Posted: Fri 23 November, 2007 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Five Year Plan (now Ten), Own Business, Work-related |
Over the recent weeks I’ve been looking into applying for a patent on something, in collaboration with a friend. For obvious reasons, I’m not going to go into too much detail about exactly what we’re going to patent – that’ll have to wait a while ’til the application is done and registered, at least. Quite possibly even longer than that.
You see, one of the things we found out is that getting the full patent can take up to four years. So it’s quite possible that we couldn’t get the final sign-off – even if we applied right now – much before 2012. That’s a ridiculous amount of time.
And OK, it could come through a lot quicker than that, perhaps even halving the time scale. But that still makes it about 2010.
Now I do understand that there’s probably a whole heap of searches and procedures to go through, and endless hoops of bureaucracy, but bloody hell, up to four years. Talk about wheels going slowly.
Personally, I think it’ll be worth it. The idea is something that neither of us has ever seen, or heard mentioned anywhere. It’s got endless possibilities, particularly during Autumn and Winter (Ha, that’s got you thinking, hasn’t it?) and it’s got a fair number of applications once everything’s been patented. (or at least applied for and registered)
Will it make us millionaires? (Rodney) Probably not. But the thing is, you don’t know ’til you try. And when all’s said and done, well, it could make money, most probably in licensing etc. Time will tell- in this case probably a lot of time- but in the long run I think it could be a worthwhile venture.
(This last paragraph was brought to you sponsored by Clichés ‘r’ us)
Posted: Fri 16 November, 2007 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: D4D™, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Own Business, Work-related, Writing |
Lack of posting today, due to being snowed with fun in a website that I’m working on.
It’s making good progress, but still leaves me with a tabula rasa for D4D™. Hey, it happens on occasion – live with it.
In other news, I’ve also made some progress already with some of those plans I was wittering about back on November 5th, as well as generating a bit more business just when I wasn’t expecting it.
So a good day, and one I’ll probably write more about later, while sat on the train home. Or something. Which reminds me, I need to find my headphones, and/or some new ones. Go figure.
Posted: Wed 7 November, 2007 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: D4D™, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Own Business, Thoughts, Work-related, Writing |
With the redesign and redevelopment of the business site, I’m debating adding a blog to the site. But the main debate around it is whether I want to be doing writing for three sites – what with D4D™ and the one on the photography portfolio, do I really need anything else?
The point is even more relevant when I look at the “writing” section of the plans for the next 12 months, where I also want to be doing some more ‘proper’ writing and well, I start to wonder what I can add to the business site with a blog anyway.
I can see the use of the blog on the photography site, after all – although I need to get down to adding in some more posts, and generally get to using it more (as well as sorting out the template so that it fits in with the rest of the site) but for the business site? I don’t know – can’t see it right now. It’s something to think about for the future, but at the moment well, not sure I can be chuffed with adding to the blog-writing workload after all.
Posted: Mon 5 November, 2007 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, House Work, Own Business, Resolutions, Work-related, Writing |
So, as listed yesterday, the first year of that five year plan is completed. There’s still some work to be done on finishing off the foundations of it all, but everything is so far pretty much on track, which is a fairly impressive achievement in itself. (well, for me, anyway)
The problem with the next year of the plan (such as it is) is that a lot of it is either
- Hard to explain
- Related to business plans, which I (for obvious reasons) don’t want to bang on about here before I’ve got them started
- Dependent upon other occurrences, or on (to some degree) a bit of luck/chance
- All of the above
This means that the list is almost certainly going to be rather less exhaustive than last year’s one- and God knows, that one was no masterpiece of detail. So this is more an ‘overview’ than a list, and to some degree I also find that rather harder to keep track of and fulfil, due to the nature of the beast. I’ve got more detailed lists of plans and ideas carried around in an ‘off-line’ format- OK, OK, it’s all in my Filofax, which should probably be renamed “my Book of Lists and Notes”. (MBOLAN, or ‘T-rex’ for short))
So anyway, the basic ‘shell’ list is going to be something like this:
- Photography
- Take more photos
- Put the good ones in the portfolio site
- Work on a couple of projects/themes
- Possibly do a redesign of the portfolio site to fit in more with ‘brand ‘image’
- Submit portfolio site and photos to various interested parties
- Possibly make more use of Flickr, although that one’s a bit of a “don’t know”
- Pull more attention to the portfolio site
- Business
Redesign/redevelop business website with a CMS etc.- Look at sorting out a proper business bank account
- Keep generating new work
- Continue with current work and clients
- Get new contract – the one with the current place will definitely expire in ’08, due to tax/IR35 reasons
- Work on developing new sites and business ideas
- Minimise outgoings, increase incoming money
- Writing
- Realistically? Get one solid idea written and done, if only for the head-space
- Optimistically? Get two solid ideas written and done.
- House stuff
- House alterations
- Bathroom
- Kitchen extension/upgrade
- Garden alterations/work
- Veg patch
- Front garden/driveway
- Main lawn etc.
- Borders, beds, blah blah
And that’ll do for now. Like I said, it’s fairly “open”, but that’s still a fair old list from the look of it. I’m going to be a busy boy…
Posted: Sun 4 November, 2007 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, House Purchase, House Work, Photography |
So, I’m now one year through that five year plan. Which means that – fucking hell! – I must now be thirty-six. The last six months haven’t been quite so productive as the first six, but that’s because there also turned out to be a lot of other stuff occurring that wasn’t on the initial set of plans. You know, things like “buy house”, “work on house”, “work on garden”, that kind of thing. It’s meant that in some ways I hit a bit of a pause, but in others I’ve been productive as hell.
