Today's work on/in the business - Fri 30 Oct

1. Look at the statistics that Google Analytics gives you. (15mins)
2. Review old to do lists - everything has pretty much been covered, which is good. (15mins)
3. Investigate back end for CRM v3 - continuing to read the documentation for the next candidate. (5hrs 5mins)
4. Networking - follow up on posts and queries - 3 posts today - KPI has been met! (1hr 30mins)
5. Sort out storage of business emails - hasn't been done for a while. (20mins)

Today's work on/in the business - Thurs 29 Oct

1. Look at the statistics that Google Analytics gives you - seems that people are actually finding us - yippee! (25mins)
2. Networking - follow up on posts and queries - 3 posts today, not quite up to plan, but nearly - only need 3 more by the end of the month to meet the KPI. (1hr)
3. Follow up on the lack of email from my latest customer - she did say she was busy. (5mins)
4. Find a form that requires email address entry before you get to proceed and look at the code - can we steal some of it? I found a couple, but I need to look at the code further with a clear head. (30mins)
5. Investigate back end for CRM v3 - continuing to read the documentation for the next candidate. (1hr 30mins)
6. Proof read the website text changes and upload the amended pages. (45mins)
7. Investigate the requirements that our latest customer has - what is actually involved? (45mins)
8. Record business emails. (20mins)
9. Record the hours that I am working, to get a feel for how many hours I'm ACTUALLY working. In fact, it's not too bad, at least for October (and I'm not checking further back than that...) (30mins)
10. Add Perfect Notes to Google Local Business Center. (20mins)

Today's work on/in the business - Wed 28 Oct

Well, this post should have been done last night, but I was just thinking about writing it when we heard that a friend had an accident, so finding out how he was (seems mostly ok - more scans to double check this morning) was a higher priority...

1. Tidying, ready for our first meeting with our NEIS business mentor. This is the one where they have to verify that we are actually set up for business and have a reasonable working environment. The others are generally elsewhere, but for this one the house had to look good. (1hr 10mins)
2. Look at the statistics that Google Analytics gives you - which basically told me that the only people who looked at the website that day were us. (10mins)
3. Investigate back end for CRM v3 - continuing to read the documentation for the next candidate. Still looking good and the process is coming together in my head, but there's still a couple of questions that I haven't seen the answer to yet. (2hrs 30mins)
4. Update record of market survey results. (10mins)
5. Accounting - check whether some of my partner's invoices have been paid and that all business expenses from his account have been recorded. (1hr 35mins)
6. Business mentor meeting. This seemed to go well. He didn't seem to be startled by anything we said and he seems to know what he's talking about. We're free to email or call him if we have any questions or issues in between the scheduled meetings - all good! (1hr 15mins)

Today's work on/in the business - Tues 27 Oct

1. Setup Google Analytics account and send code to my partner to add to each website page - now we'll know who visits the site (roughly) and how they travel through it - it's good. (40mins)
2. Investigate back end for CRM v3 - continuing to read the documentation for the next candidate. (3hrs 10mins)
3. Help with work on the website - privacy page. (10mins)
4. Talk to new customer - thanks to an associate company who referred the business to us. (15mins)
5. Networking - follow up on posts and queries - 3 posts yesterday and 3 posts today, not quite up to plan, but getting there. (1hr 30mins)
6. Some unknown amount of time tidying... first business mentor visit is tomorrow afternoon - lounge particularly needed some work!

