All posts by : janinepaterson

Not something I wanted to be reminded of!

I was just settling into bed, ready to drift off, when my partner said, “That sounds like someone throwing up!”

He figured our youngest daughter would prefer her mum’s comfort over his in that moment.

Earlier that evening, I’d picked her up from the station.

She’d mentioned a headache and feeling a bit nauseous, but it wasn’t until 11:30 that the sickness hit.

Then again at 12:15.

And finally, at 1:10.

By then, she felt much better and slept through the rest of the night.

It brought me back to when she was little: she wasn’t quite as self-sufficient.

Back then, it would’ve meant changing pyjamas, bed sheets, and definitely a morning call to the school.

Now, she has a bowl—and my job was just to empty it. 🤢

And in the morning, she was messaging her manager herself to call in sick.

Having grown-up kids is fantastic, even if the cooking and laundry piles haven’t disappeared.

Their early years hold countless fond memories, but there are some things that never change—sometimes, only mum will do.

And it’s funny how things evolve.

Kids grow, routines shift, but certain responsibilities remain constant, just like in business.

Companies may mature and change, yet the need for expert guidance—especially in navigating compliant marketing and advertising—never fades.

So, if there’s anything simmering in your marketing or advertising that you’d like to address before it turns into a bigger issue, you know where I am. 🤔

Just like that!.

It was working one minute, next minute, rows of red lights.

We had a NAS, a network attached storage device which held all our music, our films, our personal files, and more importantly for me, all my business files!

Any document, template, contract, agreement that I’ve created in nearly 5 years of JP Legal Assist!

The files were still there in the NAS – we just couldn’t access it as the tech that retrieves the data (the hardware for those that understand this stuff) gave up the ghost.

So we had to find a replacement – one that the old disks with the data on would fit into.

After a false start, the supplier sent us the wrong one, the right one appeared.

It was touch and go for a while, one false move could have wiped everything.

But it didn’t, and we are now back in business.

It has made us think that there must be a simpler way to back up all this data.

So that’s the hubby’s research for tonight!

Things go wrong and technology fails.

But If you try to cover every eventuality, you’ll never succeed.

So, cover the basics.

Review your marketing and advertising activities.

What lead generation are you doing – does it look and feel right?

Check any email marketing – do people know what to expect from you?

Are your adverts clear, truthful and properly targeted?

If you have any questions you know where I am.

Time will tell

“We can tidy up your drive and get rid of that dip” said the man at the door.

He had been doing some work for a neighbour of ours down the road.

I’m usually wary of door to door salesmen. Having advised on consumer law for over 10 years I’ve heard all the stories.

And as the price came down the longer we talked, I was still a little concerned.

But sometimes you have to trust someone to do what they say they will.

It did need attention, there were weeds growing between the blocks and that dip, caused by rodents burrowing beneath the drive, was getting worse.

With winter coming, it seemed they called at just the right time.

So we said yes, and yesterday they turned up and did a great job.

It is looking smart and the dip has disappeared.

I guess we will have to see how it weathers, but I’m optimistic.

Hopefully the work will speak for itself.

And I will consider buying from someone at the door again.

Promoting my services door to door is not a marketing channel that would work for me, but it can work for the right business.

But there are rules around this.

And if you have any questions about promoting your products and services, whichever channel you use,  you know who to ask.

Good job really!

“Miss, you’ve got the times wrong”

And I had.

Good job I decided to do law and not accountancy when I went to university,

A wise decision I think as apparently I can’t do simple maths.

I was invigilating a chemistry mock GCSE at my daughters’ old school the other week.

Once the exam starts, you have to calculate the end time, depending on how long the exam is.

You also need to work out the extra timers too, both 25% and 50%.

I had 3 exam papers, a higher and foundation paper for the combined sciences, which was 1 hour and 15 minutes, and the standalone chemistry paper which was 1 hour and 45 minutes.

So I had to calculate 2 end times, plus 2 x 25% and 2 x 50% end times.

And I got it wrong.

So maybe the decision that a career in finance was not for me was right all those years ago.

I certainly don’t regret that decision.

32 years as a qualified solicitor has taught me a lot, and immersing myself in the world of marketing and advertising law for the last 17 years has been an interesting rollercoaster ride.

So if you have any questions about your next advertising campaign or the emails your marketing team want to send out, get in touch.

Expert legal advice with the knowledge of how it works in the real world.

A winning combination, even if I say so myself!

… on myself

1 hour a day.

Nothing more.

I didn’t know I could become obsessed with something but I was wrong.

I know other people can – my elder daughter is quite the geek when it comes to Doctor Who.

And I know a number of people who have a slight obsession with Lego – you know who you are!

But my obsession: Word Search.

I know – I’m rather embarrassed to admit this.

Let me explain:

I have solitaire on my home phone and enjoy the downtime it provides.

So I decided to find a game for my work phone.

I love words and I’d seen ads for various word search games when playing Solitaire (I don’t pay for ad free!), so I downloaded one.

