The Strategic Startup is a great place to expand your Startup business

The best startup entrepreneurs are learning all of the time. They take on information and process things that can help them with their business all the time. One great way to gather information that can be useful to your startup business is by reading blogs. I have found a great blog that is interesting and full of useful information. It is called The Strategic Startup and it is full of tips and ideas on how to make a success of your startup business.

It is a sad fact that so many startups don’t make it through the first year. This is not through a lack of ability or knowledge but often through a lack of learning. I urge my readers to open their eyes to all potential sources of information that can help you to expand your horizons and become the best startup entrepreneur that you can possibly be. The Strategic Startup is a fantastic place to start. From the very first words in the very first entry you can feel the enthusiasm that Kishan, the writer of this blog, has for this subject. Enthusiasm goes a hell of a long way in startup business and this guy has it in spades.

I have looked at reading books and articles, attending meetings and listening to others in the same way throughout my career. You may well go to a meeting, for example, with the attitude that you have heard all of this before. You would actually be wrong. If you go in with the attitude that if you learn just one new thing then you will have made a success of that time. With The Strategic Startup blog from Kishan Modha you will learn all kinds of new things that can be applied to your startup business-

•          How to develop your potential
•          How to set up your startup business
•          The research you need to carry out at the start of your business
•          Planning your short-term and long-term goals
•          And more!

The Strategic Startup is a wonderful place to add to the knowledge and experience that you have when getting your startup business off the ground. As your business develops then you will want to arm yourself with more knowledge and more skills to cope with the oncoming challenges that any startup business faces.  By reading the informative and inspiring words of Kishan you will get a massive helping hand on your way to success.

My latest book is available on the Amazon Kindle store this week

As time moves by and the startup dreams are on the back burner for the Winter, I have started to branch out into other areas. My regular readers will know that I have been doing a lot of writing recently.

My work on fiverr.com has really taken off and I am very pleased with the number of gigs I have been getting. I have also expanded the different writing gigs that I offer, which is bringing in more activity and more income.

But it is the book writing (and publishing) that is the reason for today's blog entry. I have published my latest book this week and it is gaining some interest already. I have started to promote the book through social media and there has been a small buzz associated with it.

I have written about the book on this blog before and it's now ready. The book is-




It is available now, so please investigate. Ask me any questions you have and I will help you on your own quest to write a book. It really can be done if you follow a plan like the one outlined in my book.

The next book is starting and it is going to be about writing a blog, gaining readers for your blog and then monetising the blog. It will be another mid-sized book like the others I have written and I think that it will become as popular as te others I have written and published.

Everything slows down on the blogging front as Christmas approaches

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I'm starting to put my blogs to bed now until the New Year. The fact that many io the areas I blog about slow down dramatically at this time of year only adds to the fact that people's attention is drawn away to other places and things. Christmas is on the way and all of my blogs drop significantly in readership from early December until the start of January. Subsequently I'm starting to switch the blogs off-

Estate agency

This really is a quiet time for estate agents as the market starts to shut down for Christmas. People who have sales going through now want to be in their new home before Christmas. Most solicitors close completely for over a week and everything goes really quiet.

And likewise with my How to sell your home blog - there aren't many people starting to look at selling their home at this time of year.

Retail

Retailers are the opposite of estate agents at this time of year - they are too busy to do much reading. My blogs would bypass many of my potential readers because they are all busy at this time of year.

Mystery shopping

This is another area that goes really quiet at this time. In the same way that retailers want to concentrate on sales right now, they don't want their busiest season to be interrupted by a major mystery shopping programme. And because of this, the mystery shop companies cut back their activity to almost zero until the new year.

You'll see less of me during the next month or so on all of my blogs.

I started writing, got half way through a piece and just stopped.....

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I've got half way through a writing piece this week and stopped in my tracks. It's not really happened before but I do t really know how to finish what I've been writing. It's not writer's block or anything like that, it's just I don't really know where I want to go with it. The current text is the second sample blog for my estate agents blog that I let you know about recently-

http://245daystogo.blogspot.com/2015/11/see-writing-skills-that-can-help-estate.html

And the text I have do far is-

"Mark Carney, the Governor of the Bank of England has hinted that interest rate rises will happen later rather than sooner-

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-34733480

The global economic situation means that inflation is less likely to rise and interest rate rises are less likely to be needed.

