[00:00:08.770] - Gordon
Hello.

[00:00:09.260] - Gordon
Hello.

[00:00:09.720] - Gordon
My name's Gordon from Drayson Design.

[00:00:11.490] - Taylor
And I'm Taylor from The Creative Tinker.

[00:00:13.700] - Gordon
And welcome to "This Week With Taylor And Gordon," a weekly podcast and vidcast where we talk about things that have affected our businesses over the last seven days. And today's episode is a very special episode.

[00:00:25.740] - Taylor
It is indeed.

[00:00:26.820] - Gordon
Today is our 100th episode. I can't even say it, I'm so excited. Yeah, so we have done 100 episodes. Last week I said this was going to be 99, but what I didn't realize is that last week's was 99. We didn't really have one last week. It was more of a tribute to the Queen, but I forgot to count that that was actually an episode. So here we are, episode 100. And to be honest, I didn't think we were going to get to 100.

[00:00:57.990] - Taylor
Neither did I?

[00:00:59.450] - Gordon
That's quite a big jump for us. So, for those who've watched any of them, thank you very much for joining us. Shall we get into our news for the day first of all?

[00:01:13.760] - Taylor
Yeah.

[00:01:14.490] - Gordon
Okay. So something that happened two weeks ago now that we haven't had a chance to talk about, is the Apple announcement. Now, for those of you who are in the Apple ecosphere, you will know exactly what was announced. But for you, Taylor, what was the most exciting thing for you?

[00:01:34.930] - Taylor
I really like the new watches, especially the Ultra watch. I just thought it looked really cool, kind of like a rugged, G-shock style watch, but in a nice, sleek Apple design. And obviously, there's lots of new features that came with it that were geared towards extreme sports and things like that. For diving and hiking and doing lots of extreme sports, essentially.

[00:02:03.290] - Gordon
Yeah. So this is their Apple Watch, but it's sort of in a very tough case and it's basically been beefed up, hasn't it? And it's interesting that there's a big enough niche, if you like, for that product to exist, because it's not cheap. I mean, it's like twice the price of a normal Apple Watch. So it's rather expensive, I think, but probably not for what it is. But it does require a certain type of person to actually need or want it.

[00:02:33.570] - Taylor
Yeah, definitely. I think you've got to be doing something that either requires it or it's one of your hobbies that you kind of take quite seriously and you're going to get use out of it. So in the grand scheme of things, it's not that expensive.

[00:02:52.100] - Gordon
Yeah, I guess so. If it's going to be tracking lots of things, and it's going to be a communication device as well, then yeah, I guess that is the case.

[00:03:01.950] - Taylor
The same way that a lot of people have their own different things, they spend a lot of money on, because it's their hobby. It may seem expensive for one person, but for someone that uses every single day it's...

[00:03:12.480] - Gordon
Yeah, it's not something I think I would find a use for, put it that way. The normal watch is fine. I mean, that's great. I use my Apple Watch all the time, as do you.

[00:03:24.910] - Taylor
Yeah.

[00:03:26.870] - Gordon
So what else was announced? We had the iPhone 14, and for me, the iPhone 14 Pro is the one that I got excited about. I quite like the Pro ones. Mainly because of the higher resolution screen. It's not necessarily a high resolution, but the refresh rate is higher. But also it's got pro-motion, which gives you a smoother experience. Plus the new camera system. So it's got a brand new camera system on the back of the camera with 48 megapixel. And one of the things I use my phone a lot for is for taking photos. And so the better the quality the photo, the more photos I'm likely to take. And we were looking it up on Flickr, weren't we? One of the most popular cameras to upload to Flickr... If you don't know what Flickr is, it's a photo storage website. And one of the most popular cameras to upload is an iPhone. There are so many people with iPhones now, of all the different versions of iPhone, that it's become one of the most popular cameras ever. Beating DSLRs and Compacts and everything else, because it's what people have to hand. And so whenever they want to take a photo or they want to take some video, they can on their phone, and it's great. So I'm quite excited about that. And my plan is actually to purchase one of the iPhone 14s, probably in the dark purple colour, but I might go for the space grey if that's not available. Currently, nothing's available, because I didn't actually make my decision early enough. I decided after they'd gone on sale, and by the time I got there, there was a month's lead time in the delivery. So I'm just keeping watching on the website at the moment and just refreshing that until it gets to a point where there's one in stock near me. And then I'll order it and go and pick it up. And that will happen at some point, but at the moment it seems like it's very popular because it doesn't come up. The availability of it is very low for people just to walk in. But the iPhone is a big upgrade this year because it also has an Always On Display, which is very interesting. Basically, it just dims the screen the whole time, a bit like the watches do now. My one doesn't, because mine's not new enough, but the watches are Always On as well. The other big thing that's happened is that we now have iOS 16 and you've had it for a while because you've had the beta, right?

