As we were coming out of an imposed 2nd lockdown here in the U.K., the government had the foresight to announce that we would have relaxed rules between 23rd and 27th December to celebrate Christmas with family, allowing us to travel and mix with 3 other households. The guidance can be found here, please study it carefully. Since then infection rates, which had been going down have steadily been going up, so much so that many areas in the Southeast of England have had to go into Tier 3. You can learn about your own area restrictions, by going here and entering your post code.
These relaxed few days over Christmas are called ‘bubbles’and nobody in the press or so far in comedy programs has renamed these ‘bubbles’ as Christmas ‘baubles’, which would be a natural thing to do of course?
Thanks to my dear wife Clair, she came up with this other term and we rolled around the kitchen in fits of laughter!
I’ve written often about ‘Fear & Doubt’. Those two words came to me, when I was listening to an audible book during 2019, titled, ‘The Art of Happiness’ by The Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler. For me it’s in this place, the place of ‘Fear & Doubt’ where all suffering in our conditioned human minds starts. If we were only able to master this mental feat then we would be saved from those demons (see picture above) that roam around in our minds.
How are you dealing with this Pandemic? I read a line on LinkedIn by someone who’s suffered with mental health in the past. He suggested that during these weird times we must avoid asking how are you and instead ask, how are you feeling? Personally, my answer would be; ‘It’s different that’s for sure’, and avoid answering the ‘feeling’ bit altogether and this might be the same for most?
Now that Winter is nearly upon us in the Western Hemisphere, we’re retreating more into our caves, don’t you think? Human nature as it is, is always wishing for better times, good news, miracle cures and to get back to the good (or bad) old days, but of course it never turns out that way. Usually there are potholes in the road, diversions on the route and inevitably many many mistakes by government officials along the way. Above all it will never go back to how it was, society has changed forever and beyond recognition. Then we have the; ‘To vaccine or Not to vaccine — what a massive question!’ — so many believing it will work, when they haven’t even published the data properly. After all, commercial companies need their stock value to go up during the pandemic, so of course they will make an announcement that will guarantee that, even the rest of the stock market responded favourably. Call me cynical, yes of course I am. Early on in the Pandemic I kept a daily Journal on Medium, (to help my own mental wellbeing), which I then changed to weekly and then I stopped it altogether a few weeks ago, it was exhausting to do in the end but at least I have something to look back at in years to come. 🥴
And now to business…
As a storyteller, I’m always thinking of better ways to tell stories for our customers. In the past couple of years, we’ve experimented more frequently with a tiny bit of 2D-Animation within our Whiteboard Animations, for example giving characters a little bit of movement in their faces, blinking eyes for example, making them come to life more. It has worked, our customers have been genuinely pleased with the results. Of course it takes more time to produce and time is money, unfortunately. Is business currently kind to you and your teams, well I hope it is? I bet it has been tough, it certainly has been a struggle in our studio, not many projects flowing in during the past 8 months and my small business qualifies for exactly zero handouts from the government. That’s why I’m reaching out really. Whiteboard Animations could be a great vehicle for delivering training, education and explainers. Explaining how things have to change for the future or how business has to be done differently, whether it is to educate customers and colleagues. It could be to get a mental health message out. If you can think of any opportunities at all, either in your organisation or you spot something elsewhere please do keep us in mind. So much appreciated.
Cartoons...
Did you know that we did cartoons? We created this one, showing Boris Johnson (The UK PM) on a mountain of toilet rolls, at the time that rumours spread about something called ‘lockdown’. We thought people got over hoarding and panic buying after (UK) lockdown 1.0, but exactly the same happened during lockdown 2.0. I don’t get it, why toilet rolls? Anyway, these cartoons can be animated too if needed, if you click on the image it will play on YouTube. A 20-seconds cartoon can be even more effective compared to a longer 90 or 120 seconds animation and of course much cheaper too.
Showreel...
I’m slightly embarrassed to say that I didn’t have a showreel to demonstrate a few of our productions. Seems fairly basic I know!. Anyway we’ve done one now and you can watch it in all it’s glory below, just click on the play button. Feel free to share it widely, every bit of promotion helps during these dark days.
That’s all folks...
This article was an email (which I sent to 50+ customers and prospects) and ended up much longer than I had intended, so apologies for that. If we’re not already connected on LinkedIn, let’s do so, just connect and feel free to look me up on Twitter, follow us on YouTube and maybe have a read on Medium, my blogging platform of choice.
Thanks for taking the time to read this far, I know there are a lot of distractions around and I don’t know about you, I’ve been inundated with emails about Covid PPE. Anyway, stay focussed, stay well, stay realistic and above all stay safe please.
I sincerely appreciated your past business or past interest and maybe one day we can either repeat or create some business together. Always happy to Zoom — link below to schedule one.
How are you dealing with this Pandemic? I read a line on LinkedIn by someone who’s suffered with mental health in the past. He suggested that during these weird times we must avoid asking how are you and instead ask, how are you feeling? Personally, my answer would be; ‘It’s different that’s for sure’, and avoid answering the ‘feeling’ bit altogether and this might be the same for most?