But what does the phrase 'interest rates' mean?

When newspapers, television news and websites say interest rates, they mean the Bank of England base rate. This is still at the lowest it has ever been. It has stayed at 0.5% since the credit crunch of 2009, and there really hasn't been much sign of it changing since then. And it's this Bank of England base rate at half a percent that goes on to influence the interest rate you pay on your mortgage. A consistently low base rate gives confidence to the banks to offer low mortgage rates.

But what does that mean for home buyers in Yourtown? What does it mean for customers of estate agents in Yourtown?

Well, a second statement from the Bank of England this week sheds a little more light on this-

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-34741331

The Deputy Governor states that the Bank of England base interest rate should not be used as a tool to control the housing market. This should mean that house prices in Yourtown follow a more natural curve of demand and supply, without a large intervention from outside sources. This gives you an idea that changes in interest rates are made to control inflation - not to control the price you pay for your next home.

The best way to know about your local market us to keep a watch of your local market. Register with home estate agents and we will send our freshest properties on the market to to your email inbox. To have the latest homes for sale in Yourtown sent directly to you when they are released puts you at the front of the information market. If you speak to is then we can let you know what is available to you and what the asking prices are for the type of property you want.

And it's by understanding what you want that you can get to grips with your local housing market."

 As I've said, I'm not unhappy with the current content, I'm just not completely sure if how I finish it. I'm trying to create several things at once-

1. An SEO-optimised piece that will boost an estate agents search engine rankings.
2. Something that their customers will read all the way through.
3. Something that prompts the customer to action.
4. Something that creates customer confidence.

And I think that this piece so far creates points 1 to 3, but I'm concerned that it borders on infringing point 4. Interest rates are a touchy subject and I don't want the blog piece to put customers off buying a home because they fear interest rate rises. The next step in the blog will have to be a careful one as I want to say more about how my estate agents can help clients but without causing any fear. I'll think long and hard about it and post any updated version on here.

It's a strange feeling to not finish a piece of writing, but it's come to this here. Hopefully it's a one off!

See how the half-term time off didn't stop all the startup planning

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It's half-term week and roughly-speaking a week off from many parts of the startup planning. I've not switched off completely and sitting as a passenger in some car journeys along with other spare time gives me the chance to write a few blog posts, tweet some marketing links and check my fiverr gigs. It's important to keep an active present with things like this and most of my gigs offer services that I can produce in less than half an hour on my smartphone. Even if I need to conduct some research then a smartphone can take care of that. In fact, there's little that I can't produce at short notice.

I think that a slow build of what I do is the way forward. I've written and self-published several books now and I'm starting to sell my writing services more on fiverr. And writing is something that I really enjoy. If writing my books brings in a good income and writing for others can supplement that whilst I'm running an estate agency then I'll be very happy.

But it's getting to that next level that is taking that time. My reviews on fiverr have all been five star and my clients have been incredibly happy with my writing. I need to be able to turn a few gigs every now and again into several high-paying jobs a week. With my trust levels at their highest, I promote my gigs in my blogs and on Twitter to keep up the exposure levels. It's gaining exposure that will help to keep things moving on.

And it's research into this marketing exposure that's at the front of the thoughts in this blog. I have started to look at different ways if getting my blog exposed to a larger audience. For example, I've applied to have my mystery shop blog featured on the blogs section of mumsnet. Also my estate agency blog is featured on real-estate network. It's by having these extra outlets that I feel I can get my work noticed. By having my work noticed I can get more readers, more orders, more happy customers and the cycle continues. And that's how the theory goes.

A short blog today, but keeping the thought processes moving and the words flowing will always help.

See how changing blog presentation should improve click through

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I looked recently about a different way of presenting the work that I carry out over the internet.

http://245daystogo.blogspot.com/2015/09/a-different-way-of-presenting-my-work.html

It's about looking at headlines that will prompt the reader to look further into the article. Many of my blogs are publicised on social media and I'm looking at how the initial words get someone to read through and get interested. I've taken on this way of looking at my blogs as well as starting to formulate how I will put this together for my photography.

