Blog

• Inspiration isn’t only for artists: let your employees sit by the sea

  

  I was chatting to a friend who’s an artist. She hadn’t been productive lately because she wasn’t finding time to let the inspiration in. Not only in seeing views that she might want to paint; but also in nurturing her creativity. And of course, getting inspiration in isn’t only for artists. For any of us who rely on new thinking or creative energy, we need to get inspired, whether we’re an entrepreneur, an exec in an organisation or a freelancer. That’s how we get our ideas.

  Like my friend, we need to create the time to go and get inspired. I did this last Friday, taking two hours off to walk along a sea-wall in a place I’d never been to before, to look at some big skies and bring clarity to some ideas. I also took my camera with me.

  It felt good. And it reminded me of a story about another friend, David. Back in the ‘90s he was working in radio production. Tasked by his boss to devise some programme ideas to pitch Radio 1, David asked whether he could go and sit by the sea to do it - that was where he’d be most productive. His boss laughed at his suggestion.

  Hopefully employers’ attitudes have changed since and bosses today - especially in the creative industries - know that generating ideas won’t happen sitting at our desks.

  So if you claim to be an innovative business, here’s the test - will you let your executives go sit by the sea?

• Don’t only invest in the up front

  One evening on holiday last year we walked a little further than usual and discovered a restaurant down a side street.  As we sat down and waited for menus the proprietor came over, propped up a blackboard on a chair and - with great theatre - talked us through the dishes. She spoke with passion about every item on the blackboard, describing the dishes in great detail, bringing examples from the kitchen, telling us the freshness of the ingredients, how the tomatoes came out of the soil that very morning.  We were impressed. And when she had done with us, she moved on to the next table where we witnessed her give a repeat performance with the same passion. She was good.

  The food arrived, and it lived up to the billing. But there was something missing.  Once we’d got our plates in front of us, there was no more theatre: she didn’t stop to ask how our food was, she didn’t smile when she busied past our table, in fact she didn’t even speak to us again. And when we paid the bill to our waitress, and looked to say goodbye to the proprietor, she had vanished into the kitchen. It felt odd to have such a great intro but then such a poor follow-through.

  If you over-invest in the up front, and then neglect the follow-up, you’ll leave your audience disappointed. Don’t expend so much energy in the sell that you have none left for the delivery; don’t give an amazing first meeting and then disappear for the rest of the relationship; don’t give a great pitch and then not bother returning calls.

  We didn’t bother going back to that restaurant again.....

• Your story is your lifebelt

  

  I know an organisation that grew rapidly from having a single entrepreneurial founder with a handful of staff and a single product, to a multiple management team, tens of people and a portfolio of products and services. When it was small, everyone had a clear idea of what the business stood for: telling the story was simply a case of retelling what they’d heard at the job interview and company meetings. Everyone understood the business: staff knew why they were passionate about working there, clients saw the story as a point of difference. The story worked. But then something changed. Staff numbers grew, new managers were hired, new departments started up. But the management team forgot to change the story. Executives would go out and pitch the business but tell the ‘old’ story. It didn’t fit. The organisation lost its magic touch because the story was neglected.

  So shaping and telling your business story is more than just marketing. It’s a touchstone for what the business stands for, it’s a tool to get your team motivated and understand where you’re headed.

  In my business I help clients tell their story - communicating it is often the easier bit; crafting it can be more complicated. But once you nail it, a story can reinvigorate an organisation with focus and clarity, engaging staff and clients alike.

  So don’t dismiss storytelling as a marketing activity; your story can act as your organisation’s lifebelt - when conditions gets rough, grab hold of it to stay afloat...

• Where’s your ‘for the hell of it’ project?

  Your working life or business will inevitably be full of projects that you and your co-workers do for good strategic reasons, i.e. because it makes commercial sense.

  I think we should also make space for projects and activities that are completely unstrategic - the kind of project where someone might ask, “Why are you doing that?” and you might answer, “I’m just doing it for the hell of it”.

