Naples, you beautiful dirty bastard, I miss you already.

As I start the journey of reflecting on this last year of travels the first place I am burning to tell you about is Naples, Italy. I was nervous to go there at first, from stories of “filth and pickpockets” from my Italian mother-in-law. But my handle bar moustache man took my hand and said, “it’s okay, follow me”. He led me to the most beautiful interesting streets I’ve ever seen, and to the best pizzas I’ve ever eaten. I actual cried at the airport because I wasn’t going to have this pizza in my life anymore. 

First things first, getting to Naples is an easy direct train that takes 1 hour and 24 min. The trains in Italy are wonderful except when they randomly go on strike. But never fear, their bus system is also good. Use the trains unless they are on strike. Our base in Italy is Sardinia, so we took a cheap flight on Volotea, but we usually take my favorite, the ferry. It takes a little longer but no hassle, you can walk around, buy food, and great seats. I always feel like I am in a Wes Anderson film when I ride the ferry. 

Secondly when you are booking a place to stay in Naples remember to look for a place that includes air-conditioning. We travel on a budget so we stayed with Comfort Zone Naples and it was clean, close to things, safe, and amazing aircon. Annalisa, the manager, is a character and will help you with whatever you need. If you are a fancy bitch you can stay in Sorrento and come into Naples for the day. But no matter what you must go into Naples.

Thirdly sometimes Taxis may try and take advantage of you so just make sure to carry enough cash for the ride and check how long the trip will take. The airport is 5 km from the city centre so will be 30–40 euros on average. Once you are in the city there is an underground train and many other public transport options. 

To get to Pompay we took a public bus which took longer, but had aircon. The train home did not have aircon. It’s 30 min away from Naples. You need to book a timeslot ahead of time. There are guides at the entrance which are legit, make sure to get as close to the gate as possible before looking for one. They take groups of ten and will save you a lot of money. FYI there is a whore-house on the tour with ancient naughty paintings on the wall. There are penis’s on the walls that were meant to help these ancient romans find them. I know kids have access to the internet these days, but just letting you know so you can avoid awkward conversations. If it is in the summer months, go as early as you can, those stones heat up and you will feel like you are in a lava field all over again (too soon?). Going with a guide from the entrance will help you navigate this place. It is huge (no penis innuendo intended). If you are a little bit of a dumb blonde, like me, remember it was once a big city before it was wiped out, and you walk around most of it. My necessary things I brought for this day, a water bottle, a fan (I don’t care if you think fans are fem, you are going to need one), good shoes (this place is bumpy), sunscreen, and a hat. There is a cute snack bar for a well needed beer and ice cream break. We only saw a sliver of this place, and next time we will only go to the Villas. There is no other place like it, so I’d say it is worth it.

Alright back to pizza, the pizza dough here is magical. The water comes from under Naples from an ancient Grecian/Roman aqueduct and the flour is crushed in the mineral rich volcanic stone. Its fluffy and just thinking about it makes my mouth water. Here is are top three Pizzas you must eat. First we have Pizzeria Salvo. This is where the locals eat, no line, no fuss, just the best pizza you have ever eaten. The owner is the youngest brother of another famous place called 50 Kalo, which is also amazing. At 50 Kalo there is always a waiting list and lots of tourist. But really I think the little brother’s Pizza is better, go Salvo! For the third option 1947 Pizza Fritta has the best fried pizza on the planet. It is across the street where Julia Roberts’ Eat, Prayed, and loved at L’Antica Pizzeria da Michele. But 1947 has no lines, full of locals, and just look at how freaking delicious this looks. 

Shopping, Spaccanapoli is a three mile long road full of all different kinds of goodies and hand made everything. My bag, my shoes, and my heart was left on this street.

Places to visit, The Underground Naples is the best tour I have ever been on. And I have done a-lot in my short life. Does 35 count as short? Am I middle aged now? I am no longer a young adult, so what am I? I don’t want to give away too many secrets of this place but you will never forget this adventure. It is full of beauty, dark tunnels, ancient life, ww2 memories, and running aqua blue water. I love to sing in caves so I tend to stay at the back of the group and wait till I’m alone and break out into some Adele and listen to it as it reflects off the walls.

Views. If you know me, then you know I love castles. There are very few things that bring me more joy than the view of an ancient castle. Maybe giant pumpkins or a new good smut series? Anyway, to top off our weekend in Naples my partner and I took a tram that goes 70 degrees up the side of a cliff to see the most incredible view on the top of a castle. There is a theatre company that performs up here and the castle was decked out with red lights for that evenings performance of Macbeth. If I’d come back I’d bring a renaissance ball gown and book tickets. My favorite little piece of knowledge about this place was the cute doors and windows that are on the roof are where monks still live to this day. Being holy here gives you the best view of the bay and volcano.

