Finally getting a Ipod!

by Matthew

I ordered an ipod yesterday. I have always had MP3 players on my phone or PSP but I choose something I could store a lot of tracks on and just use for music!
I ordered an ipod classic (80gb version) in black because that’s what colour all my other electrical goods are 🙂

Screenie of what I ordered below.

I bought it from additions direct using the 3 months interest free plan. I will be able to pay it off before I reach the 3 months making this ideal for me.

I am expecting a external HDD to come tomorrow too. One I ordered from Amazon. I will write another post tomorrow about me unboxing my brand new ipod 🙂

Can’t wait!!!!

Life since February

by Matthew

Another long time since I last posted here but here is another post to keep the very few who read entertained 🙂

A lot has changed since February I guess. I’ve finished college and am ready (well nearly) for University. I’ve seen what Oxford Brookes is like and I love it. I really am looking forward to it. It’s been a very different month. I’ve got even more tired of working in a pub and I am thinking about leaving earlier then intended. Some people really irritate me at work and the whole job just isn’t me.

More about University!! I actually didn’t know what Oxford Brookes and the surrounding area was like until I visited about 2 weeks ago!! I already had it down as my firm choice. However I was confident I would like the place. I wasn’t wrong. Overall the place had a better feel then Hertfordshire University. There are only a few universities that I considered. They were all highly regarded in the Motorsport world which is what I hope to make my profession. After visiting Oxford Brookes and in comparison to Hertfordshire I found Brookes the most suitable. Here are some piccies of the tour!

Headington Halls
Headington Campus. I will be staying in wheatley halls which are about 30mins away from Headington and a bit older. With no en-suite, but catered halls.

Headington Campus
Headington Campus again.

Williams F1 Car
Williams F1 Racing car from 2001 in the workshop. Williams are based close to the university in Grove, Oxfordshire. Oxford Brookes is in the heart of “Motorsport Valley”!

Trains at Oxford Station
Train at Oxford Station.

Another Train at Oxford
What it says! Oxford 🙂

Oxford Brookes Formula Student Car
The Oxford Brookes Formula Student Car.

Students working on the Formula Student Car
Students working on the Formula Student Car.

It was a cool day out. Seeing where I would spend my next few years. It’s good to know they have a Costa coffee on campus too 🙂

Web wise Ferrari fans is doing well with the new design. We have some new staff aboard and have been steadily improving..

I’ve got months off now.. So I will be here to update this often from now on.

Happy holidays!

Staff Management

by Matthew

Well, I’ve not posted in a while but I’m back! I have more time so I will certainly post a lot more in this blog 🙂

Today I am going to write a article about staff management. This is one vital component that is often overlooked by managers/business owners. It’s easy to think we just pay them and they work as they should. In fact staff management is a lot more complicated then that.

Staff Performance

Staff Performance is one area many businesses can improve on. It’s not about making them work harder, smarter rather. It’s your job to make your staff more productive. Monitor their performance, don’t make it obvious though. Everyone hates being monitored and watched (People hate to see people standing over them!).

One way of improving productivity (and in turn performance) is through the basics such as manners and your own mentality towards you staff. Don’t think as your staff as just staff or even worse slaves. Remember you need your staff more then they need you!!! A staff member can find another job easier then you can start another business.

By installing processes staff standards and in turn staff performance will increase. These can be written or verbal. Instruct them on better ways to do things, listen to what THEY have to say! I know because you’re the big boss everyone should listen to you but you can make improvements by listening to your staff.

Staff Morale and motivation

Obviously if you spend hours shouting at your staff they aren’t going to be very motivated to do anything 😛
A small firm is one place where motivation can be at its lowest. Some employess can feel overloaded, neglected, or hard done by. It can reach the stage where people start taking time off sick and having de-motivated people around really can create a unhealthy climate for everyone else!

Recognition and advancement leads to employee satisfaction!

компютри втора употреба

Obviously if a staff member is screwing up more then you can tolerate you should sit down and discuss this with the member of staff. Giving them pointers on how to avoid the mistakes that happen last time and putting in some processes for them to follow so they don’t make the same mistakes again. Never grill your staff or demote them!! Remember you can always leaven out criticism too, if things are going better then they did before but still far from being acceptable you can say something like “This is definitely a improvement, but we still have a way to go. Lets spend some time looking over what we can do better”.

By now you have probably figured out just how important employees are. They are more then employees, they are not robots. They are living people by managing effectively they can prosper and in turn so can your business.

If you haven’t figured it out by now read it again and again! If you still don’t get it then I am afraid this arena really isn’t the place for you!

I hope you enjoyed reading this article. I have more coming on business management soon 🙂

Targets/Aims/Resolutions for 2008!

by Matthew

As 2007 comes to a end I have been thinking hard about what I would like to achieve in 2008, both personally and in my business. I want to set targets this year and actually stick to them. I didn’t set any last year so here they are!

Here are the personal goals I hope to achieve by the end of the year.

    Become fitter then I am now. I was quite athletic before school finished. Now I’ve left school I can’t run 2 metres without stopping for breath. So, Off to the gym!

    By a car. Vauxhall Corsa of some sort..

    Play badminton.

    Race go-karts often! 🙂

Now the Business goals!

    Do even better then we did this year with Pastilles Networks.

    Launch Apple Elf Hosting!

Have more fun. Work harder and smarter. Hope everyone has a happy and prosperous new year!

Schooling…(UK terms but relevant elsewhere!)

by Matthew

I have always personally felt our UK schools are a bit bish bosh.

The system is more like come in do well.. Manufacture (erm.. Educate) some kids who will work hard and get a nice pension. Government or private. Our schools have little scope for movement. For example almost everyone at School would like their pupils to be doctors and lawyers because that’s perceived as being very successful.

Another thing, most schools they only teach you how to pass exams! What use is that? 😛

When it comes to doing something different… like entrepreneurship, there is very little help available. The whole school system needs a revamp. Subjects are repeated over year after year which becomes a bit er… repetitive 😛

*In mixedmatt’s world* Schools would have to do the compulsory three main subjects (English, Science and Maths) Then each year different subjects would be taught until year 9. Then the students have to choose for year 10. The range of subjects taught would be something like this ;-

– Politics
– Business
– Life subjects
– More sex education
– Respect and Manners lessons

They should also hire people in the IT departments that are smarter then the schoolkids and know how to secure networks properly.

Pastilles Networks – Preview and Update!

by Matthew

It’s been ages since I last posted. I have been working very hard lately. I only have a few weeks left before I return to college. Not too sure how I feel about that 😛

Here are the things that have been worked on and will be worked on over the remainder of the summer holiday. Some things haven’t been released here but will be soon! They are super secret! 🙂

Completed

Upgrade to cPanel/WHM 11. This was done early last month. All clients were notified.

Pastilles Cash system up and running.

In progress –

Clientexec Integration with the rest of the site. This is going to be done shortly and should be ready in the next few weeks.

Support Forum Integration this should be ready in the next few weeks too. I just have to find someone who can work with MyBB to perform the integration.

We will soon be doing domain registration. We had this scheduled for completion last year! However we now are certain this is the right time to get this done now.

Affiliate program this is currently being evaluated. We are in the progress of deciding if this is worthwhile or not.

So, What does everyone think? I am really excited about it all and can’t wait till it’s completed. I promise all clients of Pastilles Networks things will only get better!

More coming soon! 🙂