The result in a couple of places is starting to show dividends and I have stared using these style of titles in my blogs-

How To Sell Your Home

http://how-to-sell-a-home.blogspot.co.uk/

With titles such as "Find out how to highlight your home for the best sale price" and "Use this selling tip when marketing your home" give interested readers enough information to read through the hyperlink and maybe take in more of the blog whilst on that page.

The mystery shop blog

http://mysteryshopperblog.blogspot.co.uk/

This is another new blog and is designed to help sell my new Kindle book-




It has titles like "See how a quick 2 hour mystery shop can be profitable" and "Find out how I earned money with a shopping trip to a local coastal town" which again are designed to get people to read through. If they then like the content, it may trigger a sale of the book.

I'll report back on here how the sales of these products go through and the response to the blogs with these new titles.

I'm starting to resurface back into the world after the eye operation

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I'm starting to resurface back into the world after the eye operation and the recovery period. After the operation and the recovery period I've been finding that even the simplest of tasks leaves me tired - until today.

I've re-started my gigs in fiverr, with the hope that they bring in some income that I re-spend on fiverr itself. There's a vast array of items that I can see myself spending credit on, and some others that are interesting as well-

• I will ghostwrite, proofread and edit your ebooks and kindle books
• I will write a 500 word introduction for your book or ebook
• I will illustrate your book
• I will design a Sensational Book or Kindle eBook Cover
• I will advertise your book or bookish product on my book blog
• I will add PERMANENT Facebook likes
• I will post PERMANENT Amazon review 
• I will write about your site in my Real Estate Site

There's a wide array of things to be ordered on Fiverr, and probably a whole host of other things that I haven't even come across yet.

During my time on the Fiverr website I've done a few Gigs that I've been really interested in, and I'll share a bit of detail with you on the latest one. I have explained how the website works on recent past blog posts, so I won't go into too much detail there. And also to say that I won't be giving updates on every Fiverr Gig I conduct but in the early days it's been quite interesting.

The below blog link is a sponsored link through Fiverr, where the producers of the product wanted more exposure for their products and to create some back links for their Etsy shop-

http://inofftheblogpost.blogspot.com/2015/09/so-your-child-wants-to-be-footballer.html

The products themselves are great, but it was thinking about how to frame them into the context of who is reading my blog on football, and who is likely to buy the products when they've read the blog. I worked on the different angles available to me and then decided hat they aspirational aspect was probably the best way to go, as it is still too early to go heavy on the Christmas theme.

In all, I'm very pleased with the way it went and the fact that I'm resurfacing onto online life, if not the real world quite yet.

The products can be found at -

https://www.etsy.com/listing/247211206/personalized-christmas-stocking-custom?ref=shop_home_active_3

https://www.etsy.com/shop/TheBusyElfWorkshop?ref=hdr_shop_menu

homeestates

Fiverr

Seller

I am a writer - I write all the time. I have several blogs, have written three books (so far) and I just love writing. I will write positive reviews or articles or mention you in my blogs in clear English. I'm new to Fiverr but I'm incredibly passionate about what it can empower.

My first fiverr gig - Mannys Sauces

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I've completed my first gig for fiverr this week and I absolutely loved it. The gig was producing two blog entries and a testimonial for Mannys Sauces - an exciting new venture by the guy who originally founded Nandos in South Africa many years ago.

The idea behind the blogs is that they fitted the narrative of my existing blogs but mentioned heavily the products of Mannys Sauces and provided a platform for the products to gain more exposure. And I'm pleased with the results-

http://inofftheblogpost.blogspot.com/2015/09/whats-best-food-to-go-with-football.html

The first blog entry is related to football and I decided to look at how food and football mix. The blog was about the perfect good to go with football and Mannys Sauces fitted this bill with their mix of spice and flavour. It's a similar way to how curry is eaten when watching the football - with friends and a few cans of beer. My football blog is read by the type of demographic that would enjoy the product.

