TinaStephen International Weblog

Gawd! Why do I tend to forget all about this weblog and end up updating it about once a month when it dawns on me that I haven’t posted in ages. *laugh*

In my last post I mentioned something about a new schedule & changing the direction of where I’m going with my online business. Well, I’ve done a few things, but I am ashamed to say that I haven’t done much other than those few things.

My schedule I haven’t really kept up with.

I did sign up to some freelance sites and have taken a look and bid on one project for web design.

I finally created a weblog for my journey into the world of jewelry & beading, which you can visit here if you’re interested. (another weblog I haven’t updated in a while)

And lastly, I finally took the plunge and launched my first ebook, the FTP Handbook - written my yours truly. If you’re interested, you can read all about it here.

… You know, reading back through what I wrote I realize that I have done quite a bit of what I wanted to accomplish in the past month. *pats on back*

This next month should be much more productive — at least that is my goal!

I’ve written another course for WebDesignNewbie.com, which I’m aiming to get online. I’m also hoping to get some products up for current students — something I haven’t done as of yet since I launched the site. *hangs head in shame* … As for the coaching program, that’s been put on hold until this fall — when we’re all back inside and in need of something to do. *laugh* There is another ulterior motive to pushing the launch to that ahead, namely updating the WDN website. I’m not totally happy with using LaunchFormulaMarketing Membership Site Script. I think it’s just that it’s lacking in things to make it easier to add stuff (and other things), especially when your site has more than just a few pages that most Internet Marketing membership site’s seem to have. So I’m taking the time to really figure out how to get WordPress working as a membership/cms site. I’ve got the cms thing down, so am half way there before I even begin. With doing that, I’m going to give WebDesignNewbie.com a facelift to bring it more into the “web 2.0″ design world. If you’ve checked out WDN over the last week, you will might have noticed that there is a new logo up there now, along with a new color scheme. I’ll be working on that over the next couple of weeks to get it looking how I’m envisioning, and then going to work on getting the membership part of the site working with WordPress.

Other things I have to do are…

- updating this weblog with the new version of WordPress
- creating the habit of writing in this weblog, Kcrystina and WDN on a regular basis (weekly is what I’m aiming for)
- sending out another newsletter for eDesigner & WDN students

Well that’s it for me this time around… I would talk about my week at my parents place a couple weeks ago, however I would much rather just forget all about that week. — might share it with you at another day.

I have finally done it. I sat down over the last few weeks to update my business plan. It was about time I did, however I had not planned to do it so soon.

As most of you know I have been on disability through welfare since I had to leave school in 2001. Roughly 8 months ago I started to report my income from my web design business. Little did I know that what I was getting into by doing so. Welfare has taken it upon themselves to deduct a certain amount each month — whether or not I report any income. Now, with any business some months are better than others, and with mine some months have just been down-right depressing. And thanks to welfare making it difficult to get ahead and off their system, I have had to revisit and update my business plan.

Doing so has forced me to make some hard decisions and start taking more action on those decisions.

In the last couple of weeks I have updated and merged two websites into one; TinaStephen International. This site is now home to my web design business (that was known as tds Digital Web Solutions) and the parent company of WebDesignNewbie, my web design educational system that offers a free HTML course and resources — along with the soon to be announced WDN Coaching Program.

I’m also in the midst of a joint venture project with a business associate & close friend of mine where we’re merging our talents to bring some great services and products to the world. We’re still in the midst of planning, so it will be a while before anything starts to be seen online.

Along with the above, I recently finished reading a book (that I will write a review for soon & include it within this blog) that has given me the much needed inspiration to kick-start my jewelry business. In the coming week, I’ll be announcing a new weblog where you will be able to follow my process in learning how to design jewelry, using the tools and techniques that await me to discover… along with articles on background information on the supplies I’ll be using to create my own jewelry. I have a few more things up my sleeve for this project, which I’ll divulge more after the blog is online. Am quite excited about this! … on a side note… I’d like to thank Melinda for offering me a great package of supplies. She and I met through Facebook after finding out that we went to school with the same people, though at different times, and that we both live here on the Island.

I don’t know if some of you are aware of or not, but WordPress 2.5 has been released and looks very promising! I plan on diving into that new version for my jewelry blog - after which I’ll be updating my other blogs & sites with the new version. I’ll write a review in this blog after I’ve had a chance to play with it WordPress 2.5 for a while.

That said… I best get back to the agenda I have made for myself to bring all these things to life