In general, keep your wits about you. Don’t take all your cards with you. Treat Naples like you would any other big city, but really we had no problems, to the shock of my Italian mother in law. I will never forget the winding small street of the Spanish quarter in the middle of the night. How close yet peaceful people seemed to live. How soccer players are painted on the walls as saints, and hair salons are no bigger than 2 chairs. I’ll never forget the very confident 11 year olds riding their vespas around, or the secret island we found with a ventriloquist clown to welcome us. If there was ever a place that made you feel like you were on the edge of this realm and a magic realm, it would be here. Enjoy Naples my friends.

Link to Article as Seen on Medium

10 Tips on Posting About Your Business Online

As Seen on One Roof

You have started your business, you have your company registered, your brand is built, your website is up and working, you’ve claimed your business on google, you got the Instagram handle, the Facebook page, the Threads handle, the LinkedIn page – now what?

Putting your business online successfully is only the first step in creating a continuous presence online. Making quality content while staying within the brand is not easy. Most people find themselves stuck in the idea of perfection. I always tell my clients, it doesn’t need to be perfect, it just needs to be done. People also don’t relate to perfection. Especially if you are presenting a brand that is about yourself or within the human condition, perfection is not needed or even wanted.

Now, if you can’t afford to reach out to someone like me—who can do a 10-look photoshoot with videos for reels, creating 20 posts with copy and hashtags for a lovely pay-what-you-can price—here are my top ten go-to tips to get you started:

1. First you must settle the voice inside you that says you are not good enough, not worthy, or not capable of putting yourself out there.

This is always the first wall I hit with a client. Usually by the time they get to me they know they are capable of doing the job, but telling other people, and showing themselves to the world makes them stop in their tracks. I highly recommend getting a coach to help you with this.

A major step most of us miss in building our own company, is that we are the ones that are going to have to sell it. Now I am not a coach or a counsellor but here is some advice that helped me through this step. 

1. The people who hurt you, told you that you weren’t good enough, are not here. So stop hurting yourself. 

   • You already know you can do this job, so trust yourself. Trust that your habits will kick in and take over. Because they always have before or you wouldn’t be in this position starting your own company. 

   • Next is that self love and positive self talk. Everyday you look in the mirror and say, “I am a badass” “I am beautiful” “I got this”. Even on the days you don’t feel it, do this. 

   • We have been beating ourselves up for so long we don’t even realize that usually the person stopping us, isn’t those around us who hurt us, but just ourselves. 

   • You have invested so much into this new company, make sure you invest in a coach about your self worth as well. 

2. Change your relationship to social media.

If social media stresses you out, it will continue to do so until you change your relationship with it. That doesn’t mean go on social media all the time.

My rule is 15 minutes a week to start with. You make a weekly calendar meeting that is entitled “Post on Socials”. In that 15 min, you make a post. Whatever you have at the end of the 15 min you post. It forces you out of perfection, it forces you to be creative, and it forces you to get it done. Each post you will learn from. If you really hate something you can always delete it later. But once a week you focus on it, get it done and move on. You will find that over time you will start to create posts before this moment and get excited about posting. 

3. Find other people or companies that are similar to you and see what they are doing on socials.

Don’t try to re-invent the wheel, there are many wheels out there rolling along just fine. This doesn’t mean copy, it just means get inspired.

I used to do a once a week competitive mini report where I would look at others in the same field and write their weaknesses and strengths. This really helped me not fall into pitfalls or get stuck. 

4. You have built the best product, but if you don’t share it, no one will know.

I find that people get so invested in the product that when it comes to sharing it, they immediately feel defeated when no one feels the same. It is because no one knows. You haven’t told them. And you can’t just tell them once, you have to tell them multiple times in many different ways. You aren’t bothering people on social media, it is just a feed of information.

In the big wide world of the internet, your messages can get buried easily. It is okay to say, “Hey I made this, it works, it’s useful and you might need it.”

5. Social media isn’t the answer to getting new clients.

I see a lot of people give up on social media because they put all the work into it and didn’t get the results they wanted. Social media is just one tool, but it is a very important one.

Social media is a moving online resume. It is showing potential clients your current body of work. Humans connect to humans. If someone is going to hire you they want to see you are active online. They also want to see what kind of person you are, what you say, what you think, and who you know. Most clients come the old fashion way, through referral, events, or meeting face to face. But clients always check you out on socials before they reach out.

6. When posting, keep within your brand.

I find when people aren’t getting the results they want, they start reaching for the stars and deluding their brand. If you don’t have a brand, build one, build one now my precious! What are your deliverables, your themes, your tone? What are your colors? What are your fonts? What are your logo options?