Today's work on/in the business - Mon 26 Oct

1. Follow up on email for customer - support details and investigate their licensing issues - next question. (10mins)
2. Networking - follow up on posts and queries. (1hr 10mins)
3. Record more business account information. (15mins)
4. Investigate back end for CRM v3 - continuing to read the documentation for the next candidate. (4hrs)
5. Investigate answering machine software. (25mins)
6. Call potential customer back - leave a message as she is in a meeting. (5mins)

Today's work on/in the business - Sun 25 Oct

1. Create and send invoices for my partner's work of last week - while I'm in 'Financial Controller' mode... (55mins)
2. Record business emails. (30mins)
3. Record more business account information - I think I've got it set up right! (55mins)
4. Assist in changes to the website - we're still learning how it was set up initially, so making changes is still a bit trial and error... It looked fairly odd a few times through the afternoon - but is ok now. (1hr)

Today's work on/in the business - Sat 24 Oct

1. Continue reading documentation on accounting software, set up initial accounts and record yesterday's purchases - seems to have worked! (5hrs)

Plus a little bit of time spent organising the back bedroom so that the computer desk which was being collected could actually be put into the room when it arrived - seemed worthwhile to me!

Today's work on/in the business - Fri 23 Oct

1. Investigate back end for CRM v3 - continuing to read the documentation for the next candidate. (3hrs 15mins)
2. Tidying of the back bedroom, which is to be the other office - so my partner and I can both work at the same time without distracting each other... (1hr - maybe more) Ended up with some stuff to put on Ebay, and other stuff to keep.
3. Download and start reading documentation on accounting software. (1hr 30mins)
4. Trip to find and purchase a mobile broadband USB key - needed to visit two stores before we found one of the keys that was on special. (1hr 40mins)

A couple more items ticked off the to-do list!

Today's work on/in the business - Thurs 22 Oct

1. Investigate back end for CRM v3 - continuing to read the documentation for the next candidate. (3hrs 50mins)
2. Follow up on email for customer - support details and investigate their licensing issues. (50mins)

There should have been more work today, but life got in the way... Tomorrow is another day!

Today's work on/in the business - Wed 21 Oct

1. Recreate the Facebook page a couple of times until the format was as desired - thank goodness deleting a page is easy! Setup my partner as an Administrator for the page, so we can both update it and post to it. (1hr 20mins)
2. Investigate back end for CRM v3 - continuing to read the documentation for the next candidate. (4hrs 15mins)


So, here is the links to the website for the business: Perfect Notes

The Facebook Page link has been added on your right!

Today's work on/in the business - Tues 20 Oct

1. Learn basic use of NetBeans with C++ and Python. (1hr 25mins)
2. Investigate back end for CRM v3 - reading documentation on the next candidate. (7hrs 45mins)
3. Create initial Facebook page for the business (including getting a logo that doesn't get chopped on the edges badly by Facebook beside comments). (1hr 5mins)

Today's work on/in the business - Mon 19 Oct

1. Investigate NetBeans - environment for creating some of the software pieces that I need to go with the selected backend (or any other that may be required....). I think this gives me everything that I need at the moment to create the extra pieces that are required outside the database itself. (10hrs 20mins)
2. Investigating some of the other pieces that are required. (2omins)
3. Investigate back end for CRM v3 - start investigating the next candidate. (25mins)

Today's work on/in the business - Sat 17 Oct

1. Investigate back end for CRM v3 - install the next candidate. (25mins)

Well, I didn't spend much time on the business today - I figure it's about time I actually took a weekend off and this is the weekend to relax on.

Saturday afternoon watching a friend race in the final stage of the Honda Hybrid Women's Tour 2009 and then watch the final stage of the Jayco Herald Sun Tour 2009 - lots of fun watching the racing, getting strange looks from other people as I bounced up and down out of my chair to yell support, catching up with friends that I only see at cycling and generally having fun.

Then Sunday afternoon at the bar at the end of the Around the Bay in a Day - again catching up with friends, congratulating them for finishing the various distances they rode and generally enjoying the fresh air and (sometimes) sunshine!

A really good weekend off!

It's official!

Well, with all the other stuff that I was doing on Thursday, it almost went unnoticed... But we're officially in business as of Thursday 15 October! Supported on NEIS payments, which means we can earn as much as we like in the business and our payments don't get reduced, it's only work outside the business that impacts on the amount we get paid. :-)

I think the real reason that it hasn't had a huge impact is that there are still things to sort out - the back office is not fully set up yet, the procedures are not written up (let alone finalised), I haven't sorted out the mobile internet access yet, leaflets for the tech support side have not been designed let alone delivered, etc, etc, etc. Once a few more of those things are sorted out, it will begin to feel more real - I hope!