Now that Winter is nearly upon us in the Western Hemisphere, we’re retreating more into our caves, don’t you think? Human nature as it is, is always wishing for better times, good news, miracle cures and to get back to the good (or bad) old days, but of course it never turns out that way. Usually there are potholes in the road, diversions on the route and inevitably many many mistakes by government officials along the way. Above all it will never go back to how it was, society has changed forever and beyond recognition. Then we have the; ‘To vaccine or Not to vaccine — what a massive question!’ — so many believing it will work, when they haven’t even published the data properly. After all, commercial companies need their stock value to go up during the pandemic, so of course they will make an announcement that will guarantee that, even the rest of the stock market responded favourably. Call me cynical, yes of course I am. Early on in the Pandemic I kept a daily Journal on Medium, (to help my own mental wellbeing), which I then changed to weekly and then I stopped it altogether a few weeks ago, it was exhausting to do in the end but at least I have something to look back at in years to come. 🥴
And now to business…
As a storyteller, I’m always thinking of better ways to tell stories for our customers. In the past couple of years, we’ve experimented more frequently with a tiny bit of 2D-Animation within our Whiteboard Animations, for example giving characters a little bit of movement in their faces, blinking eyes for example, making them come to life more. It has worked, our customers have been genuinely pleased with the results. Of course it takes more time to produce and time is money, unfortunately. Is business currently kind to you and your teams, well I hope it is? I bet it has been tough, it certainly has been a struggle in our studio, not many projects flowing in during the past 8 months and my small business qualifies for exactly zero handouts from the government. That’s why I’m reaching out really. Whiteboard Animations could be a great vehicle for delivering training, education and explainers. Explaining how things have to change for the future or how business has to be done differently, whether it is to educate customers and colleagues. It could be to get a mental health message out. If you can think of any opportunities at all, either in your organisation or you spot something elsewhere please do keep us in mind. So much appreciated.
Cartoons…
Did you know that we did cartoons? We created this one, showing Boris Johnson (The UK PM) on a mountain of toilet rolls, at the time that rumours spread about something called ‘lockdown’. We thought people got over hoarding and panic buying after (UK) lockdown 1.0, but exactly the same happened during lockdown 2.0. I don’t get it, why toilet rolls? Anyway, these cartoons can be animated too if needed, if you click on the image it will play on YouTube. A 20-seconds cartoon can be even more effective compared to a longer 90 or 120 seconds animation and of course much cheaper too.
[embed]https://youtu.be/3SUPgZcLjC4[/embed]
Showreel…
I’m slightly embarrassed to say that I didn’t have a showreel to demonstrate a few of our productions. Seems fairly basic I know!. Anyway we’ve done one now and you can watch it in all it’s glory below, just click on the play button. Feel free to share it widely, every bit of promotion helps during these dark days.
[embed]https://youtu.be/VhjUTy-CLyE[/embed]
That’s all folks…
This email ended up much longer than I had intended, so apologies for that. If we’re not already connected on LinkedIn, let’s do so, just click the icon below and feel free to explore the other icons to connect on Twitter, follow us on YouTube and maybe have a read on Medium, my blogging platform of choice.
Thanks for taking the time to read this far, I know there are a lot of distractions around and I don’t know about you, I’ve been inundated with emails about Covid PPE. Anyway, stay focussed, stay well, stay realistic and above all stay safe please.
I sincerely appreciated your past business or past interest and maybe one day we can either repeat or create some business together. Always happy to Zoom — link below to schedule one.
First lady Melania Trump wore a jacket that caused a stir on Social Media as she boarded a plane to Texas on June 21 for a Mexican border visit. She’s starting a new range of jackets and we’ve had an early alert about the next strap line for it. Well you would do the same if you felt like she does, being married to the most powerful man in the world?
I would like to express my gratitude to you as a follower in my network here on Medium.
I have no idea if you’ve actually managed to read my Typewriting publication, but if you have and you’ve engaged with any of the short articles, I truly appreciate you.
If ever you’d like me to write about something you are curious about, do reach out and ask me. I would love to practice my writing, research and analysis on topics my followers would like to hear more about. Topics, I am happy to write about are, storytelling, marketing, engagement, whiteboard animation, mindfulness and minimalism. But I’m happy to contribute on other topics too. I am never short on opinions or advice.
Thank you so much and I look forward to hearing from you.
Kind regards, Michael
ps. I just discovered that I can send these letters to any followers of my publication on Medium. I assure you that I will not make it a regular habit to email and you can manage your email settings as well.
With the explosive growth in Social Media, there's a massive need by brands, businesses and individuals to acquire your attention, likes, comments and shares.
Almost everyone is wanting to be noticed and apart from brands and celebrities there's really no chance of any of us as individuals in business or in employment acquiring millions of followers (fans).
The only thing we can possibly hope for is some thought leader influence for a small group of connections via a few social channels.
So how do we get noticed when there are literally billions of social media posts being shot into cyberspace every single day.
Share Your Story...
Since we were small children we’ve enjoyed stories. Whether they were the stories our parents told us, the films we watch, the books we read, the TV programmes we enjoy or even the adverts we absorb.
It makes sense therefore that we spend more time sharing our story.
Let me explain further.
We all have a tendency to over-promote what we do instead of thinking about how we can share our story with our audiences.
As we all love stories, it means our audiences will be more interested in reading or watching them. And because stories are more memorable, they will live longer in our audiences brains.
To prove the point, can you think, right now, about your favourite book, film, TV programme, advert and how many years back can you remember some of those? I am sure you were able to recall several. Maybe Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Star Trek, Only Fools and Horses, Fawlty Towers, Cadbury Flake advert, The Meerkat Advert and many more I’m sure.
How do you create interesting stories?
In simplistic terms?
Problem statement
Infusion of ongoing pain if problem not resolved
What could a possible solution be
The solution you offer for the problem
What life would be like without the problem
Where to share your stories?
LinkedIn - on your summary, plus extra media
YouTube - with video stories
Twitter - with a #hashtag
Pinterest and Instagram - with photos
Google+ with all of the above
Facebook - well if you have to.
Maybe you can use a specific #hashtag like #problemsolved or #problemsolver. Take your pick.
Share stories and get noticed. I still see too many adverts on social media. By all means do a few now and again, but keep it at a minimum. Instead share stories.
Feel free to add your own ‘client problem solved’ story in the comments. You never know who might read it!
