Hi,
March has been an exceptionally busy month so far, as we go into the last weekend I am thinking about what April and the new financial year will bring.
I am now VAT registered. More importantly for the future of janleeks.com, my company is now registered (jan leeks limited).
What exactly does this mean? Well it means I am no longer a sole trader, and I have a ‘real company’. It will not really effect things for my clients, although I will need them to pay me into a different bank account (plus VAT of course). For me personally it means being a little more precise with my money matters, and entering VAT returns every quarter. Being limited means the company will eventually be taken more seriously. I have plans to expand this year, and therefore going limited makes sense.
I will be seeing the accountant in the next few weeks to pass on all the information for my first full year trading as janleeks.com. I hope there are no nasty surprises for me, but I have been very careful to keep my tax money separate. It should all be fine. So as of April 1 all everything will be billed with VAT and into the limited company.
Like I said, I have plans to slowly grow the business this year. I have turned down several projects this year, and I think with careful planning and not trying to rush I can take on one or two people and keep the quality of janleeks.com’s work at a consistently high level.
I will be looking for a web designer, a junior web developer or hopefully a couple of hybrids of these skills that I can teach and work with, hopefully bringing these individuals up to a high level of skill for the current and future web design/development market. If you know of anyone with the skills I have mentioned who is interested, please get them to send me their details. I am probably going to look for graduates, but will not count out anyone. I was given a chance to learn when I was in my teens, and I would not dis-count anyone. The real skills iam am looking for are individuals who are enthusiastic, keen to learn and bright.
March has been spent mostly working with my pals at CadInteractive. We have been working on the redevelopment of the templates for the website of a well known transport company. These will be live very soon. I have also been working with CadInteractive on our secret project in Abu Dhabi. As soon as I can reveal what we have been up to I will, but it has been very interesting.
I have also started work on the design for a website for Quest Properties, a company I helped create branding and stationary for last year. I have also been in meetings with Dataquest Solutions about their new website and branding. More on that next month.
I have also been working with Peter Cameron Fine Art on adding artist, and there are some really really interesting plans for the rest of the year, all very exciting and i can’t wait to tell you all about it.
I have also re-developed all the templates for Blinds4UK, the updated site will finally be built using CSS and hopefully will be live in the coming weeks (when the back end is integrated). I have more design work to do on this site, before we do a copmlete review of the site and its IA and design later this year. All interesting.
I have also been working on designs for the new website for Cognoscenti Group. The designs are now with the client, and I am awaiting go ahead and content. Hopefully the site will be launching mid summer.
I have been working with Oilfield Insurance on their new website. Some early design work has been completed, and the IA and structure are complete and signed off.
Those with a keen eye will have noticed I have given my site a small lick of paint too!
Busy eh?
Well keep listening, more soon
all the best
Jan
PS I hear arsenal have just won! Finally we are back in winning ways