All posts by Jen D

Business thoughts, continued.

I am considering getting a portable lighting tent kit, since at the very least my first (hopeful) job may include setting things up for e-commerce, and taking photos in a controlled condition will help considerably.

I’m trying to decide if I need to make an S-Corp or LLC filing. The business license is currently a sole proprietorship, and I don’t know enough to decide about making the changes. There’s some small business starting things going on in Seattle, so I may attend those to figure out what’s best.

I think, though, that I’m starting to get my brain around some of the ideas for this. However, the one I’m least-aware of is how to get more clients. I just lack the knowledge, I guess, but again, the small business startup seminars should help with that.

It’s just strange to think that… this is actually happening.

WordPress Seattle – the Ignite sessions.

I admit to being somewhat less than informed about Ignite-style presentations. Basically, a presenter gets 5 minutes to present, slideshows automatically update so they need to keep up, things like that.

There were three, and I’ll link them as I can.

First was Sheila Hoffman, who talked about WordPress plugins. She posted all of the information at a page on the Hoffman Graphics website (her business).

There were also presentations by Larry Swanson on Workplace Fitness, and Grant Landram, called “How to be a better WordPresser: Tips & Tricks for users & dev/signers”. (As I’m a user, moving to dev/signer, this was one I was mightily interested in. Sheila’s was also very helpful, and interesting, for me.)

The chat after the break, where I sat in on the plugins discussion that Sheila and Bob Dunn moderated.

I’ll try to keep up with what went on at these, even as I know other people do, because the more word gets out, the more people show at the meetups and the more interesting discussion goes on.

Business thoughts.

I’ve been trying to put together in my head what my new business idea is going to do. I know I can do WordPress setup and design; I can use Photoshop; I can write (as a technical writer and as a fiction writer); I’m working on programming again (JavaScript/Ajax, PHP and Python). Ten years of work for my previous employer gave me a number of skills, some useful and some not so (due to in-house-developed, non-portable programs to do what some companies do manually). I can take photographs fairly well, but not professionally so.

But what does all that do for me? What do I do with all that?

And I have an idea. I just don’t know quite how to phrase it. Online concierge? Digital Doorman? Technical Assistant? It’s not quite coming together.

The idea, as my business presentation showed, was offering myself to small business who have no online presence and helping them build one. Social networking, building a web page, getting themselves set up. Make some money from that, and maybe some followup work to keep them up to date (for, uh, a fee, of course).

I need a job title. That’s the thing that’s getting me right now.

Graphical Fun

I redid the background image for the page.

I think I need to redo the header image. For starters, I want to change the font. For another, the background, and for a third the image. So, basically, start from scratch all over again.

Also thinking about a new logo, or maybe just keep it background and text. Not sure. The logo I’ve used for years is for my relaxed, informal online identity; this is my ‘professional’ site and I think I need something a bit more professional me. It’s really difficult to come up with something like that, which I suppose is why people pay a lot for it.

Time to get started.

Earlier this week, I registered for a business license in the state of Washington, as it generally required, so that I can start, well, a business. Jobhunting isn’t quite happening, so the idea of trying to see what I can do by myself may turn out to be my best option right now.

Next step is going to be getting the rest of the business startup stuff in order: incorporation paperwork, the rest of it. It’ll be interesting to see what happens next.

I wrote a business presentation on my iPad, which is over on the “what do I do” page if you want to see it.

(I am, I note, watching spam. So be careful.)

Well, that was ridiculous.

A few months ago I put some JavaScript in so I could track when my resume was clicked. I botched it badly and did not even notice it.

But now I did! And I fixed it.

Also: trying to get back on the ol’ horse again, get things going. May do some rearranging, so if you see some old 1990s web-style under-construction signs… that means I’ve lost my mind.

And as well…

I grabbed my ticket last night to WordCamp Seattle yesterday. It’s going to be fun and interesting, and I’m looking forwards to it.

If you’re in Seattle and into WordPress, you should grab it soon – there’s only 300 total, and I think I’m still in the top ten.

You can check it out at http://www.wordcampseattle.org/ – see the schedule, the speakers, and the plans.

Mark 2?

I’m starting to put together a version 2 – or maybe just a 1.1 – version of the Twitter Tools setup walkthrough. My goal to add in this one is a simple set of locations to paste things into, so you can grab your OAuth information, paste it in, then when you go back to the Twitter Tools setup, you can paste it over quickly.

It’s more of an ease-of-use for the setup than any changes, because I think it’s a solid piece of work.

When that happens, I’ll probably change the previous post to point to the new one, so that it’s obvious that it’s been updated.