Working at Home on the Internet

WampServer-A Good Designer and Tweaker Tool

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 As most of you already know, I do Computer Consulting for various Internet business applications as well as some problem solving for home business and individual use PC’s. A lot of what I do involves setting up Blogs, Websites, Forums, Shopping Carts and the like.

Going through my daily routine of reading feeds in my RSS feed reader, I came across something that grabbed my attention: Be Brave-Break Your Blog by Michael Martin who was guest posting on ProBlogger. The article itself was quite informative and gave different ways of testing Blogs before, during and after they are set up. If you have been around here for a little while, you know I know how to break a blog. I’m always tweaking and trying new things.

What intrigued me the most was the Last part of the post where he suggests installing WordPress on your computer using WampServer (Windows version). This is a program that allows installation of PHP, Apache and MySQL on your own computer. No need for using your Host to set up and test different templates, plugins and applications live on the web.

I have already downloaded and tested WampServer on my computer with WP and it seems to be working fine so far (just follow the instructions that Michael gives in his post, it’s easier than the “readme” that comes with the .zip file). I can see this being quite useful to developers and “tweakers” alike for such things as WordPress Blogs, Forums, or anything else that uses php, MySQl, or Apache to make things work.

I think this is a keeper. What do you think? Have you tried WampServer on Applications besides WordPress?

November 27th, 2007 at 05:03pm | Posted by Joe | Management, Organization, Tools | 2 reader remarks | Print This Post

Be Like McGuyver When Solving Problems in Business

If you tried to access this Blog or MCBS yesterday, you more than likely got a 404 error or something about not being able to display the page.

It seems that BlueHost was upgrading the PHP and MySQL on the server I am using. No notification before hand, no warning that my sites might be down, just "poof" gone for hours. No one, not even myself, could view any of my pages. I couldn’t even log in to any of the Blogs or BlueHost itself!

What can you do in a case where your server is down unexpectedly? Pre-posting wouldn’t have even worked because with no server there would be no way a post would go off.

There is no good way that I know of around it. But at least I have Windows Live Writer. I can write a post, format it the way I like, and set any tags and pictures with no problem. I can even see what it looks like while I’m doing it.

Sometimes in Business you have to prepare for the unexpected. Realize that there could be unforeseen problems with things that are beyond your control. And prepare as best you can. Use whatever tools you have at your disposal, even if it is Duct Tape and a Swiss Army Knife to keep things flowing.

Hopefully, my server will be up soon (I wrote this yesterday) and things will be back to normal.

Do you have a backup plan in case things go wrong? How do you handle posting when your server is down?

November 21st, 2007 at 06:35am | Posted by Joe | Management, Organization, Work at Home | 1 reader remark | Print This Post

Work Like a Water Department Crew When Working at Home

Today I am sitting out on the patio while I work, it’s such a nice day. It’s great to have the option of doing that without being cooped up in an office (home or otherwise) all day and answering to some nimrod boss.

 It is a little difficult to concentrate though. Not because the weather is so nice, but because the Water Company is digging up the street in front of my house. They are replacing the water lines for the whole block so there are actually 3 full crews working within sight of me and my little laptop.

Have you ever noticed and complained about how there is always one guy working and the rest just stand around? I know I have. But in sitting here watching these crews do their job of digging holes, loading dump trucks, laying pipe, etc and seeing them in action, I have changed my mind about how things could be done in a home business.

Each man is assigned a specific task which he does well.

The guy in the Backhoe is an expert in digging the holes and filling the trucks.

The guy with the Jack hammer is an expert at laying out and cutting the boarders for the hole.

The Truck driver is in exactly the right position for the dirt and/or dumping.

You get the idea. They work as a Team.

But, they all wear different (hard)hats.

When we work at home, even though we may be the only employee, we are still the whole crew. We are the Mail room, Investigators, Researchers, Tech guys, Writers, Problem solvers and Boss. Just to name a few of the hats we have to wear.

I think a good way of handling our Work at Home business is to work as a crew of one.

Define as best you can what hat you are going to wear in the morning, maybe the Mail room guy. Follow that up with the persona of the Researcher for a while. Then move on to the Writer.

Intersperse all them with the Tech guy and Problem solver all the while remembering that your ARE the Boss and you may be able to get through your day and accomplish something worthwhile.

So, in closing, work like a Water Department Crew. Do what has to be done in the right order and complete the job with the right person in the right place at the right time. You may even get the water running again in time for dinner.

November 7th, 2007 at 06:28am | Posted by Joe | Basics, Organization, Work at Home | reader remarks | Print This Post