[00:06:26.150] - Taylor
Yeah, I had it for a while when they were kind of testing it, and it was good fun to try it out. It makes the upgrade to the kind of the stable version less exciting, I guess because I've been on it for the past month or two. I upgrade and I was like, what's new? It's like everything that I already knew about, I'd already been using for a couple of months.

[00:06:53.220] - Gordon
So because you've now had like a month's experience with it, for those who've only just got it, what is the three big stand out features for you?

[00:07:03.150] - Taylor
I would say the new lock screen. So you can have lock screens that are changed based on your focus states, so your 'Do Not Disturb,' your 'Work,' things like that. You can actually add widgets now to the lock screen. And I think the battery icon, the battery percentage, they've now added that to the..

[00:07:26.180] - Gordon
The they bought it back because they used to have it.

[00:07:29.150] - Taylor
Yeah, but they've changed, because they changed the battery state or the design, they removed the percentage and so they've now added it into the new design because everyone wanted it.

[00:07:40.950] - Gordon
And that's just going back to what we were talking about before. That's one of the things I really like on the new iPhone 14 Pro, as well as the Dynamic Island. It's basically the notch, but they've made it into an island. So you've got screen around it; looks like a pill shaped black bit, but it's become interactive. And I think it's going to become more interactive as more software starts to use it. But when you get a phone call, the little pill will just open out and it looks a lot more part of the operating system rather than just something that's been tacked on because it has to be there.

[00:08:17.780] - Taylor
Yeah, definitely.

[00:08:19.950] - Gordon
Okay, so let's get into our topics today. Shall I go first today?

[00:08:26.590] - Taylor
Okay.

[00:08:27.520] - Gordon
So something else that I realized I hadn't talked to you about, was when I went over to America; to Chicago and to Texas to see my friend Marc. I was going over there and I visited an exhibition that he was exhibiting at and I got a chance to see the products that he makes, and I also then went back to his factory and I saw how they make them all there, and they're really good. And he made me some custom ones, which was really nice of him, and I thought I'd show you. So those of you on the podcast, you're going to have to go and look us up on YouTube and Facebook so you can see the products. But "Props To You," just to give you an overview, is a company that makes props for photo booths and photo mirrors, that sort of thing. A lot of DJs are getting into doing it now because it means that they can just take one extra person, they can set up the photo booth at a gig that they're already doing the DJing at. One extra person, they can then have photos being taken all night with a photo booth or photo mirror, which is more popular now. And they can just add a chunk of money onto their bill because they're supplying another service. But the props are really difficult to get, good ones. And this is what Marc found when he started doing it. There are lots of people who have hats and scarfs and masks and things, but the props that he does are the printed props made out of foam board. For example, here is one that he made for me. This is using my colours for Gordon's Magic, my yellow and my blue on this side. And you hold it up like this when you're doing a photo at a prop, and they're double sided. So this one's got the red and the blue, which is the other colours, and hold up this way. And it's really nice and thick foam board, so it doesn't bend at all. It's very solid, and it's just easy to wipe clean, because sometimes, if you're working at parties, you're going to get some damage or you're going to get some dirt, or drinks, or food, or whatever all over it, so you can just wipe it clean. So, I've got a few that he's made me and I thought you'd like to see. So there was the happy birthday one. This is one he was throwing out. It's a tie, which is quite nice. And the reason he's throwing it out is because there should be a different design on the back, but it got printed incorrectly, so it's the same on the back. In fact, it's supposed to look like this one. This is supposed to be on the back. And then on the back of this one, is supposed to be the other one. So I can actually do my "Back To the Future" number two in the future, because they have two ties on. Marty McFly has two ties on. I also have this one here, which, again, was misprinted. It's great to be eight. So for those birthday parties that I go to that are eight years old, I can give them this to hold on to. And then there are a couple of custom ones that they made for me. So there's this one here, which is my logo, Gordon's Magic. And they put the same on the other side, which is quite nice, pointing the same direction, which is great, except, without knowing it, they made a magic trick, because if I turn this to this way, the one on the back actually changes to a completely different angle. So, it's a little bit of a magic trick as well. We can go back to this way and then they're going to be the same again, which is cool. Taylor's going, "huh? What?" And the last one is this one here. So this is a jigsaw piece. And it's a jigsaw piece because that's my logo. And one of the things I have on it is a big smiley face with Gordon's Magic on. And there's a different colour on the back. Taylor prefers the blue rather than the red, don't you? Yeah, so we'll probably use the blue side more. But again, really nice quality, very hard wearing props. So if that is something that would be of interest to you for your business, or you just want some props, they have a huge selection and we'll put the link to the website where you can order them, in the show notes and below.