There are different puzzles – standard letter grids with a list of words to find, but also ones where they hide some of the words behind smiley faces, just giving you a topic as a hint.

One game I initially struggled with.

Find the synonym – they give you a word and you have to find a similar one in the grid.

And it became really addictive, trying to find the answers, and that’s when I realised I was playing it all the time

It’s a good brain game, improving my vocabulary, so I don’t want to stop entirely.

So I’ve cut my game time.

I’ll see how that goes.

Honest I’m not

My hubby and I take it in turns to get up in the morning and let the pup out.

Weekends are a little later, but a certain young man thought it was very late last Sunday.

The clocks went back an hour, so when we went down at 8.30, he thought it was 9.30 – not acceptable in his humble opinion 😂

This change catches out humans as well. My younger daughter was away for the weekend and only remembered when she came down on Sunday morning to all the clocks being put right.

But how do you explain this to a dog?

I explain aspects of marketing and advertising law to clients every day so they understand what they have to do and why.

But I’m stumped when it comes to explaining British Summer Time and Greenwich Mean Time to a hound 🤔

I’m sure he will adapt over the next couple of days.

We will have to see if he reacts the same when he loses an hour’s sleep next March!

I got carried away

Last week I told you I was celebrating a professional milestone – 34 years since I qualified as a solicitor.

Well I slightly got my dates mixed up.

It’s actually 32 years!

I was so into celebrating what I had achieved, my maths went slightly awry.

But what’s 2 years between friends!

Since this small mistake, I have been thinking about how easy it is to miss something.

In this case, it’s not really a big deal, and something I can easily rectify – check my maths before pressing schedule!

But in other aspects of business, what seem to be small mistakes can have bigger consequences.

Recently, a complaint about a misleading image in an ad on Facebook was upheld by the ASA.

The ad, for an online platform for new and expectant parents, stated:

“Mums, have you claimed Your Baby Box worth over £50 yet?”,

and showed an image of the baby box with various products for babies and new mums.

However, the contents of the box were subject to change, and despite text in the ad saying this and that the image was for illustration purposes only, the ASA ruled it was not an accurate representation of what mums would receive.

The company hadn’t thought about the wider implications of using the image, including in this case the way ads are displayed on social media.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and using an image to show your products is a good idea, however there are things you need to consider in order to keep you on the right side of the ASA.

Today marks 32 years since I proudly qualified as a solicitor.

This journey was long, four years at university, one year at Law School, and a two year training contract.

Finally, I could call myself a solicitor.

Looking back, it’s incredible how much I’ve achieved both personally and professionally.

My career has been diverse, beginning with criminal law, expanding into matrimonial cases, and then transitioning to an in-house role focusing on consumer law advice.

And then my current journey began, marketing and advertising law.

It was an interesting learning curve, and one that continues today – every day being a school day as they say!

But there were moments early in my career when I questioned my choice of profession.

At times, I even thought I wouldn’t choose law if given another chance.

However, reflecting on the past 17 years assisting business owners and senior managers in navigating the complexities of promoting their products and services, I can confidently say I would choose this path again.

Understanding all the rules is crucial for any business, and many people are not even aware they exist

And the impact they have on maintaining customer trust and loyalty is not to be underestimated.

… for making my mornings a little easier.

My morning doesn’t really get going until I’ve had my first cup of coffee.

I’m easily pleased, black, no sugar, instant or cafetiere.

And it appears we have Kaldi, a goat herder in 9^th century Ethiopia to thank.

Legend has he noticed his goats were very energetic after eating the coffee beans that grew all around them.

So, let’s raise a cup to Kaldi, especially today as its the 10^th International Coffee Day.

Created to celebrate the coffee bean and raise awareness of the difficulties coffee farmers face in our changing world.

There are over 100 species of coffee grown mainly in the “Coffee Belt” a region of the world between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, as the climate there is perfect for growing coffee.

This includes India and Indonesia in Southeast Asia, Mexico and Costa Rica in Central America, Columbia (my favourite) and Brazil in South America, and Kenya and Ethiopia in Africa.

The levels of caffeine vary depending on the species and how the coffee is brewed, with even decaf having low levels, around 1 – 2% of a regular cup.

So next time you put on the kettle for a brew, you can thank Kaldi, and his excellent powers of observation. Without them, mornings may be just a little harder.

Goldilocks!

The text said:

“is your lunch portion too big, too small or just right?”

My daughter’s reaction:

“Who am I – Goldilocks?”

She does have the right hair colour to be fair! 😀

This was a question I had sent her as I was portioning up the mac ‘n’ cheese we had made. I wanted to make sure I got the right size for her lunches.

We cook lunch every day and always make enough so there are leftovers for her.

She is the envy of her work colleagues with a home cooked lunch every day.

Getting the right portion size makes sense as it maximises our efforts and avoids food waste.

And this applies when I am tailoring my retainer service for each client.

As it’s flexible, I can work out what support they need, so nothing is wasted.

If tailored legal support to help with your marketing and advertising compliance sounds like something you could benefit from, you know where I am.