  You never know where a ‘for the hell of it’ project might take you. For the unfulfilled worker, it may provide a spark of creative inspiration. If you’re hating your job, it may give you something to fall in love with again. Whilst for the business that’s lost its way, it can be a sandpit to play in with with no-one asking questions about strategy or ROI. A ‘for the hell of it’ project is not the same as any old side project (I’ve blogged about side projects here) - side projects are often strategic, you’re doing them to learn a new skill, to create some revenues.

  My current ‘for the hell of it’ project is a little idea I had in the shower. Being driven by curiosity and stimulated by meeting new people, I decided to create a short ‘quick n’dirty’ series of video interviews. I’ve called it “My Year of Living Curiously’. So far, I’ve grabbed Tim Ferriss, Phill Jupitus, Tina Roth Eisenberg, James Victore, Matthew Stillman.

  There’s no plan to my ‘for the hell of it’ project: no strategy, no need to measure success, no hidden agenda. I’m just doing it because I want to.

  Don’t assume you need to be self-employed or freelance to start a ‘for the hell of it’ project: you could make time in your morning commute, in your lunch hour, or persuade your boss to make space in your working day. And when people ask, "is it in your job description, where is the ROI, where’s your business plan?", you can rejoice in telling them you’re just doing it for the hell of it...

• Write what you know

  

  Good coffee plays an important role in my work life: taking time for an espresso is a daily ritual for me and independent coffee shops have become my favourite places to think, work and meet. For me, the independent coffee shop experience is about more than just the coffee, it’s an expression of my values and what I think matters.

  I explore this thinking further in ‘Meet your match’ - my article for the latest issue of Caffeine, the magazine for London coffee lovers. The magazine is available in most London speciality coffee shops, you can read the article here.

• The benefits of giving a space in the office to an outsider

  If you’re a freelance designer or copywriter who usually works solo, you’ll appreciate the value of working out of client offices, co-working spaces or even the local coffee shop. Because whilst tech might allows us to work from anywhere, we still like hanging out with like-minded people.

  Nick Couch is the founder of Open Studio Club who spotted an opportunity here: yes, freelance creative talent often need a home to stimulate productivity; but agencies with spare desk space might also benefit from some fresh blood to reinvigorate the office culture.

  Enter Nick’s idea: Free Desk Here, an initiative to give creatives a free (no-strings) desk space at agencies around the world whilst nurturing cross-pollination of ideas and collaboration. Think of it as airbnb for creative workers.

  As many of us become more nomadic, this opportunity allows us to go to a foreign city for a few weeks and have a base to work from, to share ideas and meet people. I’d love to see it extend outside of creative agencies to other businesses who have downsized and have all that office space available (banks maybe?). Injecting that creative talent could help reshape a business’s culture.

  Here’s a little video with Free Desk Here founder, Nick Couch:

   

• Getting nostalgic about the old days won’t get you anywhere

  

  I went to a talk the other day about writing and publishing.

  A writer on the panel was bemoaning how things aren’t how they used to be.

  That publishers aren’t paying hefty advances anymore.

  That there aren’t any decent magazines commissioning anymore.

  That kids don’t read anymore.

  That Twitter has ruined writing because everything has to be communicated in 140 characters.

  ....And he was wrong on a number of levels, but it was his pessimism that concerned me. Right now, lots of people are understandably pessimistic about their working lives - towns have had their high streets disappear, job prospects for school leavers are poor whilst in countries like Spain and Greece, youth unemployment is at catastrophic levels. And these people have every right to be pessimistic.

  But I’m not talking about them. I’m talking here about the creative classes; people who write, design, create and publish for a living. Since the emergence of digital, many of our work lives have changed beyond recognition. It’s tougher to make a living, to stand out from the competition, to monetise our talents. But pessimism will get us nowhere.