[00:12:49.870] - Taylor
I think one of the biggest things is that all of the graphics are custom made. So, a lot of people found that the designs are all the same online. People get them from basically the same place and they're normally from China. Mass produced and so people just kind of ship them on and sell them with a bit of cost added on. Whereas all of these are made in Texas, designed in Texas, printed in Texas and shipped from Texas. So, yeah, you get a lot more variety.

[00:13:27.090] - Gordon
And uniqueness.

[00:13:28.170] - Taylor
Yeah, exactly. There are a lot of different occasions that they've done and they're always adding to their collection.

[00:13:34.560] - Gordon
Yeah, like weddings and Christmas and Sweet 16, which is a big thing over there.

[00:13:40.960] - Taylor
Bar mitzvahs. They've done a couple of different states as well. They've got a Texas collection. And so, yeah, you get a lot more unique designs and kind of different categories, I guess. Plus they also do custom ones. You can get not only your own custom design graphics and you can either supply the designs or say, ask for them to design it for you. But they also do kind of like printed names which are very good for weddings and stuff. You can have "Mr and Mrs Surname," for example. And obviously that would be good for adding on, if you do any sort of weddings, really, as long as you have enough lead time to get them shipped out, it's a very easy and simple way to have a little add on for the weddings that you do, to make it a bit more unique.

[00:14:30.100] - Gordon
Now, they are based in the US, so the shipping will be nice and easy if you're in the US. I believe they ship overseas, they may not, I don't know. Have a look at the website and get in contact with them if you are interested in anything that they do. But thank you to Marc for all these lovely bits that he did for me. I'm a very happy customer. So, yeah, go and have a look and see what they do. So, your topic today is...?

[00:15:02.670] - Taylor
Refresh Day, or probably a better word, is Resetting. So I find that a lot of us that run our own businesses, we kind of neglect our own businesses, especially as a web designer. We normally have the worst website out of most of our clients and websites we've built just because we don't update them and because we're so busy updating and building client sites, we don't have time to spend on our own. And I think that also goes with your processes, your accounting, and all of the things that you do for your business to make it better, to help you so you can run your business smoother. So putting in automations that can not only save you from making mistakes, but also saving you time and you know that process is going to run in the background for you no matter what. And that you've got it all set up. Now, these are things that normally take one, two days maybe. You sit down, you think, "okay, what can I automate? What do I need to look at? How can I make things better? And what do I need to sort out?" Because there's always lots of little tasks that need doing for your business that you just think, you just don't get round to because they're so little. And so I think having one or two of these days, maybe every month, every couple of months is good, because it makes you reflect, go "is this the direction I want to take my business in? How can I make it better? And how can I reduce error essentially and make it so that I've got processes in place, automations in place to make my business better and to make your life a lot easier." If you can automate something that may take a couple of hours to implement, but it normally takes a couple of minutes. It's going to save you no time upfront, but it will save you more time in the future that you can then spend with family...

