I swear ten seconds ago it was New Year’s Eve. A night of pizza and beer, hopes and dreams. Just like the other 7 billion people on earth, 2017 was going to be my best year yet. Then I glanced at my computer, answered a couple of emails, looked up, and it’s December already.

You know it’s summer when your car smells like a fusion of coconut sunscreen and off mango skins that perish below your seat. The mozzies make you realise for the fifth year in a row that your fly screens still need fixing, and almost every time you look down you’ve got an alcoholic drink of some kind in your hand – who put that there?

This past week I was invited by Facebook to represent Australia at an APEC event in Vietnam, which was run by Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg.

Branding can be a labyrinth to figure out, especially when you’re fairly green in the game. Logos, taglines, marketing plans, strategies, social media — there’s a tonne of stuff to navigate, and a set of rules that typically apply to go along with it. Rules are a general given in life; Don’t cross until the little green man is showing.

If you’ve ever opened a beehive, you know why the saying ‘busy as a bee’ has lasted the test of time. Those buzzing little things quite literally don’t stop, won’t stop, can’t stop. Until they sting you of course, then the little buggers get karma and kick the bucket. RIP, stripey friend.

We think anyone that’s getting somewhat serious about their biz should have a ‘legal guy’ just like ours. He’s our go-to for all things Law and Order, solves problems like it ain’t no thang and is often seen some pretty damn dapper get-up.

Hello. Here are ten things I’m currently coveting and seriously loving hard right this minute. Although the Headspace app, linen sheets, anything written by Seth Godin and Alpha-H Liquid Gold (face-changing) are long term stayers on my list of forever favourites; these ten bad boys are sparking major joy at the moment and have me gushing to all my mates about their greatness.

Having an Instagram strategy in place is one of the smartest ways you can invest in your business, and it’s free. Whether you’re a lone ranger or a small business owner, having a killer Instagram account is an invaluable tool to be seen, to be heard and to interact with your target market – post a pic, get some likes and add a couple of hashtags and voilà you’re #instafamous…. if only?

This morning, as I waited for my daily caffeine fix at my local cafe, I met a wonderful woman with bright eyes, vivid white teeth and that insanely curly hair that makes you wonder if human DNA could have been infused with strands of Maggie Noodles at some point in history.

Do you find yourself daydreaming every afternoon or waking up in the middle of the night, scrambling for paper and a pen? Do you get home from your 9-5 gig itching to get started and make your ideas a reality? We give you the low-down on the less-than-dreamy aspects of transforming your side hustle into your full-time gig.

Usually my days are spent at a workbench, be that of the jewellery making kind with fine tip diamond burs and needlepoint files or the sculpture making kind with chisels and hammers but lately, I have been taking a well-earned break while I settle into my new digs.

Something a lot of people don’t realise when committing to full-time freelancing is that they’re essentially taking on six jobs in one! Say you’re a designer – five days a week of designing sounds pretty good right? Right, except unfortunately there’s also the not-so-good tasks that you’ve got to make time for if you want your business to grow and flourish.

Last Sunday eve I joined the masses of people on their weekly pilgrimage to scour the aisles of capitalism and stock their pantries in an attempt to both prevent starvation and summon euphoria in the shape of a colourful fridge. What should have been a menial task felt more like a scene from Hunger Games, but that’s not the point.

Every day you wake up, take one glance at your Insta feed and it seems that everyone is living the ‘freelance dream’, wining and dining and sunning and cheersing and laughing and flat-laying and literally just laying all over the world. You sigh in disbelief because you are living the unfiltered reality version of freelancing.

Speed dating. Two words that run chills up my spine. Luckily, I’ve never had to partake in such a terrifying ordeal, but nevertheless, there’s nothing that makes my palms sweat more than having minimal time to both meet a new person and impress them. Sound familiar? Does your heart rate skyrocket at the mere thought of it, too?

I can safely say that my team would rather have their teeth ripped from their mouths with a rusty knife much sooner than they would allow me to sit them in grey cubicles wearing stiff corporate attire on crazy deadlines with a strict no-laughing policy.