Hello from Cambridge

[cash ninja]

Hi,

My name's Tim. I'm new here (obviously) although I have known about this for a good 5 years now but for some reason that's lost on me at the moment I haven't actually registered on these forums before.

I found the site the same way I guess a lot of people did, doing a search for make money online, or something similar. At the time I was running my own punting company and attempting to make it through a winter without having to do any punting - I'd done it once before and really didn't fancy standing around all day in the cold again. I should say, I do hope people know what I mean by punting as I know there are a few different meanings - let's just say there's nothing illegal involved in what I was doing and it involved wooden boats.

This website inspired me to build my own website chronicling my own efforts to make money online. I went back to the punting job in the summer and still run that business, albeit in a different guise.

I currently own a lot of domains (it's more than 20 probably, off the top of my head) some are extremely aged - one is over 10 years old and dates back from my first attempt to run a business, others I have only just recently registered with the intention of doing things with. I do make a bit of money from my various sites but not enough to give up the day job, which is what I really want to do.

I know a bit about html and css, build all my sites myself (although I have recently started experimenting with wordpress and content writing services) and also do all my own SEO (which is hard work!). I'm so much more interested in doing this kind of stuff than I am in my day job, it's just that having the financial security of the regular income from my job is a difficult thing to give up.

I am always looking to learn more and gather more information and I reckon this should be a good place to do that and while I'm at it hopefully I'll be able to contribute as well. I guess I've rambled on enough for now, so I'll leave it at that but if anyone wants to ask me anything feel free.

[KenW3]

Hi Tim, Welcome to Experienced-People!

if anyone wants to ask me anything feel free.

Well... I suppose my question should be about punting. Considering that punting, to me, is kicking a football while playing football (and no, not soccer football, but football football ), the thought of kicking wooden boats sounds somewhat painful.

There is a lot of good information on EP. Be sure to take a look at our Threads of the Week archive of articles to help find threads of interest.

[cash ninja]

Hi Ken, thanks for the welcome.

A punt (at least here in Cambridge and a few other places both in the UK and in other parts of the world) is a flat bottomed wooden boat that has no keel. The punter stands at one end with a long pole (the ones used here are about 15ft long) and pushes against the river bed in order to propel the boat along. It's a multi-million £ tourist industry here but somewhat seasonal as you might imagine and with the British weather being what it is business can fluctuate a bit!

I notice you're in Florida - I've actually been over there several times in the last year or so. You guys definitely have better weather than us, although I wouldn't fancy punting in the Everglades. I'll check out the threads of the week, thanks for the tip.

[crabfoot]

Just for those not familiar with the term, a punt (in this case) refers to a shallow draught flat bottomed rectangular boat which is propelled by pushing against the bottom of a waterway with a pole, not with oars. The pole is called a "quant", now you know where Mary Quant got her name, she had an ancestor who was a punter (didn't we all).

Every year there is a Cambridge Folk Festival, and buses transport people to and from car parks and camp sites to the festival site at Cherry Hinton. Inebriated festival goers form choirs on these buses and sing the Dam Busters March on their journey, very loud and distracting for the driver.

Big confession - I was the originator of this anti-social act, it was my idea, somewhere around 1978-83. WTH , I started a tradition!

[bwelford]

Just for those not familiar with the term, a punt (in this case) refers to a shallow draught flat bottomed rectangular boat which is propelled by pushing against the bottom of a waterway with a pole, not with oars.

... and perhaps to complete the picture for those who are agog to know every last little detail on punting, there is a strong debate as to which end of the punt you should punt from. In Cambridge, you usually stand on the flat front end of the punt while manipulating the quant. This puts you higher (and therefore farther to fall if and when you topple in the water). This also means that you are propelling the punt backwards. I believe in Oxford they stand at the back of the punt as intended and propel the punt forwards. You are therefore slightly lower and less liable to fall in.

[cash ninja]

... and perhaps to complete the picture for those who are agog to know every last little detail on punting, there is a strong debate as to which end of the punt you should punt from. In Cambridge, you usually stand on the flat front end of the punt while manipulating the quant. This puts you higher (and therefore farther to fall if and when you topple in the water). This also means that you are propelling the punt backwards. I believe in Oxford they stand at the back of the punt as intended and propel the punt forwards. You are therefore slightly lower and less liable to fall in.

I'm sorry bwelford but I have to correct you there. In Cambridge, we stand on the deck of the punt, at the back - an area clearly intended for people to stand on. In Oxford they stand in the front of the punt which is sloped and where it's very easy to catch your feet on the duckboards causing you to fall in the river. But we really shouldn't start this debate as it could end in tears!

[Kay]

Hi Tim. Welcome to Experienced People. I hadn't really given much thought about punting before and didn't realise it was such a big tourist activity. I guess I just thought it was something that posh people did.

Wiki has some really interesting content about it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punt_%28boat%29

Why are you going to make a website to chronicle your efforts at making money online? If punting is a multi-million £ tourist industry, and you're an expert, why are you not planning to do more about that side of things? It sounds like a pretty good niche to get into.

[cash ninja]

Hi Kay. Thanks for the welcome. I'm not planning on putting a website together to chronicle my attempts at making money online, I started it 5 years ago! Then I neglected it for a while and now I'm working on it again but still not as my intended source of income but more running in parallel with businesses I am trying to set up.

I already run a business involved with punting. When I actually owned punts I set it up as a website to promote the business and take bookings online. It has morphed over the years to become purely an online booking agent taking bookings for other punt operators.

It does ok but unfortunately my business partner (who I set up with in the first place) is not interested in putting any effort into it;

• it's a very competitive market place with one very large operator who have the lion's share of the market;

• it's quite time consuming in terms of the day to day operation of taking bookings etc - I did try outsourcing this for a while but I was very disappointed with the (UK based) company that I used so have taken it on myself for the time being (actually if anyone can recommend any good UK based VAs then I would be grateful for the information);

• my suppliers (ie the people who operate the punts) have also set up their own online booking systems in direct competition (which in some ways was to be expected I guess)
• and it's also an industry where a lot of the people operating in it are fairly unscrupulous in their business practices which I find makes them difficult to deal with and somewhat untrustworthy

So on that basis I'm trying not to have all my eggs in one basket, especially when there is very little barrier to entry (currently) to prevent someone else from cutting down on my market share (which I have seen happen over the last 4 years).

[Chabrenas]

Welcome to EP, Tim. A propos potential VAs, have you tried contacting Helen Stothard? She seems to have quite a network around the UK. It doesn't sound as if you need someone who can physically work in Cambridge.

For the uninitiated, I should mention that punts are also used by people who shoot wild duck, using a punt gun. They are normally mounted on the punt, like a long cannon, but a friend with a wild streak once fired one from the shoulder as if it were a 12-bore. He never tried repeating that stunt.

[cash ninja]

Thanks for the welcome and also the tip Chabrenas. I haven't heard of Helen, is she a regular on these forums? I think I've found her on linkedin anyway so I'll get in touch with her and see what she can do. You're correct that I don't need someone physically based in Cambridge and at one stage (using Elance) I was considering VAs from all over the world but I felt that getting through to a non UK based call centre would be off putting for my customers.

I'm impressed by your knowledge of punting, you're friend sounds like he might be a bit of a liability!