Internet Business Blog

Whatever you’re doing with the time you spend working online, have you actually taken stock of why you’re doing it?

For many people involved in Internet-based business, success is measured by profits, but does having a bigger bank balance help them achieve happiness? For those who desire financial freedom or more free time, do they actually get it and are they happy when they do?

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It seems that recently, I’ve been too busy working away from the world of Internet marketing to be able to blog on anything closely related to it. Although nobody’s asked (sob!), one thing you might not know about me is that I run a web design business in the real world and lately it’s been really busy. The great thing about having an abundance of work is that you get to pick and choose your clients, but having so much work available comes at the expense of having time to do other things like blog or go Christmas shopping!

I’ve snuck in a few web development posts into this IM-centric blog, but there’s much more about running a web design business I could blog about. Maybe it’s time I considered forking a new blog about my life as a small business owner.

The main issue I have about most of the business blogs I’ve encountered is that they’re too restrained in what they can write about, too much business speak and not enough grit. I like the grit. I guess I could make this new blog anonymous. Would it really matter if it was anonymous? Should bloggers always reveal their true identities?

Technorati Tags: Running a Web Design Business

As well as reorganising my main working environment, I’ve decided it’s time to take a more proactive approach to managing myself. Having lots of projects on the go usually means having a shortage of time for anything else and sometimes it does get stressful.

Some of the things I’m looking at to help me get things done and free up some time for non-work activities include:

• Outsourcing work. Whilst this may seem like an ideal way to free myself, it does mean having to pay people and also project manage. The upside is that once I settle on some people I can trust to get the job done then I ought to really see the benefits. Until then, it’s more work to find the right people.
• Take a different approach. I’m all for self-improvement and time management so I’ve bought a copy of the David Allen book, Getting Things Done, which I’ve read some very good things about. Of course, reading the book will mean that I can’t do anything else during that time (I could always get someone to read it to me!). If only it were an audio book!

Time will tell just how well I get on!

Technorati Tags: Outsourcing, David Allen, Getting Things Done, Time management

After many years as my main operating platform, I’ve just fitted a new hard drive into my PC to replace my years old Windows 2000 Pro installation with Windows XP Pro.

I used to be a junkie for trying out new software to see what could improve my computing experience or just make it a bit more fun. The years of endless installing, uninstalling and hardware upgrades had left an enterprise-level operating system a bit flaky to say the least. Occasional freezing, without any warning and followed by 20 minutes of Scandisk, was one of the factors that convinced me to take the plunge to start afresh and ensure I was using NTFS (no more Scandisk, hoorah!)

Effectively rebuilding my computing environment also gives me a chance to declutter and not reinstall those applications that I really didn’t use.

With most of my essential software now installed, I’m going to be digging up my copy of Drive Image so I can take a snapshot of my Windows installation and revert back to it should I get neck-deep in clutter again. Hopefully , I won’t need to because I’ll be a bit more choosy about what I install, but there’s always something new to try…

Technorati Tags: Windows 2000, Windows XP, Decluttering