Today's work on/in the business - Wed 29 Sept

1. Update my record of time worked. (5mins)
2. Review business consulting entries in Yellow Pages with a view to sending introductory email and brochure for Perfect Notes Virtual Assistant information. 4 sent, to catch up on those not sent on Tuesday due to time. (1hr 55mins)
3. Determine and send estimates for repeat ecard customer. (30mins)
4. Invoicing - 1 cheque received. (10mins)
5. Accounting. (10mins)
6. Read insurance details. Talk about options. (30mins)
7. Complete stop/start scripts for our live Plone sites. (10mins)
8. Networking - follow up on posts and queries - 2 posts today. (45mins)
9. Email correspondence with potential website revamp customer re email management system details. (55mins)
10. Clean up Drafts folder in email. (25mins)
11. Travel towards Bendigo for networking meeting. (1hr 30mins)

Today's work on/in the business - Tues 28 Sept

1. Networking meeting in Bendigo. This one just to observe how the group is supposed to work. (4hrs 15mins)
2. Support customer - quick visit to tee up return visit Wed night/Thurs. Discussion re some issues he has that he didn't let us know about yet. (40mins)
3. Travel back from networking meeting, including side trip to Thomastown to discuss issues with the car. (2hrs 35mins)
4. Stop/start scripts for our live Plone sites. (40mins)
5. Update my record of time worked. (10mins)
6. Look at the statistics that Google Analytics gives you. 132 visits so still lower, 83 new visits - so a good mix of new and existing visitors, 35% search, 39% direct and 26% referral traffic - search is staying up, keyword/site path information shows that current processes are working to bring people to the site, 2.11 pages per visit, 1:50 average time on site is reasonable - these last figures show people actually look at the site once they find it and they are staying reasonably consistent. (10mins)

Today's work on/in the business - Mon 27 Sept

1. Update my record of time worked. (5mins)
2. Top up mobile broadband. (5mins)
3. Follow up on existing customers and prospects. (35mins)
4. Networking - follow up on posts and queries - 2 posts today. (50mins)
5. Accounting. (20mins)
6. Expand the Product entry within PerfectNotes CRM to allow recording of stock levels. (1hr 40mins)
7. Record business emails. (25mins)
8. Travel towards Bendigo for networking meeting. (1hr 45mins)

Today's work on/in the business - Sat 25 Sept

1. Update my record of time worked. (10mins)
2. Review progress made this week and ensure the schedule is right for next week. (5mins)
3. Invoicing. 2 paid (1 customer). (5mins)
4. Update formatting on a page on our website. (50mins)

Today's work on/in the business - Fri 24 Sept

1. Email correspondence re networking meeting in country Vic. (5mins)
2. Update my record of time worked. (20mins)
3. Invoicing - none paid. (5mins)
4. Accounting. (10mins)
5. Look at notification changes for website upgrade customer. (1hr 35mins)
6. Review business consulting entries in Yellow Pages with a view to sending introductory email and brochure for Perfect Notes Virtual Assistant information. 2 sent. (1hr 5mins)
7. Investigate basic requirements for creating an iPhone application. (1hr 10mins)
8. Start investigating installation of web design software. (25mins)
9. Record business emails. (25mins)
10. Review the project schedules. Moved OBDM and CRM out another week - there will be no work on these next week. (5mins)
11. Trip to bank to deposit cheque. (30mins)

Today's work on/in the business - Thurs 23 Sept

1. Determine whether customer's server is down as they think. Turned out not to be, but customer is happy that we checked and he is getting emails again. (20mins)
2. Update my record of time worked. (5mins)
3. Invoicing. Finish recording the payment received yesterday. (5mins)
4. Complete addressing issue with two of our Plone sites and preventing it from being repeated. (1hr 20mins)
5. Networking - follow up on posts and queries - 3 posts today. (30mins)
6. Accounting. (10mins)
7. Move files to free up space on my laptop. (3hrs 5mins)
8. Look at sample website for support customer who is looking at possibility of upgrading their website. (1hr 30mins)
9. Review business consulting entries in Yellow Pages with a view to sending introductory email and brochure for Perfect Notes Virtual Assistant information. 2 sent. (45mins)
10. Email correspondence re networking meeting in country Vic. (10mins)
11. Address minor issue with code for one of our websites. (2hrs 35mins)

