Going Solo

I’m fallen a bit behind on introducing our sponsors for Going Solo Leeds, and as you can see in the sidebar or on the Sponsors page, the list is growing fast.

I’d like to start by pointing out some of our recurring partners.

Expectnation

Expectnation were our first partner for Going Solo Lausanne, and I have to say that all through the preparation of the two events, Edd Dumbill (the brains behind the machine) has offered support going way beyond the normal “tech support” one would expect in such circumstances. So, thanks Edd, and very happy to have the opportunity to use Expectnation and contribute in a small way to making it an even better service.

SmallBizPod

If you remember well, last time around Alex Bellinger of SmallBizPod recorded some great interviews of the Going Solo speakers. This time, Alex will actually be present at the conference and interview freelancers during the day. I’m really looking forward to having him with us!

TheNextWeb

Famous for their “Men in White”, TheNextWeb are with us again this time. A last-minute incident prevented them from being present in Lausanne, but we’re confident we’ll be seeing coverage of our Leeds event on The Next Web blog!

If you’re interested in becoming a sponsor, we still have some sponsorship positions open.

There are also sponsorship opportunities for individuals (not just companies) – there has been a lot of positive feedback about the idea, but we’re still waiting to see who will actually take us up on the offer! 😉

I recently announced that SmallBizPod would be doing interviews of our speakers so that you can get a taste of who you’ll be listening to at Going Solo.

Here it is: SmallBizPod #67 – Going Solo – freelance perspectives — a 30-minute episode featuring interviews of Suw Charman-Anderson, Laura Fitton, Dennis Howlett, Martin Roell, Stowe Boyd and myself, where we talk about our background and experience as freelancers.

It’s well worth a listen!

Thanks a lot to Alex from our media partner SmallBizPod for organizing this. (He also wrote a blog post about Going Solo: Going Solo – how to do it right.) Don’t forget to check out his other interviews, too!

A year ago I was in London, and dropped by at the Blogging 4 Business conference. I was hanging out in the lobby when some guy stopped by me as he was rushing out, introduced himself, and told me I wouldn’t know him but he was a fan of Fresh Lime Soda, before running off. Quite an experience!

A couple of weeks ago, I sent an e-mail to Alex Bellinger, who does SmallBizPod, the UK’s first small business podcast. I’d been advised to check out SmallBizPod as a possible media partner for Going Solo. Alex got back to me straight away, and he reminded me that we’d already met: turns out he was “the guy” in the Blogging 4 Business story!

Anecdotes aside, I’m really happy to introduce SmallBizPod as a Going Solo media partner. Alex will be doing a series of interviews of the speakers early this week for the next episode of his podcast. Looking forward to hearing it!

Alex’s podcast features interviews of entrepreneurs and other topics of interest for small business owners and soloists. Here’s what he has to say about SmallBizPod:

Back in March 2005, I became one of only a handful of people in the UK to start podcasting. Looking around for a subject I realised there were no British-based podcasts on business. Since I’d just set up my own business and had spent many years focusing on the small business sector, a podcast on entrepreneurship seemed like a good way to go. SmallBizPod was born. It’s now listened to by thousands of people from all over the world.