Hi folks
Today I want to give some accolades to my step-daughter Georgia.
I have lived with Georgia since she was 11 - her mother (my wife Desley) and I met in 1999. We married in 2000, and Georgia was obviously living at home with her mum. Then I moved in as the "step-father" - well, as often happens we had a tumultuous relationship.
Well, enough of all that - Georgia has just grown and grown as a person and as a strong business woman. At just 20 years old, she has started her own business, and earns more than her mother and I combined.
http://www.georgiaclare.com.au
This current link goes to her recruitment agency page, but she has her hair extensions business too, but I can't find her hair extensions business website.
No matter - Georgia is just 20 years old, and she just gets out there and doesn't let *anyone* stand in her way of being successful! For someone in this day and age, I congratulate her, and wish I had her vision and passion and commitment.
We can all do this - we just need to let go of old preconceptions. Georgia just doesn't know how to fail - it isn't a word in her vocabulary.
If you get a chance, visit her website and send her a message.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Oza Meilleur
Hey folks
Want to be made happy?!
Check out Oza's blog.
http://ozameilleur.com/blog/
Visit and be happy!
Want to be made happy?!
Check out Oza's blog.
http://ozameilleur.com/blog/
Visit and be happy!
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Monday, July 14, 2008
New Colour Scheme
Hi folks
Yep, I've changed templates yet again.
Just to keep it fresh, and you on your toes! :)
More later after I battle with Crystal Reports.
Hang on, maybe it isn't CR. Maybe its my database driver.
Currently using the SIB Provider from Marcio Wesley Borges that I bought
many years ago, and has been fine since, but no updates and sibprovider.com
doesn't exist anymore.
Perhaps its time to revisit ODBC - the free driver.
Will let you know how I go.
In the meantime, I'm having a glass of Shiraz - usually Merlot, but its the only open bottle! hah!
Yep, I've changed templates yet again.
Just to keep it fresh, and you on your toes! :)
More later after I battle with Crystal Reports.
Hang on, maybe it isn't CR. Maybe its my database driver.
Currently using the SIB Provider from Marcio Wesley Borges that I bought
many years ago, and has been fine since, but no updates and sibprovider.com
doesn't exist anymore.
Perhaps its time to revisit ODBC - the free driver.
Will let you know how I go.
In the meantime, I'm having a glass of Shiraz - usually Merlot, but its the only open bottle! hah!
Thirty Day Challenge TV
Just watching the Thirty Day Challenge TV channel on Ustream.
Ed's got some great tips for Internet Marketing - if you've not signed up, go here,
and click the link you'll find there to take you to the signup page.
Everyone can do this! So can you.
http://30dc.ath.cx
Ed's got some great tips for Internet Marketing - if you've not signed up, go here,
and click the link you'll find there to take you to the signup page.
Everyone can do this! So can you.
http://30dc.ath.cx
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Crystal Reports 9, Visual Basic 6 and Firebird
What is it with CR9?
All I'm trying to do is report on some records where my DATE_ADDED field is between two dates.
So I add a RecordSelectionFormula:
{DATE_ADDED} in date(2008,7,12) to date(2008,7,13)
but my OLE DB provider, Sibpro2.dll, gives me an error with the CONVERT function unknown.
I guess CR9 is generating a SQL statement that includes the unknown CONVERT function - probably valid if I'm using SQL Server (argh! Microsoft strikes again with non standard SQL extensions!) but I'm using Firebird.
Blah.
And I have to get this finished this afternoon.
All I'm trying to do is report on some records where my DATE_ADDED field is between two dates.
So I add a RecordSelectionFormula:
{DATE_ADDED} in date(2008,7,12) to date(2008,7,13)
but my OLE DB provider, Sibpro2.dll, gives me an error with the CONVERT function unknown.
I guess CR9 is generating a SQL statement that includes the unknown CONVERT function - probably valid if I'm using SQL Server (argh! Microsoft strikes again with non standard SQL extensions!) but I'm using Firebird.
Blah.
And I have to get this finished this afternoon.
The Thirty Day Challenge
I'm doing the Thirty Day Challenge this year.
I didn't do much last year, but this time I intend to attack it with a vengeance!
I want to make more money than I am now, and this is one way to do it.
The Thirty Day Challenge is all about teaching you the skills to market yourself, or your product online.
Go and have a look, and register - we're currently in pre-season, and the actual challenge starts on August 1, so there's not much time left to get yourself organised.
Go here and sign up - its free. Completely free training - your only cost is your time.
http://30dc.ath.cx/
To your success!
I didn't do much last year, but this time I intend to attack it with a vengeance!
I want to make more money than I am now, and this is one way to do it.
