Assessing your startup - where you have been, where you are now and where you are going

This is my moment to look both backwards and forwards in my startup journey. For those that have been with me from the start you will know how my journey has gone. For everyone else I will give you a short recap-

• The idea was to start an estate agency in the town where I live
• As I set about getting things in place I decided that I needed a residual income
• I started writing
• I blogged and I wrote my own eBooks
• From there I found freelance writing
• I started writing for others in my spare time
• I then abandoned plans for the estate agency and became a full-time writer

This has been the journey of a few years summed up in a few bullets points so there have been highs and lows but this is the basic timeline that has brought me to here. Writing is now my life, so as well as this blog I write several others for myself. I write my own books still and publish them on the Amazon Kindle store.I write for other people. And I write whatever comes my way-

• I ghostwrite books for people
• I write marketing materials for people
• I write the content for websites
• I write social media post on behalf of companies
• I write customer brochures
• I write business plans

I pretty much write what people need, with the exceptions of school work and reviews.From this my business has grown and I will use this blog to briefly outline where I am today and where I think I will be over the next 6 to 9 months.

Currently

I have two websites that give me an internet presence. They can be found here-

http://contentedwriting.co.uk/

http://ghostwriterservices.co.uk/

They let the world know that I exists and along with my social media presence are the outward face of my business. They give me access to customers and also give customers the opportunity to check out what I am and what I do before they get in touch.

A lot of my work comes from existing relationships that have come from varied sources and developed over the years. I work for people all over the United Kingdom, and indeed the world, on a regular basis and write for certain people month in, month out.

A great source of business is going to be the BNI networking chapter that I have joined. It is going to break all records as the biggest group to launch in the UK and Ireland and is doing this at lightning pace. I am very proud to be a part of the group and I look forward to being able to give my fellow chapter members a lot of business from my contacts in the future.

The future

I am growing at a much faster rate than I expected at all. The business is flowing and I am being asked more and more to help people with their writing, especially content writing for businesses. I can see a pint in the future 6 to 9 months where I will be looking for someone to help with the writing and join me. I haven't got through Christmas and January yet as my first year of full-time trading so I don't know how quiet it might go. But I am quietly confident that this will be more than I can produce fr myself in the not-too-distant future.

My new novel is being written now and I am around a third of the way through the writing process. It does tens to take a back seat when I am working hard for other people but the idea is to have it ready to be published in the early part of the new year and be generating sales from then.It will be the first fiction book I have written for myself and I am really looking forward to seeing it out there and marketing it. I think it will make a splash.

This has helped me as I have been writing to clear my mind and look to the future. I suggest that if you are looking for a bit of clarity in your startup business right now then you go through a similar exercise. It allows you to focus on what is important and where you want to take your business.

Help comes in many forms - Adactus can be one of them

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In my “245 days to go” blog I like to look at all angles of the startup business that I am putting together. I know that there are other startup business owners reading, so I think it’s wise to look at aspects of the business that can appeal to others as well. When you are planning and opening your startup business there are many issues to consider. One of the repeat issues I find when I speak to small business and startup owners is the fact that they can't always concentrate on what they are good at. Their skills sometimes go to waste because they are spending so much time carrying out other aspects of their business-

•          Their accounts
•          Their tax return
•          Advertising and marketing
•          Answering calls
•          Preparing letters and invoices

There is help at hand for all of these areas, allowing you to concentrate on what you do best. Accountants are affordable for a small business, especially if you shop around,  and you can buy off the shelf marketing tools or use a local quality marketing company. And now you can look at a solution for your office.

Adactus (http://www.adauctus-gmbh.ch/en/virtual-office-services/) is a high quality solution for a startup or small business that is looking for a virtual office.

What is a virtual office? I hear you ask.

The definition of a Virtual Office is a business location that exists only in cyberspace. A virtual office setup allows business owners and employees to work from any location by using technology such as laptop computers, cell phones and internet access. Furthermore it allows third party companies to provide call answering and secretarial services for the business.

And Adactus can do just that (and more) for your small business or startup business. Many startups are operated by one or two people to begin with and this can put a real strain on time. Time management is one way of looking at solving this problem and can be effective. Then another way is to get in more resources - but this comes at a cost. A great middle ground is to use Adactus to provide a virtual office solution for you. They can do the following things-

•        Weekly mail transfer service
•          Act as a secretary on your behalf
•          Preparation of letters, offers, invoices and warning letters

These professional services by the virtual office will grant you a good reputation and earn your clients’ trust.

