Having worked in the charity sector for over 12 years, I\u2019ve got experience in a fair few areas now. From training and advocacy to projects and volunteer management, there\u2019s some good strings on my metaphorical bow already I reckon. But it turns out I\u2019m now adding IT-helpdesk and engineer into the mix, and its non-negotiable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Early on I decided to invest in a new laptop. Although a frustratingly big expense early on, it felt the only way to give me confidence to start out, especially given the way our family laptop was determinedly taking early retirement. Also, apparently, non-negotiable. So as a bit of a cost-saving exercise and as a nod towards \u201cbuying less new\u201d wherever possible, I opted for a refurbished laptop. Not without the risks, I realised, but I compared prices, technical spec, checked return policies and independent reviews and went for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, overall, I think it was a good choice. It\u2019s in really good condition, great speeds, reliable, modern and crucially it\u2019s comparable to what I\u2019ve been using for work most recently rather than our old home laptop. But wow, have I been tripped up along the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So. Picture the scene. Your first ever meeting with a new client, and only the second client you\u2019ve worked with so far in this new freelance world. You agree to a Teams meeting, you prep, you take notes, you remember (for once) to check what\u2019s behind you, you log in, introduce yourself and\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026.no-one can hear you. Nada. Nothing. You think, you\u2019ve got this, it happens. You check the Teams setting. Nothing. You check the laptop settings. Nothing. You update the *THREE OTHER* people in the meeting (solely there to meet you) in the chat function and resist the urge to panic. You log out. You log back in. Nothing. You try logging in from your phone but the clash between already being logged in on another account sends it into a spin, and you get nowhere there either. The host graciously offers to swap to Zoom. You make them a hero of the republic in your head as you await the invite in your inbox and frantically google \u201cwhy isn\u2019t my laptop microphone working?????\u201d Google delivers unhelpfully detailed steps that need a day to work through. The Zoom meeting starts. But doesn\u2019t deliver results either. Stress levels peak. The only other option is another laptop \u2013 which, finally, does actually work. 20 mins into the meeting. So far, so professional.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At least another two hours of googling, trial and error and roping in my husband in in another room in the house for testing, finally meant we cracked it, although worryingly I\u2019m not sure I\u2019m certain how exactly I did it. But for now, at least, my laptop has a working microphone. Ability to have Teams meetings? Tick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As if I hadn\u2019t had humiliation and frustration enough, I\u2019ve also recently found that while my laptop speakers work just fine, adding headphones to the mix creates radio silence. Cue another rabbit-holes worth of googling and some very confident assurances from stranger\u2019s articles about \u201cupdating sound drives\u201d and I\u2019m near to admitting defeat. Because not only do I really not have a clue what most of them are talking about, but a lot of them casually mention its quite \u201ca thing\u201d for Windows 10. As if I\u2019m meant to feel better. So now I\u2019m caught between the inconvenience of not being able to use headphones or taking the plunge, trusting strangers and being my own IT support. I\u2019ve added it to my list of \u201cthings to do\u201d when I\u2019m feeling particularly caffeinated and resilient. Not quite this week when my daughter is suddenly deciding to have 3-hour wide-awake parties overnight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now I\u2019ve never set up and run my own website before but I definitely foresaw running a blog and a professional website as reasonably straightforward. A ton of people do it and host providers are keen for business and therefore want to make it as simple as possible. Or so I thought. Being 6 weeks into this blog and unable so far to crack putting a subscribe option in has been a pretty constant source of frustration. It just does not make sense. I don\u2019t know whether I\u2019ve accidentally stumbled across the most complicated host, or design format, or some other mysterious formula that I\u2019ve completely missed but I am stumped. I\u2019ve gone from pillar to post (or help article to YouTube videos) to no avail. All I\u2019ve progressed to is requests for more plug-ins, more payments and more accounts for extras, and I\u2019m starting to lose the plot. Thankfully I\u2019ve remembered a friend\u2019s husband works in the world of website so I think I\u2019m about to call in a beer\/BBQ type favour and see if they can save me!