Today's work on/in the business - Wed 22 Sept

1. Update my record of time worked. (5mins)
2. Create CD of copied files from associate's server and put copy on our server. (1hr 25mins)
3. Identify issue with two of our Plone sites and address it. Also prevent it from being repeated. (11hrs 20mins)
4. Accounting. (10mins)
5. Invoicing - 1 payment made. (5mins)

Today's work on/in the business - Tues 21 Sept

1. Remove copied files from associate's server. (30mins)
2. Update my record of time worked. (5mins)
3. Identify issue with customer's existing website that needed to be uploaded to new host. (15mins)
4. Look at the statistics that Google Analytics gives you. 136 visits so still lower, 84 new visits - so a good mix of new and existing visitors, 39% search, 37% direct and 24% referral traffic - search is staying up, keyword/site path information shows that current processes are working to bring people to the site, 2.51 pages per visit, 2:50 average time on site is reasonable - these last figures are still reasonable - people actually look at the site once they find it and they are staying reasonably consistent. (10mins)
5. Follow up on enquiry about Perfect Notes Virtual Assistant information. Left a message. (5mins)
6. Review business consulting entries in Yellow Pages with a view to sending introductory email and brochure for Perfect Notes Virtual Assistant information. 1 sent. (25mins)
7. Write and send monthly NEIS contact email. (10mins)
8. Accounting. (25mins)
9. Invoicing. 2 sent out. (1hr)
10. Start looking into requirements for support customer to revamp and expand his website. (10mins)
11. Record business emails. (45mins)
12. Download and sort business emails, including for enquiries and support as well. (2hrs 5mins)

Today's work on/in the business - Mon 20 Sept

1. Update my record of time worked. (10mins)
2. Review business consulting entries in Yellow Pages with a view to sending introductory email and brochure for Perfect Notes Virtual Assistant information. 2 sent. (40mins)
3. Continue investigation into why sitemap submission has not led to sites being indexed. (10mins)
4. Follow up on existing customers and prospects. (5mins)
5. Continuing correspondence with website revamp customer. (1hr 20mins)
6. Networking - follow up on posts and queries - 1 post today. (25mins)
7. Continue copying files from associate's server so that they can be backed up to DVD and removed. (5hrs 30mins)
8. Bookkeeping for Virtual Assistant customer. (40mins)

Today's work on/in the business - Sun 19 Sept

1. Computer swap meet to buy RAM for customer's laptop. (1hr)

It was probably longer than that, but I did not actually time it...

Today's work on/in the business - Sat 18 Sept

1. Continue copying files from associate's server so that they can be backed up to DVD and removed. Looks like something odd happened - the file sizes and numbers do not seem to add up at all... Will repeat it a different way. (6hrs 15mins)
2. Update my record of time worked. (15mins)
3. Email correspondence re website examples. (10mins)
4. Review the project schedules. Moved OBDM and CRM out another week - there will be no work on these next week. (5mins)
5. Review progress made this week and ensure the schedule is right for next week. (5mins)

Today's work on/in the business - Fri 17 Sept

1. Update my record of time worked. (10mins)
2. Finalise estimates for website revamp customer. Send estimates. (50mins)
3. Scan and remove virus from business laptop, including identify that all processes running are legitimate. (3hrs)
4. Invoicing - 1 paid. (5mins)
5. Email customer re laptop that required virus checking and extra RAM. (5mins)
6. Review business consulting entries in Yellow Pages with a view to sending introductory email and brochure for Perfect Notes Virtual Assistant information. 2 sent. (45mins)
7. Emails re potential to assist customer with website creation if they need another input. (15mins)
8. Invoice reconciliation. 2 followed up for 1 customer. (5mins)
9. Accounting. (10mins)
10. Start copying files from associate's server so that they can be backed up to DVD and removed. (4hrs 55mins)
11. Record business emails. (40mins)