Having somebody else deal with your mail, your telephone calls and to draft your correspondence is a great weight off your shoulders and allows you to concentrate on other area of the business. After all, who wants to be tied down to paperwork when your best work can be done by spending quality time with your customers?

Check them out on their website and you can see what they have to offer. It can make the difference between success and failure and allow you to concentrate on all the things you are good at.

See how I'm using mass blogging sites, multiple blogs and social media to grow an audience

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I've been looking at different ways to increase the views on my blogs this week. The amount of people that read my right blogs is relatively low, in terms of the big online sites and I want to grow real views and clicks for three main reasons-

1- to have people view my estate agency blog that are interested in estate agency. This will increase my traffic for any blog on estate agency on my own website when the business is set up.

http://eaboost.blogspot.co.uk/

2- to have people interested in the Spennymoor property market as a ready-made audience for when I open up an estate agency in the town.

http://spennyproperty.blogspot.co.uk/

3- to have good click figures for potential buyers when it comes to selling my fiverr gigs to people who want exposure for whatever they are selling.

See my fiverr profile here-  https://uk.fiverr.com/homeestates

The ways that I have started to look at this include mass-blogging sites, featuring the blog wording on other sites and trying to increase my social media following.

Mass-blogging sites

The idea with these is that it takes my single blog on its own site and puts on a site that people will visit to read blogs. The plus side is that my blog suddenly appears somewhere that readers are expecting a blog. The down side is that I'm now faced with the competition of hundreds, thousands of other blogs.

Some of the sites I have tried include-

• Blogarama
• BlogFlux
• Super Blog Directory
• Blog Listing
• Bloggio

Basically you out in your blog RSS feed details and it will automatically feed any new entries to the respective sites.

It's only been around ten days but I can't really report any great increase in my readership as a result of this so far. I'm sure that in time it will add readers as my blogs gain traction but I don't think that it will change the world for me. I'm sure that every click counts when it comes to content and content marketing though, and I'm happy that I've done it.

Featuring the words on other sites

I've set up Wordpress sites of each of my blogs so the wording can be found in more than one place.

For the estate agency blog I've also uploaded some of my blog posts on an estate agency networking site. These for me are about establishing a presence and increasing networking. Apart from the links within the text, there's no actual prompt to read the initial Blogger blog in any of these. So my concern is that it may dilute rather than increase the readership. These are an even newer development than the mass blogging sites so I'll have to keep you posted in my progress here.

Increasing my social media following

I've been trying to naturally grow thew following I have for all of my Twitter accounts. Each account focusses on a different area of interest and I'm looking to quadruple the amount of followers I have on each. I am doing this by trying to follow people who have a similar interest and that tend to follow people that follow them. I'm determining this by the amount of followers and followed they have - if the figures are roughly similar then I believe that there's a good chance of being followed back. I'm trying to stay aware of Twitter's rules and they will block any accounts that routinely follow hundreds of people sat once. I'm following people with similar interests and only 15-50 per day at the most.

I find that Twitter gives me the best traction for my blogs on social media, although I maintain Facebook, Pinterest and Tumblr accounts and sometimes upload my blog posts to LinkedIn.

As usual, I'll keep you updated with any progress or otherwise that I make.

Onwards and upwards!

Follow your dreams....and your taste buds!

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As regular readers of my blog will know, I’m attempting to startup my own estate agency. I like to look forward to all aspects of the estate agency business, and look back in some ways to the times when I worked for an estate agency before. Estate agents are known for their "work hard, play hard" ethic. Having worked with estate agents for years, they work long hours but do their out of work activities to the maximum as well.

There are estate agents I know that have attempted the Three Peaks Challenge-

https://www.justgiving.com/canterburysunrise/

And the Christmas parties and awards ceremonies that estate agents attend every year are a sight to behold!

I think it's just that estate agents like to live life to the extreme. And this also counts for their food. If I had to think of a food that typifies estate agents then I think I'd go for Mannys Sauces. There's a choice of sauces but it's the spice and heat that reminds me of estate agents. It's reminiscent of the spice and heat the they carry out their jobs with.

