I’ve always dabbled with programming – trying to deal with programmers over the years with my online efforts made it clear that if I wanted them to do something, it would be easier if I had an idea how it was going to get done. I played a bit with PHP, and a year or so back, I tried Symfony, which is a PHP MVC framework.

What’s a framework? Something that is supposed to make your life easier. Keyword: supposed to. As a non-programmer (or should I be kind to myself and call myself a beginning programmer?), this thing is FRUSTRATING. Like a hot bitchy French girl, getting Symfony to do what I wanted to was impossible. But, I saw that a new version was coming, and like that hot bitchy French girl, she was going to come back and do everything differently. Great. Maybe the second time would be better. Shelve Symfony until version 2 was ready.

Symfony2 is in public beta now, so I’ve downloaded Beta 3, and started hacking around. Yes, things have changed from Sf1 to Sf2. A lot. But some things actually make a bit more sense now. Here’s hoping.

I’ve also been looking around the web for examples of how to get things done. Some people have started to rewrite the old Sf1 docs for Sf2 – a great example being the Jobeet on Symfony2 project over at sftuts.com. If it gets finished, it will be a masterpiece.

One BIG gotcha I’ve found by attempting to cut and paste the work of others… a few months back, the Symfony developers, in their traditional mocking “I will fuck with you you stupid English speaking Capitalist Pigdog” way, made a simple change in the way you write code. Simple, small, but holy crap – it will fuck you up hard until you figure it out. They replaced a : with a \. As in ABC:def became ABC\def.

Please, everybody who has written “helpful” tutorials on Symfony – update the posts so : becomes \

Back to the trenches… let’s see what I can come up with.

Edit: Oh crap… Beta 4 is now out – wonder what they’ve completely changed this time?

After a bit of a slow start (hey, it’s hard managing people across the globe!), SigePo is really starting to hit it’s stride. We’re adding two new captive services this coming month, and are now firmly above 10 staff. On track for 80 by years end? Not at this point, but let’s hope it’s a log scale, or that I can bring in double or triple the revenue per staff that I had modelled last year.

Lessons learned:

• selling outsourcing on a small scale, a-la 4 Hour Workweek, is not as easy as it sounds. Unless they’ve fully invested themselves in the mantra, learning to let go is a very hard thing for a small business owner to do. It takes a while to develop a sense of trust.
• using SigePo as a captive outsourcing company might be a better model. I’ll remain flexible, and (with a few exceptions) all clients are good clients, but since I’ve taken the plunge, I’ve found I can generate more income by tasking my assistants directly than by selling assistant services.

The power of geographic arbitrage cannot be denied. I’ll remain flexible and see what happens.

I needed to add a google map to a client’s Thesis-based WordPress site. It looks simple, but as I’m not a Thesis developer, it took a bit to figure out how to do it. So for my reference and yours, here’s how.

1. Install Pronamic Google Maps plugin and activate
2. On the page where you want the map, override the default multimedia box by checking “access the multimedia box hook, thesis_hook_multimedia_box, on this post”
3. Put this in the custom_functions.php file (Under Custom File Editor):

add_action('thesis_hook_multimedia_box','google_map');
function google_map() {
pronamic_google_maps(array('width' => 425 ,'height' => 300));
}

Voila. Map. Of course, you’ll want to put your location in, I used itouchmap to figure out my location.

Two weeks ago, Rose and I got some great news – she received her Canadian permanent residency visa. Woohoo party party! Time to get on a plane and pick her up – back in a week or less, and no missing work!

Well, the best laid plans…. Two factors have led to me still being here two weeks later. A severely broken front tooth, and a US transit Visa. It looks like we’ll be here for another few weeks at least – I’ll post about the “import procedure” in a later post, when we finally get back to the Land of Snow and Taxes.

So what do you do when you’re stranded in Asia? Start a business! I originally travelled to the Philippines 2 years ago, to investigate call centre opportunities. The timing was wrong, and I decided it was a bad idea to go it on my own without a local partner. Lucky for me – I missed the Great Recession. Also lucky for me, I found a great wife.