I’d invest in a brand package, but I also understand that money is tight, so do what you can. If you are building your own brand here are some random thoughts on logos. Make sure your logo has transparent options and can be downloaded into many different formats, jpg, png, sfg, and pdf. This will save you, and potentially someone like me, a lot of time when dealing with the brand. Also make sure you have a light and dark logo option so you don’t limit yourself in the future. No one likes a random square with a logo that doesn’t look like it belongs there. In general make sure you have a brand guide accessible and use it.

7. This probably should have been number one, but test the market.

Before you build and post about this new product or service you must see if the market wants this. Spending your life savings on an idea that isn’t going to make you any money, can be fun, but I highly recommend you see if there is any possibility it will work.

Now this doesn’t mean analyse every aspect of it and talk yourself out of it. It means, do the work. Find the other people within this world and see how they are doing. Write to them, meet with them, ask them where the problem points for them are. So when you are jumping into this pool, you know the fish in the water. You can do this if you have already built it, testing the market must be once a year. 

8. Which leads us directly into number 8, Pivot!

This is inspired by a recent One Roof Monday Power Up session (and that legendary Friends episode). When it feels like you are eating metal, dragging the horse, or not getting anywhere, PIVOT!

Find out where this horse is leading you. In a social media aspect this can mean that it is leading you to a different platform. If you are a stylist trying to find your clients on LinkedIn and are not also using Pinterest, Instagram, Tik Tok, and personal Blogs, PIVOT! It can also mean that you aren’t creating enough content, or the right content. It can mean the market has drastically changed, and you are losing water. You are on a sinking ship holding on to the way it sailed before. Waters change every couple of years, especially now in this fast moving technology age. I see and hear a lot of Covid companies holding on for dear life, “it worked I swear! I have the data” as I watch them sail to the bottom of the sea.

Now in saying Pivot, let’s also make sure you are not pivoting from one corner to the next. Take a moment. Find the open water. You might not know where you are going, but you will be able to feel the wind again.

9. Last but not least, embrace technology.

Now this is coming from someone who was literally replaced by AI. See I was AI in my corporate job then after in my little digital marketing company. I made newsletters, wrote copy for posts and websites, researched the SEO, did hashtag research, wrote competitor reports, designed Instagram square campaigns, etc. So when I say embrace it, I mean that from the perspective of someone who literally had too on every level. Even this blog which I completely wrote without AI had me curious to see what it did. I didn’t use it as I didn’t like what it did. But if used right in the right circumstances, AI can make things better.

Now in saying this, don’t bullshit. You must be able to back up whatever you put out in the world with knowledge you actually have. You can’t write a piece about Newton and not be able to back it up without the three laws of Physics. See now you are staring at the wall trying to remember what those are. Can anyone remember? Force = something? Anyway, use it, but only to enhance the truth. Also let’s all give ourselves a pat on the back for realising that we graduated high school, university, and some of us graduate school all without the help of AI or even google in some cases. Now if you are a doctor or in charge of public safety in any way, that is another conversation about using AI. But for a majority of people reading this, you are safe to use it. You aren’t lying when you are using Canva to generate a post within your brand and product, you are being smart. Now do I think I can still make a better post, yes I think I can, but I have been working in social media for twenty years next year. Meaning what I can get done in an hour and what you can, are two very different things. So if you don’t have the time or money for someone like me, embrace it. Speed up the process of getting things out into the world. 

10. I know there are a million things I am forgetting.

Little things like: make bubbles for your Instagram, make sure your banners are the right size for each platform, stop taking selfie videos in your hands and posting them (place it somewhere so the camera is steady and back up), don’t re-post the same content over and over again without any adjustments, or have a slow website…. But at this moment I think that is it. As it is 8 am on a Sunday and for some reason I decided at 6 am to write this as the sun rose. 

Let me know if you need social media content support, AI can’t take photos or little videos yet so that is where I am pivoting my energy. If not, just keep going. As I said before, it doesn’t need to be perfect, it just needs to be done. So let’s get going.

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About the Author

Melissa is a modern Renaissance woman: an artist, an award-winning business leader, and global citizen.

A professional singer, actor, poet, and playwright, she’s traveled the world performing and creating.

As founder of her boutique marketing firm M Online, MoWicks candles, and one of the founders of Antipodes Theatre Company, she has earned accolades like multiple Stevie Awards for innovation and leadership. A Northern California native with deep roots in the arts, Melissa holds an MFA from the University of Tennessee and splits her time between New York, Melbourne, and Italy, inspiring others through her creativity and entrepreneurial spirit.