[00:16:56.730] - Gordon
Doing more business.

[00:16:58.030] - Taylor
Having hobbies, or getting more business. Whether that be doing sales or doing the actual grunt of your work which may be like client work for example for us. I think it's something that's very important that sometimes gets overlooked and something that I'm kind of needing to look at and just make sure that I've got all of my things in place and all my processes, and rethink because I've changed slightly the way that I run my business and I've added a couple of different processes recently that have made my life so much better and helped with things going forward that I kind of need to do that for the whole of my business and not just one area.

[00:17:44.310] - Gordon
Yeah. So have you already done a reset day or is this something that you've got coming up?

[00:17:50.150] - Taylor
It's something that I've got coming up, but I spoke about it a couple of weeks ago with the emails and the project management tool and making sure that I either move them into the "action folder," the "waiting folder" or the "read folder" and making sure I get to inbox zero every single day. And it's helped me keep track of keeping my emails down. I normally have maybe a max of ten to twelve action emails that just is something I need to go through. But I pretty much always have an inbox zero at the end of the day. Which is good to look forward to, because then I can wake up and I know everything in there is pretty much new from either earlier in the day or from last night. And then also the dealing with it and putting them into my task manager has really helped and has gotten me out of my inbox, which was the biggest thing that I was struggling with. And so yeah, I think I need to do that for the rest of my business and figure out where can I automate? Where can I just set up processes? Even if it's just a shortcut on my keyboard that I set up. It helps a lot because it's something that you do repetitively or something that you know that is going to have the same outcome regardless of when you do it or where you do it.

[00:19:11.320] - Gordon
That's very good. Maybe we can come back to this in the future and you can tell us sort of a few areas that you discovered that you could do better in your business and it might be of interest to other people who are running their own business.

[00:19:26.340] - Taylor
Definitely.

[00:19:27.100] - Gordon
Okay. Anything else you'd like to say?

[00:19:28.670] - Taylor
No, that's everything, really. Just take a step back and look at your business and kind of re-evaluate, I guess, because, like you say, sometimes you get so caught up in the day to day work that you don't realize that you've missed invoices, you haven't got back to someone or you just haven't spent enough time on your business itself.

[00:19:52.350] - Gordon
Yeah, very good. Can I just say, this is going to be the episode that I'm going to remember, Taylor, with these lines just here because of the light. You've got new glasses, haven't you?

[00:20:03.850] - Taylor
Yeah.

[00:20:04.150] - Gordon
And I think that's the problem, because we've not had that happen before.

[00:20:08.440] - Taylor
It might be the microphone from the light.

[00:20:10.750] - Gordon
Oh, that's possible as well. Yeah, okay, we'll look at that for next time to make sure it doesn't happen. I think the microphone is actually blocking the light. If the microphone wasn't there, you'd still have it. We shall sort it for next time anyway. But I've just spent the whole episode looking at these lines. He's not going to play some awesome sports and he's painted his face. It's just light, that's all. Light in the glasses. So, thank you so much for watching. If you have enjoyed it, then please like, share, and subscribe. We're on YouTube and on Facebook every week.

[00:20:49.160] - Taylor
You can also go to our website thisweekwith.co.uk to find any past episodes that we may have spoken about.

[00:20:54.320] - Gordon
So until next week at 1pm on Friday, we'll see you then. My name's Gordon and I'm from Drayson Design.

[00:21:01.660] - Taylor
And I'm Taylor from The Creative Tinker.

[00:21:04.170] - Gordon
Goodbye.

[00:21:04.740] - Taylor
Bye.

This Week's Topics

Show Notes