Today has been a day of preparation and planning.  It's a new year and I'm putting in new procedures and policies about the way that we work and the type of projects we undertake.

I've seen a few companies buckle under the weight of the recession and disappear leaving small businesses in the lurch for hosting and e-mail. It can be terrifying for a small business that relies on e-mail and has very little technical knowledge when their web company goes bust and they have to arrange to get their site and e-mail working with another provider.  We've taken on a few of these in the last year and I find it hard to appreciate, sometimes, that not everyone can set up a website and hosting when they need to move quickly.

I have to be honest and say that 2009 wasn't a great year for us either.  We peaked at 12 members of staff and have had to make cuts.  BUT... the most important thing is that we're still here and we're in a very stable position.  What it's done for me is focus me on the type of projects that I want to undertake and how best to deal with them.

Content Management System based websites that just allow people to have a well designed site with the control to edit it themselves is our core business and we can do it with our eyes closed.  Anything from this up to a relatively complex e-commerce is the type of thing we can do week in and week out.  With jobs like this we can provide a fantastic service and this is the type of work we want for 2010.

So, new year, new site and also some new project management software that is integrated with the content management system on our website.  I've just been getting to grips with it today and entering all the outstanding work that we have at the moment as we still have quite a hill to climb to complete some of the legacy projects which are left from last year.

Still, all in all, I'd rather be here with a busy month ahead than not be here at all!