Working All Weekend

Just a quick blog post this week as it's normally done at weekends and in my "old role" as a sole trader I still work as a Chief Examiner for an international computer education company and have some tight deadlines to meet regarding assessments I have to write. So that's this weekend's activities dealt with (though I did sneak in a bit of time to watch the Wallabies v All Blacks match on Sky sports).

Bit of a mixed bag last week with a largely finished website uploaded plus an ancillary site for our tree contractor clients for selling their seasoned logs as firewood in the Cambridge/Newmarket area.

We also had a number of meetings including one with a local graphic designer who we plan to team up with for joint work, a freelance web designer who we may use and a business adviser - plenty to follow up on there plus a visit a potential client for an e-commerce website. There was also some prototype website designs, some Adwords work, SEO and a bit of mentoring work - a busy time.

The coming week sees a few meetings regarding potential freelancers, networking, providing a bit of work experience for someone on a disability back to work scheme, and when I'm not in meetings some web design, further work on the prototype application, trip to the bank, Adwords, SEO, exam writing all weekend and probably a brush up my a**e to sweep up whilst I'm walking around!!

Good to be busy though :-)

A Short Week & A Shorter Summer Holiday

It's only been a short week this week, which has simply meant cramming five days work into the available days. The office was shut on Friday (my Summer Holiday of 1 day) as I took the day off to spend some time with my family including a really great walk up in the Pennines in Upper Teesdale past Low Force, High Force (below) and beyond.

Work saw the iPlayer getting some use again (back to normal next week now the Olympics are over) plus completing the tree contractor website and creating the prototype designs for three new websites. We also worked on some SEO on a few websites and the Adwords account for one of our clients plus added code to a client's websites so that they comply with the latest "Cookie Law" - if your site doesn't comply, contact us.

The week was also Chloe's first full week with us and saw the assessor in for an afternoon to set up her Level 2 NVQ. Hopefully Chloe will rattle through that and we can help her achieve a level 3 as well during her apprenticeship.

We also had an informal networking meeting at The Wilton Centre which saw four businesses come along as we aim to set up a new group in Redcar. A useful meeting which will be repeated in a couple of weeks - so if you operate in Redcar or East Cleveland and are interested, drop me an email via our website.

Next week sees us meeting up with a web designer who has just moved into the area with a view to adding him to our small list of freelancers who we engage on specific projects, plus a meeting with a shop owner to pitch for an e-commerce site and a meeting with a business advisor. A busy week with a couple of websites to finish off as well, plus a bit of mentoring to do.

At least there's no Olympic distractions...

... and on that subject Mo Farah = legend.

Apprentice, Olympics and Cricket

The title pretty much sums up the week.

Wednesday saw Chloe our new Sales & Marketing Assistant begin her apprenticeship with us. We're happy  to see Chloe join the team and she seems like a great addition. However, we have taken it a little easy with BBC iPlayer getting some serious use for key Olympic events during work hours.

This weekend saw a trip to Headingley for the Test Match and a good day with my son and part-time Marketing Assistant Matt and a bunch of good friends, some of whom I only meet up with once or twice a year. A good day's cricket on Sat with a superb innings by KP plus far too much beer, especially as we piled into a pub straight after play to see a great night of athletics on the TV for team GB..
... and what a night it was.

Golds for Greg Rutherford, the wonderful Jessica Ennis and Mo Farah. Loved watching them all but the highlight for me was being in a pub where 99% of the faces were white and everyone screaming at the TV in support of Mo and celebrating the win of a black man named Mohamed who came to Britain from Somali. One in the eye for the racists and xenophobes and for me one of the things that makes Britain great.

Loving the Olympics and how well Team GB are doing - only another week and then we can start working normally again.

The Olympics and Work

Well what a fantastic opening ceremony created by Danny Boyle, absolutely loved it. Quirky, interesting, good music (mostly), funny and very British. A fantastic job by all involved and I think we trumped Beijing big style.

Problem is there are going to be some great Olympic events in work time over the next couple of weeks so it will either be go somewhere with a  TV or hit the BBC iPlayer during work hours. I certainly intend to make sure some time is taken during work time for the big events at Tad Towers (as I seem to have just christened our office in Wilton Centre) - I intend to watch them so only fair that the same applies to all staff. Need to get the event timetable out and plan the viewing. The other problem is getting all the work done!

We've got some interesting work coming up - some more development on the location-based prototype which is ongoing plus we've got a new plumbers website to make and an e-commerce site for a new boutique in Middlesbrough that is coming soon. We've nearly completed a new site for a tree contractors/tree surgeon in Suffolk - it's gone live but we're waiting for the last couple of bits of information from the client to complete it.