The second entry is on my retail blog and talks about two things - buying from a UK business and getting to know a product or brand on the ground level. My retail blog is read by independent retailers that may want to stock the sauce and by people in larger retailers that may want to get onto a product that may become very big very quickly.

http://mytimeinretail.blogspot.com/2015/09/shop-local-is-about-spending-with.html

The idea is they both of these blogs and the surrounding social media marketing will give the brand and products some exposure. The other piece I wrote for Manny is a testimonial piece for his own use. It's related heavily to the product but I believe that it is a positive article that can be used in different strands of his marketing strategy.

Overall in pleased with the work and already looking forward to the next gig.

homeestates

Fiverr

Seller

I am a writer - I write all the time. I have several blogs, have written three books (so far) and I just love writing. I will write positive reviews or articles or mention you in my blogs in clear English. I'm new to Fiverr but I'm incredibly passionate about what it can empower.

Mystery shop feedback - small update!

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A short addition to the blog on my new mystery shopping experience from Friday.

http://245daystogo.blogspot.com/2015/07/new-experiences-bring-few-nerves.html

I've received the feedback and it states-

• Your report was a pleasure to read
• Excellent feedback

So I'm very happy with that!!

New experiences bring a few nerves

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It sounds really strange after over four years of mystery shopping for ten different companies that I an nervous about the mystery shop I'm due to complete tonight. I haven't kept an exact count that I can easily lay my hands right now but I estimate that I've completed around 1,000 mystery shops and this is the first one since the very early days that I've felt apprehensive and pressured to get things absolutely exact. That's not to say I'm usually imprecise but many of the mystery shop companies I use ask for general ideas -

*was the floor clean?

*were you served quickly?

*was the server well presented?

Now, of course, there is a degree of personal judgement in answering these questions.

The reason for today's apprehension is that I'm shopping for a new company. As part of the terms and conditions of any mystery shopping exercise, I can't publish details anywhere - including blogs and social media. So I won't go into much detail but I can say that I've signed up with this mystery shopping company and I'm undertaking a new assignment with a new client.

One of the main differences is that this new mystery shop company operates a different reporting system. Just about all of the reports I've filed need an online form completed and 90% of it is tick boxes - yes/no answers to questions along the lines of those I've stated above. This new company is looking for a narrative version of the visit. I'm not afraid of narrative itself, as it is along the lines of what I'm typing right now, but its a clear narrative of the visit stating only the facts that I need to create.

I find it helpful when I'm apprehensive about something, to talk or type it through and just the typing of today's blog has helped me a little. The unknown can be a little daunting but it's just a case of reading through the instructions thoroughly and being as prepared as I can. And there are lessons here for when I start the business. Conducting my first market appraisal for myself or agreeing my first sale on my own will be exciting and nervy experiences but being prepared will get me through it. I've always worked well from a script or structure and I'll make sure that I have this set up for when I start operating as an estate agent.

Coastal daytime photography captures light and colour

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I spent the day at the coast with my family yesterday. In between the Father's Day celebrations, I got the time to take a few photographs and practise my skills in a lighter setting than I've been recently working-

In this first photo, I've tried to capture the essence of the fishing village Staithes. The village is quite unspoilt by modern life and us a balance between old-world fishermen and new-world Britain In Bloom entrant. This photo by the river, I think, captures some of both worlds.

Also in Staithes, I was drawn to the lines created by the telephone wires and how this framed the seagulls. I have studied leading lines in my photography and I always find the addition of lines to an image an interesting feature. When the lines are crossed, as in the image above I like the fact that they seem to converge to a common point.

This image has really come away from the darkness I often capture. I was taken by the lightness of the promenade in Whitby and the vibrant colours of the beach hits. I took photos in both directions, but having the sun project the shadows of the hut peaks onto the promenade lifted the image to another level.

Now I often avoid the sky as the main feature in a daytime photo because I find that it either looks washed out or the imagery is too dark. I've tried several different filters and I've yet to find much joy with them. In this shot, I didn't mind the buildings darkened a little and the large clouds made the photo for me.

This is my last photo of today's blog and it's Whitby Abbey. I've tried to fill the large gaps in the windows at the front of the Abbey with parts from the Abbey behind. I think that this adds depth and interest to the image.

