Greg.Southcombe

Construction on TravelCafe 2.0 starts now...

We've lived on a Joomla site since 2007 and it's fair to say we've well and truly grown out of it.

Tonight, we started on the gradual creation of something new. It's going to be in Wordpress and it's going to be very cool and much easier to manage but most of all MUCH easier to navigate and find stuff on.

Joomla - you've served us well, but Wordpress and Pagelines is where we're heading next. 

If you'd like a head's up when we've a Beta site to sneak a peek at just let me know :

Let me know.

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Oh Flow I love you so...

... especially in your nighty.
When the moonlight flits across your tits, oh Jesus Christ almighty!

Flow

Can't remember where i heard this ditty first. I like to think it was told to me by my late grandfather Jack Southcombe who was partial to the odd colourful verse (usually borrowed from Rudyard Kipling.) But I suspect it was more recent than that and as it's etched in my memory in a broad Scottish accent I'm thinking it may have been a Billy Connolly sound bite.

Anyway, it fits perfectly in a tweet and it's pretty much how I feel about Flow. 

I work from home but I lead a team of 12 who are flung far and wide. We collaborate on projects and tasks effectively now for the first time ever, thanks Flow.

My mind often decides that 3am is the optimal time to come up with an idea or to remind me that I've forgotten one. That bit of paper beside the bed never worked for me, but the Flow app on my iPhone is my insomniac secretary.

I still have those moments when I ask myself 'what the hell should I be doing right now?' But these days I find the answer - in Flow.

I used to write a to-do list, and then lose it. But Flow is everywhere I am - my Mac, my iPhone, my email, my browser and she's even in the clouds.

I thought Things was rather easy on the eye, but Flow is beautiful and I've not looked back (sorry Things, it was me / not you.)

I could go on and on but I know I have tasks to tick off - in Flow. It feels good to tick those boxes.

Flow, I love you so.

 

Greg

 

PS how about an affiliate programme?

 

 

 

 

 

 

JUST HAVE A READ AND THINK ABOUT IT

OK, normally i delete this sort of thing and wonder at the idiots who waste time mindlessly forwarding these on... BUT - I read this one and it struck a chord (cord?) 

I must be getting soft. I watch too many movies too as in my head the guy at the window was Jack Nicholson and the guy in the other bed was Morgan Freeman.

Change Your Thinking 

It will take just 37 seconds to read this and change your thinking.. 


Two men, both seriously ill, occupied the same hospital room. 


One man was allowed to sit up in his bed for an hour each afternoon to help drain the fluid from his lungs.

His bed was next to the room's only window. 


The other man had to spend all his time flat on his back. 


The men talked for hours on end. 

They spoke of their wives and families, their homes, their jobs, their involvement in the military service, where they had been on vacation..


Every afternoon, when the man in the bed by the window could sit up, he would pass the time by describing to his roommate all the things he could see outside the window.


The man in the other bed began to live for those one hour periods where his world would be broadened and enlivened by all the activity and color of the world outside..



The window overlooked a park with a lovely lake. 

Ducks and swans played on the water while children sailed their model boats.. Young lovers walked arm in arm amidst flowers of every color and a fine view of the city skyline could be seen in the distance.



As the man by the window described all this in exquisite details, the man on the other side of the room would close his eyes and imagine this picturesque scene. 


One warm afternoon, the man by the window described a parade passing by.


Although the other man could not hear the band - he could see it in his mind's eye as the gentleman by the window portrayed it with descriptive words.


Days, weeks and months passed. 



One morning, the day nurse arrived to bring water for their baths only to find the lifeless body of the man by the window, who had died peacefully in his sleep. 


She was saddened and called the hospital attendants to take the body away. 


As soon as it seemed appropriate, the other man asked if he could be moved next to the window. The nurse was happy to make the switch, and after making sure he was comfortable, she left him alone. 

0A


Slowly, painfully, he propped himself up on one elbow to take his first look at the real world outside. 
He strained to slowly turn to look out the window besides the bed. 


It faced a blank wall.


The man asked the nurse what could have compelled his deceased roommate who had described such wonderful things outside this window..



The nurse responded that the man was blind and could not even see the wall. 



She said, 'Perhaps he just wanted to encourage you.' 



Epilogue: 


There is tremendous happiness in making others happy, despite our own situations.

Proud to be a Kiwi

COPPER WIRE


After having dug to a depth of 10 feet last year, British scientists
found traces of copper wire dating back 200 years and came to the
conclusion that their ancestors already had a telephone network more
than 150 years ago.

Not to be outdone by the Brit's, in the weeks that followed, an American
archaeologist dug to a depth of 20 feet, and shortly after, a story
published in the New York Times: "American archaeologists, finding
traces of 250-year-old copper wire, have concluded that their ancestors
already had an advanced high-tech communications network 50 years
earlier than the British".

One week later, the New Zealand Herald, reported the following:
"After digging as deep as 30 feet in his backyard in Onerahi, Bill Paku
a self-taught archaeologist and avid Motorhomer reported that he
found absolutely f--- all. Paku has therefore concluded that 250 years
ago, New Zealand had already gone wireless."

Just makes you bloody proud to be a Kiwi!

 

I need a Xero hero.

When I need a website I head for Scriptlance. I've connected there with some super efficient and helpful experts in Joomla and Wordpress sites. Martin (his real name is Nenad) lives in Macedonia and whips up a very cool site, solves a tricky html problem or cleans up my woeful attempt at code. He works when I sleep and charges about a 10th of what I'd pay someone here (sorry NZ I'm boot strapping right now but I'll pay it all back in spades when it all takes off.)

Arif is in Jakarta - according to his reviews he's an expert on most stuff but right now he's helping me move the TravelCafe crew onto Google Apps. 

I've just had a logo designed for TravelQuote via 99Designs by a guy in the Phillipines.

Now, in the same vein, I really need someone who can help me with Xero. A kind of virtual coach and assistant rolled into one. I want to know how to do certain things fast... I want someone to look at my Xero setup and "optimise me." Not an accountant, just someone super on-to-it with Xero. A Xero Hero. Timezone is not an issue.

Apply within Or @gregsouthcombe

 

 

 

Searching Unlimited magazine to see if a recent article about TravelQuote was online yet, and found this...

Flagrant self-promotion is encouraged on this blog. Thought this was timely though given the 'bubble' talk going on. Why the orange bit? That's the idea that became the seed that was sown in TravelCafe  and has become the seedling that is TravelQuote.

Original article is here thanks Unlimited.

Take the e-plane

Greg Southcombe liked his company so much, he sold it

 

 

When Greg Southcombe succeeded his father at the helm of the family company in 1997, there didn’t look to be a whole lot wrong with the business. Indeed, there wasn’t. In 20 years, sales at Advantage Travel Systems (ATS) had grown to around$40 million a year. Its Jetsave travel agency brand had a good name, and some customers had been on board for nearly two decades.

Yet, a little over two years later, everything has changed. The Jetsave brand has been retired, parts of the business shut down and the rest sold to travel.co.nz, a subsidiary of the listed Australian company travel.com.au. The reborn company launched its site in early February and already has key partnerships with FlyingPig, TVNZ and supply company Norcross Group.

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