Some nerdy stuff ...

As part of my business (one of them ;o) ) I am setting up and maintain websites. I think a basic website is easy to set up and doesn't require anything special. But for business purpose I think that is not enough. If you want to talk to customers through the website and persuade them that your products and service is all what they need and want right now ... you need a pretty good website and the right content.

However, I did some work with CSS (cascading style sheets) yesterday and also discovered some fancy Firefox plugins.

1. The idea was to have a fancy background image. The issue is of course all the different kind of browsers and screen sizes. It is ok for the image to get stretched and shrinked to the screen. And as always Google is your best friend. Drupal is already full of containers but I needed another one, just straight after the body tag in the html file. But just before I put in the img tag with the background image and a class defined in the css file.

The body was refined in the css file as followed:

font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
width: 100%;
height: 100%;
overflow: hidden;

The img tag class has the following styles:

width: 100%;
height: 100%;
position: absolute;
top: 0;
left: 0;
z-index: 5000;

And the addition div I have added just after the body tag is styled this way:

z-index: 6000;
height: 100%;
width: 100%;
position: absolute;
top: 0;
left: 0;
overflow: auto;

2. YSlow is a fancy tool from the Yahoo developer guys for developer guys. It is a Firefox add-on and easy to get up and running. It gives you good tips why a website can be soo slow. But I have no idea if that is actually SEO friendly.

3. I am using Firebug already for a little why. Awesome how you can play with the html and css code and you see the changes straight.

4. Too lazy to google? Get CodeBurner and you have html and css references straight available.

5. And finally, some of my mates will be happy to hear that I finally made it to install NetBeans. I hope it is a useful tool. We had already a pretty good start this morning. It did some nice formatting of a crapy html code ;o)

My research seminar report

On Thursdays we have our Division seminar at the institute. Doing my research in computation biology most talk I am attending to are bioinformatics talks. Yesterday's talk was entitled "Improving Wool through pharmaceutics". I am personally no fan of pharmaceutics neither any kind of drugs. But I was curious what this guy was up to.
I didn't know that Australia is the biggest wool producer in the world hosting more thann 100 million sheep. Wow, this country has soo much space for a reason ;o) To be honest, I haven't seen one sheep yet, but I have only seen parts of Queensland and mainly cities.
However, why improving the wool quality? Like in every business money is the key driver. The better the quality, the more cash you can ask for. The most important features of wool are fleece weight, staple length fibre diameter and color. These feature you can measure. And you can only change things you can measure ... Lords and Mechanics, here we come ;)


So, how can you improve the quality? If I undersood right, Metyrapone is the pharmaceutic that is given to lambs. This obviously improves the wool quality for at least 2years. According to wikipedia:

Metyrapone (Metopirone) is a drug used in the diagnosis of adrenal insufficiency and occasionally in the treatment of Cushing's syndrome (hypercortisolism).

What has this to do with the wool of a poor baby sheep? Yeah ... this is what they are trying to find out at our institute. Which gene is affected? And what is inhibited or enhanced when you give this drug.

For me that is a very unusal topic but still interesting.

Customer Service ...

... is a hot and widely discussed topic. It can make the difference for a business to fail or succeed, especially SMEs. I am not the person who likes to give phone calls neither having a face-to-face conversation with a sales person. It is just not my thing. I am getting more "inspired" in emails and filling out webforms.

I recently contacted a magazine I really like and asked them about a previous issue. No reply, not via webform neither by direct email. I was disappointed and most customers would obviously give up at this point. But lucky for the, I really wanted this magazine. So I stepped out of my comfort zone and gave a phone call including another 20min being on hold. That's how badly I wanted it. Obviously my patience was worth it. I got everything I wanted.

Was that bad service or just bad luck that my information didn't go through? I always try to see things from different perspectives. You don't know the person nor the system set up on the other side (if they have a system). Unfortunately, the business would have lost the sale/opportunity anyway.

Photo courtesy by Markus Brosch

There are companies out there, that are well known and highly awarded for the best customer service ever. Did I mention I have a Mac ;o) So, good customer service is most likely a win-win situation, isn't it? Unfortunately, in some regions we don't get the choice between different suppliers. This issue occurs especially in telecommunication. Then we have to live with the service they provide, like >60 min on hold? This doesn't look like a win-win situation, not to me.

I am convinced that this will change and such companies will need to improve their customer service. Technology improves rapidly and when you are ready for it, the world is open for you. And that brings in so many opportunities to chose from. Companies need to be more flexible, if they are clever enough and listen to the market.

Internet Marketing ... and what?

What is this internet marketing? Why is it soo different to offline marketing OR is it actually different?

