[00:00:47.090] - Gordon
Hello.

[00:00:47.750] - Taylor
Hello.

[00:00:48.260] - Gordon
And welcome to "This Week With Taylor and Gordon." My name is Gordon from Drayson Design.

[00:00:52.790] - Taylor
And I'm Taylor from The Creative Tinker.

[00:00:55.130] - Gordon
Welcome back and thank you if you're re-joining us, this is Episode 5?

[00:01:01.710] - Taylor
I believe so, yeah.

[00:01:02.610] - Gordon
Episode 5, five weeks into it and you may notice something slightly different. My hair is not as long as it has been. Taylor was very kind to shave it. My hair on top of my head is a lot shorter than it normally is and is much longer on my chin.

[00:01:21.270] - Taylor
I think it looks pretty good that, I think I did a pretty good job.

[00:01:21.890] - Gordon
Thank you very much. Yeah, you did a great job. And sorry can I just say, it's like 24 degrees outside and Taylor why are you wearing a jumper in this weather?

[00:01:32.360] - Taylor
Because I got my jumper finally, my embroidered jumper from "Custom Shirts and More." It finally arrived after who knows how long.

[00:01:44.210] - Gordon
He did send it, it was just the post that was very slow on it.

[00:01:47.990] - Taylor
But I think it looks great, I really like it.

[00:01:50.540] - Gordon
It looks beautiful, yeah. We're good friends with Rob, who runs Custom Shirts and More, and he always does a really good job. I have all my shirts that are done with him, and now Taylor has his own hoodie that's been done with him.

[00:02:05.690] - Taylor
Very good quality, and the service that Rob provided was top quality. You know, he was always there to answer any questions I had and made sure that, you know, nothing below, you know, 100% perfect.

[00:02:20.030] - Gordon
And it's in perfect time because we're just coming into the summer now. So it's exactly the time that you're going to need a hoodie, because remember, this is the UK, so it will be quite cold in the summer.

[00:02:31.670] - Taylor
It could rain at any point. Or snow.

[00:02:33.740] - Gordon
Exactly. Now just in case you are worried, we have mentioned to the neighbours that we're recording, so hopefully we won't have anyone mowing their lawn this week, which we had last week. Oh, you getting a bit hot?

[00:02:48.870] - Taylor
Yeah.

[00:02:50.810] - Gordon
It is one of the hottest days that we've had at the moment out there and it's the perfect day to do this. So hello, welcome to this week. We've got lots of things to talk to you about. One of the things that I've been doing this week is I've been working for a long time customer, and very good friend of mine, Marc Summers, and we've been redoing some of his images for him. He's redoing a website and he needed some images put on his website and they weren't looking right. And so between the two of us, we created the right size and shape image so it looked perfect and all of the images match on his website. So that's one thing we've been doing. But we've also been working with a guy called Sean, who's a coder and does a lot of work for both of us, in fact. And he's the creator of plug-ins for all sorts of platforms but a lot of them are for WordPress. And he's had lots of very, very popular plug-ins that he's been selling on a service called "Elegant Marketplace," and he's a coder, not a designer.

[00:04:10.460] - Taylor
Yes.

[00:04:11.600] - Gordon
You'd agree with that?

[00:04:12.350] - Taylor
Very much so.

[00:04:13.760] - Gordon
So his choice in design and layout and so on is not always the best, but the logos and the design of the graphics he had to sell his products, they had a picture of a, like a wire frame Formula One car on it.

[00:04:32.340] - Taylor
Yeah.

[00:04:33.390] - Gordon
I don't know why it was just...

[00:04:37.260] - Taylor
Quick and easy, it was quick and easy. Because he writes the plug-ins he does it, he writes them, and then he just wants to get them up there. Which, I think that the fact that he's done so well with all of his plug-ins and had, you know, not the best of design or not the most coherent, just goes to show how good of a developer he is because he's managed to do so, so well.