  Instead, we can move on and look for a way that *does* work: reinventing how we execute our roles, how we get paid, who our clients and audiences are, how we distribute and monetise our work. Will it be easy? No. Do we have all the answers? No way. Will we earn the money we used to in the ‘old days’? Probably not. But we can give these things a shot.

  Every industry, every role is being disrupted like never before, facing challenges from new technology or budgets being slashed. Whatever the challenges - and yes, there are quite a few - we have an opportunity like never before: we can make music on our laptops, we can set up radio stations in our bedroom, we can publish online in an instant, we can start businesses overnight.

  So we have a choice: get nostalgic about the old days, or try something new.

• Take your ideas for a walk

  

  I saw a tweet earlier in the week from The Names Not Numbers ideas festival; it was a quote from the writer Aminatta Forna, "Paul Klee said he took a line for a walk when he drew. I take a thought for a walk." 

  And it reminded me that I actually do take my thoughts for a walk.

  Since I quit the conventional office I’ve worked from a mix of spaces to suit the task in hand, wherever I’m most productive. I’ve learned that the bits in between are just as valuable - either just walking from A to B; or going for a stroll, a cycle, or a run with the intention of connecting the dots on an idea. Living by the coast, the big skies of the Thames Estuary are the perfect backdrop for taking ideas out in the fresh air.

  I might be seeking a solution to a client’s challenge, exploring a new approach or trying to make sense of an early-stage idea; I find that act of walking & thinking is like shuffling a pack of cards.

  And by taking my ideas for a walk, I tend to return with them in much better shape.

• James Victore: putting ‘you’ into your work

  I’d not heard of James Victore until I saw his name on the bill at last year’s Do Lectures; but arriving there a day late meant I screwed up my chance to see him (you can watch his talk here). We shared a ride back to Heathrow and that piqued my interest enough to check out some of his work, I started following him on Twitter and love his weekly ‘Q&A Tuesday’ videos.
  
  James is a designer, artist and teacher whose work has appeared in The Museum of Modern Art. But whilst on the face of it James’ world might be art & design; it’s clear this guy’s advice is valuable for all of us. His advice on being courageous and adopting a ‘warrior not worrier’ approach really spoke to me and helped get clarity on a work problem I was facing. When I was in NYC last month I went to visit him in his Williamsburg, Brooklyn studio. In this little video I recorded with him, James talks about the importance of putting ‘you’ into your work; not only for your authenticity but also if you make your work personal, it can talk to a greater audience. I think this is a lesson for most of us, whatever we do in our work.

   

• Fixing things that don’t work: entrepreneurship, swissmiss style

  Tina Roth Eisenberg is a Brooklyn-based designer/ entrepreneur who’s created - by accident more than design - a mash-up bunch of products and ventures:

  1. Swissmiss - a design blog
  2. CreativeMornings - an inspiring monthly event where creative people meet (now happening in cities around the world)
  3. TeuxDeux - a to-do list app
  4. Tattly - a temporary tattoo company
  5. Studiomates - a coworking space in DUMBO, Brooklyn

  So, what’s her driver? The desire to fix something that didn’t work.
  
  Whether it’s creating a simple to-do list app or improving on the temporary tattoo her daughter wore home from a party, her products aim to’ fix it’. Sure, many of us *think* about doing something when we spot things like that, but how many of us actually *do* something about it...? So I think Tina’s a great example of a 21st Century entrepreneur who just ‘gets on and does’.
  
  Here’s a little video chat I had with Tina at Studiomates: 

   

   

   

• In Union Square with a table and two chairs

  When I tweeted I was on my way to New York last week, a guy who follows me on Twitter got in touch and said he’d like to meet up. His name is Matthew Stillman. I didn’t know him or anything about him. But I’ve seen serendipity in action before, I know the value that random connections can bring, I have faith in people and making good connections. What’s more, I thrive on curiosity - this is ‘my year of living curiously’ - so of course, I had to meet him.
  