I am sure everyone has seen at least one of these loong sales copies for some specific product on the internet? They include at least 3 different testimonials videos. They use 10 different fonts and in all available font sizes. And not to forget all these different colors. Is that really so appealing to people?


According to some internet marketers, yes. They obviously make 6 or 7 seven figures cashflow a year by just producing one page after the other. Affiliate is the big word.

I have to admit, I went to one of such a seminar. I guess the presenter told us the truth, but does it work for everyone? He presented the way he set up the pages, how he chose the product and how he market the page.

Yes, the webpages are simple, nothing fancy. And it is all legal what he does ... so what?

I guess the hardest part is to find what people are actually looking for? What does the market want? It is not that you can go out there with your products and expect that people will buy. You have to come up with something that solves their problem, that makes their life easier.

Keep searching ...

Project review

When I go through my twitter messages and facebook statuses ... it really looks like I am quite busy. And yes, I am doing a lot of stuff. Maybe because I get too easily bored in something. Ok, let's get some structure in it.

1. PhD ... actual the main reason why I am ended up here in Australia. I am in the final year of my studies in Computational Biology. It is an amazing area to work in. However, maybe I am in the wrong research group or just the wrong University. I did publish two publications in my first 2 years ... then my motivation dropped. Where was the fun? I don't get a long easily with people around me and I started to question scientists and science in general. Did you know that 99% of all written PhD theses are never read again? Doing a PhD is the complete opposite of team work ... and what did we learn about team work ... different minds coming together and working on one goal together.
Anyway, I will finish hopefully in the next couple of weeks. I might need a break of this for a while. Maybe then I will find a way back, as I still love the subject of Biology.

2. Health/Nutrition/Fitness ... according to the BMI I am close to be overweight. However, I think I look alright. The scale tells me something else, so I decided to drop 8 kilos. The plan is to avoid any drugs to have a quite "organic" body. I am good at this. Beside that the problem with my thyroid will be always there. Maybe I can get my mind to repair it again by itself. It is all about what you believe. The majority of food/fuel I put in my should be organic. I can't handle meat and fruits from supermarkets. I have some kind of allergy against preservatives, which might be actually good ... I can do some testing , hehe. Fitness-like, I think I still haven't found what I really enjoy. The gym can be good sometimes, but I build up too easily. Maybe I give it another try. I did Kung-Fu some years ago and I loved it. But then they did more team games, and that is not my thing. With the personal trainer of my partner, we did some boxing lessons. And that was some fun, and it gets all the frustration out of you ;o) To start it at Uni, might not be worth it ... will see. Currently I just do some running. At least every second day with the plan to increase the time and distance.

3. Business ... I am registered soletrader here in Australia for 2 years now. I am doing contract work for other companies right now, but plans are bigger than that. I want to provide service B2C and B2B. The website is in progress and the list of ideas is full and keeps growing. I know very interesting people and I am sure I can make it.

All this keeps me busy. Recording it here, will make me more committed to it. Today's plan is update two websites and getting a new one up and running. I also will learn more about our CMS and about Internet Marketing. About all this I will write here in this blog.

Have a lovely weekend!

Getting the shoes ready .... off for a run

Just this I started my exercise program again. Why again? … Looks like I have lost a bit of commitment the last 2 weeks. I did nothing. Anyway. I did my first 25min this Tuesday, with no pain, so I can keep going.

But what keeps me going? I have the inner urge to move, especially when I am in front of the computer 24/7. I love my business and the work that is involved in it. But the human body needs a balance. I am not really attracted to the gym anymore. I still have some sessions to go.


The advantage with running is that I can let my mind wander. It is not really recommended to dream during the gm session ;o) During the run, I can re-build my goal and vision. Why I am I doing this? What do I love on the project I am involved in? Where do I want to go, and what are the next steop to do, to bring me closer. Lot of runners have their iPods plugged in, but I am not attracted to use this way of entertainment. But maybe I will listen to some motivation speeches from John Demartini or Roger Hamilton. Ah yes, I should listen to “Wink” again.

Hopefully I get this back as a habit again. Yes, I get too easily distracted. This blog will help me stick to it. I need to be accountable in business and it starts with simple things like exercising.

Just getting ready here for a late afternoon run. Will do the usual 25 min round here at the campus. Maybe I will apply some kind of variation. I am thinking about to alternate between slow and fast speeds. Let me see how I feel, my nutrition today was not really reasonable.

Have a wonderful day!

Josefine, the Mechanic

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra

Yes, I made the big move to see a movie last Saturday. I am open minded, so I obeyed and we went to G.I. Joe. Maybe I should mention we had yummy chocolate before, just have a quick look at the below image and you know what I mean.


