Do I need a One-Page Website?

For many of my design clients, launching a new business or in the early stages of testing out a new product or idea, a full website is simply too much for their current needs or daunting to create when they have limited content starting out.

A One Page Website condenses and highlights all the critical information to connect potential clients with your brand, service or product without the ‘excess’ that a full website can sometimes feel like.

A single page website design allows you to control how users experience your web page as a sequential story as they scroll down and gather more information. 

All your information is positioned in a specific order, making it easier for your audience to navigate and find what they need to know when they interact with your brand. It’s easy to scroll through and doesn’t take much time to find what they’re looking for. 

Single page sites are great at quickly communicating the value of a product, brand, or service and will lead to a clear ‘call to action’ to help clients take the next steps in their journey with you.

Another great thing about a single-page website is that it's very compatible with mobile viewing, which so many of us do these days. We are already used to long-form scrolling and there is no need for jumping around finding things in a menu bar on a small screen. 

Let’s Future proof…

But what if later I want more than the one page?

I hear you.

A One Page Website might be a good fit now, but what about later down the line, when your business has grown and evolved, or you have more content that you want to share?

I’ve got you covered, by future proofing for expansion.

The way I approach One Page Websites also makes it very easy for streamlined future expansion, and in fact I specifically build that into my website design strategy.

So you can easily expand your existing site to a multi-page layout in the future (either DIY or with the help of a designer) and I guide you through that process too.

I allow for this easy expansion by considering each section of the single page as a mini version of the standard main pages. For example:

A standard website is often based on a ‘five page’ layout:
Home 
About 
Services/Product
Blog/News
Contact

The single scrolling home page would contain the main landing welcome banner followed by a succinct section for each of the page themes above.

As there will be no dedicated blog page, this could either be omitted or linked to articles you’ve published elsewhere or to social media posts. Similarly, for a shop of gallery.

In the future, if your needs change and you decide that you would like to expand the single page site to become a full five (or more) page site, you can simple create the additional pages with more in depth content expanding upon the summary sections on the homepage. You’d then have a link from each section to the relevant page as well as being listed in the top menu bar. 

It’s a very organic and natural expansion process.

Here is what I consider One Page Websites best suited to:

• New businesses with minimal content or looking for a simple streamlined approach.

• The fast launch of an initial website with a view to add additional content later down the line.

• Those testing out a new project idea or in the early stages of a new venture.

• A singular product or event launch.

• A secondary website for a side hustle or additional arm of a main business. 

• A hub or homepage that brings together and links multiple aspects and external platforms.

It’s cost effective!

As an additional benefit, it goes with out saying that from a financial point of view, a one-page site is typically much cheaper to commission a designer to build. The timeframe for completion is often significantly faster too!

I offer One Page Website design as part of my Design Day approach. 

So what are the downsides?

A One Page website won’t be suited to everyone or every purpose. Whilst I believe it can suit many business needs, particularly given the easy expandable nature of the design, here are some things to consider to understand whether a single page or a multi-page is the best fit for you.

A One Page Website is not best suited to blog-centered websites that plan to have a lot of content by way of written articles, galleries, videos etc.

It won’t be suited if you know you need to have multiple products or services or an extensive shop built into the platform itself and not linked externally.

It may not be a good fit if you are a business that has multiple strands to what you offer, as there is only so much information that you can put onto one page before it becomes overwhelming for your site visitors. In this case a multi-page site is a better option.

On the other hand, you may decided to create a single page ‘hub’ with external links to all the things you offer - for example Facebook group/page, secondary websites, online shops or profiles on a specific platforms.  

Another point to note is that single-page websites can be challenging to optimize for SEO (search engine optimisation) because there’s far less content compared to a full-size website and so Google wont be able to pick up on keywords so well.

I consider a single page website more of an online portfolio and you would focus on driving traffic to it by your own efforts rather than relying on google searches, which personally I would suggest is the main focus regardless.

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Are you considering a new website?

Has this helped you better understand the options and what your needs would be best suited to?

If you’d like to explore the concept of a One Page Website with built in future expansion further with me, I’d be more than happy to chat. You can find more info on the process here.

Get in touch via email or drop me a text of voice note via Voxer @johodson

How I created a business by accident!

Last year I created a business, or in some ways you could say two businesses... By total accident!

And it's something I've been reflecting on these last few weeks and acknowledging the insights that I could tap into within other areas of my life and work.

So let me offer some background context.

At the end of Summer 2021, I had completed my campervan conversion and I was tentatively taking my life on the road. I began to think, "oh, it would be nice to have some housesits to break up some of my travels."

I was considering joining a platform such as TrustedHouseSitters (that I had used briefly a few years before) where you offer your time looking after pets when the owners are away in return for a place to stay. But as I was initially thinking the odd one or two sits dotted here and there, just to break things up a bit so I wasn't in my van the whole time, I was hesitant on paying a hefty platform fee.

Then just as I put that intention out to the universe, three housesits all within the same county that I happened to be close to, literally fell in my lap - all from difference sources, it was really rather magical!

And that was in November and December 2021. These three were all free sits.

By the time Christmas and New Year came around, I'd had so many more enquiries that I needed to take a moment to figure out what I wanted and where I wanted to take things as I found my rhythm on the road.