It's been a while, and will be a while again

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Well, it's been a while since I last blogged on here and it will probably be a while until I blog again.

What's happened since I last blogged?

Not a great deal, actually.

Nothing has progressed with the business since I last blogged. I've not finished my new book, I've only done a handful of mystery shops and I've made no real progress in the way of setting up the business.

The 245 days concept is out if the window, and I'm probably looking at opening the business a full year after I initially intended. The extra year will be spent in setting up areas that will bring me in an income to sustain my family and my living standards during the initial months of the start up when there is little or no income.

The upcoming hiatus will be brought about because I'm gong into hospital on Thursday for an operation. It's an op on my eye and is the latest (and hopefully the last) relating to a longstanding detached retina issue. It will mean that I'll be off work for about a fortnight and won't be able to use a computer or smartphone screen for about a week.

With the eye fixed, I'll be back stronger and I can concentrate on setting up the potential income earners that will give me more confidence in letting go of permanent employment and taking the plunge into self-employed!

Website up and running - next stop Kindle book!

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I had an unexpected day off yesterday after my employers IT system collapsed and I couldn't carry out my particular job role. I've not avoided it completely , as I'm on the way in now on what would have been one of my days off this week. As it was unscheduled, my time was also unscheduled so it felt like a good time to get in with something that I'd planned but never really felt the time to execute - the website. The idea behind it is to have a further channel for my estate agency blog, somewhere to link estate agents and the latest news and eventually provide a platform for both my Kindle books and my training programme for estate agents, which is mainly born out of the blog in estate agency matters and how to do things differently.

The blog is now 107 editions old, so initially creates it's own content to share on the site. There are so many options that I will change the blog part of the website on a weekly basis with different themes. I've started with the most popular blogs in terms of readership, but I'll look at themes in the following weeks such as-

*Social media marketing

*Housing supply

*Visibility as an agent

*Marketing

*Photography

*The nuts and bolts of everyday estate agency

Having a set of blog posts that work together as a group will give a better link for my readers. The fact that each featured blog will be linked in some way will ensure that those that land on the page will find a selection of reading that interests them.

I've started my latest news page by linking to news coverage from my blog, estate agency news sites and the BBC. This will develop over time as I look at more diverse sources of news and how these affect the estate agency industry. I want to provide a place where estate agency professionals can go to see links to the latest news that affects their industry on different levels. This can be from local, national, industry-specific and international sources so I think it's a good thing to have these stories in one place.

There is a link and short description about my Kindle book on there and in addition I'll put links and information there about future Kindle books, such as the one I'm currently writing based on how to go about buying a house. The other area that needs development is the training area, where I will upload training material for budding estate agents and refresher courses for existing estate agents. This will be paid-for content but will be on a menu basis, where you can select the areas that you feel you need the help in and just pay for what you need.

I'm excited about the start of the project and from here on it's about maintaining the freshness of the changing content and writing the content still to be uploaded - the content that's in development.

The website can be found at-

www.estateagentboost.com

Take a look and see what you think.

To blog more or to blog less? That is the question.

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I am currently writing 5 different blogs, most 3 or 4 times a week. My next question to myself is do I take in the 2 new blogs that are forming in my mind? Or do I actually cut the amount if blogging I do to make room for other activities. Now long-time readers will know that I carry out a lot of my blogs in spare time that I would probably struggle to do anything else -on the park and ride bus in the way to work, waiting at the bus stop, in my lunch break at work - so the question on productivity may not be relevant. I can't get any jobs fine around the house, set up my business or even mystery shop effectively in these times. So what would I be gaining of I cutdown on my blogging time? In terms of time or replacement tasks, nothing.

I enjoy blogging and getting down ideas and concepts - in fact it often helps me to think things through. The fact that I'm typing down my thoughts and sharing them with the world isn't all that different to just sitting, staring out of the window thinking about the same things.

The new blogs that I'm considering g writing are-

One that's football-related. I love football and I've followed it all my life, so I feel that I've got something to say on this matter. It will be an opinion blog with a few solutions thrown in for good measure. I have views on the way football has developed recently and I'd like to share them with the world, as I'm sure thousands of football fans already are.