Back to the movie. My overall opinion: it is a good movie. The highlights for me are the pictures and the design - awesome quality. When Duke and Ripcord follow the car in their fancy suits, that's reminded me of "Transformers". Might be the same technique behind it, but somehow cooool.


The story itself is a bit flat ... almost fairytale like. Still, the US has now a "new" president, kind of open end ... what now? Nothing against an happy end, but was it necessary that Duke and Ana get together at the end again? Almost too girly ...

One thing that made me really angry is the violence in the movie. Don't get me wrong, it is ok for adults. However, before the movie, I saw families coming into the cinema with kids, not older than 10 and even younger. HELLO? It was quite heavy violence in the movie. This is a movie based on a cartoon that's sole purpose was to sell a set of toys to 5-12 year old boys. The movie turned out to be strong sequences of action violence and mayhem throughout. What kind of parents are this? You don't let a kid watching something like this, at least I wouldn't do it.

The age limit in Germany is set to 16 y.o. where here in Australia it is 12. Big difference for me. But ... these kids I have seen were much younger. I am soo angry about this ... but what can you do?

Overall good movie! (I don't know the cartoon!)

Office phobia?

When do you know you just do too much?

Just this morning I felt sick when I was riding my bike. It’s not that I ate something odd, but already two days earlier I didn’t feel well in the office (maybe office phobia). Yes, I am under some kind of pressure. I put it on myself. There a plenty of projects I am involved in and I am setting up my own business, but I love it. My goals are big and I am getting closer every day. But what is the price I am paying for it?

1. I really prefer the presence of a computer near me than a crowd of human. Yes, that makes me quite anti-social, and …?
2. I don’t get gratification as often I sometimes would like to (I think that is common to all PhD graduates, ;o) ) I put in more time and money then I get out of it so far. But that’s part of the journey. This is also the reason why people prefer to be employed and fear the fact to be self-employed of having their own business. It can and will take years until you see some profit coming in. The vision and goals keep me moving.
3. This might be the highest price I am paying … health and lack of fitness. I find eating healthy quite time consuming. The preparation and especially the shopping are such time wasters. I don’t know why I should shop for 4 hours to have a meal for 10min. I’ve found an interesting e-book called “The Lazy Raw Foodist’s Guide” from Laura Bruno. This might be a good source of information. I haven’t read it yet.


4. The lack of fitness is only half the truth. I was committed to sport for maybe a couple of months. Just didn’t do anything the last 2 weeks. I still know how to run and I might be back in the gym next week. Not might be … yes I will be back :o) … I still have the goal to finish at least a half-marathon. So, let’s do it. One hour run in the morning should be doable.

Maybe as usual it is just a question of being organised. I am following GTD quite strictly and see some progress there. Maybe I just forgot to include some free time for me ...

Any other tips and suggestions are more than welcome.

Make the Most of Your Membership

Just right now I am a participating the Australian Business WomanNetwork (ABN) webinar with the above title. As I am a member of this network I am following ABN's whole webinar series. The topics are pretty good, not deep knowledge, but a good reminder of things you better look at in your business.

So, how do you make the most of any membership anyway? When I look at my password list, I am a member of plenty of groups, networks and circles. More online than offline, but that's fine with me ;o) I don't think just "collecting" online friends is not very useful. It should be about communication. However, I don't mean heavy posting of your opinion/status or whatever, it is about smart communication. Just yesterday I followed a webinar with Paul Dunn from B1G1. Paul just made it again. He is not only the WOW wizard he is also a media Wizard. Amazing in how many way he tries to contact people and presents the idea of B1G1. It was a mixture of live chat and live presentation. Very well done!


Communication should be always 80% Listening and 20% talking. Exchange ideas, ask questions, give tips and hints for free ... there are many ways to communicate. This can be one way of making the most of a membership.

Some points to be aware of are:

• It is important that you know what features the network/groups offers, but also use them. For example, blog your opinions or about things the group could be interested in and ask for comments. Such things allow you to reach plenty of people without spamming than.
• It is also important that you follow the rules in a group. It is about respect other members.
• If you are group or network is kind of a paid subscription, use it badly. Join every event (if appropriate), ask questions, get help. That what it is made for.
• Put up a picture of yourself ... I personally don't contact people that are using the default image. You still want to see who you are dealing with.

As mentioned I am part of several networks. Feel free to join me in :

• facebook
• twitter
• ecademy
• LinkedIn

ABN just launched a forum section ... another way to communicate. It will grow you and your business.

Simplicity

A simple lifestyle means for a lot of people being poor. I disagree with that. I am actually trying to simplify my life, so I can focus more on the things I love to do. What do I mean?

