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I have to say that the last couple of weeks have been some of the craziest times in the life of of my business that I can remember.

I thought that everybody on the planet knew that we were in the midst of more financial troubles but someone forgot to tell that to the steady stream of people who have been coming through our office door looking for someone to build their business websites.

It has even reached the point where the guy who lives next door to us stopped Steve when he was putting out the trash last night and asked about building a website for his business.

Of course all that new work puts a bit of a strain on both me and the people who work for me ... and seeing that just about everyone who works for me works remotely the level of strain can be increased.

In many ways having people work remotely is very similar to outsourcing your work ... the people who work for you are not there in your office so there's always going to be some problems with communications. If you do employ people remotely or outsource your work then you need to be aware of the issues that may arise and you need to compensate for them.

And one of the main issues that can arise is how you go about explaining what you want your outsourcer to do for you. Last week I gave one of my graphic designers what I thought was a fairly simple design task but a week later I still didn't have even a rough draft of what I wanted from him.

So last night I rang him and now I have the draft that I wanted. While I thought that I had given him clear instructions about what I wanted I had also given him some input on what the client has suggested as alternatives and the end result was that the poor guy didn't know where to start.

One short phone call and everything was made much clearer for the designer and I think that the first draft has almost nailed it.

And of course the lesson is that you need to make sure that people have a clear understanding of what you want them to do. Don't be afraid to pick up the phone and call your outsourcer if you think that will help them get a better idea of the work you have for them.

It might cost you a few dollars to make that call but it could save you much more.

Office furniture
Over the years I've written about the need for people who come into this industry to move away from working on the dining room table ... or using a laptop on the sofa ... and get serious with some reasonable office furniture.

A desk at the right height and a proper office chair might cost a few dollars but that's an investment that will pay dividends the longer you work in this business. Not only will your productivity increase but your body will last much longer if you use desks and chairs set at the correct height.

Plenty of us have started off at the dining room table or worked in front of the television but then we've moved on to some more formal office furniture ... and that's good ... but it's not the end.

Just because you bought a desk and a good office chair doesn't mean that you're set for life.

If you're working full time in this industry then you're spending a huge amount of time in front of the computer ... sitting in that office chair ... and sooner rather than later that chair will begin to wear out. It may not look worn out and the covering might still be in good condition but that chair that once supported your back so effectively is not doing the job as well as it once did.

If you bought an average quality chair and you've been sitting in it almost every day for the last 12 months then it's time to think about replacing it. A chair that's become a little too well-used is going to be doing as much damage to your body as a chair at the dining table so replace it ... now!

Conventions and conferences
Steve and I are off to a mainstream conference this weekend. We don't go to many but this one included some speakers and subjects that were just too good to miss.

If you haven't been to a webmaster meet up or an industry conference then make a point of going to the next one that comes along. You may think that you can learn everything you need to know simply by skimming through websites like this one and maybe reading a couple of blogs by some of the leading online industry figures but you will be surprised at how much you can learn at a conference and valuable the networking opportunities can be.