Working Solo

Desktop Wallpaper for June

Leah Maclean — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 04:59:51 +0000

This month’s desktop wallpaper has been at the direct request of my husband Ian. He a big “green thumb” and our garden is a direct reflection of his still and passion for plants. The image was taken early one morning last week and is a recent favourite of his, and thus it is the basis of the calendar desktop wallpaper for June 09.

Download June 2009 desktop wallpaper

Twitter not just another time sink

Leah Maclean — Mon, 18 May 2009 21:11:52 +0000

Some people are calling Twitter the next big tech-fad……. other people are just calling it a fad and a waste of time. Whatever your view of Twitter (and you might not have a view at all) it is an application that is garnering considerable mainstream attention and support.

Software companies are integrating Twitter updates into the contact databases of their applications. Australian online accounting company Saasu have added a Twitter field to the contacts database (along with buttons for other social media such as LinkedIn and Facebook). Earlier today 37Signals (the people that are behind Basecamp, Highrise and Backpack) announced basic integration between Highrise and Twitter. Once you have added your contact’s Twitter account details it will present you with their last 3 tweets on your screen.

So what you say; how can this really make a difference to your business?

37Signals captured it well in their article -

Tweets are great conversation starters that show you’re paying attention to what’s going on in their world.

So it is really about paying attention to people that matter a lot to your business – your customers.

And as for paying attention……. if you were paying attention to your good old fashion Fairfax media newspaper last week you may have seen an article on Twitter that I was interviewed for. Here is the online version (same words but no nice picture) http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/biztech/forget-golf-twitter-can-help-lift-your-game/2009/05/04/1241289099699.html

I’d be interested to hear about your views and ideas about Twitter, whether it is useful for you and what you think about software, like that mentioned above, integrating with Twitter.

Some Changes in the Wind at Google

Leah Maclean — Tue, 12 May 2009 05:06:49 +0000

We will know in the next few hours if the Searchology press event being held by Google will reveal whether some of the features that have been in test mode over the past months are now part of the main offering.

A live webcast is being offered of the Searchology press event, to be held at its Mountain View headquarters, for those interested in the announcement.

When: Tuesday, May 12th, 10:00am – 11:30am PDT

URL: http://investor.shareholder.com/media/eventdetail.cfm?eventid=68846&CompanyID=GOOGPR&e=1&mediaKey=E739CC1B5640E66235B0EEBBB424B1E1

Speakers will include VP of Search Engineering, Udi Manber, and VP of Search Products and User Experience, Marissa Mayer.

If you aren’t inclined to watch the live event, make sure to pay attention to you favourite IT blog or website over the coming days for all the details.

Common Sense Success

Leah Maclean — Mon, 04 May 2009 00:34:29 +0000

One of the biggest things missing from vast parts community at these times of hardship is commonsense. I don’t know if it is the media that is feeding the freenzy or if it is just expressing the concerns already out there, but the headlines seem to be all about doom, gloom and pestilence. Where has the commonsense gone?

Yes, the economy is proving to be a challenge and many people and businesses will feel the full, negative effect of it. Yes, there is a new, particularly contagious strain of the flu making it way around the world but it is no worse than seasonal flu (about 36,000 people in the U.S. die annually from seasonal influenza).

Maybe it is time for a little practical commonsense. The following thoughts from Seth Godin are written on the whiteboard above my desk. Maybe you will find them useful to regain your practical, action focused self.

See what is possible
Know specifically what you want to achieve
Make good decisions
Understand the tactics to get things done and change minds
Earn the trust and respect of the people around you

Creative Coaching Options – Website Design

Leah Maclean — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 04:48:17 +0000

I’ve known Julie Regan for some time now and was both excited and honoured when she asked us to create a website for her specialist coaching venture, Creative Coaching Options. As you might determine from her business name Julie is an expert is coaching people to access their most creative self and make that creativity productive.

She was clear with us that she didn’t like really busy cluttered sites and that she wanted a lot of space/white on the site – to make it clean and clear. With such a clear brief I went to work blending Julie’s existing logo, with her desire for “space”, along with a range of images and graphics that represented her creative client base.