The main question is, What do you value more - money or time?. I go for time, because time it limited, money is not. There are endless opportunities out there to make, find or work for money. But that is not the case for time. Everyone has 24 hours for 7 days in a week the whole year, no more and no less. Therefore I am trying to reduce anything that just wastes my time, so I can better invest my time in other projects. How do I do that?

The one and only time killer for me is shopping, especially food shopping. Everyone who knows me a bit better, knows how much I suffer after the second row in a supermarket. There is no fun for me in it. So, I go shopping online. Most supermarkets here in Australia offer online shopping and delivery. As I am a bit allergic to preservatives, I have chosen www.myfruit.com.au ... they do delivery here in south-east QLD. I save plenty of time. I don't need to carry all the heavy fruits and veggies (not that I am buying chocolate or meat, *blush*). As I don't own a car yet and I am on the road mostly with my bicycle, I would have needed to go shopping several times a week. That's why I have chosen the online version.


Not only a time saver, but also a space saver are online documents, for almost anything. I love when my bank sends me an email about the latest statement (especially when lots of number in the right column). That will be downloaded and backed up on my time-machine. All good, no hassle with paper and binders. Of course you have to be organized. That makes things so much easier. Leo from ZenHabits is the best example. In his blog, he describes how to be as simple as possible. I would reckon you have a look.

To be simple means you have to be organized. Everything needs its place, no exception. I am not saying I am perfect in that. I can make it for some days, but then I discover myself being lazy. That means, refocus, thinking of the time it can save me and back to simple.

What are my other goals to be simple? Having a cleaner, would make my life a lot easier. First I would save some time, second I would love to be at my place and third no need to be bothered, because you know the cleaner will come this week. The other issue I have is transport. I spend a lot of time in trains and busses. Some kind of "beam me up Scotty" would be just awesome. Maybe a scooter would make me a bit more flexible. Although I reduced the "stuff" I have at my place, there are still some boxes that could go. Still looking what I could ebay or maybe just give to charity.

Organised as I am, now I will do the next step on my to-do list for today, setting up a resource page on www.informpros.com.

Private Label Rights article about self-development

This is one of my first project of my recent founded business with Mark D Nicholls. I am very excited about the company and everything we want to set up. So, let's rock it.

Private label rights is a concept similar to reselling, but the merchant is permitted to modify the product to fit his or her needs. Typical PLR products are articles, reports, eBooks, and autoresponders. This kind of content is used for the purpose of allowing multiple buyers to invest in the content with free rein to alter and use it by claiming authorship of it. It is typically used in online affiliate marketing systems. -Wikipedia - Private Label Rights (PLR)

I think that is an awesome opportunity to share content, to modify it to your needs and to drive traffic to your website. With excellent self-help private label rights articles the content is already optimized to bring visitors to your website and provide them with valuable information. You can use them as they are or you can tweak them to provide a unique perspective. You can also combine them to create totally new products. The choice is yours.



Just recently I actually properly listened to the song from Michael Jackson (RIP) "Man in the Mirror". I wasn't never really aware of the lyrics, but I loved it.

I'm Starting With The Man In The Mirror; I'm Asking Him To Change His Ways; And No Message Could Have Been Any Clearer; If You Wanna Make The World A Better Place; Take A Look At Yourself, And Then Make A Change

Isn't that what self-development is? There are still plenty of issues I have even with myself. I judged people from the first impression .. and how wrong was I and still am! I even have the impression that this is not fair. The first impression is most likely to be wrong.

People call me being a capitalist. That sounds quite negative, but I see it differently. I am setting up my own business, because I have issues working for someone else. That is fair enough. Also, I have decided for myself to be wealthy, so I have to do something about it. And I am convinced, having a "normal" job won't be really helpful, so I've chosen another way. Because one of my driving quotes is:

Only when you are wealthy, you can share wealth. And only when you are happy, you can share happiness.

You set the levels yourself. I love to help people. I even would say I am too nice, almost sacrificing myself. But this way, I am limited in giving. If I want to give, I need sth to give.


With this project I want to reach all the personal development coaches. If you have a website and/or a running newsletter and you are looking for inspiring content, check out this page. This website will help you with:
- How to keep the website and the newsletter interesting?
- How to make people coming back to my website (loyality)?

You can write content yourself, but are we permanently inspired to do so? If you are serious in having a proper relationship with your customer, you might consider this website.
While you can use your PLR health articles to promote your website in new and interesting ways month in and month out, there are some limitations to your private label content from this membership page.

The great thing about having a membership is that you can take the PLR articles and content packs and bend them, shape them, and mold them to your needs. Each month, without fail, you'll have all the content you need to keep your website looking fresh, to make new and interesting offers, and to really drive traffic like never before.

Take the initiative today to generate a constant flow of traffic to your website that will bring in targeted prospects and profitable sales.

I wish you all the best