Instead of me seeking out free housesits as i'd simply assumed would be the case, instead I realised people were coming directly to me. People trusted me and friends and peers were referring me. So I made it more official. I got insurance, did a Pet First Aid certificate and created a simple Facebook Business page. A page I don't update promote or particularly regularly, but is a useful point of reference for others to share and for me to link to when there is an enquiry.

Since January 2022 all the housesits I've done have been paid and they've all been for wonderful clients, many of them now repeats.

Around the same time in early 2022, I began to get curious if there were other opportunities I could tap into based on my existing skills. Other services I could offer homeowners whilst they were away.

I've got a background in architecture and interior design. I've decorated a couple of friends houses in the past, so why not offer a decorating service? 

I have a certification in Plant-Based Nutrition and Health Coaching, as well as catering licenses from my food business days, so why not offer an in-house meal prep service?

Decorating is something I know I enjoy as it's something physical away from my laptop. A lovely contrast to my work online. It's also a huge win for the client as they can simply go away and return to a beautifully decorated room (or two, or three!) without any of the hassle or mess of trades people co-existing in their personal space. With no-one around I can also work to my own timeframes, unbound my the traditional 9-5 day.

So I casually put it out there and decorating work alongside the housesits has organically come through ever since. I charge a standard decorator's day rate on top of my housesitting day rate, so the two elements are still independent. 

(I look a scruff in old baggy decorating clothes, but I don’t care!) ;-)

Not once have I had to actively 'market' myself, but I've simply been sharing what I do on my Instagram stories over at jo.vanlife as part of my overall vanlife journey, something my coach calls 'spiritual marketing'.

It just naturally and effortlessly occurs in the course of my day to day.

So was it just luck?

Are there learning points that could apply to other aspects of my life and work?

I think there are a few factors that have fed into the accidental ease of this business evolution and I have summarised them below. I would also love to hear from you! Are there any takeaways here that have helped shift your perspective when it comes to your business? 

1. I started off doing a few free sits to get the ball rolling.

   Free/low priced/BETA offers are always a useful kickstart and make sharing easier and gives photos and testimonials to get things started too. It also helped me to get clear on what I needed to refine on my contract when I made it official.

2. ALL my sits come via referral.

   Therefore it has been important for me to make sure my friends, family and people in your circles know that I offer housesits (see also point 3).

3. Keep people involved in your journey.

   I think the above happened because so many people knew I was converting a camper van during lockdown and were invested in my journey. So then when I announced I was house/petsitting as part of the overall travel plan it was an easy association in their minds. I also know a lot of people mention me to others in their circles along the lines of ‘I have a friends who lives in her van’ - I know this as when I meet new people they often say things like. “Oh you’re the Jo that lives in her van” ;-)

4. Be a little quirky in some way!

   Related to point 3, there are a lot of house and petsitter BUT there aren’t many travelling around in their tiny home of wheels house and pet sitting. Also, because I travel my catchment is UK wide instead of just my local area as those who have a more traditional home set up would likely have.

5. Have some kind of social media platform that you enjoy engaging with effortlessly.

   I already had my vanlife Instagram set up independently from my regular business account. It was intended to be a scrapbook for me as I converted the van but has evolved into so much more. I enjoy posting whatever I am up to in the stories, which then ping across to FB stories too.

6. If possible offer something with a unique edge.

   This again relates to point 4. If there are many people that do the kind of thing you do, makes you stand out? When I first started, I called myself The Vegan Sitter to differentiate myself (thinking that a lot of vegans would appreciate no animal products cooked in their kitchen). Now I’ve changed the name to be more generic, but offer a decorating service and I also offer a vegan meal prep option for homeowners to come back to. These kinds of ‘add ons’ help make you more memorable to others and you’ll more likely get referrals because of it (plus additional income!)

7. Lastly, maybe an obvious one but build good relationships with your clients.

   It makes the process itself  fun if you have a great relationship and this is what will also bring in the repeat work - be it with the same clients or referrals. I’d say 50%+ of my list are now repeats, and the decorating work is too.  In a couple of weeks I am going back to look after a dog and do my third lot of decorating in their huge house. I joke that in the next couple of years there entire house will be fully renovated by me, ha ha!

What would you add to the list and what are you focussing on in your business?

On a side note, last year was very much about my finding my flow on the road with these new income streams and now I have that sussed, this year I will refocussing more attention back to design and copywriting. More to come on that soon, but know that I am here for you - checkout out the Everything page hit me up with any enquiries!

Product Photography To Build A Trustworthy Brand

I love photography! 

But when I first began food blogging back in 2011, my photography left a lot to be desired.

Yet, before long, simply through trial and error of sharing recipes multiple times a week and 100’s over the course of a few years my photography improved dramatically. 

I have since developed and photographed recipes for multiple brands.

But it’s not just food, many friends and colleagues have enlisted my skills to shoot their products - from candles to stationery (and on occasion their brand and headshots too!)

The part of photography I love the most is the layout and styling way more than the tech and editing… which is good news for you as you don’t require expensive camera kit of editing software to set up a great shot.

That’s not to say those things wont help too (they definitely will) but they are no means essential and I promise you, you can take great shots of your products simply with a phone and very basic in-app editing.