Fast forward to this trip, and Rose and I are chatting about what she’ll do when she’s back in Canada with me. Several long conversations later, we decided something which would keep her in touch with the Philippines would be the best. How about a call centre honey? And Voila, Sige Po BPO Services is born, and Rose is a business owner. It’s going to be fun helping her build her business… more to come!

I haven’t said much about my online efforts lately. No, they haven’t completely faded away, but they have definitely been going through a reorganization. Gone are the hundreds of sites which barely make their reg fee every year, and I have been “focusing” on getting the backend process for my offline business, Intellefits, off the ground. I put focusing in quotes because until the last month or two, I haven’t really put in the time. Getting a job sure puts a damper on things I’ve been getting my head back into the IT space since I rejoined the rank and file in January.

Enough rambling. I’m just posting so that I’ll have a nice link to this great blog post:

http://www.sugarrae.com/how-to-survive-the-affiliate-evolution/

Well, gentle readers, at the end of August, we packed it in for Virtual IT. Long story, and I’m sure I’ll blog about it some year soon, but for now, it’s raw and fresh. Then I spent 2 1/2 weeks in Asia. Another story, and it’s worthy of a new Category, not just a blog post or two. Lots of potential there, and lots of fun, too.

But for now, I’m going to talk about the latest of my online adventures – affiliate marketing, also known as PPC marketing. After seeing how well a few people were doing, I decided to take the plunge

Here’s the REALLY SHORT VERSION of how it works.

1. find an offer that you think you can promote
2. build a “landing page” – a page which promotes the offer, which entices people to do whatever it is the offer requires – submit their email, touch their toes and scream “there’s no place like home” – whatever is required.
3. Buy banners or text ads on Google, Facebook or any other site, which sends people to your landing page when they click.
4. Make more from completed offers than you spend advertising it.

People are making lots of money doing this. But people are going broke doing this, too. It can go either way, and it can change quickly. Not a set-and-forget strategy – something which I generally shoot for – but it’s something that can be mostly delegated. Daily monitoring is required!

Imagine spending $1000 a day on ads – not an unrealistic budget – and you get $2 back from every dollar you spend. They say it’s doable. It’s also possible to spend $1000 a day and make $250. Ouch!

I’ve managed to find a mentoring program, so I’m not going in blind. I’m also not starting with a $1000 a day budget! More like $10 a day, until I get the hang of things. First goal is to get a positive net income – no matter how small. I’ll be making regular updates here, and will let you know how things are going. Wish me luck!

Far be it for me to come up with a new years’ post on new years day. Thought I’d wait a while, since this is a blog-without-readers. Without any readers, there’s nobody to complain if I don’t do the obligatory. I’m semi-sure someday somebody will find this blog and find it entertaining, but in the meantime, well, “Hi Rob, you sure do look great in that mirror”.

In 2008, I will have 4 financial focuses. The Day job, the Online efforts, the Real Estate, and the Muse

1: The Day Job. As of January 1st, I’ve changed jobs. For the last 4 years I’ve worked for the same company – the longest stretch I’ve ever managed in my life. Thanks to all of those people who put up with me both in the Bermuda and Canada offices, with varying degrees of tolerance.

The new day job is a project I’ve been involved with since it’s inception – Virtual IT. Some old friends wanted to open a consulting company in the Toronto market, and convinced me to join in as the guy in charge. Fancy that. Thanks guys for your trust and faith in me -it’s a refreshing change from my last post. I’ll be writing more about Virtual IT, and our product, Virtual IT Office – VITO, in future blog posts, but for now, take a peak at our Flat Fee IT service, and give us a call if you think we can help

2. Online efforts. I’ve been puttering around for years with this online make money thing. It’s currently barely paying its expenses (hosting and domain registrations) – but nowhere near the time value I’ve put in to it. It’s safe to say I’ve lost small amounts of money every year in half hearted attempts to build a second income. In 2008, this is going to change. Something better than a run-of-the-mill proxy site or MFA site will get built, released, and monetized.

