My Customer Service Experiences

Making money online looks on the surface to be easy, so why isn’t everyone at it?

surely if the 1000s of websites that advertise such claims as ‘Make £1,000 in 1 day’ and ‘Get rich working from home’ are to be believed, its a doddle!

Well being a sceptic and a Yorkshire man, I have a few doubts. This coupled with the fact that I, alongside my business partner Ash run a successful web company, it appears that all is not what it seems in the land of ‘Get rich quick’ land.

Our company www.weweb.co.uk builds and maintains website and social media profiles for small and medium sized companies. we are also pretty good at optimisation and video… all of which we do really successfully for our clients.

It was during a conversation with my partner (in love, not business) about internet money making that she asked me one simple question.

“So.. if you and Ash are so good at it and you know all the methods that get loads of visitors to other peoples websites”

“yea”.. I mused smugly.

“How come you are not like an internet millionaire, surely you and Ash could do it tons better than these people who claim to be internet gurus?”

I couldn’t answer her! We could do it tons better and it made sense completely but why hadn’t we done it for ourselves?

So two weeks later we have a plan and here it is:

The Plan:

We are going to make ourselves rich by focusing our considerable web skills of;  Web building, SEO, Marketing, Social Media Marketing and Content Writing into our own projects at least 20% of the week. and it starts here… with this post on this scrappy, part business, part personnel blog of mine.

How Are We Going to be Making Money Online?

Simple – We are going to do and teach.

There are 1000s of web pages out there telling people in loose terms how to make money online. They use phrases like’ Set up a website and add affiliate banners’

OK…

We are going to treat everyone like they are ‘using the web for the first time’ and take them step by step through all the aspects of making money from the internet. basically we are passing on our expert knowledge in direct, layman’s terms.. and we will use phrases like:

“to set up a word press site just press this button her (diagram).. see what happens! watch this video of me doing it etc… “

We will focus only on the stuff that works and show you how to do that, plus we will be doing it along side you with our own examples.

Our first Training website will be www.job-work.co.uk

and my initial ideas for the branding are:

So.. If you want to sign up to this and learn with us we are going to put a small monthly charge on it  for now to readers of this post of just  £1.99 – no contract, cancel when you want etc..

If you are interested in learning this with us, email me at trainme@weweb.co.uk with the words I’m Interested. and we promise that you will never pay more than £1.99 per month for the training. As, no doubt, the price will go up.

Thanks for reading. see you on the other side!

Chris Hill

I was blown away this month by the service that I received from a florist in Matlock, Derbyshire. Not one to shy away from moaning about poor service I think it is only fair that I mention it when it is great.

I needed some flowers for my wedding anniversary (which I had duly forgot about until the last minute) and as I was travelling through Matlock at about 4:45pm I stopped my car and jumped straight onto my iPad to find a local florist.

I came across Tineke Floral Design through their VidBo page (below) and I rang to see if they could knock me up a nice bunch of flowers. I explained my predicament to a lady called Kerry who talked me through the options which even included next day delivery to my door! I was so impressed I decided to call in to see the florist.

I was met by the lovely Kerry who took the time to show me an amazing array of potential wife pleasing floral bouquets, so I choose a lovely purple and white arrangement and paid my money.

Kerry assured me that my choice was perfect and it would be in the arms of my better half around lunch time tomorrow.

The reason I am writing this piece is for several reasons.

1. Kerry took time at the end of her day to appease a worried man who she didn’t know.

2. She gave up some of her personal time to make, what in the end was a relatively small sale compared to the hundreds of weddings that Tineke obviously provide wedding flowers for (Judging by the many cards and letters of thanks from happy brides)

Kerry was sweet, knowledgeable and gracious throughout and I would highly recommend anyone who needs flowers in Derbyshire to contact her.

Tineke are an excellent Florist who deserve all the business that they can get.

Tineke Floral Designs

22 Matlock Green, Matlock, Derbyshire, DE4 3BT

01629 629 371

Elton John has announced that he will definitely be playing at the B2Net stadium in Chesterfield next June or July.

Our sources tell us that Elton John has announced this as the only confirmed British date on his forthcoming 2012 tour.

This is a real coup for Chesterfield as Elton tends to spend most of his time entertaining the crowds of Las Vegas so we hope the hospitality of Ches Vegas can wow him back for further appearances.