Whilst shooting food is my first love, there is a huge overlap with the skills required to shoot a plate of food and shoot a small product (we’re taking things that fit on a table top rather than something large like a vehicle)

Styling ‘lifestyle’ photos tell a story of the product, whereas product photography (for example for a commercial product listing) is typically a simple clean photo on a white background. Both can be important to know how to capture well and have very different purposes in your sales and promotional materials.

Very simple shooting set up.

Engaging photography is a key part of building a trustworthy brand.

They say a picture speaks a 1000 words. So it’s critical that your website imagery and promotional graphics are always working hard to deliver your message and story to sell your products.

However, a professional product brand shoot is often beyond the scope of a new business. 

Or it may be that you are in the early stages of evolving your style or product collection and forking out for professional shots is not practical or desirable as this early stage. 

Maybe you have an ongoing catalogue of products that you need to be able to shoot yourself, or you want to capture a variety of high quality images for social media.

Photography can be overwhelming.

So It helps to know what kind of shot you need for what purpose…

Let’s break it down, so you can decide where you want to put your attention.  If you feel like you could do with some more assistance, take a look at my new training - we go into each of these elements (and a whole lot more) in much greater detail.

White background photos 

The white background product shot is more common than any other background, primarily because it’s so versatile. It creates a ‘knockout’ of the product where it appears to be floating on the background. This can be captured in camera against a well lit white background, or in post-production using an editing app to remove the original background and replace it with a white backdrop.  

White background shots are typically used for listings in online stores and catalogs and can also be useful for promotional shots where you want to include text in the image.

Multi-product group shots 

These can also be white background, and most often used for product kits and to showcase collections of similar products. Group photography displays the variety of your products and gives the customer a more complete and contextual view of your range. 

These types of images are great for social media posts and advertisements, as they give shoppers a taste of your brand as a whole, rather than just one product in isolation.

Flat-lays

These are a common photography technique due to the quick setup and pleasing aesthetic. Flat lays often work well for lifestyle shots and to create visual variety in the shot for social media.

The camera angle is from directly above looking down. It allows you to position each product and any associated styling elements as desired. It’s also useful if shooting with a phone that can have a tendency to distort the perspective of a shot taken from an angle. 

What can be lacking with the flat-lay approach is the three-dimensional appearance of the item(s) itself.

Lifestyle photos

This is where you show your products in context to demonstrate the product used in the way it’s designed for. Lifestyle shots help tell the story behind your product and illustrate to your customers how they can use them in their daily lives. 

They’re also perfect for social media and promotions because they catch the eye and make your products feel more personal to a potential customer. 

For a sense of scale, lifestyle shots can help your customers get a better idea of the actual size of a product by comparing it with other everyday items in the shot. This will increase their confidence when purchasing online as they can visualise the product in use.

Detail photos

Best used for products with small intricacies or textures that require a close-up e.g jewellery or embellishments and other small items. Detailed shots help highlight specific product features that a zoomed out of the whole context photo might not capture well enough.

When shooting details, pay attention to quality of light, focus and depth of field (how much of the product is in focus) to ensure the details are showcased to its full potential.

Packaging photos

From browsing your website to making a purchase and receiving their product in the post, customers are looking for a shopping experience from start to finish. You may have a wonderful product, but the presentation and packaging also matters too.

If your products come with beautiful looking, branded packaging, make sure you capture it to give your customers a taste of what to expect as the full experience.

What do you need to focus on focus on first?

Or where are you struggling?

When it comes to lifestyle shots you may find that the photos you customers tag you in on social media could be repurposed (with permission where necessary).

Sometimes all it takes is cropping the image to create the best balanced composition, a tweak to increase the brightness and a little extra saturation to make the colours pop.

Think outside the box and repurpose as many images as you can to help save time and money.

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Want to know more?

I bring you Product Photography Like A Pro. A 60 minute training that gives you the insights and techniques to shoot your own high quality product imagery, lifestyle shots and promotional graphics… easily, with no special tools or equipment. 

Make sure you are representing your brand and products to their full potential!

Who am I and why can I help you?

I’m Jo Hodson. I've been shooting food and product photography for brands, my blog and my biz for almost 10 years.

I am a blogger, health food business owner and website designer so I have the huge advantage of seeing behind-the-scenes from all angles.   

When it comes to photography for your website, products and brand I like to keep things simple, tech free... and a lot of fun! 

After this masterclass you'll come away with new ideas, insights and strategies to apply to all your website and social media imagery without needing to understand any special tech or complex camera settings. So, whether you shoot with a phone or a dSLR this masterclass is designed for you!

Beyond The Body (My Journey of a Plant-Based Diet)

This is a longer article from the archives of my computer files. It touches on some things I have talked about in previous posts and articles, such as the catalyst for my vegan journey and the relationship between creativity and a plant based diet, but also some new things that I haven’t previously written about before but have featured in talks and and interviews I have had with some of the people featured.

I have been plant-based since late 2011 and this story documents so much of that journey, and why for me it’s always been about so much more than the food on my plate.

I wasn’t sure what photo to use to accompany this piece… but as the ‘gateway ‘ was a Nakd bar, I thought I share one of the first recipes I ever made for my blog. My family call these ‘smoosh bars’ although now I more commonly roll the mix into balls and refer to them as bliss balls… if you have been following me on social media for a while you’ll know I still make them regularly (usually weekly!) to this very day.

