When they arrived the first to be commissioned was the file & print server as this was a straight forward migration to Windows 2008 from Windows 2003. This went fairly smooth, and apart from printers, it didn't really cause us any hassle. The other server run's the clients line of business (LOB) application which was not compatible with Windows 2008, but as the client planned to upgrade we went ahead and ordered the new server anyway. Various meetings took place with the LOB support company and the client did not progress this despite making it clear that we *really* needed to do this as by now the hardware it was on was almost 7 years old. Before we completed this the business was sold, and while our services have been retained, this LOB application is still on the old server.

Now it was time to push, so I explained that we had to move this project forward and given that the LOB upgrade was not on the short term plan the best route was to virtualize the current server onto the new one using Hyper-V so that it is then on new hardware.

So this is where I find myself now and we are moving along great. The whole process has been made simple with the use of Paragon Drive Backup Server Edition, which the client already had, as it has a P2V Copy tool. Without this it would not have been so straight forward. So I will continue to 'sup' tea and eat my biscuits while we continue.

- Rob

Over this last week I have been speaking a lot with a good friend of mine. He is currently setting up the UK office for a German company who provide encryption solutions for businesses. Now, he has come from an 'employed' background which means that there has always been a 'man' for every job that needs to be done in the business. There's a marketing team full of creative luvvies just waiting to come up with some great one-liners and hair brain adverts just like the Cadbury's one's. There has been a group of techies huddled up in a dark corner just waiting for a new problem so they can get their 'geek on'. Then there's the small group of people in the accounts office that love 'figures' in the way that only an accountant can and chase payments like a dog chases a bone.  Of course there has been the MD sitting in his large office, lording it up over the business making sure that everyone is working hard. Somewhere in the midst of all this typical business has sat my friend, performing his duties with all the diligence of a man that has true passion for his job and the people he serves.

Now, due to a twist of fate, he has found himself in the role that many small business owners find themselves. Where this army of people that do every part of the business only exists within your mind, in what can only be likened to "Dissociative identity disorder". It got me thinking about how each day small business owners go to work and assume more roles in one day than most actors undertake in a lifetime and still they continue to project an image of sanity, integrity and professionalism within that. Then as the business starts to grow they start to pass some of those personalities on to the subordinate that are brought on-board, again in the hope that they can off-load another one soon. So the enterprising people of the world continue.

Now I am sure that all of this probably sounds quite depressing but it shouldn't. It is a stark image of how amazing small business owners and entrepreneurs are and continue to be as each day passes. For this I salute all Small Business Owners and Entrepreneurs out there and long may enterprise continue.

For my part, I will continue to help my friend through his period of having a split-personality and pass on the lessons I have learned, especially the one's I learnt that hard way!

If you have any great stories about life as a Small Business Owner or Entrepreneur then please leave them in the comments below.

- Rob

Onwards

At 6.09am on 11th July I set out on my challenge to ride from here in Ilkeston to Skegness and back in 1 day with only myself for company. I left Ilkeston very quietly and began what was to be one if the hardest days of my life. As I started out it felt good, and I mean really good as the pedals spun easily and the pace was quick. Over the last few months I had been training hard to get to where I was by going out most mornings and getting in around 20 miles, then at weekends I did 40 miles. However, the most I had done was last week when I undertook a 90 mile tour of Derbyshire. This was a reality check for me as it really took it out of me and made me aware of how much food and drink I would need to get this done.

After less than an hour I had passed by Nottingham and was well underway averaging around 17mph along the way. This, in itself, was a great pace and well over the expected 15mph I had planned on. Before I knew it I was passing by Bingham and well on my way to Newark. Despite the solitude of this challenge I was still feeling good as I new folks were following the updates via twitter but while the pedals kept spinning so easy the moral was high. After just 2 hours on the road I had passed Newark which meant I was well over 35 miles into my challenge with a total of 179 miles. This meant that I was well over a third of my way towards Skegness. After Newark it got a little more complicated as it meant negotiating some of the back roads and I wasn't familiar with which meant more frequent stops to check the map.

Throughout the journey I had been eating regular and stocking up on energy bars, gel packs both of which taste quite nasty and for the life of me I could not comprehend anyone eating these under any other circumstances. At the 50 mile mark I decided to take a well earned rest of around 15 minutes while I ate some more and restocked the water bottles with the extra water I had in the rucksack. One of the things you don't realise is that you really have to make sure you eat and drink LOTS when running any kind of distance on a bike. On average you will consume over 800 calories per hour and need to replace fluid at around 750ml per hour, this is not an easy thing to do.