  A former TV producer with The Food Network, Matthew is a veteran of improvisational comedy who’s produced a documentary “The End of Poverty?”. He also has a fascinating story to tell about what he’s been doing in New York’s Union Square for the last few years, with a table, two chairs and a sign ‘Creative Approaches to What You’ve Been Thinking About’.Here’s a chat we had after our coffee:

   

   

• Phill Jupitus on visual storytelling

  For the latest ‘Year Of Living Curiously’ video I’ve been talking to Phill Jupitus. I first saw Phill perform back in 1985 at Peckham Town Hall as a stand-up poet supporting Billy Bragg; today he’s a writer, musician, actor, broadcaster, comedian and cartoonist. Phill’s drawn pictures from an early age with his cartoons published in The Times, The Guardian, Radio Times and The Beano.
  
  I’m interested in Phill as he’s at the intersection of two themes I’m curious about: first, that he’s very multidimensional (that’s the reason I featured him in my book ‘Mash-Up! How to Use Your Multiple Skills to Give You an Edge, Make Money and Be Happier); and second, that he’s always drawn pictures to tell stories - whether single cartoons, doodles or comic strips. I went to meet him at Cafe Valise in Leigh-on-Sea - where there’s an exhibition of his work - to talk about what drawing means to him and why it’s such a valuable storytelling tool.

• Lessons from Tim Ferriss in the back of a cab

  Curiosity is a big driver for me: I love to explore new ideas, venturing out of my comfort zone to meet new people, hearing and capturing interesting stories. I’m fortunate I have a ‘licence to be curious’ both as an author/ Financial Times writer and in my client work, where I capture and tell business stories in organisations.

  I’m billing 2013 my ‘Year Of Living Curiously’ and am capturing some of the year’s connections and conversations in a (quick n’ dirty) video series. Here’s the first one: author, entrepreneur, startup advisor Tim Ferriss in the back of a London cab last week. Tim is author of The 4-Hour Workweek, The 4-Hour Body and The 4-Hour Chef; and is featured in a Financial Times article I’m writing about lifehacking/ worklife productivity. In this video Tim talks about how to stay focused on being productive by not being distracted by the shiny tools. He also shares a tip on combating email and tells me how he too has thrived on being curious (you’d expect a guy like Tim to use his time wisely, so I thought it was smart that we used the cab ride back to his hotel to have a chat...).

• Mash-up your work spaces: why I don’t stay in the same place too long

  

  The start of a new year seems to spark talk from entrepreneurs and executives promising to innovate and disrupt over the coming twelve months; how they’re going to discover breakthrough-ideas that will become game changers for their business or industry. But here’s the problem: many don’t appear to be game changing in their working practices. After all, if you’re still sitting at a desk in your office - unless you’re daydreaming out of the window - you’re unlikely to create breakthrough ideas.
  
  Just as I advocate ‘Mash-up’ working - a work life of multiple projects, disciplines and talents - I also advocate a plurality of work spaces to deliver that. We’ve all had those moments sitting at a desk, completely stuck: we can’t find inspiration for an idea, we struggle to solve a problem. We know if  we were to walk around the block or take a shower we’d have that breakthrough. So why don’t we just build other spaces into our daily working lives?
  
  I’ve always taken a ‘pick n’mix’ approach to where I work: choosing a space to match the task, each change in environment kickstarting my productivity and helping connect the dots. Sure, I do have a dedicated workspace but I just know the thinking, writing and ideas won’t flow there. I’m most productive working from coffee shops (here’s a list of favourites), members’ clubs, hotels, art galleries, lobbies of public spaces, my garden summerhouse (you can see some of my favourites 2012 spaces in the montage above). Staying flexible means when I get bored or stale, I move on to a new space. I doubt I could be that productive or creative if I restricted myself to just a desk and a meeting room in an office, like so many still do. The film & TV writer Aaron Sorkin famously takes a lot of daily showers to fuel his productivity; okay, you might not be able to get to a shower that often but try re-mixing your working day, throw in some new spaces whether a park bench or a coffee shop.
  