Read the original post with recipe (note I have since simplified the recipe, scroll down for more bliss ball/bar recipe ideas)

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I want to tell you a little story.

A moment in time, that became the gateway to my plant-based vegan journey. A moment that became my gateway to understanding that a vegan diet was not just 'kale and cucumber'

In 2010 my life was incredibly ordinary. Everything was very mediocre. Not bad, but really not great either. Towards the end of that year I met a guy, a vegan guy.

One weekend on our third date, we went for a walk around a park which led into the town centre where the office building of the company he owned was based. We had grabbed some lunch from the supermarket and were debating where to sit and eat it. He asked if I'd like to come up and see his office as it was on the 12th floor of the building and had a great view over the town. It would be empty and we could sit and eat lunch there.

He was right, the view was amazing.

He took a ‘Nakd bar’ (equivalent to Larabar in the US) out of his carrier bag and I looked over curiously, since I had already finished all my food! Breaking it in half he held out his hand, with a bemused and slightly quizzical look on his face.

"It’s just dates, nuts and cocoa all smooshed up together…it tastes exactly like chocolate”, he told me.

"Yeah right" I smiled back.

But I very was curious, and to be honest didn’t want to offend since it was only the third date and all! So I took it.

Mind blown. It DID taste exactly like chocolate!

In that precise moment in time, as I sat on a chair on the 12th floor of an empty office block with a guy I barely knew… my entire life changed. In that precise moment I realised that a vegan diet was indeed about more than just kale and cucumber... I was holding the proof in my hand!

I still vividly remember thinking, 'maybe this guy is not so crazy after all!'

At that time veganism was not at all mainstream (I’d even had to ask him to explain to me exactly what it meant!) Vegan food options were not widely available and Nakd bars were pretty much the only type of vegan treat you could buy, and only typically available in health food shops. Plus they were very expensive!

From that moment forward my curiosity got the better of me.

I made vegan cakes and cookies that he could eat at every given opportunity. I went and bought a £20 food processor on Amazon so I could make my own chocolate ‘smoosh bars’. It wasn’t until about nine months later than my ‘Including Cake’ recipe blog was born, by which time I was now totally immersed, following a 99% healthy, wholefood plant-based diet myself and seeing so many shifts in all areas of my life- physically, mentally and spiritually.

In conversations with others, I often refer to myself as an 'accidental vegan', since it had never even been on my radar. Life simply presented me with a guy, who happened to offer me a piece of chocolate Nakd bar one day and in doing so turned my world around,

Over the last ten years since that moment (as of 2021), I have grown and evolved so deeply and I attribute so much of this to shifting to a plant-based wholefood diet.

I often talk about nutrition being the gateway to our optimal self, because it literally creates the foundation for the journey, it provides us with the building blocks at a cellular level.

Of course I appreciate there are many of interpretations of a ‘healthy diet’ but my focus here is specifically my experience of the benefits of a plant-based diet and not only my experiences, but those of so many clients, colleagues and friends around the world who have shared with me their incredible shifts too.

Let’s first consider some of the fundamental benefits of a plant-based diet in relation to our physical wellbeing.

In removing the animal products we create a more alkaline environment, which is often referred to as the ‘healing diet’. One of the things I personally noticed almost immediately when I’d made the shift was that the speed of muscle recovery after heavy gym training was significantly improved, there was less inflammation in my body and so less muscle soreness.

Reduction in inflammation across the body, enables the muscles to work more efficiently with less energy expenditure- giving us more energy to use elsewhere.

That is also referred to as ‘high net gain nutrition’, where we are spending a small amount of digestive energy for a big nutritional return.

We are in the age of discoveries, yet so many people still suffer an energy crisis - they are constantly fatigued, susceptible to tension and anxiety, disease and depression. People seem to vary between complete disregard for what they eat and a fanatical obsession with proteins, vitamins, minerals and calories. As a society we have disregarded going back to basics. Back to abundant plant-based wholefoods.

We don’t even have to eat a lot of food to be well nourished, in fact it’s the nutritional density that matters, that is the ratio between the amount of calories in a given food to it’s nutritional value- vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals and antioxidants. Brightly and intensely coloured fruits and veg are highest in antioxidants. We want to consume as much of each nutrient relative to the amount of calories. If we base our diets on the nutrient dense plant-based wholefoods, we’ll be sure of getting the highest level of nutrition in.

Another noticeable sign very early on in my transition, was my increased energy and reduced need for sleep. I’d literally be bouncing out of bed early in the morning, something that had never happened before! When we eat alkaline foods overall nutritional stress goes down which also reduces the levels of cortisol- the stress hormone, enabling higher quality sleep.

It was experiencing positive physical changes like this, that gave me huge motivation to continue the exploration.

Shifting across to a mind-body viewpoint, a wholefood plant-based diet, by its very nature means that we are eating closer to the Source. The more refined and processed the foods we eat, the more we are travelling away from the original source, and so arguably the energy from the ‘life source’ is reduced. This effect is even more dramatically enhanced when we shift to a more ‘raw vegan’ diet also known as a ‘high vibrational’ or ‘living food’ diet.

A high vibrational diet is described as a diet consists of foods that are ‘alive’ and that positively benefit the person, as well as the planet as a whole. High vibration means having more light, and thus less density. Plants exemplify this by photosynthesizing light into energy.