And if I had to choose just three of Mannys Sauces for estate agents to try, then it would be-

The Original Piri-Piri Sauce

This is the classic - and you don't mess with a classic! It's a taste that has to be tried to be believed. It mixes the heat of the chilli with the depth of flavour that you require from a sauce or marinade. In fact, Manny guarantees that it is the tastiest Piri-Piri in the land. Try it and you won’t be disappointed.

Curry Sauce

Make the most delicious and healthy curry in your own home, without any hard work or effort! Whether you use beef, lamb, chicken, fish or seafood, add this sauce to create the most delicious and flavoursome curry.

Meat Marinade

Excellent marinade created to marinate any meat, but can also be used with fish or seafood. Make the best BBQs, roasts, or stews. The contents of a 250ml bottle will marinate 3kg of meat.

Mannys Sauces were founded by Manny and here is his story-

“As any other person in the world, I had a huge dream - to open the first Piri-Piri Chicken Restaurant in the world, and then spread this dream to every corner of the planet. It wouldn’t be easy to achieve, but neither was it impossible. I had the will, the courage, the faith and family support to make it come true. Early in 1985, I sold my home to open the first piri-piri chicken restaurant outside of Mozambique. CHICKENLAND was the chosen name and Johannesburg, South Africa was the birth place of my dream! After a short while, I was making, bottling and selling a range of 5 different Piri-Piri Sauces and Marinades. After a slow start, the business was a stunning success! The name quickly spread across the city and everyone was talking about this new food place that was taking the food industry by storm.

The business success was proven! The next step was expansion to other parts of the city, country and abroad, and many people tried to get financially involved. Expansion included a need for capital and people, and so in 1987, I sold some of my business shares to two young men: one of Portuguese origin and the other, a South African of Jewish origin. Shortly after they joined, the business name was changed to NANDOS. Chickenland was a nice name, but according to marketing experts at the time, it was felt that the business should be backed by a personal name before the expansion took place. Between MANNYS and NANDOS, I was out-voted two to one, and the latter name was chosen. Despite a few initial problems, the expansion started taking off and now more than ever, the success was tremendous!

A few years later, the rug was pulled out from under my feet and I was forced to leave my business. I lost my dream; one of the best things in my life after my family. After this happened, I opened a few other restaurants including Chickenland in Portugal, but these weren’t my dream. It was a way to make a living, but it wasn’t my passion. It took me a long time to recover from what happened, but I was determined and pushed through until another dream emerged; to make the best sauces and speciality food products in the world! MANNYS SAUCES is now my new dream! Once again I can see this new dream taking shape and growing strong all the way to the TOP! The passion is back and I again have the will, the faith, the support of my family, and the support of so many loyal customers that know and appreciate the high quality products that we make. I am forever grateful to my family and my customers for their support and the divine forces for showing me the way.

Manny x”

Don’t forget the selection of cured meats. Paio is a great selection and is made of pork fillet with a maximum of 5% fat.

As any good estate agent will know, it pays to be found, and Mannys Sauces can be found at-

www.twitter.com/Mannyssauces

www.facebook.com/Mannyssauces

www.youtube.com/channel/UCPvHPFfaz5yJRTtlv_ViDPQ

www.mannyssauces.com

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 why using outside help for some of your business needs frees up time for you to do what you do best

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As part of the process of setting up my own business, I have had reason to look in different parts of the internet for all sorts of ideas. Sometimes these internet searches are planned and sometimes a little bit of serendipity comes into play (see blog here - http://245daystogo.blogspot.com/2015/06/stumbling-across-ideas-and-answers-when.html )

I think that as the business develops, I will need outside help in some areas of what I attempt to do. For instance, I won’t try to conduct my own legal affairs – I will leave that to the expertise of a solicitor. I won’t want to spend hours of my time checking and filing my own accounts – I will make use of an accountant that knows their way around the tax rules.

And it was while looking into different professional business service providers that I came across the company Adactus - http://www.adauctus-gmbh.ch/en/

Being a well-established company that provides more than one service gives Adactus a head start when it comes to helping out startup companies such as the one I am putting together. In the early days of my estate agency business I will be trying to run the show from home but will have to spend a lot of time out on the road. And the question that this asks is “how will I be able to provide an office service for my customers?” I want them to be able to pick up the phone and speak to someone from my company but I hope to have my time filled with appointments at client’s houses. Adactus could provide an answer. They will provide a high-quality and professional telephone answering service in several languages, call acceptance and transfer, and a virtual secretary from Mondays to Fridays from 8:00 to 18:00, outside these hours – a voicemail service.