[00:04:57.570] - Gordon
Well the plug-ins do work extremely well and as soon as you get a plug-in that works well, everyone tells everyone else about it. And there's a lot of chat on Facebook in particular, in Divi groups, and also on Discord and so forth, about the best way of doing things and plug-ins are a great way to add new functionality. And what he does is add functionality. So we've basically been tasked with re-doing the documentation for all of his plug-ins and his products. And when I say re-doing, some of them it's doing, because they weren't actually done. The one that we've actually now completed, is a brand new product, and that was Tab Manager for Woo Commerce is the plug-in. But it didn't have any documentation, it didn't have an image. He was ready to sell it, but he didn't have the marketing part of it in place. So we were taking his company name, which is "Tortoise IT," and looking at his logo, which is a tortoise with the circles on it and trying to figure out how we could bring that into a design and make that into a stamp, or an element. And I think the graphics that we've come up with are really good. In fact, hopefully you'll be able to see on screen some of the graphics that we've done.

[00:06:23.430] - Taylor
Yep.

[00:06:23.430] - Gordon
And if we're able to find some of the older graphics, maybe you'll see the before and after. That will be quite nice. And you can see what a difference it makes. And it really allows them to stand out on the page of lots of other plug-ins. It's a bit like a newspaper, isn't it? A newspaper has to have a colour front cover that will stand out with a headline, grab your attention. And you know, that's their marketing, that's their shop window. It's what encourages you to buy that product.

[00:06:54.430] - Taylor
It's also quite fitting with branding now that, if you look at them, you'll be able to tell that they're all from Tortoise IT because they all match the same style.

[00:07:04.260] - Gordon
But they're also readable now. I thought the previous versions were very difficult to read because of the wireframe and the...

[00:07:11.100] - Taylor
The distracting background.

[00:07:12.900] - Gordon
The distracting, yeah. It was very busy background. We've softened that a lot and made it very simple, so that the text and the important information stands out.

[00:07:21.570] - Taylor
Yeah.

[00:07:22.170] - Gordon
And he's very pleased with them. To the point that he still has a few plug-ins that have the old logo and design on it and we're going to have to be looking at those and re-doing those for him as well. So that's something we've got coming up. What have you been up to Taylor?

[00:07:38.100] - Taylor
So most of my week has been email, replying to emails and chasing up and confirming and kind of working with clients and kind of finding out where I am with them and on what projects, what's left to do, what needs doing next. So maybe asking, "can you send me content for this page and this page," or send them an email saying, you know, "the website's nearly finished. I've got a couple of things on my end that I've got to do. Is there anything that you want, any changes or are you happy with it?" Before we push it live really. So, yeah, most of it's been, you know, replying to emails and adding the content that I'm being sent this week, really, and putting that on to the new websites that I'm working on.

[00:08:19.920] - Gordon
And normally this is the longest part of a project. It's waiting for content, waiting for approval. Sometimes clients have to go and talk to other people in the company, which is why it's important that we try and find out exactly what they need from the first step, because having to re-do a load of work is not productive for us, not cost effective for them.

[00:08:43.260] - Taylor
Yeah.

[00:08:44.220] - Gordon
And in the end, you get what you want if you've actually been able to drill down and find out what it is you want. But normally the content, that is the text, sometimes the imagery, has to come from the customer. A lot of the text is written by copywriters or written by the customer themselves, and as designers of websites a lot of our time is spent chasing and trying to get this information because we can't complete the project until we've got them. In fact, quite often I won't start a project 'til I've got them, because I know that that is going to be a sticking point. And I don't want to set aside a load of time so that I can start on a project and finish it, if I haven't got everything I need, because there may be big delays which will then push everything else back.

[00:09:35.090] - Taylor
Yeah, and also I've had people going, you know, "can you design the site and then I'll add the content later." And it's, that's really difficult to do as a web designer, because a lot of your design choices and where you decide to put things, and how you decide to lay out things, are based on the content. So, you know, if you've got more content, you're going to allow more space. Whereas if you've got, if you've not got enough, it can sometimes look out of place and not look right. So...

[00:10:04.670] - Gordon
Yep.

[00:10:05.180] - Taylor
You know, when people sometimes say, "yeah, just design the site and then I'll add the content later," it's very difficult and it's hard to work that way because you end up doing a lot more work because you have to make compensation once you get the actual content.

[00:10:17.720] - Gordon
And it's all down to the point that maybe the client doesn't know exactly what they want at that point as well, which is always difficult.

[00:10:24.380] - Taylor
Yeah.