Of course, the first year was always going to be about groundwork, getting a load of the basics out of the way so that the next two or three years can make more progress. Well, that’s the concept. Whether it’ll work out like that or not, I don’t know.
Anyway, here’s the list that I wrote up for last November 5th, so let’s see how it’s all gone – the comments are in italics, in case you hadn’t guessed…
- Photography
Get a Macro Lens- Get a Wide-Angle Lens
still deciding whether I really need one. Maybe soon.
Finish the Portfolio website
Completed, and with extra uploads on a fairly regular basis- Sell/Publish some stuff
Working on it, submitting it, and had one used in the Killarney page of an on-line guide to Ireland, although not for any money.
- Join a local club
Still haven’t really found one. There’s a local club, but *shrug* I dunno.
Get a decent flash
Done, a Speedlite 580EX- Start aiming to get work and projects
Started, and ongoing. I’ve sent out some initial letters to a couple of places regarding projects, and I’ll be sending out more over the next month or so.
- Writing
- Finish at least one piece of writing
still working on it, although not all that quickly
- When a piece is finished submit it to the right people
Reliant on #1 being completed
- Just see how things go
- Write more on d4d™? Maybe.
- Work / Websites
- Build and work on the other ideas I’ve got in my head
working on it, and getting some of them sorted
- Work (as always) on smaller sites, and do as many as possible
so far, three new sites launched, as well as the photography portfolio
Sort out permanent job for the first part of ’07 while we’re house-buying etc.
All done, and no need to get that nasty ‘proper’ job after all- Redesign d4d™? It’s about time…
Merge lots of hosting accounts into one reseller account, and onto one server
done- Start getting better at invoicing for work done
in progress, and all being done a lot more efficiently
- Develop some ideas in partnership with others, and see how they do
In progress – I’ve formed a couple of small collaborations, and they seem (so far) to be working well
- Education
Sign up with Open University
initially for a refresher course, and work from there- Look at an official course/qualification in Photography?
Yeah, OK, ‘Education’ is going to be the category that falls off the radar for ’07/’08, I’m afraid – mainly due to motivation issues, but also down to the fact I’m permanently busy doing other stuff. As such, any progress on this one is going to be a way off in the future
- Other
Restart the Archery once we’ve moved
Made all the enquiries, booked to go and do it, but not yet got round to attending. I suck.Move to NorfolkSort out work in NorfolkBuy houseStart work on house, garden
- I must say here, Herself has been the prime organiser of most (if not all) of the stuff below. We’ve got a long way so far, and there’s still a long way to go, but most of it is down to Herself’s organisation rather than mine
Wood BurnerWood PileMaking house initially liveable-inInitial sort out of garden, lawn, veg patchDealing with various electrical issues etc.
Get Planning Permission for house alterationsGet Building Regs for hourse alterations
all doneBuy a car
Bought, insured, taxed, driven it for about 10,000 miles already
Posted: Mon 29 October, 2007 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Animals, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Own Business, Resolutions, Work-related |
It’s hard to believe that in one week’s time I’m going to be thirty-bloody-six. It doesn’t seem like ten minutes ago that we were down in Roadwater for me being thirty-fucking-five.
This year, we’re not going to be going away for Fireworks Night. (Guy Fawkes, whatever) Instead, we’re going to see just what our new place is like when it comes to the joys of fireworks. So far, we haven’t heard any – which is a massive improvement on Bracknell, when we were getting them going off from about the start of October. The next village along will be doing a bonfire and firework display, but we’ve seen nothing about anything in our place.
Of course, we’ll still be working on exhausting Hound – we’ll most likely go up to the beach at Wells-next-the-Sea or Holkham, let her run round like a loon, and take a couple of toys for her to chase, catch and return. By the time we get home, she’ll be knackered enough that she’ll sleep through just about anything, on previous evidence.
At the same time there’s going to be a couple of big old posts about five year plans, resolutions and the like – they’ve been fun to write, and have helped me lay out some of the ideas for the coming year. Particularly as one of the checkpoints is just about crossed off already, which is a definite bonus…
Posted: Sun 14 October, 2007 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: D4D™, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Photography |
I’m in the process of changing some things on D4D™ Primarily, I’m going to be taking the “photography” posts out of here, and moving them over to my portfolio site. For the moment at least, I’m not going to be ‘photoblogging’, but I am going to be doing a blog (although probably not a daily-updating one) on the site.
In general, I think it’ll make sense to move the posts for that over to the portfolio site, and maintain some separation between D4D™ and my other stuff. If nothing else, it’ll add some more content to the portfolio site, which makes sense and may (over time drag more people there.
I may also move some of the shots stuff there, which is part of the greater “D4D™ redesign/rethink” idea that I’ve been chuntering about for a while. It would make sense to move things about, as there’re whole sections that I don’t update at all, and perhaps would if they were easier to do – despite the fact that that’s a pathetic reason, considering I’m a techie, and could do it all easily anyway. But all the same, moving it all into something more sensible makes sense.
So anyway, yes, some (if not all) of the photography stuff will be heading over to the portfolio site over the next week or so, and then photography-based stuff is more likely to sit there than here.