One of the great things about working for yourself and from home is the ability to pack your laptop, take it to another country, work and enjoy yourlife!

This is currently the view from our bedroom window for the next 6 weeks. But to be honest, you don’t get breaks in the weather for that long so it will not always be looking this spiffy!

While in Niseko I will be putting a lot of effort into working on Niseko Webzine and the direction I want to take it over the following years.

This is the view out of my window at the moment, just a small 8 foot toothpick hanging from the roof!

If you find yourself in the middle of the red light district of Shinjuku Tokyo and have the sudden craving for ramen, I would highly recommend you check out Tonchin Ramen!

At Tonchin, like many Japanese restaurants, you order via a vending machine, the average ramen dish is ¥680, but of course you need to upsize that bad boy with some extras like, more pork and onsen eggs (like a slow boiled egg) etc. To help with “digestion” you will also need a Japanese beer, Asahi Dry to the rescue!

While you are sitting down enjoying your ramen, do a little people watching, after all you are in the red light district! The clientele are your typical Japanese business man and young guys out enjoying their youth so it is no surprise if they are talking a little loud, laughing or just looking hammered while slurping the noodle goodness down.

Chashu Ramen + Beer = Delicious!

More Tonchin Ramen

Tonchin Ramen

Tonchin Ramen Location Map

Better late than never right?

I honestly cannot believe how quick the time has gone from attending WordCamp Gold Coast to sitting down to write, finish, realising I had this post scheduled for 2012 – fail! :/

So here it is WordPress homies!

WordCamp Gold Coast 2011 was my first WordCamp, or any web industry event for that matter. Needless to say I was a little excited, yet nervous as I did not know what to expect!

The event was held at Bond Uni and I don’t think the organisers could have picked a better location on the coast. Comfortable lecture theaters (well, more comfortable than Griffith Uni) and the catering, OH THE CATERING, sweet mother of god I could eat those Smoked Salmon sandwiches everyday!

Pre WordCamp Stretch Up

Before attending a WordCamp, take a few minutes to stretch up and read the post by The Web Princess (@thewebprinces) – Maximising WordCamp Gold Coast – Three keys. Honestly, I wish I had found the post before the event and gave myself a few “goals” to achieve from the networking side of the shindig.

My WordCamp Takeaways

• The WordPress community is flippin’ awesome!
• Regardless of your WordPress experience, use or abilities, you will find attending a WordCamp is the gravy!
• John Ford (@iamjohnford) (looks a little like Neil Patrick Harris) and will have you wanting to work for Automattic within minutes. DAMN YOU JOHN FORD!! Check em out, you know you want it - Automattic – Work With Us
• Meeting people from your online world is not as intimidating as I thought, so make sure you introduce yourself!
• Follow attendees and speakers on Twitter. From my point of view it has been extremely educational and has introduced me to other resources to increase my WordPress knowledge – much love for sharing the goods!
• WordPress can be used in ways you had not imagined! Kate Swaffer’s talk was great and it’s amazing how she uses WordPress to help combat dementia and now is helping others.
• Other business owners and freelancers have and do experience the same type of hurdles. Knowing that is a massive confidence builder. Thanks @Youdaman and @tontodigital
• Put time in to securing your WP site – prevention is better than recovering. Thanks for the chat Vlad – @VladLasky
• Japh (@Japh), a WordPress Super Hero at Envato, outlined why you need to invest in your coding skills, not just for yourself, but for your clients as well. As a self taught WordPress, CSS, HTML with a touch of PHP type of guy I have started the search to formally up my skill level. Update: A shout out to Bronson Quick (@bronsonquick) for the Twitter feedback.

Post WordCamp

Once you have recovered from the event, you will realise that you now have a WordPress addiction! You will need support from family, friends and I highly recommend you seek the support of a specialty group that knows what you are going through.

These groups should help:

• WordPress.Org Support Forum
• WP Candy

Other Wordcamp Readings:

• Maximising WordCamp Gold Coast – Three Keys by The Web Princess
• WordCamp Gold Coast 2011 #wcgold by Maddison Designs
• Presentations on SlideShare  - WordCamp Slides
• WordCamp Twitter list by @brad_j_davis (that’s me) – view list

So having never been a smoker I am not sure how accurate these claims are, but I don’t think I could possibly comprehend the “class” of “lady” that would find having smoke blown in her face a turn on. Maybe this one would find it hot?

Blow In Her Face & She Will Follow You Anywhere!

For more ads that just wouldn’t work in todays society, check these out – 5 Ads That May Not Work In Today’s Society

Frank Marketing is the brainchild of Frank Guerrera, graphic designer, marketing consultant that is currently residing on the Gold Coast Australia.

Frank Marketing

I just found a presentation by Jeff, from Paper Leaf (Edmonton, Canada), on Designing a Client-Focused WordPress Site, Jeff brings up some great ideas on how we can make WordPress an even more friendlier CMS for clients.

I’m looking forward to catching this one on WordPress TV soon. Check out the slides!

Do you have any other techniques or tips on improving WordPress for your clients? Drop em in the comments below and share your mind thoughts!

Take a look this ad (Legend) by the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) targeting drink-driving. A few notches up in creativity from the ads you see here in OZ.

What would these ghost chips taste like? hhhmmmmmmm

The crew at Mustard Marketing asked me to build a registration form the TradieHQ pre website launch. Designed by Mustard Marketing.

TK’s Photography is owned by Tanya, aka TK, who is also my sister.

After having my arm twisted [I need to go to the gym more] I set up a site that would be suitable for her photography business. We still have a few refinements to go, but check out the site and TK’s work.

TK's Photography - Click To Screenshot

Visit TK’s Photography: www.tksphotography.com.au