Look at this GREAT homepage!

Love this homepage for the music site, well done to the designers.

This is bound to appeal to all those Indie musicians out there, just waiting for recognition and feedback on their music.

I find the new layout (not that new as it has been up and running a couple of weeks) to be really user friendly, uploading your music is simple, voting (for free) is easy and it's fascinating reading the musicians bio's and listener comments.

The Internet

Wow, I am learning so much about the internet. What a vast, and slightly scarey, medium it is! It is fabulous to see how we can share our ideas with people where ever they are - how blogs, chats and websites can be set up to further facilitate communication within businesses and with clients.

There is so much to learn, so much to master.

Renee and I are doing our best to develop a strong strategy to use for our business, a way of communicating with clients, letting them know latest stock, promote sales and events - Christmas cards, calendars for example. We need to master the art of utelising the internet for more direct marketing and communications.

We both have so much happening at the moment, but it is great to see that what we are learning in one area we are able to utelise across our business interests.

wwtq.net - Upload Vote and Win

Upload Vote and Win
That's the header we are using on our current round of correspondence. It is interesting to see the level of distrust out there when in reality we are trying to help aspiring musicians. Personally I can't see the risk involved, they upload a song, they get friends to vote - for free - and they run an excellent chance of winning money AND recognition from industry professionals. Where's the risk? In fact WHAT is the risk?

We have a big event due to start in the UK in December, it will be heavily publicised over there and is already building excitement. The prize will be 10,000 POUNDS - wow how can any aspiring Indie singer/band refuse or ignore that chance? In addition the professionals will be watching and listening VERY carefully - ready to grab the next "big thing".

Can't wait to hear some of the entries!

Monday Monday

Here's another Monday with its challenges!

Renee and I shared space with Pettina on the weekend to hold our third Art Show. It was a huge success with people coming through both Friday night and Saturday. Plenty of champagne, comments on the artworks and purchases. It was great to get the positive feedback on our images and home decor items. The calendars and Christmas Cards were particularly popular.

In addition we have been doing lots of planning with regards to the wwtq.net music site. We have been in discussion with radio stations around Australia, deciding which ones we will partner with to run some seriously exciting concerts! It would be great to give some up and coming musician a $10,000 prize - imagine the grin on their face after simply uploading and getting their own friends to vote and winning $10,000, I am really looking forward to seeing that come to fruition. I wonder which radio stations we will partner with?

I love that my life is so busy. I really do.

Blue Sky Day

That's today, another blue sky day. I just checked the entries on the latest two concerts in the World Wide Talent Quest www.wwtq.net and it is looking great. Fab to see people are getting their friends to vote for them, voting is free afterall so why wouldn't you! I wonder who will win the prize this time? I imagine in the current economic climate anyone would be pleased to have a boost of $1000 or more dollars.

I like seeing things working and working well. I have a friend, who died quite a few years ago, who would have just loved being involved with this music site. The chance to interact with other budding musicians, the opportunity to have his music listened to by friends and the general public so he could receive feedback and most excitingly to be listened to by real players in the industry. To think he pottered for so many hours in his home recording studio but there was never any real outlet to share his work and his love of music. www.wwtq.net would have been that sort of thing for him. I think it is wonderful how the entrants can now put up profiles about themselves and start communicating with each other. Yes, he would have been thrilled by the possibilities, what a shame it came too late for him.

Believe - November's Calendar

Believe in the person you
are and the person you are
becoming. Don't let hurt
feelings or misunderstandings
stop you from reaching
out for your great dreams.
Love each day and cherish
the moments that make up
your days. Change the world
for the better.

Friends

I am very lucky to have made so many special friends. I have a benchtop calendar with daily sayings reminding me of the importance of friends - but honestly I don't need the reminders. To have friends to listen to you, to talk with you, to share their lives and yours, is a pretty special thing in life.

The last couple of days I have been out to functions, non formal, with a group of friends and it has been great.

Friday we went to the Food and Wine Show in Brisbane. It was great fun to see the celebrity chef - Ainsley Harriott and to share all the taste and drink sensations with people who love food and love trying new things.

Then on Saturday a group of us went to a friend's place - their new house. It was a type of housewarming. They are not moving in straight away, rather they will rent it and move in when their children leave home. We all sat and chatted and ate the lovely bbq that was prepared for us. Isla had a superb time playing with the older children who were all incredibly caring and responsive - great to see and a credit to their parents.

So, remember to be a friend :)

Christmas Cards

I'm quite pleased with how this looks.

Renee and I work well as a team - I can do, she can design :)

What a Week!

Good grief, what a week! I don't seem to have stopped.

The momentum is really moving with World Wide Talent Quest - wwtq.net and it is exciting to be part of that. I was listening to some of the music last night, it's interesting to see the variety that people are submitting. I particularly like "Betrayed" by Shannon Kennedy - what an incredible voice, wish I could sing like that. Just checked her profile, great how now we can see the image submitted by the artist and their profile, along with email and website if they want to put it. Shannon's profile is very well written, obviously - given her emotive lyrics. Gosh her voice is truly amazing. Hope she does well, it would be great if through our site she had a 'big break' and got well known - certainly a voice I could listen to.

But life hasn't stopped there. Renee and I have been busy with the Fine Art Photography business too. We have made a huge collection of Christmas Cards - really nice original ones - people must get so sick of the same old styles each year. Today I created an advertisement for Personalised Business Cards, which we will email to local businesses. Hopefully that will get some orders in.

My little girl has been unwell again, so that is a worry. We have had trips to the doctor, and now we have to wait for test results and get an appointment for the pedaetrician - how do you spell that? Anyway, just something that has to be done.