Steaming ahead

As I carried on, I was still steaming ahead regularly thundering along at over 20mph which was awesome. At the time I put this down to the fact that the land was flat and I had spent the last few days stocking up on food by eating plenty, as well as continuing to stay fueled up on route. By 10.45am I saw a sign that read 17 mile to Skegness and I was truly amazed by the great time I had made, this meant that in 4hrs and 45 mins I had covered 71 miles which was far better than I had ever dreamed. I finally arrived at a rather busy and very hot Skegness at 12.02pm which meant that I had made it in just under 6 hrs, in actual riding time I had done it in 5hrs 6 minutes at an average of around 17.3mph.

There was no 2 ways about it I knew I had travelled 88 miles but I still felt good. However, in all my preparation with regard to food, drink, bike setup, money etc I had forgotten sunscreen.

While I admit, not the best looking legs around, they are bloody burnt to a crisp and today the sun burn hurts far more than the aching from all that cycling. Enough about that on with the story.

After less than 45 minutes of rest and stuffing my face with lots of sandwiches that i brought with me along with more energy bars and drinks it was time to go again. As soon as I started the journey back I realised what had happened on the way there. Without knowing it, I had been pushed along by a tail wind, when I say a tail wind I mean a 12+mph tail wind which had made it so much easier getting there. However, coming back this friendly tail wind became a vicious head wind which was hell bent on sapping every ounce of energy from my body. That combined with the less than aero dynamic rucksack, severe back ache and a very sore butt it was going to make it hard going.

Tough going

After a total of 120 miles I stopped again to buy more water as I knew I would not be seeing anything for the next 20+miles and I needed to make sure that I had enough fluid. At this point the average speed had dropped from 17.3mph down to a mere 15.7mph, for the most part I was only able to get up to 10-11mph which compared to the journey up was not so good. From this point on things started to get much more difficult as I found it hard to focus and concentrate on what I was doing. Throughout the journey out I had carefully tracked my fluid intake to make sure I was drinking regularly every 10-15 minutes. Now I was unable to remember when I last drank any fluid and it became more guess work than anything else which was not good as the temperature was around 26c out, though with the wind it didn't feel that hot.

It was shortly after this that I took a wrong turning which was to cost me over 5 miles of extra travelling and had it not been for my iPhone and Google Maps I would have continued on the wrong route. Before too much longer I was crossing the A15 and back toward Leadenham but I was really hurting now. I was having to stop every 45 minutes to give my bum and back a break as it was really starting to hurt now and I was having to stand on the bike and stretch every 5-10 minutes. I continued on through Leadenham and on toward the A17 heading back into Newark but turning the pedals now felt like running through treacle only it hurt more. Once on the A17 again I had to stop just 20 minutes after my last stop. The pain in my back was immense and mentally I was broken but I continued on despite the heavy traffic on the A17 on account of the Americana that was taking place. After a gruelling 7 miles more I came in towards Newark and I could take no more, I was broken and could not take any more. I sat at the side of the road trying to find some way to continue on the final 35 miles back to Ilkeston but it was 6pm, I was hurting, I was mentally beaten. No matter how I tried to break it down to smaller milestones they just looked to far to travel.

Defeat

I then called Julie to tell her that I could not continue on followed by a call to my Dad to ask for a ride home. So there I was sat at the side of the A46 waiting to be collected feeling thoroughly defeated and while completing 145 miles solo on a bike was no small feat it was not what I set out to do, and I cried. We've all seen programmes where people cross the finish line a cry through all the pent up emotion and personally I used to think 'what a load of b******s' thinking that people just don't do that, but that was exactly how I felt. The whole thing was just so enormous.

What did we learn?

So what did I learn from all of this? First and foremost never underestimate the challenge that you have ahead of you. Preparation is absolutely everything in these situations, a lesson which can carry you through into your professional life and one that I have learned the hard way. In retrospect I should have done more training of longer routes to ensure that I would be better prepared for the distance. Secondly, never underestimate the motivation that you get from working with others. This can be especially helpful when you are finding it the most difficult to push on.

Conclusion

I am still gutted that I did not complete the challenge especially as I was doing this for a very worthy charity. Some of the people I have spoken to have said that they will still donate the money as what was achieved was no small effort and for that I truly am thankful.

Would I do this again? Yes I definitely will, in fact I have already decided I want to go next spring. If anyone is interested in joining me next year then please let me know.