Spiritual nutrition also ties in with the idea of eating closer to source. Originating in Buddhist and Hindu communities is the idea of ’Ahimsa’, where the wellbeing of everything that is related to the food itself is considered. It is though that a more plant-based diet offers access to the higher self. Mahatma Gandhi was a great exponent of ahimsa, saying, “The way to truth lies through ahimsa.”

Recently, I spent some time living with a number of different spiritual communities around the world, all of which followed a plant-based vegetarian or vegan lifestyle. It was fascinating to observe the ways in which their diet and lifestyle was so interconnected.

In speaking with a resident at one of the centres I stayed at, he talked of a deep sense of wellbeing and a knowledge that “Every day I am living and eating with a purpose that extends beyond myself.” I found myself nodding and realising that for me too, there is so much truth in that statement.

Prior to switching to a plant-based wholefood diet, I had not considered myself a particularly spiritual person, yet now these were the people I was drawn to and most resonated with. I also found that the ethical side and ‘wider view’ of a vegan lifestyle was slowly beginning to catch up with me, and link arms with the nutritional standpoint that had first caught my attention and lead me down the road in the beginning.

As my fascination with a plant based-diet grew, I found myself more and more drawn into conversations with others who had found themselves on a similar path, often triggered by very different start points.

I began a series of interviews as a platform for sharing the stories of those who have created powerful transformation in their lives through plant-based nutrition as the gateway to change. Nutrition is a powerful catalyst... but, as I soon discovered, it is just the beginning. It creates a threshold to allow you to step more powerfully into your own story of wellness in ways you would never have thought possible.

The first person I interviewed was a guy I met whilst in Portugal. He’d turned his entire life on it’s head, leaving the UK and his successful building company to set up an off-grid community and retreat centre in the Portuguese mountains.

I was fascinated as to what triggered this. He told me that it was through years of battling debilitating Crohn’s disease that at times almost killed him and according to the medical profession was ‘incurable’, but was then totally cured by switching to a plant-based whole food diet as a last resort. What began as a ‘30-day plant-based challenge’ following advice from a trusted friend turned into his life’s purpose.

What is fascinating is that he also realised that after about six months of being fully plant-based, the asthma that had plagued him his entire life, with attacks often landing him in hospital, had totally disappeared.

He told me; “My whole life has done 180 degree shift, most of my friends back home don’t know me any more. I am a better version of myself. After the initial 30-days I wanted more, what else could I do? The next thing was yoga and meditation, what could I do with my body and mind. I had been a typical gym lad, wanting to build big bulky muscle, and so yoga could not have been a bigger shift for me. I began questioning everything else in my life. I went with what felt right for me in my heart”.

Whilst the stories of those I interviewed could not have been more different, there were some fascinating patterns that quickly began to emerge.

Another lady, now the creator of a healthy food and lifestyle magazine, told me; “You start on the journey with what you’re eating but then your mind opens up and you find your intuition becomes more empowered as your nutrition improves.”

Another interview alludes to this same sense of mind-body shift;

“Two weeks after going vegan the eczema that had plagued me for years just disappeared. The fact that I saw the physical benefit straightaway gave me the motivation to continue. After a few months had past I noticed I had not had a single depressive episode or self harmed. I would say that through a vegan diet I am completely cured of depression. I feel content and grounded in myself.”

In all my conversations, the sense of ‘expansion’ was very apparent and also very much part of my own story.

Once we stop and question something so integral such as diet, something that is so deeply conditioned to be perceived a certain way in our society, and we realise there are other solutions… it creates a cascade of questioning. The better we feel the more we question and the more in tune we become with our inner knowing.

Very soon another question began to rise within me.

Does a plant-based diet increase your innate creativity?

This had been something I had been feeling for some time. When I made the shift to a plant-based wholefood diet, my own creativity skyrocketed. I had always been a creative person in the traditional ‘arty’ sense, but now coupled with the questioning mentality, my creativity and curiosity knew no bounds.

I also had a sense that creativity and a sense of wellbeing were inextricably and powerfully linked. Indeed, a quick search on-line brings up numerous articles and research literature on how being more creative improves our mental and physical health. This deeper approach to well-being is often described as "eudaimonic well-being" and focuses on living life in a full and deeply satisfying way.

Creativity is fundamental to the experience of being human.

The deep connection between creativity and meaning was noted long ago by the creativity researcher Frank X. Barron. Through his pioneering research on some of the most creative people of his generation, Barron came to realize that creative people have the remarkable capacity to become intimate with themselves. According to psychologist Ruth Richards, they “dare to look within, even at one’s irrational and less conscious material, including one’s ‘shadow’ materials”. Richards refers to this capacity as “courageous openness".

As Richards puts it, “A creative style of living, coping with difficulties and weaving possibilities, can not only produce useful accomplishments for self and world but can offer the creator new resilience, perspective, aliveness in the moment, joy, and purpose in life.”

In the words of Brene Brown; "Creativity is the way I share my soul with the world." I see creativity as giving yourself permission to see things differently. Tilting your perspective, maybe mere millimeters, to create the world anew and shine a light into previously undiscovered corners.

For me the shift is primarily two-fold;

Once we go against the norms and think outside the box in terms of what we put on our plates, it opens up space to question the world beyond the confines of society’s expectations and gives us courage to step into our authentic truth in so many other ways.

