[00:00:09.06] - Gordon
Hello.
[00:00:09.18] - Taylor
Hello.
[00:00:10.02] - Gordon
My name is Gordon from Drayson Design.
[00:00:11.25] - Taylor
And I'm Taylor from The Creative Tinker.
[00:00:13.23] - Gordon
And welcome to "This Week with Taylor and Gordon," a weekly podcast and vidcast where we talk about things that have affected our businesses over the last seven days. And thank you for joining us.
[00:00:23.19] - Taylor
Welcome back.
[00:00:24.22] - Gordon
It's been very busy. End of school parties continued. I had a few last minute ones that came in and I'm going to be going away very shortly. So we've got a few bookings that have been sort of squeezed in before I do that. So that could affect the... Actually it will definitely affect This Week With. So we won't be able to do any in a couple of weeks time because I'm going to be away. But we should be okay for next week and let's not get ahead of ourselves and get this week's topics sorted. Would you like to go first or shall I?
[00:01:04.05] - Taylor
I'll go first this week.
[00:01:05.06] - Gordon
Off you go.
[00:01:06.05] - Taylor
So this week I wanted to talk about VoicePal. So VoicePal is an app by a YouTuber called Ali Abdaal, I believe. So he is a YouTuber who was a trainee doctor and he became a doctor and things like that and kind of started a YouTube channel on the side. And what he made videos on was how to study, how to be more productive, how to live a better life, and things like that. And he, you know, he found different, you know, good methods to study for his obviously exams to be a doctor and then ended up going kind of full time in YouTube and he does lots of essays and research on, you know, science backed kind of productivity and things like that. And he created this app called VoicePal. And the idea behind VoicePal is it's a ghost writer in your pocket. So it's a little app that you instal and it helps you get over writer's block. So whether you are trying to write a book, whether you're trying to write a blog post, whether you're just trying to get your idea out onto paper, most times you'll find that talking and just naturally speaking about the idea that you have in your head is a lot easier than trying to put pen to paper or put keys to a Word document.
[00:02:31.26] - Taylor
So what it does is you just basically talk about what you're interested in. So whether this be a topic that you want to write about or for me, I've been using it to kind of plan out projects and write briefs and try and get what I want to do or something I need to do as a task out into kind of written text form, but I don't know how to word it. It's one of those where you sometimes can't write the word, you know what the word is but you just can't think of it, so you try and describe it. And what it does is it then takes that and transcribes everything that you've said and it then ask you some follow up questions. So it's kind of talking to you and going, you know, "do you want to expand on this idea" or "what do you think of this?" And it kind of, it talks to you or asks you questions to kind of expand on ideas. So, you know, if it is a blog post, it could say, you know, "why do you think this is?" Or kind of give you other suggestions around a similar topic.
[00:03:29.29] - Taylor
And then once you're kind of happy with that, you can then basically export it to lots of different formats, whether it's just a blog post, whether it's to a Twitter post, any social medias, or just to a kind of a word text document. So I then use that to kind of put into my notes essentially. So for my project notes, if I'm trying to map out a new feature and I'm kind of like, "how can I best structure this?" It allows you to take out, it takes out all the ums and ahs and things and just makes it into a concise kind of document really. And it's a really easy way to just kind of put pen to paper, but through your words essentially.
[00:04:10.11] - Gordon
And so you say this is an app. Do you want to sort of tell us a little bit more about where this app can be found and if there's a cost to it and where you can use it.
[00:04:19.29] - Taylor
I believe there is a free plan. But I think the main thing is it's a paid app from on the App Store and the Android. So I think.
[00:04:29.07] - Gordon
So it's a phone application.
[00:04:30.14] - Taylor
Yeah, so it's a device, device application. I don't think they have a desktop. But the nice thing is I think you can record up to 90 minutes in one go and then obviously it will transcribe it. You can have different types of examples. So what you can do is you can actually give it examples of your writing or your work. So then when it's creating drafts of your new blog post that you're writing, it has examples of how you actually speak or how you sound and your tone. If you're writing a blog post for a specific audience, whether that's more kind of documentary, whether it's more creative. You can kind of explain who your target reader is, for example, for this. So for me it's normally either developers or, you know, your project manager for a team or a company. And so the way that I want it to be written is something that's very high level, very, has lots of explanation in it and pulls out the key objectives and goals and things, things like that. And then you can get, you can tell it, do you want it to stick to strictly what you've kind of spoken about or do you want to give a bit more freedom?
