The World According to... Boring John

Nick Daws thinks that I can write a book in 28 days (or less)! Which is very sweet of him, and encouraging, but the man's an idiot. I mean it's just not possible, is it? Who is this Nick Daws geyser, anyway?

Anyway, I was very intrigued by the prospect of writing a book (novel, please!) in 28 days (or less), so whilst I didn't buy the company, à la Victor Kiam, I did buy the course.

And I have my first writing assignment, goody!

Here it is. (Apparently, it's a lot easier to write something if that 'something' is based on simply answering questions.)

So, here are the questions (and answers):

1. What is my job title?

Erm, I do something with computers.

2. What are the main things I do?

I research, design, build, maintain and make money from my own websites. Do you want an example? Well do a search for 'free mobile phones' and you'll find lots of examples. (And if the year is no later than 2003, then your search will find two examples of my sites. If not, then click on the 10th or 20th page of search results. Yeah, I don't do too well on mobile phone sales these days! )

3. What do I like most about my job?

The autonomy. Making money online, making a living, earning a crust, getting by, whatever you want to call it, still has so much potential right now. And all I have to do is decide what idea to implement next. It's still exciting, and the nearest I've ever come to a job where my success (or failure) is determined so obviously by how well I make the most of my own abilities.

4. What do I like least?

Well, I could easily say 'see 3.'. To misquote a great song, "it's a thin line, between [success and failure]'.

I have discovered and developed many skills in this job, but also come to realise that I have failings too, which is not always comfortable to realise.

5. What things make my job easier?

Automation. Automatic answers to people's (often) dumb email questions. Automatic site creation. And, the hard part, knowing how I can continue automating what I do.

6. What things make it harder?

The web changes constantly, bringing new opportunities and challenges all the time. If ever the truism 'change is the only constant in life' were more evident than on the web, I've yet to see it. (Is that a truism?)

Answers to the next few questions, make my job harder too...

7. Who else do I work with and what do they do?

I work alone. I bounce ideas to and fro from one (virtual) person, and I visit a few message boards, but I work alone, and therefore benefit from the synergy of one(!).

8. What's the most unusual thing I've had to do in my job?

I didn't do this, but it was unusual. A few years ago, when football clubs were really struggling for income (thanks to the collapse of the ITV Digital deal), they just couldn't sell advertising space at football grounds. They were so desperate that salesman were doing highly unscientific and un-targeted searches on Google for likely sponsors. I was telephoned, and advertising space was only going to cost me £10,000 for the rest of the season. A bargain, for sure, especially when you consider that my advertising budget (if I actually had one) amounted to £100 per year!

9. What's the most important thing I've learned through doing my job?

You can't do it all by yourself. (D'oh!)

10. What would I like to be doing in five years' time?

That is a bloody great question. And the clock is ticking too, so will have to think fast. Erm, I'd like to be raising a family, developing my fluency in Spanish, and only needing to be working my online business one day a week, with time to do something less boring instead (like write a follow-up Boring John novel - yeah, baby!)

Time taken: 20 mins (I timed myself)