The singer has also recently announced that he will be making a film biography of his life entitled Rocket Man which is to be produced by his partner David Furnish and Steve Hamilton Shaw who is the singers current executive producer.

see http://www.vidbo.co.uk later in the year for further video updates.

Being in business for yourself  can feel a bit like you are rowing a little wooden boat into a sea of tankers. It’s sometimes a bit threatening and can make you feel like its you versus the world and that everything is geared towards making your life just a little bit harder.

I have spells of feeling like this and as much as I plough ahead (due mainly to be complete tenacity) I feel that its the support of friends and people in the same boat (scuse the pun) that I need to help me regain my positivity.

4Networking is such a place. In the three short months that I have been a member I have met a fantastic bunch of people that are traveling the same journey as I and this alone makes the path seem smoother.

The business side of 4Networking is also really good too, for I have found new customers, been recommended, found a new accountant and a brilliant sales rep. In three months what more could you ask?

Yet its the friendship for me that’s the best thing, I now know 30 more people in my home town that are are happy to see me every second Thursday, who I can call on for advice and who are happy to recommend me and my services to their customers.. why?  because they know me and can call me a friend.

Thanks 4Networking and the excellent bunch at Chesterfield.

We have just had one of the best days with our kids for a long time. Cannon Hall Farm in Barnsley have just got it so right…

We arrived at Cannon Hall Farm at about 1.00 PM having driven from Chesterfield.  The farm is about a 10 minute drive from junction 37 of the M1 and is well signposted.

There is plenty of parking and the couple of pounds you pay to park is mostly redeemable in the cafe… And what a café!

It was quite busy being a Sunday but we were seated in no time at all. The food was all home produced and absolutely delicious. I had the steak pie with homemade chips. Mmmmm

After a hearty meal we entered the farm and and took the kids around to see the animals. The boys were really excited to see baby lama.

The rest of the farm was packed with sheep, pigs, horses, cows, donkeys, rabbits guinea pigs and loads of other animals that I am failing to mention. The kids were in absolute heaven and were nearly falling over themselves to discover what creatures awaited in the next pen.

Then the miracle of new life happened right before our eyes. A heavily pregnant Ewe gave birth right in front of us. It was amazing to watch and as Gabe my 4yr old still repeatedly quotes

‘And.. That sheep.. It laid a baby!’

Here is the video I shot of it happening. (the second lamb came out fine.)

After the animals and the sheep laying it was off to check out the new park and I soon discovered that there aren’t enough sunshine hours in the day when you can have this much fun with the kids.

The park is brand new and absolutely fantastic! It is laid out into several separate areas each one an amazing array of playfully designed slides, climbing frames, hiding tubes and swings. All made solidly using huge trunks of wood moulded into the landscape creating a safe and original super-playpark that kids will never want to leave.. mine certainly didn’t.

the two things that really stood us for us were the Huge tube slides. and the tube maze.. my boys spent hours getting lost in this.

Cannon Hall Farm is highly recommended, its value for money and a super day out.

As millions of eyes around the world focus on Kate Middleton as she walks down the aisle on her way to becoming Princess Catherine, (lucky girl!) I am sure that her crowning glory (apart from her gorgeous brunette hair) will be her diamond tiara!

If you’re getting married, but don’t have Kate’s budget (who does?), you can steal her style with the next best thing, a handmade Swarovski crystal or diamante tiara from www.crystalfrost.co.uk. You should see their fab tiaras, definitely fit for a queen – in all shapes and sizes, contemporary and traditional. They even have a few crystal crowns, almost as good as the real Crown Jewells ­– at sensible prices that us commoners can easily afford!

If you want to look like Royalty on your own wedding day – Crystal Frost offers bespoke tiaras, so you may even be able to commission your own replica of Kate’s actual tiara! And you should also check out their collection of fabulously sparkly matching earrings, necklaces and bracelets to complete the totally regal look.

Crystal Frost don’t only sell tiaras, they also have colourful feather fascinators (weren’t they banned from the Royal Wedding in place of hats for guests? Something to do with protocol I think!) Thankfully Crystal Frost do bridal hats too as well as veils, jewellery, lingerie and the prettiest bridal bags. Check it out all you gorgeous princesses to be!

Having spent a good few years getting into the benefits of positive thinking and the thinking behind it, it seems to me to be like most other areas of business. Full of charlatans and bull-shitters laced with a smattering of original thinkers and impressive individuals who can actually inspire you to get results.