  If you trade on agility you should also be agile in your working practices. So try moving your ‘desk’...

• Using pictures to capture and share ideas

  

  I was reviewing my pile of Moleskine notepads over Christmas; a stack of black pocket notepads full of scribbles, notes and cuttings - my preferred format for capturing thoughts and ideas. On a typical page you’ll find lots of words, some newspaper cuttings, the occasional doodle, but not many illustrations. In 2013 I’m aiming to change that: by starting to draw again.
  
  I’m excited by the power of visual communication, how pictures can be more effective than words alone. This was a real theme of last year rearing its head in a number of ways:

  • Discovering John Willshire’s Artefact cards that got me mostly scribbling, but also trying doodling
  • Seeing my wife create the doodles for my fourth book ‘Mash-Up!’ under the creative direction of David Sloly
  • Hearing from Sunni Brown, Mike Rohde and others for my Financial Times article ‘The Simple Power Of The Doodle’
  • Listening to Garr Reynolds and Nancy Duarte on the importance of visual image-led presentations over text-based slide decks
  • Recognising the power of visuals and infographics to effectively communicate complex propositions
  • Discovering Gosh! Comics in Soho and browsing their impressive supply of graphic novels and comics - I bought lots of Christmas presents here (including ‘Couch Fiction’)

  This last week I’ve been reading Mike Rohde’s ‘Sketchnote Handbook’ - it’s a great how-to guide for anyone looking to master sketchnoting - or visual notes - in their working life. Mike shares practical techniques for taking visual notes during meetings and events, but the lessons here can be applied to any sketch, doodle or illustration to capture and share ideas. Like many of us, whilst I was good at drawing as a kid, I’ve forgotten how to draw. So my biggest challenge is not embracing a new mindset; it’s just the ability to draw. Mike reassures the reader that sketchnoting is simply a way to think on paper using images and words, it’s not about being good at art. “Even the roughest drawings can express ideas effectively” he says.
  
  One of the most valuable parts of Mike’s book is an exercise where you have to draw objects. I tried it quick-fire - without the help of Google Images - and you can see my attempt in the photo above.
  
  So I’m going to try and fill my Moleskine with more pictures in 2013....

  POSTSCRIPT: to do this post justice I should reference Tom Fishburne. I met Tom at SXSW in 2010: here's a little video I recorded with him in London at the end of 2011 where he explains how visual storytelling can help break through the clutter:

• Being a carpenter....

  

  One benefit of my slalom-career is that I rarely stand still: I’m constantly moving, open to new opportunities and new ways of doing things. On that journey I’ve learnt new skills and found out about new disciplines, whether a discovery for a client assignment or learning how to write a 40,000 word book. Inevitably no how-to guides are available: you have to learn as you go.
  
  One new skill for 2012 was how to write an 1,100 word piece for the Financial Times. That might not sound new for someone who already writes for a living, but there’s a huge difference between writing a 40,000 word book, a blog post or an 1,100 FT article. In a recent Times interview with Caitlin Moran, the cookery writer and former journalist Nigella Lawson recalled her fondness for the structure of a newspaper column:
  
  “I like being a carpenter. I remember my Latin teacher, Miss Plumber, at school saying, ‘None of you girls will ever know the satisfaction a carpenter gets from making a table or chair’ - but I think as a journalist, you do. When something has to be 1,100 words, and you must assemble all the sentences in the right order for it to work”.
  
  I too have come to enjoy that process of assembly: weaving multiple voices into a single meaningful narrative, capturing and communicating a business story in a defined format. Admittedly I don’t always get it right first time - I’m lucky to have the input of my editor and his team to help rebuild it when needed. It might only be a digital file or a salmon pink page of newsprint rather than a handcrafted piece of woodwork, but I still get that sense of satisfaction that comes from making something.  