[00:10:25.040] - Gordon
So yeah, yeah. Big process that takes a long time. So if you are thinking of having a project, then try and get all your content ready before the designer starts on it because you'll end up with a much better end result.

[00:10:38.540] - Taylor
Yeah.

[00:10:39.470] - Gordon
So something else I've been doing this week is accounting.

[00:10:43.640] - Taylor
Ok.

[00:10:43.640] - Gordon
As a self-employed person, I don't have an accounts department. I have to do it all myself. And a lot of that is to do with insurance, keeping your insurance up to date, making sure you renew it, making sure you get the best price for it. We're in lockdown still and as a self-employed person, the HMRC have been dealing with the grant that they've allowed for self-employed people, which luckily I am eligible for, sadly you're not.

[00:11:16.460] - Taylor
No.

[00:11:16.730] - Gordon
No, Taylor hasn't been in business long enough, so he doesn't get anything, I'm afraid. But again, that's something I've had to go through and make sure I had everything ready for the claim to make that go through nice and quickly. And in their favour HMRC did a fantastic job. The idea was that they were supposed to be looking at this about the end of May and you would get money in your account at the end of June. And here we are sort of just over halfway through May; I've already filled in my claim and I was told that it would take up to six working days for the money, or the grant, to be deposited in my bank account and it's already there, ahead of time. It's like three working days in. So it's...

[00:11:59.380] - Taylor
I think the government have done a very, very good job.

[00:12:02.690] - Gordon
They've done a great job. Hopefully, hopefully they're going to extend the amount of time that we get paid this money, because at the moment we're at the end of our grant time and no, no extra payments are due, which could be a problem for me because I'm not able to go out and do shows. So, yeah, accounting is a really, really important part of the job being self-employed because cash flow is king. You've got to make sure you've got cash to pay your suppliers; you've got to make sure you're getting the money in from your customers when you need it, and when you've agreed for it to come in; and keeping on top of everything, that's the other thing as well. How do you deal with your accounting Taylor?

[00:12:46.310] - Taylor
So when I started up, I was looking at trying to use some sort of software to keep track of all my invoices, all of my incomings and outgoings. And I came across, there were lots of popular ones like "quickbooks" and "FreshBooks" and things like that, or "Xero" I think another one is. But they're all...

[00:13:07.730] - Gordon
With an X isn't it? Xero.

[00:13:08.690] - Taylor
Yeah. But they're all paid. And, you know, when starting up, I didn't have the money, nor do I really want to spend money on accounting at the moment. And I came across a website/app called "Wave," and it has been, you know, hands down the best accounting app that I've seen out there for free and I've used. And you know, I've recommended it to a lot of people that have either been starting up or recommended to move over to them if they're paying because, you know, it's free and it's cheaper and it does all the same things.

[00:13:43.910] - Gordon
I have to say it's very interesting, because I set up my business, what 30 years ago, and Taylor's set it up last year and this year. And the differences that I can see from what's available as a tool to be able to do your job, is vastly different from when I started. I had to do it all myself. I built my own FileMaker databases to keep my contacts. That was my customer relationship manager, that's my billing, my invoicing. All of that I had to do myself and had to do it from scratch. [coughing] Pardon me. Whereas software is out there now to make life a lot easier, and to allow you to do it yourself. So I haven't moved over because I've got a system that works and I know. But if I were, I would be looking at something like Wave to do it as well, because I find that it's just a lot easier and a lot more time sensitive. It means you haven't got to spend as much time on accounts as I do. Taylor doesn't spend as much time as I do. Definitely.

[00:14:47.190] - Taylor
A lot of my stuff is, for example, all my invoices, when they get paid, they automatically go into my accounting books, logs and automatically puts all the details in, puts the invoice number, so I've always got a log of it and track of it and I don't need to do it manually really. And it automatically does it for me.

[00:15:04.470] - Gordon
See, automation! You might have seen a little trend going through our videos here. We like automation don't we?

[00:15:10.650] - Taylor
Yeah.

[00:15:10.980] - Gordon
Yeah. Especially when you're self-employed. The more you can automate, the more time we have to actually earn money, which is really important.