What would I do differently? I would get 1 or more people to come along on the challenge to help keep things motivated. Also, arrange for a "support vehicle" to accompany us on the trip to carry food and water for us. Carrying an extra 3-4kg on my back really did not help things.

Has this dose of reality changed my plans of doing end-to-end? I still want to go from John o Groats to Lands End in 5 days. What this challenge has taught me is that I will need to prepare much more for this challenge but it will be possible. I will also be looking for other people who are crazy enough to try this.

On a last note I would like to say a HUGE thank you for all of the support from everyone both in person and via Twitter. A thank you as always for my Dad coming out to collect me despite him having to miss the World Cup Final. Finally a last, but largest thank you of all for Me-Julie for all of her support before, during and after the challenge. I didn't take defeat too well, Julie has been a massive support for me and has helped me no end. So thank you to everyone.

- Rob

So here we are and on Sunday 11th July 2010 I will be making this epic journey and I still looking for sponsors for this moment of madness. Please take a moment to read a little about this below:

To whom it may concern,
Almost 4 years ago my son, Daniel, was born with a defect in his diaphragm which meant that his vital organs were in his chest crushing his heart and lungs. Thanks to pioneering surgery which was performed in London his chances were increased from 10% chance of survival to almost 50%. While these were still tough odd’s in a few short days he will be celebrating his 4th birthday thanks to the hard work of medical professionals. For the first 2 ½ years of his life he was in hospital spending time on a ventilator which allowed him to grow strong. Now that he is home safe and growing stronger and we wanted to do something to help a charity which helps families of children like Daniel, this is Breathe On UK.
I have decided to do a sponsored bike ride from Ilkeston to Ilkeston via Skegness in 1 day, around 185 miles.

I am asking you today if you can spare some money for a very worthy charity who support families when they need it most and who don’t attract the publicity that some of the larger originations do, any contribution would be greatly appreciated.

Why choose Breathe On UK?

Breathe On UK is a national charity dedicated to supporting the families and carers of young people who are life-dependent on mechanical breathing, or long term ventilation (LTV). Such a situation is recognised as being extremely traumatic and emotionally, physically, and financially demanding: often leading to both nervous breakdown and partnership failure.
Recent research and medical estimates indicate that more than 1,000 children in the UK exist with this condition and that the number is increasing by some 15 per cent annually. To date Breathe On UK has:
* Established a respite agreement in collaboration with the Association of Children's Hospices
* Been responsible for a bespoke oxygen delivery mask in conjunction with Respironics (Philips UK) which is now available off the shelf
* Worked together with Contact A Family - Legislation has now been passed to enable The Blue Badge to be given to families of LTV & Technology dependent young children under the age of two years.
* Provided Family liaison support in the South West Helped to re-create the statistics on families and children using tracheotomies

Many thanks

Rob Franklin
 

At this moment in time I have managed to secure £250 in sponsorship, most notable CompTIA as well as other individuals, and I would love to secure more than this for a very worthy charity. If you can afford to sponsor my pain on this event then I would really appreciate it as it will make the suffering all the more worthwhile You can contact me by emailing rob@freethecityone.co.uk

Thank for all the support

- Rob
 

Just because it looks easy doesn't mean it is

There are a number of things that we see each day that look really easy. Those who know me will know that I am a real cycling fan and while I don't have as much time to dedicate to it I do really love it. Like many others I watch the Tour De France each year and I watch with captive eyes as the professionals hurtle down the road at silly speeds and tear up the mountains with such ease. As a result of this I decided that this year I would make the trip to Skegness and back in 1 day which is around 185 miles. While this is to be that longest single journey on a bike in one day ever for me it seemed perfectly achievable, after all the Tour De France riders do over 100 miles each day racing. So I set about getting sponsorship and planning the date, which incidently is 11th July 2010, and a route. As part of my training I have been out most mornings doing from 18-40 miles each time which has not been too hard.

Reality really sucks ass

So I decided that I needed to do a major distance before Sunday's challenge to make sure I was up to the job. So I called my good friend Richard Tubb at jamescash.co.uk to ask if they would pick up any slack with regard to support for me while I went out on a weekday and of course Richard and the guy agreed, thanks guys I owe you.  So at 6.00am this morning I started out on my journey of 90 miles which would take it me through Ilkeston, Ripley, Ambergate, Matlock, Bakewell, Buxton, Leek, Ashbourne, Belper, Ambergate, Ripley and back to Ilkeston. Having checked out the route using mapmyride.com to see what kind of hills I had to look forward to. Being a little niave I looked at the route elevation and thought that a climb of around 1600ft was no big deal, oh boy was I wrong. By the time I got to Buxton I was hurting but at that point I had not reached the biggest climb. Needless to say by the time I reached Leek I was really hurting and at times I wondered why the hell I continued, but I pushed on. The suffering continued on and by the time I got to the 75 mile mark in Belper I had contemplated on more than 1 occasion about calling someone to come and collect me but still did not. The last 15 miles really hurt and by the time I got home my knee was really hurting as was the rest of me but I had done it.