• What have you shipped?

  

  When I first met Guy Kawasaki back in 2011 (when I was writing my third book ‘Zoom! The Faster Way To Make Your Business Idea Happen’), he spoke about the importance of shipping. As he explains in this short video, “you’ll know more about your product after the first week shipping than 52 weeks thinking about it (in) focus groups”. Seth Godin echoed this, saying: “Ship often. Ship lousy stuff, but ship. Ship constantly.” 

  I love this. The act of shipping is where we should all be heading, and it’s not just a lesson for startups with tangible products. What use is a blog post still sitting in draft, a product not launched or an idea never delivered? If you don’t ship your ideas you don’t stand a chance of making an impact, getting noticed or building your reputation. 

  So I liked Todd Sattersten’s #YearInReview list (inspired by Seth) that captures all that Todd shipped in 2012. This exercise is more than just bragging; it’s a benchmark for what we actually commit to executing, versus what we talk about doing. Sure, you might have had a stack of ideas last year but how many did you have the courage to convert, to stick your head above the parapet and deliver? 

  They might not all be physical products in jiffy envelopes (like my my most recent book), but everything I shipped last year is just as important: these are my own products, the stuff I make, what I get paid by. So with thanks to Todd (and Seth) for the idea, here’s my own list of what I shipped in 2012:

  1. an assignment for a marketing agency, helping them tell their story & capture their thinking
  2. 12 articles for the Financial Times
  3. a bunch of audio reports for Monocle magazine
  4. my fourth book 'Mash-Up! How to Use Your Multiple Skills to Give You an Edge, Make Money and Be Happier'
  5. two assignments helping businesses tell their story online
  6. an assignment helping a tech business position a new product for market
  7. an assignment identifying fresh commercial opportunities for a client’s product
  8. guest columns for Virgin.com, TomPeters.com, Fast Company, The FT and Elite Business magazine
  9. a video for a client, from concept to production 
  10. Skype coaching/mentoring 
  11. 24 blog posts and a bunch of video posts/ interviews

  So whatever you do this year, whatever your dreams, goals or aspirations make sure you focus on shipping it. Press ‘go’...!

• My Licence To Be Curious: six ideas to give your business life an edge in 2013

  

  It was called a ‘Uher’ and as a BBC local radio contributor in the late eighties, it was a required tool of the trade. An allegedly portable - yet bulky - reel to reel tape recorder, I lugged it around concert venues interviewing everyone from Billy Bragg (interview here) and Hank Wangford to Flaco Jimenez and Guana Batz for the BBC Essex ‘youth programme’ Revolver. It might have been an unpaid role, but the opportunity to meet musicians I admired was a kid-in-the-sweetshop moment for an eighteen year old music lover. That Uher, my BBC name badge and a typewritten sheet of questions gave me my very own licence to be curious.
  
  26 years later, in 2012 a renewed licence arrived in in the form of a side project writing for the Financial Times ‘Business Life’ page. With my iPhone and Moleskine notepad proving more portable than the 1980s Uher, the FT gig provided me with a fresh challenge - how to nail storytelling in 1,100 words. Writing for the FT gave me the opportunity to shape stories around people, businesses and trends that have been on my radar for a while: from the emergence of ideas festivals to the benefits of coworking spaces. In the last twelve months this voyage of curiosity has taken me from a wet field in Wales (The Do Lectures) to the Microsoft NERD centre in Cambridge, Massachusetts (The Venture Lab bootcamp).
  
