Time for Action

Posted by Al on August 7th, 2007 .

Action ManAlong with haggling I did a fair bit of reading on holiday. One of the books I read was The E-Myth Revisted, a decent book about why many small businesses fail (and more importantly not to be one of them).

One piece in the book that really got me thinking was a quote from another book:

You should know that a man of knowledge lives by acting, not by thinking about acting, nor by thinking about what he will think when he has finished acting. A man of knowledge chooses a path with heart and follows it.

Carlos Castaneda - A Separate Reality


It may of been due to the local Raki (cheap Pernod) but I had to read that a couple of times before it sank in and upon reflection (by the pool :) ) I could think of numerous cases in the past year when I’ve had the opportunity to take action and let it slip, so this post is a bit of a self kick up the back side.

In the next week I intend:

  • Find a new bookkeeper and accountant
  • Begin the process of registering for VAT (or delegate that to new bookkeeper)
  • Pull finger out and implement a profit making change to CG that I’ve been procrastinating for over a year
  • Find a new designer and get them to start work on a new theme
  • Start a new group project on one of my forums

One of the reasons for making this list public is to give me added pressure to get it don, I learnt this from Wendy Piersall with her Monday Motivation piece, where every Monday she publishes a list of stuff she intends to get done and a forfeit if she fails (which hasn’t happened that often so far).

If you’ve got a few tasks you’ve been putting off for a while please leave a comment with your commitment to do them and we’ll help each other motivationally.

Finally, I’d like to share a great motivational post from SEO Black Hat - Do it F%cking Now, well worth a bookmark.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 7th, 2007 and is filed under Miscellaneous . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

RSS feed | Trackback URI

16 Comments »

Comment by Mark from cheap flights guide Subscribed to comments via email
2007-08-07 13:04:27

You mentioned “Start a new group project on one of my forums” which implies you;ve done other group projects before? If so, can you tell us the link?

Comment by Al from Al Subscribed to comments via email
2007-08-08 12:50:30

The projects before were contests were forum members would complete tasks for prizes, so they weren’t group projects as such. The project I want to do is a new site that I’ve been meaning to implement for a while (I registered the domain November last year) so will create and market it with a team of about 6.

 
 
Comment by Carl from Dension Ice Subscribed to comments via email
2007-08-07 13:42:25

I thought you’d already be VAT registered with how much CG brings in you must be well above the optional threshold.

Comment by Al from Al Subscribed to comments via email
2007-08-08 12:52:21

The last tax year I was just below the threshold but this year I’m going to be well passed it. I also took advice from Scott about having multiple businesses and keeping each under the threshold though that doesn’t really help me now.

Comment by John Subscribed to comments via email
2007-08-08 15:03:24

I hope you also took advice for an accountant about multiple businesses…

I’d have thought that you would benefit from being VAT registered anyway… if most “customers” are businesses or outside the UK…

(Comments wont nest below this level)
 
 
 
Comment by Wendy Piersall from Woot!
2007-08-07 16:28:44

Thanks for the mention Al - I’m glad to see that Monday Motivation is catching on! Sadly, I have two things yet to do this week, one of which is weeding my garden tomorrow. ;)

Comment by Al from Al Subscribed to comments via email
2007-08-08 12:55:47

Thanks for dropping by Wendy. If you don’t enjoy it why not hire a gardener.

 
 
Comment by Scott from Scott Subscribed to comments via email
2007-08-07 17:38:19

With Elaine pregnant giving up her job to become a lady of leisure she has volunteered to be my book-keeper :) bit drastic just to get out of doing paperwork though, granted!

Comment by Al from Al Subscribed to comments via email
2007-08-08 12:57:19

Watch out she’ll be after maternity pay yet.

Comment by Scott from Scott Subscribed to comments via email
2007-08-08 16:55:15

Well as she is a partner in my businesses she actually gets maternity pay from teh government - she getsjust over £100 a week for 26 weeks, can’t be bad at all!

(Comments wont nest below this level)
 
 
 
Comment by John Subscribed to comments via email
2007-08-08 06:34:34

You missed out your forfeit… ;-)

Comment by Al from Al Subscribed to comments via email
2007-08-08 13:00:06

I’m hoping I won’t be needing a forfeit but you’re right I should of included one, so if I fail to do any of the above I’ll give away this months Amazon earnings.

 
 
Comment by Neale from Barbados Info Subscribed to comments via email
2007-08-08 11:45:36

Great post it never ceases to amaze me how when I think I’m the only one with a problem,
“thinking to much” that I bump into someone else thinking/going through the same.

I am officialy in the weeds when it comes to my websites way to many half finished projects, due to too much thinking :)
these three threads are just waht i needed to be remined of this morning.

Where are you in the UK my Dad is a retired accountant he may beable to help youwith the vat & all.

Comment by Al from Al Subscribed to comments via email
2007-08-08 13:02:05

Glad to be of service Neale. I’m in Nottingham, I’d rather work with someone semi local as I really want to sit down with them and talk about tax (exciting stuff).

Comment by Neale from Barbados Info Subscribed to comments via email
2007-08-08 14:20:41

He is not that far away just outside Birmingham email me if you want a #

(Comments wont nest below this level)
 
 
 
Comment by Driver from High Tek Cars
2007-08-11 20:52:39

Ok, here goes, I will find someone to help implement a needed feature on one of my websites by the aug. 18th.

 
Name (required)
E-mail (required - never shown publicly)
URI (Optional)
Twitter Name (optional)
Title (optional, will be used as link text for top commentators)
Your Comment (smaller size | larger size)
You may use <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong> in your comment.