While I’ve been away…

Well I haven’t really been away from here – just away from the blogging. One of the big problems with working from home is that there is just so much to do around the house, garden, family, neighbours and more that gets in the way of getting worky things done. Because you’re at home people expect you to be available, and it’s difficult to resist a neighbour dropping in for a chat, to ask for help or borrow a tool. The garden is a big pull. We are lucky enough to have a large garden with an orchard, greenhouse and ready-dug vegetable plots – courtesy of the previous owners (Thank you Hilary and Pat!). At this time of year the harvest bounty doesn’t wait. Plums and crab-apples are dropping off the branches and waiting to become jam and jelly. It’s quite a feat to keep up with clients’ schedules for web site updates, marketing and new database functionality and so our own blogs and newsletters get lower priority. Not good – but what can one do but enjoy the summer while it’s here! The cold winds of autumn are already starting to blow. Neighbours, friends and clients who visit will get a pot of crab apple jelly or plum chutney.

Linking in?

I received – completely out of the blue – an invitation to join someone’s network on LinkedIn. I resisted for a while and was then sent a reminder. The guy runs a search engine optimisation business, which is related to my work with web site marketing, so I thought I’d give it a try and see what it’s all about. It’s very easy to join the group and update my profile, although I had to choose between “Internet” and “Marketing and Advertising” as my business description – “Business development” or just “Marketing” might be preferable.

The idea is to make connections by inviting people or being invited to join your network. People put up requests for information, jobs, etc and you can reply or not. Being home-based it might be an opportunity to do that much heralded networking without having to eat nasty breakfasts and talk to a lot of people with nothing better to do. I’ll keep you posted.