Alongside this, the nourishment for our body through eating closer to source creates a ‘lightness’, an increased energy at a cellular level and something of a spiritual connection within, although I didn’t realise this initially and still find it hard to put into words today.

I decided to reach out to see if others shared my thoughts and feelings around a plant-based diet and innate creativity. I put this question out to various plant-based communities:

“Do you feel as though your creativity, spirituality or personal development has increased significantly since switching to a plant-based vegan diet?”

I received an overwhelming majority of ‘Yes’s to my poll, approx 70%. Some beautiful comments were shared which strongly reinforced for me this powerful dietary link and mindset catalyst.

Here are some of the words that were shared:

“Yes! absolutely it has! I have been vegan just over a year and it has had a positive impact on all areas of my life. I think on a deeper level, I am more connected to the earth and I am more peaceful. I have had more creative ideas and energy to make them a reality.”

“I went vegetarian the beginning of last year and have gone vegan this month, I have to say my creativity has increased! I am drawing and painting again, something I haven't done in a long time. Also in the way I am being creative in my wardrobe and dressing more how I want too!”

“I am much more creative since going vegan. I'm not sure if it has to do with nutrition as much as living a more authentic and value based lifestyle. It has pushed me out of the dissatisfied way I had been living. I'm also more fearless, I try new things all the time. “

“A vegetarian for 30 years, I then embraced a raw vegan lifestyle about 3 years ago which totally changed me. I suddenly felt connected with the earth, with nature, with life in a way I never had before. Alive, creative, excited.... It was transformative! 3 years down the line I don't eat a wholly raw diet any more, I eat a mostly vegan diet (eggs from my pet ducks when they're laying) but with a high proportion of raw because when you eat raw foods you really feel the life-force, the energy, of those foods going into your body and it's wonderful.”

“I can certainly relate to this. I’ve metamorphosed from a bored meal provider into an enthusiastic, energetic and lovable (well my family believe so) server of wholesome foods. One’s creative energies seem to open up in so many areas of one’s life.”

“Yes, not only in cooking but other ways too. I always have been the type to look outside the box anyway, but this perspective on life has changed the way I look at things even more.”

It’s not just feedback on social media that align with this way of thinking. I dug a little deeper and found various articles also alluding to this sense of creativity and connectedness.

Back in 2008 Steve Pavlina wrote a long article focussed on ‘diet and energy’. It document’s the authors thoughts around his shift to a raw vegan diet. He states, the most significant and biggest change was definitely increased creative output.

“I feel more creatively inspired than ever, so I’ve been doing more creative work than I used to, shifting between blogging, speaking, journaling, business planning, concocting raw food dishes, and other outlets. I now feel very uncomfortable if I go more than a couple days without creating new material. It’s like I’m overly aroused with creative energy and feel compelled to express it.”

I was also fascinated by the question he asked in the article; “Are you resisting a more energetic state of being?

“If you improve your diet and then feel much more energetic (physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually), how will you channel all that extra energy? Where will you direct it? How will you use it to fuel greater creative output?

I think those questions need to be addressed before you’re ready to make the shift. Otherwise it’s too easy to fall back into your old comfort zone.”

This is fascinating to me, and something I had never before considered in that light. When I work with coaching clients or speak with friends who are struggling with aspects of their nutritional journey, or indeed any aspect of stepping up and changing their life for the better, the idea that clinging to our comfort zone, or as Steve put’s it ‘resisting a more energetic state of being’ begins to make a lot of sense.

Whilst we all, no doubt, want to achieve a state of optimal well-being, we also need to be ready for it. No more hiding behind the stories we tell ourselves that keep us playing small.

I believe there is a powerful truth in the ‘knowing’. That when you know more; when you have experienced it in the heart of your being, then there is no ‘un-knowing’.

Exploring Veganism and a plant-based diet goes beyond the body and expands the mind in so many dimensions, and a mind expanded cannot return to it’s old dimensions.

NOTE: This story was first published in 2017 in Athena Publishing: Your Well-Being. A book that showcases wellness, nutrition, alternative medicine and natural health therapies that improve the quality of life physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.

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Two easy breakfast ideas... featuring Eli's Granola!

I decided I wanted to give something back through my love of food photography and recipe development, to help elevate the presence of my fellow foodies who have small businesses that are aligned with my own nutritional philosophies.

First up, we have Eli's Granola.

This isn't a sponsored post, but Eli gifted me a couple of bags of her granola so I could try the products for myself and create some recipes using them.

I decided on two simple and delicious breakfasts, ones that you can recreate in minutes using any crunchy granola you have to hand.

First up, the layered granola parfait.

Simply a big dollop of yoghurt, followed by some berries (from the freezer) warmed through in the microwave or on the stove and a generous helping of granola on top.

Or if you prefer an overnight fix, try this bircher muesli base with porridge oats, grated apple and Boost Your Bowl Topper's mixed together, soaked in plant milk of choice overnight and topped with granola for extra crunch factor in the morning.

One of the things I love about nutritious breakfast foods is that it makes the perfect snack at any time of the day. So if you hit that mid-afternoon slump, a bowl of bircher muesli could be the perfect pick me up to see you through to dinnertime.

The Eli's Granola packs I tried came in Coconut Almond and Peanut Butter flavours. But she also sells Chocolate Chip Quinoa Granola and Cinnamon Sultana Granola... Mmmmmm!

