Hey, would you mind answering a question for me as part of a uni assignment please

 

As a small business owner, what is the one physical product/item (whether it exists or not - please be realistic) that would make the daily running of your business easier or solve a daily problem, is there something that you think "I wish I had that" or "that would save some money or time" or "I wonder if this tool exists"

 

Thanks

Hey, would you mind answering a question for me as part of a uni assignment please

 

As a small business owner, what is the one physical product/item (whether it exists or not - please be realistic) that would make the daily running of your business easier or solve a daily problem, is there something that you think "I wish I had that" or "that would save some money or time" or "I wonder if this tool exists"

 

Thanks

 

There was a couple "this makes my life easier" when working especially when getting involved in large projects

 

Ill detail them and explain why - they are unique to me and may sound silly to others

 

* A Desk Phone - I had phone calls directed to mobile for months and months and it just became so frustrating, so I invested in a VOIP desk phone, which really mad life easier. Simply, having it separate from my mobile - having a desk phone for work & work only - helped me - I'm very fussy and found that although directing it was a great costing saving skill, it really started to annoy me - spammy calls at all hours etc, my voip phone I can set times, voicemails - etc etc all that stuff and then having the desk on my phone with buttons i prefer.

 

* A comfy desk chair - paramount to me. If you are not comfy, I found i was up and down, couldn't settle etc etc.

 

* A Spotify subscription - I find designing can be very lonely - a Spotify subscription really helps - especially when you aren't feeling so creative.

 

* Solid pair of headphones - when my daughters come home from school at 3, i find they can be noisy - not their fault, kids being kids - so its hard to focus - I invested in a solid pair of headphones to help that situation.

 

Hope this helps.

There was a couple "this makes my life easier" when working especially when getting involved in large projects

 

Ill detail them and explain why - they are unique to me and may sound silly to others

 

* A Desk Phone - I had phone calls directed to mobile for months and months and it just became so frustrating, so I invested in a VOIP desk phone, when really mad life easier. Simply, having it separate from my mobile - having a desk phone for work & work only - helped me - I'm very fussy and found that although directing it was a great costing saving skill, it really started to annoy me - spammy calls at all hours etc, my voip phone I can set times, voicemails - etc etc all that stuff and then having the desk on my phone with buttons i prefer.

 

* A comfy desk chair - paramount to me. If you are not comfy, I found i was up and down, couldn't settle etc etc.

 

* A Spotify subscription - I find designing can be very lonely - a Spotify subscription really helps - especially when you aren't feeling so creative.

 

* Solid pair of headphones - when my daughters come home from school at 3, i find they can be noisy - not their fault, kids being kids - so its hard to focus - I invested in a solid pair of headphones to help that situation.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Sweet, great answers, thanks for your help

Sweet, great answers, thanks for your help

 

no trouble, hope they made sense. Was rambling

having the desk on my phone

 

That'll stop the wind taking it.

 

Apart from having a client that doesn't go by the name of Mr R.Sole I'm not really sure what I'd want. Have to ponder this.

 

Is this related to business in general or web/graphic design specifically?

 

That'll stop the wind taking it.

 

Apart from having a client that doesn't go by the name of Mr R.Sole I'm not really sure what I'd want. Have to ponder this.

 

Is this related to business in general or web/graphic design specifically?

 

Don't see the typo - it's late so could have missed it.

That'll stop the wind taking it.

 

Apart from having a client that doesn't go by the name of Mr R.Sole I'm not really sure what I'd want. Have to ponder this.

 

Is this related to business in general or web/graphic design specifically?