Today's work on/in the business - Thurs 16 Sept

1. Update my record of time worked. (10mins)
2. Review new landing page for Perfect Notes Virtual Assistant. (25mins)
3. Invoicing. Nothing paid. (5mins)
4. Investigate issues outstanding for website revamp customer. Draft estimates. Still one thing to be determined. (5hrs 15mins)
5. Assisting with laptop work and email to customer. (40mins)
6. Email correspondence re meeting with customer next week. (25mins)

Today's work on/in the business - Wed 15 Sept

1. Update my record of time worked. (10mins)
2. Setup a 'thank you, this campaign has ended' page for ecard client. (25mins)
3. Record business emails. (1hr)
4. Review business consulting entries in Yellow Pages with a view to sending introductory email and brochure for Perfect Notes Virtual Assistant information. 2 sent. (30mins)
5. Networking - follow up on posts and queries - 1 post today. (40mins)
6. Tidy up apache setup documents on aboc server now that test work is complete or cancelled. (35mins)
7. Accounting. (15mins)

Tough day for various reasons - not enough real work done.

Today's work on/in the business - Tues 14 Sept

1. Email correspondence re networking meeting in Bendigo on Wed night - ultimately postponed our attendance until the next one. (10mins)
2. Update my record of time worked. (5mins)
3. Email follow up with ecard customer which may need a revamp of its website. (5mins)
4. Look at the statistics that Google Analytics gives you. 133 visits so still dropping, 82 new visits - so a good mix of new and existing visitors, 41% search, 35% direct and 24% referral traffic - search is staying up, keyword/site path information shows that current processes are working to bring people to the site, 2.62 pages per visit, 2:26 average time on site is reasonable - these last figures are still reasonable - people actually look at the site once they find it and they are staying reasonably consistent. (10mins)
5. Email correspondence over suggested meeting with potential customer for website revamp. (5mins)
6. Bookkeeping for Virtual Assistant customer. (1hr 55mins)
7. Invoicing - nothing paid. (5mins)
8. Assisting with laptop work and data recovery. (2hrs 40mins)
9. Fix hard coded USD in email notification from Plone - now says AUD as required for our sites. (5hrs 15mins)
10. Start investigating payment gateways for potential website revamp customer. (25mins)

Today's work on/in the business - Mon 13 Sept

1. Follow up with customer re access to email via phone and laptop. (5mins)
2. Update my record of time worked. (5mins)
3. Add code to produce site maps to our websites. (5hrs 5mins)
4. Test PayPal for PlantSupplies.com.au. (10mins)
5. Fix issue with access to images - the process used earlier today turns out to be incorrect. (30mins)
6. Follow up on existing customers and prospects. (5mins)
7. Networking - follow up on posts and queries - 2 posts today. (40mins)
8. Review Google AdWords campaign for customer - decided it is probably not necessary at the moment, as they are getting reasonable hit counts since the funds ran out. (15mins)
9. Review updates following submission of site maps for our websites. (10mins)

Today's work on/in the business - Sun 12 Sept

1. Attempting to help with laptop issue. Visit from another tech. Time spent going to Collingwood computer swap meet - not sure how useful that was, but at least it was done. Did not really find a laptop repair business that I was happy with. May have found a source of a replacement laptop if that turns out to be required. (2hrs 45mins)
2. Update my record of time worked. (5mins)
3. Review the project schedules. Moved OBDM and CRM out another week - there will be no work on these next week. (5mins)
4. Review progress made this week and ensure the schedule is right for next week. (5mins)

Today's work on/in the business - Sat 11 Sept

1. Update my record of time worked. (10mins)
2. Record business emails. (45mins)
3. Preparing site map to submit to Google for new website customer. Unfortunately, having difficulty generating the file automatically - needs more investigation. (30mins)

Dramas at the end of the day when our friends in London got the wrong day of arrival for our travelling friend - so they thought she was missing! Eventually worked out that they were expecting her a day earlier than she is scheduled to arrive - just around midnight our time! Very exciting/interesting/stressful end to the day - took a long time to wind down from that. Hopefully she will turn up as expected on the right day!

