Currently viewing the category: "Business"

My first employee is already saving me time and money

On January 16, 2012 · Leave a Comment · In Business

In the next few months I will take on a new Project Manager to help take Applingua up a notch. In preparation, I’ve begun making a presentation about how things work at Applingua and the processes involved, which I can then use during initial training. Writing down a set process is something I’ve been meaning to do for a long time. Only yesterday I realised it was something I should have done long ago.

Writing down what you do forces you to think hard about your work and, more importantly, why you do it. As I drew out the 11 steps in Keynote I realised certain things can be re-jiggled or merged to save time later down the line. Going deeper into each process item, I realised that there are certain variables which can’t be taught and require months of [...]

Continue Reading →

Software I couldn’t work without

On January 7, 2012 · Leave a Comment · In Business, Tech

I recently noticed there are a set of apps in my Dock which are constantly open. I use them all every single day, almost without fail. Why not write yours in the comments below – these are mine!

The Hit List – It took more than 10 years to move away from pen & paper. After 10 years of failed electronic todo lists, came The Hit List. On the face of it you just press Enter, type your todo and that’s it. But if you need it, there are lots of powerful features that keep you organised and delivering my projects on time.

BBEdit – I’m in the business of text. Lots of text in many different languages. BBEdit is the perfect text editor: great colour coding, multi-language auto-completion, folder view, split view, support for every text encoding [...]

Continue Reading →

Outsourcing small jobs cheaply

On November 29, 2011 · 2 Comments · In Business

I probably have about 100 different ideas a week. They can be anything from future Applingua plans to completely new business ideas to something as simple as a blog post. Most ideas are instantly unviable, but there are often a few which get jotted down in The Hit List for future consideration. Unfortunately they often get left there simply due to time constraints.

One such idea was a blog post I recently published to Applingua’s Blog, listing the Top 100 Paid Mac OS X apps and their localizations. I knew in order to make the blog post more valuable to me, my clients and the blog’s audience, I needed to delve a little deeper than just studying one app store. I also knew surveying 100 apps across several stores would take a lot of my time, which I [...]

Continue Reading →

I can’t use two computers for business

On November 26, 2011 · 5 Comments · In Business, Tech

Despite years of wanting “the perfect setup”, an iMac in tandem with a MacBook Air, I’ve come to the conclusion it just doesn’t work for me. Sure, it’s nice going on the odd day out with the Air, knowing I can check eMails and do any emergency work if I need to, but if you spend a week or weeks away from home as I recently did, having two machines is a bit of a headache. Even despite the many cloud sync options available today.

This year I’ve been fortunate enough to own both a MacBook Air and iMac. For the most part it’s been excellent. Work has been sync’d perfectly over Dropbox, making it easy as pie to pick up from where I left off during the odd day trip. But anything longer than a day or [...]

Continue Reading →

Black Friday Deals in the UK

On November 25, 2011 · Leave a Comment · In Business, Idle Chit-Chat, Tech

If there’s one thing the internet has brought us, it’s a giant, 24/7, international shopping plaza. Sod the academic motives of Tim Berners-Lee in the late 1980s and enter a 365 day shopping bonanza where you can buy everything from your favourite pen to ex-Royal Navy flagships.

There’s one day in particular that US online retailers revere more than any: that’s today, Black Friday. The day after Thanksgiving has traditionally been the start of the Christmas season and attempts to spur sales through pretty attractive discounts. Town centres and online servers suffer as the mayhem ensues…

On this side of the pond few shops have cottoned on to Black Friday (and why should they? Our retailers appear to start the Christmas season in September…), but the beauty of the internet means we get to enjoy some of [...]

Continue Reading →

Making money online

On November 6, 2011 · Leave a Comment · In Business, Tech

For years I struggled to make real money online. Apart from making the odd website, staring at a screen doesn’t bring in cash. It’s a dream many people have, especially those who want to free themselves from their desk and become more “location independent”. Well I’m making money online now and I’ve learnt a lot along the way. I want to share with you what I know.

This article already sounds like link bait, right? Just like one of those posters that used to litter lamp-posts “earn cash at home” or the countless spam emails you probably receive every day. Well it’s true to a certain extent you won’t be able to earn money online if you are not comfortable with your computer or if you don’t possess any sales drive. Finding work online requires you to be able to [...]

Continue Reading →

The best thing the Tories have done for me

On October 30, 2011 · Leave a Comment · In Business, Politics

Everyone loves to hate the Tories. At least that’s how’s it been within my lifetime. Since coming to power in May 2010 most of us have been following what seems to be a constant juggling match with our most prized possessions: education, health, financial services (and, for a moment there, even our forests…). But I can’t say I disagree with everything they’ve done.

I’m a strong believer the UK needs a better “starting-up” scene. Notice I don’t use the term “startup”, which, in my opinion, has been taken over by the tech industry to mean fast-moving, insanely funded business ideas that appear to fizzle out as quickly as they begin. The UK needs people starting up companies not just in tech, but also in one of the many other industries out there. When I talk about a better starting-up scene, [...]

Continue Reading →
Steve Jobs

A life without Steve Jobs

On October 6, 2011 · Leave a Comment · In Business, Idle Chit-Chat, Tech

There’s naturally quite a lot of sentimentality going around today. I usually shy away from public mourning, something I feel the likes of Twitter and Facebook have exacerbated, finding it often mawkish and lacking any sense of perspective. The crux of it is, today is unlikely to be any different for the vast majority of us and it’ll be much the same tomorrow.

But what about yesterday? What if Steve Jobs hadn’t returned to Apple in late 1996 and Apple had gone bust like so many industry experts at the time predicted? For most people who own an iPhone today, their life probably wouldn’t be any different. I cannot say the same for my own.

I got my first Mac in April 2000, thanks to my progressive parents. Yes, you had to be progressive, or barmy, to spend £1249 [...]

Continue Reading →