Anyway, it's a milestone in the development of the business - it's an official start date!

Today's work on/in the business - Fri 16 Oct

1. Investigate back end for CRM v3. (3hrs 15mins)

2.Resize logo ready for use on Facebook page and similar places. (15mins)

Short day today, as I worked so many hours yesterday...

Today's work on/in the business - Thurs 15 Oct

1. Investigate back end for CRM v3. (5hrs 35mins)
2. Hand in NEIS forms to Centrelink and collect lovely new business cards! (1hr 55mins)
3. Business profit growth seminar. (5hrs 30mins)

Well, the last was proof that I need to start trusting my instincts more... The old 'if it seems too good to be true' AND 'I think I've been here before' combine to mean that I shouldn't have bothered. I'm sure that others there got something from it - certainly some must have, as they signed up for the training being offered - but it really didn't do anything for me... Oh well... Hopefully I'll start learning to listen to my gut feelings...

It's only time...

Today's work on/in the business - Wed 14 Oct

Well, officially this is the last day of being in business without actually officially being in business. Tomorrow we are official - I take the forms down to Centrelink and see what they say about us being on NEIS instead of Centrelink support... Wish us luck!

1. Investigate back end for CRM v3. (4hrs 15mins)

Well, that's actually broken up into 1hr 20mins of determining that I was right - my initial proposed backend will not do what I want to happen - so that's no good. The rest of the time was spent working out what the other options were and reading through the information on the next most suitable option - still a couple of questions, but no show stoppers, so far...!

2. See whether there is any free accounting software that will do the required accounting and get us through until we can afford one of the commercial software products (QuickBooks, MYOB, etc) if required. (1hr 45mins)
Probably have a candidate - ideally need something that can run on more than the Windows platform as we have PCs and servers running other operating systems.

Seems an alright effort for the day. Tomorrow is another day! Carpe diem... :-)

Today's work on/in the business - Tues 13 Oct

Well, actually it's yesterday's work, because I went out last night and got back too late to do the approximately daily update... life happens!

1. Investigate back end for CRM v3. (2hrs 55mins)

Well, the investigation continues. It's possible that this process may still work - more research to be done. My partner and I have a plan for getting it running with the correct version on here, IF I can determine that one of the processes that is required can actually occur... So that's today's task (if I can get motivated - having a hard time of that this morning).

2. General business organisation - send out invoice (for my partner), pay insurance premium, pay other bills, check out ING Business Optimiser account requirements, investigate Google Analytics, follow up on request for website access and logo. (3hrs)

Today's work on/in the business - Mon 12 Oct

1. Investigate back end for CRM v3. (6hrs 55mins)

Well, after a lot of work, it looks like this is not going to be the final choice. I've had two attempts at getting this backend working - once on Windows and once on Linux - with no success.

Probably go back to the list of options tomorrow and start over - oh well... Just annoying.

Today's work on/in the business - Sat 10 Oct

1. Investigate back end for CRM v3. (4hrs 50mins)

Now I have a virtual machine with Xubuntu set up on my laptop, and some of the requirements for the proposed architecture - setup to continue Sunday. Then I can start prototyping and see whether this process will actually work!

Today's work on/in the business - Fri 9 Oct

1. Investigate back end for CRM v3. (7hrs 55mins)
2. Send invoice to customer. (10mins)
3. Read marketing information and similar. (1hr 30mins)

Well, the good news for today is that I think I've got the basic architecture for CRM v3 sorted - with one issue, that may or may not be a deal breaker...

I'm trying to get Ubuntu set up as either a dual-boot or VM on my laptop, so that I can start prototyping, but not having much luck yet. Trying to download and burn the latest Ubuntu so that I can test - the CDs we have here are not loading at the moment.