Time to go and listen to her fabulous reading, she just loves her books!

1 million hits!

Wow, just heard that the music site - World Wide Talent Quest.net - wwtq.net - has had 1,000,000 hits. There's a landmark! I do hope people are enjoying it as there are so many motivated music industry professionals involved and keen to use it as a way to discover new talent. We all want it to be a success! I love seeing people are loading their music, it's fun to see how many times something has been listened to or voted for.

It isn't even 6am and I'm tired and hungry. What a start to the day. Have been up for quite a while trying to get ahead of the projects needing my attention. Today is Melbourne Cup day but the thought of spending money and sitting in some average pub watching horses run around a track doesn't exactly inspire me! I will be home creating Christmas cards for our Fine Art Photography range. We have quite a few orders for sets of Christmas cards. Some people have seen the images on our website and chosen those which they really like and emailed us for custom orders.

In addition I have been sourcing a supplier for other custom printing items, like placemats, coasters, tablecloths, mousemats and bookmarks. All of these sorts of things will look stunning with Renee's images and be perfect for gifts.

Isla is having trouble settling at night again, so I think I will completely change her night routine. I think she is reading too much before bed - reading too much - did I really say that! Like me she gets involved in what she reads and the can't calm her mind. So I will replace the bed time reading with bed time music and see how that goes.

Well I still have an hour before she wakes up, so I should try and achieve some work, plenty to do!

A Day of Achievements

A very warm and windy day here today! Miss Isla spent the day with Mama and Bapa, while John and I went to get a new microwave. That's pretty exciting isn't it! We did a couple of other chores before coming home for lunch.

I then spent a couple of hours cleaning out my wardrobe, wow I was hoarding some old stuff! It is much clearer now, much more sensible, just the things I actually wear.

I'm excited to note that our music site www.wwtq.net now has a new look. It looks so much better I am rapt. Instead of the red it is now black, much groovier looking and more in fitting with the music scene - I think.

I hope everyone finds it easy to use and is willing to have a go. We have paid out over $10,000 in prizes in the past month, so anything is possible!

Off to dinner now, Thai tonight.

Invitation Done!

Thursday 30th October 2008

6am, getting through a few jobs before Isla wakes. This morning's challenge is to finish that invitation for the Art Show we are holding on the 14th and 15th November - showing Renee's Fine Art Photography and Pettina's ceramic and glass works. It should be fun but lots of work to co-ordinate, setup and run.

It is getting hot here already, due for a very warm day I think.

I am out with my mum today, I have to take some documents to my lawyers, then we're going clothes shopping! mmmmm not sure if I am keen or not.

Things are moving on with another business interest, the music website. www.wwtq.net (World Wide Talent Quest) is a website where singers, bands - serious and not so serious - can upload their music file and enter concerts/competitions to win pretty big prizes. They get their friends to vote and the one with the highest vote wins. So, free to upload, $5 to enter concert, free to vote and you could win $1000. There are higher levels also. Our challenge now is to get the concept popular, get it out there.

We also have a panel of experts, all from the music industry in some way, watching the entries, well listening to them! Some will offer larger one off concert prizes like production deals, others are watching out for talent for upcoming tv shows. It's very, very exciting but again very, very difficult getting a new concept off the work table and into reality.

The way I see it, it is a great opportunity for Indie Bands to have a go, win much needed money and hopefully get recognition.

Anyway, something else for me to think about. Anyone with ideas out there - do share!

Wednesday 29th - Life is calmer

It's fabulous being up early at this time of year, so bright and warm! I manage to get an hour's work done before miss Isla wakes up. Then the real fun starts for the day.

I have been reviewing the new website Renee and I put together for our business Renee Hubbard Fine Art Photography. We are both really pleased with it. We like the classic black background as it makes her gorgeous images (which I've put on the slideshow here) really stand out. We are also really pleased with the way clients can view what an image will look like in their chosen print option - card, framed, canvas, laminated or matted. We think we have it just as we want it for now, although would like a way to include our calendars on the site. However that facility is not an option yet.

We have an Art Show coming up in mid November. I must get organised and do the invitation! Another job for the list.

Having the Photography business has been fun, but a real challenge. Renee's images are perfect and everyone appreciates them, it is just finding the right market to sell them! Starting a business like this takes a lot of time and organised thought. We feel we are slowly getting there.

There is so much going on, we would love to get the images into more businesses, providing our Business decor consultancy - some of the flora and ocean shots would be perfect.

I wonder what the future will hold for us? We love working together and the business works well from our respective homes around our respective families - as they are after all our priority.

Tuesday 28th - Tax due today

Okay, so I've tested the way it works, I almost know what I am doing. I need to understand my reasons for writing this blog. Why am I doing it? Don't I have enough to keep track of already - Facebook, email, msn and life in general?

Well I thought it would be useful to keep a journal of everything I am trying to achieve. I have many businesses on the run, from Fine Art Photography, Admin Support, Author Services, Kids' Review website, World Wide Talent Quest and others. So a journal of what is happening in each of these - within the realms of privacy of course - might help me keep my head straight.

Also, my daughter is 7 and continues to bring me such amazing times. This can be a place where I can share stories about her. Do I do that in a separate blog or just all part of this one. I have to admit my understanding of this tool is not complete yet!

I used to log Isla's interesting comments or actions in a Word document. But this way I can share it with her family, local and overseas, immediately.

Okay, one of my businesses is doing GST accounting for clients. It is all due TODAY, better snap out of this mode and get to the numbers!

Monday 27th

Today is my first wedding anniversary. What a huge year!