Tax is always a taxing question for any business large or small, so looking at what might be a tax beneficial status is something that many companies have looked into. You can have a discussion with Adactus about their company registration services after contacting them via their website. They can offer potential tax-related benefits for foreign companies, as they are based in Switzerland. Switzerland has one of the most beneficial tax rates in Europe along with a politically, geographically and economically stable infrastructure. That is highly attractive to foreign companies which choose to change their address to Switzerland.

As I stated at the start of the blog, Adactus are experienced in several areas that could help the average startup or the slightly more established company to get ahead in business. I try to look at business from several angles and highlight companies that I have used or would consider using to help me set up my small business. Recently I have shown how RawShorts and Fiverr could help a new or small business and I will keep on exposing good companies to my readers of this blog. If you have any questions about this then please do not hesitate to comment on the blog or get in touch with Adactus directly via their website.

See the different marketing ideas I'm using to sell my books

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I've been looking at ways to expand the sales of my mystery shopping book. It's had some initial interest and I want to capitalise on that interest and turn it into book sales. There have also been a couple of positive reviews already. It's one of those things that every time you talk about it, other people are really interested in what you have to say. It's a topic that everyone has some interest in, either what you do or becoming a mystery shopper themselves. To assist with the book I've started a blog that mixes hints and tips from the book with my daily experiences as a mystery shopper. Each blog entry prompts the reader to take a look at the book. The blog can be found here.

I have also set up a basic promotional YouTube video to help with the book sales. The idea behind these two things is to get people to like the look of what is going on and then go on to buy and read the book. But the next questions I have are-

• How are people going to find the blog or the YouTube video?
• Who is my target market?
• How will I reach them?

The people who I think will be mainly interested in mystery shopping are university students and the mothers of children that are at school. I live quite close to a university city so I thought that the below poster could get me a bit of traction. I'm going to put it up in a few places around the city that I know students frequent. I hope that more readers of the blog might mean more book sales. Finding the mothers might take a little bit more doing. I'm thinking that the forums mothers frequent such as mumsnet might be somewhere to look. I know from sites like Money Saving Expert  don't allow people to advertise their own products on their forums so mumsnet may be the same. Aside from these two areas, it's a case of searching and thinking more about potential readers and how I can reach them.

The poster looks like this-

Wish me luck!

A feeling of refreshed positivity!

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I've worked up with an overwhelming feeling of positivity this morning. I'm really 100% sure why this is, but I'm liking it.

What's changed?

Well, in the two days since I was last on here, there have been a few changes but they all feel positive and can help me to look forward. One of the ways I've been making money and looking to continue making money when the business starts, is buying and selling books. I have an eBay account (who doesn't?) and an Amazon seller account t that I sell these through. The issue has been increasing my stock from 100 books to 1,000 books. Not unlike an issue with stock that I'll be facing when I'm an estate agent. Without giving away too much detail I've started to find areas where I can increase my stock by the hundreds without a massive expense.

I've also signed up for another mystery shopping company this week. Things have slowed down with mystery shops (although I still wouldn't describe them as slow.) I felt as though another company on my books was a positive step and would give me the opportunity to learn how they operate, experience more companies and earn some more money.

And I think I've found the doors for my office! The doors I need are almost £250 on B&Q, so I've been looking for an alternative at a better price. I've found some on at a current bid of £30 and - although I'll have to rent a van - the savings are huge. This will complete the office in terms of structure and allow me to furnish and move in.

So onwards and upwards!

Taking stock as the plans form for the next 3 months

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As you can see from the ticking timeline at the top of all my posts, the intended start date for my business has been and gone, but don't be disheartened - I'm not! The new date will probably be somewhere around a year late, but because the progress in the original 245 days was slow, the build up to the new intended opening will be jam-packed with the progress I make on the mad run towards the stsrt line.

It's time for me to take a brief look back over the 261 days since I started this blog and the things that have changed.

Personal life

I started this blog in what was the 40th year of my life and it brought about a big change in how I looked at the world and my place in it. I entered the audition process for Mastermind and The Apprentice and I got quite far in both processes. I started training, entered and comets the Great North Run half marathon. I'm now looking at the next set of achievements for the time between now and next year. Of course a lot of these are related to the business, and having things in place to generate an income for me when the business is up and running.