The Thirty Day Challenge is all about teaching you the skills to market yourself, or your product online.
Go and have a look, and register - we're currently in pre-season, and the actual challenge starts on August 1, so there's not much time left to get yourself organised.
Go here and sign up - its free. Completely free training - your only cost is your time.
http://30dc.ath.cx/
To your success!
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Chaos Trigger
Being a drummer from way back in the dim dark past, its only natural that my son would take over the sticks:
Introducing:
Chaos Trigger
http://www.myspace.com/chaostriggerau
Don't let the backgrounds and darkness etc bring you down - have a listen to their music - your head will eventually start nodding.....
And Chaos Trigger's music is actually - well, thoughtful, and structured, and has that "something extra" that a lot of metal bands simply don't.
Listen to Sciophobia for an example.
All in all, GREAT STUFF!!
I had the best time at their gig last Saturday 21st June 2008.
If you get a chance, go and see them.
Introducing:
Chaos Trigger
http://www.myspace.com/chaostriggerau
Don't let the backgrounds and darkness etc bring you down - have a listen to their music - your head will eventually start nodding.....
And Chaos Trigger's music is actually - well, thoughtful, and structured, and has that "something extra" that a lot of metal bands simply don't.
Listen to Sciophobia for an example.
All in all, GREAT STUFF!!
I had the best time at their gig last Saturday 21st June 2008.
If you get a chance, go and see them.
Monday, June 23, 2008
Long time, no speak :)
Well folks, I'm back.
Out of the wilderness of a one man band, so to speak.
Got a j.o.b. A great job at that, but still, so few minutes at the end of the day to do what I really want to do.
No matter. Its all good.
So what's been happening with all you good people?
Leave a comment - I will respond.
Take care
Me.
Out of the wilderness of a one man band, so to speak.
Got a j.o.b. A great job at that, but still, so few minutes at the end of the day to do what I really want to do.
No matter. Its all good.
So what's been happening with all you good people?
Leave a comment - I will respond.
Take care
Me.
Saturday, April 15, 2006
Make it so!
Just read an article by Steve Pavlina - Cause-Effect vs Intention-Manifestation.
I want to try his idea out. Here goes.
My intention is for my software product, called Totally, to be a huge success. Make it so.
I want to try his idea out. Here goes.
My intention is for my software product, called Totally, to be a huge success. Make it so.
Wednesday, August 24, 2005
Hacking a binary file
I've been trying to hack a binary file.
The first two bytes in the file are a checksum - I think.
The next set of byte pairs point to text strings in the file. I've sussed these out.
However, even though I can find the first input screen on the hardware device that "runs" these files, I can't work out where the hardware device is getting the location of the first byte of this input screen. It's probably using an offset from a known location within the file, but my brain hurts trying to figure it out.
Anyone wanna help? :)
The first two bytes in the file are a checksum - I think.
The next set of byte pairs point to text strings in the file. I've sussed these out.
However, even though I can find the first input screen on the hardware device that "runs" these files, I can't work out where the hardware device is getting the location of the first byte of this input screen. It's probably using an offset from a known location within the file, but my brain hurts trying to figure it out.
Anyone wanna help? :)
Monday, December 13, 2004
Totally Financial Reporting and XBRL
As the world turns more and more to XML as a form of data interchange, many products are beginning to export their native data into some form of XML to be consumed by other products.
One emerging XML standard is the XBRL - Extensible Business Reporting Language - see http://www.xbrl.org for more information. Basically, it is a method of being able to output financial information (balance sheet, profit and loss etc) to a format that can be read by other systems.
Some of the biggest names in the software industry are XBRL-enabling their applications - Microsoft, Oracle, SAP, Peoplesoft etc. Here's the XBRL data for Microsoft for the 4th quarter of 2004.
We've decided to add XBRL support to Totally as well. Some big names in the financial industry in Australia also speak XBRL - the ANZ, Aussie Home Loans, Bank of QLD to name a few - the the full list here.
How will using XBRL help your business? According to xbrl.org, XBRL can speed up, reduce effort and increase reliability in accounting and auditing tasks. So instead of tediously having to fill out bank forms, just give them an XBRL data file.
This means less work for you (because Totally will generate the required information) and less work for the bank and who knows, the banks may even reduce their fees and charges! ;-) Everyone wins.
One emerging XML standard is the XBRL - Extensible Business Reporting Language - see http://www.xbrl.org for more information. Basically, it is a method of being able to output financial information (balance sheet, profit and loss etc) to a format that can be read by other systems.
Some of the biggest names in the software industry are XBRL-enabling their applications - Microsoft, Oracle, SAP, Peoplesoft etc. Here's the XBRL data for Microsoft for the 4th quarter of 2004.
