Last year my two gorgeous children (with a little help from Daddy) bought me an Inspired Gift from UNICEF which turned out to be a box full of measles vaccinations which were sent to areas that desperately needed them. Being a keen supporter of the work that UNICEF do I was thrilled with this, and you may read more about Inspired Gifts here.
I’m cutting it a little fine to add this as a Mother’s Day feature this year however children in many areas are suffering all year and not just on Mothering Sunday so bear with me. Research shows that the first 1000 days of a child’s life (throughout pregnancy and up until their second birthday) is a critical time in terms of receiving the proper nutrients that they need to go on and thrive (or survive). I’m told that in the first 1000 days of life a child’s physical and mental growth occurs quickly and that their body weight quadruples while the size of their brain actually doubles. Clearly this really is a key time in any child’s life.
Just £3 will make a huge difference
Sadly many children in developing counties don’t receive the nutrients they need to support this growth therefore UNICEF are working hard to change this. A child that suffers from malnutrition during these early days will be affected for life and will likely never regain the potential for growth and developing good health that they might have had should they have had enough food, water and importantly nutrients.
This Mother’s Day, on your birthday, one Thursday or on a “just because” day if you spend just £3 or if this amount is spent on your behalf you will be able to provide a mother with micronutrient sprinkles to ensure that the basic and much needed vitamins and nutrients a child needs are supplied. I have it on good authority that I will be sending live-saving sprinkles this year and I hope that you feel able to do the same.
Please visit the UNICEF site for more information, to buy or to browse the Inspire Gifts range.
Thanks x
For anyone who hasn’t heard of People Per Hour it is a brilliant website and community through which freelancers across any number of sectors may apply or send a proposal for jobs that are posted. PPH charge some fees (I know, how dare they!) when you are paid on completion of the work however all in all it is a great way to make money and increase your contact base.
People Per Hour facilitate payments, communications between clients and freelancers and provide a platform through which many people are able to shout about their business and their skills which in turn enables them to earn more.
When I first joined PPH back in 2011 it was a busy site and did the job it was supposed to do. Then, last year (to the outrage of many!) PPH changed. A fresh new design, new features and more were introduced and the freelance world found itself united against the mighty PPH who dared to change things. I mean really, did they think they owned the site?
I’ll admit that at the start I found many of the changes bewildering. Everything had moved, I couldn’t find a thing and while some of the changes made perfect sense the reasoning behind some of the others was certainly not obvious. Many continued to scream, shout and throw tantrums over the changes however over time most people have come to realise that the changes were for the best and that adopting a Moaning Minnie stance wasn’t going to earn them any cash!
Thankfully the door was left open for feedback across the PPH forum, Facebook, via the support team and more. I myself was one of the lucky ones to enjoy a Google+ Hangout with the big boss himself at the time who was very open and receptive to feedback and over the past six months the feedback received has been actioned and the site works better than ever.
Personally I find PPH a fantastic place to pick up one-off pieces of work or to forge on-going working relationships. I have earned a substantial amount through the site and have enjoyed finding new and interesting projects and people through it. While not all of my business comes from PPH some does and it all adds up folks.
The issue that many people have had with PPH in the past is that people always posted jobs wanting people with real skills to work for peanuts. This was seen as belittling the worth of the freelancer, although no-one HAS to apply for a job if they aren’t happy with the terms. PPH have put a lot of work into making the platform a fairer place for all. There are still very low rate jobs that do pop up occasionally and I was once questioned regarding why I had bid on one of these. My answer was:
“You see that X wants me to do this work for £7 an hour and that I have bid for this job. What you don’t see is the proposal that I have sent or the actual amount I’ve said I will work for. Through writing a compelling proposal explaining what I would actually work for and why the client should pay that, I have been known to triple if not quadruple the amount originally offered AND have gone on to enjoy future projects with that same client at the higher rate“.
PPH is a platform to be used to identify new work opportunities and to increase your own visibility in your sector, and it works.
If you have any questions about my experiences with PPH ask away as I am happy to answer them and if I can’t I will direct you to the right support solution. This business tool is one to look into further and which will if used properly, especially since the changes have been implemented and the kinks ironed out, increase your income.
There is a fantastic system in place on PPH where you are able to receive feedback for the work you have done and even leave it for your clients, To see more visit my profile at pph.me/nickicawood
**This post has been entered into the “Be a PPH ambassador” scheme (a chosen freelancer gets a shiny badge and could win some £ to use on the site) however I only endorse sites, tools or cheese that I really do like and my content remains very much under my own control. This means that you may confident that when I recommend something I do it because I truly believe in it.