  From the 12 FT articles I wrote in 2012 I’ve picked out six ideas to give your business life an edge in 2013:
  

  1. Develop a side project. A side project gives you an opportunity to learn new stuff, experiment and make you a better entrepreneur.
  2. Nomadic working can get results. Productivity is not about sticking to your desk in an office; it’s about recognising that you might be more productive away from your desk, whether working at home, on the road or being location-independent.
  3. Rethink how you prepare presentations. Don’t use your slide deck as your speaker notes. Avoid making slides full of bullet points; start using pictures instead.
  4. Avoid digital sloppiness. Digital tools may make business communication rapid but remember to“Stop, look, edit” before you press publish/send.
  5. Learn to draw again. Try using doodles and visual notes to capture and communicate  ideas. Visual communication is a powerful tool  for getting others to understand complex concepts.
  6. Mash-up your skills. Celebrate your multi-dimensional talents and add new strings to your bow. Try applying your knowledge in one discipline to solve a problem in an entirely unrelated one.

  
  Finally, thanks to the sixty people I’ve interviewed for the FT in 2012: Michael Acton Smith, John Bardos, Chris Barez Brown, James Barlow, Scott Belsky, Paul Benney, Jim Bland, Edward Boches ,Stephanie Booth, Andrew Branch, Moshe Braun, Sunni Brown, Joel Bukiewicz, Ben Casnocha, Jose Castillo, Ariel Chait, Kelly Dawson, Genevieve DeGuzman, Jennifer Dorian, Nancy Duarte, Anna Felton, Jocelyn Goldfein, Hugh Griffiths, Ann Handley, David Heinemeier Hansson, David Hieatt, Mark Hillary, Kelly Hoey, AnnaLise Hoopes, Dan Jansen, Charles Joynson, Lisa Kay, Jennifer Keller Jackson, Will King, Jamie Klingler, Peter O’Neil, Jesse Noyes, Gerry Newton, Alexandre Papillaud, Sarah Parmenter, Christian Payne, Ella Peinovic, Neil Perkin, Maria Popova, Dan Porter, Garr Reynolds, Kevin Roberts, Mike Rohde, Tina Roth Eisenberg, Laura Sampath, Sharon Tanton, Wendy Tan White, Tam Thao Pham, Steve Tongish, John Vincent, Emilie Wapnick, Phil Waknell, John Willshire, Lea Woodward and Mohan Yogendran. 

  [picture credit:Uher by James Cridland]

• Top Ten London Coffee Places

  

  I’m skipping the top-ten-business-trends end-of-the-year post for something essential to my working life: coffee in London. Two years ago I posted Ten London Coffee Shops To Get Your Ideas Flowing; this year I’m posting my updated Top Ten London Coffee Places.I  like to live a nomadic work life, working out of different spaces, punctuating my working day with a few espressos. Whether it’s providing a hit of inspiration or offering a place to meet, work or think, London’s independent coffee scene is important to me. Whilst I have a regular neighbourhood favourite, when I’m in London I like mixing it up. This selection is not necessarily about great spaces with wifi for working; they’re simply places that contribute to my productivity and ideas (oh, and they all serve damn good coffee).
  
  