We've decided to add XBRL support to Totally as well. Some big names in the financial industry in Australia also speak XBRL - the ANZ, Aussie Home Loans, Bank of QLD to name a few - the the full list here.
How will using XBRL help your business? According to xbrl.org, XBRL can speed up, reduce effort and increase reliability in accounting and auditing tasks. So instead of tediously having to fill out bank forms, just give them an XBRL data file.
This means less work for you (because Totally will generate the required information) and less work for the bank and who knows, the banks may even reduce their fees and charges! ;-) Everyone wins.
"Branding"
More on branding.
http://www.brandingblog.com/2004/11/marketing_in_20.html
This is quite thought provoking. How much it means to you is dependent on how you see your business growing over the next 3-5 years. Are you ready for more online communications with your customers?
You might even think of starting a corporate blog yourself - here, you can give your customers an insight into how you, as a business owner/manager, thinks about your company, its products and services, and how it presents itself to its customers.
There really is too much hype around products and marketing these days. I believe we are becoming quite jaded when we see the latest television commercials. I find myself saying "ho-hum" and quite literally tuning out. That's exactly the opposite of what the advertiser is trying to get me to do!
We all need more truth and honesty, instead of spin and deceit. I believe only those companies that open up and let their customers see them, warts and all, will be successful over the next 3-5 years.
If you've ever thought of new ways to reach your customers, then perhaps the online world is one place you might start looking into. Many options are available to get you started for free - http://www.blogger.com is one.
Anyway, read the article linked to above. I hope it fires your imagination.
http://www.brandingblog.com/2004/11/marketing_in_20.html
This is quite thought provoking. How much it means to you is dependent on how you see your business growing over the next 3-5 years. Are you ready for more online communications with your customers?
You might even think of starting a corporate blog yourself - here, you can give your customers an insight into how you, as a business owner/manager, thinks about your company, its products and services, and how it presents itself to its customers.
There really is too much hype around products and marketing these days. I believe we are becoming quite jaded when we see the latest television commercials. I find myself saying "ho-hum" and quite literally tuning out. That's exactly the opposite of what the advertiser is trying to get me to do!
We all need more truth and honesty, instead of spin and deceit. I believe only those companies that open up and let their customers see them, warts and all, will be successful over the next 3-5 years.
If you've ever thought of new ways to reach your customers, then perhaps the online world is one place you might start looking into. Many options are available to get you started for free - http://www.blogger.com is one.
Anyway, read the article linked to above. I hope it fires your imagination.
Saturday, December 11, 2004
Totally Intelligent Software Systems
Read an article today:
http://www.codeproject.com/csharp/IntelligentSystemsPartI.asp
Intelligent Software Systems are those that present the most used options in a software package, whilst hiding others (although still accessible)
We'll be adding "intelligence" to Totally as soon as is practicable. I can think of a number of uses for it - when you ask for a list of customers, put the most used (or frequently accessed) customers at the top of the list. Saves you having to scroll through them all, especially when they're in alpha order. If you constantly send invoices to "Thomas, Brad" scrolling to the T's in an alpha ordered customer list is going to get on your nerves. Putting "Thomas, Brad" at the top of the list is going to ease the selection process.
More on intelligent software systems later.
http://www.codeproject.com/csharp/IntelligentSystemsPartI.asp
Intelligent Software Systems are those that present the most used options in a software package, whilst hiding others (although still accessible)
We'll be adding "intelligence" to Totally as soon as is practicable. I can think of a number of uses for it - when you ask for a list of customers, put the most used (or frequently accessed) customers at the top of the list. Saves you having to scroll through them all, especially when they're in alpha order. If you constantly send invoices to "Thomas, Brad" scrolling to the T's in an alpha ordered customer list is going to get on your nerves. Putting "Thomas, Brad" at the top of the list is going to ease the selection process.
More on intelligent software systems later.
Totally Customer
Here's the Customer window from a running copy of Totally.
Our customer screen shows general details, billing and shipping addresses, a list of invoices sent, payments received from, documents you've sent, and conversations had with this customer.
The good thing about Totally's design is that we can modify this screen very quickly, and just give you an updated Customer applet. No need to wait for the next version.
Would this suit you? We welcome your feedback.
Our customer screen shows general details, billing and shipping addresses, a list of invoices sent, payments received from, documents you've sent, and conversations had with this customer.
The good thing about Totally's design is that we can modify this screen very quickly, and just give you an updated Customer applet. No need to wait for the next version.
Would this suit you? We welcome your feedback.
Totally Aggregating Data
One of the nice things that we've built into Totally is an automatic aggregation of data items. Whenever you add a new customer who lives in QLD, Totally will add one to the total count of all customers who live in QLD.