My own business

The steps towards achieving this have been small and background so far, but the most significant is the almost completion of converting my 2nd garage into a usable home office. I'm just short of some new garage doors, a desk and a bit of home comforts to have it ready. The home comforts include getting pictures and ornaments out of my loft and into the office to make it a little more comfortable and pleasant.

I have started a blog on my local area and post to it about every 7-10 days to keep an interest in the local market and possibly appeal to any investors or buyers on what will be my patch. Content marketing is becoming more and more important and having an audience and a SEL presence on the internet will allow me to point my content in the direction of my website and services when the situation arises.

Alongside the business I will have things like these blogs (6 in total at the moment) my photography and the website (www.estateagentboost.com) to bring in some much needed money while I'm busy taking on properties. The website is up and running and I'm updating the latest news on a regular basis. The section that will have training sessions for estate agents needs writing and editing and this is on the to do list but hasn't been completed. As is the editing and final chapters of my book on how to buy a property - the second Kindle book I will publish agree the companion How To Sell Your House-

How to sell your house: What estate agents don't tell you by Steven Thompson http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00I5HOJAM/ref=cm_sw_r_udp_awd_udWGvbZCA41ZQ

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00I5HOJAM/ref=cm_sw_r_udp_awd_udWGvbZCA41ZQ

I'm looking forward, but these writing tasks and the final set up of the office need to happen soon.

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!

Reading 2 religious books at a time has slowed me down

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I'm reading two books at the moment - one at home and one at work and I'm finding them both quite a hard slog. I usually find joy in reading just about any book and I trawl pound shops and charity shops and pick up an array of books on varied subjects and just read away, but it's just not happening with theses two. I'll give a brief overview of the books I'm reading below-

The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie

I saw all the hype, claim, counter-claim and fatwah when I was much younger and in a way the book had always fascinated me from afar. It was only when I saw it in a bookshop last year that this fascination reignited and I bought it. I am always several books ahead of my purchasing, so it took some time to actually start reading it. And I started earlier this year. It is billed as funny, but I'm struggling to find a great deal of humour in it. The religious (or anti-religious) aspects probably don't mean as much to me as someone who is read and learned in religion but I will persevere with the book. The story is unfolding with some interest, but I find the authors style of jumping backwards and forwards along the timelines of the two main characters quite difficult to follow at times. I do therefore end up reading the same part more than once to re-understand how it fits with whatever proceeds and precedes it.

The Story of My Experiments With Truth by Mohandas K Gandhi

This is a translation of the autobiography of the Mahatma Gandhi. As a fairly full autobiography, the start of the book is clearly going to be less interesting than the middle and end of the book, I will encounter the things that brought him to international prominence. Although there are some events in his early life that you can see as a hint to what will come, I don't see much of this early life story as either interesting or hugely significant. I must have faith in the author, though that these things all knit together to form a narrative that allows me to understand him and his life. I don't know whether it's from the reading of two books with religious overtones at the same time that has caused me to struggle and stall with reading at this time. I'm not in any way religious, and I will usually shirk away from religious readings, art, etc. 

After these it's back to reading a fiction book at work and a study book at home to help with the business.

I've not blogged for quite a long time and the 245 days are almost up, but the dream lives on and I can see it happening another year from now, when 245 days has turned into 611 (it's a leap year in 2016.)

Back at work after 11 days off

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I'm back at work today after 11 days off and I always find this the toughest few days of the year. As I come away from time with the family and look on to time with my work colleagues it always takes a little time for my body and my mood to settle into a normal routine. And I think that "normal" changes every time I go back after a period of time off. 

So, how do you make that transition easier?

How do you get back into the swing if things as quickly as possible, without too much turmoil?

There are a few ways of helping this, and a few things to avoid.

Sleep patterns

I think that a major change in your sleep patterns when you are not at work will bring about a more painful transition when you go back to work. For example, I usually start the day's work at 7:30am and I get up around 5:50am to get ready to work. I try not to get up any later than 6:30am during my time off, and the transition back to 5:50am starts isn't a difficult one. If I laid in bed until 8am or later, then I'm sure I would have much more trouble in getting up and getting motivated to work today.