Today's work on/in the business - Fri 10 Sept

1. Update my record of time worked. (10mins)
2. Send customer reset email password. (Although, sending it by email was not the smartest thing I have ever done... In my defence, it WAS before I had my first coffee of the morning). When he rang me, I passed on the details. (10mins)
3. Invoicing - 4 paid by 1 customer, to bring him up to date. (10mins)
4. Continue work on test setup for website changes for new customer. Got it working - just in time to receive the email saying not to go forward with the work, as they have decided to replace the website itself! (5hrs)
5. Email business mentor on ideas to improve our marketing efforts. (10mins)
6. Discussion with potential associate about his business and what we do - along with potential synergies. (25mins)

Today's work on/in the business - Thurs 9 Sept

1. Update my record of time worked. (10mins)
2. Continue work on test setup for website changes for new customer. Nearly setup - I think. (2hrs 55mins)
3. Record business card details from networking meetings from this week and previously that had not made it into the system yet. (20mins)
4. Start investigation of processes for customer who has just moved their website to BigPond hosting - look at what tools are available and such. (1hr 40mins)
5. Review and format Technical Environment Analysis document for potential customer. (1hr 45mins)
6. Invoicing - 1 sent out. (20mins)
7. Accounting. (10mins)
8. Request password reset for website upgrade customer. (10mins)
9. Review business consulting entries in Yellow Pages with a view to sending introductory email and brochure for Perfect Notes Virtual Assistant information. 1 sent from this, 1 sent in response to an enquiry. (1hr 30mins)

Today's work on/in the business - Wed 8 Sept

1. Update my record of time worked. Unfortunately, this process just proved that working for yourself can (does!) mean too many work hours... (25mins)
2. Invoicing - 1 cheque received, 1 invoice sent out. Unfortunately, when I tried to bank the cheque, the teller pointed out that it wasn't signed... not so useful that way! (30mins)
3. Record business emails. (1hr 25mins)
4. Update PayPal details for new website to the correct information (now that we have it...) (5mins)
5. Download and sort business emails. (2hrs)
6. Networking - follow up on posts and queries - 2 posts today. (25mins)
7. Collate and send information about responses to ecard campaign. (1hr 15mins)
8. Review business consulting entries in Yellow Pages with a view to sending introductory email and brochure for Perfect Notes Virtual Assistant information. 1 sent from this, 1 sent in response to an enquiry. (55mins)
9. Trip to bank to deposit 2 cheques - which turned out to be 1 cheque. (30mins)
10. Accounting. (35mins)

Today's work on/in the business - Tues 7 Sept

1. Update my record of time worked. (10mins)
2. Setup payment details for our associated website, ready for testing. (10mins)
3. Preparation for quarterly mentor meeting - not as bad as last quarter - we actually look like we're in business! (50mins)
4. Quarterly mentor meeting. (1hr 35mins)
5. Trip to purchase a new monitor (the test environment monitor died just when we need it!), also tried to visit a customer, but he was not there. (1hr 25mins)
6. Accounting. (15mins)
7. Send email to website upgrade customer following up his request. (10mins)
8. Review business consulting entries in Yellow Pages with a view to sending introductory email and brochure for Perfect Notes Virtual Assistant information. 2 sent. (1hr 5mins)
9. Look at the statistics that Google Analytics gives you. 149 visits so dropping again, 84 new visits - so a good mix of new and existing visitors, 39% search, 38% direct and 23% referral traffic - search is staying up, keyword/site path information shows that current processes are working to bring people to the site, 2.38 pages per visit, 1:51 average time on site is reasonable - these last figures are still reasonable - people actually look at the site once they find it and they are staying reasonably consistent. (10mins)
10. Website changes for website upgrade customer. Unfortunately, only half of this time is actually chargeable, due to a really slow internet connection - we have to find a better broadband plan! (1hr 55mins)
11. Networking - face to face. Monthly networking meeting as part of the NEIS support. A worthwhile experience, even if I did get put on the spot! (3hrs 10mins)

Today's work on/in the business - Mon 6 Sept

1. Update my record of time worked. (20mins)
2. Tidy up my PC - free up some space. (1hr)
3. Follow up on existing customers and prospects. (15mins)
4. Continue work on test setup for website changes for new customer. Operating system setup on test server - then the monitor that goes with that setup stopped working! Can't get a break on this one... (1hr 10mins)
5. Networking - follow up on posts and queries - 2 posts today. (25mins)
6. Review request for website revamp and initial work already done. Copied files to my machine for easier investigation - a lot of this time just making sure the files were downloading. (9hrs 15mins)
7. Review files on associate's server that can be downloaded and archived to CD. (1hr)

Long day - fortunately a lot of it was just ensuring files downloaded.