In business, not web/graphic

I would love to help. I've been running my own business some years ago but the only thing I can remember that I really missed was some well defined standards or guidelines to work after. Maybe some public quality certification for developers/designers who implements semantic markup, Separation of Concerns and other good practices. Almost all other trades have pucblic standards to respect. But in our trade any teenager with a cracked copy of dreamweaver can run a webdesign business

 

EDIT: I know I can be hard to get valid empirical data. Im workin on my own final uni assignment right now. So I know what it takes. Best of luck with the assignment

Edited December 30, 201411 yr by Nillervision

I would love to help. I've been running my own business some years ago but the only thing I can remember that I really missed was some well defined standards or guidelines to work after. Maybe some public quality certification for developers/designers who implements semantic markup, Separation of Concerns and other good practices. Almost all other trades have pucblic standards to respect. But in our trade any teenager with a cracked copy of dreamweaver can run a webdesign business

 

EDIT: I know I can be hard to get valid empirical data. Im workin on my own final uni assignment right now. So I know what it takes. Best of luck with the assignment

Thank you, and thanks for your answer, really useful info ;-) - wish you luck too

Well given this some thought and there isn't a single, tangible object that springs to mind.

 

Interesting thought about some form of accreditation in web design/development. However who would make up the body that would set the standards required for accreditation. What criteria would need to be met for accreditation. More importantly as web technology is in a pretty much constant state of development what happens if a major shift in technology arises, would the accreditation still apply when it could be based has become old technology almost overnight.

 

Subject probably worthy of a thread of its own.

Well given this some thought and there isn't a single, tangible object that springs to mind.

 

Interesting thought about some form of accreditation in web design/development. However who would make up the body that would set the standards required for accreditation. What criteria would need to be met for accreditation. More importantly as web technology is in a pretty much constant state of development what happens if a major shift in technology arises, would the accreditation still apply when it could be based has become old technology almost overnight.

 

Subject probably worthy of a thread of its own.

 

Im sure as you learn and pick stuff up further down the line "Tangible objects" as such will make life/working so much

 

I'd be interested to see a thread of it's own too.

 

Im sure as you learn and pick stuff up further down the line "Tangible objects" as such will make life/working so much

 

I'd be interested to see a thread of it's own too.

 

I'm 57 and been self employed for over twenty years, if I haven't come across anything by now I doubt I'm going to. Short of a red-tape evaporator and a tax liability absolver which I doubt we'll ever get I can't think of any single item.

I'm 57 and been self employed for over twenty years, if I haven't come across anything by now I doubt I'm going to. Short of a red-tape evaporator and a tax liability absolver which I doubt we'll ever get I can't think of any single item.

It's not the easiest of questions but as an idea ( no matter how silly this idea) an answer might be something as simple as a softer chair to help you concentrate a little more, even if it improves it in the most basic form that would be great, simpler ideas are best.

Hmm, with my arthritis problems a more comfortable chair would always be welcome.

Hmm, with my arthritis problems a more comfortable chair would always be welcome.

lol, please don't let me influence you

lol, please don't let me influence you

 

Bugger it, I'm under the influence now.

 

Actually poor seating design leads to lower back and hip problems for many employees who spend a lot of time sitting down. Quite a few also develop bladder problems..

 

Vehicle seating is a particular problem for those who have to do a lot of driving in connection with their business. As well as lower back and hip problems it can also cause issues with knees and ankles.

Bugger it, I'm under the influence now. Actually poor seating design leads to lower back and hip problems for many employees who spend a lot of time sitting down. Quite a few also develop bladder problems.. Vehicle seating is a particular problem for those who have to do a lot of driving in connection with their business. As well as lower back and hip problems it can also cause issues with knees and ankles.

Fair enough lol

Just thought I would let you know that instead of going down the route of 'improving daily work life' as I origonally planned, I realised that the item would have to be too specialist between each business.

 

My project is one that asks the question 'how can we infuience choice when businesses choose a designer?'

 

I have decided to go the emotional response route, I am going to make small flat packed cardboard models, these models will be reminders of the recievers childhood, for example it could be a model of a 'professer calculator' or a working model of a 'view master', I will integrate some kind of 'lead' like an explanation booklet with it in order to explain its reason to the business, but the idea is to get them to be interested in building the model and therefore grabbing that childhood interest in creating something but this time with understanding of 'why' rather than simply 'this looks good'.

 

Hopefully it works and I appreciate all suggestions above I would not have got there without them.