Doing a job you want to do

This is a massive help, and will probably out-drive any other motives I list here. If you are doing a job that you enjoy, then you've probably most of the way there. It will make an instant impact on the fact that you will have that ready motivation to get up and go after a break. I have a job the I genuinely enjoy and the fact that I have missed a week fills me with a little excitement and I want to get back and see what's going on. This leads me to the next thing, which I think also helps-

Taking a complete break

I believe that not having anything to do with work facilitates a better transition back into work. It may sound strange, but a large part if your time off is being completely away from work and all the distractions and stresses it brings. I go to the extent of not going to the same town, and avoiding the same route on my travels. I think that all of these things help to rest and recuperate and provide you with the refreshing experience that time away from work should bring. The fact that you go back to work cold can be a little worrying but the fact that you have recharged your batteries offsets this. When you're ready to work and ready to get stuck into it, the work moves along quickly and you can easily catch up with colleagues over the course of the first few days.

Lifestyle

As well as keeping a similar sleeping pattern during your time off, it makes sense to keep similar lifestyle patterns - eat at the same time, drink the same amount, at a similar time, exercise at the same time, etc. Having a similar life pattern each day helps the body and mind to operate at it's fullest. It also helps to promote a consistent mood and aids recovery from exercise and illness. All of this will help you to get back into the swing of things as you return to work, as it keeps the culture shock element of your return to a minimum.

Try these tips to help you return - it's helping me today!

Just when I thought I'd cracked it - the rain came

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I flew through my list of jobs yesterday. The walls and ceiling of the 2nd garage that I'm converting into an office are painted and ready to go. I've painted the fascias of the garage and checked out the roof. A few small holes in the felt lining were found, but I've now filled these and it will be watertight for the Summer at least. Other odd bits around the house have been completed and I was ready to tackle the garden today. A man with a chainsaw took down the hideously overgrown tree in the front that was blocking the light and would eventually cause issues with its roots. The first job today was (and in all likelihood still is) to remove all of it to the local tip.

And then the rain came.

It's rained quite heavily for most of the night, so jobs like mowing the lawn, weeding, edging, etc just can't be done. Other jobs today included laying more stones at the peaceful spot at the end of the garden and putting up wall planters. This probably can't be done in weather conditions like this and I'll have to see if the rain stops later on in the day.

This was going to be the two days when I got everything for the house sorted for the coming Spring and Summer. Now the garden stuff and the outside cleaning (fascia and outside upstairs windows) has fallen by the wayside. There are always things to do and with the recent collapse and rebuild of my PC, I have plenty of things I can be getting in with - but none that complete an area of concern fully and allow me to move on. The next day set aside for this will be Sunday, and this is dependent on how the recovery from Saturday's wedding goes!

I'm still moving forward with the next thing method of compartmentalising my life, but there seems so much to do and so little time to do it in, as has been said before.

I'm not 100% sure whether I have mentioned this in my blog before, but one of the ways I generate an income is to complete online surveys. I'm signed up with 5 of these survey sites and they send me surveys several times a week each. You answer some basic profiling questions at the start and these filter you in or out of the earning part of the survey. Each survey company has a different way of packaging the rewards (points, £'s, vouchers, PayPal income, prize draws) but basically they all add up to money in your pocket. I'd say I probably earn around £250 to £300 a year from this and it's great for Christmas and birthday presents. Well, I've got around 30 survey invites in my inbox, so there's a few hours if my time this afternoon.

If you're interested then give it a try.

I'm running out of ways to stall moving the business forward!

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The house and garden will be ready this week, the website is built and live, I'll have the office basically ready in terms of walls and flooring so I'm actually running out of ways to put off opening this estate agency! I've still got a lot to do, but as Spring arrives I can finally see the wood from the trees and start to put in place finalised plans for how I will go forward. I will admit to you, and to myself, that it won't happen in the timeframe of 245 days that I initially set out. I have booked a holiday for later this year, so the day I booked that was really the day I gave up in opening before the time of the holiday. As I will set up the agency on my own, with perhaps some help from my wife, then I will need to be present all the time for probably the first year. I have no qualms with this, in fact I'm looking forward to it, but I need to be in a position to do this. I have two young children and I currently cherish the free time I have with them and holiday are always part of this. I will probably try to get three holidays in between now and when the business opens to set myself up for that year.