[00:05:39.11] - Taylor
And this is kind of where the AI comes into it. It can use its own, use its own ideas and, and kind of steer away from what you've kind of loosely said and you can control that on like a scale of like 1 to 5 of how creative versus how strict. And so, yeah, it's been really, really helpful for me to just go out for a walk and just put my ideas out there.
[00:06:04.07] - Gordon
And blog posts are a good way to help your website be seen and indexed because by adding blog posts to your website, you are going to be adding content and information to your site, which, you know, the search engines love. And they'll come and they'll index all of your content and then you'll be shown more often in search engine results because maybe you've written a blog post about a topic that someone is searching for. So we all know, I think we all know, that blog posts are something we should be doing, but it's always difficult to sit down and just go, "right, I'm going to write a blog post. Where do I start? How do I get going on this?" So this sounds like a great tool for sort of being able to kick start you into action, as it were.
[00:06:52.27] - Taylor
Yeah. And I think a lot of people are kind of getting to the point now where there's so much AI generated content that you can kind of tell when it's AI generated. So, you know, before we had AI, everyone had to write content themselves, write blog posts themselves. And so, you know you're going to have your own style, so being able to kind of talk, have that come through in text form and then also give it examples of what you, you know, how you have been writing, you're not going to either be picked up by AI kind of copy scanners, things like that, but you could also, it will match your company, match your brief, your writing style, things like that.
[00:07:32.05] - Gordon
And are there any restrictions in the paid plan? Do you get sort of a certain number of.
[00:07:36.15] - Taylor
I don't think, I think they just give you unlimited. You can, you know, you can create up to a 90 minute voice recording. Then you can either. It will ask you questions and you actually click on those questions and then voice note or type your kind of answers to that. But then you can just kind of start another voice recording and start another 90 minutes if you wanted to. So my, my goal is to try and maybe go out a bit more often to walk or whatever and kind of have the ability to come up with ideas without the restriction of going, "oh, well, I haven't got any of this written down, I'm just thinking out loud."
[00:08:11.11] - Gordon
Yeah. And it's the sort of thing you can put into sort of a file somewhere and so you don't necessarily need to do it there and then, but it's an idea you've put down which you can come back to and revisit. And you know, if you're sitting down wanting to write a blog post or something along those lines, you can just go and have a look and see what you've already done and pick from that.
[00:08:33.11] - Taylor
Yeah.
[00:08:33.23] - Gordon
Very good. We'll put a link to the app in the show notes. So please go and have a look at that. As Taylor said, he believes there's a free plan so you can always try it out, see if it's the sort of thing that will be of use to you. Anything else you want to say on that?
[00:08:48.15] - Taylor
I don't think so. That was it, just, it was really helping me just get my ideas out there and getting started more than anything.
[00:08:55.26] - Gordon
Very good. So my topic today is about making the most use of downtime. Now, that doesn't really cover what I mean to say. As I said earlier, I am heading off on holiday very soon and my box that I keep all of my magic in for when I do my children's shows is getting a little bit tatty. It's had a brand new bag recently, but the lining of the bag is sort of this foamy material and every time I put the box in the bag and lift it up, the foam is dragging on the wood and it's damaging the wood somewhat. I mean, it wasn't great before, but it's worse now. And you know, when I'm charging good, good prices to go out and do a show, I want everything that I use to look really good. I recently replaced my banners because they were starting to look a little bit damaged and, that's not true. They were looking a little bit tired and the box that holds the banners was starting to get damaged just from use. I mean, I've been using them for many years and so they were replaced recently and I thought it's time for me to get my box redone.
[00:10:11.11] - Gordon
Now, this box is a box that my dad and I made when I was 15 years old and it's been all around the world in fact. It's been on cruise liners. It's been taken all around the country to various different places. I remember taking it to Devon when I was a bluecoat and it lived down there with me for a year. It's been to Scarborough to a competition that I was in, it's been to Blackpool, it's been all over the place and it's been repainted twice. No, that's not true. It's been repainted once, but it has been painted twice. So the original colour was blue with a sort of a white bunny rabbit on it, but that didn't... That wasn't my logo. So I actually handed it over to a painter, someone who does proper painting and they basically painted over the top of what I had before. So the, the previous one is still there, which is fascinating. And they painted it black and then put my white logo onto the front. I didn't want it - my logo at the time was actually black on white, but I didn't want to have a white box because I figured that would get or look dirty very quickly and I didn't want that.