Lessons learned....

So what did I take away from all of this. First and foremost I am wondering if I have bitten off more than I can chew with Sunday's challenge, none the less I will still go and give it my very best shot. Second is that just because the professionals make it look easy does not mean that it is. The fact is these guys train for hours and hours each and every day which in turn will make it look easy. In the case of cycling, these guys cycle up to and beyond 100 miles each day just training both on flat land and up BIG hills so it's gonna look easy, duh why didn't I get this before? This is also the case with football, especially in light of the world cup. Ok so England played crap, theres no 2 ways about it the performance was terrible. However, I have heard lots of people criticise other teams and even seen on James Corden's World Cup Live show that a goal was so easy 'his mum could do it'. Then just to prove the point his mum did come on the show and make the play and score, fantastic entertainment but just not a true reflection. The fact is that in the heat of the moment, when the action is a split second decision it is really tough to make the right choice and the right play. Lastly, be more objective when looking at things and try not to make assumptions about how easy something is just by how easy it looks.

Anyway, enough about my thoughts. For those of you interested, here are some stats from todays ride:

• 5,255 Calories burned
• 6hrs 40minutes riding
• Average speed 13.2mph
• Average heart rate 150bpm
• Max speed 46.8mph
• Largest hill 1,657 ft
• Total climbing 3,953 ft

 - Rob

But the end of Tuesday the handset had become very unresponsive. For example when you pressed the 'Power' button or the 'Home' button to wake it up, it would sometimes take 2-3 seconds for it to actually switch on. Also, when calls were coming in the screen would come on for a good 2 seconds before it would display the callers name or even start to ring. All of this was far too much when you use the phone as much as I do each day so I had to find a way to downgrade again.

After a little searching I found a process that claimed that it would to do the job and it did after I did it wrong a couple of time. This is what worked for me:

• Connect the iPhone to iTunes
• Put the phone into DFU mode
• Download Apple IOS3.1.3 or 3.1.2 (you can find this on a number of sites)
• In iTunes, hold {Option} and click Restore and point to the IOS file downloaded
• Allow it to restore. At the end it will error, this is normal
• Now use RecBoot to exit recovery mode (I had to use a Mac for this to work)
• Wait for your iPhone to boot up normally

A full video showing how to do this can be found here. This is not meant to be a 'step by step' guide on how to do as there are lots out there it is meant to be a brief guide. The information here is provided AS-IS.

Hopefully this will help others out there who are suffering with desparatly slow iPhone 3G handsets after the upgrade.

For those of you who would like to upgrade to the iPhone 4 but do not like the ridiculous handset prices from O2 et al then take a look at Tesco Mobile here as they have one of the best prices I have seen and if you didn't know they use O2's network anyway!!

- Rob

It got me thinking though of all of the 'first times' that we all have each and every day, not all of them are good but they are still 'first times' none the less. For example, there is the first time that you speak with a new prospect. For some people, this is easier than others but I think that for all of us most of those feelings are the same; you wonder if you will say and do the right things so that you can get the right response. Then you find you have said all the right things and you are going to meet them, for the 'first time', there is the feelings that lead up to that meeting; the stress of not wanting to be late; the time is not ideal but you can't rearrange as its the 'first meeting' etc.

All of these are 'first time' experiences and the fact is that no matter how old we get, how worldly we get or how experienced we are; there will always be 'first times' for the rest of our lives and this is something the treasure as it truly is a gift.

But remember, for each of those 'first times' you only get one chance at it being the 'first time' so make it count!!

- Rob

When it finished installing both versions ran correctly but Word 2003 kept presenting the user with the Microsoft EULA each time the application launched. While they kept agreeing it still asked again the next time it launched. The resolution is to right click and 'Run as administrator' on Word 2003 which then stops this from happening again.

Hope this helps others out there.