Then, when you view the Information Dashboard, you can select your customer thing, and immediately review the numbers you're slowly building up.
For an example, have a look at this screenshot. (Click it to view a large version)
What is this telling us? That most of our customers live in NSW.
And this one.
What is this telling us? That most of our customers found us through word of mouth.
Options such as this are found in really expensive software, and now for the first time, you get it with Totally.
Then, when you view the Information Dashboard, you can select your customer thing, and immediately review the numbers you're slowly building up.
For an example, have a look at this screenshot. (Click it to view a large version)
What is this telling us? That most of our customers live in NSW.
And this one.
What is this telling us? That most of our customers found us through word of mouth.
Options such as this are found in really expensive software, and now for the first time, you get it with Totally.
Small Business Security
If you're a snmall business, and you're connected to the Internet, you need to ensure you're protected from the nasties. Worms, virii, spam, etc.
Here's 10 top areas you need to consider to secure yourself.
http://www.itnews.com.au/newsstory.aspx?CIaNCID=35&CIaNID=17248
What other issues do you see as being important?
I'd love to hear what you have to say.
Here's 10 top areas you need to consider to secure yourself.
http://www.itnews.com.au/newsstory.aspx?CIaNCID=35&CIaNID=17248
What other issues do you see as being important?
I'd love to hear what you have to say.
Product "Branding" for small businesses
Since this blog is all about reducing costs for small business, I thought it would be worthwhile to look at some other areas of small business that should be addressed.
Today's topic: "Product Branding"
When you see this:
what do you think of? Nike?
There you go. One simple symbol that speaks about the entire company.
Wouldn't it be nice to have something about your company that is instantly recognisable? If you thought branding costs too much, have a read of this.
http://www.brandchannel.com/start1.asp?id=135
We're going to be using this
as our "brand" - whenever you see this, you'll know that its all about "helping small businesses realise and build on their potential" and that "running a business means more than just doing the books"
What sort of symbol or brand could you use to get into the minds of your customers?
Today's topic: "Product Branding"
When you see this:
what do you think of? Nike?
There you go. One simple symbol that speaks about the entire company.
Wouldn't it be nice to have something about your company that is instantly recognisable? If you thought branding costs too much, have a read of this.
http://www.brandchannel.com/start1.asp?id=135
We're going to be using this
as our "brand" - whenever you see this, you'll know that its all about "helping small businesses realise and build on their potential" and that "running a business means more than just doing the books"
What sort of symbol or brand could you use to get into the minds of your customers?
Totally - Thoughts behind it
Totally was born out of small business owners' frustration at having to deal with:
1. expensive software
2. having to buy a copy for every workstation
3. fees for every upgrade
4. a fee for phone support
5. software that only knows about itself
and a whole raft of others.
These points, predominantly, drove the development of Totally. Our mission was to find a way to provide a viable alternative to all the other standalone software programs out there, and sell it for a reasonable price. We think we've achieved that.
Ourt biggest contribution to the bottom line of small businesses is the initial purchase price (free of the "you must buy a copy for every workstation" syndrome) and the optional monthly fee.
We can't afford to just give it away. It is a business management type software, so to leave out some features for the free version would be silly. Small businesses have enough to contend with, without having to "work around" problems that arise simply because the feature is not present or disabled in free versions.
Have a look at Totally's home page for more details.
1. expensive software
2. having to buy a copy for every workstation
3. fees for every upgrade
4. a fee for phone support
5. software that only knows about itself
and a whole raft of others.
These points, predominantly, drove the development of Totally. Our mission was to find a way to provide a viable alternative to all the other standalone software programs out there, and sell it for a reasonable price. We think we've achieved that.
Ourt biggest contribution to the bottom line of small businesses is the initial purchase price (free of the "you must buy a copy for every workstation" syndrome) and the optional monthly fee.
We can't afford to just give it away. It is a business management type software, so to leave out some features for the free version would be silly. Small businesses have enough to contend with, without having to "work around" problems that arise simply because the feature is not present or disabled in free versions.
Have a look at Totally's home page for more details.
Thursday, November 25, 2004
.:Totally:. - Report Printing
Yesterday I finally finished a generic print function that outputs an HTML table. Here's an example
Here's another (yes, its got one slight little problem)
Both of these were generated by the same function. This is great, because no matter which "thing" you're viewing, there only needs to be one print function. So that's out of the way.
Don't like the look of that output? Easy enough to change - I should probably make the colours a setting somewhere.
Here's another (yes, its got one slight little problem)
Both of these were generated by the same function. This is great, because no matter which "thing" you're viewing, there only needs to be one print function. So that's out of the way.
Don't like the look of that output? Easy enough to change - I should probably make the colours a setting somewhere.
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