  1. Monmouth, Park Street, SE1: whilst I’m more of a regular at their Monmouth Street shop; I prefer the Borough Market one for hanging-out, either sitting at the communal table, or my favourite space up the steps at the corner window. You’ll always have to queue here, but I like the buzz and productivity of the coffee-production-line. This is great for people-watching and connecting the dots on some ideas. Here my electronic devices stay in my bag - it’s a strictly Moleskine-and-pen kind of place.
  2. Prufrock, Leather Lane, EC1: this street has a couple of decent coffee shops, Prufrock is my favourite. Whilst the coffee is always guaranteed to be good - and they’ll often have a guest bean to sample - it’s the physical space that draws me in. It’s a great big place that always inspires, whether to meet someone or to get some work done.
  3. Allpress, Redchurch Street, E2: I like the mix of this space. On the right it feels industrial with the roasting operation, on the left plenty of seating. I like taking a stool at the high table, reading a newspaper or scribbling some notes.
  4. The Espresso Room, Great Ormond Street, WC1N: I’ve only been to this place once - just last week - and I instantly liked it. It’s tiny with very little space to sit but they have tables outside. You won’t linger here, it’s a pit-stop on a way to a meeting kind of place but great coffee, good service.
  5. Notes, St Martin’s Lane, WC2: I only discovered Notes this year; this one in St Martin’s Lane mixes coffee with music.  It’s busy, buzzy and the surroundings give it a European, almost Parisien feel.
  6. Look Mum No Hands, Old Street, EC1: Of course LMNH is all about cycling, which gives it a soul and raison d’etre beyond doing good coffee. A very friendly space for lunch or coffee, or just to sit up in the window with your MacBook. 
  7. Market Coffee House, Brushfield Street, E1: This is a first-coffee-of-the-day place for me. I like the old-meets-new juxtaposition between the old buildings on Brushfield Street and the Spitalfields development opposite. It’s got a good vibe on a rainy day helped by Radio Four which is often on behind the counter.
  8. Fernandez and Wells, Somerset House, WC2: all F&W are good, but I’m picking the bigger off-Soho shop at Somerset House. This is a great big, grand, white space: I find the clarity of the surroundings give me a clarity in thinking, it’s like a giant blank canvas or opening a notepad for the first time.
  9. Wild & Wood, New Oxford St, W1: (hat tip to John Willshire for this one), in that non-descript area between Holborn and Covent Garden, a cosy space for a winter’s day. Pick one of their little booths and it all feels rather Dickensian.
  10. Flat Cap, Strutton Ground, SW1: the last twelve months has seen more coffee carts out and about, in London’s churchyards and markets. Flat Cap has carts dotted around the city for good coffee-on-the-go. My favourite is the one on Strutton Ground, because it’s in such ordinary surroundings at the end of a market, outside an old pub.

• Let’s start paying for the things we value

  

  I was meeting an old friend for coffee last summer. I suggested we meet outside his office and stroll over to Monmouth Coffee in Covent Garden. He texted back he had a better idea; he’d grab a couple of free coffees from the machine in his office lobby. He added that they’d taste better because they were free. Of course he was wrong - ‘free’ isn’t better; the free coffee from his office machine tasted awful. I didn’t drink it.
  
  I’ve been connecting the dots this morning on two things that happened yesterday. First, the furore from Instagram users over the company’s new terms and conditions. Second, a question on Twitter asking how to bypass the FT.com paywall to view my article on women in tech. And I thought - perhaps it’s time we got used to paying for services and content we value?
  
  I like Instagram. I don’t want my images used or exploited without my consent. So I’d be happy to pay a subscription fee to keep it ad-free and my data private. Similarly good content comes at a price: that’s why The FT has a paywall (although you don’t have to pay - you can register to see a limited number of articles each month). It’s just not commercially viable to give away everything for free. If the FT did that, how would I get paid as a contributor?
  
  I stayed at a new London hotel recently - I was impressed. I like what the brand stand for and admired the quality of their online magazine, so fired off an email to their agency to see if they were interested in me as a London contributor. The agency checked out my portfolio and replied yes they were interested, could I pitch some ideas? Great, I responded, what rates do you pay. “We don’t pay writers” they replied. Does the agency work for the hotel brand for free? Did they go to the web designers and ask them to work for free? Can I go into the hotel and stay for free?
  
  (In fairness to the hotel, their agency did say they’re developing a system where magazine contributors can earn points against a stay in the hotel). But that’s not viable. Part of my business offering is that clients pay me to write. Apart from a guest post in a prestigious magazine, an advice column or an article promoting my new book, I won’t write for free. ‘Free’ won’t pay for my train ticket, my daily coffees or my broadband subscription.
  
  So brands and agencies should remember that it’s the content that delivers web traffic: and they must invest in that content, and in that writing. And for consumers and software companies - if you love services like Instagram, maybe it’s time to think about paying for the stuff we value?