a few things that resonated with me, so I wanted to share them. 

Like many of us, he’s veering between ‘AI will save the world’ and ‘fuck, we’re all doomed.’

How to use ChatGPT 

Here’s one tip you can use instantly that will dramatically shift how you see this tool.

Don’t use it as a search engine.

Think about the tasks that you typically do—or do on a regular basis—and instead of asking ChatGPT to do them, ask it what it needs for you to accomplish them.

Try it and see. He says you’ll be shocked at what you get back, so now you know what you don’t know! 

It’s a big mindset shift to start conversing with ChatGPT rather than telling it what to do as we would with Google. 

  • The Pro version is worth paying for (several people said this) – it’s stronger, multimodal, and can analyse text, images, and voice. 
  • On setting your ego aside as a writer. “The purpose of being a writer isn’t to write words; it’s to get your message across.” Love that, keeping it at eye level.
  • More personalised AI is coming – an encrypted AI assistant that can remember everything you’ve ever written and store all your personal info.
  • Licensing is a key area—musicians will be able to make more money from licensing their voices than doing the voiceover work. 

Hmm, where’s the fun in that!? We enjoy the creative process and the sense of achievement that it brings.  

  • The quantity game is over, so you need to focus on making the highest quality content that only you can write. And supplement it with IRL events and experiences (which don’t scale…) 

I feel like we’re coming full circle – from global to local, more intimate community events.

In many ways, the next several decades will force humans (in the West, maybe globally) to redefine purpose because AI & robotics will do what we’ve done for ourselves for generations. 

Much food for thought and a positive conversation. Thanks to Tim & the team.

💌Creative AI Digest [J. Thorn] 

And some Further inspo from Brian Clark in his newsletter this week on ‘Why it’s time [for Gen X] to adapt (again).

Because your wisdom and experience (armed with AI) in your own gig can do some seriously amazing things.

We’ve been around the block and can remember how life was before the internet, and that’s our superpower!

My dad sent me a pic of his new birthday shelving: books, maps, DVDs, VHS tapes (us as kids), WD40, cans of Stella, and survival tins. He says it holds up to 50 tee-shirts (or more!)

So if it all goes to pot, he’ll be ok!

ChatGPT-5

It’s coming soon…maybe in June – and it will be even smarter. 

Interesting to hear Sam Altman say that ‘ChatGPT-4 sucks!’ on the Lex Fridman Podcast. I love how he gets right in there: ‘Take me through the OpenAI board saga.’ 

I’m interested in learning what the next iteration can do so playing around with the Plus version and figuring out how to integrate it into my daily workflow. 

I don’t have a VA, so a little help with admin, marketing/PR, distribution, and repetitive tasks is welcome and it will free me up to do other stuff, e.g., getting OUT there and networking! 

ChatGPT is the only AI tool I use as it’s affordable, and I want to keep things simple. I don’t need different interfaces to do the same job. I figure they’re all using OpenAI data anyway.

What everyday tasks are you using ChatGPT for and how is it helping?

Nika 

PS Speaking of events, last chance to grab your ticket for CEX 2024. Spring pricing ends today. Sign up and use code TOM100 to win a guest spot on This Old Marketing Pod. 

An action-packed agenda – there’s a lot on AI this year. And because it’s a niche, smaller event, there’s a strong focus on networking and collaborations.

Good Reads 

▶️Rejecting Specialization: Using vibes and voice to attract the right clients [Tom Critchlow]. An excellent piece on why specialising as an indie consultant is hard, why it fails, and what an alternative path looks like. Lean into your weirdness and POV to consistently generate senior clients. 

▶️With this LinkedIn algorithm change, your best posts could reach new readers for months. One of many new features the platform is rolling out in ‘24 to help you grow and why they’ve dropped the term ‘creator’. [Entrepreneur] 

▶️Spotify adds video learning courses in latest experiment [The Verge]. It’s offering four categories of courses in the UK: make music, get creative, learn business, and healthy living because more people are coming to Spotify to learn. Curious to see how this experiment goes!

▶️What’s happening with Substack right now is why creators need to understand their platforms’ business models and incentives. [Jay Acunzo] 

Great commentary and insight on platform biz models. You still get your email list, so it’s not like YouTube. Personally, I enjoy the social side of SS—content should lead to connections and conversations, and that happens naturally in this ecosystem. I don’t mind if they bring in ads to support paid subscriptions.

