photo credit: loop_oh

Project ‘x’.

This is a ‘job’ type website but with a twist and i really hate calling it a ‘job’ website because that suggests it’s ‘just another’ job site. It’s not. It’s very targetted and it’s not technically about ‘jobs’ either. As far as i know, nothing like this exists at the minute which makes it a really great website which will hopefully attract webmasters and tech enthusiasts like you and i This will be a partnership with Enda of iliveontheweb.com.

You can expect this one to come online later this month (end of july).

Niche Irish Social Network.

I should have a 40% stake in this new irish social network. It’s another partnership and earlier today, i went up to Dublin for a meeting about this project with a partner. I specifically went up to discuss this. It’s worth it. Although i’ve got no experience whatsoever in this niche, i can see the potential in it and this is something i’m happy to get involved in.

This project should be up and running in some capacity later this month (july), however we’re probably looking at an August launch date to do it justice.

Gambling Site

I’m very excited about this one. It’s not gonna be a spam fest with affiliate links and poker ads all over the place. It’ll be a high quality site with user generated content and an open / honest nature. Again, this one is a partnership.

Not sure about an ETA on this one – probably late August or September.

Two Video Sites

I’ll also be partnering up on two small video blogs / sites. Nothing revolutionary, but both worth *something*.

Should get them both perfected and live this month (July) at some stage.

Blog Comments Site

This is a clever one. If plans are executed to perfection, this site will become well known throughout the blogosphere. Again it’s a partnership. Launching in early August.

Surely not more?!

At the minute, that’s all i have planned. 6 new sites. 2 of them will be .ie’s and very strong .ie’s at that.

Between that lot, my ongoing redevelopments on existing sites and BeerChief (which will start to get my attention next week), there is a lot of work to be done. In between it all, i’m *still* doing free logos and doing paid work for clients.

I’ve a few days holidays in London coming up which will act as my ’summer holiday’ and i’ll *probably* take it easy the last two weeks in july as my girlfriend has holidays. Apart from that though, it’s all systems go and i do of course have my skydive to look forward to which will cap summer 2009 off with bang.

I’m busy, but excited and optimistic about the future. I’ve got so many carrots dangling in front of me that i’ll be chasing them in my sleep as well as in my waking hours!

Related posts:

1. July Earnings Prediction..
2. August 2007 earnings..
3. fuelled by optimism

It was supposed to be a trip centered around a Michael Jackson concert, but we all know it won’t be taking place now!

photo credit: TW-Production

Today, i got a full £540 refund back from the package deal i had booked and due to fluctuations in exchange rates, i actually got an extra €40 back.

I March, when i booked the trip back in March, i paid €595.52 (equal to £540 at the time). Today, i got back €641.64

Anyway, i’m now staying at two hilton hotels. Tower Bridge for one night & Canary Wharf for two nights. Both are ranked in the top 25 london hotels in tripadvisor (out of over 1100 hotels). I seem to be staying in hilton hotels all the time on my trips away but it’s not a conscious decision – i do price around and investigate before i pick a hotel and hilton hotels usually come out on top in reviews and value for money.

I’ve got tickets to see ‘grease’ (the musical) in the west end but apart from that, not much else planned so it should be much more relaxing than my last couple of trips to london.

Related posts:

1. London again in June
2. Going to London in July
3. London Itinerary

But by surrounding myself with loads of new and exciting projects, if i get bored with one or two or three, i can switch to others and start working on them instead.

photo credit: Amendoas

iwantideas.com has become a nice time killer for me… if i’m bored, lazy or have a bit of free time i’ll submit ideas to it. So that lazy time is in fact, very productive time… first of all, my brain is still working so that’s good. Then there’s the fact i own the site, so i’m adding value to it by adding content… then there’s the chance other people will comment on the idea or get spin off ideas and post them… that in turn gives me more ideas…

So although i may be just killing time initially, it could actually be extremely productive in the long run.

Other things i do when i’m feling lazy is to login to twitter with one of my many accounts… it could be theleavingcert, wifimapper, newmovies, iwantideas, my own account…. it doesn’t matter.

Let’s say i login to theleavingcert’s twitter account. I’ll search twitter for tweets relating to ‘leaving cert’. If i see people talking about the leaving cert, i’ll follow them. That ultimately gives the site exposure and helps me to connect on a one on one basis to my target audience. I might start chatting to some of them – that’s not time wasted in my eyes, it’s helping me to connect with my users and it’s helping the entire ‘machine’ to grow.

So i’ve created a highly efficient time-wasting policy where instead of watching TV or watching video on youtube, i’m connecting with people, adding value to my sites and helping to promote them.

It means that there is no distinction between work and play for me online – it’s all ultimately work, yet it’s not all taxing and boring – i enjoy it all.

Related posts:

1. iwantideas.com goes live!
2. theleavingcert.com
3. strengthening what i have

Earlier in the month, i launched iwantideas.com. It was followed closely by newmovies.ie. Chromeguide.com & facearse.com both got facelifts.

On June 10th, i got confirmation that i passed all my year 2 exams at college which means i’m clear to go through to year 3.

Several improvements were made to this blog such as a ‘popular posts’ section in the sidebar and a new design page.

I finally became a flickr pro user and since becoming one i’ve uploaded many photos and created several new albums – expect lots more to come.

I also took on a total of 4 paid jobs, some of which i’m still working on.

On the downside, Michael Jackson died and i had booked tickets to see one of his concerts in london. Yesterday, however, i got confirmation i’m receiving a full £540 refund though which will leave me about €300 better off than i expected.

So June has been a really busy month and July should continue that trend…

Related posts:

1. March 2009 Review
2. May 2009 Review
3. the day michael jackson died

photo credit: bioxid

Apparently they had the first 10 concerts insured, but for the rest… nothing. AEG president Randy Phillips said just a few weeks ago when questioned on Jackson’s fitness;

“I would trade my body for his tomorrow. He’s in fantastic shape.”

The same guy also said he wasn’t worried about getting insurance and that his company would be prepared to insure the concerts themselves if need be. Needless to say AEG is now facing millions in lost sales, refunds, payouts for staff, venue etc….

Here is their plan to limit their losses – issuing souvenir tickets OR offering a full refund.

Since he loved his fans in life, it is incumbent upon us to treat them with the same reverence and respect after his death

I’m taking the refund myself. I booked my tickets as part of a package deal so a full refund for me means £540. I can then use it to book a hotel in london for two nights which should cost about £240, so i’ll actually be ‘up’ £300 even though it’s my money anyway… i just wasn’t expecting to see it again.

Anyway, charging people full whack for an official ticket for an event which will never take place is not showing ‘reverence’ or ‘repect’ to either Jackson or his fans. It’s a blatent attempt by AEG to limit their losses. If they really cared, they’d issue a full refund AND the ticket.

These tickets will not go to the real fans either. As i pointed out when tickets first went on sale, many ended up in the wrong hands and now, things are gonna get worse for real fans, better for those touts who managed to get tickets originally.

Let’s see how much these sell for on ebay and how many sell on ebay…

Related posts:

1. Michael Jackson Mania
2. ticket tout heaven
3. the day michael jackson died