Let’s face it, we are all born with the same tools, a brain and a body. It’s instinctively our programming that makes us stand out… or not as the case may be. If we can simply convince the little voice in our heads that steers the ship of our lives that we really are worthy of a good life and that we can achieve great things, we might actually stand a chance of getting somewhere bordering on happy.

The other two mental skills we need to master are; Focus for the journey and the ‘staying on course’ and something that I call Karmic Acceptance. The second of these is the toughie for most people as what it is basically being asked of you is to believe that there is an un-written rule book that states ‘What come around goes around’ or ‘You get out what you put in’.

This Karmic Acceptance or ‘Karmap’ is the most powerful tool that works for me.. when I’m in the Karmap state.

The problem as always is that I don’t manage to remain there. I get complacent just like every other human being on the planet.

My solution to this is to learn from motivational people who I like and admire.

To kick-start my Goal Setting and get me to my perfect Karmap state I recommend Marie-Claire Carlyle. Marie-Claire is a motivational wealth coach. She has a great one-day workshop on How to Become a Money Magnet, which is very motivating stuff indeed and one of the best days like this I’ve been on.

To keep my Karmap topped up each day I use Sue Stone’s daily motivational videos. These are sent to my inbox every morning, I wake up to the lovely and very happy Miss Stone filling my day with wonderful positive messages and techniques in the form of a 3-minute video.

Simple techniques that really do have a positive attitude changing effect. So this works for me and that’s how I do it.

What’s your motivation?

Just to be fair I thought I would take advantage of the Google Up On The Housetop Image and write a post that thanks the people of Chesterfield for their excellent support in the launch of VidBo.

In the last 3 months VidBo has proved it’s might in promoting independent businesses across the web. It has had over 20,000 video views and gets an average of 3000 people every day looking at the web site.. Excellent !

UP ON THE HOUSETOP

So with this excellent Google Christmas collage I wish anyone who finds this a very Merry Christmas and an amazing New Year.

Here is the Chesterfield and VidBo’s first  ‘Crimbo VidBo’  Enjoy  x

And I don’t say that lightly.  Having had a couple of bad experiences whilst trying to get my website built and correctly optimized. (I’m not going to name any names here…) It is refreshing come across a company that deals in Web Design and SEO is an advocate for the small businsess and does exactly what it says on the tin.

http://www.weweb.co.uk

Chris Hill and Ashley Powell are the two guys behind this Chesterfield web design company and their attitude to web design is refreshing.  They not only have the skills needed (like clean website building, graphic design, SEO and internet marketing) but they are very much into social media and how it can help small businesses…  Just what I need.

They are also the pair responsible for Vidbo:  http://www.vidbo.co.uk The Chesterfield ‘YouTube’ for business style website that is taking the local business community by storm.

Based on the premise that every business should have a level playing field on the Internet, Vidbo films each business owner and asks them two questions:

1. What you do that’s great?
2. What have you got going on?

Let’s face it!  This is all the information that we the need to know about a business.

But the really smart thing that Vidbo does is give each business an opportunity to share their Vidbo with Facebook and other social media sites as well as give each company free and excellent optimisation…  It’s genius!

And is Chris Hill says ‘it’s about time local businesses had a bit more strength to their arm on the Internet’

So whether you want a website that gets found on Google or a Vidbo the gets you in front of thousands of local people…  Give Chris Hill a ring on 0845 680 8298 his company comes highly recommended.

As a small business owner I have found it increasingly more difficult to manage my paper trail as my company has grown. I am a training provider and I have lots of clients who all have different ways of communicating with me.

For example: In May this year, from just one client I receive 62 emails, 27 faxed student forms and 3 more through the post. I posted out 5 different invoices to them to 5 different branches and I posted out 30 training schedules… and I have over 70 clients.

So I contacted Esker in Derby.

They took my business processes and put everything digitally together.

What that means for me is:

• A fax comes in. the Esker system intercepts it, digitises it and asks me where it should go – one click and sorted
• A signed student training application comes in through the post so I simply scan it which digitises it, it then asks me where it should go – one click and sorted
• I want to send out a training schedule or invoice its a simple couple of clicks and I’m stuffing the envelope or the email is whizzing through the ether to my client.

I have to say that the system was neither expensive or complicated to set up. Esker did most of the work and it has freed up myself and my office staff to do what we do best. Quality training to eager people.

Chris Hill– www.getonlinesales.co.uk