▶️Travel videos, health hacks, and entrepreneur interviews by Ever Wander aka [Ashley Perona]. She and her husband have been full-time nomads since 2021 and she’s been to 47 countries, 7 continents. She’d love some tips on growing her channel.

Fascinating to see how she’s managing her content biz (& her health) while on the road. Some inspo for your next trip!

Hi, I’m Nika!

I’m a writer and indie consultant. Founder of Firebird, a small-but-mighty content consultancy.

I help entrepreneurs and biz leaders tell compelling stories that connect and inspire. 

Need my copy chops? See my services here. You can book a 1:1 intro call with me here.

Newsletter Talent Directory! Feel free to add your deets here.

Gold star for reading this far. If you have an indie newsletter I’d love to chat! 🤩

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Build your Google Business Card

I’ve been tinkering around with my Google Knowledge Panel this week. I have an old one from 2007 when I wrote my first book, which is outdated now and looks a bit sparse.

Google still dominates online search results, so I’m keen to grow and improve my KP – it’s your digital business card and the first thing people see when they look you up online.

If you don’t have a Knowledge Panel, you look like a nobody. So, it’s a really good way to push yourself up the career ladder as it were, to be recognised as a leader in your field.

Jason Barnard, the Brand SERP Guy. 

I clicked on the dots next to my name and suggested an edit. I added a a short bio, but they rejected it. That info comes from the Knowledge Graph, Google’s information collection about people, places, and things.

So, back to the drawing board. I have to educate Google!

Google is actually a child, thirsty for knowledge who wants to understand the world. It doesn’t care about notability; it just wants to understand everything.

I’m working through this free guide from Kalicube (Jason’s agency specialising in KP). I’ve updated my website bio (Home/About page) and social profiles (Crunchbase, Journolink, Response Source, Haro, Muck Rack, Substack, and LinkedIn).

He says your bio needs to be clear and consistent (who you are, what you do, who you help), and preferably written in the 3rd person. I’m not keen on that; it’s too formal for me, but I’ll try it for now. I can tweak it later.

Repurpose the same bio across all your social platforms and link back your website to “create an infinite loop of self-corroboration that Google understands”. 

I checked it this morning, and it’s now updated my name and added my social profiles, but there’s no pic of me or bio, so I still have some work to do.

It could take months so I need to be patient, but at least I’ve made a start.

Thanks to Jason and team for this resource!

I enjoyed his interview with Kristina God on how to create a KP as a writer (Kristina writes on Substack and Medium), plus they touch on other stuff – how Google is explicitly looking for writers, multimedia content, the importance of visual branding (often overlooked) and whether we should let AI crawl our content (we now have that option on Substack).

If the future of search is about how we educate these smart machines, then we need to understand the knowledge algos and how they function. This is a good place to start!

Also, check the information about you on ChatGPT, etc, to make sure it’s correct. Joe Pulizzi asked it what his favourite colour is, and it said ‘purple’ when we all know it’s orange! 🚩

If you make videos, check the auto-generated captions on YouTube, as they can be inaccurate.

Here’s Jason’s website (like an encyclopaedia!) and Knowledge Panel.

Let me know how you’re growing your Knowledge Panel.

Congrats to Kristina on becoming a Substack Bestseller and getting 100 paid subscribers! 🥳  

Good Reads

▶️It’s not just you. It’s harder now to make a living as a creator. An excellent essay on how the sea has shifted when building an online business. Those who are killing it are mainly marketers selling courses about marketing. I agree; it’s very meta (more Substacks about how to succeed on Substack). I’m in this space, too, and struggling with it. Some advice on how to look forward and innovate. [Alexis Grant] 

▶️Google’s Helpful Content update – reflecting on what happened. The September ’23 HCU caused thousands of sites to lose organic (SEO) traffic from Google in a few days (there seem to be NO recoveries from this), and the March core update rolls on. Here’s Lily Ray on patterns she’s seen in her work, research, and advice for smaller indie publishers. [Lily Ray] 

▶️Time to Act. What are publishers doing now? Some industry leaders in the blogging and publishing space have joined forces to create a collective non-profit association, the Web Publishers Association, to inspire change. Tony Hill shares his thoughts on it here [Amy Aitman]  

▶️Joe Pulizzi’s new book, The Content Entrepreneur, is out in the next few weeks. I love the cover of the proof copy – very Gatsby! Direct sales only via their websites, not Amazon etc, so a bold move. I’m interested to see how the experiment goes – not sure how it differs from Content Inc. [Joe Pulizzi]