The second blog is related to my photography. I know I've shared a lot of photography on this blog, but if be looking to go into a bit of detail about locations, timings, equipment and what I'd do differently next time. It's about being a learning tool for me to evaluate what I've done and properly think about the next time I shoot a similar subject, as much as sharing my experiences with the world.

I'd also consider my journey as a creative writer in hrs form of a blog. Once I've finalised my photography course, I'm starting an online creative writing course and I would like to document the journey from starting out to (hopefully) publishing my first book.

Watch this space!

Weighing myself daily sheds a while new light upon my diet

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Weighing myself daily sheds a while new light upon my diet.

Since I started my new diet (for the avoidance of doubt, I'm just watching what I'm eating) I've weighed myself daily just before cleaning my teeth. I've found the results fascinating. Having never fine this before, it's a whole new world to me. My weight fluctuates by a few pounds and in starting to put together an idea of how this works, and what I need to do to keep the pounds off.

Take yesterday, for example. It was a day off work and as such I moved around a lot less. Usually on a work day I'll walk approximately 10,000 to 12,000 steps as I am on my feet in different areas of my work all day long. I probably struggled to reach 1,000 steps yesterday. So, even though I ate less, I've our on 2 pounds. 2 pounds on! That halves my loss of 4 pounds from the whole of last week.

Conclusion -walk more, every day but also I need to look at eating much less on lazy days around the house. Logic dictates that I need fewer calories when I'm burning fewer calories.

I'm back to work today and last Thursday, Friday and Saturday I think I found the formula. My normal lunch, plenty of fluids and walking everywhere - and I lost 2 pounds a day for each of these days. I now have the next three days at work before I need to think about how I conduct myself on Thursday. I've got 5 mystery shops lined up so far (only one of them is good based) and I will have to think about things like where I park to ensure that I'm walking at least a reasonable distance to keep the calories burning!

Are blogs worth anything other than getting my thoughts down?

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I've been blogging now for close to a year, and the impending anniversary of the start of my blogging activity has got me thinking-

Are blogs worth anything other than getting my thoughts down?

How do you measure worth?

Let's start at the base level, the definition that I'm sure many would apply - do they generate any money. Now this blog is too young on Blogger to enrol in their advertising programme and I usually make this blog on the move, so I don't have access to html links from Amazon or others. In that sense, it earns nothing. And my older blogs that have Adsense and Amazon ads on warm me very little as well. So in this sense of worth then, not presently, but enough content will eventually bring a trickle of money every month and will filter people to my website when it's up and running.

These blogs are a conduit for my ideas and the finalised blog entry isn't always the same set of ideas as what I set out to write. In this sense, it's my learning style to think about what I write as I write and this gets my creative juices flowing. The ideas will formulate how I operate my business and how I will be different to other estate agents on the market - especially int local market. So in this sense of worth, yes, but I need to be able to reference and re-read my blogs to filter the concrete ideas I will use going forward.

My blogs get interest on social media and are often "shared" by other users, but the interaction level rarely goes any higher than that. I find this frustrating, as I'd like to know people actually read the words and digest the meaning of my blogs. At this level, I think that my blogs are read and some parts of them are used, but I'd like a degree of interaction or feedback that confirms this. So in this sense of worth, yes and no.

Mondays always lead me to reflection. On with the rest of the week.

Photographs from my time away

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I've been practicing my photography skills whilst away from "245 days" in the last week.  I am now trying to match the skills I am learning to the end product of photographing property and making it more saleable as a result.

This is my take on not following the crowd when I was in London and taking a photo of Big Ben.  I moved away from the tourist crowds and looked at the building through different eyes.  I hope to be able to use my eye for seeing something different and the framing effect when photographing houses.

This photo of the underside of a bridge in Central London is testament to my desire to overcome the fear of light and shadow in my photos.  In terms of taking photos of someone's property, the effect that light and shadows can have will add to the interest in the photo and hopefully this will translate into click-through.

The green and blues from the field and sky in this photo and setting up what I want to do when taking marketing photos of the gardens that belong to my client's property.  I see so many photos taken that do not conform to the rule of thirds, and this does the garden a disservice.  Being able to see the sky too will remind potential buyers of what they will be in the garden for.

