The project involved replacing a rather static ‘old school’ site for Big Picture Triathlon Coaching. Initial discussion took place and then a concept was agreed upon. The concept was then turned into a theme and the theme was populated. I also did training on the site so that Big Picture now have the ability to control the site completely.

It’s another WordPress powered site but the blog side of it is really restricted to some training advice at the moment. Thanks must go to the lovely michelledancer for some wonderful WordPress coding work – things have been really busy so I’ve actually had to outsource some work! If all outsourcing goes as well as this project then I hope I get the chance to do it lots more!

And this brings me on to another self employed web worker lesson – it’s ok to say you don’t have time! I have a lot in the air at the moment with some exciting projects on the go and a lot more on the horizon. So when it got to the crunch I realised I just didn’t have time to do all that I had said I would. Obviously it means that profit margins etc aren’t as great but to be honest as long as I pay the bills I don’t really mind about that.

One of the ways I have done this is by trying different methods of book keeping. I’ve done some work using Sage (and indeed still do) which is handy and nice but also very pricey and far more involved than I need so I have generally been trying out different free software. Microsoft Accounting has been my software of choice for the last year or so but the other day I thought “why not try to find something that let’s me do my invoicing etc online?” and I googled upon a site called Clear Books.

I just wanted to take this opportunity to suggest you try it too! I’m still only on the FREE trial period at the moment but they have different pricing plans depending on the size of your company – from Free for startups (limited to a few transactions a month) to Premium (unlimited transactions but at £15 a month).

It seems to be able to handle everything from reconciling bank accounts to invoicing customers to providing profit and loss information. There are some really clear video tutorials and helpful text documents that can get you started but to be honest the site itself is so clear and the software is easy to use that you probably won’t need any of them. Invoicing is a doddle and it makes it so simple to follow a process through. Most things (such as invoicing) are pretty customisable, including adding logos.

I won’t often do this but I thought I’d mention it – also they have an affiliate scheme so if you have a look and like please let them know I told you about it – my reference is 1413 and you can sign up at their website.

Things have been pretty busy here at Hoyland Web Services over the last few weeks which is great news and I’m looking forward to announcing, among other things, an author’s blog, a couple of slice and dice jobs, an update to a local company and a potentially big project that I shall call “Jam Sandwich“.

But today has been frustrating because today I have spent a lot of time looking at the message “Error establishing database connection.”  Now, before you all run away from me screaming “He wants my business and he can’t even INSTALL WordPress” I must tell you I know how to install WordPress.  It’s pretty simple.  I reckon anyone could do it.  However, something just will not work.  I don’t know if it’s the hosting company (not Godsweb!) that is the problem or what but no matter what details I put into the wp-config file I can not get communication with the database going.  It’s made harder today by the fact that the work I’m doing is for a client who is talking to the hosting company.  The hosting company seem to be giving the client the run around and I can’t do anything about it.  So herein lies Self Employed Web Worker Lesson 2 (I’ve learnt far more than that but I haven’t blogged it!)

“It’s not always as simple as the instruction book suggests”

I’m off to establish a connection.  I’ll let you know about the projects I mentioned soon.  Oh yeah – before I go – WordPress 2.8.5 has been out for a few days now – if you run WordPress just click the Upgrade Now link in your dashboard.  It’s only a hardening update – getting ready for 2.9!