Category: Weblog

  • Organised, Finally!

    In this modern fast paced world, its sometimes very easy to find yourself swamped with stuff to do (work and personal) and it can feel very overwhelming and dis-jointed at time, which is what lead me on to find some services/tools that would help me and my businesses become both more organised, and ultimately more efficient.

    KashFlow – Online Accounting!

    One of the main areas of our business that wasn’t performing well was the accounting side of it. We had sage installed on Daves PC, and it was fine for a while but if i needed to issue an invoice, i had to get Dave to do it. Its also a huge program and we were probably using 10% of it.

    It just didn’t suit our business.

    So we browsed the web, and found a product called KashFlow – and we have never looked back!

    Its hosted on their servers, so no issues if your servers go down or whatever, it contains a full quoting, invoicing and purchasing system that allows you to easily be your own bookkeeper! So that’s a saving straight away!

    It also ties directly in with the VAT man, so one click and you can publish the info directly to the VAT office, no messing about!

    It also fits in with how we work SO much better…

    Try it for yourself!

    WHMCS – Hosting Automation!

    For years and years and years we have hosted peoples websites, and spending time chasing payments of £60/£120 once a year from the millions of customers we have is not only an admin nightmare, but also a pain in the bum!

    We looked about at a few packages that integrated with WHM (our hosting software) and WHMCS was found to be the best, by far!

    It pulls all existing accounts from your server, and you can set pricing and renewal dates so it automatically emails people an invoice when it is due.

    It also integrates with KashFlow which is pretty damm awesome!

    Try it for yourself!

    Google Mail, Docs and Calendar

    We’ve used these services for quite a while, but now ALL our documents, emails and calendar entries are stored “on the cloud”. We have totally bitten the bullet and now store all our spreadsheets, word docs and any other form of document on the Google servers.

    We decided it was more likely to be our servers that had an issue, not Google’s – also the sharing options of the documents are amazing. If i shared a document with you, i could edit it at the same time you had it open, and you would see it appear in front of your eyes.

    It makes collaborating on documents so much more efficient as you don’t end up with duplicates etc.

    The mail is also super reliable, compatible with all modern smart phones and just, well, works!

    We also schedule meetings on each others calendars, which automatically sync with our smartphones as well.

    From a more personal angle, i use a Google Spreadsheet as my “To-do” list, as i can open it on any PC and its always 100% up to date, i can access it via the Docs app on my phone, and my business partner can also add things to it if he needs me to do them – its a great (very simple) way of staying on top of your workload!

    Try it for yourself!

    These tools have made an incredible difference to both my own productivity, but also the efficiency of our company.

    And an efficient, organised company, is a more profitable one 🙂

     

     

  • Been there done that…

    It sometimes feels like ive been doing this internet stuff for far too long now. I remember being 13 and creating skins for mIRC, and making websites with frames using a very old version of Macromedia Dreamweaver.

    Its all changed so much since then, the speed of the net, the quality of the websites, the amount of websites…

    Even what the internet is used for has changed.

    Back in the day people didnt even trust Amazon when buying online – now they will put their details in any site that wears a padlock despite it potentially being dodgy.

    The pace in which the internet has grown has increased massivly since social networking websites started to crop up, and websites like YouTube mean that you can stream videos and music, instantly, and totally free.

    I often wonder what the internet will become as technology and peoples ideas continue to grow.

    Its all crazy shit really.

     

  • Day number 10,028

    Its quite scary when you take time out to think back at how many people you have met, how many places you have been and how many things you have seen during your life – im only 27 and it feels like i have a million years worth of memories in my head already!

    Its during these moments of reflection when we remember the people, places and things that have positively (and negatively) influenced our lives, and feel grateful for meeting them and experiencing all the things life throws at you.

    I cant speak for everyone, but i seemed to get myself involved in lots of things when i was growing up, whether it was starting a mobile disco business with a loan from my aunty when i was 13, or being a founding member of what is one of the most well known modified car clubs in the UK – right through to being the founder of the greatest forum, and worlds only adidas superstar forum – the SSDB. And along the way i have met some awesome people who have helped me grow and have had an amazing positive influence on my life.

    One thing i find myself doing is taking little snippets of advice from the people i meet while im living my life, sometimes its something they say, sometimes its a physical action, but whatever it is it stays with me for life.

    For example, an amazing influence on my business life was a man called John Leaver, he worked for LEO and was probably the best business advisor i have ever encountered. He sat me and Dave down one day in an meeting he rented just for this occasion at the ICentre in mansfield – all at his own expense – as we were struggling to run make our business profitable enough. He spent a good few hours going over every detail, and gave us advice in many areas of our business, but the main thing that stuck with me was this single quote;

    “Guys, you are spending too much time doing what you want to do – and not enough time on the stuff you need to do. “

    Now that may not hit home with you like it did with me, but at the time we were working on a few projects that were consuming our time entirely, and not making anywhere near enough return for the amount of work we were putting in – and, we were neglecting things we could have been doing that would have brought in more money.

    Its so easy to miss something that is right in front of your face.

    Needless to say, we walked out that room and the next day was the first day of our new, successful business.

    That quote has stuck with me, and is never far from my thoughts when we start thinking of new projects, ideas, and discuss things that could quite easily distract us from our main core business.

    I keep these memories with me at all times, and the people i have met and created these memories with are never far from my thoughts even if i dont see them from one year to the next.

    Live your life with your eyes and ears wide open 🙂

  • PS – Your vagina’s in the sink

    A bride-to-be is stressing out over the fact that she’s not a virgin, but she’s told her future husband she is. She has no idea what to do and is talking to her friends about it, when one of the friends pipes up and says, “Here’s what you do — buy some liver, stick it up there, and everything will be nice and tight and your husband will never know.”

    So, the bride-to-be follows the advice, and on the wedding night, the newlywed couple has crazy sex all over the place. On the kitchen counter, on the living room floor, all over the house. But when she wakes up in the morning, her new husband is gone, and all she finds is a note pinned to the pillow, which reads:

    “Dearest, I’m sorry, but I’ve thought things over and I just don’t think things will work out between us. I had a wonderful time, but I’m sorry, I’ve thought about it, and we just weren’t meant to be. P.S. — Your vagina is in the sink.”

    For those that don’t know, its the dirty joke on Family Guy that makes Peter crap himself every time he hears the punch line.

    Hahaha.