I think that a lot of estate agents are afraid to embrace the seasons as they may date the property, and how long it has been on the market.  As an agent that believes he will sell every property quickly, I don't have this hang-up.  It's also really easy to go back to the property and re-take any photos that may be a giveaway that the property has been on the market for a little while - Autumn l;eaves, snow, Christmas decorations, paddling pools, etc.

Taking these photos has helped me to think about the photographer, estate agent and marketer that I want to be.

245 days to go returns from holiday

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I've just come back from 5 days away and it's a time of change and restart in the journey I've been on to set up my own estate agency.

I visited Cambridge, London and Essex during my five days away from work and home. There were huge opportunities to take many photos and I'll upload a selection in a later blog with commentary relating to my learnings and how I intend to use them in my business. I met up with many old friends and family members and has a great opportunity to discuss some of my plans, listen to their ideas and experiences and get a fix on how I want to go forward.

I start my new role in a new company site tomorrow and the change in direction here will, I hope, give me fresh impetus. I've grown stale working for my current manager and in my current role into current store. A change of scene, slight change of role, change of location and different working hours I believe will all contribute to me being able to be much happier in my life in general and this having a knock-on effect on the effort and enthusiasm I can dedicate to my new business.

So we move onwards from here - a great few data away with the family, a new role with working hours I prefer and more energy to start the new business.

Win, win, win!

Options for my home office

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I've started my home garage, changing it from this-

and now, today I've got to this point-

Whilst spending my day painting the walls and floor with a weatherproof sealant, I have been thinking about what the next steps will be in converting this space into an office that will allow me to work in quiet and comfort, whatever the weather conditions outside.  First consideration has been to waterproof the walls and floor, as the UK winter (and often the other seasons) can have a big impact on the security and safety of this potential workspace.  It has flooded more than once, through the walls from the outside garden flower beds, so I have accentuated the beds and put in more plants to soak up any excess water.  Next step is to make the office a place where I can work and be inspired to market properties as well as I can.

Options-

Option	Pros	Cons
Leave it as it is	Least cost and time/effort            Has the effect of a New York loft	Will be more expensive to heat, as there is no insulation
Another coat of white paint	Low cost and effort again            A blank canvas to add pictures and effects to inspire	Doesn’t solve the heat and insulation problem
Lining the walls with an insulating material	Will help to keep long-term heating costs down            Cheapest option that involves further action	Major concerns over building regulations            Brings fire safety issues in to play            Time and money to source the right materials at the right cost
Line the walls and then plaster/board over and decorate	Will look like a conventional office            Will be more insulated and save on heating costs	Expense starts to grow            Sourcing materials is even more costly and time consuming than above
Pay a builder to convert officially	Will add value to my home            Will be official and legitimate	High cost solution to what may be a temporary problem            Will accentuate my desire to permanently work from home, rather than eventually build up the business to an office base.

I am genuinely undecided about the best way forward, as I want this to be a low-cost solution to a problem, for the time period that I am working from home, and I also want it to be weather-proof, comfortable, safe and inspiring.

Decision time will be my next full day off work, 2 weeks from now.

Some of my inspirations

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You can be inspired in all sorts of ways by all sorts of people.  Some of my inspirations are as follows-

Music
I love the music of Hootie and the Blowfish, and their lead singer Darius Rucker.  They can be found all over You Tube, but they also have a jukebox on their website-

http://www.hootie.com/internal.asp?catID=21218#content

I also love the music of Foo Fighters, Red Hot Chili Peppers and David Gray.

Art
I love all types of art and have been to many art museums in cities all over the World.  My favourite artist is Mark Rothko.  I don't get into the whole modern art debate, I just like his paintings-

Television

I think that TV is starting to take over from the movies as the premium entertainment vehicle of it's genre. Recent programmes that have caught my attention include True Detective, Hannibal and the recent Dr Who

series have been excellent.  My favourite show has just finished airing in the UK, it's the US version of The Office.  The characters had more depth and more time to develop than the UK predecessor, and the programme was witty, funny and hugely entertaining every single week.




I think that originality and creativity runs through the likes I have for all of these things, and I hope that shows in my work. How about you?