[00:15:18.300] - Taylor
I also, I think as well, it gives you, allows you to have a lifestyle that you want as well, because a lot of people become self-employed so they can have their own lifestyle. They can choose when they work, what they do, which work they take on, and you know, they don't have to work a '9 'til 5' so they've got the flexibility. And so automating things just makes it a lot easier and frees up your time.

[00:15:41.070] - Gordon
As long as you don't get into the trap of working all hours because you're self-employed. That is a topic for another episode. Definitely. The last thing I've got to talk to you about is some news. I don't know a great deal about it at the moment, but Facebook have announced that they are going to allow you to sell things on Facebook, and it's going to be a free service. Now I know they've got sort of 'the marketplace' where you can put things up for sale, but I think it's going to be more like a shop that you can set up on Facebook.

[00:16:10.860] - Taylor
Is it similar to how Shopify, how you can link your Shopify to...

[00:16:14.280] - Gordon
I don't know a great deal about it at the moment. What I am suspecting, knowing Facebook, is they are going to offer it for free and at some point down the road there will be a charge for it, possibly. I can't see that they can do it, unless they're just trying to get everyone to stay in Facebook instead of going off to other websites, which is beneficial to them, because they can then show ads and make money that way. But yeah, I don't know a great deal about it. But if you are a person who sells products or services, either physical or virtual, definitely keep an eye on this, because being on Facebook where your customers are, is a great way to make extra sales.

[00:16:58.560] - Taylor
And if you don't have to leave a platform to make the sale, it makes the customer process and journey a lot easier. And the easier it is to click the 'buy' button and add your details, credit card details in, the more likely you are to make a sale.

[00:17:12.660] - Gordon
This is true. Amazon have been doing lots of tests on this over the years and they now know that it takes three clicks to make a purchase. And that's not by...

[00:17:24.540] - Taylor
Accident.

[00:17:25.080] - Gordon
Accident, that's been carefully tested. So I think that's everything from me.

[00:17:30.630] - Taylor
That's everything from me as well.

[00:17:31.410] - Gordon
Lovely. Well, thank you so much for watching. If you have enjoyed it and you'd like to be alerted for our next videos, we do go live at one o'clock on a Friday every week. You can get us on Facebook, and you can get us on YouTube, the links are on the page now. We don't have many people on YouTube at the moment. So if you want to go on to YouTube and subscribe and hit the 'bell' icon, then we'd be very grateful to you for that.

[00:17:57.580] - Taylor
I just remembered one other thing.

[00:17:59.370] - Gordon
Oh.

[00:17:59.700] - Taylor
Our new website.

[00:18:01.200] - Gordon
Oh yes, of course. Go on, tell them.

[00:18:03.900] - Taylor
So just before we go, I've been working on the "This Week With" website, so you can find us at thisweekwith.co.uk. And this is where all of our show notes are; you can listen or watch either the podcast or the video cast of any episode, you can just find it; and the latest one will be on the home page. There's a bit of information about both of us, what we do, how we got into, you know, the jobs that we're in really. And, yeah, so you can have a look at that. And that's all new as well.

[00:18:38.580] - Gordon
So it's important to say you can't watch it live on the website, but you can watch back episodes, and as soon as an episode is ready it will be put onto the website as well. So you can also, there's feeds for the podcast if you want to listen to our episodes instead of watching them.

[00:18:57.740] - Taylor
Yeah.

[00:18:58.500] - Gordon
Some people listen to podcasts in the car or when they're walking the dog. And you can do that with our "This Week With" if that is more suitable for you.

[00:19:08.760] - Taylor
Yeah. So we're all the major platforms.

[00:19:11.340] - Gordon
We are, we're on iTunes, we're on Stitcher, we're on...

[00:19:17.460] - Taylor
Pocket Casts.

[00:19:17.460] - Gordon
Pocket Casts. Google Play I believe. Wherever you get your podcasts, do a search for "This Week With Taylor and Gordon" and you should find us.

[00:19:28.050] - Taylor
Yeah.

[00:19:29.130] - Gordon
That's it from me.

[00:19:30.420] - Taylor
I've been Taylor at thecreativetinker.com.

[00:19:33.740] - Gordon
And I am Gordon from draysondesign.com, we'll see you 1pm next Friday.

[00:19:40.370] - Taylor
Goodbye.

[00:19:40.910] - Gordon
Goodbye.

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Show Notes