My photography course finished yesterday with the exhibition of our work. It was a good night and we all enjoyed having people look over our photographs but this is now finished until September with level 2.

The office itself still needs a desk, the garage door changing, a curtain and pole putting up to keep put noise and weather and then a good sort out. The doors and subsequently the curtain will have to change later but I should get everything else done this week, with the next two days off. This will give me a chance to finalise everything that I want done to home, garden and office and put me in a position to move forward.

When I've done this, the targets are background items that I hope will generate and income for me. The blogs that I write bring in a trickle of an income and this will continue and continue to rise but it will only ever reach a modest amount. The website will be both another channel for the blog and will possibly generate another small income from advertising. I will be writing some training material for the website, which will be paid-for by users. I am also most of the way through writing my second Kindle book to sell on Amazon and this will supplement the modest income I get from the first Kindle book.

All in all, I'm looking to have a small background income to support me as I start on this venture. I will need an income to support the family and I, whilst I set about the process of starting my estate agency business and the time it takes to generate an income.

That's it, I'm taking control!

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I've let events wash over me the last week or so. I've had so much going in that I've been stuck in a situation where I've not been able to focus in one thing and often ended up not doing anything much of significance. Don't get me wrong, I've been blogging, taking photos, mystery shopping and I've nearly got everything I wanted done around the house, but none of it feels like I've made massive progress or set the world alight-

My photography is moving along really well and I'm happier every week with the quality and consistency of the work I'm producing. My tutor is very pleased with my progress and I'm now 100% set on moving on to year 2 and level 2. My work is getting great feedback in class and on social media. I'm really in a very happy place with all this. In terms of the course, it's time to round up my folder tonight and then next week we are setting up our exhibition and then it's all finished until late September when level 2 begins.

I've been blogging apace and one of my blogs has just reached it's 100th edition-

http://eaboost.blogspot.com/2015/03/100-blog-entries-and-i-look-back-at-my.html

I've decided to commemorate this milestone by producing a week of blogs looking back at the highlights of the first 100. It's an interesting way to look back at all the words I've written and pulling together the themes that I've looked at in terms of estate agency.

Mystery shopping has been going steadily but not spectacularly. We're coming to the end if the quarter and traditionally this and Easter mean that things slow down dramatically. Having said this, I've managed to conduct 6 mystery shops over the last week and I've got 2 in the pipeline. With only one day off this week, I probably won't do much more than that but I'll be looking for  a single day next week where I can conduct 10 to 15 mystery ships and bring in a few hundred pounds.

Work around the house is continuing, but again without feeling that it's flying ahead. The main bedroom is curtain lining away from complete and I'll finish the bathroom on Wednesday. After that there's just outdoor things to complete as spring starts and the weather turns warmer.

Wednesday is also the day when I start my warm weather exercise regime - in starting running again. I'm losing weight slowly but I don't feel that I've for a very good fitness level at the moment. Since finishing the Great North Run half marathon in September last year, I've inly ran once. I generally stop over the winter and I've missed my place in the ballot for the 2015 run but it's time to get fit again.

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!

I am the answer, but I don't totally understand what the question is yet

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I am the answer, but I don't totally understand what the question is yet.

I don't mind admitting that I sometimes have doubts over this new business estate agency thing. I suppose it's natural to have thoughts about maintaining the status quo, especially when I enjoy my life as it is. I have a many irons in the fire at the moment that I find I'm not concentrating on any one enough -

http://245daystogo.blogspot.com/2015/01/too-many-balls-to-juggle-what-to-let-go.html

I have to compartmentalise areas if my life and the what's next method has started to pay dividends -

http://245daystogo.blogspot.com/2015/02/what-next-my-new-strategy.html

I've refined it a little and now I'm having weeks concentrated in certain areas to emphasise and maximise the amount in each area I get done. This week is stuff around the house week and has consisted today of-

Filling and sanding bathroom ceiling

Painting hall and landing walls

Buying a new kettle and milk pan

Buying sealant for the bathroom

Tomorrow will be sorting out-

Painting the bathroom ceiling

Buying curtains for my bedroom

Buying curtains for the landing

Buying a beanbag for the newly-configured lounge

Buying a lampshade for the lamp in my bedroom

Buying a rug for the lounge

All might seem fairly mundane things but all need to be sorted so I can concentrate my efforts all in one place.

