Wednesday, September 25, 2013

A few changes around here...

After attending The Blogcademy a few weeks ago and being inspired to re-think/re-brand and re-launch indieBerries as a platform for my creative business, with a stronger, more focused direction - I have had a good think about some regular features which I wanted to share with you today.
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Apart from the usual "things" you can expect to find on indieBerries - Cartoons || Personal Stories || DIYs || Funny Moments || Extreme Washi-taping - you can now look forward to some of these new features -

WEEKLY and BI-WEEKLY FEATURES:

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Fun Facts Friday!

I have been running the "FUN FACTS FRIDAY!" segment for 4 weeks now - (has it already been that long?!) It has been really well received by everyone, so I will continue to post a list of Fun and Random facts every Friday - the perfect timing for you to take your new random knowledge into your weekend dinner party conversations and make yourself seem really well-read and filled with random knowledge. You can thank me later.

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Educate Yourself

I have been playing around with the idea of doing a weekly (or bi-weekly) "EDUCATE YOURSELF" feature - this would include things like learning to use grammar correctly, common spelling mistakes and other basic things you should already know. These types of posts have been popular in the past, but as I said - I'm still just playing around/thinking about including this feature - since there are only so many ways I can tell you "the difference between Too, To and Two". I may extend this "Educate Yourself" feature to include cartoon posts on "How to change a tire" or "How to change a lightbulb". We'll see how it goes...

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indieBusiness & indieBlog Bites

As I move towards setting up my creative business I want to share my journey with you. In the "indieBusiness Bites" posts I will be sharing any small-business related tips that I have found useful and any resources that I have found handy or have created for myself - (I have the first indieBusiness download ready for you this coming Tuesday!)

Initially I had thought to separate this feature into "indieBlog Bites" and "indieBusiness Bites" - but I think that these days having a creative business is so often linked to successful blogging and online presence that it would almost be silly for me to separate them. For now, I will be running this feature bi-weekly - every second Tuesday. Some weeks I will be sharing blogging-related tips, other weeks I will be sharing more business-related tips. Having said that, I am no Warren Buffet and I can almost guarantee you that the things I will be posting are not going to catapult you into a five star yacht on The Med. But they may give you some tips on effective time management, finding your own voice and being more pro-active in what you were meant to be doing.


MONTHLY FEATURES:

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People of Awesomeness

I have recently opened up indieBerries to outside sponsorship - for bloggers, small business owners and awesome people to advertise on indieBerries. (I already have 5 awesome sponsors this month - (Midlands Musings, Berry Diaries, Midnight Rambler, Deecoded and Ellie Love) YAY! You can click over to their blogs on the right and give them some love!) Every month I will be doing a "Monthly Sponsors Feature" introducing you to these "People of Awesomeness" and sharing some of my favourite blogposts/products/services from them. This post will go up on the first Wednesday of every month - so look out for it next week! I can't wait to share my favourite blog-posts from these lovelies!

For the sponsor who has booked the Main Sponsorship slot - (this month: Midlands Musings) there will also be a solo cartoon feature post - I'm really excited about this month's main sponsor - because I know her in actual real-life flesh. Get excited for the cartoon post for this lady - HINT: it involves wine. All the wine.

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The Click Frenzy

When I first started blogging - I absolutely loved scouring the internet looking at different blogs, reading up and delving into the lives of strangers, their businesses, their arts, crafts and generally being inspired by the awesome people hanging out in cyberspace. Over the years I've stopped reading as many blogs as I used to (time/life/actual books/husband/laundry/etc). I want to make an effort to re-visit some of the old blogs I love and share some of my favourite posts with you. At the end of every month, I will be putting together a list of my favourite posts from around the internet - and hopefully you will discover some new blogs to love! This will be on the last Friday of the month (as an additional post to the Fun Facts Friday!)

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Cooking for Noobs

If you have been following indieBerries for some time, you will know that I completely suck in the kitchen. "Suck" is such a horrid word to use - but there really is no other way to describe it. Wait, let me tell you about the time I blew-up an egg. I have been wanting to do a Monthly Video Series on the blog - and have decided to produce my very own cooking show: Cooking for Noobs.