⭐️ Find Eli's Granola here.

Tell me, what would be your favourite granola flavour?

Why I walked 80,000 steps in one day...

For me, nutrition, has always been about more than the food on my plate. I talked about that more in this post as it’s such a big part of why Boost Your Bowl was born.

When I went plant-based in 2011, it opened my mind to a whole new way of approaching my life and it became the gateway to finding my best self in body, mind and spirit.

I've also been a very active person for my entire life. Constantly being ferried between different after school clubs by my parents in my childhood years. Then in my adult years, being an avid gym-goer and pole fitness instructor.

Last year, I joined an OCR Sports Training team, which has been such a wonderful opportunity to feel part of a team again. Something I'd been missing for so long without realising as I’ve working for myself from home since the beginning of 2013. Interestingly it also re-awakened my competitive side that I thought I'd long-buried! (to the extent the guys on the team nicknamed me ‘Competitive Jo’)

I've taken part in a few team challenges and group runs during lockdown which has helped keep me sane and stay connected and also helped create a sense of forward momentum whilst living in a time of such uncertainty.

But yesterday, I did something that was one of my biggest personal challenges yet.

I walked 80,000 steps, which was a total of approximately 70 kilometres, in aid of the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust. This was part of a wider sponsored fitness challenge I’d been involved with over the last few months, but this particular challenge I took on solo.

I set out armed with a massive tub of overnight oats, (packed with plenty of Toppers of course) and I made a big batch of chocolate bliss balls to keep my energy up. I’ll share my favourite bliss ball recipe on the blog soon.

I started walking at 7:15am in a village near Newmarket and then I proceeded to walk back the Icknield Way trail towards my end point in Bedfordshire, closer to home. It took just over 13 hours on non-stop walking and was dark by the end. It also rained pretty heavily in the afternoon, so I was cold, wet and totally exhausted by the time I completed it.

This was the pic I shared on Facebook the day before…

In times like these that I realise the mind and the body are such a powerful tag team.

When I say nutrition is about 'so much more than the food on my plate', I truly believe it to be the most powerful start point to create our solid, strong foundation. But it is by no means the only piece in the puzzle.

We need to fuel our bodies well, but it's so often out minds that will get us over the biggest hurdles, or indeed it is often our minds that can block our way.

When we bring our mind into the equation and more deeply delve into our own personal development in a holistic way, this is where the magic truly happens.

For me, yesterday was the perfect example of that in my own life.

I'd been feeling a bit lethargic and a bit low in motivation and if I'm honest, struggling with feelings of anxiety in the weeks coming out of lockdown.

But I also know that, for me, movement is always the most powerful tool to bring me back into my body and bring me back into an empowered mental attitude.

So I took that knowledge and applied it.

This is my story, but I am sure I am not alone in these feelings. So I encourage you, if you're feeling a bit low on motivation, a bit 'meh', or disempowered and unsure of how to navigate the next weeks and months to come.

Take back your power.

Shake things up.

Fuel your body and mind in the ways that you know serve you best and allow that momentum to build. I promise, good nutrition and moving your body will never fail to elevate your life.

Push yourself to the edge of your comfort zone and lean into that space where fear and excitement co-exist, whatever that might look like for you.

That is always the space where the magic happens.

Me when i’d finished over 13 hours later. Cold, wet and aching… but very proud!

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Use the power of your voice to write copy faster and more authentically

I've been using the process of voice recording to write copy for my website, blog posts, articles and longer form social media content for quite some time now.

A few years in fact.

Not only do I love it because it's a faster process compared with sitting down to type, but there are some more subtle but equally, if not more, significant reasons why using your voice to write your copy is so powerful.

Here are my top six reasons to start using your voice to write your copy.

(p.s. Case in point... I 'wrote' this blog as a recorded audio note whilst sitting on a blanket in the sun in my garden. Then edited the transcript ready to publish in a just few mins later on in the evening.)

1) No pre-editing.

When you sit down to write with a pen or to type on your keyboard. The speed at which you type is much slower than the speed at which you think and therefore, by that very nature you pre-edit the words you type n the page.

Whilst this might not seem like a negative thing, the problem is that we're not consciously choosing or aware of what we're pre-editing out, so many of the gems of wisdom can be lost.

Whereas if you use a method of voice recording, to simply speak into the world those thoughts in your head on whatever particular topic, you are able to capture everything that comes into your mind without judgment or expectation and most importantly without pre-editing.

As you listen back to you audio or read through the transcript, and work through words on your page to tidy and pull them into shape, you can be sure that you won't miss out those gems of wisdom that would never have shown up, if I hadn't been for the voice recording process.

2) Whenever, wherever.

Often when I'm recording voice notes, I might have an idea land when I'm out on a walk or when I've just parked up in my car and I'm about to go into an appointment. I probably wouldn't have my notebook or laptop with me and likely very little time. But I've got my phone and with it the ability to record voice notes.

The amount of words that you can speak into a phone in just one minute would take many more minutes of the equivalent time to write down, even if you did have access to your keyboard in those spontaneous random moments when your idea just popped up. So recording voice notes allows you to fully capture those 'aha moments', wherever you might be.

3) Greater context for later recall.