She was over the moon with the result (just as we were proud of the work we had done). Here are Julie’s insights into working with us:

I have been using the Working Solo team for my all my website requirements since 2006 and there are some wonderful reasons why I do:

Their services are quick and responsive,

Leah and her team know what they are doing,

My website doesn’t cost me a fortune and meets my needs – and as a small business this matters,

I manage my site and have some control over it myself with Working Solo as my support team – great for a non techie person, and

Importantly they are fun to work with – they add a laugh to my day.

Check out the Creative Coaching Options site…

Morawska Group – Website Design

jamie — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 10:54:45 +0000

Last year Leah had the opportunity to meet Jenny Morawska at a business lunch. They chatted over lunch and then again afterwards about their business interests.

Jenny is the managing director of The Morawska Group. She is a senior executive and consultant with extensive international experience and impressive track record. Her work in areas such as peace building, return on human capital and knowledge economy made her an inspirational client to work with.

For close to four years Jenny had been working on getting up a website for The Morawska Group to no avail. She contacted us in January with an urgent need to “get a website up in the next couple of weeks”. We were able to meet her deadline by building on work that had been done in her intial design phase and add some additional options.

Here is Jenny’s take on the project:

“Leah and her team at Working Solo really live their values – they are innovative, creative and they deliver! I have been extremely impressed by Working Solo’s ability to quickly assess our needs and then to add further value by suggesting simple and manageable technical solutions and offering new ways of approaching our requirements. In addition they do what they say they will do! Working Solo keeps us informed of timelines and are highly responsive. Overall an exceptional client service experience.”

Jenny Morawska
CEO The Morawska Group

Check out the site…

Your newsletter is not about you

Leah Maclean — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 10:52:05 +0000

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve come across too many email newsletters that are just screaming “look at me, look at me, look at me”. Even though it is your newsletter, it is not about you. It is about your reader.

We, your readers, are not interested in the details of you or your business, we are interested in things of interest to us and what you can do for us.

So, if you send out email based newsletters to your clients and subscribers (because of course you don’t just send them to anyone who you happen to have an email address for) remember these are the key things that make or break your mail out. It needs to be :

Personal
Relevant
Anticipated

April 2009

Leah Maclean — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 07:48:59 +0000

A quarter of the year is behind us …….. where has it gone ….. and I’m here to share with you the 2nd Working Solo desktop background wallpaper. In loading it up I’ve also been reminded how tardy I’ve been in posting articles on this site. I promise to have a few new posts for you over the coming weeks.

In the meantime you can download the April desktop.

This image was taken last weekend on Observatory Hill, Sydney. This area played an important role in the early colony of Australia and today still provides one of the best views in Sydney.

Remember… this image is covered by Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs license.

Enjoy your April!

March 2009 Wallpaper

Leah Maclean — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 23:27:48 +0000

For the past 12 months I have been creating computer wallpaper images for each monthly edition of The Calm Space. By combining a wonderfully evocative image from Amy Palko (or myself) and graphics with the calendar for that month, we were able to create something that was both beauitful and practical.

From March I’ve decided to release some of my images (often of beach scenes) with a monthly calendar here at Working Solo.

This month, as the hottest days of summer start to fade, I’ve got an image for you to load onto your computer to remind you of summer days past. “Watching-Waiting” was taken at Wanda Beach in Sydney’s southern suburbs and speaks to me of anticipation, friendship and patience.

You are able to download the calendar wallpaper, 1680pixel x 1050 pixel version, here.
Note: This image is covered by Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs license.

Have a good March!

Internet Explorer 8 On Its Way

Leah Maclean — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 23:06:37 +0000

Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) has been coming for sometime now but with the release yesterday of RC1 (release candidate 1) it is closer than ever. IE8 has been in beta testing since March 2008 and the RC1 means that it is in the last stages before full commercial release to the public.

For those of you that use a windows-based computer, and have windows update set to automatically apply updates, you will see IE8 appearing as your browser in the not to distant future.

For those of us who are designers and developers in the online world it means that we have yet another browser to take into consideration with our designs (although it looks like IE8 will have better support for web standards)

For the people who are still using IE6 as their browser it is seriously time to move on. Your browser will no longer be “just the previous edition of internet explorer”, it will be the one before the one before.

For me Firefox will remain my browser of choice.