sorry to hear about the burglary mate, harsh times. I’ve just found your site by searching Manchester web design. Really like the simplicity of the sites design and the yellow and black are working in harmony! I’ll be coming back to see what you are up to next!

Great stuff.

You’re right about sourcing info yourself – I certainly didn’t mean to suggest that we should sit and wait for it to drop into our lap. Trouble is that you find the info you want *only* if you know what you’re looking for (or that you’re supposed to look for it).

In this way, probably 50% of what I learned about running a limited company, I sort of stumbled upon it.

We folks in this business *love* the unprecedented discovery of new dev techniques, lolcats or whatever, but not so much when we hit on some aspect of due diligence we didn’t previously know about ;-)

Yes, many people have noted the yellow, the derogatory emails have died down a bit now but I was getting a couple of emails a week detailing why they thought my website was crap – I’m not joking:

Read the last comment here for a typical response:
http://www.stumbleupon.com/url/imgiseverything.co.uk/2008/06/06/php-html-templates/

It should be in the small print about the crossover of using your home as an office, but that doesn’t change anything, does it?

A good article for folks to check out (UK only) is here:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/2954564/General-insurance-for-business.html

On a related note, I know you’ve written before on the joys of running your own business, but doesn’t it bug you – as it did me – that no-one’s willing to tell you *anything* about what to do or how to do it.

Yeah, I could have gone out and bought a hundred Dummies books, or spent an arm and a leg down the accountants, or dragged myself through a web-based purgatory of dull documentation (all of which is terribly vague and occasionally contradictory), but it just isn’t straightforward. Business Link was about the best resource and I’m sure I read somewhere that the govt was pulling funding for it.

“If it was easy,” an old boss of mine used to say (every day a thousand times), “everyone would be doing it”. But seriously, how were you to know you needed separate insurance for the home office? Of course, you had to learn the (disproportionately) hard way.

—

By the way, though I love your simple design and your funky colour contrast (*very* industrial) and though I too noted its appearance on that Smashing Magazine site, has anyone else noticed its bizarre psychedelic powers?

I find that if I really get into reading your blog (as I often do), when I look away again from the LCD screen the world looks ‘funny’.

Whoa… I just looked up and, whoa, there it goes again…

Of course, it still leaves it in the realms of the hypothetical, but it might give further reference points. I know when I went through the malarkey with Direct Line we went through some examples, primarily finding out what I needed to be covered and what not, but it was still an interesting – and relevant – exercise.

My Professional Indemnity insurance is actually with Hiscox. My only experience with them so far is that I pay them money every month, I cannot say how they will be when the shit hits the fan. I went with them because someone else recommended them to me. At this point, I can’t really offer a public opinion (either positive or negative) on them.

Sorry to hear about the burglary that really sucks.

Can i ask who you would recommend for Professional Indemnity insurance, i have heard that Hiscocks are good ?

Oh and saw your portfolio here :

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/02/26/10-steps-to-the-perfect-portfolio-website/

Hopefully bring a smile back to you.

Steve

I’ve already got a business insurance estimate from my current (professional indemnity) insurer and the cost is only £5-10 a month.

My business is covered through Direct Line Insurance, which includes cover for home office etc., plus PCs while travelling and so on.

Home-wise, we’re covered through More>Than, who I can’t recommend highly enough. I had two breakins while living in rented property in Manchester, and they covered both. (including replacing the broken window, which the landlord of the property wouldn’t do, and which wasn’t actually part of the contents cover) In addition, they’ve sorted out an issue for us with replacing the mains water supply (not our fault) and sorted everything efficiently and effectively – to the point we could hand the plumber the cheque for the work on the day he did it.

It might sound like I’m pimping for More>Than, but I’m really not – just a dead impressed customer.

I can’t comment on Direct Line’s methods for claiming, as I’ve never had to use them, and hope never to have to.

Hope things work out for you on all this – it’s certainly not sounding like much fun at all.

Having had one laptop stolen already a few years back with over 5 years of data on it, it wasn’t the laptop that bothered me it was what was on it. Emails, work, photos, contacts etc etc. Its a killer.

I now have 2 externals one of which I back up to ever few weeks and then put out of the way.