Wednesday sees Chloe joining the company as an apprentice Sales/Marketing Assistant and we look forward to her playing a role in the future growth of the company. Chloe is our first full-time permanent employee, had temporary ones previously, but we are looking to take on another apprentice but this time on the digital side of the business to aid with design and social media marketing. We will continue to use freelancer web developers and graphic designers in busy periods for the moment - so if you fit that bill contact me at Tad Web Solutions Ltd.

We've also got a few exciting potential projects coming up including new websites locally, as well as those agreed above, plus elsewhere in England and Scotland. We're also doing a bit of mentoring via Redcar & Cleveland Council and got a meeting regarding a very exciting new project that we're hoping to get involved in.

Looking forward to a busy week and hopefully seeing a few medals for Team GB.

New Websites & Apprenticeship Plans

We completed three new sites for clients last week with a microsite for an oil storage tank company plus a new website for a pest control company in Surrey and a new site for a wedding car company in South Wales.

All three of these companies were looking for budget websites and as part of our Small Business Solutions we were able to create sites on-time and within budget.

The week also saw us making the necessary arrangements for our new sales/marketing apprentice to start on 01 Aug, assuming she agrees to the contract. So grant funding arranged, terms and conditions arranged, training provider organised and job offer and associated paraphernalia sent out. Still got sort out payroll with our accountants and then all is go.

We also have an advert out for a new social digital apprentice through Middlesbrough College and would be looking for a new starter in September. Busy and exciting times.

Media Portrayal of Young People

A really enjoyable week with our school work's experience young man Cameron and work triallist Chloe.

Cameron learned really quickly, pity he's got another year at school as if he was interested we'd offer him a social digital apprenticeship. If we need someone in a year's time and Cam is interested then we'd be keen to offer him a post. Considering he's not done any design before, by the end of the week he created a simple site on his own including some php form to mail and lightbox - great effort in a week.

http://www.teesadstest.co.uk/Scaffolding/index.html

Chloe was great, fantastic attitude to work, punctual, smart and bright. We've got some paperwork to do but we will be offering Chloe an apprenticeship and look forward to her starting with us if she accepts.

So two great young people. I watched a bit of a programme during the week, no idea what it is called but included some of the Apprentice old folk, that pits young v old in the world of work and guess what...

.. yes, young people are rubbish. What a pile of b*ll***s. Nothing against old people but we have a huge pool of young, intelligent talent who are demonised by much of the media and being treated like crap by this Government making it too expensive to study but hard to get a job. Well hopefully we can be one of the many employers who have faith in our young people and provide them with the opportunities they need.

Was a bit of a mental week for me, with 3 sites just about made (still a couple of final tweaks) as well as looking after Chloe and Cam and hopefully making their week worthwhile for them. A few important meetings that might have a big effect on the business in the long run including a 6.45 meeting start and a lot of very late nights to keep up with the workload. Going to make time early next week for a post work beer with friends and a catch up.

Lots of work again next week, including the weekends, but will sneak out for a walk over the North Yorks Moors tomorrow a.m. The office will seem really quiet for a week as there's only me in - will drive myself mad as I get on my nerves, God knows how bad it is for others who have to put up with me.

The Hub, New Contracts & New People

Another week has gone by where much of the work was meeting with people and talking to existing clients regarding new websites and upgrades.

The exciting part of the week was a visit to The Palace Hub in Redcar. It's still a building site and won't be complete until December but you can see the building taking shape. Adrian from Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council kindly took some time out from a very busy schedule to show me around, including a look at where our office would be with a cracking view out to sea. It was all very impressive, apart from me looking like a short & fat Village People lookalike in hard hat and high-vis jacket, and we plan to move in subject to contract. Exciting times ahead.

We also discussions with existing clients and will be creating three new websites as a result of those discussions to add to the four we are already working on. The new sites are a tree contractor's site for our client's new company in Newmarket, a complete upgrade of a Surrey client's pest control site and an oil storage tank site for a client based in the North East. We have spoken to a number of freelancer's we know and plan to use a small number of trusted people to come into our office and help with any new projects.

This week sees us with two new people in the office. Cameron is doing 1 week's work experience from school and we're planning on getting him to build his own personal website which will showcase his skills - we'll see how that goes and post a link when done. We've also got Chloe coming in for the week for a work trial. We've already interviewed Chloe and were impressed, if all goes well this week we will be offering her an apprenticeship and we believe that she can make a big impression on our sales figures in the long term. We've also created the job description for a social digital apprentice and the adverts for that should go out shortly - if you're interested call us on 01642 438173 for more details.