We filmed the first episode last Saturday.

Husband thought it was hysterical when I attempted to make a curry paste by mixing milk and kaffir lime leaves in a bowl with crushed nuts. I was, in fact, following the recipe. But it turns out you are supposed to read the entire recipe once over before you actually begin anything. Who woulda thought. And actually, we had a really good time drinking wine and chatting in the kitchen while my chicken caught fire.

Anyway - we have had a slight problem with some of the videos - they are not opening on my computer :( (I have taken it as a sign that the world is trying to save me from myself) Anyway I am determined to get at least one of these "Cooking For Noobs" videos out - so that I can gauge your interest/reaction and see from there. Hopefully we can figure out a way to get the rest of these videos to open - otherwise I may need to ruin something else in the kitchen before I have something to show you.

The aim of this series is to provide fellow kitchen-noobs with some confidence and friendly chef-types with some entertainment. You may even learn the art of a delicious new recipe!


But, probably not.

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To sum up the New Features on indieBerries:

Every Week: Friday Fun Facts - Friday
Every Week/Bi-weekly: An Educate Yourself Cartoon
Every Second Tuesday: indieBusiness Bites
First Wednesday of Every Month: People of Awesomeness Blog Post
Last Friday of the Month: The Click Frenzy
Every Month (pending viewer reaction): The Cooking for Noobs Show.

and a good dose of the usual personal stories, DIY crafts, cartoons and pretty things peppered in between. I will also be posting daily "things you should know" and other fun links via my twitter and facebook accounts.

You can follow me here:


21 comments :

Stephanie Swan said...

woohoo, can't wait to read all these features. xx

Sophie Ferdinandsen said...

"I have taken it as a sign that the world is trying to save me from myself" Oh I almost peed in my pants.. I am a fan of your cooking show already. I know this is wrong, but maybe it will make me feel less of a kitchen disaster.. A humble thank you in advance x

Che Kershaw said...

hahahaha that's pretty evil.

but i'll take it.
;)

hahahaha

Keri Bainborough said...

OK, am officially petrified for my cartoon!

Tim Metcalfe said...

Hello, you may be able to open some of the videos if you use VLC. I love VLC. It will pretty much play any video file format you can throw at it. And its free! :) http://www.videolan.org/vlc/index.html (I don't work for them :)

Che Kershaw said...

Hey Tim, thanks so much - have actually tried VLC but alas :( I have just downloaded the latest version right now after your advice - so maybe that will help! hold thumbs! (ps: VLC should totally hire you)

Che Kershaw said...

pffft. you will love it.

Steph Szecsei said...

My company is keen to sponsor. We'll be in comms. Super proud of how far you've come. Keep it up. I'm an avid Indieberrie reader ;) Now for a clothes line...

Debs Ivelja said...

I love how motivated and driven you are and all the ideas since The Blogcademy! Cant wait to see more Ché!

Kristi Kyle said...

Ché, you are doing such a great job with re-vamping and getting organized! Love the new logo too! x

Sarah Libros said...

Yay sounds awesome, looking forward to all of these!

Kat Forsyth said...

VLC totally is the best. It opens EVERYTHING. And even my parents managed to download it (after a panicked email from my mom because she couldn't watch one of the episodes of Downton).

Kat Forsyth said...

I can't see the sponsors down the side yet. Or am I just too-late-to-be-online tired?

Dee said...

Excited for all these! :)

Megs H said...

Loving all of your changes!!! Keep up the great blog work :) Much love xxx

Che Kershaw said...

thank you matt! so nice to see some boys (besides The Warr) read indieBerries! i hope it brings you many lols in days to come! :)

Che Kershaw said...

it's all up and running - they are on the right hand side - but you need to be on your computer - let me know if you're still having problems!

Che Kershaw said...

yay! thank you Kristi! :)

Kat Forsyth said...

Still not seeing them! Just the bit that says "click on these cool people below", but there's nothing there. I've Ctrl-F5-ed. Is it just me?

Vanessa Levin said...

I love it! I'm looking forward to reading the new posts!

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