So, by early next week I should know whether the proposed model is going to work or whether I need to start all over again.

Today's work on/in the business - Thurs 8 Oct

1. Investigate back end for CRM v3 - although today's research is really on the part that will deliver the software via browser, but still part of the development research process. (4hrs 40mins)
2. Respond to email request from customer - follow up to yesterday's site visit. (5mins)

Well, yesterday's bike ride (and its dampness) seems to have given me a case of the sniffles and a clogged head. So unfortunately I wasn't able to do as much reading about the pieces for v3 as I had planned - hopefully tomorrow will be a better day!

Today's work on/in the business - Wed 7 Oct

1. Pick up 20 business cards each - the rest are being printed and laminated. (20mins)
2. Site visit - mostly happy customer. (2hrs 15mins)
3. Update record of market survey results. (15mins)
4. Networking - follow up on posts and queries. (40mins)
5. Networking - face to face! First monthly networking meeting as part of the NEIS support. (3hrs 20mins)

It was interesting, as this is the first networking stuff that Dave's done, combined with a presentation by a guy who does video production etc, which was interesting as well. Anyway, as per usual, I did most of the required talking and Dave did most of the talking to people afterwards... It's OK - the balance will work itself out. Handed out some business cards and collected some others.

Today's work on/in the business - Tues 6 Oct

1. Investigate back end for CRM v3. (2hrs 40mins)
2. Networking - follow up on posts and queries. (1hr 5mins)
3. Organise for the printing of business cards, including getting quotes from local printers. (1hr)

Today's Centrelink - Tues 6 Oct

Pretty good run today. I thought that it'd take longer, as we had to hand in our completed Job Seeker diaries - I wasn't sure if it would be a case of handing them in and them being reviewed later, or that they'd be reviewed while we wait - turns out that it gets reviewed as part of the interview, but didn't take too long...

So an hour door to door, which is less than I expected.

And that has to be the second to last time - NEIS program from October 15th - yippee!

Today's work on/in the business - Mon 5 Oct

1. Catch up on recording of business email correspondence. (30mins)
2. Investigate back end for CRM v3. (7hrs 25mins)

Today's work on/in the business - Sun 4 Oct

Well, having taken Friday off to go out with a friend and see an exhibition, I get to work on Sunday instead... that's the way it goes when you work for yourself!

1. Investigate back end for CRM v3. (4hrs 45mins)

Not happy - can't install the next piece that I need to learn this database backend - it's really designed for Unix systems, and there's obviously some issue with the build on Windows... Argh....

Correspondence with the main guy who supports this, but still not working. Leaving it till tomorrow now.

Today's Centrelink - Sun 4 Oct

1hr 45mins to apply for the 10 jobs required for this fortnight.

Done - yippee!

Today's work on/in the business - Thurs 1 Oct

1. Investigate back end for CRM v3. (4hrs 55mins)
2. SIGN NEIS AGREEMENT! Hand in paperwork to look our Job Provider know that this is happening and buy some equipment we need for the business. (1hr 50mins)

It's official, as of 15th October we are running a business with NEIS support for 12 months. The reality of this hasn't really hit yet. It's just 'a fact' in my head at this point in time, rather than a truth...hmmm... not sure if that's a distinction that people will understand, but it's right for me... Maybe next week it will feel like the truth.

Our contact at the Job provider asked whether it had gone quickly or not - which is actually a hard question to answer. In one way, it's flown by - weeks filled with classes and research and typing and so on... and in another, it seemed to take so long - at least partly because the classes finished and it's been a week and a half since we handed in the business plan for assessment. Not that things have stopped since then, but the 'formal' part of the process just came to an abrupt halt...

Anyway, now we get to make sure that we do the nitty gritty preparation work - getting the business cards that have been designed for us actually printed, setting up the back office properly, designing flyers for the technical support side of the business, setting up an answering machine, etc, etc, etc.

So stick around - the journey just got real!