Off the back of my last point, often I'm not in a position to do anything with that thought right there and then so if I scribble something down on a notepad usually it's just a few phrases or a sentence at most, simply because I haven't got time to express much more than that.

Yet, when I come back to the note a couple of days, a week or sometimes a month later, those words often don't mean anything to me anymore.

Whereas, if I capture those words in an audio note, not only can I capture more context in those few seconds, I can also re-immerse myself in the energy of my, voice so if there's something I was excited about, I can hear that excitement. It's much more likely I'll be able to tap back into the energy and take action from that place. This is something I would miss entirely with a quick handwritten phrase scribbled on a notepad.

4) A heart-centered approach.

With practice, voice recorded notes are very much a heart-centered 'channelling' process. There's not really any thinking involved. You are literally speaking the words out loud as they come through. It's like a stream of consciousness process, not something we usually do for copywriting - where our brains get highly involved.

So, by just allowing the words to roll off your tongue, you capture things in a very authentic, honest and heart-centred way. Not tainted with and 'rules and expectations' of writing or your industry standards or audience, that during the traditional writing process can make our words sound very generic if we are not aware.

5) Overcome the overwhelm of a blank canvas.

When we sit down to write, knowing where to start can sometimes be overwhelming.

So avoid that and just start talking. It doesn't matter what you say, just start talking absolute waffle if you like - give yourself that permission! It might take a few minutes to settle and get going, but when you find your flow and you can feel the shift. You know when you're tapping into the good stuff.

So then when it comes to listening back or when you come to edit the transcript, you can skip the first few waffly minutes because you knew that was just you warming up and getting started. Jump ahead to where the good stuff starts flowing and work from there.

6) Make it easier for your team.

Sometimes you might not be doing all the copywriting/editing yourself, you may have a team that works with you. For example, you have a social media manager, or maybe as someone who compiles blog posts for your business.

If you speak the essence of that you want to capture into a voice recording, your colleagues can pick up on that energy more directly. This can impact how words are laid down a page, such as where you might decide to use different headings depending on how important that particular sentence was - your voice will dictate that. That tonal quality does not translate in written notes alone.

So if you do have others on your team that work from your copy, giving them something to work with that's multi-dimensional, that's got texture from your voice can be so much more helpful in translating your intentions.

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Whether you already use voice recording in your own process or this is the first time you have considered it in this way, I hope this has given you plenty of new food for thought to put onto practice!

Join me for a live training of my process!

I would also love to invite you to explore this further with me as part of a live training I am hosting next Tuesday 11th August at 7:30pm BST (recording also available if you can't make it live) - we'll explore the specific processes I work through for myself and with my clients and the various ways this can be used for multiple aspects of you business copy creation strategy.

Chewy & Crispy Oat Cookies (and they are oil-free!)

I seems I have acquired a bit of an aquafaba (aka chickpea water) obsession!

If you’ve seen my granola and chocolate cake recipes… you’ll know ;-)

I think it’s such a wonderful ingredient for two big reasons:

1. It’s the brine from a can of chickpeas (or other white beans) and a staple ingredient we all have in our cupboards and one that usually gets drained down the plughole. (So in effect is zero cost too!)

2. It whips up all white and frothy and can create a beautiful light moist cake crumb and even better can replace most or all of the oil in a recipe whilst still giving a crispy and chewy texture the way oil typically would.

A few days ago I really fancied a flapjack but the classic recipes typically have a lot of oil and sugar, and the recipes without oil are more like healthy soft granola bars (still great but just not what I craved!)

So I decided to put the aquafaba I had sitting in the fridge to the test!

Instead of bars I dolloped the mix into cookies instead as I wanted more crispy ‘edge’ texture, but a regular flapjack slab baked and sliced should totally work too.

It was such a success, crispy when fresh out the oven during the first day then gorgeously chewy for the following few days (not that they lasted very long!)

Such a versatile recipe too… I have noted some swaps below.

I used Boost Your Bowl Toppers but if you don’t have any of your own- swap with chopped dried fruit and some chopped coconut chips (coconut is optional but I find gives extra chewiness).

If you make these, please tag @eatboostyourbowl on Instagram, I always love to see your creations!

Recipe: Chewy & Crispy Oat Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup whipped up aquafaba (aka chickpea water)

• 1/4 cup peanut butter (or any nut butter) - this is optional

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• 2 cups porridge oats

• 1/2 cup flour of choice (or ground up oats - just to help bind the mix so it doens’t fall apart)

• 1 cup chopped nuts/seeds of choice

• 1/2 cup Boost Your Bowl Toppers of your choice (or chopped dried fruit)

• 1/3 cup coconut sugar (or any sugar)

• large handful of dark chocolate chunks for extra indulgence - optional but highly recommended!

• 1/2 heaped tsp baking powder

• 1/4 tsp sea salt

Method:

Whip up the aqua faba until it’s nice and frothy then add the nut butter and vanilla extract and blend into the aquafaba.

In a separate large bowl, mix all the remaining dry ingredients together. Pour in the aquafaba mix and stir well to coat the mix well.

I kind of used my hands and a spoon to place semi-compacted dollops of the mix on to a lined baking sheet.

Bake at 180ºC for approx 15 mins until golden. Cool fully and store ina airtight container for 3-4 days (possibly longer but mine all got eaten by day 3!) I haven’t yet tried freezing them.

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