[00:11:32.05] - Gordon
And so now I've decided that I've got to just bring it into the brand that I've got currently, which is Gordon's Magic. And that is red, yellow and blue. So the box is going to be painted blue and then I'm going to have some vinyl printed and cut stickers effectively, that are going to be stuck on the top, which follow all my branding and should look really, really clean. But the problem is I'm always using my box. You know, there is no time for me to actually put time aside and not go out and do shows, so the box can be done, except, of course, when I'm on holiday. And so I was looking around to find someone who could do this for me and a magician friend of mine who is A, a fantastic magician himself, but also has huge props which they basically make themself and lots of them. And he sort of put his hand in the air and contacted me and said, "yeah, I'll do it for you, no problem." So he doesn't live too close to me, he actually lives sort of Cambridge way. But the day before I go away I'm in North London, which is a lot closer to Cambridge than where I live.
[00:12:48.02] - Gordon
And so he's not actually in Cambridge that day, he's somewhere else. So we're going to meet halfway from where he is and sort of have dinner and I'll pass the box over to him, explain, you know, everything I need to about it. And then while I'm away on holiday, he's gonna basically sand the box completely down. He's gonna fill all the bits that need filling, make it all really nice again. He'll paint it blue. I will hopefully have the vinyl stickers all ready to go by that time and if not they'll be sent to him directly. I'm going to have, I've got sort of this sort of felt, sticky backed felt that goes on top of the box. So it gives me a sort of a nice soft surface at the top of my box. I've got some new felt for that which has already arrived so that can be all ripped off and then new one put down. We're going to have brand new wheels on it. So I've currently got these sort of metal wheels that are on a slight angle so that only one half of the wheel is touching the ground, if you know what I mean.
[00:13:50.28] - Gordon
But you can still wheel it. And I've always, we had these originally because it was really difficult to get the wheels I wanted and I've never actually got round to changing them. But I'm going to have them changed for more heavy duty rubber wheels. And these wheels are going to have, probably just two of them at the back, are going to have little locks on them. So if I'm in a place where I want to lock the box so it doesn't move, then I can do so. I can't do that at the minute. If someone leans on it, it'll go because it's got wheels, it will just move.
[00:14:25.07] - Taylor
Or if you're on a boat and.
[00:14:26.23] - Gordon
Yeah, exactly. When I was on the ship so, you know, I was always worried that it was going to sort of. I would be concentrating on the show, and meanwhile the box behind me was just, you know, wheeling itself off stage. So they're all going to be done. The other thing is that if a child does come and lean on it, at least I've got the locks on it and it won't move so much. But these are only things that I can have done while I'm away. So it's a matter of careful planning, making sure everything is available and ready for what I need. I've been doing the mock ups during the week for how I want the box to look, and those graphics are then going to be sent off to Rob Gaffney, friend of the channel. And in fact, Face: The Podcast, which is my other channel, my other podcast. I've got my T shirt on today. He's a sponsor for Face: The Podcast and he basically has a website called Custom Shirts and More. And he will basically print you onto vinyl, pretty much anything you want. It can be all custom cut out, it will be sent through to you. It can be laminated. He does embroidery. A lot of the shirts that I use for my shows have his custom embroidery on them.
[00:15:50.05] - Taylor
I had my jumpers done.
[00:15:51.12] - Gordon
You had your jumpers done? That's right, yeah. And so Rob is a great person if you're looking for something like that, and he's the person who does it himself. So he's got all these really expensive machines that he's learned how to use and they're in, you know, the constant, constant use. They're being used all the day, every day. He can do. He did this T shirt, in fact, I forgot to mention that the T shirt I'm wearing he did - Face: The Podcast. Actually. No, I apologise. That wasn't done by him, this was done by my friend Marc. But he could do this because he does T-shirt printing. So you could have, you know, a design that you wanted and he could print it onto a T-shirt for you, which is, you know, fantastic. So 'Custom Shirts and More.' I'll put a link to him in the show notes as well. Go and see him. But I'm getting all those graphics brought over so that they're the right size. I can check they're the right size before I take everything up. Hopefully everything will be fine and if it's not, you know, I've got time to then deal with it and then when I get back, I just go and see Jezo, who is the fantastic person who's doing the job for me, and pick everything up. I believe he's going to be sort of keeping me updated while I'm away with progress. And I'm really way too much over the top excited about all of this than I should be. But it's because it's a box that I've used since I started doing children's shows and it's, you know, it's lasted, you know, 30, 36 years. I also built it with my dad, so it's really special because of that. So to actually have it repaired and, you know, made good for, you know, the next 20 years or howeverr long it's going to be, you know, is. Is really, really lovely and having it brought back to its former glory and... Yeah, I'm just. I'm really looking forward to it because it's had bits and pieces of work done to it over the years and just adding bits and things just to make it stronger or better or -
[00:18:02.17] - Taylor
Band aids, rather.