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s not just subscribing though (please do, by the way, whenever I work the thing out!) \u2013 it\u2019s so far pretty much everything to do with the website, even in the basic format I\u2019ve chosen. I\u2019ve paid for a domain and paid for hosting services, and I\u2019m researched and used top recommendations for both. But then at every corner \u2013 pay for security, pay for SEO, pay for mail marketing, pay for integrations, you can\u2019t possibly access this functionality without signing up for three more accounts that don\u2019t make a whole lot of sense. Oh, none of this is starting to make sense? Tough. I\u2019m now hugely impressed with anyone who\u2019s got the tenacity to run any kind of website without an IT degree (or back up company) \u2013 I feel like most of it is written in a language I don\u2019t understand, every aspect wants more money and none of it is quite delivering what I\u2019m after. I\u2019m clinging on my fingernails. So far I\u2019ve just about got what I need together but I\u2019m now adding \u201cwebsite design\/management\u201d to my CPD list for a quieter period in the hope that in quieter (more sleep-filled) times, I\u2019ll be able to see a clearer path through the myriad of options.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Undoubtedly, one of my greatest challenges at the moment is working out where on earth I\u2019m meant to be\/what I\u2019m meant to be doing on any given day. And it\u2019s mostly down to IT (well, I mean, my life admin could do with improvement but let\u2019s focus on IT for a second). I\u2019ve accidentally fallen into the trap of having a personal Outlook inbox and calendar that I\u2019ve started using for freelance work, alongside a Gmail calendar for personal commitments on my Android phone, and a shared family Gmail calendar for kids\/school\/nursery things. Oh, and some things go on the physical kitchen wall calendar, just to keep us on our toes. I\u2019m constantly at risk of double-booking or missing something. I mean it\u2019s hard enough balancing work commitments, personal commitments and family things (either direct kid things or knowing you having to cover childcare because your partner\u2019s got a commitment), but I feel like my IT isn\u2019t exactly helping. I need synchronicity – way of integrating work, personal and family so that I\u2019ve got half a hope of knowing what I\u2019m doing and where I need to be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019ve got a nagging feeling, a lot based on seeing glimpses of people doing things a lot better than I am, that there are some amazing IT solutions out there that I\u2019m not utilising. In the same way that I found and fell in love with Doodle <\/a>years ago as a great way to easily find a date between multiple people, especially ones from different organisations, I realise this was a fair while back. Calendy<\/a>, for instance, is one I\u2019ve got my eye on. Once I\u2019ve sorted my multiple calendar debacle, it looks like a great way of safely sharing spaces in my diary with external contacts. But there\u2019s a whole world out there of great tools for time tracking, social media management, project management, creativity and design platforms that so far are just lurking on the edge of my conscious. I need some serious focus time to have a little delve into what\u2019s out there, and maybe canvas some options on the most useful ones to start with. I\u2019ll aim to boomerang back with the best ones later on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I got quite giddy when my laptop first arrived, set up Outlook, Teams, started my OneDrive \u2013 thought I was starting out well and had some solid foundations. Turns out mid-conversation with a client that I can\u2019t open PDFs (thankfully my phone can). Gone now are the days of my laptop automatically being populated with the programs that are necessary for day-to-day office life, set up and configured to help me, relatively seamlessly, with my work world. Now seems to be a daily battle not to be caught out by what I didn\u2019t realise I needed to have sorted with my tech. On my long list (that never seems to decrease) on \u201cbusiness admin behind the scenes things\u201d is definitely to spend some quality time fixing some of these daily niggles, to reduce my risk of lobbing my brand new (sorry, new to me) laptop out of the window, as well as improving my overall efficiency. However, I also recognise I\u2019ve now got more freedom to try new solutions and apps because I\u2019m in control of my own little \u201ccorporate world\u201d, I just need to up my game to make the most of what\u2019s out there. And hope that the worst of \u201ctrip ups\u201d are over, because if there\u2019s anything worse than despairing and realising you need IT specialist, it\u2019s realising that person is apparently also you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Having worked in the charity sector for over 12 years, I\u2019ve got experience in a fair few areas now. From training and advocacy to projects and volunteer management, there\u2019s some good strings on my metaphorical bow already I reckon. But it turns out I\u2019m now adding IT-helpdesk and engineer into the mix, and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":141,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[22,9],"tags":[13,11,23,15,12,21,10],"class_list":["post-138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-digital","category-start-up","tag-charity","tag-consultant","tag-digital","tag-founder","tag-freelance","tag-non-profit","tag-start-up-2"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\tThe Future Is Digital<\/h2>\n\n\n\n