I’ve learned my limitations, which I suppose is good. I’m an ideas guy. I’m a big picture guy. I’m not a repetetive tasks guy. I’m not a mundane day-to-day grind guy. So, I’ve hooked up with a details guy, a project management, ITIL certified, details geek. The first project is in the works. Who knows if it will see the light of LCD, given past results, but if it does, it should be great.

3. Real Estate Back in April of last year, I bought some income property – a duplex in Leslieville, near the Beaches (The Beach?) in Toronto. Well, at least I tried to buy it. As luck would have it, I bought it from a slumlord who changed his mind about selling. After he signed the deal.

Naturally, I’m suing for specific performance. I want this house – it’s a dump, but a fixable dump. Two new kitchens, two new bathrooms, a new roof, get rid of the 80′s dusty rose carpet, and I’m mostly done. Perfect “Flip this house” material, except my goal is to live in one half, and have a tenant pay most of the expenses.

Meanwhile, my deposit is stuck in trust. Can’t get it back, or I lose by default. This is a significant portion of my liquid funds, so it will be difficult to go looking for anything else in the meantime. Damn you Mr. Kissana! Karma’s a bitch…. give me my house!

The courts are moving at a glacial pace, but as my girlfriend says – every month the value of the house goes up, and I don’t have to pay for it. Free equity? Maybe. I just want my house.

4: The Muse. By now, most people have read or at least heard of the Tim Ferriss bestseller The Four Hour Workweek. It resonated with me – it fits in well with my “Freedom 40″ plan – 10k a month passive income. I have a few ideas, one of which sounds great to everyone I bounce it off. I’ll be kicking the tires a little bit more on this idea, and if it’s truly as great as as I think it is, I’ll be moving forward with it.

There you go – 4 things to focus on, moneywise, in 2008. If I bat a 500, I should be doing well. If I bat 1000, I’m well on my way to Freedom 40.

I’ve gone back to the Getting Things Done book, and reread a few chapters. Freshly inspired, I’m back to work after a lazy summer.

So, without further ado, here’s August’s Online Efforts Roundup.

Secret Travel Site – back on track.

I’ve updated all the trouble tickets my web developer outlined two months ago, and am back on track to unleash my “secret travel site” on the world in a month or two. Working with an offshore developer has been a bit of a hassle, but the guy is quite good, so we’ll see how it turns out. This guy is in Bulgaria.

Useless Domains – still quite a few, sold off the SmileySign thing a few months back. More must go!

Target for this month: Get rid of the Penny Jar sites, pokerpennyjar.com and casinopennyjar.com

thesexypoll.com – Several months ago, I was going to work with my LA design guy on a poll/test system. This is the same guy that I was working on some other larger ideas with, and this was going to be the “interim, while we get the big one coded” idea. Well, like other projects with this guy (and with myself, I’ll admit) this one never went anywhere. But, I’ve invested big $$$ on this domain name (woo – $8!), and I’m determined to follow through with my ideas. A non-new-years resolution.

I’m going to use this domain as a test for Facebook apps. Everybody loves tests/polls… so this will be my first Facebook project. Don’t worry, I’ll spam you all with it once it’s ready. I’ve put the project up for bid on Guru, and am also giving it to a few other php developers. I found another one, thanks to Jacob, my web design guy. Fingers crossed.

I’m sure there’s more, but for now… peace out

I’ll admit it – I’m slow, and today just emphasises that fact. Twice in one day, I’ve tried to register a domain, only to find it had been registered within the month.

The first one was work-related and no big deal. But the other one was Robert Hof dot CA. Good idea, right? I was just reading an article on Bootstrap Marketing by CIRA, the organization that runs the .ca TLD. It occurred to me that I should get roberthof.ca and point it to this blog at Robert Hof Dot Com.

Nope! Registered 28 days ago.

Well, I realize I’m not the only one sharing the name, but it depresses me to no end that he got it before I did. I know having the .com is more meaningful, but given my roots in the online industry in Canada, I should have acted more quickly on this.

I’ve begun the Purge. One useless website down, several more to go. Congratulations to the new owner of smileysign.com – may you have more luck with it than I.