- Rob

There are two things that I really have struggled with over the last year or so and that is Time Management and Procrastination. I have tried all kinds of prescribed methods to help get past this hurdles but sadly to no avail. I have tried reading Getting Things Done by David Allen but I found that to seem very elaborate for me to start in with. That is not to say that it is a fantastic system, which I know it is as good friends have implemented it and it works great for them, but I am just not ready for it. I have also downloaded the AudioBook The Now Habit, which is a great system for overcoming Procrastination and gave me a great insight into the roots of it. Again though it wasn't working for me. To say I was despairing of all of it would be an understatement.

Then I was talking with a friend the other week and he was telling me that he had set himself a target to get any work that he gets in turned around within 24hrs. I thought it was a little brave but then whatever works. As I thought about it more over the next week it just kept ringing in my head and in the end I figured I may as well give it a go. The thing that I liked was that it met what I was trying to achieve with such simplicity that I feel it could get me back on track again.

Does it work? So far yes. Thats not to say that it will continue to work but right now it is and I hear myself saying things like "I'll sort that later" and then think again "why put off what I can do now" and I just get it done.

Sometimes the simplest solutions are the best one's, I love the way that GTD works but at this point in time I just need something simple to get the ball rolling. I'll keep you posted on how it works out.

- Rob

What happened is that on Friday a client called in to the office and logged a call just after 9.30am to say that their network was down and they needed a call back urgently. I was on holiday at the time but I did see the message come in. As there are systems in place to deal with these things I resisted the urge to jump on the problem and call the client. However I couldn't resist the urge to log on to the clients server and check things over, I did and all was well again. So I left it to the guys to deal with the 'personal' side of the support call.

Then just after 12 noon another message was passed through to say that the client had called in again and was extremely upset that, while the problem was resolved, he had not received a call back from anyone to assist with the issue and wanted to discuss the support service as soon as I was back in the office next week. This is the type of call that every service provider, IT or otherwise, dreads getting from any of their clients. After checking in to the issue we found that the call had gone into an 'unassigned queue' in the ticketing system and had just been missed. The system which I created had failed which resulted in this situation and the bottom line is..'We screwed up'.

Now, despite the fact that the client had asked for a call next week when I was back at the office I called him immediately. The first thing that he said was 'you're on holiday right?' to which I answered 'yes', he responded by saying 'well you shouldn't be talking to me if you're on holiday'. I went on to tell him that I should be talking to him as this situation is not only important to me but I take them very seriously. The first thing I did was apologise for letting him and his business down, we had not delivered when he needed us most. I went on to explain to the client what had happened which resulted in the lack of call back from our office. I then explained what had been put in place to prevent this from happening again. The call ended with the client while unhappy about the situation in the first place, he also appreciated the fact that I had admitted that we had made a mistake and that processes had been put in place to prevent this in future.

In any customer service situation where they client has a genuine complaint that is quite obviously 'your' fault (you or your business) the single worst thing that you can do is to say that it is not your fault,  'pass the buck' or in some way not accept responsibility. In this situation I told the client that it was totally my fault and explained what had been done to prevent this in future. Now I was on holiday at the time so 'technically' it wasn't my fault but the fact is that when you are in a position of authority/responsibility you must accept responsibility for the actions of those that you entrust to undertake work for you or on you behalf, this may be a member of your team or a contractor; regardless they are still your responsibility. This simple act of acceptance of responsibility instantly creates 2 feelings within a person. The first is relief; the reason for this is whenever we complain we instantly get ready for a fight, no-one wants to have a fight but we get ready. The fact that he didn't have a fight on his hands was an immediate relief and took the 'wind out of his sails'. The second was that the partnership was right; this probably seems like an odd one but when you work with any service provider you want to feel its a partnership and feel comfortable that when you ask them to do something it will get done without badgering them. Likewise when they screw up and you are forced to complain then you also need to feel reassured that it will be dealt with efficiently and to your satisfaction saving you the frustration of keep having to shout. By dealing with this complaint in this way the whole situation what completely defused and we were able to discuss the problems rationally and allow the client to explain to me where we had let him down. That way I was able to make sure that we will deliver next time and more importantly make sure he is not put in that position again. A very good friend of mine once told me "You're only as good as your last job", never a truer word has been spoken.

This is something that I feel passionately about as on a personal level I have a lot of dealings with the NHS for our child and the people we deal with do not follow any of the standard guidelines above on dealing with complaints. This creates a great deal of frustrations when dealing with them so I would never want to put any one of my clients in this situation.

I understand that accepting complete responsibility in the first instance may not always be the right thing, if for example it may lead to legal proceedings. As a general rule I believe this is the right way to deal with clients as this is how I would like to be dealt with.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this matter and how you deal with failure. I do not believe that my way is right but I know what works well for me.

- Rob