Mea culpa.  It’s time to sort that out.

The good news, from my point of view, is that I’ve had an incredibly busy and exciting Spring and Summer.  I’ve been involved in a range of satisfying projects and continue to acquire business via personal contacts and word-of-mouth, which I hope means that people value what I do and are happy to recommend me to their own friends and business partners.

The need to keep my blog updated from a marketing point of view has therefore not been foremost in my mind.  However, that’s not what it’s all about.  Much of my own research and skills-building is based on the things that I read in other people’s blogs and I’m well aware that it’s been a rather one-way relationship.  I’m not giving much back in return.

So, my “back to school” resolution for September is to make a point of writing much more about the issues that I encounter in my work.  Earlier this year this blog focused on documenting specific technical issues that I’d come across, but much of what I do these days is based on the broader concepts of how you communicate with people via the web.

Sometimes I worry that if I describe the full range of the services that I can offer, I’ll come across as an unfocused dilettante.  I don’t think that’s true.  I’m not necessarily a jack of all trades, but I’ve mastered many.  I’m driven by the idea that fellow blogger Steve Hardy (no relation) calls “creative generalism“.  In other words, eclecticism is power.

I did a bit of brainstorming with a business contact recently and he offered the tongue-in-cheek suggestion that my core marketing message should be “I am the glue”.  It’s possibly the worst slogan ever, but it does highlight the way that I connect things together into a larger whole.  That’s the underlying theme of what I do and what I want to write about.

I had a much better idea.  I suggested that we configured the two PCs as a small workgroup, meaning that she could leave the desktop turned on, acting as a print server, and would be able to print at her leisure whilst working downstairs in the lounge.  She loved the idea, so I went ahead.  It worked perfectly… until about five minutes after I walked out the door.

Returning to her house, the problem was immediately apparent: the Windows 95 desktop machine was demonstrating the infamous “blue screen of death”.  I reversed my work and apologised for getting her hopes up.  While it should work in theory, in practice the Windows 95 installation on her ageing computer had become too unstable over time for her to rely on this solution.

I was reminded of a fairly basic principle that day: sometimes you have to say no, enough is enough.  With the best of intentions, I had tried to help her to get more value out of her existing IT systems, but I let my enthusiasm and helpful nature get the better of me.  Microsoft stopped supporting Windows 95 at the end of 2001 and in future I’ll be following its example.

Starting as a freelancer in late 2006 wasn’t, if I’m honest, the result of a co-ordinated plan. My original intention was to sign up with an agency and work on a contract basis for a year or two, to gain fresh experience in a variety of businesses.

However, as with my original entry into IT in late 1989, an opportunity appeared and it seemed too interesting to ignore. A couple of ex-colleagues asked me if I’d be interested in helping their business to make better use of IT and the web. I said yes.

Things have progressed naturally from there. My consultancy work has become a realistic way of supporting myself. I’ve kept a fairly low profile, but word of mouth referrals and repeat business have kept me busy.  People seem to like what I do.

I’ve been on the internet since 1993. I created my first website the following year and wrote my first blog post over eight years ago. I’ve written in many places on numerous subjects ever since, but I’ve never really covered the topic of how I make a living.

The idea of writing about my freelancing experiences has become more attractive over the past couple of months. So that’s what I’m going to do, beginning today. Once more, I don’t have any particular plan. I’m just going to begin and see what happens.

So, hello and welcome to my blog. I’ll be covering anything that seems interesting and relevant: strategic planning, technical tips, knowledge management, my experiences of being self-employed – everything’s fair game. I hope you’ll find it interesting.