[00:18:03.11] - Gordon
Bits have fallen off. Yeah. And it's nice to have it renovated completely. It's not going to be like Trigger's broom for those who watch "Only Fools and Horses" where everything is being replaced.
[00:18:13.27] - Gordon
I'm not having that done. It's just, it's fixing up what I already have. And that's important because I'm used to it. I'm used to how it works. I'm used to putting it in the bag and how it fits. And I'm used to...
[00:18:26.02] - Taylor
More like, refurbish more than anything.
[00:18:27.29] - Gordon
Refurbish is a good word. Yeah.
[00:18:29.22] - Taylor
Because when you refurbish something, you don't replace everything, you just fix the bits that are broken. You might add new parts. You know, if you're talking about devices, you might, you know, if the battery isn't working, you put a whole new battery in.
[00:18:42.02] - Gordon
Yeah.
[00:18:42.12] - Taylor
Doesn't mean you put every single new component in.
[00:18:44.22] - Gordon
Yeah, that's right. So refurbish is a great word. So I'm really looking forward to that. Way too excited about it. But it's gonna be nice because then it will be. All of my show will be branded in the same way. All the cards I give out are all going to be branded in the same way.
[00:19:03.26] - Taylor
Try and enjoy your holiday though at least.
[00:19:05.06] - Gordon
Oh, I will. I should. Well, I mean, I will enjoy my holiday because I'm on a cruise for some of it. And the WiFi, if you've ever been on a cruise, is really expensive. And so I shan't be getting WiFi, but we are stopping at many ports, so it'll be a matter of getting off the ship and looking to see where the crew are, because the crew always do the same thing. If it's a day off for them, they always go into port and they know all the best places to find free WiFi. So that's where I'll be going. We'll be going to coffee shops or McDonald's or whatever that's got free WiFi and picking up emails and checking things and replying if I need to. So, yeah, it's all very exciting, but the only way I could possibly do this is by having downtime. And the downtime on this occasion is my holiday. And it's fitted in really nicely. So if you've got any sort of time, when you've got equipment or, you know, things that you use all the time that need looking at, then find a time when you are not going to be using it, in my case a holiday, and get it done then.
[00:20:17.10] - Gordon
I mean, it sounds, you know, very sensible when you say it out loud like that. But you'd be surprised how many people come back from holiday and go, "right, we need to do something on this machine." It's like, "well, why didn't you get it done in the last two weeks when you weren't using it?" "Oh, yeah." Because then you wouldn't have had to take it offline for two weeks while it is being renovated or fixed. So there. There we go. That was it.
[00:20:41.23] - Taylor
Nice.
[00:20:42.27] - Gordon
Anything else you want to say, Taylor?
[00:20:44.20] - Taylor
Don't think so.
[00:20:45.16] - Gordon
Thank you for joining us. As always, you can, we're on YouTube and you can, like, share and subscribe.
[00:20:52.17] - Taylor
You can also go to our website, thisweekwith.co.uk to find all of our past episodes and anything we may have spoken about.
[00:20:59.03] - Gordon
And of course, if you would prefer to listen to us, we're on all the major podcast platforms. Just do a search for "This Week With Taylor and Gordon," and we're also on your Smart speaker. So again, just say Wake Word and then "play This Week With Taylor and Gordon" and the latest episode should play for you. We'll be back with you next week, Friday at 1pm until then, my name is Gordon and I'm from Drayson Design.
[00:21:28.10] - Taylor
And I'm Taylor from The Creative Tinker.
[00:21:30.29] - Gordon
Goodbye.
[00:21:31.16] - Taylor
Bye.