Today's work on/in the business - Sun 5 Sept

1. Update my record of time worked. (5mins)
2. Review request for website revamp and initial work already done. Asked some questions about processes. Reading up on Mailman, which is the list manager available for integration. (2hrs 50mins)
3. Continue work on test setup for website changes for new customer. (20mins)

A very frustrating day yesterday. We have the operating system for the test setup - but it is refusing to load on any of our test machines. Work will continue on this.

Today's work on/in the business - Sat 4 Sept

1. Change new website to live. (3hrs 50mins)
2. Update my record of time worked. (10mins)
3. Invoicing - 2 sent. (35mins)
4. Review Google AdWords campaign for website upgrade customer. (15mins)
5. Record business emails. (55mins)
6. Review the project schedules. Moved OBDM and CRM out another week - there will be no work on these next week. Finalised project to create new website. (5mins)
7. Review progress made this week and ensure the schedule is right for next week. (15mins)

Today's work on/in the business - Fri 3 Sept

1. Upload code changes for new website customer and check details entered. (8hrs)
2. Update my record of time worked. (10mins)
3. Review business consulting entries in Yellow Pages with a view to sending introductory email and brochure for Perfect Notes Virtual Assistant information. 2 sent. (25mins)
4. Invoice reconciliation - nothing to chase at this time, those overdue have already been followed up. (5mins)
5. Accounting. (25mins)

Today's work on/in the business - Thurs 2 Sept

1. Update my record of time worked. (10mins)
2. Review business consulting entries in Yellow Pages with a view to sending introductory email and brochure for Perfect Notes Virtual Assistant information. 2 sent. (1hr 5mins)
3. Invoicing - nothing paid. (5mins)
4. Work on code changes for new website customer. (8hrs 30mins)
5. Meeting with support customer to discuss plans for revamping and expanding his website. This was a really good meeting, as he has definite ideas on what he needs, but is open to advice on how to set it up and move forward. As a real bonus, he had two of his kids cancel for dinner, so we got invited to eat with them as well! (2hrs)

Today's work on/in the business - Wed 1 Sept

1. Update my record of time worked. (15mins)
2. Upload website updates for website upgrade customer. (10mins)
3. Determine whether we met the KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) for August 2010. Thankfully, we met most of them - the obvious one that failed being my requirement to exercise (again), but I have now joined a gym, which is helping. Some of the other processes are starting again, but with a focus on the Virtual Assistant work, not CRM. (10mins)
4. Bank reconciliation. (15mins)
5. Networking - follow up on posts and queries - 2 posts today. (25mins)
6. Bookkeeping for new customer. (35mins)
7. Work on code changes for new website customer. (4hrs 30mins)

Dinner this evening with a bunch of friends - was good!

Today's work on/in the business - Tues 31 Aug

1. Update my record of time worked. (10mins)
2. Implement code changes for website upgrade customer. (35mins)
3. Invoicing - 2 paid, 1 sent. (20mins)
4. Networking - follow up on posts and queries - 4 posts today. (50mins)
5. Follow up on existing customers and prospects. (25mins)
6. Look at the statistics that Google Analytics gives you. 166 visits so staying up fairly well, 97 new visits - so a good mix of new and existing visitors, 39% search, 36% direct and 25% referral traffic - search is staying up, keyword/site path information shows that current processes are working to bring people to the site, 2.30 pages per visit, 1:50 average time on site is reasonable - these last figures are still reasonable - people actually look at the site once they find it. (10mins)
7. Continue work on website changes for new customer. (Most of this time is trying to get a copy of the required operating system to set up a useful testing platform - what I have been trying to use so far is not working as expected - duplicating it on the live server is causing issues). (6hrs 15mins)
8. Review business consulting entries in Yellow Pages with a view to sending introductory email and brochure for Perfect Notes Virtual Assistant information. 2 sent. (1hr 10mins)
9. Record business emails. (1hr)