The quote at the start about being the answer but not knowing the question really related to the doubts I have and what I want to do to give me a contingency income to allow me to carry in with the estate agency without constantly worrying about money. The blogs, the self-published books, the photography, etc are designed to give me financial security and a small monthly income no matter what the business is doing. If I can add that to income from investments and perhaps rental income from a property, then it allows me to go for it and take the risks that may be necessary to become a success.

Photography on location in Southend-on-Sea

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There's only 100 days left of my journey and I'm away from home this week. I've taken some photos on my travels. One of  the things I wanted to get out of the course was the ability for my photos to tell their own story and I think in starting to get there with my final project and these photos.

I've deliberately under-exposed this to emphasise the sky and the dark, cold conditions. I liked the geometry of the fence and lamp posts and how this repeated through the image.

I worked hard here to ensure that the shafts of sunlight breaking through the clouds showed up here. I've enjoyed shooting industrial scenes, often alongside natural features and this continues on that theme, which is also the theme for my final project.

The contrast of the flurry of colour at the bottom of the picture against the bleakness of the top half of the picture really appealed to me when I saw this. Again I've slightly under-exposed to ensure that the sea stays dark

And there isn't too much going on in the sky.

This is my favourite picture of the week as I've used depth of field and leading lines to capture the construction and length of the pier at Southend-on-Sea in Essex. Again I think it captures and conveys how cold and bleak the day was and how man-made structures can take on and reflect the elements.

I'm still here!

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In case anyone was wondering if is fallen off the face of the earth, this is just a short note to say that in still here.

Quite a bit of progress since I last posted, so here goes-

The Business

Paint the left wall of the garage done

Assemble the table that will be my desk -table broken -buying new desk tomorrow

Paint the rest of the garage -ran out of paint, buy some more tomorrow

At Home

Sand and paint the bathroom ceiling - tomorrow morning

Glue stones on cupboards in kitchen -tomorrow morning

Paint hall and landing - still a work in progress

My "Books And Games" Selling Business

Get all stock out of loft and place in new office in garage -done

Check and update inventory -tomorrow

Writing

Finish a book I'm writing on how to buy a home -3 chapters done, 5 to go

Edit the book down to get it ready to publish - first edit if written chapters done, final edit when all finished

Start the creative writing course I've enrolled in - after my photography course finishes in March 

Mystery shops

Update my spreadsheet with all shop data on -done

Prepare for the 7 shops I have on Thursday -done (ended up being 8 shops!)

Look at adding to the 4 shops I have on Friday done (got it up to 6 jobs!)

Look up online about self-assessment and tax -tomorrow

Photography course

Go to the local city and get the final city photos for my final project, based on the main river that runs by here - done

Retake some of the other photos I have, in the golden hour, to ensure the sky is lit best - no need, as the photos from above were do good

This update helps me as much as you guys, but it's nice to see some meat on the homes and some progress to the planning.

Tomorrow is a day off, and it looks like a busy day! Add 3 mystery shops to the above activities, but I'm confident that I'll get this done!

What's next? - my new strategy

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After sounding off a bit on my last blog and feeling a bit rudderless, I've devised a new strategy to deal with all the different balls I'm trying to juggle at present. I've dubbed it the "what's next approach." On one sheet of paper I've made a note if all the areas I'm trying to progress in, then in each area I've written what I need to do next. Sounds simple? It has only started today after a little formulation in my brain last night and the process of writing these small steps down has been hugely refreshing in its own.

The list is-

The Business

Paint the left wall of the garage

Assemble the table that will be my desk

Paint the rest of the garage

At Home

Sand and paint the bathroom ceiling

Glue stones on cupboards in kitchen

Paint hall and landing

My "Books And Games" Selling Business

Get all stock out of loft and place in new office in garage

Check and update inventory

Writing

Finish a book I'm writing on how to buy a home

Edit the book down to get it ready to publish

Start the creative writing course I've enrolled in

Mystery shops

Update my spreadsheet with all shop data on

Prepare for the 7 shops I have on Thursday

Look at adding to the 4 shops I have on Friday

Look up online about self-assessment and tax

Photography course

Go to the local city and get the final city photos for my final project, based on the main river that runs by here

Retake some of the other photos I have, in the golden hour, to ensure the sky is lit best