Up and then down in 2002...

... not the best of years, but some valuable lessons learned.

Despite the temporary downturn in September, 2001 was quite a good year business-wise, and as 2002 started I was feeling quite confident about our prospects. So much so, that when one of our main competitors in London got into difficulties and one of the employees approached me about setting up a southern office, I decided to give it a go. I'd known him for some years from meeting at trade shows, thought he knew the business as well as I did, and agreed that there'd be a gap in the market, geographically speaking, with the demise of his former employers. However, I didn't know him well enough, unfortunately, and to cut a long story short, it was an opportunity that didn't work out. I made the decision to pull the plug after just three months, finally parted ways after another 6 weeks, and we're still paying the price six months later.

Anyway, it was a shock reminder of the importance of planning and preparation before any major new undertaking. And it also showed me what a valuable employee I have in Gavin, who's been with me for the last two and a half years. Although things are getting back to normal in most ways, the latter half of this year has well down on usual, with three very quiet months out of the last six. Quiet in terms of sales values, that is, but we still seem to have been fully occupied, often with support calls, minor repairs and upgrades, and with remedial work as a result of sales from the southern office. All in all, it's the sort of year I'm glad is behind us, and we start 2003 on a brighter note. Just before Christmas, two major multi-system orders, which we'd been quoting and re-quoting on for the past month, were verbally confirmed, so hopefully we have our first month's work lined up already.

All work and no play

It's not been a great year for holidays. We had originally planned to visit Las Vegas (again) in April for the massive NAB trade show, and a bit of a break, but couldn't justify taking the time off whilst trying to get the southern office off the ground. We did take a long weekend break at a farmhouse in Wales (nr Lampeter), and finally got to visit Paul & Jayne Sharp at their "windy hill" residence in western Pembrokeshire with its magnificent view of the surrounding countryside and coastline. As the year progressed, worries about leaving the business were replaced by worries over being away from Thelma, my mother. There were an increasing number of minor crises to attend to, often trivial, but which in her state were always opportunities for exploitation. Most involved electrical items. If she couldn't get something to work, she was likely to phone someone from the local paper or phone book, then forget who she'd phoned and phone someone else. Usually, but not always, she'd phone me as well. Usually, but not always, the problem would be "finger trouble", and it would work perfectly for me. But if I didn't get there in time, I'd find she'd been ripped off in some sort of way, from paying for unnecessary work or call-out fees, to being sold a complete new, and sometimes inappropriate, item. Sometimes I'd find that she'd ordered the same type of item from two different suppliers. Thankfully she finally accepted that she couldn't cope with living on her own, and we helped her find and move to a residential home. (Full story) After the move we still felt we couldn't go away until she's settled in, so we finally had a short break in November. (Holiday pics) I still don't feel like I've had a proper holiday all year, so I just hope we get one in 2003. It won't be for a while, though, because we've just put her old house on the market so will probably have to be around until that's sold.   

ZEN on the web

Our business web site (www.zenvideo.co.uk) has been getting a steady flow of visitors, although the numbers have levelled off compared to the almost exponential rise in 2001. We certainly use the internet more and more ourselves, for getting information, ordering goods, and communicating with both customers and suppliers. As such, we've made good use of our BT Openworld broadband connection (installed July 2001), which we share around our local office network, so any PC can browse the net or download software at any time.

Viruses and other nasties

In the past we've never bothered with Virus Checkers and other protection software, on the basis that it runs in the background and can conflict with the smooth operation of video editing software, which is the mainstay of our business. Our policy is to stay vigilant, erase suspect emails and attachments, and avoid dubious software, rather than becoming complacent by relying on virus protection software. After all, virus protection software can only protect against viruses it knows about, and it's not going to know about new types of virus before they're released. This year, however, viruses have been getting nastier, and despite the almost daily "obvious suspects" we've been caught out a couple of times and had to resort to manually tracking them down and removing them. As a result, we now run a virus checker and a firewall on our main office PC (which has the shared internet connection). They're both available as free downloads from their respective publishers, and the AVG virus checker appears well supported with regular (free) updates to its virus database. You can get it from www.grisoft.com. The Sygate Personal Firewall software is available from www.sygate.com.

Just after we moved in - and little different now The wall of boxes - 2000 style...

...and 2002 style (spot the difference?)

 
The demo area - has become more comfortable, from 2000 (left) to 2002 (right)