Wow, we’re like a super professional business now… we’ve got somebody dedicated to managing our customers from enquiry through to design.

Aimee, our new client manager,  joins us after a few months travelling round Asia. Prior to that she worked for RightMove, DHL, Haymarket and John Lewis.

Aimee’s job will be to ensure all your enquiries are handled as quickly as possible. She is here to advise you on package and pricing options and will remain your primary point of contact right up until we hand you over to your designer (s) on the day we begin building your website.

We always viewed this role as the missing piece in our business jigsaw*, and we’re really excited about offering our clients this enhanced level of service.

*extra cheese please.

Mmmm, cake!

It’s Tom’s birthday today!

He reaches the grand old age of *, and is celebrating today with some fishing.

Requests for him to take his laptop with him were denied for reasons I can’t quite understand. Probably something to do with the temptation to just chuck the thing in the water, which I’d imagine would actually speed up the whole fish-catching enterprise.

Although I’m told this isn’t actually the point of fishing. Odd.

Anyway, happy birthday Tom, we hope you and all the family have a lovely day and that you don’t come across a megashark. Unless you happen to reel it in, which would be very impressive!

*removed for legal reasons

"Tie me kangaroo down, sport" - I hope you're singing the British version!

After a couple of weeks off due to Glastonbury (awesome!) and post-Glastonbury lurgy (decidedly NOT awesome), I’m back in the office.

After a couple of trips to a festival – particularly one as massive as Glasto, you start to become more of a discerning customer. Instead of spending most of your time at the big stages watching artists you already know, you become more of a wanderer, taking a listen of various bands before settling down with one you like.

It gives you a much better opportunity to find out who’s overhyped, who needs to bring on a string of guest stars to bulk up a fairly drab set list, who’s an utter legend, and who’s simply a lot of fun*.

Also you get to discover acts you’d never really considered – I returned home to download the entire Gomez and Mystery Jets back catalogues.

So I plan in future to spend a little more time shopping around. Not only is it fun, but you get a lot more for your money!

*for me this was Florence and the Machine, Gorillaz, Pet Shop Boys and Rolf!

Las Vegas and Warwick have a lot in common. Like the letter 'a'.

We at Edge of the Web are embracing the World Cup by doing what any respecting business would do – try and screw some money out of it!

So we’ve got ourselves a little sweepstakes (which is surprisingly difficult to organise when there are 5 people entering, and 32 teams!).

We’ve all put in a little bit of cash, and now have to rest our hopes on the unpredictable world of football to win us some cake money.

Here’s the draw.

Bhups – England, Algeria, USA, Ghana, Slovakia, Germany

Me – Nigeria, Mexico, Japan, South Africa, Ivory Coast, Netherlands, New Zealand

Mark – Uruguay, Greece, Switzerland, Australia, Chile, Honduras, Paraguay

Sam – Brazil, Italy, Slovenia, Spain, North Korea, Denmark, Cameroon

Tom – Argentina, South Korea, Serbia, France, Portugal

There were also 3 ‘blank’ entries to make up the numbers. Bhups drew one, and Tom managed to get the other two!

From these results, I have concluded the following.

I am resting all my hopes on the mighty Netherlands. Although no-one’s paid me to wear one of those orange dresses yet.

Bhups is slightly screwed by having drawn 3 teams from the same group.

Sam has clearly cheated. Spain, Brazil and Italy?! Come on!

Tom drew two blanks. And France. Enough said.

And Mark? Well, if any of Mark’s teams make it through to the semis I’m going to check the office for signs of satanic ritual.

So, let the tears and recriminations begin!

I love football!

It's an adapter. Gedditt???!?!

There are a lot of worldly, wise business gurus out there. Some I ignore, some I respect. But many of them will tell you that it’s far better for your business to be incredible at one thing, instead of mediocre at lots.

And the same applies to your staff . . . almost.

In a small company, your staff will probably have their own specialised jobs and you want them to be brilliant at that job – after all, that’s why you hired them!

But an excellent receptionist is even more excellent if they can help a bit with a big sales push.

If your fantastic designer is off work sick – wouldn’t it be good if your fantastic programmer was capable enough at design to help pick up the slack?

When someone can’t be in the office in a small company, it leaves a big hole. So if your staff can be more than just amazing – if they can also be good at just one more thing, then they can have a huge impact on the way your business works.

If you’re hiring for your business, try and take that into account. Skill at the job you’re hiring for is paramount (obviously!), but someone with experience or aptitude in other areas may turn out to be the employee you really need.

Be jack of all trades, and master of ONE.